Book 4 Air chapter 3

Chapter 3 The path once traveled


A couple of weeks had passed since the beginning of the high council meetings. Since the Earth King kicked out the nobles, everything went off without a hitch. The small council finally decided to put the plans they had made into action starting in the earth kingdom. Fire lord Zuko and Aang along with the rest of the group, traveled to the outskirts of Ba Sing Se to begin the clearing of the fire nation colonies. Aang sat playing with Momo as they flew. Toph was in her usual position on the saddle, holding onto Sokka's arm for dear life.

Aang leaned over the saddle to look the bison in his large eyes. "Its good to be back on the road huh buddy?" The bison let out a small roar in response to his smiling partner. Aang sat back up and air bended himself over to Katara's side as she sat looking out over the land of the earth kingdom as it passed below them. The two sat together enjoying the evening air as they flew. Zuko and Mai sat in a corner of the saddle, two fire nation guards sitting on either side of them. Both of them hanging were their heads off the side of the saddle. Toph smiled at the sound of the two men getting sick and yelled out over the loud winds.

"First time flying huh?" The two guards looked up sickly and nodded... like she could see it. Within a few more minutes the crew arrived at a small colony. Appa landed on the ground and nearly threw the passengers off his back in exhaustion. Plopping his giant tongue out as he rolled.

"Ah it's great to be back out of that city where things are sane again." Toph declared, jumping off of Appas saddle and making an earth angel in the ground. Aang took off immediately after they landed in the small colony of Yuyyan and set off on his glider flying around.

"Don't forget we're here to work guys," Zuko said sternly as he watched over the fire nation soldiers leaving to their ships, escorting fire nation citizens as they went.

"Well while that is true, that doesn't mean that we can't eat. Lets go find some food first." Katara  rubbed her stomach in hunger. The rest of the group agreed and Zuko unwillingly gave in.
They walked through the small town getting waves and hero worship from the earth kingdom citizens that were getting settled in. Aang came flying back down to the group as they met outside a small tavern for a meal. He twirled his glider and folded it back down to his staff in his usual fashion and followed them all into the small dinner.

"So whats on the menu of this place?" Toph asked sipping at her drink.

"You know the usual, cabbage, steak, seal jerky, the works." Sokka scanned the menu feverishly looking for something to suit his appetite.

"I think I'm just gonna have a salad," Katara looked at Aang with a smile, she was trying to adapt to his vegetarian lifestyle. And he really seemed to appreciate it.

He smiled back at her widely, "I believe I will have what the lady is having".

The waitress took all the orders quickly, she seemed to be very shy considering the rank of the people she was serving. She blushed madly when Aang accidently touched her hand as he reached for his water. "He touched me....the avatar touched me!!!" The girl ran back into the kitchen screaming like she had just been crowned queen of the whole kingdom. The group all looked at Aang, he was more surprised than anybody, but he tried not to show how much he liked the attention. Katara shot a look at the rest of the avatars fan girls in the diner as she pulled his chair very close to her, wrapping one of her arms around  him as if to tell the other girls. "Mine, no touch." The young monk seemed to enjoy the position he was in at the moment, letting out a relieving sigh and his kid like smile growing bigger by the minute. But Aang straightened back up in his chair when Sokka looked at him with conviction, pointing two fingers to his eyes then pointing them back at him sharply. After the excitement of the famous visitors had died down a bit, the manager of the dinner came out to greet them.

"It is an honor to have such grand hero's in our modest town. I'd like to thank you all for what you are doing." The man gave a salute in fire nation style despite his earth kingdom heritage, directly to the fire lord. "You especially sir, thank you for ending this occupation and returning our nations to peace." Zuko was taken aback by the earth kingdom citizens show of respect, but was very pleased to finally have someone from other kingdoms that weren't royalty; showing appreciation for what they were doing. "It is a great honor sir, thank you." Zuko exchanged a earth kingdom salute with the manager, then clasped hands with the man in a kind handshake.
"Now is there anything else I can get you?"

