Chapter Text
Suki shivered wrapping her arms around Sokka’s neck as he slipped his tongue past her lips. She pulled him closer, a solemn passion flowing within her, not knowing how long it would before she could embrace him again. His grip on her was tight, determined to not have this moment with her interrupted. Zuko quietly cleared his throat slightly uncomfortable with the bold display of affection as he looked away from the two of them. Aang watched them for a moment before turning his gaze, a conflicting feeling of jealousy and sorrow in the pit of his stomach. Finally, the two of them parted as she leaned her forehead against his.
“I’ll return to you.” She stated softly.
“I know you will.” He affirmed letting her go with reluctance. “I’m just going to miss you while you’re gone.” His heart already growing heavy. Hakoda and Bato made their way out, with their belongings on their backs, his brow raised at the sorrow on his son’s face. He hugged his daughter close cradling the back of her head as he let out a long sigh.
“I can’t believe I’m letting you go like this.” She chuckled and clutched his back.
“I can’t believe it either.” The laugh that came from him was everything but joyous. Kanna smiled and shuffled out as well as she looked to the Fire Lord giving him a curt bow.
“Thank you for your hospitality, young man.” Zuko gave a civil smile and shook his head before bowing to her.
“We’re family now, it was an honor to house you.” She chuckled softly.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. When I thought of Katara being married, I never would’ve thought it would be to a Fire Nation boy, let alone the Fire Lord.” She remarked. “My, how interesting life is.” Katara smiled and moved to hug her grandmother.
“I’m so proud of you, my dear.” Kanna sweetly said stroking her hair, careful of the crown on her head. “Be a kind queen and don’t forget who you are.” Zuko fought the urge to clutch his chest, remembering his mother’s last words to him. Quickly, he recomposed himself watching his new family say their goodbyes.
“I’ll never forget, Gran-Gran.” Aang gave his own heartfelt goodbyes as did Momo who chittered at the others giving them parting licks goodbye. Momo rested himself on Bato’s shoulder, much to his delight as he gently rubbed under the lemur’s chin pleased with the chittering purrs he earned from it. Toph smiled and clasped each one of the departing people’s hands in gratitude and comradery wishing them safe travels. Katara lingered around Bato and Hakoda, not wanting to let any of them go just yet. Sokka embraced his father as Hakoda held his children close.
“It brings me great pride to be your father.” He kissed his son’s temple quickly rubbing the back of his head as Sokka clung tighter to the man, resisting the urge to break down. “I love you both with every fiber of my being.” With a heavy heart, Sokka and Katara watched their family make their ways to the broken down docks with protection of the royal guards, a comforting hand on Katara’s back as she leaned on her brother’s shoulder in a pained silence. A sight the two of the siblings were more than accustomed to; watching their father leave them behind to go to war. Katara wiped her eyes as Sokka sniffled lightly letting a couple tears flow down his cheeks. Zuko watched his wife and brother in law for a moment, an unfamiliar sympathy overwhelming him.
“I really envy them.” Zuko thought out loud gathering the attention of Aang and Toph.
“What do you mean?” Aang asked. Realizing he was heard, he rubbed the back of his neck, a faint blush on his cheeks.
“The closeness.” Zuko answered. “Just watching them reminds me how different our families are. They’re so sad watching their family go back across the world and yet, despite this war, I can’t be more relieved knowing my sister is far away from me.” He let out a wry chuckle. “It’s like watching something I don’t think I could ever have.” Aang gripped his arm as he watched the two of them again, the light reflecting off of the back of Katara’s crown letting out a sorrowful sigh. I know what you mean. Toph sighed and rubbed her shoulder, a lingering thought of her own parents in the Earth Kingdom, her face growing solemn.
