Book 4: Light and Darkness

by ButtonPusherExtraordinaire

Air's murder was a symptom. The Great War was over, but the Greater War endured. The Realms are imbalanced, and Air's loss is but a sign. Years after Sozin's Comet, The Avatar's most ancient enemy reminds The Avatar of his existence. Lies and truths are disordered as the roots are infected from the chaos, to which The Avatar was ignorant. Things must change. The cycle must end. AU!

25. Family

ATTENTION! THERE ARE NOW 37 CHAPTERS, NOT 24! I HAD TO REDO THE LENGTHS OF EACH, STRETCHING IT OUT MORE! THE NEWEST CHAPTER IS CHAPTER 37 (STRATEGY)! START FROM THERE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN READING THE NEWEST CHAPTER! IT WILL TAKE PROBABLY A FEW HOURS, POSSIBLY DAYS FOR ALL THE NEW CHAPTERS TO BE UPLOADED! PLEASE GO TO CHAPTER 37 AND READ THE NOTICE AT THE BEGINNING FOR EXPLANATION! MY APOLOGIES FOR THE CONFUSION!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

XxXxXxXxXxX

Although the palace was different, it was still a palace she was living in with Bor and Bumi—and all the Gaang with some newcomers. It was almost like a return to that time, but it was obvious that so much—too much—had changed, ranging from Bor's deafening distance to her own lack of courage to face him head-on like an Earthbender should. Then there was Bumi to worry about. If he saw her start talking to Bor again, would he attack her again and truly chop off her hands, feet, and breasts? If he did, would anyone help her? Would Aang help her or take his oldest friend's side?

It made her miss her times on the run after she ran away from her parents the second time, when she spent times in taverns and boasted about all her achievements, from master metalbending to helping The Avatar end the Great War. When she finally did reach Omashu, she never imagined living there for years; she thought it would just be a quick stop—all so she could finally take Bumi up on his offer to see who the strongest Earthbender in the world was.

It was a humiliating defeat—followed by more defeats. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she trained—actually trained for the first time in her life as she never had the need to do so before!—she lost and kept losing. It once left her in furious disbelief when Bumi, every time, seemed to humor her in the spar before ending it immediately when he got bored. It once boiled her blood, making her forego any other plans she had to stay in Omashu and get better, training until her bones hurt, evolving her form and stance, doing everything she could think of to get better and stronger to defeat Bumi.

But it no longer mattered to her. It was obvious to her that she would never be as good as Bumi, and based on what she had learned about Bumi and on all the things she suspected him doing but had no evidence or testimony, she didn't want to pay the many prices necessary to become as good as him. The Great War made Bumi into the Fucker of Fire and Earth, but Toph didn't want that; she didn't want to be the Fucker of Fire and Earth; she didn't want to be capable of anything like that, not at all. Sure, it was cool to have a fearsome, legendary reputation, but she didn't want it built on the bodies she left piled behind her, which was clearly the only way to get that kind of reputation.

After all, she could never be great—because she didn't want to be, even if it was within her capability. She would never be like Bumi—or like Sozin and Azulon, who were Bumi's direct rivals or inspirations in twisted ways.

Bor was very unexpected, even more than losing to Bumi, which is how impossible it was that she expected him. He was different from other people she had met, especially being the grandson of the Fucker of Fire—and of Earth, she realized later. He was quieter, but that didn't mean he had nothing to say; he actually had many things to say and when he got worked up, he could get loud and demanding, unable to stop talking. It was like a boulder sitting at the top of a hill; it would teeter for a long time, inching closer and closer before it actually started its roll—but once it started its roll, there was nothing stopping it, not even Toph herself. Bor gave her a challenge on the rare times when he was that worked up or passionate about something, but it was always something she could join in on and have fun.

She never expected him to direct his passion at her so venomously, but she never imagined that she would break his heart. It was only natural that he would treat her differently, and she wasn't even sure she wanted him to treat her the same way. Sure, she still loved him—she probably always would or at least would for a long time—but what did that mean in the long run? It didn't really do anything. Her loving him didn't change Bumi from threatening her life and almost killing her, even though he knew of her love for his grandson and vice versa; her loving him didn't stop Bor from being a gigantic fucking idiot and asking her to marry him, planning their lives with so much structure, making her feel like she was trapped in a cage.

Just like she felt with her parents.

But then again, it wasn't only Bor who was the gigantic fucking idiot; it was also her because she agreed to marry him. In that moment, she felt a terrible panic and couldn't even think straight; she went with the only option that would make things easier in that moment, lessen the noise suddenly reverberating in her skull. But it didn't make it easier as Bor kept talking—kept fucking talking!—about all that she would do as queen, saying that she had so many rules to learn and protocols, and how their combined lineages would surely begin a new royal line for Earth that rivaled Sozin's line or would in a generation or two.

It all sounded just like her parents pressuring and scolding her and demanding that she be what the rules demanded, all with the pressure of blood to produce worthy children.

She felt like she couldn't breathe, and the only time she felt like she could again is when she decided to leave that night, getting out of Omashu and taking Sparky up on his request to help him solve his dad's disappearance.

The fact that Bor woke up while she was leaving really made things worse, but she had already decided that she couldn't tell him the truth. That's why she was totally fine with having sex that night since he usually fell asleep so easily right after, which is what happened that night, but for some reason, he woke up while she was leaving that night.

It was all a fucking mess.

"Mind some company?"

Toph wasn't surprised that Katara found her. "By all means," she replied, swinging her arm out. "You and Sparky work things out?"

Katara's heartbeat thrummed with a rapid rhythm, almost dizzying to keep track of. "He is such an ass."

"I'd add a 'fucking' in there, but that's just me."

"And I'm angry enough to put it in there."

"Seems like it," she agreed, keeping attention on Katara's heartbeat. Zuko's agreement with Bumi's suggestion to try to offer Katara as a wife to Hahn in the North was certainly surprising and bold, but it really wasn't upon further thought. Zuko had decided to be all Fire Lord concerning Katara, putting distance between them, and he was only acting like the Fire Lord, thinking of things logically and politically—because it's what made the most sense to him after being on the Dragon's Throne for so long. "If it's any consolation, I think he'd treat anyone like that, even Twinkletoes if Twinkletoes pissed him off."

"But he shouldn't treat me like anyone else."

Toph's brows rose. "Weren't you the one who slammed the door in his face on any possibility of marrying him?"

Katara flinched. "He told you that?"

She rubbed her fingers in the grass, digging in slightly. "I overheard him muttering some things. I decided to pretend that I didn't hear him. I wasn't getting in the middle of that mess."

"Can you get in the middle of it now?"

Toph groaned before flicking her hand out. "Let me have it- "

"I can't believe Zuko!" Katara griped, crossing her arms under her breasts. "How could he say that it's a good idea for me to marry Hahn? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! It's stupid! It's gross!"

Toph flexed her toes. "Sounds to me like you'd rather marry Sparky."

"I can't marry him," Katara snapped. "I can't look past what he did. How can I? I'm really asking—how can I?"

She snorted. "I'm really not the best one to ask advice about this sort of thing."

Katara was quiet for several moments. "Are you going to tell me what happened with you and Bor?"

Toph knew that sharing Bor's name back at the Loser Lord's repurposed camp with Katara was going to come back to bite her in the ass. "Not really."

"Why not? You know about me and Zuko."

"I can keep my mouth shut, unlike you."

Actually, that wasn't quite true. Unlike Katara, who had the good sense to tell Zuko to his face that there was no possibility for them to be married or anything, which Toph personally had her doubts about based on how much Katara was worked up about Zuko's resulting response, Toph decided to instead agree to marry Bor and then not even have the bravery to tell him to his face that she couldn't; she left in the middle of the night and made a big whole fucking mess of everything.

Well, Katara and Zuko had made a mess, too, but it didn't seem like it was permanent—that it didn't have the hostility and permanence that she and Bor had.

She was betting within a couple weeks Katara and Zuko would be fine—maybe even married.

Who fucking knew?

Katara patted her shoulder. "He looks at you."

"Bor?" she asked, voice rising slightly before she cursed.

She heard the triumphant knowing in Katara's voice. "He does. His head may not move, but his eyes do. I've caught him several times."

Toph almost sighed in relief because it meant that, somehow, things would be okay—even if it took a while. If Bor hated her, like really hated her, he wouldn't even look at her or anything, but instead, he was looking at her, using only his eyes because he knew she would sense his head moving and neck twisting.

He cared on some level, at least.

"What'd he do when you caught him?" she asked.

"Started looking at me."

She snorted because that sounded exactly like Bor. "I bet that made Sparky jealous."

Katara's heart accelerated for a tiny moment before it calmed. "Zuko doesn't care."

Toph scoffed. "Yes, he does. Let me say that again—yes, he fucking does. When Bumi said you should marry Hahn, his heart went crazy—like, Lightning Psycho crazy."

The acceleration happened again, but it lasted for a longer time before it faded. "Really?"

"My feet don't lie."

Katara laughed slightly. "But your mouth does. It's not your feet talking to me."

She pulled at the skin beneath her eyes to exaggerate their roll. "That sounds like something Sparky would say. Sounds like you miss him."

There was no longer any laughter. "Whatever your feet felt, it doesn't matter. He still said it was a good thing for me to marry Hahn."

Toph shrugged. "I don't think he meant it based on what his heart felt like. I think he wanted to mean it, but I don't think he actually did."

"Then why say it?"

"You hurt him, he hurts you?" she guessed, waving her hand, intentionally connecting with Katara's shoulder. "You tell me. You know him better than I do."

Katara groaned. "That's just it. I don't know him. If I did, I wouldn't be so blown away by the concubines and everything."

"I know you're thinking about him differently, but it's just some whores," Toph pointed out. "Is that- "

"I don't care about the concubines! I care about what he did with them!"

Toph blinked. "That's the same thing- "

Katara hissed in frustration and rubbed her face as she shook her head. "I know why you think that, but it's not. I care that he ruined Family; he murdered Family over and over again. And he doesn't even care. How could I marry a man that did that and could easily do it to me and the family we make?"

"That's easy," she dismissed with a brief laugh. "You'd stop it from happening. Those whores are passive and weak as shit; if he told them to slit their own throats, they'd probably do it, right? I mean, a whore obeys all commands—that's all she does. It's all she is. But you wouldn't be like that at all. You'd fight."

"That's not good enough," Katara whispered, pained. "I don't want him to try it against me and our children."

"I don't think he would- "

A strangled noise of anguished frustration echoed in the air. "But how can I know that? How, Toph? I've always known he's like Ozai, beyond just the physical resemblance. But he's like him in so many more ways. Ozai destroyed his family with Ursa, destroying his children, and Zuko destroyed whatever families he would have naturally had with those concubines, destroying all children there would have been. No Water Tribeswoman would ever consider him after that!"

Toph was reminded of her own disgust and distrust for Bumi after he had shit on Earth's primary ethic of History and made everyone—his own grandchildren!—believe a lie. It was just like her parents, believing lies and making her believe lies and pretend to be a meek blind girl. "That's a lot to think about," she said, unsure of anything else to say. "But you are still considering him, aren't you? You keep considering him, talking yourself in circles about it—about him."

Katara exhaled roughly; her voice sounded choked slightly. "Love isn't enough. I once thought it was, but it's not."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I keep considering him because I love him, but that's not enough, not for this."

Sometimes, she hated how much of a good friend she was—or was trying to be—because she was thinking about telling Katara what happened between her and Bor to try to take Katara's mind off her clear misery and heartache. "I hope it works out for you better than me and Bor."

"I don't know what happened to you and Bor."

Toph bit her cheek for a moment before scoffing. "Fine—you pulled it out of me. He asked me to marry him, I agreed, and I ran out that same night to go to the Fire Nation—after knocking him out when he woke up from our last bout of sex and tried to stop me."

"Toph!" Katara exclaimed, shocked, clearly eager to move to the new subject, even if its theme was similar. "How could you not tell me?"

"There's been a lot going on," she defended, unimpressed. "It's not like we've actually been around each other a lot. I've been around Lightning Psycho a lot more than you."

"Does she know?"

She grinned wickedly. "Are you jealous?"

"No- "

"You sure? You're jealous of Sparky with all his whores- "

Katara exhaled roughly, shaking her head. "Does she know?"

Toph sighed. "No. She doesn't even know his name; I never told her. I told you."

She imagined Katara preening at that news. "So, it was that serious with you and Bor?"

"Against all odds," she muttered. "Shocked the hell out of me."

"Him asking you to marry him or that you were that close to begin with?"

"Both. I didn't even plan on staying in Omashu long when I got there. I just intended to kick Bumi's ass, make him eat his own shit, and then go somewhere else. But I couldn't beat Bumi—I couldn't even touch him if he didn't want me to."

She still couldn't touch him if he didn't want her to.

"That's why you stayed?" Katara asked, surprised. "I thought you would have stayed because of Bor."

Toph snorted. "Nah. I didn't even pay attention to him at first, and he didn't of me, either. But then it changed. He started training with me eventually, giving me some pointers he learned from Bumi. I think he actually wanted me to beat Bumi, but I never asked him. But no matter what I did, I could never beat Bumi. I was so determined that I vowed I'd never leave Omashu until I kicked his ass. That didn't happen."

Katara's heartbeat was calm and soothing; it was familiar, which was nice. "But then you got close?"

"It just happened—I didn't mean for it to. I think he liked me first. He suddenly started hanging around a lot more, even when we weren't training. He started inviting me to eat dinner with him, Bumi, Anju, and Batsu—that's Anju's husband. He'd just show up everywhere and all the time. Eventually, I liked him showing up everywhere and all the time. I actually liked all of them but especially Bumi and Bor—I felt like I fit in, you know. And Bor really liked me back. Then it escalated."

"That's when he asked you to marry him?"

She laughed slightly. "Nah, that's when we started sharing a bed—and I mean really sharing it. I don't actually know how long ago it was or anything. It's hard to keep track of time being blind and everything."

"Sounds like it was serious."

A flush of anger ignited inside her. "I didn't ask him to bring up marrying him like that. I panicked."

"I believe you," Katara encouraged gently.

Toph huffed in residual frustration and crossed her arms, quiet for several moments, sitting next to Katara. "Is he ugly?"

Katara's sudden intake of breath let her know the answer. "He's not- …"

She laughed but felt no amusement at Katara's failure to deflect from the fact that Bor was obviously ugly. "I thought so. I heard some things."

"From Sokka?" Katara demanded, sounding scandalized.

Her brows pinched as she felt a protectiveness come over her. "What'd Snoozles say?"

Katara cleared her throat. "Just that he was surprised that Bumi, who's 'no catch on an ugly day,' could have a grandson even uglier than he was."

Toph was unimpressed. "Bor's fine. Believe me, he's fine. He knows right how to use his penis to- "

"I don't want to hear it," Katara cut in with a shudder.

She shrugged. "It all works out, anyway. I'm ugly, too, so- "

"Toph!" Katara exclaimed, horrified. "You're not ugly- "

Toph waved a dismissive hand. "Don't bother, Sugar Queen. I know what I am, and I accept it. I'll tell you all the ways if you want me to."

"I don't want to know how you're ugly, which is false and wrong by the way; I want to know about this marriage- "

"He was trapping me," she hissed, crossing her hands in her lap. "There's nothing to talk about. It was just like my parents. That day, we received Sparky's letter about the Loser Lord escaping, and he was clearly worried about me leaving because I said was going to; I said I needed to help, and I even had a message sent to Sparky. Then he thought to trap me to keep me with him—just like my parents."

Katara's heartbeat was slow and steady. "Are you sure?"

Toph flinched. "Yes."

"I can't read heartbeats like you, but you know you're lying, don't you?"

"It's what I thought then, at least," she muttered.

"And now?"

"I don't know. The only thing I know is that we're never going back. I fucked it up. We both did."

Katara hesitated. "You said you left in the middle of the night."

She picked at her toes. "I didn't want to break his heart—not to his face, I mean. I wanted it to happen while I was far away. I left him a message from a servant, but that was it. I should have never agreed to marry him. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking."

Silence.

"And now Bumi thinks I'm a cunt," Toph continued. "Well, he always thought that, but then I went ahead and confirmed I'm a cunt- "

"Stop saying that!" Katara exclaimed, aghast. "Why would you think that?"

"Because it's true?"

"Bumi shouldn't have said that! I need to talk to him- "

Toph laughed at the thought of Katara facing down the Fucker of Fire and Earth; she grabbed Katara's arm and patted it. "No, it's fine. He's right. I went ahead and proved everything he thought about me true by doing what I did—and didn't do. It's alright—I'm a cunt. I know."

Katara's sigh was world-weary. "I don't know how you do it."

"It helps that I'm blind."

"I'm starting to think everyone is. It seems like we can't do anything right."

Toph thought of Aang's long trip and return—and the clear, unbelievable differences since. "I think we're starting to find our ways again. And if not already, we will."

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Hi, Uncle Zuzu!"

Zuko bit back the instinct to correct 'Uncle Zuzu' to 'Uncle Zuko' as Samir grinned up at him from behind a column, dressed in her airbending garbs, looking tiny—but gray eyes sparkling, face delighted. He looked around, but there was no one else, particularly no Azula, Aang, or Mother. "What are you doing by yourself, Samir?"

Samir motioned him closer and leaned close to him when he reached the column, and he crouched down as she whispered: "I'm hiding."

"Why?" he whispered back, wondering if there was a threat or attack.

Ba Sing Se had always been the source of assassination attempts, after all.

"Daddy said it's time to meditate."

Based on how Samir's nose wrinkled in disgust and the horror conveyed by her tone, Samir did not like meditating. "I think your dad knows what he's talking about."

Samir glared. "Nuh-uh. Meditating's stupid."

Zuko was unable to prevent the brief, startled laugh from escaping him at how blunt she was—quite like Azula. "I never liked meditation, either—not until I was older."

A delighted gasp echoed. "You'll talk to Daddy for me?"

"It's not my business to tell your dad how he teaches you airbending," he replied with a shake of his head.

"But Mommy talks to him!" Samir protested, gray eyes brilliant and beseeching. "Please, Uncle Zuzu?"

Zuko was unimpressed. "He knows what he's doing, Samir. It's only meditating. I had to do it when I was your age. I didn't like it, either, but I eventually did. It will be the same for you. Airbenders like meditating."

Samir crossed her arms with a pout. "That's what Daddy says."

"He's right- "

"Does that mean I'm not a real Airbender 'cause meditating's stupid?"

Zuko's only brow rose in surprise before he recovered. "Of course, you're a real Airbender. I tell you what—I'll challenge anyone who says you're not a real Airbender to an Agni Kai."

Samir blinked, gray eyes curious. "What's that?"

"A firebending duel."

"So, all I have to say is Agni Kai- "

"It's only for Firebenders."

Samir grinned. "But Mommy's a Firebender."

"Don't I know it?" he muttered, rubbing his chest absentmindedly. "But I'm sure your dad will tell you that being an Airbender is better."

She nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh. It's the best. Sorry, Uncle Zuzu."

Zuko snorted in amusement. "I won't forgive you until you go meditate."

Samir's eyes widened in horror. "What? No, Uncle Zuzu! Why?"

He smiled and patted her shoulders before he stood up. "I'm the big, bad, evil Fire Lord."

She sagged in place before she squared her shoulders and nodded. "Okay, okay, Uncle Zuzu. I'll go meditate so you'll forgive me."

Zuko watched as Samir marched away, clearly to find Aang, like she was about to head into a fight for the fate of the world. Once she rounded a corner, he shook his head in amusement before sighing. "How long were you there?"

"Not too long," Mai answered dryly, and he turned around as she stepped out of the shadows of another column; Ty Lee came around the other side with a guilty expression on her face.

"We didn't overhear much," Ty Lee offered. "We were just curious."

"Be glad it's me and not Azula."

Mai scoffed. "We are. If you were Azula, we would have never stayed around to eavesdrop."

