Zuko's mouth opened and closed but he was unable to give voice to any of the thoughts that raced through his mind. He stared at Katara waiting for her, or someone to object and tell Katara's Gran-gran she was insane, but no one did. They all seemed convinced that he and Katara were going to have a child that could bend all four elements.
Bato broke the silence. "I believe it, but at the same time I can't believe it."
"There was a time I didn't believe it either." Kanna confessed. "Yet everything Madame Wu told me has come to pass."
Katara shook her head. "How though? How can one person bend all four elements?"
"That's what I want to know." Sokka chimed in.
Kanna stood up. "We'll discuss it over dinner once it's ready. I'm sure everyone is hungry."
Sokka licked his lips. "I've been thinking about roasted goose-auk all day."
"I am hungry." Zuko's stomach chose that time to growl as if punctuating the point.
"Me too." Katara said. "It's been a long journey getting here, and I'm ready for some home cooking."
"Well that settles it then, Katara and Zuko go unpack, and when you're done Katara can help me finish preparing dinner."
"What can I do to help?" Zuko asked.
"You can help us check, set, and bait the traps." Hakoda said.
Katara took Zuko by the hand and guided him towards her room. "My room is just like I left it not a single thing is out of place."
Zuko looked around drinking in every minute detail. "So this is your bedroom? It suits you or at least what I know of you so far." He walked over to her dresser and looked at a photo of her mother. "You look a lot like your mom. I wish that I could have met her."
"Sokka looks more like her than I do, but I wish you could have met her too, and I wish I could have met your mother."
"I have a feeling our mothers would have been friends." Zuko said.
"I'm sure they would have. I'm going to visit my mother's grave would you like to come?"
"I would be honored to."
Katara busied herself putting away their clothes. "We only have one dresser but it has enough drawers for the both of us."
"We? So this is our room? This is where we're both sleeping?"
"Of course. We're married my room is your room, and besides where else would we sleep?"
Zuko shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't think your dad and Gran-gran would be OK with me sleeping in your house let alone your room."
"Our house, and your my husband which means you're family, and in this family we take care of each other. Besides when we finally get back to the Fire Nation we'll have our own bedroom,right?"
"I haven't even thought about which room will be ours. I guess that's something we should decide together, but no matter what room we choose I'm sure the The IHA will have something to say about it."
"What, who?"
"The Imperial Household Agency. They're one of the oldest agencies in the Fire Nation."
"Why would they get to have a say in where our bedroom is?"
"That's just the way things are done. There's about a million and one little traditions and ceremonies I've had to take part in as long as I can remember."
"What did you do when you were on your own? Where you able to keep up with your traditions and ceremonies?"
Zuko lie back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "I kept some, others I wanted to forget."
"Well when you're Fire Lord you can forget them. Not everything from the past needs to be carried over into the future."
"Speaking of the past do you believe what your Gran-gran said about us?"
"I do. I feel strange about it, but I still believe her."
"I guess I do too. Having a child that can bend all four elements scares me. If our child grows up to be like my father or sister imagine how much damage they could do to the world."
"That won't happen Zuko. We already had this talk you're not like your father."
"Because I got away from him, but what if I didn't?"
"You still wouldn't be like him."
"How can you know that?"
"Because of what you told me about speaking out about the right thing at the wrong time."
Zuko sat up and stared into the mirror above Katara's dresser for a long time. "That's how I got this scar."
Katara reached out to touch his scar but then pulled her hand away.
"It's OK. You can touch it, it doesn't hurt any more." He was partially telling the truth, although the physical pain was gone, the way in which the scar came about would always hurt.
Her hands were soft and gentle when they touched his face. Slender fingers traced over the entire surface of the scar. He couldn't look at her directly as she touched him so he looked into the mirror instead. She didn't look disgusted as he thought that she would, but she didn't look at him with pity either. He didn't know her well enough to give a name to the look on her face, but it made him feel at peace. When she had touched every part of his scar there was to touch her hands rested on his cheek a moment before she folded them back up into her lap. He wished she would have kept her hand there on his cheek. It wasn't until now he realized how touch starved he was.
"My father did it during an agni kai."
"Your father burned you, Zuko I'm sorry." Katara started to cry and Zuko gave her shoulder a squeeze."That must have been so awful to go through."
"It was, but what as more awful was for the longest time I thought I deserved it."