“I get that.” She chimed in. “I mean, my family and I weren’t the closest, but I still worry about them back home. But those guys?” She sighed. “They’re incredibly close. I always wondered what things would be like if my family was at least half as close as Sokka’s and Katara’s are.” The two of them gave up after no longer being able to see their loved ones any longer as they went back to the small group. Zuko sighed and looked to his wife, noting the glimmering of her crown matching his. Her slouched shoulders and standoffish demeanor showing she wasn’t yet used to her role. She had started to wear the royal robes as well as he did, matching him well.
“Remember in about an hour to meet me in the throne room.” He gingerly reminded his wife. “We’re in for a long day since we had to push so many meetings back.”
“Right.” She nodded. Toph cracked her knuckles casually as she grinned.
“Twinkle Toes, we’re going to work more on your earthbending today so get ready for me.”
“We arranged a space for you and Aang to practice your earth bending so you don’t have to spend too much time underground.” Zuko remarked. “Also this way the staff get a little less anxious about the rumbling.” He turned to Sokka willing to give a civil smile.
“Also, if you think you can handle it on your own, my generals want to have a meeting about the counter measures and talk about what we can do to protect our nation from more possible attacks.” Sokka shrugged and nodded.
“I think I can handle that.”
“Great. I’ll set it up shortly.” With that, he turned on his heel and made his way back into the Palace. Katara sighed softly running a hand through her hair as she watched her newly wedded husband leave them before turning to Aang.
“Let’s do a healing session before you go train with Toph, Aang.” He nodded in agreement heading off with the Fire Lady as Toph made her way to the courtyards, privy to the hushed and excitable whispers from the staff as she maneuvered around her relieved to feel the ground beneath her feet as she waited for the Avatar.
~~
Suki sighed as she looked from the fading horizon, her heart growing heavier by the minute as the calm waters swept along remnants of damaged enemy Fire Nation ships on the calm waters. The salty air was crisp and lonely as the massive land was being swallowed by the horizon. A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder as she looked up to a smiling Hakoda.
“I’ll miss them too.” He said softly. “My boy had told me so much about you.” Suki chuckled softly.
“All good things I hope.”
“Nothing but the best. He told me about all you’ve done for them and told me how much he cares for you.” A soft smile grew on her face as she faced the fading Nation away leaning on the railing, with a wistful sigh. “I’m happy my son has his eyes on such a fierce and strong young woman.” He leaned on the railing next to her. “I’m happy to have such wonderful and strong children.” Suki took the opportunity to place her hand on his back with a small smile.
“They are very great.” He crumbled out a mixture of a cry and a laugh.
“Yes, they are. They both are. Their mother would be so proud of them.”
“She must’ve been a truly wonderful woman.” Suki kindly smiled.
“She was.”
~~
Katara fiddled with her pendant nervously as she listened to the generals speak beyond gentle crackling of the flames she was sitting behind with her new husband. She watched his jaw tighten as the general reported his findings from the invasion.
“So we have an abundance of Earth Kingdom refugees that have been spread across the capital and the Nation, my Lord.” The bearded man explained. “I assume they were stowaways trying to be freed from Princess Azula’s holding on the Kingdom. However, I am concerned that there may be spies loyal to her amongst the many fleeing people.”
“I wouldn’t put it past Azula to have some spies in the midst.” Zuko remarked, a bitter tone in his voice recalling how much influence she truly had at her disposal. “I can only imagine she had gained strength and power since she returned to the Earth Kingdom; especially with the Dai Li backing her up.” His brow furrowed as he contemplated, resting his hand on his chin, leaving the room in silence. Katara looked over the awaiting silhouettes below them as she cleared her throat awkwardly grabbing her husband’s and the other generals’ attention. Eyes were on the new Fire Lady as her throat dried once more.