Zuko nodded. "Well said."

Ty Lee shuffled her feet; there was a terrible anxiety and boldness—and yearning—on her face before she swallowed. "Do you know who she is?"

"You need to be more specific."

"Do you know who Samir is?"

He blinked. "She's Samir."

Ty Lee sighed, and he couldn't remember a time—besides when she tried to assassinate him—when she looked so frustrated. "No, I mean do you know from whom she is?"

Zuko was quiet for several moments, debating if he should tell Ty Lee what Azula had shared, before he arrived at his conclusion. If he didn't give her something, it would make things a lot worse. "You noticed the resemblance."

"Yes," Ty Lee agreed, sagging back against her column. "How could I not?"

"Even I noticed it," Mai added dryly.

"She's of my family, Zuko. One of my cousins—not sure which one. You know where she gets those gray eyes from—my gray eyes."

"Fire Lord Zyrn," he answered, though there was not a question asked. "Zyrn was actually an Airbender."

Fire's experience with Zyrn was one of the many reasons why it was paramount that a non-bender, least of all a bender of a different element—a different element!—never sat on the Dragon's Throne and ruled over Fire. It was a powerful, fundamental conflict of interest, specifically for a race that worshipped Power, which only a powerful Firebender could fulfill.

However, when Ty Lee hesitated to confirm Fire Lord Zyrn, Zuko was confused—because that was the only explanation. They all knew it. "Right… Jyzhol of Ishaner, gray-eyed Jyzhol, was an Airbender, too, and married into my house and had children by his wife—all with gray eyes," Ty Lee explained, seeming worked up; she seemed to breathe with more insistence. "The reason our gray eyes are still our gray eyes is due to the inbreeding—cousins marrying each other and second cousins—undertaken to keep the gray eyes in our family so they would not be bred out over time. Our gray eyes were a sign of wonder—an identification signifier. They made us unique and memorable—an excellent thing for a noble family; they helped us make ourselves known, giving us presence. Samir is a clear half-spawn born in the Colonies- "

Zuko shook his head, but he understood how Ty Lee had reached that conclusion. "She was born in Ba Sing Se. Her mother was a whore, and her father, one of your cousins, was one of my soldiers who lingered in Ba Sing Se far too long."

Mai's brow cocked. "Bitter much?"

"Annoyed," he said honestly. "But since it resulted in Samir, it was worth it."

"Her father is one of my cousins," Ty Lee stressed. "We are blood. Samir's my cousin—second cousin, at least."

Mai shrugged. "Or third cousin."

Zuko frowned. "What's your point, Ty Lee?"

Ty Lee hesitated before staring directly at him; indeed, the gray eyes were identical to Samir's gray eyes, coming from the same source—the same ancient Airbender. Aang's gray eyes were different. Samir's gray eyes were innately darker, whereas Aang's were more pale and bright—though they could darken into storm clouds often. "She's blood, Zuko; she's my blood. You know how important blood is."

"I do," he agreed, "but she's not yours. You have no claim to her."

"Claim begins with blood," Ty Lee recited. "It's the beginning of legitimacy. Azula and Avatar Aang have no claim to her. It falls to me to raise her, not them. She's much closer in blood to me- "

Zuko was unimpressed, though he understood Ty Lee's rationale; it was Fire's way, after all. "Are you going to be the one to tell that to them?"

"If I must."

"Aang's claim to Samir is an ancient one," he pointed out, surprised by her boldness, but he wasn't really upon second thought. Ty Lee always tried to do what she thought was right. "You know that gray eyes are one of Air's traits, not one of Fire's traits. Fire Lord Zyrn was Jyzhol's father; Zyrn's mother was one of Air's nuns, which makes Samir Aang's kin- "

Ty Lee frowned. "Distantly. My claim to Samir is much closer- "

"Aang has a claim to Samir because Samir is descended from Air, however distantly."

"You don't understand, Zuko," Ty Lee hissed, and he began to realize that he was missing something, missing a critical piece of understanding and context, but he was at a loss. It was obvious that Ty Lee knew something that he didn't—something that she was reluctant to share. "Samir is my family, and my family is special. She's part of that special-ness."

Zuko stared at her for several moments, glancing at Mai every so often, but while he didn't know for certain if Mai had an idea of Ty Lee's secrecy, but he suspected that she did. "What's going on?" he demanded, narrowing his good eye to match his bad one. "What is this? This is more than Fire's laws- "

There was a frantic panic in Ty Lee's gray eyes. "That's all it is, Zuko! I have a duty to Samir- "

"But why her? You never wanted anything to do with your sisters, but you want something to do with a second cousin?"

Ty Lee floundered, mouth working silently until she squeezed her eyes shut. "I want to know her. Is that too much to ask? She's an Airbender—it's amazing."

"Which is the reason why your claim to her is nonexistent," he explained. "Aang has a claim to Samir through Air that you don't- " He really didn't like how Ty Lee flinched so visibly, which, while like her, didn't make sense with the subject and context of what was happening—unless he was missing specific information that correlated. What was he missing? Did he care to find out? "- and Azula has a claim to Samir because she is Aang's wife."

As he hoped, Ty Lee gaped at him while Mai stared at him with more emotion than usual—shock, disbelief, bitterness, and horror seemed to be the primary emotions.

"They're married?" Ty Lee gasped, bringing a hand to her chest. "Really?"

Zuko smiled slightly. "Married."

"Since when?"

Azula was probably going to be furious with him that he had shared intimate information with Mai and Ty Lee; he judged that it was better than Ty Lee obsessing over Samir—the lesser of two evils. "Since Aang brought her back from her death."

"But how? There was no ceremony or anything- "

Mai glared at him suddenly in awareness. "He is distracting you, Ty Lee, with this new knowledge. How very 'Azula' of you, Fire Lord."

Zuko shrugged in admittance, unashamed. "I'm a protective uncle."

Ty Lee seemed wounded. "I would never hurt her. I want to protect her, too! I know how to protect her! She's one of my family! She's special!"

He realized suddenly from where Ty Lee's concern came, why she wanted to protect Samir. He figured out the piece of context that had been eluding him. "What do you think Azula's going to do to her?"

Ty Lee stilled before shaking her head unconvincingly. "No, that's not- "

"Don't lie to me."

"You know Azula," Ty Lee whispered, gray eyes hazy with memories. "You know she would hurt Samir to hurt me. She could be playing one of her games. It could be history repeating itself—in more ways than one."

"Azula is not going to treat her poorly," he stressed, meeting each of their inquiring gazes; it was not difficult. "She is Samir's mother; she adopted her. She treats her well. Samir loves her. Samir's a kid, but she's not stupid. She would know if Azula wasn't worthy of being her mother. She's free with Azula. If this was one of Azula's games, or if Azula was hurting Samir to hurt you, Samir wouldn't be free; she would be scared and timid. And if this were one of Azula's games, she would have told you about Samir's parentage, boasting of it, rubbing it in your face, making you feel powerless, daring you to try to stop her or do anything about it."

Ty Lee rubbed her arms—for comfort, likely. "I don't trust her with Samir."

Zuko snorted. "Threats from me are meaningless- "

"You are Fire Lord," Mai scoffed in disbelief.

"- when The Avatar is Samir's father and claims her as such. If you do anything to jeopardize that, do anything to Samir or try to take her from him, pollute her mind with nonsense and doubts, he will 'Ba Sing Se' you."

Ty Lee flinched so painfully that Zuko winced while Mai looked grim. "I'm just worried," Ty Lee defended, voice shaken. "I'm not sure. How can I be sure? Azula knows that Samir is of my family- "

"She does," he confirmed. "And she accepts it—because that is how Samir became an Airbender. Samir does not know of your connection to her, and until Aang and Azula say otherwise, she will never know. Do you understand?"

"She's blood- "

"Do you understand?" Zuko demanded, intensifying his voice, glaring at her—and Mai.

Mai glared back at him. "You do not have a say in this."

Zuko's only brow rose. "Didn't you hear? I'm 'Uncle Zuzu.' Of course, I have a say in this. Tell me you understand, Ty Lee."

Ty Lee withered. "I understand, Zuko."

"Don't worry about Samir," he said gently, softening his approach. "You don't need to worry about her. Believe me, Aang and Azula are worrying more than you ever could. You should spend time thinking about other things. Maybe you could find things in common with Prince Bor." He thought of his idea of a marriage alliance with King Bumi. "Maybe you could be his queen eventually or something. What do you think- "

"Absolutely not," Ty Lee snapped, surprising him with her vehemence. "I'll leave here before I marry him."

He frowned. "Why?"

"You've seen his appearance," Ty Lee muttered, distaste flashing across her face. "He seems pleasant and intelligent, but his face is too unappealing—so unappealing."

"That's not the only reason; it's not the real reason."

Mai glared at him. "Not everything is your business to know, Fire Lord."

Zuko's brow pinched. "Would you marry him- "

"No."

He sighed, knowing he could order it because he really wanted a lasting, permanent alliance with King Bumi and doubted his granddaughter's availability the longer he thought about it, which Mai would obey—with many curses spewed at him, of course. But he was never going to order it. "Fine. If I never bring up a marriage between either of you with Prince Bor, will you both agree not to bring up Samir again?"

Ty Lee bowed her head while Mai scowled at him, clearly aggravated by his manipulation—he was getting better, certainly. Azula would be proud. "Yes."

Zuko had no intention of going back on his word to approach a marriage between Prince Bor and either Ty Lee or Mai, but he had no idea if Ty Lee and Mai intended to stay quiet about Samir.

He hoped they would—for everyone's sake.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Katara's waterbending was sloppy and inconsistent, unfortunately; her emotions were in turmoil, and no matter what she did, how she tried to clear her mind, it remained not up to her usual standards.

She knew why—Zuko.

Ba Sing Se's royal garden was nothing like the one in the Fire Nation—she much preferred the one in the Fire Nation, which made her inevitably think about Zuko, which only reminded her that what she once thought was possible was no longer possible.

Because Family was compromised.

When she saw Ursa appear past a row of trees, she paused, grateful for the distraction. "Please tell me that Bumi heard back from King Lonin."

Ursa smiled slightly before it faded as she approached. "No, nothing like that. I came here to warn you.

Katara frowned, concerned as she returned the water to the fountain. "Why? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I do not know what happened between you two, but Zuko told me something that I know will impact you."

Something tight pressed against her spine. "What is it?"

Ursa sighed before she sat down on the fountain's edge; Katara followed suit as her dread increased. "He told me I did not have to 'worry' anymore about King Bumi proposing a marriage between him and me; he seemed proud of himself and certainly relieved—no doubt due to the subject including me. Instead, he informed me that he opened discussion for a marriage between himself and King Bumi's granddaughter, Anju, Queen of Omashu."

Katara's eyes widened; there was a painful surge through her that left her breathless. "What? No, no. But she's already married! Toph told me- "

"He said that King Bumi will order an annulment, freeing Anju to marry Zuko. He said his logic lies in diminishing the possibility of another Splintering when this is all over."

She bit her lip and looked away, trying to control her heartbeat; she was failing and suspected that Toph could feel it from wherever she was. "It's more than that."

Ursa hummed. "He said that he is being the Fire Lord he must be—the Fire Lord he should have been long ago."

"He's already that Fire Lord," she muttered, crossing her arms under breasts, wrapping around her stomach for comfort. "Why is he being so cruel?"

"I am sure it will be a consolation that he seemed unsure if the marriage would truly happen. He said it is a reach because King Bumi must think about it, which is a bad sign, according to him."

"But he wants it to happen."

"To prevent another Splintering."

"What is the Splintering?" Katara exploded, incensed—and so hurt. "Why is it so important that he would just, all of a sudden, want to marry another woman when he's never shown any interest in doing so? I know the Splintering's about having too many rivals, but now Zuko has no rivals. It makes no sense why he's worried about another Splintering."

Ursa nodded. "You must understand the crucial difference between Fire and the other races, at least politically and structurally. This was the difference that King Kuei tried so desperately to minimize but failed. The Fire Lord is not called the 'Fire King.' He is the Fire Lord, the sole ruler of Fire, anointed and appointed by Agni himself."

Katara frowned. "What does that have to do with- "

"I have shared some things with you about Fire's history, most notably about Fire Lord Kazuki."

She shivered at the memory of Fire Lord Kazuki, who executed even his own daughters in his pursuit for a son. "I know."

Ursa's head tilted, gaze evaluative. "Perhaps if you learn more, you will understand all of this—and Zuko himself. His lineage is a powerful, noteworthy, and ancient one; it is the most renowned in the history of the world."

Katara shook her head. "No. Ursa, I need to accept that nothing will happen- "

"If you are unable to lay out your reasons to Zuko, he will continue his distance with you- "

"I have laid out my reasons!" she protested, bitter and hurt that Ursa thought so low of her. "I told him why I couldn't marry him- "

Ursa blinked. "He asked you to marry him?"

Katara flushed and looked away. "No, he said he wanted us to get married later on, not right now. He wanted to build on top of the foundation that's already there."

"No wonder he approached King Bumi about his granddaughter," Ursa mused, sounding like everything made sudden sense. "Your rejection emphasized his failing as Fire Lord in obtaining a marriage—a good Fire Lady. Thus, he went to the only other ruler, besides your father, with an available—or semi-available—woman of his line that he trusted not to kill him or sabotage him. He realized that he had devoted himself to a worthless approach with you and has since turned from it. And since the majority of his nobles have fled, he fears another Splintering, even if it is only a sub-conflict of this broader conflict. He makes the only decision he can—by devoting himself to a new approach with a new woman. He must do this because he is Fire Lord, and he realizes it now; he realizes he cannot wait or stall anymore."

"He didn't devote himself or anything," she pointed out, voice soft. "It just happened. I don't think he wanted it to."

"Perhaps not. I think he hated that he did want it to happen. My son is a peculiar but amusing man. It is quite like Avatar Aang with Azula; he hated that he did love her."

Katara brought a hand to her head. "I know Azula's not who she used to be or anything, but I really don't want to be compared to her right now."

Thankfully, Ursa only laughed. "She would say the same about you, I imagine. Zuko never stalled because he waited for you- "

"He said he didn't trust anyone offered to him," she recalled, dipping her hand into the water in the fountain for comfort; its touch was cool and soothing. "He said that he was looking for a woman like me; not me myself, but a woman like me. But then when I came back after he wrote that letter about Ozai escaping, he eventually realized there was no woman like me better than me myself."

"That sounds like his logic," Ursa agreed. "His stalling made all of this possible, but now your stalling threatens the possibility."

Katara's fists clenched. "I'm not stalling. I can't marry him, not after what he did."

Ursa's golden eyes narrowed. "What did he do?"

She really didn't want to discuss it with Zuko's mother, who might not know about it. "It was something he did in the past but isn't doing anymore; it was a sin that he did for a really long time with a lot of helpers- "

A sharp disbelief flashed across Ursa's face. "He told you about the concubines?"

Katara sagged, not truly surprised that Ursa knew. "Yes. He wanted to be honest."

Ursa shook her head in wonder. "Not a clever way of doing it."

"Certainly not," she muttered. "He destroyed Family over and over again. There's no coming back from that. I can't be sure that he would cherish and protect our family; I can't be sure that he wouldn't destroy it. That's not something I can ever be not sure about—I have to be sure, down to my bones, that he wouldn't destroy our family. But I'm not sure, not anymore. And then he's so much like Ozai, it's occurred to me he might do something similar."

Ursa's brows pinched; there was a pained anguish in her golden eyes. "Meaning?"

"He would never scar our children physically," she explained. "I know he wouldn't—I know it. But I'm afraid he would scar our children's hearts—and mine—like Ozai did his face. He would destroy our family—like he destroyed all those families he would have had with the concubines."

Silence.

"Your rationale is clear, particularly with what I know about Water's ethic of Family," Ursa commended. "But I am unsure your rationale is complete. I want to tell you Fire's history so you can see that Zuko is but a piece of that long history and has, thus, been influenced by that history—by the memories lingering in our culture and traditions, born of our race. It is this history that informs his decisions right now, particularly with his insistence on marriage. The fact he waited so long to marry is unusual for a Fire Lord. Every other Fire Lord, if an adult, married by his fifth year into his reign."

"So he's been playing with fire," she observed with a hysterical sense of irony. "If you think learning the history will help, I trust you. Go ahead."

"Have you ever wondered why the Fire Lord is called the 'Fire Lord' instead of the 'Fire King'?"

Katara shrugged. "Not really. Maybe there were a few times I've wondered, but it's always been vague. I've never given it serious thought."

"Records show that the Air Nomads had five Elders at each Air Temple who were in charge of their temple and they each formed High Council—and then all of the High Councils formed the High Council of Elders that decided the Air Nomads way of life and such. The Earth Kingdom has four kings: Ba Sing Se, Omashu, Zaofu, and Chyung, each with equal power. The Water Tribes have two chiefs who control each hemisphere's territories and have the same authority throughout his domain. But unlike the other nations, the Fire Nation only has one sovereign whom every Child of Fire obeys—the Fire Lord. The Dragon Bone Catacombs, accessible only to the Fire Royal Family and the Supreme Fire Sage, detail records that reveal that the Fire Nation originally formed through a large number of tribes called the Sun Warriors."

"Wait," she interrupted. "That's where Zuko and Aang had found the last Dragons, isn't it?"

Ursa smiled slightly. "Yes, I believe so. It appears that a single tribe had managed to escape."

"Escape?"

"The Sun Warriors were led by five Fire Sages for several generations. Eventually, one Sage wanted more and rose above what had been his position. He then convinced his spiritual brothers that they should all be called a 'Fire Lord' because Agni favored them over any of the other Children of Fire, telling them that they were all chosen by the Fire Spirit to fully and truly lead his people in all aspects. The Fire Sages, subsequently, all agreed, and for several centuries, each Fire Lord controlled a certain number of Sun Warrior Tribes, divided amongst each evenly, and five new Fire Sages were also chosen and each reported to a certain Fire Lord—basic advisors, but their main duty was spiritual healing. Fire Lord Kai, descended from Agni according to every story, succeeded his father after his demise, desired more power. He was already the strongest recorded Firebender of his time of any time. He was a prodigy, the source of all royal prodigies after him. He believed it was his destiny to lead Fire by his lonesome; he wanted no other Fire Lords to contend with."

"So, he took over all the Sun Warrior Tribes," Katara guessed, wondering how it all related to Zuko, but she was intrigued; she had always been intrigued by Fire's history, which was long and incredible—so different from Water's histories, which were scarce.

Ursa shook her head. "Not exactly. Kai's aspirations drew attention from the other Fire Lords; he was young and foolish and had not learned how to play the game. The records show that for several years, each Fire Lord, with the support of his Sun Warrior Tribes, battled for complete dominion over Fire. Eventually, Kai, through mean that are suspected to be related to blackmail, rallied all of the Fire Sages to join him, betraying the other Fire Lords. Now with the support of all of the Fire Sages, Kai united all of the Sun Warrior Tribes together, creating the Fire Nation as it is understood today. This was the Unification that happened countless generations ago and also the source of Kai and His Conquered Chiefess, the foremost of the epic romances."

Katara recalled what Zuko told her. "Because Kai took the wife of the last Sun Warrior Tribe Chief as his own wife—the Chiefess—and sired by her his heir."

"Correct."

"But why would all of the Sun Warrior Tribes accept Kai? They were loyal to the other Fire Lords."

"During the countless battles for conquest, much death spread through the Sun Warrior Tribes. Infections mounted, and diseases ravaged through the territories. Soon, famines began to affect the tribes. Kai saw his opportunity and exploited it; because of his strong firebending, he was unafraid to enter the battlefield against the other Sun Warrior Tribes. As a result, his tribes did not suffer as many casualties."

"What about the diseases? What about the famine? That's the worst part because those who are sick can't heal without the proper nutrients."