"Yeah whats this tea here?" Aang asked pointing down at a menu. The manager gave a kind smile.

"That is one of our specialties. I would love to bring you out a sample of it, though it isn't tea, I believe you will very much like it." He gave a nod and the manager went to the kitchen and soon returned with a very small steaming cup of liquid. Aang looked at it and shrugged as he threw it down like water, being the cup was so tiny. The shop manager then jumped as the young man shot down the drink.

"Oh no! Sir your supposed to sip on it, it's very strong." Before he could say anymore Aang's eyebrow started to twitch and his eyes suddenly got wider, seeming like he had just woke up from a hundred year nap.

"WOW this stuff is great you guys have to try it! Lets go outside and do something, this whole sitting down thing is getting the best of me, I think I'm gonna go fly, anybody wanna join me? No? Ok. You sure? Alright I'm off!" Aang sprung out his glider and blasted himself out of the dinner, blowing over everything on the table onto Sokka as he left. The group looked at the seat where Aang used to be, then back at Sokka who was now covered in the entire contents of their lunch. They all suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter, except Sokka who simply sat there, lost for words at his misfortune.

"I gotta get some of that!" Toph squealed out between laughs at her friend.

"Here Sokka I'll clean you off." Katara opened her water pouch and dowsed her brother with water. His expression remained the same looking like a very displeased statue. The group continued laughing as they walked outside the dinner, Aang had almost flew off the effects of the drink and had calmed himself down as he hurled to the ground in front of them.

"That was great!" Aang exclaimed, holding his glider up in triumph.

Sokka just continued walking beside the boy as they approached the fire navy vessels that were docked at the bay, and punched the air bender in the shoulder knocking him over into a stack of crates. Sokka smiled evilly at his friend, but soon found himself toppled over onto Aang after Toph sent a hard blow to his shoulder as they walked. The young earth bender smiled as she felt her friends collapse into the crates, then looked back in Sokka's direction.

"Yeah, that's my kinda my thing buddy."

Once Aang and Sokka had finally dug themselves out of the heap of crates they were trapped in, they made their way back up to the rest of the group. As they got up to the docks they stopped in front of the fire nation soldiers that were directing the cargo and troops onto the ship. Zuko had requested that one of his high generals also be present to assist in the movement of men. He looked to an older man that was doing most of the commanding.

"General Shinu, how close are we to having everything loaded up and leaving?" The old general thought for a moment looking around the now almost empty town with a shake of his head.

"Only a couple of hours sir, but I still don't understand why all the fire nation citizens must leave."

"If the fire nation continues to occupy the earth kingdom even in a peaceful manner without military force, there will never be balance. There have already been fights breaking out between the refugees moving back in from Ba Sing Se and the colonists. This is for the safety of our people."

The general didn't seem to agree with the fire lords reasoning but bowed in respect nonetheless and walked back to the naval vessel. In the meantime Aang and Toph went off to make sure that no fire nation citizens were being left behind. They soon returned and reported to Zuko. "Well most everyone is cleared out of the south end of the town, and the earth kingdom soldiers are moving in with more refugees."

"Good, we'll finish up here and move on to Kyoshi." At the mention of the island, Sokka popped up his head from behind his sibling with excitement.

"And we get to finally see Suki!"

Toph looked away off by herself, she gave an attempt to blow the bangs out of her face with a look of disappointment. She was not happy with Suki, she didn't even try to respond to Sokka's messages. She didn't want to see him get hurt.

"Well if you guys think you can handle the rest of this I think me and Katara are gonna go feed the Fuzzball." Mai said walking back with Katara to where Appa sat. He was already trying to munch on some trees nearby.

The remaining kids stood watching the rest of the soldiers board the ship, soon a messenger came up to Zuko. "Your highness all citizens are accounted for, but we seem to have three troops lagging behind, do you want to send out a search party for them?"