“Well…” She began gracelessly, her voice crackling from the dryness before deciding to fix the err in her voice. “While we all were in Ba Sing Sae; we ran into a familiar face there. Little did we know at the time, the Dai Li had control over his mind. We had no clue until Long Feng, the former head of the Dai Li triggered him to attack us once we found out about his intentions for the city and the Earth Kingdom.” Azure eyes cast down at the memory, her hand pressing gently at her heart to soothe the pain. “It’s hard to break from the control of the Dai Li it seems and in Jet’s case, the only way out was…” she trailed off as her throat faltered, her breath hitching. Silence became heavy through the throne room as Zuko fought to keep his stoic air about him. Katara took a deep breath and started again. “I’m willing to bet if there is some Dai Li influence in the influx of Earth Kingdom citizen’s that are here, there needs to be a trigger of some sort to change them.”
“So you agree then,” one of the other generals stated, “we should just round them all up and keep them from our people.”
“No!” Zuko blinked at her sudden outburst. “We don’t know who are under the Dai Li’s influence and who merely escaped. It would be wrong of us to just round up people after we just used this marriage to promote togetherness and unity in this war! How can you think it is okay to lock up people who don’t even know that they’re being used?” Zuko recalled how passionate he was once before, during his first meeting alongside his father. How quickly he had refuted the generals plan to sacrifice a hoard of soldiers for a minor advantage. He saw his wife’s clenched fists and the fire in her eyes as she glared over at the general. “This whole world is now looking to us for hope and change. Especially those who are the most vulnerable right now. We will not be going back on what we promised the world merely days after we promised it!” The general kept his silence; biting his cheek as he furrowed his brows staring down at the table as Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder looking over to him. He gave her a curt nod signifying what she had done was enough.
“She’s right.” Zuko said calmly. “Gathering the Earth Kingdom refugees would trample on the very ideal we are trying to form. However, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t a threat to the Fire Nation. Even if they don’t know it. It wouldn’t be fair to them and it wouldn’t look good for us to automatically imprison people for possibly being puppets of the Dai Li and my sister. We must be smart about this.”
~~
Katara sighed slumping against the wall, clutching her arm as she watched the staff parade around attending the generals around them. She was well aware of the cold sneers and the way the higher men turned their noses up her, feeling emboldened from their Fire Lord being elsewhere. She watched as they came together like gossiping wives; discussing the matters of the recent meeting, a few cold eyes daring to look over in their Fire Lady’s direction before going back to their conversation. Zuko made his way over to his wife clearing his throat ceasing their conversation with ease. Instantly, they all bowed to him, their heads low in begrudging respect.
“Katara,” Zuko softly spoke, “may I speak with you?” Without a word, Katara peeled herself off the wall to follow Zuko down towards a private room. She didn’t need to look back to picture the smug and expectant looks on the men’s faces hoping that she would be berated by her husband for her outburst in the meeting. Katara rolled her eyes at the thought, wondering how fragile their ego’s must truly be to act like this over an outburst. Zuko opened the door for her motioning for her to go inside and closing the door behind them both.
“If you’re here to try and make me take back what I said in that meeting you’re going to be wasting your breath.” Katara firmly stated. “There is no reason for those people to be locked up because of something we’re not even sure of.”
“I know that.” He responded. “That’s not what I wanted to speak with you about.” Katara blinked taken aback.
“It’s not?” Zuko shook his head.
“You were right to say what you said. And Uncle and I thought about what to do about the influx of people.” He explained. “So we decided that we were going to have you and the Avatar make the calls regarding this situation.” Katara crossed her arms, cocking a brow at him.
“Really?” Zuko nodded.
“Yes. Out of all of us here, it is you all who know more about the way the Dai Li worked the minds of Earth Kingdom citizens. You’re the ones who are more than likely to know what to do. So, I will trust you and the Avatar to lead in solving this issue. I’m leaving it in your hands.” Katara cleared her throat awkwardly relaxing her stance realizing there was no fight coming between them.
“Well, thank you.”
“Of course.” His fingers danced around each other as he kept his gaze off of his wife. “I have more…duties to attend to, so I’ll take my leave now.” With that, he quickly turned on his heel and started to leave.
“Yeah, you do that.” She responded clumsily as she watched him leave, her thoughts conflicted.