"The Fire Sages, who by then were all loyal to Kai, prayed incessantly to Agni to grant Kai's Sun Warrior Tribes strength to fight. Through many struggles, Kai was able to coerce all of the starving Sun Warrior Tribes to join him, promising to let them return to their Fire Lords once the famine and plagues were over. That was a lie, but soon, nobody knew it. During the process of integrating all of the Sun Warriors together to form the foundations of the Fire Nation, Kai, with the aid of the Fire Sages, secretly murdered every other Fire Lord and their families and inner circles, eradicating their entire bloodlines, erasing them from history. He reported all of their deaths as a result of the plague, declaring that Agni himself was on his side, and nobody questioned it. Kai burned every other Fire Lords' parchments, keeping his deed hidden. Those who did suspect were silenced. Every historian and every scribe who had even uttered the other Fire Lords' names were punished with death. Others had their eyes pulled out and their tongues cut from their mouths to keep the world, to keep the future generations, from ever knowing that the other Fire Lords had even existed. This is why there is no 'Fire King,' Katara. If Kai hailed himself as the 'Fire King' instead of the 'Fire Lord' it would have been a bold, open declaration that he had orchestrated the deaths of the other Fire Lords, provoking rebellion through the newly unified Fire Nation. Kai was not foolish; he kept himself and his descendants as the Fire Lord only. Thus, the Fire Lord is the sovereign of the Children of Fire instead of a Fire King."

Katara was silent for several moments, thinking about everything she just learned. "I had no idea that the Fire Nation is rooted in such a bloody backstory," she whispered. "But it makes sense."

"Fire has always been feared since the Unification; we are born warriors."

"Where was The Avatar during the Unification? I doubt he would have just stood by and allowed it to happen."

"It is said that The Avatar was a child when Kai became the true Fire Lord. As for the first Fire Sages becoming Fire Lords, no one knows. The Avatar must not have cared. Some of the most pivotal events in Fire's history have happened because The Avatar did not care—the foremost example being the Splintering, which occurred in Avatar Kuruk's reign."

Katara stiffened. "Zuko already told me about the Splintering."

Ursa's brows rose. "I doubt he told you everything."

"Just that there were too many heirs," she recalled. "But now there are no heirs. Zuko said it would be a second Splintering of him versus Ozai, but I don't understand why he's actually comparing it to the Splintering. It doesn't make sense."

"It is no longer about him versus Ozai," Ursa said immediately. "Ozai will never be Fire Lord again; his aim is not to be Fire Lord again. He will become another Avatar, which is far grander and supreme than the Fire Lord. However, a second Splintering is still a possibility; it is actually more likely if any of the nobles survive this war."

"Why?"

"Because if Zuko dies without an heir, no one will accept Azula," Ursa explained, able to voice the thought of Zuko's death with a surprising clarity while Katara only felt sick and breathless at the thought of Zuko's death. "And Azula has moved to other pursuits and ambitions than sitting on the Dragon's Throne. Iroh would have to take the Dragon's Throne, but I am unsure he would sire another heir. He has never shown an interest to. Perhaps duty would force him to, but it is also likely that scheming nobles would prevent it from happening, either killing Iroh because they would realize that Iroh is Sozin's last heir with Zuko dead or killing his offspring. And remember, Ozai will not be interested as he is above such things now—he looks to a higher horizon. He already did so by becoming the Phoenix King at the end of the Great War. Thus, with no true heir left to sit on the Dragon's Throne, it would be a free-for-all as all possible claimants, with faint whispers of royal blood in their veins stemming from Henjul, would wage war against each other and tear the Fire Nation apart. It would mirror the Splintering exactly, for that is what occurred. For entire generations—centuries—Fire was bruised and beaten in a power struggle for control of the Dragon's Throne, which is what will happen if Zuko dies without an heir—a real heir other than Azula. The noble branches of Kai's house, the Houses of Ishaner and Vasuman, ripped Fire apart, and history would repeat itself—other nobles houses, with distant ties to Fire's royal lineage, would echo the scheming and murders. It was chaos for centuries as the Fire's royal family plotted the deaths of their kin for several generations, seeking the Dragon's Throne for themselves, for their House. And the only difference is that instead of the Fire Royal Family, it would be Fire's noble families, which are more numerous, which maximizes the carnage and length of a conflict. That is what Zuko fears—that is what everyone of Fire fears. It will be a terrible confusion that decimates our race. We might never recover from it, not with Earth and Water hating us so fiercely, willing to keep us in the mire we placed ourselves with a second Splintering. And this time, there will be no Henjul to rise out of the ashes and usher us into glory and prosperity."

Katara absorbed everything Ursa shared and finally understood Zuko's sudden insistence on marriage. "He finally realized what he has to do," she whispered. "He must marry—or be in a relationship that points, clearly and blatantly, to marriage in the future. He doesn't know if the nobles will survive this war, but he's preparing for it; he's being the Fire Lord, something he probably should have done much sooner."

Ursa's eyes pinched in sorrowful agreement. "Yes. He realized that his constant decision not to marry, whether a woman of Fire or not, to provide stability and a sign of the future, alienated the nobility, who see a better future in allying with Ozai and Dark. They hope that Zuko will die in this war, paving the way for a second Splintering, since Zuko does not have an heir and is not even married—not even 'in a relationship that points, clearly and blatantly, to marriage in the future.'"

She felt cold. "Why tell me all this?"

Ursa looked at her with intent. "You sat here as I talked and listened; you absorbed everything I told you. You listened to the stories of Zuko's lineage—the same as Ozai's lineage. I learned all of this when I married Ozai. What you just did is a wife's duty to her husband in the Fire Nation, and it is not the first time you have done this. You have always been curious and yearned to know about Zuko's lineage and history. Now you must discern the source of your curiosity and yearning."

Katara looked into her reflection in the pond; her face appeared worn and tired—it was how she felt. "I love him—that's why. But I can't be his Fire Lady—be his wife—with what I know now. I can't wrap my head around it. I would betray everything I love and believe about Family by doing so."

"Fire is a race in many conflicts, more than the other races; we are bred in conflict, as our history shows. Marriages are a way to soothe conflicts. The fact Zuko has waited so long, understandably, was always a danger, especially during such a turbulent time after the Great War. Fire has been remarkably understanding about his delay and would accept a foreign Fire Lady due to the extraordinary circumstances—the only occurrence in the history of our race. If you are to marry him, as is your right to choose, this is the only time in the long history of Fire where the possibility is possible. It will never be possible after this—I am certain of it. Fire's experience with a half-spawn Fire Lord- "

"Fire Lord Zyrn," she recalled, remembering what Zuko told her. "He was an Airbender."

"Yes. Our experience with him and his nature was one that resulted in tragedy and atrocity, and we learned our lesson—the hard, disastrous way. It was never put into law before his reign that the Fire Lord had to be a Firebender because everyone considered such a thing the most obvious of requirements, but after his reign, a law was implemented with unanimous, collective approval and relief. No non-bender—or bender of another element—can sit on the Dragon's Throne and rule as Fire Lord over Agni's children. It is unnatural otherwise, something we were reminded of forcefully with Fire Lord Zyrn. Such a union between the Fire Lord and a woman of another race is forbidden—and has been forbidden—since Fire Lord Houka sired Zyrn. Never would such a marriage be possible in any other generation but this one—because of Fire's natural laws, informed by nature and our experience with and memory of Fire Lord Zyrn. However, this is the only generation where it is possible—I do not think you understand how extraordinary your circumstances are. You are positioned in a way no woman ever has been, not even Fire Lord Zyrn's mother. Due to the Great War and its horrors, Fire is willing—for only this one generation, only with Zuko as Fire Lord who must navigate the chaos to discern peace for all the races, not only Fire—to have a foreign woman as Fire Lady and mother of the future Fire Lord. This is your only chance, Katara—your only opportunity where something like a marriage, something like a real family, is possible with a man like Zuko, with Zuko himself. Otherwise, your only option would be as the Fire Lord's concubine."

"How could I want to marry him after what I learned?" she asked softly, feeling the familiar desperation and heartache. "I want to, but how can I? How can I accept something so horrible?"

Ursa closed her eyes briefly before they opened as she shook her head in lament. "I do not know. When he was born, I never imagined he was capable of such a thing; I never imagined he could be so angry, either. I still see that sweet boy he was, and it is sometimes hard to see the man he is now."

Katara sagged. "I don't know what to do."

"You do what you must—as Zuko will."

XxXxXxXxXxX

In vigorous retrospection, Iroh was relieved that being Fire Lord was not his chosen path. Although he had been an esteemed general, the Dragon of the West, sitting on the Dragon's Throne was simply tedious, to say the least. He honestly had no idea how Zuko did not rip his hair out in frustration or stress every day—and his nephew's temper and volatility was worse than his own!

There was a rising demand for questions to where the Fire Lord went and what conspiracy he had uncovered; there was also an increasing panic, a foreboding sense of conflict, that buzzed in the air. It was intensified with the fact that it was well-known that most of the nobility had fled their posts and vanished out of the Fire Nation, allying with an unknown enemy to the Fire Lord and Fire itself. He did his best to quell the panic and fears, promising answers, peace, and order, but there was a visible discontent across the Caldera, specifically. He doubted much of the other islands cared as much; they did not care who ruled them as long as the ruler was of Sozin's line, for they adored Sozin, who had brought them glory and prosperity.

Iroh soothed the whispers of an invasion and had his father's Great Gates permanently activated, at least until he received word from Zuko to rescind the command. With a heavy heart, he rejected all the foreigners, including their families, Zuko had embraced as refugees since King Kuei declared war over a year ago. He was forced to banish all of them from Fire's islands, rounding them up, and sending them back to the continent—all to prevent a possible motivation for Earth to unify behind and attack, possibly enticed by Ozai to follow him into Fire and reclaim their kinsmen while Ozai reclaimed the Dragon's Throne.

It was a cruel but necessary decision.

He acted as the Fire Lord his father would have wanted him to be—the position he was bred and groomed for. But the experience was a strange one, very different than what he had learned under his father's tutelage. The Fire Nation Fire Lord Azulon reigned over was different from the Fire Nation Fire Lord Zuko—and his regent Prince Iroh—reigned over. Too much had changed in the decade-plus since his father's time. Where the Fire Nation once seemed secure with two royal brothers with heirs to their lines, all descended from Sozin, there was only one real heir left in Zuko.

However, with Zuko's absence, there was pressure from the remaining nobles—the very few that possessed honor to stay instead of fleeing to Ozai—to find a wife and sire his own heir in case Zuko was killed without an heir, stranding Fire in chaos and turmoil. Of course, the nobles did not suggest it with such bluntness, but Iroh inferred their aim simply enough; it was a suggestion he feared he would have to fulfill, particularly if the war was a long one, as it increasingly seemed like it would be. He did not want to spoil his beloved Natsumi's memory nor replace Lu Ten with another heir, but if it would appease the extensive discontent, he would do it.

It would be with a heavy heart, for he was not interested in having another family; he feared he would not devote himself as fully as he should. After all, he had failed his family more than he had ever done right by them. He had failed his mother; he had failed his father; he had failed his brother; he had failed his wife; he had failed his son; he had failed his sister; and he had failed his niece. The only he had ever had success with is Zuko—the only one. He failed with everyone else and feared he would return to his pattern if he had another family.

It was something he needed to discuss with Zuko—whenever he learned where Zuko was staying. There had only been silence since Zuko's departure, but he knew that Avatar Aang had rescued Azula's spirit from limbo and would resolve the new war, even if it took a long time, as it appeared it would. However, the long the war went on, the more likely it was that Zuko could die—without an heir. If Zuko died, it would fall to him to preserve Fire's stability.

He missed his nephew.

"Prince Iroh."

Iroh's gaze snapped to one of the palace's scribe who entered; he looked to be around twenty or so, black hair falling past his ears and to his shoulders. The boy was thin, almost painfully so, but Iroh instinctively knew that it was a façade, for the boy undoubtedly had strength. Iroh could feel the boy's chi, and it was intriguingly strong, although it possessed no Fire. What drew his attention, though, were the boy's eyes. They were permanently wide, irises gleaming in the light of the room.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There is a group of Imperial Firebenders and Yu Yan Archers who claim to have critical information about the Fire Lord's location."

Iroh's eyes narrowed, wondering how such a group could possess knowledge that he did not, but with his desire to know Zuko's location so he could message him and discuss his worries, he nodded. "Send them in quickly."

"Of course, Prince Iroh," The scribe motioned behind him, and Iroh remained seated as five men swiftly entered, postures ramrod and eyes golden. "Imperial Firebenders Ryuko, Maro, and Oryn, and Yu Yan Archers Suarto and Tsyuni."

"Thank you," Iroh dismissed, watching as the scribe bowed and scurried out of the Fire Lord's private study, shutting the doors before he observed the men before him; he made sure he looked every bit the Dragon of the West, the firstborn of Fire Lord Azulon. "Gentlemen, you have knowledge for me."

They all kneeled before him with humility. "Prince Iroh," Oryn murmured, and they all rose gracefully.

"The scribe said you possess knowledge of my nephew's location."

Remorseful looks crossed their faces, which made Iroh tense. Ryuko inclined his head with sorrow. "We are sorry to bring you this hateful intelligence, Prince Iroh, but your nephew is dead. You are Fire Lord now."

Iroh gripped the table as a fire swept through him that was not warm in the slightest—it was terrifyingly, horrifyingly cold. "What?" he gasped, choked for words. "Zuko is dead? How?"

A haze clouded his senses as he listened to what happened. Zuko scouted ahead for a camp, desperate for supplies, but encountered enemy forces. There was nothing glorious about his death; he was struck down within moments, too quick for him to make a response and understand the magnitude of the situation, and died, choking on his own blood. A Fire Lord's fire was snuffed out without him even having a chance to unleashing his firebending. It was sickening and horrifying—and all because it was his beloved nephew, now dead like Lu Ten!

"And my niece?" he asked in a croak.

"It was from Princess Azula that we received the message," Suarto clarified. "She informed us of the tragedy and demands you take your rightful place on the Dragon's Throne."

Maro nodded and inclined his head. "May your reign be glorious and prosperous, Fire Lord Iroh."

Iroh bowed his head, tears dropping to the table's wood in a rhythm—unlike Zuko's heart, which was stilled forever of its natural rhythm. "And Avatar Aang?"

"Avatar Aang killed Fire Lord Zuko's attackers."

Something prickled at his awareness; the instincts of a general were impossible to smother. "Why did Zuko go? Why him? Why did he scout for supplies? Why not Lady Toph, who would have sovereignty of the ground, able to sense any ambush or enemies? Zuko would never make such a terrible misjudgment."

Maro's position changed slightly, face twisting in discomfort. "That is all the information Princess Azula provided, Fire Lord Iroh."

Warmth burst in his vision as the words registered inside his mind; clarity returned, along with his suspicions. "From whom did you learn this intelligence, truly?" he demanded, rising to his feet, glaring at the messengers. "If it was my niece, she would have relayed everything. She would have never left prominent gaps in knowledge, particularly for the death of her brother, whom she loved and cherished, regardless of their conflicts."

Whether it was the look on his face or the way he spoke, the messengers changed; the performance bled away, revealing the truth of their visit. As if a signal went off, the men all gained a cold glint in their eyes, fire sprouting from the fists of the Firebenders while the Yu Yan drew their bows back, arrowheads gleaming under the light of the fire.

"What does it matter when you will be dead and your Fire Lord will join you soon?" Suarto demanded.

Iroh felt no danger, only an almost crippling relief that Zuko was alive and instead of dead. "Then kill me, as is your aim."

Maro leaped forward and punched forward, a torrent of embers flashing towards him. Reacting on instinct, Iroh flipped the desk into the air, denying the flames their target. Immediately, he lashed through the wood in a blaze of strength and attacked the traitors. He hissed as an arrow grazed his cheek, a thin line of blood bubbling to the surface. Iroh rolled to the side and swept out his leg, fire sprouting from his foot as Ryuko was caught, screaming in pain as his flesh melted from the sizzling hot flames; his death was imminent.

"You fucking cunt!" Maro roared in horrified rage. "You killed my cousin!"

Sparks of lightning condensed in Iroh's palm as he leaped away from Maro's spinning flame kick. He spun around and unleashed his lightning, watching dispassionately as Maro was blown apart, smashing into part of the wall in different areas; blood colored the walls further crimson. He summoned a wall of flames that kept the incoming arrows from reaching him, melting upon contact with his fire. He hopped over Ryuko's carcass and spun to his right, wrapping his hand around Tsyuni's bow, wrenching it to the side; he quickly snapped his hand towards the Yu Yan's face, breaking bones, and blood sprayed into Iroh's beard. Suddenly, he heard the tell-tale sound of a bow's line being pulled back, and Iroh yanked Tsyuni in front of him. Immediately, multiple arrows tearing through the man's body relentlessly; the arrowheads were a hair's breadth away from Iroh's face and chest.

A flaming hand lashed toward him, landing on his shoulder, and Iroh hissed in pain before he elbowed Oryn; he quickly created a fire dagger, spun around, wrenched the arm attached to the flaming hand, snapping bones like twigs. He jammed the fire dagger into Oryn's neck instantly—firebending basic teachings. Always go for the neck in close combat instead of the face.

Iroh groaned when an arrowhead penetrated his back and burst out of his chest, gleaming darkly with his blood. He doubled over and fell to his knees and braced one hand on the ground, turning around to see his last opponent—Suarto.

Suarto had another arrow pulled back in his bow, pointed at his face. "Dragon of the West, indeed."

He swallowed, feeling a sickening heat that was unfamiliar catch in his throat. "Traitor, indeed."

Iroh wavered back from Suarto snapping his bow violently into his face, but his kneeling position kept him ground as tears filled his eyes from the pain.

"I never wanted to kill an heir of Sozin," Suarto hissed in disgust. "But look at you. You're a disgrace to the seed that spawned you! Your father would be ashamed of you! You are senile. It's pathetic! The once-great Dragon of the West, firstborn of Fire Lord Azulon, is a traitor to Agni's Children! No, you are the fool! Unable to see the truth!"

He spit out blood to free his tongue to speak, knowing his only chance was to enrage Suarto's clear passion. "My father would be ashamed of your betrayal to the Dragon's Throne. How can you live to see another sunrise after murdering one of Agni's sons, descended from Kai, born of Agni's holy seed? What do you know of honor but dishonor? You are but a man who needs a crutch to stand up! Never has there lived a man so pathetic and weak as you, who cowers before me in treachery- "

His head suddenly snapped to the side as Suarto backhanded him, following it up with a swift, painful kick to the abdomen; he moaned in pain when Suarto gripped the arrowhead sticking out of his chest and wrenched it to the side for maximum damage.

Iroh craned his neck up and roared flames into Suarto's face before he unleashed his lightning, watching with grim satisfaction as Suarto's body was blown apart, blood spraying the floor and walls; the traitor joined his fellow traitor, Maro.

He grunted, vision circling for several moments, as he reached behind his back and grasped the feathers to the arrow; he almost vomited as he pulled the arrow back, arrowhead disappearing into his chest before he stopped.

It would have to be enough—he had to find the source of the assassination attempt.

Iroh pulled a flaming hand to his chest and cauterized the exit wound as much as he could tolerate, enough to keep him alive, but it brought him no relief; it only increased his agony, and he knew he would have to find proper care from the palace physicians as soon as he could.

But there was something more important.

He had the powerful instinct, particularly based on the assassins' conduct, that the treacherous nobles who undoubtedly sponsored the attack would come to visit the assassins and gloat over his body. What better way to dishonor an enemy, as they surely perceived him, after all? Instead of bursting out of the Fire Lord's private study on a warpath or fleeing to receive urgent care, he stayed, playing a long game—the only way to survive, as his father taught him. His seeming disappearance would act as evidence to the traitors that the Dragon of the West was dead, and they would desire to see the evidence for themselves and celebrate.