"No need, we will do a walk through of the town, just tell the captain to prepare the ship for departure." The messenger did as he was told and went running back to the helm to deliver the orders.

The group began walking through the small town, looking in buildings as they went. They were searching all around but couldn't seem to find the missing soldiers. The young firelord was clearly getting agitated with the soldiers tardiness as he continued along, asking villagers of the mens whereabouts.

In the shadows down an alley there were three men hiding in the cover of the dark, they all were wearing fire nation uniforms. They eyed their new fire lord wearily, waiting for the moment when he walked by. The group met back together in front of a small shop all with no luck in finding the missing men.
"Well I guess they're further south into the town, me and Aang must have missed them on our first sweep through." Toph said with a shrug.

Sokka looked around them at the streets, they were mostly empty in this part of the town. He was getting an uneasy feeling about their misfortune of not finding the men, and unsheathe his boomerang as they began walking to the other end of the town. After only a few steps they passed by the dark alley, when suddenly Toph's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Look out!"

She threw up a fist bringing an earth wall between them and the arrows that glided toward the group. A man came flying over the wall, fire emerging from his feet as he sent a kick towards the fire lord. Zuko blocked the attack, and ducked as Aang swung his staff. Sending a gust of air from it, knocking the attacker into the side of a building leaving him unconscious. Toph punched the wall that guarded them, sending it flying and pinning one of the other men against the wall at the end of the alley. Sokka and Zuko stood back to back awaiting another attack, then it came from above as the last man dropped in from the rooftop. Sokka and Zuko both rolled out of the way, letting him fall to the ground. Sokka recovered first and threw his boomerang at the attacker, hitting him in the head. The group all stood looking around them at the unconscious men. Loyal fire nation soldiers came rushing to their side to help aid their King. "Are you ok sir?" Shinu asked still panting from the run. He had a look of concern on his face when he seen the men scattered around the young warriors.

"We are all fine general," Zuko let out a deep breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation at the obvious question from the general.

"Good sir, I will have these men sent for interrogation immediately." Shinu began to have his men load up the traitors in a steel carriage and take them to the ship as they began to wake up. But was stopped when a very short girl, who stood in front of him looking down at the ground.

"That will not be necessary general. I got this." The general looked at the short girl confused with a laugh but then his jaw dropped in disbelief, as she stepped into the steel carriage that held the prisoners and bended the doors shut behind her. They sat outside in anticipation waiting for her to come back out, hearing the occasional "your lying" sang out from the steel hull. After a few more minutes and several thuds from inside the carriage, Toph emerged. She bended the metal around her small frame and walked outside, a man wrapped in a metal bench fell on the ground crying behind her as she stepped out. The other two men were cowering in the corner of the dark carriage.

Toph put a hand up and began to count off the mens confessions with pride. "They are loyalist to Ozai, they say they don't work for anyone. And you sir" Toph pointed at the general with a grin, "Owe me. They tried to say they worked for you."

Shinu stood in awe at the uncanny abilities of the young girl, his mouth still hanging wide open.But then brought himself back to his proper composure with a wide smile. "Of course lady Toph, I look forward to you visiting the fire nation, perhaps we could work out a position for you in the new resistance task force." The general turned to Sokka, "You as well young man, we could use a man of your intelligence and battle skills to keep the few rebels emerging at bay." Sokka could not believe how many promotions and titles continued to flood in from all the nations, he could only nod and smile."I'll consider it general."

Fire nation soldiers went and picked up the crying man wrapped in the bench, and tossed him into the back of the carriage once again with a resounding thud.

The group made their way back to Appa, where Katara and Mai sat playing with Momo. "Is everything ok? We heard a lot of noise and saw some soldiers running around." Katara asked concerned.

