the wind in my sails | aang x oc

seventeen

before liara and aang could go further, zuko clasped the girl's hands behind her back painfully.

"ow! zuko! your hurting me!" she hissed, wriggling in his grip. she noticed that he had lost weight. a lot of it.

"I'm hurting you?" he replied angrily, "you're the one soundbending at my soldiers, my people!"

"let go, zuko! you heard her." aang piped up, he wasn't as calm anymore.

"first, she has to stop attacking my people!" zuko countered, causing liara to roll her eyes.

"they attacked first, lava brains!" she quipped. zuko's grip on her tightened and she yelped.

"I am the firelord! I have to protect the people of my nation!"

liara took a breath and released a spere of air around her, blowing zuko several metres away. she then jumped back a few steps and gingerly rubbed her now bruised wrists.

"are you okay, honey?" aang asked looking over her, and she quickly nodded. "fine."

she held a scowl on zuko as he and aang began fighting, although the avatar was clearly holding back. the words they exchanged making zuko sound bad.

he sounded like ozai.

Liara sighed. maybe yao was right. maybe she had to stay true to her words.

she walked closer to zuko and began forming an air sphere around his head, slowly sucking the air from his lungs.

she could see tears prick zuko's eyes and the same happened to her. warm, salty tears blurred her vision as zuko's lungs convulsed, but aang quickly took her face in his hands.

"liara, please, you need to calm down." he said "you're killing one of your best friends." aang's eyes were filled with tears too.

Liara's frown deepened as she closed her eyes and stopped bending, allowing zuko to fall to his knees and gasp and cough for breath. his hair was dishevelled and he held his neck in pain.

she turned around in embarrassment. she didn't want to do it, but she would have if aang didn't stop her in time. she knew that zuko's lungs were only seconds away from collapsing and he would actually have been dead.

"zuko," she said turning back around and walking over to him, "I almost killed you without properly thinking it through, I'm so, so sorry,"

"no, aang's right. we should both calm down." zuko stated, his voice strained and raspy. "I'm sorry, liara. let's just talk about it."

aang turned red, "that's what I wanted in the first place!"

~

the three of them sat in a tea shop, zuko had some green tea with lemon and honey for his voice, while liara gad some chamomile to calm down, and aang had some lavender tee to relax a bit.

then, zuko began talking.

"yu dao is the oldest firenation colony. many of the families immigrated over a century ago and have lived here since. it's one of the richest cities in the world."

Liara grimaced from looking at an earth kingdom man shining a fire nation man's shoe. "it doesn't look like the earth kingdom and fire nation share equally in that wealth."

Zuko sighed, "it's not perfect, but all of these people are better off than what they were a hundred years ago."

"great history lesson, but by betraying the harmony restoration movement, you're going to start another war." aang warned and Liara nodded.

"I was going to personally enforce the movement a week ago, but then I was convinced otherwise by the mayor. he's a firenation man married to an earth kingdom woman." zuko stated.

"so, you would be splitting up families if the movement were enforced." liara said carefully and zuko nodded.

"so that's why you have to stop the movement. it would destroy so much that has been built, relationships and families too." aang stated.

"yu dao can be an exception." liara thought out loud.

"yes. and all of the remaining colonies. they have all been around for over a century," zuko said. "aang, they're older than you. older than liara."

"hey!" liara didn't like being called 'old', bespite being a hundred and fourteen.

"I'm stating the facts."

"regardless," liara sighed, "we need king kuei to be a part of whatever happens next, zuko, if aang and I arrange a meeting, will you be there?"

Zuko nodded, "yeah."

aang rolled his eyes, "talking's good, I guess."

~

aang and Liara went back to their friends outside of the wall.

"so? what happened?" sokka asked first, then toph followed, "did you have to... do it?" she asked liara.

smellerbee interjected, "did you kill the fire lord?"

aang quickly raised his hands to stop them, "no, no. liara and I are going to visit the earth King to try and arrange a meeting."

Liara spoke up. "tell the protesters to go home, the shouting won't help us come up with a solution." she said.

smellerbee's face was serious. "three days. you two airbenders have three days to figure this out, or the freedom fighters will work out a solution on our own."

"three days it is." liara replied stoically and shook the girl's hand.

then, team avatar mounted appa and diki and they began flying home.

"I don't see why you two have to talk to the earth King," toph said.

Liara deadpanned at the girl, "you don't see at all."

a powerful punch landed on the airbender's arm, causing her to yelp. "sorry. that was uncalled for."

"anyway," toph continued, "the colonies have got to go. zuko's in the wrong."

"it's a bit more complicated than that," aang sighed, allowing liara to scooch in next to him. she didn't want to get punched again and he understood that.

"there are a lot of issues involved." aang stated. "plus, talking's always good."

Liara turned to aang, "thanks for stopping me back there," she spoke only loud enough for him to hear.

he placed a hand just above her knee. "I'll always be here, remember? through the good and bad."

Liara nodded, placing her hand on top of his. "thank you."

the two of them got up and went to diki's saddle to be able to talk in private.

"just remember, if you should ever have to fulfil your promise, I'll be there to make sure you're thinking calmly and rationally, so that you don't do anything you'll regret, like you almost did today." aang told the girl.

"i know, I'm sorry" she said softly and he pulled her into his chest, "it's okay."

he kissed the top of her head, "I love you, liara."

"i love you, aang," she mumbled back, her cheeks glowing red.