Iroh positioned himself gingerly in one of the puddles of blood and laid face-down, proudly displaying the arrow sticking into his back—it would be the first thing anyone would see upon entering, the Dragon of the West struck down by an arrow in his final moments after killing his attackers.

Thankfully, it did not take long for him to hear footsteps outside before the doors opened.

"As you can see, no one has come out since I escorted them in," a familiar voice said.

The scribe!

Iroh cataloged the boy's betrayal and listened, yearning to obtain as much information as he could before the pain became too much, forcing him to reveal the ruse.

Footsteps approached his body. "Look at this," one sneered, and Iroh could not place the man's voice. "How a mighty man has fallen. Our race once looked to him to lead us into glory, but he squandered all the great gifts he was given. How ridiculous is it? It disgusts me. A man can be given everything in his life as he was—the seed of his father, the inheritance of a world-trembling prince, the adoration of his race, the triumphs of a general, the respect of nobles, and the joy of opulence—and throw it all away. And why did he throw it away?"

"For a cunt's notion of peace," another derided. "And yet, this fat cunt proved his nature as a liar, a shifter of allegiances, in his death as he died killing his assassins. He did not die as he claimed to live; he died murdering, not spreading peace—a hypocrite."

A disdainful laugh echoed in the air. "He preached peace but played war—a crippled man. At least his brother is honest and does not hide what he is."

"We once thought this man would complete our dominion of the world," a fourth voice condemned. "The only dominion he ever held was of the blood in his veins."

"Which he wasted," one jeered. "He deserves to lie, face-first, in his own blood. He had one son that died and no more. He did not spread his magnificent seed. How weak is a man that he is born into greatness and squanders it?"

Footsteps approached his body. "Look at him. He replaced all his strength with fat!"

A strong boot connected against his side, flipping him over; Iroh had intended to continue his ruse and keep his eyes closed, but when the arrow snapped into his back, jamming it farther inside, he groaned and opened his eyes.

Immediately, he sprang to his feet and took advantage of his enemies'—five in total—shock. He punched his fists forward, and the roar of the flames was loud enough to overwhelm the sound of the screams and defying cries of rage.

All there were left was one unconscious noble—a nobleman he vaguely recognized but did not know the name of—and the scribe.

Iroh scanned the scribe, who stared at him with wide eyes; there was a tightness in his posture that almost seemed brittle. "Will you and I have problems?"

The scribe shook his head.

He decided to believe him. "What is your name, boy?"

"Lee."

The boy's tone was level, and Iroh did not like it, especially when he was able to sense that it was a lie. The heat in the boy's body had flared dramatically around the boy named Lee's eyes and nose, indicating a bold lie. In response, he stepped forward and watched as the scribe stiffened, eyes becoming more alarmed with each step taken.

Iroh's eyes as he felt a tug on his chi, something that he had never experienced before, but he smiled to put Lee at ease—and himself. "Thank you, Lee. Please stay outside the room while I deal with this traitor."

Lee's jaw clenched as he bowed; the movement looked strange and unpracticed. "Yes, Prince Iroh."

He rubbed his beard, itchy with blood, and watched as Lee exited the room and closed the door; it was a test. If Lee remained standing outside when Iroh was finished with the nobleman, it proved that Lee could be trusted, for he did not run when he had the chance—as someone who was allied with the traitors would.

Iroh relaxed and kneeled in front of the unconscious nobleman, half reclined in a puddle of blood—another man's blood. He smacked the man's face violently, knocking his head against the edge of the table with a sharp thud.

The nobleman startled awake and paled when he saw him and realized his situation. "You disgrace."

"It intrigues me that you can describe yourself so aptly."

"I describe you!" he spat, eyes flashing at him. "If your father foresaw what you would become, he would have smothered you the moment you came out of your mother!"

"What is your name?"

"You do not deserve the honor of knowing it, for all you know is dishonor."

Iroh stared at him. "Tell me about my brother's ambitions."

"You mind could never understand them—such is your empty intellect!"

"Why ally with him?"

"He understands greatness."

Iroh laughed. "He does, yes, but do you? How could you understand greatness? You have never touched it."

The man's face flushed with defiant ire. "I have seen it. Thus, I know what it is—what it looks like. You are not great while your brother is. Everyone knows it."

"Greatness has a price," he replied, trying not to recall the tragedies that afflicted him; he failed. "I paid that price for years before I could not bear it any longer. Greatness takes from you—and keeps taking. I lost everything because of my greatness. If I was great still, I would lose everything I have gained since. I refuse greatness because I am wise. Greatness ruined my grandfather, exhausted my father, and disconnected my brother—I watched it all. I was there. Where were you?"

"Do not talk down to me like you are a great man! You already denied yourself greatness, hypocrite!"

Iroh hummed and touched his cauterized wound on his chest; it was tender and needed attention quickly. "Where is my brother?"

"I will die before I tell you."

"That can be arranged."

"Good."

Unfortunately, it was obvious that the nobleman meant his vow with deep conviction. "Where is your family?"

The man's eyes gleamed with triumph. "Safe from your reach. You will never find them."

"Did you return to the Fire Nation for this attack, or have you been here this whole time?"

"Believe what you will."

Iroh frowned. "You make it harder on yourself."

A mocking laugh echoed. "You hold no power here, for I do not fear my death; you hold no authority. I do not care what happens to me. Pain is irrelevant next to purpose. I know my purpose, unlike you, who cherishes lies and failures."

"Where is Vaatu?"

"A plague comes for you," the nobleman hissed, glaring at him. "You worry is with Vaatu, but you forget Agni, who is more primary to you. Vaatu works against The Avatar and does not care about you; he does not think of you. But Agni thinks of you and directs his attention on you. Agni hates you and glowers down at you now. You have made a mockery of his sanctity, and his vengeance rises like the dawn. You and your nephew will die, forgotten; your names will be wiped from all records. No boys will be named your names henceforth. This is Agni's judgment against you and your weakness." The nobleman settled back against the destroyed remains of the table, serene. "This is all you will get from me, Failure Prince. Do with me what you will."

Normally, Iroh would keep the man alive, but he feared that if he did so and imprisoned him, talk would spread of Ozai's power growing, which might lead to more people fleeing to join Ozai.

It was a risk too serious to ignore. Thus, he charged his hand with flames. "May Agni show mercy to you."

The man's eyes possessed amused knowledge. "He will; he approves of my choices and spits on you."

Iroh killed the man quickly.

He stood to his feet, every action a tremble, and hobbled to the door, knowing there was one last thing—witness—to take care of. When he opened the door and saw Lee standing outside as ordered, he relaxed in relief.

If Lee was a traitor, he would have fled, never obeying the command.

He motioned Lee to him and offered his arm. "Please escort me to the palace physicians. I fear I will not make it on my own."

A lie, but a useful one; he needed to deduce why the nobles used Lee in their scheme. Had they sensed disloyalty? Had he expressed treachery before? Was he not all that he appeared?

With a painful reluctance, Lee accepted his arm and walked him awkwardly, almost seeming to tremble, in the direction of the palace physicians. "I don't know where to go exactly."

Iroh laughed kindly. "I will nudge you where to go. Just keep walking. This was quite the day. Have you ever experienced anything like it before?"

"No," Lee answered, brusque.

He kept his smile as he sensed the bold lie but nodded. "May it be the last time either of us experience it. I apologize that you were dragged into it. Were you hurt?"

The annoyed disgust on Lee's face reminded Iroh of Zuko as he nudged him down another hall. "No."

"Were you asked to guide them to the private study?"

"Yes."

"Why did you agree?"

Lee's face shuddered with rage as they turned down another hall. "They are nobles; I'm just a servant."

That was a truth, and Iroh decided to pity the boy. "Did they say anything else to you before you brought them here?"

"They just said it was about time you died."

He stared at Lee, not liking how much zeal seemed to be behind those words, but he realized that he was paranoid after the attack against him. If Lee actually meant him harm or was allied with the nobles, he would have attacked when his back was turned or interrogating the nobles by sneaking inside the room.

"Thank you for your stoicism and bravery, Lee. You kept calm in a terrible situation, even seeing me kill those traitors."

A flash of something—hostility?—flared across Lee's face. "I heard stories of your talents. It prepared me."

Iroh placed a 'fatherly' hand on Lee's shoulder as they arrived at the physicians' quarters, where there would be all the supplies necessary to relieve him of his pain. "Go rest. A young man needs his rest, Lee, especially the brave ones."

Lee bowed, still improper in his form. "At your orders, Prince Iroh."

"And make sure to speak of this to no one," he added.

"Of course."

Iroh watched Lee depart and felt dissatisfied when he realized that he had made no advances in deducing why the traitors dragged Lee into their scheme.

Lee was someone to keep an eye on.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Katara couldn't sleep at all, no matter how late it became. She thought her struggles would fade after she made the decision that nothing could happen between her and Zuko, but her struggles only intensified, gnawing at her, making her question everything. And Zuko's apathetic behavior seared her with its chilly disregard, making her feel guilty and regretful—but why? She still didn't understand, but she wanted to! But she didn't know how to!

How could she compromise her values and ideals, especially when it came to Family, her race's foremost belief?

The rising desperation within her beckoned her to act, traveling through the rebuilt palace, which was constructed differently from its previous iteration. However, she remembered the last time she was in Ba Sing Se during the last Great Gathering, in which she had seen Zuko again for the first time after seven years. It seemed like they were back in the same positions, but she knew it was different—because they were different.

Zuko had hated her then, eventually erupting in fury, glaring at her with vicious flames in his eyes, showing he cared on some level—he still felt the connection. However, it was different now; it was unholy. He didn't care at all, clearly holding her in apathy; he made no effort to connect or disconnect. She had felt and watched his eyes pass over her without reaction or emotion since that terrible confrontation when he declared that he wanted to marry her and asked to know why she couldn't marry him.

Something had changed inside him; he no longer loved or hated her, attested to by the 'foundation' he kept talking about.

But now there was no foundation—because he had clearly razed it.

It should relieve her because she had made up her mind not to marry him—right? But she only felt more unsettled and restless, more distressed and frantic to come up with a solution or a way to explain to him why she couldn't marry him that didn't sound shallow to her own ears.

But how could she turn her back on Family like Zuko had done? It would be doing the same thing that he did, which was shameful and horrible!

It gnawed at her because she missed Zuko—missed talking to him like everything was great and vigorous between them, missed his warm presence with his attentive eyes and dry humor, and missed his steady assurances and calm knowledge about things. She hadn't realized how deeply she had come to love spending time with him and rely on his dedicated passion and experience.

There was only one solution she could discern to help her either understand his crime or accept that there would never be a 'foundation' between them again. Sure, he may have razed it on his end, but she certainly still felt it!

She had been feeling it every day for months!

Katara knocked on the door, preparing herself with steady breaths—and there were her waterskins attached to her waist in case things got out of hand.

It was always a possibility.

The door opened, and golden eyes stared back at her.

Azula raised a brow, dressed in Air robes that were not as neat and flowing as usual; there were quite a few visible creases. "Aang is asleep."

Katara hesitated, not wanting to think of the source of the creases or the relaxed expression on Azula's face, framed by wild, wind-blown-looking hair that was not as composed as usual, before squaring her shoulders. "Actually, it's you I wanted to talk to."

"This is interesting," Azula commented idly, watching her. "It is the middle of the night, and you seek me out. Why? Do you want to kill someone and think I am the least consequential?"

She sighed. "No. But you're making it difficult."

"I try," Azula drawled with pride. "What do you want? You may want to talk to me, but I do not want to talk to you."

"It's about Zuko."

Azula stared at her for several moments before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her; they were alone in the hall. "Explain."

"Still a princess, I see," she muttered.

"You need to learn to be," Azula retorted, unapologetic. "What about Zuko? Are you here to confess what angered him to apathy?"

Katara flinched before shaking her head. "No. Well, maybe. I just need to understand. I'm trying to understand him, and I've realized that you're the only one who can tell me. You're my last chance to get to the bottom of this."

"You trust me to be honest with you?"

"You're always honest when it hurts," Katara said, trying not to sound bitter; she was failing clearly by Azula's triumphant expression. "You know this will hurt."

Azula hummed. "Very well. But I need context. Is this about him telling you about his whores?"

Katara blinked, eyes widening. "You knew?"

Azula stared at her, unimpressed. "Yes, I knew. Of course, I knew."

"I already knew that," she muttered, trying to find her bearings. Toph had learned about it from Azula, after all.

"He told me what he told you when I returned."

"And you're okay with it?"

"With his whores?"

"Yes."

Azula raised one shoulder in a shrug. "He is the Fire Lord. Many of his successors have done the same. Likely not to the same extent or reliance as him, but the precedent is there. It will never not be there."

Katara squeezed her eyes shut. "How many?"

"How many whores?"

"Yes."

Azula raised one shoulder to shrug. "I cannot say. I doubt Zuko knows. When I tell you that his whores meant nothing to him, I mean it. He could have used the same one a hundred times and not registered it. He had other things on his mind. He is Fire Lord and rather than buckle under the increasing, mounting pressures forced on him by allies and enemies alike, internally and externally, he stood tall and found a solution to maintain his success. I always mock him for it, but I applaud him truly. He lives according to different judgments—he is Fire Lord. He made a decision not according to what others demanded or expected; he made a decision based on himself, no one more. I dare say it was the only decision Zuko ever made for himself during his reign once he ascended the Dragon's Throne. Well, besides searching for and finding Mother and visiting me daily. There was never a decision he made that was for him but those. All decisions were for our race—were for Fire and Agni's Children. He is Fire Lord and had to look a certain way; he had to act a certain way; he had to think a certain way—all because he was judged by everyone in the world but Aang and Uncle, put through grueling tests by the other kings and chiefs, evaluated by the spiritual elders across Earth and Water, and pressured intensely to make Fire a slave-nation beholden to Earth and Water as penance for the Great War."

She shook her head. "No, there was something else he could have done; he should have made a different choice—a better choice!"

"His choice harmed no one," Azula retorted, unimpressed. "If anything, it might have harmed himself. He never harmed those whores, who were simply performing the services they subscribed to. The whores made their choices to be whores; they held no delusions and know that they will never be anything but whores and treated as such. You can hold sympathy for the fact that they felt desperate enough to walk such a path, but it will never dissuade the truth, which will always be the same. They were not harmed—because it is impossible to harm a whore, for a whore is, literally, an object, and an object cannot be harmed. Zuko never harmed any of them, regardless; he used them for minutes at a time for a reprieve. The only harm is the harm that you feel now for something that he did in the past."

Katara felt her frustration boil inside her. "No. He murdered Family over and over again by intentionally preventing its natural essence- "

"You condemn him for not having bastards? You condemn him for not evoking chaos—another possible Splintering? I never agreed with his weakness for his many whores. Personally, I wish he had executed many more people," Azula said with a disturbing and serene disappointment on her face as her brows rose. "That is a much more logical and fulfilling solution. He should have exercised his weakness through his innate power and ended the various internal threats he faced, not by finding solace in a woman's flesh. However, it was Zuko's choice to make, which I accept. You are of Water, and though you have lived in Fire's lands for over a year, literally living in close proximity with the Fire Lord himself, you lack understanding of Fire. Whether you understand it or not, Zuko chose the most honorable path he could out of all the ignoble options he possessed. He remained a dutiful Fire Lord who loves his race, making all his decisions out of thoughts for them; he fought for them when men like your ex-betrothed wanted to enslave them or, based on what Aang told me, slaughter them."

She flinched. "I never picked Kuei. My father picked him. When I learned of his nature, I broke it off immediately."

"For which I commend you," Azula replied, visibly not surprised at all. "What I critique you for is your appalling incomprehension of context. Zuko was 'in the zone' in every facet and array of his life for years, never straying from his duty to and love for Fire. There was only one fault in his otherwise exceptional stature—he found a reprieve from his overwhelming, mind-destroying stress by laying with his whores. And he ordered the whores to drink preventative teas in his presence after he satisfied his pleasure, and he made the preventative teas himself to ensure there were no power-hungry or manipulative whores who would exploit him out of love for his possible children."

Katara swallowed. "How do you know this?"

Azula scoffed. "He told me. He was correct in perceiving me as 'not all there,' but there was enough of me 'there' to comprehend some of what he would tell me. But I guarantee you that if he had sired a bastard, he would have never harmed the bastard; he would have raised the bastard and loved the bastard; he would have seen to it that the bastard enjoyed the finest education Fire could offer with the most intelligent tutors and scholars. You think he murdered Family, but I think it obvious that he preserved Family with his actions, for a bastard, inherently, has no family, exiled from Family's embrace. He knew this, which is why he did everything in his power and ability to ensure he sired no bastards, wanting to spare them the unholy nature of their existence. Zuko wants to give his children, when he sires them, a family, which is why he ensured he never sired a bastard, for he knew that he could never give a bastard a real family. It was an act of love to order the preventative teas. I dare say that he wants to build a family with you, for he loves you and perceives your exceptional worth as a mother. And we both know that those whores would make the most ignoble mothers to ever walk this world. He spared his possible bastards from having those whores as mothers, as well—a most honorable prevention."

She blinked and staggered back, finally beginning to see things from a new angle. "Oh. I never thought of that."

"I know."

Katara inhaled roughly. "He called me weak, and I know he meant it- "

"It is most obvious to me that you would never have survived living as Zuko and I did," Azula interrupted, face passive, though there was a hidden amusement gleaming in her golden eyes. "If you had our father as yours, you would have never accomplished anything; you would have shattered as a child. You are possessed by a weakness too apparent to survive under him."

"I'm not weak," she denied, fists clenching at her sides.

Azula laughed, shockingly. "Yes, you are. Of course, you are. Everyone is weak. There is always a weakness somewhere. We are all possessed by weaknesses in our lives at different points. Zuko will be the first one to tell you his whores are a weakness—or a symptom of weakness, perhaps. He is not blind to it and never has been. But why are you not the first one to admit to your weakness? The fact that you do not is, in and of itself, weakness."

For the first time, Katara understood why Aang loved Azula, for it was clear that she could keep up with his massive intelligence. "What's yours?"

Azula's golden eyes flashed. "Madness."

Katara stiffened as the memories of Sozin's Comet flashed through her mind—Zuko and Azula's Agni Kai. "Right. Sorry."

"We all need something—a weakness—to survive," Azula said, looking old. "We can never be 'in the zone' all the time; we can never sustain perfection. I needed madness, I suppose—or fear. Aang needed hatred. Zuko needed lust. What did you need?"

Her nightmares—and long refuge—after the Great War.

Katara swallowed. "But why couldn't it have been a different weakness?"

"What do you think he should have done? What would you have him do?"

"Not use those concubines!"

"And done what instead?" Azula challenged. "Drink firewhiskey, compromising his judgment when he must be of clear, sober mind, especially with numerous assassins after his blood, employed by your ex-betrothed?"

Katara flinched. "No, it's just that- "

Azula sighed. "He had to do something. He needed a release. He trusted no one and, more importantly, had no one. All he had was me, imprisoned, and do you think I was pleasant company?"

She swallowed, beginning to see, even deeper, how it all happened. "No."

"And he had Father, who was imprisoned. Do you think Father was pleasant company to Zuko?"

Katara shivered. "Not at all."

"Aang was elsewhere as he needed to be, Uncle was in Ba Sing Se, and Mother was gone, Katara. Zuko was alone with an ever-tightening noose of judgment and pressure strangling him. What else should have he done? Been stronger? He had to focus his strength on preserving the integrity of Fire's domain and traditions; he had to focus on keeping Fire unified during such a turbulent time in which the economy splintered; he had to focus on keeping a diligent, untiring eye on his nobility and generals, many of whom hated him and wished him assassinated; he had to be aware of himself at all times with assassins lurking in the shadows. He never trusted anyone with good reason. An assassin's blade is as likely to come from a friend as a greeting. The only solution Zuko could conceive was a ritual of daily release, and he used his whores for it. It was his only freedom. I thought about it a lot as I regained my sanity. He told me about his whores occasionally, and he was never delusional; he always knew he should not have done it, but he had no other options, for he needed something. He could never sustain perfection; he had a breaking point. I think it miraculous that using his whores was his only vice with all the pressures compounding on him while he was isolated atop the world's most famous, renowned, prestigious, and hated throne. You were not there—how can you judge him? Did you once think about him during those years- "

"Of course, I did."