Katara shook her head. "No! Nothing you did could ever justify your father burning you, nothing."
"Well, my father thought teaching me a lesson justified his actions."
"What lesson could he have possibly thought he was teaching you?"
"To honor him. He challenged me to an agni kai because I dishonored him by speaking against his plans, and the honorable thing would have been to fight him, but he was my father I couldn't hurt him."
"Not hurting him was the honorable thing to do Zuko, so how could you ever think our child would turn out like your father?"
"My uncle told me evil and good will always be at war inside of me. He said it was my legacy, so I guess war is my legacy."
"Maybe your great grandfather's actions did leave you with a legacy of war, but you can make peace your legacy by ending it, and where you are now is more important to me than where you used to be."
"Maybe that's what my uncle was trying to tell me, but I've always been a slow learner. Sometimes I still feel like I don't know where I am."
Katara reached out and took Zuko's hand. "You're safe here with me, and with a family that will never hurt you."
"Sorry I was being such an asshole to you back in Ba Sing Se. It's coming up on the anniversary of the agni kai and my banishment."
"I knew something was bothering you. Why didn't you tell me?"
"You'd lost Bato, or you thought you did, and then you found out about your Gran-gran, I didn't want to burden you with my problems."
"I don't see it that way. Your problems aren't a burden. When something is bothering you I want you to come to me."
"I know that now, but that isn't how I was raised. You don't show weakness in my family and you certainly don't talk about it." He stood up and let go of her hand. "Your family is probably waiting on us."
"Our family, but you're right they probably are waiting. Let's go." If only they could stay in the South Pole a little longer so Zuko could benefit from being surrounded by a loving family. All except her mother of course. She touched her mother's necklace. She was still determined to find the man who'd taken her mother from her and make him pay, but this was the time to celebrate the family that was still with her. As they had predicted her father, Sokka, and Bato were sitting in the living room waiting.
"It's going to be a moment before we can go out and check the traps." Sokka said.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked.
"I need to make a repair on the stove."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Zuko asked.
"Nah, should only take me about fifteen minutes."
"Why don't you two rest your bones until Sokka's finished you've more than earned some downtime." Bato suggested.
Katara had something else in mind and turned to Zuko. "Do you feel like visiting my mother's grave with me?"
"Of course." Zuko took Katara's hand and the two made their way to the grave in silence.
"This is it." Katara said and bent the snow away from the grave, She knelt down on the ground and Zuko knelt beside her.
"Hi mom. This is my husband Zuko. I told you about him earlier. He's been nothing but kind to me. Dad, Gran-gran, Sokka, and Bato all like him, and I know if you got to chance to meet him that you would like him too. We've promised to make a difference in the world; to make it better than it is now. I hope when you see the changes you'll be proud of us. In the meantime you don't have to worry about me because I like Zuko too, more than I ever thought that I could, and I'm happy with him."
Zuko stared at her after she spoke those words. She was happy with him? He made her happy? If she was saying all of this to her mother it had to be true, but it still seemed like a dream.
"Would you like to speak to my mother?" Katara asked. "If you don't I'll understand."
"Hello, Kya." Zuko said and waved awkwardly. "I'm sorry that I never got to meet you, I know I'm probably the last person you wanted your daughter to marry, but I want you to know that I care for her deeply, and I'll do whatever I can to make her happy and keep her and the Southern Water Tribe safe."
Still holding hands they made their way back home. Zuko didn't say anything, but Katara didn't need him to, his being by her side was enough. Once inside Katara gave her husband a quick kiss on his lips before parting ways. She hoped it wouldn't be too awkward spending time with her father since his own had been so awful. Of course her father was the total opposite of Zuko's, but what did that mean to someone whose own father was cruel enough to burn him? She wanted him to feel as if her family was his because they were, but given the way he was raised it was going to take time.
The moment she walked into the kitchen she was at once greeted with the familiar smells of her childhood. Her Gran-gran stood over the stove searing a sturgeon-tuna fillet. Katara took an apron from the hook, tied it on, and washed her hands and then checked the oven.
"I'm sorry for blurting out about you being from the North." She said as she shut the oven door.
"No, I'm sorry for not telling you about my life in the North. I'm also sorry for never talking about your grandfather."
"I wish I could have known him."
Kanna smiled. "You know your brother and in knowing him you do know your grandfather."