"Eh just some rebels, nothing to worry about." Zuko waved off the question as if it were nothing.
But Mai looked at him and could tell he was shaken at the attempt on his life. But from his own soldiers was what made it even worse. She went to his side as they all climbed up on Appa. "Well don't worry about them, everybody thinks your doing a great job as fire lord."

"Yeah Zuko, I mean there are going to be some rebels," Aang said looking back from atop the bisons head. "You can't expect every single citizen to drop the war completely just because they have a new leader, but luckily most people just want their sons home from battle."

Zuko looked out onto the sea, the sun reflecting red and orange in the water. He had no response to his friends statement, he only sat there gazing towards the sunset. He knew that Aang was right, but it didn't do much to comfort him. But what was the worst, he knew that the return to peace would be more difficult for his own nation than any other. Especially with word from his uncle on the constant uprising of rebels and deserters from the army back in the fire nation. The young fire lords grimaced at the thought and closed his eyes.


Meanwhile in the fire nation, Iroh sat in the Fire lords chamber room, meeting with the new generals that he had appointed. He and the other generals all sat at the meeting table leaving the fire lord's seat vacant. The flames behind it still lit the the room, casting dull shadows over the table of generals. The old master did not trust most of his brothers former advisors, especially since most of them had been arrested right after the end of the war for attempting to continue on the battle. So he had chosen the best people he could think of to replace the corrupt generals, and help his nephew rule the nation. Members of the order of the white lotus. The meeting hall was buzzing with news of returning soldiers being reunited with their families. But there was also talk of the rebellions spreading around the small nation. Iroh sat quietly next to his old friend Jong Jong, his mind preoccupied with other things.

"General Iroh....Iroh! Jong Jong finally yelled at his friend, attempting to catch his attention as the rest of the meeting room awaited his opinion on the matter.

"What? Oh my apologies gentlemen, what were you saying?"

A young general not much older than Zuko, stood and addressed Iroh, he appeared to be wearing a white lotus uniform much like many of the other men. "We were asking what you had in mind to deal with these rebellions. Most are silent uprisings right now, but we fear if they continue to grow in support we will be helpless. We have our forces spread far too thin to defend the capital."

Iroh contemplated the issue a moment before responding, "There is nothing we can do right now. If we need help, the northern water tribe has offered it's soldiers to keep rebellions at bay. Besides what better to fight fire, than with water?" After a moment all the generals seemed to come to agreement with him. The meeting proceeded on another few minutes until it was adjourned and the generals all began to go out their separate ways from the meeting. Jong Jong, Iroh and Piandao all walked together through the halls of the palace. The walls were lined with pictures of previous fire lords, as the men walked by they all turned to glance at them. Finally they reached the portrait of Ozai. They stood before the haunting portrayal of the once powerful man.

"That could have been you," Piandao finally said still looking up at the dark painting.

"Yes, it could have. But luckily the spirits had other plans for me. Plans much greater than I could have imagined." The old general smiled as he thought about his nephews changed path, and how he had traveled down a very similar road himself. History had a funny way of repeating itself.

"We are going to go back to the meeting room to work out a few details, there are talks of one of the old generals planning an overthrow of the fire lord. Would you like to join us?" Iroh continued starring at the picture of his brother, his eyes void of any emotion. He looked down from the picture with a sigh after and moment and finally replied.

"I actually have something very important I have to do. Besides there is no fire lord here to overthrow at the moment." The old men all chuckled to themselves. "Just watch the rebels, and keep me informed. I'm keeping Zuko out away from the palace as long as I can." The other men nodded and left Iroh in the hall of the palace alone. He continued to stand there looking across at the portraits all the way to Sozin, they all had an almost haunting haze hanging over them, but when he looked over to the Portrait to the right of his brother's, he couldn't help but smile. It had a single torch in front of it and though it was small, it shone light all across the canvas. It was a portrait of Zuko, not wearing the royal robes as was tradition but his armor, and the crown of the prince. Iroh turned away and flipped his cloak up over his face. He then began to walk to the basement of the palace, he had a visit to make.