"But you never contacted him."

Katara flinched. "I needed a break. I was tired, and my nightmares were getting worse."

Azula simply stared at her. "You take long breaks."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "By the time I wanted to write him, it was too late. Too much time had passed. I didn't know how to start. Do you know how many letters I tried to write him and Aang but couldn't send any of them? Sokka was furious because I kept 'wasting' parchment. I didn't know what to do."

"You did know what to do," Azula countered, face passive and calm. "You knew to stay and continue your isolation, for you felt it is what you needed; you knew you needed it. If you knew you did not need it, you would have desisted from it. Zuko knew what he needed, however wrongly. Like it or not, he needed his whores. Where else would he find a reprieve? Where else would he find a solace, however brief? Where else could he relax and be himself?"

"He wasn't himself," she muttered. "I doubt those concubines knew anything about him."

Azula waved a dismissive hand. "You know what I mean. His mind was finally allowed to relax for those sparest of moments; he achieved clarity in which the pressures of the Dragon's Throne, which he bore alone, and the judgments of everyone who looked at him faded."

Katara slid down the wall, head reclined back, seeing how it all happened. For the first time, she saw it—she understood it. "I wish he didn't have to make that decision. He shouldn't have had to."

"Zuko is a great man and wrestled with conflicts unknown to you, impossible for you to grasp," Azula said. "He made his decisions because it was all he could do. He is a great man. Are you great enough for him?"

Was she? What had she ever accomplished in her life? She had helped end the Great War, but what else beyond that? And could she truly say that she had helped end the Great War? The only thing she had done was defeat Azula, but Zuko would have defeated her, and was defeating her, if not for her stupid intervention. The only thing she did was almost get Zuko killed because she was an idiot. But she had trained Aang in waterbending, acting as The Avatar's teacher. But was that really a special, prestigious position? Any Master Waterbender could have trained Aang in waterbending; any Master Waterbender could teach The Avatar. But Pakku had been a poor teacher to Aang! Or was that because Aang had already not pushed himself to master waterbending because of her distinct, apparent jealousy toward him for his innate, unparalleled genius? And it seemed more likely that Aang had chosen her to be his waterbending master, but was she the best choice? Was she the wisest choice? Or was she the emotional choice because Aang was fraying at all seams and needed her to help him stay focused, needed her to mother, nurture, and comfort him in an alien world that made no sense to him? Was she redundant? Was she needed? Was she integral? Was she necessary?

Could any waterbending master have worked with Aang to end the Great War? Could any waterbending master have taken her place and done the things that she did?

She didn't know.

She believed that she helped end the Great War, that she had made a substantial difference, but now she wasn't sure—because had she, truly, done anything except master waterbending and healing? But what had she done with her waterbending and healing? She had won battles and lived to fight other days, trying to help people, and she had healed Aang and Zuko from certain inevitable deaths. But she only had to heal Zuko because it was her fault to begin with that he was struck by Azula's lightning.

But what had she done beyond that? What had she done after the Great War? What had she done to keep fighting for the world she wanted to live in? She did nothing! She went home and languished there for years, taking what she knew was a much-needed break, but it didn't obscure the truth that she accomplished nothing! Sure, she had helped rebuild the South, but any Waterbender could have done that! She had done nothing! She had just been a nameless face in the crowd who worked with everyone, not doing what she needed to be doing! Could she ever make a difference in anything? She hadn't made a difference in the North. Pakku only trained her because he loved Gran-gran and clearly felt haunted about whatever had occurred to drive Gran-gran to run away, nothing more. And she couldn't really make a difference in the South. The nature of Water was fluidity, but it was only fluid based on the container it was in, the literal boundaries imposed on it, the boundaries surrounding it. It had slowly become clear to her that Water's boundaries would never change, for the South was so much more similar to the North than not. The biggest difference she could ever tell between the North and South was that the South had the fighting and bold spirit that the North never would. There was no changing Water, and she hadn't really ever tried because she knew, deep down, there was no changing it. Water Tribesmen would be Water Tribesmen, Water Tribeswomen would be Water Tribeswomen, and Waterbenders would be Waterbenders.

She had never made a difference in her life, had she? The only thing she could think of was finding Aang in that iceberg, but surely The Avatar would have returned on his own, right? She had been around Aang enough to sense that there was something more to him—there was an ancient intelligence and knowing in his depths that had nothing to do with The Avatar State. Even if she hadn't found Aang, The Avatar would have returned—she was certain of it. The Avatar was always going to return—it was only a matter of when. She had nothing to do with The Avatar's return, did she? She was just there. For all she knew, The Avatar had lured she and Sokka out there that day with the waves to find that iceberg and awaken Aang—it was certainly possible! The Avatar must have been aware the entire time Aang slumbered in the ocean, for Aang had been in The Avatar State the whole time, which meant that The Avatar was aware, for The Avatar knew everything that was going on but, according to the hidden intelligence she could never grasp, knew it wasn't time for his return because Aang was still just a boy. The time hadn't come where there could be success for Aang at such a young, delicate age, and The Avatar waited for the only possible time in which success was possible with Aang's fragile state. And she had nothing to do with the time in which it was possible for The Avatar to return; she had no influence or power to make it possible for The Avatar to return. She was just there.

She'd accomplished nothing, certainly not in the Great War, because was the Great War even her war to fight? No, it wasn't! Because it wasn't of her generation! It was Aang, Sozin, Azulon, Great-grandfather Kuhna, and King Bumi's war to fight! It was their war, not hers, and they were the biggest names to ever live during that time, even if Aang had been nowhere to be found! And she hadn't actually ended the Great War! She was just there, again! Aang had ended the Great War! Zuko had ended the Great War! No one else had! It was only them! It was them who possessed the power to change the fate of the world—The Avatar and the Fire Lord, as it had always been, it seemed.

How could she be great enough for Zuko when she had accomplished nothing in her life, or if she had accomplished anything, it was nothing compared to what he had done? What had Zuko done? Zuko had been born of Sozin's line, born from Ozai's loins, but had, through much trial and error, gotten himself out of the inheritance left for him and chosen to walk a different path, which took an untold amount of strength and willpower that she never possessed. He rebelled against the entire weight of his powerful lineage, beginning with Sozin—because Zuko had told her that Kai's lineage was superseded by Sozin's lineage, even if they were one and the same because Sozin was that great—to forge his own path! And he had done it all at such an extraordinary age! He wasn't an older man like Iroh had been, who would have never 'seen the light' if not for tragedy and guilt! Zuko had been only two years older than her during the Great War but had accomplished a world's difference! Zuko had actually seen 'the light' due to his own striving and intentionally seeking the truth, trying to find his way and figure things out, even at sixteen! In comparison, she had never been in the wrong in her life, not like Zuko had! Truly, she had lived in luxury, unlike Zuko, because she was always on the 'right side,' whereas Zuko had to do extensive, mind-raping work to orient himself to the 'right side' and get out of the intense, persuasive perception of the 'wrong side.'

The only instance that was similar for her in being on the 'wrong side' was when she hated Zuko after he joined the Gaang and didn't trust him at all, attributing things to him that she shouldn't have attributed. She was the last one to trust him and like having him around! She complained about him to the others and vocally accused him of treachery and planning their deaths at least daily; she went to his room and said she would murder him if he took one step out of line! And she was clearly in the wrong for it—on the 'wrong side.' But she never 'saw the light' due to actively seeing what Zuko did and how he had changed; she never honestly assessed him and thought about the things that he did because she never actually did the work necessary; she was lazy, instead. It actually took Zuko doing something for her that made her 'see the light,' which was an action, something intentional and devoted with energy; it was Zuko committing an action, as he always did, and she reacted to it—as she always did. And actions were much more meaningful than reactions. She had just reacted to his help in finding Mom's murderer, never actually making an action to analyze his behavior and why he did the things that he did. She never 'saw the light' because of something she did, which is what was meaningful and worthy, something that takes grit and strength to accomplish; she only ever 'saw the light' because of something that Zuko did. Whereas, for Zuko to 'see the light,' he had to do all the work himself and intentionally change his own mind and make a difference.

It was exceptional.

For the first time, she felt it register that Zuko had lived an entire life without her, experienced events and people she never knew and never would encounter or meet, impacted by situations she knew nothing about—all of which was beyond her capacity.

Zuko bore the horrifying shame of having his face marred forever by his own father, exiled from home as a child without anyone but Iroh. He fought always to do what he thought was right, doing what he needed to do, even if he hated it and felt it crushing him under the unholy expectation of perfection. And when he learned that he was doing was wrong, he worked to be better and do better, willing to bear scorn and humiliation from everyone he had ever known—from his father to Azula to the Gaang when he arrived at the Western Air Temple! He worked to prove himself, understanding why he needed to, and he never whined or complained! He was diligent and strong, not crumbling under the pressure she or the others directed at him—or the pressure she knew that he put on himself! Zuko had never faltered in his life as far as she knew! The only fault that he ever possessed never happened during the Great War! It was after the Great War!

And after the Great War, Zuko was the honorable and decent Fire Lord that Fire needed—he was great, powerful, and worthy! He fought for Fire's existence when Kuei and Arnook argued for enslavement and/or slaughter! He defended his race against enemies and tried to bring peace and balance to the world with Aang, doing everything he could reasonably do to evoke it! He warded off internal threats in the Fire Nation by those many schemers who sought to assassinate him and garner power for themselves! He stayed 'in the zone' in every possible way that he could, which was more than anyone else. He adapted to his situation and thrived, keeping Fire alive and healthy, despite all the many, various threats leveled at him and his race, which compounded in overwhelming stress—all because of his strength and will, even at such a young age.

Zuko was great.

His only fault was using the concubines. He had a breaking point as everyone does, and his breaking point was using the concubines, but he made sure to be as honorable as he could while doing so. It was remarkable.

What had she done in comparison, honestly?

Nothing.

Katara arrived at no other answer than 'no' to Azula's heavy question, which must have showed on her face as Azula hummed.

"You finally ask yourself the hard questions," she commented, staring down at her, golden eyes precise and calculating. "You are doing the work. And now your recovery begins in which possibility is possible. It is up to you if it will be. Zuko is already great—he has been for a long time. You possess admirable qualities and are a respectable enemy. Will you keep going? Will you keep ascending? Will you keep fighting? Every woman wants a great man, and every man wants a good woman. You can never be great—you should not be great, for you are incapable of it—but you can be good, and you appear to be so. Are you good enough for Zuko? Are you good enough for his greatness?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"What was that?"

Katara stood to her feet, determination surging like blood through her. It was a painful irony that Azula of all people was acting like a teacher to her, but Azula had taught her how to master her chakras. It seemed that Azula was helping her master them even more. "Yes."

Azula smirked. "Now prove it. And you need not prove it to me. I do not care if you are great or not; you are simply a brief and vexing ally. But Zuko cares. He wants you to be his wife—his very Fire Lady. Or he did want you. You must see if he still does."

She nodded, unable to see a flaw in her logic. "This doesn't change anything between us."

"Of course not," Azula agreed, golden eyes glinting. "I look forward to when you betray him, which will liberate me to honor my Fire Lord and kill you."

Katara smiled thinly. "And I look forward to when you destroy Air, which will liberate me to help Aang kill you."

Azula laughed and waved a hand. "If Aang wants to kill me, he needs no help doing so."

She was quiet for several moments, knowing Azula was right—unfortunately. "Goodnight, Azula."

Golden eyes narrowed before Azula nodded stiffly. "Goodnight, Katara."

After she left Azula, she made a short journey before knocking on Toph's door, to which Toph answered with a furious huff of outrage. She asked where Zuko was because she couldn't find him in his room. Toph groaned, declared 'it was about fucking time,' and said that Zuko was in the throne room—all right before she slammed the door in her face.

When she reached the throne room, she thought that Zuko might have been discussing strategy with Bumi or something; it had never occurred to her that he was alone. But when she found him, he was alone. It was unnerving how still and erect he stood, glaring thunder at Ba Sing Se's throne.

"What are you doing?" she greeted quietly, trying to keep her voice even.

Zuko was silent for a long time, still staring at the throne; he didn't react to her presence at all or even turn to face her. "Thinking."

"About what?"

"Things."

Katara sighed as she realized she had her work cut out for her; she had hurt him with her disregard and judgment and seeming apathy in her lack of understanding. "I hope it's interesting things."

"It would scare you."

She straightened. "No, it wouldn't. What are you thinking?"

"What Kuei looked like on his throne. I imagine him with strings protruding from his back and limbs—because he was never anything but a puppet. He was weak and pathetic. I think about burning those strings and how he would sit there right now, incapable of moving, pissing and shitting himself as I attacked him. I would make his body swollen and scorched before destroying it, leaving nothing left of him in the world—forever."

Well, he wasn't constraining himself at all. "Aren't you thinking about something else?"

"Now I'm thinking about why you're bothering me."

Katara inhaled slowly, knowing it was her chance, but she didn't want to say it to his imposing back; she wanted to say it to his face. "That's why I'm here. Can you turn around? I want to talk to you."

Zuko turned around after a moment, but it wasn't what she expected. It would have been easier to talk to his back since his expressionless face was more imposing! He just stared at her, giving nothing away—it was even worse than the way Azula had looked at her, so much worse! He wasn't going to help her at all or do anything to make it easier for her! He didn't know why she tracked him down in the middle of the night, but even if he had sensed her objective, it was obvious that he was refusing to help her out and do the work for her.

For once in her life, she had to take action rather than react.

Katara exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I didn't have everything figured out like I thought I did. I make that mistake a lot, don't I? I think everyone does, but when I make that mistake, I seem to mess things up a lot. I thought I had Aang figured out, and look how that turned out. And I thought I had you figured out, but I was completely wrong. You're the best man I know—don't tell Sokka, but it's true."

Sokka would whine about it for years, referencing their blood claim and the fact that they were raised together and were all each other had, but she really didn't want to have to deal with that. She had enough to deal with, including trying to apologize to Zuko and make him see that she understood, and she hoped that a little humor would help the process.

However, Zuko didn't smirk or laugh or smile or do anything like she expected—like she was hoping. His eyes didn't even change! It was like he hadn't even heard her, but she knew that he had! She swallowed, wondering how similar he looked to Ozai, which he clearly did by Ursa and Azula's glances at him since their confrontation, before shaking her head. How could she break through the impenetrable wall between them, held in place by his powerful will?

"I'm sorry, Zuko," she repeated, knowing honesty was the only solution, but it needed to be a raw honesty. Zuko had delivered a raw honesty to her, and now it was her turn. "I'm in awe of you. I really always have been. I've even been jealous of you if you can believe it. Look at everything you've had to do. Even during the Great War, it was obvious, and I'm sorry that I never thought about it like I should have—or hated thinking about it because it made me feel inadequate. I don't know how you did it—I really don't. You had everything against you. Anyone else would have failed, but you didn't. You were raised to end the Great War by conquering and destroying, but you ended it with peace and diplomacy, which no one, least of all me, thought was possible. It wasn't until you joined us where I finally saw a path where peace was possible, and it was because of you, because of your amazing mind and determined spirit. I'm in awe of you, Zuko. Your family shattered around you, pelting you with shards that stuck in your skin, but you stayed standing. You didn't shatter with them. Parts of you broke, yes, but you never shattered, and I don't know how you didn't. I would have shattered so easily until there was nothing left. I almost shattered after Mom was killed, so close to shattering. But what you went through, you never shattered. Your dad ruined your face, your sister tried to kill you, your grandfather and cousin were murdered, and your mom was gone. You had your uncle, and I'm so glad you did. And he made a huge difference, but it was you who did everything on your own at the end of the day. You made the changes and worked to be better; you searched for the truth and never stopped fighting to find it. Even when you made mistakes, the biggest mistakes, you kept fighting and working; you kept searching. And you did something I could have never done. You changed sides, realizing the errors of your ways—and you did it all at such a young age. I never realized how hard that must have been, and I'm sorry for that. There was all the pressure in the world to stay the same, to stay on the path you were on, and there was no pressure at all to change except the pressure inside you, which was powerful and strong enough to combat all the pressure in the world, including your dad's pressure and Azula's pressure—the weight of your whole lineage, which is the most famous and intimidating lineage in the world. You did it, Zuko. You did the impossible because no one else was capable of it, especially at your age."

She paused, catching her breath while also hoping that he would say something, tearing down the wall between them.

But Zuko still just stood there, watching her with that insane lack of reaction.

Katara bit her lip, thinking rapidly, face twisting. "I don't even know why you love me!" she exclaimed.

Well, she didn't mean to say that. What was she thinking? She didn't want to give him any more reasons not to love her!

"I mean, I don't know why you love me when you've done all of this," she explained, hugging herself. "When you said I was weak, it made me angry because I'm not weak. But I am weak, aren't I? I could have never done a fraction of everything that you've done—even less than that. What is that but weakness? And what is me not understanding everything but weakness? What is me thinking I had everything figured out, not realizing I didn't, but weakness? I used to think you had no weakness but anger. Really, you've always seemed like you had everything put together after you joined us and found your place in the world. And I thought you would be fine after the War; I thought you didn't need me, and I took advantage. I'm sorry for that. But I've realized that there was another weakness, wasn't there? I know why you used the concubines—I understand. I'm sorry I didn't see it at first. You had those concubines, and I had my nightmares and long refuge. That's how it worked out, didn't it? We each needed something to survive after the Great War. But you never had the chance for a break like I did. You went from one extreme right into another, one that was even more dangerous because it was all politics, wasn't it? You had assassins everywhere with everyone judging you, waiting for you to make a mistake so everyone could condemn you and take advantage. And your only fault in your otherwise amazing, awe-inspiring bearing was using the concubines—that's it. I don't know how you didn't have more faults, so many more. I don't know how you have done what you've done, and I think you're amazing because of that. I see how great you are, and you are great—it's obvious. But you're good, and I love that you're good. It's not your greatness that makes me love you; it's your goodness that makes me love you. I love your goodness, Zuko. I love you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to tell you, and I'm sorry that I was being a coward by refusing to talk about it. I guess I just needed time to figure it out, but I've figured it out now." She straightened her posture, trying to keep her apology on track. It was time for her conclusion. "Zuko, I do love you, and I want to marry you—but in time. Not now, but later. I want to be your Fire Lady and help heal the world; I want to help everyone, and I want to help you help everyone. I want to build atop that foundation with you. We can build the greatest thing to ever be built—I know it. I love you. Do you still love me? Do you still want me? Do you still want me to be your Fire Lady?"

She watched his face with bated, trembling breath, hoping for a sign, but all she saw was painful confusion.

He just stood there.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Zuko didn't know how to react.

Katara had just argued for his greatness with such passion and substance that he felt overwhelmed, for she pointed out things that he had never considered or realized before. She said that she loved him and was willing to marry him in time; she apologized for not understanding and taking so long to understand. She stared at him like she used to—well, there was actually something different. It was stronger and possessed a deeper shine. But the rest was the same. There was no disgust, horror, grief, or anger on her face; there was sincerity, joy, and understanding. It had fire rushing in his blood and dragons roaring in his spirit. But there was not enough to go on—nothing made sense.

He was unable to stop his only brow from furrowing, trying to comprehend the radical change and its source. How could she have gone from wanting nothing to do with him, least of all marriage, to be willing to marry him when it was time? What could have made her go from one extreme to the other?

"What changed?" he asked.

She sighed and rubbed at her arms—for comfort? For words? For inspiration? For lies? For the truth? "Azula, I guess."