~~
Hushed and uncertain whispers were heard all throughout the upper ring of Ba Sing Sae where many of the Fire Nation nobles had inhabited. Rumors of the aftermath of losing the limited amount of ships they had spread like wildfire and doubt was being sowed across the land. The middle and lower ring celebrated upon hearing the news, especially after knowing of the marriage between the waterbending master and new Fire Lord. Hope was welling in the Kingdom’s heart; liberation laying on their tongues. Azula bit her thumb in a rage noting the once controllable population had developed some bravery from the news of the changing Tides back in their home nation. Ty-Lee was quick to stroke her friend’s ego during this time, yet Mai had grown distant towards the both of them. Often Mai was found alone, looking out on the horizon. Despite her mother equating it to homesickness, Azula saw it as a sickness of another kind. A sickness that had to be dealt with and quickly. Mai sighed, watching over the tides crashing against the rocks that held up the kingdom, the crisp and colder air chilling at her skin. She was uncertain like the rest of her people, but she wondered what she was really fighting for. What this war was going to do for her and her alone once it was all said and done. Her hands spent intimate time in her raven locks as her mind ran through what she had after the war was over. Had they won, she would lose Zuko. There were far too many cries for his blood to be spilled for him to even be thought of being spared. He had betrayed his people and they wanted him dead. She was well aware of that. The more she thought about what awaits her after the war, the more perplexed she became over her boyfriend’s decisions. She laughed wryly at the title she had grown accustomed to using. He’s not my boyfriend anymore. He’s a married man. A bitter scoff came from her, the ludicrous news of a Water Tribe woman being by the Fire Lord’s side as his wife. The people flew into an outrage at what Zuko had done, screaming about the sanctity of the throne and the royal bloodline. Mai watched as Azula took their rage and cultivated it into an organized hatred towards her own flesh and blood, without a hint of remorse in her. She wanted to spill his blood just as much as any furious noble that had followed her. Her lack of hesitancy suppressed any form of rebellion from Mai. She watched as the young Princess was slowly becoming more and more unhinged as the days gone by. Her gaze just as cold and calculating, but the thrill and hunger for sadism grew within her. The punishments were harsher, the words she threw were sharper and her thoughts alone began to run rampant when they were alone. Hushed whispers of encouragement; reminding her what she was going to do once she returned to the Fire Nation, wispy promises to no one that she would avenge Ozai and that she was going to go farther than her predecessors ever good. Vows that she was going to wipe her brother and anyone else who opposed her off the face of the earth never to be found again as they succumb to her flames. That alone, kept Mai in line. Because the only thing that she knew would be guaranteed for her should she rebel against her was her death.
~~
For the first time, Azula was unsure of herself. She snarled in the reflection, hunched over and enraged contrast to her cool and poised demeanor, growing more and more infuriated by the failure on the Fire Nation’s shores. Constantly the seeds of doubt replayed in the young girl’s mind from the very mouths that worshipped her without a second thought. Her teeth ground against each other as she dared to look herself in the eye. Azula was not accustomed to failure She was used to watching Zuko fail. He was the mistake, she was the lucky one; the prodigy, the pride of the Fire Nation royal family. She had known it was unlikely to conquer the shores just by an impromptu attack, but what she didn’t expect was to have the few remaining ships return to her barely intact and the reports of many captured and ships destroyed. I won’t fail again, Zuko. She vowed watching the fury flicker in her eyes. I’ll avenge father, take my rightful place as Fire Lord with my foot on your neck and the crown on my head. Rage boiled up inside her, her nails digging into her palm as Ty-Lee came in behind her only to go wide eyed as she watched her slam her fist into the mirror, watching the cracks climb the surface. She turned around noticing the fearful girl behind her.
“Call a meeting. I’m going to set things straight before we plan our next phase of attack.” Without a chance to respond, Ty-Lee was pushed aside by the Princess as she strode out, fury on her heels. “This time, we will not fail.”