As Iroh walked down the spiral staircase of the palace it began to get very dark. He lit a small flame in the palm of his hand and held it out in front of him to see. The bottom of the staircase opened up to reveal a dreary, large cellar. It had doors on either side of it. The floors and ceilings were made of stone, both seeping moisture down from the cracks in the masonry from the cool temperatures of being underground. The doors in the walls were all made of a thick steel. A heavily armoured guard stood in front of one of the doors, he didn't move as Iroh approached, but turned to face him as he got within a few feet. The guard held out a large sword towards Iroh and lit it on fire.

"No visitors allowed down here sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Iroh huffed a flame out of his mouth at the mans challenge of his authority. The flame lit up his golden eyes as it traveled up across his face revealing his features to the guard.

"General Iroh? I had no Idea Sir, I apologize. What can I do for you?"

Iroh moved closer to the guard the small flame in his hand forgotten. "I need to see her".

The guard tensed up with Iroh's words but kept his composure," Uh...alone sir?"

"Yes. Alone." The guard seemed to hesitate a moment, not sure what exactly to do. Iroh made the decision for him it had seemed, as he pushed the large man gently to the side. "I handled the last dragon this world had to offer son, I can handle my niece."  

The guard sighed heavily and sheath-ed his sword, he opened the giant steel door and allowed Iroh to enter. The door made an erie sound as the man closed the door and locked it behind Iroh, leaving him standing in the room in the dark, seemingly alone. But then out of the corner of his eye he saw a tiny blue flame, it was emanating regularly as the girl sat in the corner, her arms wrapped around her legs. Breathing in, and exhaling heavy enough to produce the flame. Her clothes were mere tattered rags, nothing like the royal treatment she had become accustomed to. Her hair had almost grown back to it's original beauty, though now it was pulled back into a simple yet messy ponytail. Iroh walked cautiously up to the girl, doing his best not to startle her. He had been keeping tabs on her since she was locked away. For the first few weeks she barely ate and she never slept. All she did was blow fire at the guards who tried to bring her food, and shoot lightning at the walls in an attempt to escape. But after a while, the lightning stopped and the flames grew more infrequent. Eventually they stopped all together, like the calm after a raging storm.

"I can hear you". She said between her sharp breaths of fire. Iroh could almost feel his heart stop at the sound of the girls voice. He did not like to admit it, but though she was his niece, after she shot him with fire; Iroh was still somewhat afraid to be in a place were he couldn't keep his eye on her.

"Azula," Iroh said looking towards the black corner where he thought her to be sitting. He didn't get a response for several minutes, only standing there in the dark room. Finally Iroh's fears got the best of him and he bended a small flame in his hand to light up the cell. She was huddled into a corner, hugging her knees tightly to her chest as she sat on the cold wet stone. Her face was still covered in the dark.

"I hear you haven't been trying to attack your care takers lately....thats good", Iroh searched for something to say to her without sounding mocking. Azula sat there in silence barely moving until she finally answered him.

"You know when you are locked up in a cage like an animal, you get time to think. It's been longer than I can remember since the last time I was really alone like this." Her voice still held the same calm cold reflection of icy water. Iroh stood waiting for her to do something, but she did not.

"All my life, I have been living up to my fathers expectations, planning, calculating. But never taking a single moment to myself, to actually enjoy the life I have been given." Azula seemed to almost choke on the words as she spoke, her smooth voice beginning to crack. Iroh noticed the change in her tone, but he couldn't tell whether it was a bad or good thing. He hoped it was good for his sake, he was getting too old to be redirecting lightning much more. He took another step closer to her, moving to her bed and sitting down. He pulled something out from his robe as he sat, it was a small tea set with two cups. It was a simple set, one he had made for himself back in his teashop. He took a cup out and poured the liquid into it. He heated the tea up in his hand and held it out to Azula.