"Azula?" Zuko echoed, eyes narrowing as he was catapulted back to childhood when Mother called him to her and told him that 'Azula said something.' "Don't believe her. Whatever she said, it was a lie."

Katara laughed slightly. "No, it was good. It was the truth. She told me the truth."

He almost responded on impulse and said Azula didn't know what the truth meant, but he refrained, knowing it was a lie. "Which is?"

Her brilliant blue eyes, which he felt drawn to their depths, despite himself, glimmered with apology. "That I really should think more about things. She made me look at it in a different way. I understand how it happened, and I don't blame you for doing it. I don't know how you didn't do anything else. I'm in awe that you managed everything you did with that being your only fault."

Zuko exhaled roughly, feeling the fire burn at the back of his throat. "What are we?" he asked quietly, wanting the answer that had been gnawing at him, doing his best to suppress the fury and hurt. "Since I mastered my chakras, I thought you and I shared something. I thought it was love. Is it my imagination?"

She blinked before she stepped forward, head shaking; there was a steely resolve in her eyes that wasn't there before. "No, no. There's something, Zuko."

The anger surged through him. "Then why haven't you said anything?" The bitterness sizzled against his senses like lightning. The nerve of her infuriated him! She hadn't done anything after the Great War to reach out and assure him. She had left him flailing for years. But it was she who made him take that chance when she never did before? It was maddening if not saddening. "Why did you make me take the chance that you never did? Why did I have to bring it up?"

Katara swallowed but stared back at him, eyes clear. "I'm taking it now," she whispered, but there was a strength and conviction in her voice that warmed and soothed him—because he knew that she meant it.

He assessed her, debating his options, but he still needed clarification. "So, if I bridged this space between us, it would be alright?"

Katara smiled. "It would be good."

Zuko bridged it instantly and pulled her against him in a hug. "It is good," he commented as her arms wrapped around him.

"It's the best," she corrected, squeezing him.

He held her for a long time before leading her to Ba Sing Se's throne to sit; she stared at him in disbelief, but he shrugged. "You were going to be queen here once. Might as well."

Katara smiled briefly but sat on the steps leading to it; he sat beside her. "I think a golden throne would fit me better."

Zuko sighed. "Do you really mean that?"

"I do."

He watched her. "I don't understand. It seemed like you wanted nothing to do with it."

Katara swallowed but held his gaze. "You're right. It's just when I learned about the concubines, I thought you were destroying Family with what you did, which made me panic."

"I noticed," he drawled.

She sighed, but her eyes filled with amusement. "But Azula made me see that you were actually preserving Family. And I've always wanted to have a family. When I thought that was threatened, I couldn't think of anything else. I couldn't actually see what was happening. I mean, I've never wanted to be the Mother of Air because that pressure is impossible. Azula can clearly handle it, I know; she basks under that pressure. But I've always wanted to be a mother, Zuko—have a family. It's the one thing that I knew. I mean, even before I learned that I was a Waterbender, even before I wanted to become a waterbending master, I always knew that I would be a mother. It's what I wanted. It made me feel close with my mom, especially after she died. And the only way to become a mother is through Family. But when I heard what you did, how I thought it was destroying Family, it made me panic because I had started thinking of you that way. I wanted to be a mother to our children, the children I imagined us having. But then when you told me about the concubines, I thought Family was destroyed, which meant I could never be a mother—because I thought you would destroy our family. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Zuko whispered, feeling shame gnaw at his heart like a dragon. "I should have gone about it better. I'm sorry I just threw it all at you. I should have been thinking."

"You were thinking," Katara pointed out with a small laugh. "But what else were you supposed to think? I wasn't helping it happen. I was avoiding it—you're right. I was just scared. I always thought that I would be married by now; I thought I would find that love of my life. I mean, Sokka found Suki during the Great War, and they've been married ever since. Every day, I see them, and I love them, but I'm so jealous and bitter. At first, I thought I had that, too, with Aang—but that was so far from the truth. Him and I, there was nothing. I wasn't his girlfriend; I was his mother. It was horrible and so bland and uninspiring; there was no love made of passion. No woman wants to be a mother to her love, least of all to her husband. And I was a mother to Aang, nothing more. But there was grief because I wasn't sure I would ever have anything, which only grew with each year because no man in the South caught my eye. I wanted something more. But I watched as all the other girls married and had children, but I never did. And I felt the shame leveled at me by others because I'm the Chief's daughter. And then Dad went ahead and betrothed me to Kuei without my input, saying it was a political marriage that needed to happen if Sokka was going to be heir of the South and North. But I hated that betrothal because it just spat on everything that I've ever wanted. I understand why he did it, why he had to do it, but I still hated it."

Zuko, having a keen understanding of the political nature of marriages for children of rulers, gripped her hands, finally knowing exactly what to say for the first time in his life—he was certain of it! "If it helps, if you had actually married Kuei, I would have assassinated him myself before the consummation. I would have waited in the room and killed him when you arrived. Then it would have been you and me, and maybe we could have consummated it ourselves or something."

That was charming, right? Surely Uncle would be proud of him for thinking of something so charming, right?

Katara stared at him with wide eyes before she laughed. "That's sweet," she murmured, warmth and fondness in her gaze; she looked better.

"It's charming," Zuko corrected.

"It's creepy, too."

"You mean bracing."

"It's also a little murderous."

"I prefer diplomatic."

Another laugh escaped her, and he felt lighter at the sound. "You're probably right. Kuei wasn't a good man or great man. You have him beat in both categories."

Zuko smiled slightly. "You know how to swell my ego."

Katara rolled her eyes, but he knew it was not at him. "You can thank Azula."

"Makes sense," he commented. "That's all she knows how to do."

She laughed briefly before quieting, silent for a long time. "She actually gave me good advice and told me the truth; she was honest."

"She does it occasionally."

"I never thought I would listen to her like that or seek her out like I did," Katara continued, amazement on her face. "But I did. How times have changed. She's part of our group now, isn't she? She's never leaving it."

Zuko nodded. "Even if she died again, Aang would just pull her back."

Katara's face flickered. "And her and Aang are together."

"They're married," he clarified, watching her eyes widen. "When they slept together the first time, they married. Sex is marriage in Air's eyes. They've been married for over two months now."

"And she wears Air's robes because of it," Katara whispered after several long moments of digesting the news that Aang and Azula were married. She was taking it a lot better than he thought she would. "They're married. Aang married her, and she accepts him—and he accepts her. I have no idea how that happened."

Zuko smirked. "Believe me, neither of them know how, either."

"He found his Mother of Air, and she found that love of her life, hasn't she, with Aang of all people?"

Following a sudden instinct, Zuko spoke: "You've found it, too—if you want it. I mean, with me."

She stared up at him with wide eyes, unmoving for several tense moments, and Zuko was certain that she could feel the blood surging through his body with her waterbending. "Really?" she asked, voice barely audible, but the beautiful smile that began to stretch her lips signaled her delight.

"I never answered your question," he explained. "I still want you; I still want you as my Fire Lady; and I still want to marry you when it's right."

Katara sniffed and wiped away her tears, the smile somehow getting more beautiful; her eyes shone brilliantly as leaned her head on his shoulder. "I was thinking about us before all this," she whispered. "Before mastering chakras, I mean. I kept thinking that we would be perfect for each other; we've always shared that connection. Even as enemies when you were the hot-headed, banished Fire Prince, I always felt that you challenged me in ways that others didn't. With you, just reacquainting with you since all those years away, I feel I'm my best self, Zuko. I've imagined this, but I never thought it could be real."

Zuko closed the distance between them more completely, but he kept his arms at his side. "It's real if you want it to be."

A laugh of disbelief escaped her, but her eyes were fond. "Have you not been listening?"

"I'm an idiot," he muttered in embarrassment.

"Then we're perfect for each other—because I'm just as big of an idiot." Her beautiful blue eyes stared up at him with determination. "I've never been in love before, Zuko. All that I've heard are the stories from Gran-gran, Dad, and Mom. But whatever this thing is between us, what we have, feels a lot like what they told me. I'm sorry I didn't take that chance, but I'm taking it now." She licked her lips, and Zuko's eyes were drawn to the action; he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her a lot. And he wanted to do a lot more than that. "I want it, Zuko; I want you. Do you want me, too?"

His tongue gave life to the words that he had never uttered to anyone else. "I want you to be mine."

Silence.

"You love me?" Katara whispered, the tears in her eyes vivid to his eyes.

It was unbecoming for a Fire Lord—at least an honorable one—to suddenly kiss a woman, but Zuko had always struggled with his honor. He leaned down and captured her lips with his, pulling her body closer. Katara's hands rested on his chest, and she gripped his tunic, pulling them even closer. Their lips slowly massaged one another's, gaining strength and vitality, and Zuko felt the instincts that he had denied since Katara had come back into his life roar in demand for fulfillment. Their passion became fervent, lips insistent and bodies burning. Katara's hands slipped from his chest to reach around and grip his shoulders, and Zuko grunted, pulling back even though he wanted nothing more than to continue.

The fire in his loins threatened to raze his trousers.

"That was a yes in case it wasn't clear," he said after several moments of trying to reorient himself, mesmerized by the smile on her face and the light in her eyes. "I love you."

Katara laughed and rested her head on his chest, face turned to the side. "It wasn't hard to figure out. But you're right—we should take it slow."

Zuko blinked. "What? When did I say that?"

She pulled back and stared up at him, and his eyes were drawn to her lips. "That's why you stopped, isn't it?"

He didn't want to take it slow at all. He wanted nothing more than to take her back to his room and spill the fire, but he refused to admit the real reason why he stopped, so he nodded slowly, feeling defeated. "Yes."

Satisfied, Katara hummed as she placed her head back on his chest. "You're a good man. I love that you're a good man."

"Unfortunately," Zuko muttered.

Another beautiful laugh echoed in his ears, and somehow, it was okay. Zuko was content to hold her.

XxXxXxXxXxX

As The Avatar, he was gifted immortal power, the knowledge that was lost to history, and the wisdom of living for ten-thousand years all at the wave of his hand. Yet, the names of almost all of his predecessors had been lost to Time's devouring inevitability. His predecessors were forgotten, which was his own fate—in several millennia, there will be no recollection of Avatar Aang. There will be no mention of the Great War and its horrors, and nobody will recall that Air was slaughtered down to a single child. None of the hardships he faced will be known, least of all his young age in fighting an entire nation.

History forgets everyone, even Avatars.

Staring into the eyes of a predecessor, Aang was once again reminded that, despite the incredible power he had inherited, The Avatar's burden was incomprehensible. While all his loved ones across all his lifetimes found resolution and conclusion, he never would, for The Avatar remained constant and unchanging—a painful continuance and permanence that no one but him would ever know. While his loved ones were reborn countless times over, none retained the memories and instincts of previous lifetimes; there was no connection—no thread to grasp, stretch, and weave. The Avatar was not a man; the forms The Avatar took on were that of men, but it was different. The Avatar was meant to live a man's life to be able to connect with the mortal races, but it was not true connection—it was fraudulent. There was nothing that tied The Avatar to the world but the forms he took; it was not The Avatar's nature that connected him.

It was an exhausting challenge; he always felt incomplete through all his lifetimes because of it.

He was a man on the outside but a god on the inside; he bled but could not die; he felt pain but never found resolution. There was no end for The Avatar. He lived always, no matter the lifetime—no matter the in-between separating his reigns when he lived in a woman's womb for nine months. Each life he lived was a separate branch on the same tree, a separate tree inside the same forest, a separate river connected to the primordial ocean, a separate vegetation inside the same field of the same soil, and a separate thread of the same living tapestry weaving together endlessly.

The Avatar never knew death, for while his form died, his nature never did. When his form died, his nature moved into the next race of the Cycle, reborn in a woman's womb, seeking it out.

He envied everyone else—all mortals, unlike himself. His final moment as Aang would not be his last—as Roku's final moment was not his last, nor Kyoshi's, nor Kuruk's, nor Yangchen's, nor Jinzhai's, nor Boruk's, nor Keska's, nor Anil's, and nor any Avatar stretching back to Wan. Unless struck down in The Avatar State, a nigh impossibility, he would live for eternity in continuance, reincarnated across the mortal races as long as Time deemed Its existence.

How quickly his envy could turn to resentment.

It had happened before—it happened usually in his lifetimes, especially the longer-lived ones. As he aged, he yearned for a serene ending—as all mortals were owed as their lot. But he never received it and never would. It was a truth he always recognized upon having enough time—enough living—to recognize it.

Across his lifetimes, he had watched the mortals and realized their good fortune and joy. They all had last moments, destined to die. They experienced discovery and revelation because everything, no matter the moment, was new to them; there was no repetition as all moments were not cycled but passed by. They aged and felt its presence, able to accomplish a life worth its indescribable price and bask in the moments they had, able to feel gratefulness and awe instead of tired and old; they could experience the joy of surprise and wonder of beauty. He had watched it happen in every lifetime, and he wished to be one of them, but he never would be one of them.

And it would happen all over again in his lifetime—a truth he had known forever because he was immortal.

Avatar Boruk sat in front of him, eyes warm yet tired. "It is good to see you again, Avatar Aang."

Aang nodded his head in greeting. "Yes, it's always a relief to speak with someone who understands—who gets it."

"You look so heavy for an Air Nomad." Boruk's usual booming baritone was soft. "A burden slouches your shoulders. What troubles you? Why summon me?"

"You were born of Earth," he responded, spacing his words. "You understand Earth better than anyone but Kyoshi, but I didn't want to talk to her for obvious reasons. How do I make amends with Earth?"

"For Ba Sing Se?"

Aang inhaled slowly. "Yes."

Boruk looked thoughtful, not judgmental—unlike Kyoshi. "In my time, Ba Sing Se was not the cultural phenomenon you are familiar with. It was less than half of its current size."

"I never knew."

"Ba Sing Se's 27th king forbade entry into the city unless he was given a grand offering of treasure—basic bribery. To keep families from overpopulating his city, he vetoed any renovations that would build additions. There was no outer wall, only a dismal boundary that prohibited any to enter without his knowledge. He was despised because of this across the continent, not only by the lower classes but including the nobility and even kings. There was bad blood between Zaofu and Ba Sing Se—had been for a long time. Zaofu's king gave his discreet blessing to a band of rebels who sought to assassinate Ba Sing Se's king. In return, if this band of rebels succeeded, the King of Zaofu's lone daughter amongst his several sons would become the new King of Ba Sing Se's bride. The coup was successful, and the leader of the band of rebels became the 28th King of Ba Sing Se, marrying the King of Zaofu's only daughter. Immediately, massive overhauls were commissioned, allowing much of Ba Sing Se to be rebuilt, fortified, and expanded. The city was separated into three main districts, allowing the social classes to converse with people of similar contentions. A social reformation arose, and the Children of Earth experienced their cultural reawaken from its centuries-long sleep."

"Why did you let it happen?" Aang asked.

Boruk stared at him. "Because Earth wanted it. They had their say and agreed with the murder. But I tell you this for a reason."

"What reason?"

"Earth is connected," Boruk answered. "There have been extensive intermarriages, particularly for the nobility and ruling class. A slight against Ba Sing Se is a slight to Omashu, Chyung, and Zaofu—and all the provinces within each territory. An attack against Ba Sing Se is an attack against all of Earth. You may have only destroyed Ba Sing Se, but you attacked all of Earth."

Aang groaned. "There has to be a way to fix this."

"You cannot force Earth to make decisions; you cannot force them to follow your desires. They must make their mistakes. You must let them make the mistake in allying with your enemies, lest they hate you more. Your stubbornness surpasses any man or woman's, but not even you can out-stubborn an entire race, especially Earth."

"I can't let them ally with Vaatu," he stressed. "That's what I'm trying to prevent. This is looking to be horrible. I want to stop it from reaching that point."

"You must be patient," Boruk replied, staring at him. "You must be ready and accepting when they realize their mistake and look to you for help."

Aang's face twisted in dismay. "That's never going to happen. I'm stuck at an impasse, and despite all of my power, there seems to be nothing that I can do to change the situation. I don't know where to get started."

"You prepare yourself for not only Vaatu but his allies."

He shook his head. "He's not getting the other Elementals. He doesn't know where the Ocean and Moon are- "

"You must prepare for the possibility."

"It's not going to happen!"

"How do you know?"

Aang sighed, remembering Air's demise—its source and execution. "I don't know; I don't know anything."

"You must focus on now and distance yourself from the future," Boruk advised. "You cannot force the future to be what you want, for that requires dominating the present—becoming a tyrant. Prepare for all possibilities by becoming the strongest Avatar you can. Master all that you are capable of. You have no idea what Vaatu teaches his vessel and allies; you have no idea what secrets he shares. His vessel trains daily and masters all that he can—you must do the same."

"I already mastered my chakras, something you didn't do."

Boruk smiled. "But you have not mastered all the bending disciplines."

"Yes, I have."

"Not the sub-disciplines—the disciplines within disciplines."

Aang frowned. "Yes, I have. I know bloodbending, healing, metalbending, sandbending, lightning, soundbending, and true flight. And I know energybending."

"You have not mastered the ones you are unaware of."

He closed his eyes briefly, reminded of Bor's father, the Butcher. "Like lavabending."

Boruk laughed. "An irony, my friend, for I am, to my knowledge, the first Lavabender."

Aang's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Anybody can learn it, but from my experience, most are unable to because of a misconception in training."

"What misconception has kept benders from mastering lavabending?"

"Which of the Elements does lavabending fall under?"

Aang's brows rose. "Firebending." He winced in realization a moment later. "Wait, that's wrong. No, Bumi said Bor's father, who is a Lavabender, was an Earthbender. It means that lavabending falls under earthbending."

Boruk nodded in confirmation. "But if you had not known Bumi's story, you would assume it falls under firebending."

"That was my first thought."

"As it is everyone's," Boruk dismissed with ease. "That is the source of its rarity. Everyone mistakenly believes that lavabending is a subset of firebending when it originates within earthbending."

Aang was quiet for several moments. "How does an Earthbender manipulate what seems like fire?"

"Lava is molten rock—that is all it is. Lavabending is earthbending with the addition of heating rock and using it as a liquid. Molten rock is still rock—part of the earth. A Lavabender is not firebending even though it might seem like it; he is bending fluid-like earth. I discovered the ability when I accidentally fell into a volcano during my firebending training as part of a duel. It was my final test to deem if I was worthy of being called a firebending master. As you could probably imagine, everybody was shocked when I began to lavabend myself out in a swirling tornado of lava."

The image visualized in his mind did not surprise him—probably because Boruk was him. "Firebenders can't bend lava?"

"A Firebender, if a master, can walk and swim in lava, but not bend it. It is similar to Waterbenders, who swim in the ocean, only a volcano is an ocean of fire. That is the misconception—everyone, including me, for the longest time, thought I used firebending on the lava that day."

"Why?"

Boruk sighed. "During my reign, nobody except for those on the volcano ever believed the story. Everyone thought it was a fable, a legend of The Avatar's untold power, and I did not necessarily correct that belief. I tried to teach myself lavabending, but I was never able to manipulate it as I did that day. Eventually, after several decades, I stopped trying and let the belief die out. It was not until Avatar Jinzhai, my successor, when the truth was discovered—I had tried to only teach myself as a Firebender, a fundamental problem in conception and energy alignment. Jinzhai realized that it was actually an earthbending skill."

Aang nodded, understanding how such a mistake could happen. "There are more possibilities for an Earthbender."

"What do you mean?"

"Waterbending has the subsets of bloodbending and healing; earthbending has the subsets of sandbending, metalbending, and lavabending; firebending has the subsets of lightning and combustion-bending; and airbending has the subsets of soundbending and true flight."

Boruk's brows rose. "Soundbending? Combustion-bending?"

"Soundbendiing allows an Airbender to generate sound waves and manipulate already existing ones traveling through the air. Sound can pass through anything, but it mostly travels through the air. Sound is merely air that has been vibrated and sophisticated. By using soundbending, an Airbender can perceive vibrations in the air around him, target them, and utilize it to bend the sound itself. I have used it several times but never much."

"If you are to defeat Vaatu, perhaps you should start using it more."

"Maybe."

"Combustion-bending?"

"A subset of firebending that allows a Firebender to channel his chi through his forehead, superheating the surrounding air and producing a beam of explosive energy capable of immense damage, both in short and long-range."

"Will you master it?"

Aang blinked. "I'd never thought to try."

Boruk inclined his head. "If it helps you defeat Vaatu, it is worth it."

"Then I'll master lavabending and combustion-bending," he decided. "You were right—I have no idea what Vaatu is teaching Ozai. It could be subsets of bending you and I don't know. And then there's Agni and Devi, who know everything there is with firebending and earthbending, which includes subsets or sub-disciplines unknown to everyone."

He had to master everything he could, strengthen himself in all areas, and leave no void in weakness.

"Jinzhai was the first to master lavabending—able to erupt four volcanoes simultaneously and destroy entire islands and cities," Boruk pointed out. "He can teach you. I am unsure he will, but you must summon him and see."

"If Jinzahi mastered lavabending, why is it unheard of? Why is lavabending unknown? But if it's unknown, how does the Butcher know lavabending?"

Boruk shook his head. "I am unsure. Only Jinzhai can answer those questions for you, and he might be able to shed light on the subject. You must keep all communication open. Do not push away possible allies, even if they come from dark places. Focus on the now because the future depends on what you do in the present time."

"How do I do that?" Aang whispered. "I've finally let the past die because it can't be changed. Yet the future is in my power."

"You must listen; be like the Earth, my friend. Listen."

Aang winced. "I'm not really good at that."

Boruk smiled. "It comes with age, and you are older than everyone. Recognize that and embrace it. Authority is yours."

"No, it's not—it shouldn't be. I'm not the one in charge."

"You already are. Everyone looks to you. You are the leader."

Aang shook his head in denial, not wanting the burden—another burden. "I'm not the leader; Zuko is. He's the Fire Lord. He's been the real leader since the Great War ended. He's an amazing leader."

Boruk's bushy eyebrows rose. "You could say that this situation is a direct response of you not being the real leader since the Great War ended and forcing Fire Lord Zuko to be the leader. Fire Lord Zuko is, indeed, an amazing leader and tried to fill the void as best he could, but his best is not your best and never can be or will be; he tried to fill The Avatar-sized hole, but only The Avatar can fill that hole—and that hole always exists. Only The Avatar can be The Avatar. Would you rather only be considered a weapon in your 'leader's' arsenal? No. You are The Avatar. You are the leader—you must be the leader."

He exhaled slowly, resigned. "Especially when the enemy is Vaatu—or of the magnitude of Vaatu."

"And the Elementals. This is your war, my friend, whether you want it to be or not. You are the name on everyone's lips; your face is the one everyone thinks of; and your decisions mean life for someone and death for another. You are the leader."

"So many people have already died because of me," he whispered, pained. "I don't want more people to die because of me—because of my decisions."

"That is our fate—because of our position."

Aang rubbed his face. "I know. I have to be the leader; I have to have the answers; I have to make the final decisions."

Boruk smiled and inclined his head in respect. "But you make the most crucial choice now—to be the leader. Without you, victory is never possible."

"Like with the Great War," he muttered. "But this war isn't going to last a century—I won't let it. But I have this terrible feeling that its impact and horror, even if it's a couple years in length, will equal everything of a century of the Great War—if not surpass it."

"Because Vaatu is free now," Boruk concluded. "Everything is maximized where before it was minimized. It may not seem like it was minimized, but it was when compared to the maximum realm of possibility. How will you defeat him?"

Aang sighed, worn, as he was reminded of his previous battle with Vaatu in which Azula was killed. "I don't know. I'm more powerful and stronger than he is, but he knows more—that makes all the difference. He will never go back into the Tree, not unless I force him, but I don't know if I will be able to force him. I can't let him and Ozai merge, but I don't even know how they would. The Harmonic Converge isn't until the next Fire Avatar."

"You must listen. Only by listening will you arrive at a solution pleasing to you."

His jaw clenched. "I was hoping for more than that."

Boruk looked apologetic. "I do not know. There is not an answer I can provide you for this. This was never my experience."

"It's my experience," he whispered, annoyed. "I want help, but only I can help myself."

"That is my experience."

Aang's lips quirked in brief amusement. "May my experience have a new experience." When he sensed footsteps outside of his room, he inclined his head in an act of departure. "Thank you for your wisdom, Avatar Boruk."

Boruk's eyes, even ethereal, glimmered. "Farewell, Avatar Aang."

The spirit dispersed in a shower mist, which Aang absorbed—right as the door opened. "Daddy, there you are!"

Aang turned around just in time to catch Samir, who nestled into him, playing with the edges of his robe. "You were looking for me?"

"Uh-huh."

He glanced at Azula, who closed the door. "Any reason?"

Azula's lips quirked in amusement; her golden eyes were intrigued. "It appears that this one has taken some initiative. She wants to meditate."

Aang's brows rose as he sought out Samir's face. "Really?"

Samir blinked and nodded with determined earnestness. "So Uncle Zuzu will forgive me."

He had no idea what she was talking about, and based on the look on Azula's face, she had no idea, either. "Okay then."

"I will meditate also," Azula added. "Something tells me that all of us doing it together will have a positive benefit."

Aang understood her allusion—Samir might be able to concentrate and meditate more clearly if Azula was there with her, instead of watching or being elsewhere. "That works."

Samir nodded in a mixture of solemnity and eagerness. "Yes, Mommy. But I don't wanna do it here. It's so boring here. Can't we go somewhere else?"

Azula nodded. "Perhaps we should go to a different room- "

Aang shook his head and caught her gaze, having an idea but not sure how receptive she would be. "How about we go someplace really quiet to meditate, some place very few people know about? It's a secret place."

Samir gasped, gray eyes sparkling. "Yes, yes!"

"Where?" Azula asked, head tilted, the expression carved into her beautiful features resembling analytical suspicion; she had noticed his hesitance in outright naming the location he had in mind.

"The Catacombs," he supplied, watching her.

Azula blinked, silent, while Samir scrambled out of his arms. "Yes, please. What's the 'Catacombs'?"

"A place your father and I have not been to in many years," Azula answered, voice even. "Beneath the palace."

Aang wasn't sure if she wanted to go to the Catacombs or not, but when he held out his hand, she accepted instantly. "Hold on, Samir."

Samir latched onto his leg, squeezing tightly. In response, Aang opened his palm, flipped it over, and shoved downward. Immediately, the ground groaned and opened; he swiped his hand and did it again and again, opening all the layers until he reached the Catacombs.

He made sure both Samir and Azula were secure before he floated down the hole, watching as the ground's layers changed subtly; he squeezed Azula reassuringly when they landed and saw the familiar crystals and stone, through which flowed gentle rivers.

"It's pretty," Samir breathed, hesitantly letting go of his leg to look around. "You were here?"

Aang nodded while Azula didn't answer. "We were. That was a long time ago. So much has changed since then."

Samir reached out and brushed her fingers over one of the crystals. "Can I have one?"

"If you meditate, that will be your reward," Azula said suddenly, staring at the place where Aang had avoided looking.

Where he had almost died, struck by Azula's lightning.

Samir nodded with powerful eagerness. "Let's meditate now," she declared and grabbed his hand, pulling him to a 'perfect' spot. "Come on, Mommy!"

Azula followed after several seconds, gait poised, balanced, and elegant, but her golden eyes were distant. "Whenever you are ready, Samir."

Aang sat down when Samir did while Azula followed suit a moment. He watched Samir inhale deeply—too deeply—and close her eyes before he finally looked at Azula, but she had already closed her eyes. Instead of doing as he needed to—close his eyes—he peered past Azula and to the spot where he had nearly died almost ten years ago. His body shuddered to defend against the memory of pain, but the memories came regardless, pulling him in.

The colors in the Catacombs were equally vivid, but the occupants were powerfully different. He saw the Boy, features carved with despair and naivety. Over a hundred Dai Li agents had flooded into the caverns, joining Zuko and Azula. The Boy created a small tent from the crystals, trying to enter The Avatar State while Katara narrowly managed to fend off several of the Dai Li agents, water octopus shielding her lithe form from shards of deadly earth.

Aang stared at the younger Azula, the beautiful, Avatar-hunting girl—all because she wanted to make her father proud and live in less fear of him. But in staring at his memory of her, he was struck by the apathy that gleamed in her cold, golden eyes; there was a chill emanating from her in a distinct breeze of presence. That was the girl he feared, the only one in the world who made him feel wary, second only to her father. The girl's features were pinched with the thrill of the challenge, nimble body gliding across the rocks until she was perched on a ledge, anticipation thrumming in her blood, lips curved into a pleased smirk.

The girl who Azula had been during the Great War was not like Zuko had been despite their relation by blood. Zuko, for a long time, had hated Aang—or the idea of The Avatar—and would have had no qualms about killing him so that Ozai would finally reap praise upon his son. But it was different for Azula. No, Azula was callous, unwilling to show any emotions except amusement and a subtle arrogance that Aang had, if he was being honest with himself, found attractive. She was indifferent to the blood that her hands had been besmirched with, uncaring about all of the atrocities that she had committed in her father's name. But the indifference was a chilling mask worn with much ease and practice—the sign of, not living, but surviving. She was only a child, a young girl frightened of her powerful, terrifying father and had warded off any emotions that were considered weakness, for which she would have been punished and berated for feeling, let alone displaying.

Aang saw the crystals surrounding the Boy glow with an intense, blinding light, the imminence of arrival. The Dai Li and Zuko began to back away, fear poisoning their hearts, reverberating through their limbs, but not Azula. No. Aang watched as the young Azula's arms twisted in a very familiar motion and sparks began to bloom between her fingers, crackling with an intensity Agni would delight in, matching the tempo of the crystals surrounding the Boy, humming in tune with the power and brilliance produced by The Avatar State. Suddenly, a shockwave of power erupted through the Crystal Catacombs in a brilliant, invisible torrent, shaking the heart of everyone.

The Boy rose from the ruptured crystals, floating in the air by Kirku's entrusted power, and his eyes and arrow tattoos glowed blinding white, glaring down at the Dai Li and Zuko, whom all quivered in place, realizing that their deaths were inescapable. The Boy's lips thinned, frowning in rage, and Aang recognized the expression on the Boy's face—it was a foretelling of cataclysmic inevitability, the unholy hatred cultivated for thousands of years to be unleashed in relentless waves.

Aang, for the first time, witnessed The Avatar State from an outsider's point of view. Before, all he had to base the experience on was the destruction seen around him after he awakened from it and his own memories, but now, watching the Boy, he grasped what it meant to face The Avatar State. The Boy was no longer the naïve, desperate, terrified, grieving Aang—he was someone else, slipping away to join the others dwelling within him, one amongst many; there was no longer the individual but the collective of godhood. The Boy was thousands of years of power and strength, in control over—the only one in control over—untold amounts of death and destruction. He was Heaven's presence and promised the unforgiving winter and terrible summer, swift and mighty enough to crush the world—all the Elements, Races, and Nations. The oceans spread for him, mountains crumble in prostration to him, fires do not harm him, and the winds avoid him. The world—all the Elements, Races, and Nation—could ally against him, but it would never be enough. Not even the Elementals putting aside their ancient feuds would slow him down. The Avatar State was supremacy in totality as it was The Avatar in his purest form as The Avatar in and of himself, stronger and evolving with each Avatar's reign—all concentrated in the Boy.

It was humbling and terrifying.

Aang glanced at the young Azula and saw her stare up at the Boy, not with fear but awe. Her golden eyes were wide, lips parted, but determination quickly rushed through her body—he watched it happen. The sparks of lightning condensed together, and Azula swiftly fired a bolt of lightning with deadly accuracy at the Boy, lips curved into a triumphant smirk.

Aang's eyes followed the bolt, and he winced as the Boy's small body was ravished, jerking and writhing in the air, agony carved into his face before all became silent—and the glow faded, disappearing like Agni's light at night.

The Boy's eyes closed in acceptance of his end as Aang, and he fell, plummeting to the ground like a fallen star, but out of nowhere, Katara rode forward on a wave of water, crashing through the dumbstruck Dai Li and Zuko. Then, right before the Boy smashed into the stone head-first, she barely caught him.

"Daddy!"

Aang jumped in surprise as the memories cleared and saw Samir glaring up at him. "What?" he asked in reflex.

She crossed her arms. "You're supposed to be meditating! You have to meditate, too! I want Uncle Zuzu to forgive me."

Azula watched him, clearly knowing why he had not been meditating, but Aang cleared his throat and smiled at Samir. "I was meditating. I just heard something and opened my eyes—I'm sorry."

Samir's face puckered in suspicion. "Really?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Okay," Samir said, accepting his lie and closed her eyes again, continuing her attempts at meditation.

Azula stared at him, and he stared back, and though no words were said, he took comfort in it—because he knew she had been thinking and remembering the same events that he had been. His lips stretched kindly, but when Azula closed her eyes, he knew that while the memories were powerful for him, they were painful for her. However, there would be no resolution with Samir, who had no idea of his near death by Azula's hands during the Great War, present.

After several long moments, he closed his eyes, though he did not bother trying to meditate—he needed to think about Boruk's advice to master all that he could, for it was a worthwhile endeavor if it meant Vaatu's defeat. He had already agreed with the suggestion and decided to pursue it, understanding its validity, but its origin gnawed at him, for it emphasized something on which he had refused to dwell.

How much did Vaatu know?

Vaatu clearly knew more, but how much more? Vaatu wasn't the Tree and didn't know everything, but he knew a lot—but how much? Unfortunately, Aang only knew everything he had learned in his own lifetime, not in Roku or Kyoshi or Kuruk's lifetimes; he could only know such things if he entered The Avatar State and sifted through thousands of years of knowledge, stories, and experiences, which could take thousands of years, in and of itself—or follow his vague but pressing instincts whenever he had them. However, Vaatu experienced no limitation; his knowledge stretched back completely and seamlessly to before Wan ascended. How much more did that entail? How many more secrets did Vaatu know? How many more tricks did Vaatu know?

Wan had sacrificed—or, rather, Raava had sacrificed—the eternity of knowledge and knowing to become The Avatar, empowering and strengthening The Avatar to magnitudes beyond anything and everything she ever was, but it was at the cost of instant knowledge and understanding. Raava did it for the advantage to defeat Vaatu the first time, knowing her sacrifice meant her destruction and nonexistence, the adoption of a new nature that possessed echoes of her, but now it appeared that such an act was the direct cause of why Vaatu rose again—because The Avatar was destined to forget everything he learned, forced to relearn and understand everything over and over again across his lifetimes.

It was a humiliating existence—one Vaatu realized and took advantage of masterfully!

How could he ever know what Vaatu knew, lacking the continued ability to know across eons? How could he ever know Vaatu's plans when his foundational knowledge was so far behind? How could he ever anticipate Vaatu's schemes when Vaatu knew so much more and worked from the ancient depths of his knowledge, refining everything across the ages? How could he ever be in anything but a losing position? How could he make gains when Vaatu had calculated all the moves he could make for thousands of years? How could he master everything he could when he didn't know all that there was to master, like Vaatu certainly did? How could he keep up with Ozai's bending when Ozai could be learning possible countless subsets of the bending disciplines to augment his standing?

But that was the key! Ozai needed masters for each Element, which Vaatu himself was unable to provide himself—could not be a master of Water, Earth, Fire, or Air. Ozai needed a master bender or the Elementals to teach him, but there were such scarce options for him, especially for Air! While Ozai could theoretically find a waterbending master to teach him—or even find the Ocean and Moon in the North—there was no way that Ozai could find an airbending master because Aang himself was the only airbending master in the world and Appa was the only sky bison.

There was a good thing in Air's murder he had never realized before, for it was obvious that a master of his race would ally with Vaatu and teach Ozai airbending if alive—the past revealed the truth of his race!

Indra was the only possible solution to teaching Ozai airbending, but Vaatu had no idea where Indra was, which meant that Vaatu didn't know everything—the knowledge gap was not too immense to evoke an impossible separation! It meant that Aang had time to catch up and get things back on track to defeat Vaatu and Ozai in the long run.

Where Vaatu seemed to have infinite knowledge, he didn't have infinite application; he had very limited application for his knowledge, having to wait until the exact moment, which was not every moment but a rare, difficult-to-determine moment. Vaatu knew he needed to become his own Avatar immediately after Wan imprisoned him over 9,000 years ago, but across those 9,000 years, he never had the moment—the right application—to become his own Avatar because he was trapped in the Tree and didn't have the perfect vessel in Ozai. He knew for every day of those 9,000 years that he needed to be his own Avatar—had the requisite knowledge for it—but the right application eluded him.

Technically, Vaatu still didn't have the right application because he was unable to merge with Ozai yet.

However, while it may seem that it all came down to application, application was only possible by having the knowledge to know when and where to complete the application. The root was knowledge. The only way to counteract Vaatu's possible applications, when they arose, was to make his own applications to attack Vaatu or subvert his designs, making Vaatu focus elsewhere, distracting him. He had to play Vaatu's own game, not by playing by Vaatu's rules, but by making his own rules and acting when and where he could.

Aang couldn't discern anything else.

"Daddy, I'm done now," Samir said, peering up at him with hope on her face. "Did I meditate? Did I do it?"

He smiled and remembered Azula's suggested reward; he swiped his hand, dislodging one of the crystals, and summoned it into his hand, which he held out to Samir. "You did a great job, Samir. I'm proud of you. You still want your crystal, don't you?"

Samir grasped the crystal and almost seemed to coo at it. "So pretty," she whispered, twisting it between her fingers.

Suddenly, a rumble echoed, and Toph appeared out of a tunnel in the Catacombs' edge, smacking her hands together. "There you are! About time I found you."

"Toph!" Samir greeted as she ran to her. "Look! I did it! I meditated! I got a crystal!"

Toph smiled. "Good for you, Hitchhiker. I can teach you were to put it when someone's being a jerk to you."

Samir blinked. "Where?"

"Toph," Aang warned, glaring at her.

"Relax, Twinkletoes," Toph dismissed with a snort. "I was just going to say she could put that crystal up someone's nose."

Samir giggled. "That's silly! It wouldn't fit up someone's nose!"

Toph patted Samir's head. "One day, you'll have enough imagination to see how wrong you are." She plucked the crystal out of Samir's hand. "Did you know that these crystals are really hard?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh," Toph confirmed and, without warning, smashed the crystal against her forehead.

"Toph!" Samir cried out, eyes wide, but then she started laughing when Toph showed the unharmed crystal—and face. "Again! Do it again!"

Toph smirked, but instead of smashing the crystal against her forehead again, tossed it far over several of the gentle rivers; it landed with a clatter but noticeably didn't break. "See? That thing is harder than even Snoozles' head!"

When Samir ran to get her crystal back, Aang stood up and approached Toph. "Is something wrong?"

Toph huffed her bangs out of her eyes, though meaninglessly. "Something's always wrong."

"Why are you here?"

"Bumi's looking for you."

"Why isn't he here?"

Toph laughed. "Look at you, Mr. Avatar—demanding kings come see you. Now that's some real power."

Aang's eyes narrowed. "Why isn't he here?"

"He's talking to Sparky."

He frowned. "I thought you weren't talking to him."

Toph blinked before she sagged, disgruntled. "He told you?"

"Yes."

"Fucking figures," she muttered, crossing her arms. "I'm guessing you know the whole story."

Aang nodded. "Something like that."

"Keep your head out of it. I don't need any of your wisdom."

"I have enough problems to deal with."

Toph looked satisfied. "Good. I'm down here because I was looking for Sparky, wanting to spar, but he was with Bumi. I don't know why Bumi wants to talk to you, but I'm here."