"I brought you your favorite Azula, white dragon flower." She didn't move except for an arm that took the small cup and she lifted her head just enough to sip on the drink.  

The two sat in the cell quietly drinking the tea Iroh had brought, until Azula spoke out again in her soft calm tone. "How did you know?" Iroh raised un eyebrow unsure of the actual question.
She could tell his confusion and continued on. "For a wise old man, you do get confused quite often uncle." Iroh let out an annoyed huff, looking away from his niece."How did you know my favorite tea?" Iroh's hard expression softened at the question, a small genuine smile came across his face as he remembered back to the past. "When you and your brother used to always come to play with Lu Ten, you always demanded I make it for you. You were so content with just having the tea each time you came to visit." She lowered her face down further at the once happy memory. A hand coming up to her face to seemingly brush away a stray hair. Then falling once again to grip her legs tighter to her chest.

Azula sat in the corner still unmoving like a statue planted there in the dark. She seemed to have very much on her mind after she had been sitting doing nothing but thinking for weeks. She didn't even try to bend anymore, except breathing the occasional flame to keep warm in the cold cellar.

"They hate me." She muttered out, her words distinct but spoken softly enough that Iroh could barely hear them.

The wise old master found himself lost for words, unsure how to respond to her random statement. She was still facing the wall not daring to look away from it.  

"The guards, the citizens of my nation...my friends, my family...." Azula gripped her legs harder with each group she named off, her voice getting more and more inaudible, she seemed to struggle to even continue to speak.  He looked on concerned but said nothing. But then Iroh noticing something as the young princess lifted her face from where she had it buried in her knees. In the dim light of the small flame Iroh held, he could tell Azula was crying. The orange flame reflected off the half dried tears that she hadn't bother to rub away, her golden eyes were moist and bloodshot. It seemed she had been crying for some time. He laid a caring hand on the girls shoulder, she shook at the gesture but did little else. But after a moment she turned to look at her uncle, and tears began to flow from the eyes. The evil, calculating smile she once held constantly was gone, replaced by a broken spirit. She was lost. Everything she had worked for, from her fathers approval, to her place on the throne and her friends respect and admiration, it was all gone. She had nothing left, and it left her more broken than she could imagine. She had no more reason to fight. She had no more hate left in her, except for the hate she had for herself. She began to sob as she looked back at the wall.

"And it's all my fault." She could barely piece the words together as she spoke between sharp breaths, trying to control her emotions. She finally gathered herself and sat quietly wiping at her face. Iroh let out a deep sigh and sat himself on the cold stone floor next to her.

"Azula, your brother does not hate you, I do not hate you. Your friends, don't hate you. They miss you, and they have begged to come and see you, they care for your well being. They believe you can be a different person." Azula raised her face slightly with Iroh's last words but then lowered it back down to her knees once again still attempting to contain her emotions. "And so do I", Iroh looked at his neice with kind eyes, he could see much of her brother in her. He once held the same attitude, cold and only wishing to honor his father. It gave the old man hope for his troubled niece, that she too could find her own path, just as Zuko had.

"You have people who care about you Azula. And just because you come from a dark past, doesn't mean that you cannot make your own bright future. You have your friends, you have your  family."

The girl tensed up once again, but turned her face to her uncle looking at him with innocence. She did nothing but look at him for what seemed like ages to Iroh, he could see the once happy child in her, and knew that there was good there. Finally Azula broke, and tears streamed from her golden eyes once again, she looked down as she began to weep, feeling completely alone. There were so many people in the world who had shown love to her, and she had rejected it to get closer to her own selfish goals. She hated herself for it. But most of all she missed that love, that she never appreciated before. The young girl looked back at her uncle eventually, staring up from clouded eyes. Between the uncontrolled sobs she finally said to him.

"I miss mom."

Iroh's heart fell heavy with pain for Azula, and for the first time in a long time, he pulled his niece into a caring hug, letting her cry on his shoulder in the loneliness of the cell.