He glanced behind him to see that Azula had moved and was retracing her movements on that day ten years ago. "We're going to need a few minutes—just the two of us. We'll be up later. Bumi can wait."

"I guess so—he waited a century for you."

Aang sighed, unimpressed. "Just take Samir with you."

"Come on, Hitchhiker!" Toph called out. "I need your help."

Samir ran to Toph, clutching her crystal. "Why?"

"We're going to scare Snoozles, and I need your help to do it."

Something delighted and intrigued crossed Samir's face. "Really?"

"Yep. You and I are going up to make him scream like a girl."

"But Mommy and Daddy- "

"Don't worry about them," Toph dismissed. "They just want to do some more meditating. Haven't you had enough meditating?"

Samir looked horrified by the notion that she didn't have enough meditating. "Uh-huh. Yes. No more meditating. I got my crystal."

"Then come on. Leave those two to it."

Aang nodded kindly when Samir glanced at him in question. "It's alright. We'll be up later."

He watched Toph and Samir rise on a pillar of earth until they reached the hole out of which Aang came with everyone previously. When he watched it seal, preventing Samir from possibly falling inside, he finally turned back and looked at Azula, who remained in her position; there was a subtle tightness in her posture.

"A lot of memories here," he observed, approaching her, watching carefully.

Azula said nothing for several long moments before humming. "Many."

"If it's any consolation, I think I had a crush on you."

"I shot you full of lightning," she whispered, golden eyes moving, tracing the memory of the Boy's ascension into the air, glowing with divine power. "Your back was to me, and I chose dishonor. Then I watched you fall and felt nothing but amazement and pleasure, for I thought I killed you." She extended her hand, and lightning blasted out of her fingers, directly at the spot where it once did ten years ago; it collided against the stone in an eruption, but Aang swiped all the debris away. "That was all it took," she continued in a seeming daze. "I thought I did it—slew The Avatar. It was all that mattered to me. Zuko could come home, and Father would no longer expect so much of me. Those were the only thoughts I had. I thought by killing you I would be free. That was what I wanted—freedom. I thought slaying you would liberate me. That was why I told Father Zuko killed you, putting Father's judgment and eye on him in appraisal, not me—no longer me. I wanted to be free."

Aang stepped closer, brows furrowed. "I don't blame you—you know that."

Azula finally glanced at him with heavy, ashamed golden eyes; there was deep emotion shining therein. "But I blame myself. I know I thought about it when I mastered my chakras, but it is different being here now, remembering things I never did before—because I am here in this place. I could have killed you, and I did not care that I had—I thought I succeeded for a long time, and the thought freed me." She jerked her finger and pointed, eyes holding his. "I shot you right there."

"I remember," he agreed softly.

"I have this second chance because you gave it to me," she stressed, breaths inhaling and exhaling at a swifter rhythm. "Zuko let me out, but you gave me the second chance; you ensured I had this second chance. You always thought the best of me."

Aang swallowed. "Marriage aside."

"Of course," Azula dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Before that. No one else helped me like you did. You were with me on Ember Island. Even when you were the most hateful man in the world, horrifying to conceive, trembling with wrath, you were kind to me; you were patient and generous; you showed mercy. And you never blamed me for my sins—for what I did to you in this place so long ago."

"Because I understand why, and we were on opposite sides of the War. For where you were at, you were supposed to try to kill me. And I'm glad you shot me, remember? Remember what I told you then? I said that I didn't know what I would have done if you hadn't shot me. I may have killed everyone. It's possible. And I didn't want to kill everyone. Then it would be you who was killed, and we already have too much experience with that."

Azula shook her head, insistent; there was a hidden desperation barely visible. "But look at you now—look at us. You are my husband, the most important person in my life. All of this would not be possible if I had succeeded down here like I desperately wanted to. If I had killed you, I would have never been anything more than a monster."

"A very beautiful monster," he quipped, trying to resurrect that light in her eyes but sighed when Azula glared at him, alerting him that she was deadly serious. "A monster? That was never what you were. I know monsters, Azula—I know because I'm me, and dwelling within me are monsters you can't imagine. You were lost—that's it. You were lost, and you wanted to be found. I understand that—I've always understood it."

Azula swallowed as a subtle mist shone in her golden eyes. "And you found me on Ember Island."

"You found me, too," Aang pointed out. "You aren't that girl anymore."

"I know, but I remember her, and I dislike those memories—I am ashamed of her."

He nodded. "Like me with the Boy. I hated the Boy for so long—he was always the source of my hatred. It was always me, never Sozin, never Vaatu, never you, never anyone else; it was always me. But I realized that it's okay that I was the Boy; the Boy fought to survive and live despite the impossible situation he was in." He reached forward and grabbed her hands, pulling her closer to him; their eyes locked. "It's okay that you were that girl—I swear. It's okay. That girl fought to survive and live despite the impossible situation she was in, and I'm so proud that you've always done that—you're doing it right now. It's an honor to know you."

When he pulled her into him, she embraced him, holding tightly. "It is an honor to know you, as well," she replied. "Thank you for everything you have done for me."

"Thank you for everything you have done for me. I never thought any of this was possible." He squeezed her tighter and brushed his hands over her curves. "I really never thought any of this was possible."

She smirked, one brow rising as she looked up at him. "What was that about a crush?"

Aang smiled. "I think I had a crush on you during the Great War. I mean, I loved Katara, but it was only love; I realize now that I was never really actually attracted to her. But you? I was attracted to you. It scared me. You scared me."

"Flattery, flattery," she dismissed but appeared pleased. "Unfortunately, I did not reciprocate."

"I wouldn't expect you to. I was twelve."

Azula sighed. "Yes, it is impossible for a fifteen-year-old girl to find a twelve-year-old boy attractive, even if he is The Avatar. Now I am twenty-four, and you are twenty-one- "

"121," he corrected. "Believe me, it's 121, possibly 122 at this point; I still don't know my actual age with the timeline. I need to think about it more, but believe me, I feel it now—I feel my age."

She accepted his correction without argument. "And we are married. It seems impossible, especially being in this place where such a thing was literally impossible when we were last here, but it happened. It mystifies me."

Aang laughed slightly. "It mystified me more for a long time."

Her golden eyes roamed his face. "I know it did."

"But it all worked out like it was supposed to—I see it; I really see it. And that's how I know that this war with Vaatu is going to work out like it's supposed to. We're going to win—it's assured. It may take a long time, but we will win, and everything that happens or has happened was meant to happen."

Azula's eyes closed briefly. "I never asked. How is it to be back in Ba Sing Se?"

He inhaled slowly but was quiet for several moments. "I thought it would be hard, but it's not. I've been to worse places than this before—many worse places and many places ruined by me. When I saw Gyatso again and went to the Southern Temple, that was amazing, but it was hard, too—so hard. It probably sounds wrong, but after that, being here in Ba Sing Se again after I murdered it isn't hard; it doesn't feel significant or hold any weight to me."

"Good," she commended, surprising him. "You must be of clear mind."

Aang remembered Boruk's observations. "Because I'm the leader."

Azula's head tilted, clearly understanding that it was a surprise to him. "You did not realize you were the leader?"

"It's not that I didn't realize it, it's just that I realized that I was always going to be the leader; I realized that I've been the leader since the Great War and during. I've always been the leader since Wan ascended. Chaos and bad things have always happened, no matter the lifetime, when I stop being a good leader—or refuse to be the leader, like I did after the Great War. I thought Zuko was the leader and should be the leader- "

Her brows rose in surprise. "Zuko?"

"He's a good leader," he defended.

"Only of Fire," Azula pointed out. "He could never be leader of anything else—of anyone else. It has always fallen to you."

Aang nodded. "I know. But I realized that things reached this point with Vaatu because I was refusing to be the leader; things got so tense after the Great War because I wasn't the leader; the Great War happened because Roku wasn't the leader. I need to be the leader—I accept that."

Azula stared up at him for several moments before her lips stretched. "We will all follow you. We trust your judgment and execution."

His face twisted in memory. "My judgment got you killed."

"From which you learned," she dismissed. "You are of clear mind and reasoning. You know what it will take to defeat Vaatu and Father."

"This will be a long war," he admitted. "We're hunting each other without being anywhere near each other. I'm going to master everything that I can."

Something intrigued passed over Azula's face. "Meaning? You already know the sub-disciplines of element, and you mastered your chakras."

Aang shook his head. "You're right, but there's more. I spoke with Bumi, and he told me that he encountered a Lavabender years ago. This man actually controlled lava and maimed Bumi's legs."

Azula stiffened. "A Lavabender? I had had no idea that a Firebender could become so powerful as to bend lava itself."

He laughed. "That was my mistake. Lavabending isn't a subset of firebending; it's earthbending—bending molten rock. That's what it is. Boruk discovered it while Jinzhai mastered it, realizing that it was within earthbending."

"You will master it?"

"I should," he pointed out. "I have no idea what secrets Vaatu's teaching your father—and that doesn't even include Agni and Devi. I need to master all that I can, which includes lavabending."

"It makes sense that lavabending is within earthbending," Azula mused after several moments. "Earthbending is the least dangerous of the bending arts."

Aang blinked. "What?"

"A Waterbender can bloodbend, bursting one's heart with a twitch of his finger if he chooses. A Firebender can raise internal heat, the very body temperature, causing one to die from a scalding fever if he chooses. And the most dangerous of them all, in my opinion—an Airbender. You could snuff out someone's life in the blink of an eye, stealing the very breath dwelling in the lungs."

Images flashed through Aang's mind—memories. "You're right. An Earthbender can't kill someone in a paralyzing, devastating attack like other benders."

"The weakest of the bending arts," Azula concluded. "That is why it has more sub-disciplines within it than the other elements; it balances the scales."

"Just don't tell Toph," he pointed out.

"I do not tell her much."

"What do you know about combustion-bending?"

Azula blinked. "Why?"

Aang grinned. "Because I'm going to master it."

"I tried before," she admitted, quiet, shame coloring her voice. "However, I failed to accomplish it."

He squeezed her tighter with a brief laugh. "Maybe we can learn it together. I'm sure that I'll figure it out. It has to do with the chi flow. Combustion Man's chi flow was unique."

One of her brows cocked. "Combustion Man? What kind of name is that?"

"Sokka named him."

"Of course. Who is Combustion Man?"

He smiled at the memories of Combustion Man, which seemed so much less serious when compared to everything else he had faced. "An assassin hired by Zuko to kill me after I almost died after Ba Sing Se. Combustion Man channeled his chi through his forehead, resulting in an intricate third-eye tattoo. Combustion Man was willing to do anything, kill anyone, for a bag of gold, even The Avatar. In Zuko's words, 'he was great at what he did and even better at keeping secrets.' That's why Zuko trusted him to kill me. We encountered him several times, and he was powerful. His attack range was unlike anything I've seen except for your father using lightning during Sozin's Comet."

Azula hummed in understanding. "You speak of Fulki-Aridam. Grandfather and Father often utilized him for stealth missions, undoubtedly the reason that Zuko heard of him, nonetheless being able to contact and hire him. The Fire Nation found out about his ability over forty years ago when he was a child. Apparently, from what Father said, when Fulki-Aridam was a young child, he was initially unable to control his combustion-bending and accidentally blew his right arm and leg off. Grandfather, having heard of the child's special ability, commissioned for prosthetic limbs to be built for him, ordering new ones every time the boy grew, envisioning a worthy warrior—a worthy warrior he became, indeed. Fulki-Aridam acquired his status of infamy in a series of quick Agni Kais, amounting money, several large estates, and women. He was considered a legend by those who never saw him."

Aang nodded, impressed by her retention of detail. "It's a useful ability. His chi was unique, the source of the ability. I need to figure out how to master it."

"I doubt I will." She glanced at where he had nearly died ten years ago. "Lightning is enough for me."

"And for Zuko," he added, catching her gaze. "It's time for him to master lightning. You should teach him. Bring him down here to practice it. You taught me on Ember Island, and I thought that you were an excellent teacher."

Azula's brows rose. "I think that had more to do with the student than the teacher. You mastered lightning in a single strike. Every time in our childhood when I showed Zuko a bending move, he became furious and bitter."

"We all need to master everything we can. Teach him."

She smirked, looking impressed. "Very well, leader. However, I want something in return."

Aang frowned. "Which is?"

Azula stared into his eyes intently, and the conviction therein notified him that she had been considering her 'something in return' for a while. "You must take up a weapon, any weapon, but I believe either a sword or bow would be your best option. An Airbender could easily become the greatest swordsman in the history of our recorded world—the same goes for an archer. You would make Sokka, Piandao, Mai, Ty Lee, and the Yu Yan Archers look like stumbling, foolish children. When using a sword, you could sense objects and movements from the disturbances in the air while in combat. Imagine yourself using a bow, Aang. Your enemies would be terrified; they would realize how dangerous an Airbender is. You could use the wind to make arrows fly faster, even changing their direction mid-flight. No distance would be an obstacle; you could be thousands of yards above your enemies in the sky or several feet to the right of your enemies. Nobody is safe from an airbending archer. You could turn the tide of a battle before it even started."

Images condensed in his mind, framing Azula's logical analysis. It made a lot of sense, and it would be part of his insistent to master everything could. This was a war that would make the Great War look pitiful in comparison; the future of both Realms was in the balance. It was necessary—Azula was right. "I see your point," he agreed. "I'll talk to Zuko—or you—about the Yu Yan Archers and their training."

"Perhaps King Bumi would know some things, as well."

Aang recalled Bumi's various exploits. "Maybe."

XxXxXxXxXxX

I hope that you all enjoyed it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I'd really appreciate it!

**Toph's journey after the Great War is shown, and I think that it is realistic for her parents not to change their ways. By their age, the Beifongs would have many problems trying to change their ideology, their need to keep Toph in a cage. To me at least, in the show, it seemed like the Beifongs despised things or people that they couldn't control. Since Toph is rebellious, so unlike what she 'should be,' they tried to control her, until Toph had enough and ran away again—for good. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

**Zuko talks with Samir before discussing Samir's obvious lineage with Mai and Ty Lee and warns them not to say anything or tell Samir while Ty Lee has a particular desperation to get to know Samir that she doesn't explain. Don't worry—that will be explained.

**Katara and Ursa talk and discuss Fire's history in hope that Katara can arrive at a clearer understanding/conclusion about her love for Zuko and the possibility of marriage, which she rejected with a heavy heart because Zuko compromised Family by using concubines.

In Avatar Canon, it says that a single Fire Sage rose above the other Sages and became the Fire Lord, but I honestly don't see that going well; the other Sages would want to become the Fire Lord and war would be waged. So, I added the first civil war concept and then, Fire Lord Kai eventually became the lone Fire Lord.

**Iroh is attacked by a group of assassins employed by treacherous nobles and tries to get to the bottom of the attack. While he survives the ordeal, he doesn't really make any gains in understanding the purpose of it and why a servant named Lee was dragged into it.

**Katara finally gets to the bottom of things with Zuko by going to, shockingly, Azula for advice! Unlike anyone else, Azula can articulate exactly how everything happened and pulls no punches with Katara, telling her exactly what she needs to hear. She lays it all out there and forces Katara to think, to ask the hard questions that she otherwise never would ask. It gives Katara the motivation to seek Zuko out and finally tell him the truth because she's at peace about it; she understands how it all happened and came away with a new angle to perceive it all.

Zuko doesn't make it easy for Katara, but she keeps at it and tells him what she feels for him and how she has kind of always felt about him while also apologizing for her previous behavior and inability to understand. It bridges the gap between them, and Zuko is willing to talk to her again and be himself, and they discuss things more maturely and calmly without yelling at each other at all—a very big change. But they finally express their feelings and agree to take it slow. Well, Katara more than Zuko.

**Aang summons Avatar Boruk for advice on how to repair his relationship with Earth because he doesn't want to face Kyoshi's judgment and shit—understandable for him. He learns some history about Ba Sing Se and what Earth perceives as attacks because of Earth's unity, even when separated by Major Cities. He and Boruk also talk about Vaatu and what to expect, which leads to a discussion on Aang mastering everything he possibly can because Ozai is certainly doing the same—while having the unthinkable advantage of having Agni and Devi on his side to tutor and reveal secrets, secrets Aang might not even know, to him.

I hoped you liked that twist about Avatar Boruk being the first to discover lavabending. I honestly think that only The Avatar could ever truly discover new bending techniques thought impossible, or thought of as only a subset of a certain element, like lavabending falsely thought of as a subset of firebending. I think it makes the most sense as The Avatar has more possible outcomes than anyone else with 'messing around' with his bending and accidentally doing things thought impossible.

Upon analysis, earthbending does appear to be the weakest of the bending arts. All of the other elements have the capacity to be used in a deadly, swift strike that would kill any on the receiving end almost instantaneously. Firebenders can raise one's internal body temperature which can lead to heatstroke, organ failure, brain damage, and even death. A prodigiously skilled/powerful Waterbender can control one's blood under the Full Moon (not counting Yakone's bloodline right now and anyone who masters chakras), causing the heart to burst and so on. Then an Airbender is the most dangerous because any Child of Air can steal air from one's lungs as easily as anything else. Airbenders could even increase the air pressure around someone until the head explodes. An Earthbender can't really do anything like that. An Earthbender couldn't bend the iron in somebody's blood because iron is pure metal. Plus, it's been shown that it's pretty much unprecedented for a Waterbender to bloodbend; only the extraordinarily supreme Waterbenders could hope to do it. And the blood is composed of over 90% of water—and it's still insanely difficult! How could an Earthbender hope to control the iron, regardless if it's pure metal, when it's in such small quantities?

The only thing I can think of is that an Earthbender could impale a bender before he could react, but I don't know if rock would necessarily kill someone—a Metalbender could but there are so few in this story because I honestly hated how Legend of Korra had such mediocre benders metalbending. An Earthbender could shove someone off a cliff, but then a Firebender could jet streams of fire from his limbs to stay alive, a Waterbender could summon a water tornado if near water, and it is pointless to shove an Airbender off a cliff. Earthbenders have more subsets and seem the strongest physically, but their bending appears the weakest in terms of the limitations on the art itself and what attacks are possible.

Also, an Airbender, in my opinion, would be the most dangerous warrior to ever face in the world of Avatar. He can kill you from anywhere. He is as fast as the wind itself, perhaps even faster, and at his full potential, he can fly without a glider and create hurricane-like gales and city-destroying tornadoes. He is agile, and air is everywhere. I mean, can you imagine the Yu Yan Archers as Airbenders? They would be the most feared fighting force in the entire world, capable of slaughtering entire armies. They would be able to control where and when the arrows land, able to maneuver the arrows around shields and armor. Then imagine an airbending swordsman; able to know where his opponent will strike before his opponent even thinks it. He would be beyond-lethal! There is no place where one could hide from an Airbender except maybe the ocean itself, but even then, I'm not sure. Water has air in it. (You know, H2O? It has an oxygen molecule!) An Airbender's lungs are bred to inhale any air no matter how small or minuscule in quantity. Plus, Aang has shown that Airbenders can hold their breathing for a very long time. If powerful enough, an Airbender could survive under the water long enough to catch his prey. He could even create an air bubble. His only match would be a Waterbender under the ocean, but an Airbender could simply suck the air out of the Waterbender's lungs or water bubble, thus killing him. Air is essential to all life, every species, so can you imagine if the air itself was actually weaponized in Avatar? It would be Zaheer on a whole other level - both physically and mentally. The Airbenders have the potential to be a people of mass destruction. Also, remember what Gyatso was able to do? He was able to slaughter dozens and dozens and piles of Sozin's Comet-boosted, veteran, warrior Firebenders by himself—and even then, we only saw the skulls of those Firebenders! That's how dangerous and powerful a Master Airbender is; it's how dangerous Aang is if he wanted to be, except infinitely more so because he's The Avatar.

Well, I think that is everything. I hope that you all enjoyed it, and I would really appreciate it if you left a review to tell me what you thought about it.

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