Katara laughed. "So, Sokka is like granddad."
"Yes, in both looks and mannerisms. I met your grandfather on the very steam ship that took me to see Madame Wu, but after I got back home to the North I lost contact with him."
"So how did you two meet up again?"
"Your grandfather and his friends built a ship and sailed from the Earth Kingdom to the North Pole."
"They did!?"
Her Gran-gran's eyes twinkled with the memory. "Yes, your grandfather was a determined man. Determined to the point of foolishness."
"Just like Sokka." Katara placed a bowl of bannock on the dining room table. "Was Pakku angry when he found out?"
"Naturally. He banished Natsilane from the North and then he had his father Chief Olayuk put me under house arrest."
"What a scorpion snake. How did you get away?"
"The laundress and my friend Yugoda helped me. The laundress brought Yugoda's clothes to me and took my clothes to Yugoda."
"Gran-gran you sneak."
"Pakku chased "me" all around the North Pole for hours before he found out Yugoda was wearing my clothes, and by that time I was half way to the South Pole with Natsilane." She pulled the fireweed honey cake from the oven and sat it on a cooling rack.
"That's so brave. I can't believe you had this whole amazing life that I knew nothing about."
"You're brave as well, snow angel. Moving to a foreign nation, marrying a perfect stranger, getting kidnapped but having the wits to get out alive."
"They were going to kill Zuko." Katara confessed. "I'd never been so scared in my life. I think I-." She shook her head and gave the suaasat a stir with her bending."
"You think what?"
She stopped stirring the soup and looked her Gran-gran in the eyes. "I think I could love Zuko, but I hardly know him."
"Yes, but you like what you do know about him, right?"
"I do, but having a child with him, a child that can bend all of the elements changes things." She took the soup off of the hearth and began dishing it out in to bowls. "I do feel something for Zuko, but what if it never turns into love? I don't want our child growing up with parents who don't love each other. That's part of Zuko's legacy and look what it's done to him."
"You're both still so young you have time to learn, grow, and heal."
"I know."
"Then what's really bothering you?"
"Our child's life will be in danger because the prophecy. I know our child won't turn out like Ozai, but that won't stop others from believing that."
"You're right, but you're forgetting the power of love. Your child will be surrounded by people who'd give their life to keep them safe."
"That's the problem." Katara said and started to cry. "I don't want my child to have to feel the way I do. I already know that I would give my life for my child in a heart beat just like mom did for me, but I don't want my child to feel responsible for my death. I don't want my child to have to feel the guilt of surviving the way that I do."
"Or the way I do." Kanna said softly.
Katara looked up at her Gran-gran through her tears. Never once had she stopped to think about the guilt she must have felt.
Kanna smiled down at Katara but her eyes remained sad. "A mother is expected to die before her child. I never thought I'd outlive Kya. I always knew that I'd give my life for her if the circumstances ever came up, but when they did I didn't get the chance, and until I take my last breath I'll always feel guilty for that."
"You lost your daughter and husband to war. You must have twice the survivor's guilt. Oh, Gran-gran I'm so sorry."
"I am too, but if there's one good thing to come out of all of that sorrow is it brought your father and I closer together. We both know the pain of losing a spouse to war, and if it's the Spirit's will, it will be a pain you never have to know."
It was bittersweet to think of her father and Gran-gran comforting each other in their shared tragedy.
Her Gran-gran wiped Katara's face with her handkerchief. "Whatever it is that the future throws our way we will deal with head on. We always have, and we always will. It's what we do, we're from the Water Tribe and we're survivors."
"Have you warmed up enough?" Hakoda asked.
Zuko nodded.
"Good, grab a lantern and follow me."
"If it's not a problem I can provide my own light."
"Of course, mind lighting our lanterns?"
"Not at all." Zuko short a short small flame at Hakoda's lantern and then Bato's and Sokka's.
"Sure is going to be convenient having a firebender in the family." Sokka said.
Despite the bomb that had been dropped on him Zuko was excited to finally go and explore the frozen tundra that was his wife's homeland. He followed the others out into the great white expanse. The high tightly packed snow seemed to make each step he took count as two. He remembered Katara telling him how quiet it was in the South Pole and how it was a quiet unlike anywhere else, and at this moment he knew exactly what she was talking about. It wasn't just the quiet it was the combination with the stillness. It was both beautiful and haunting.
"So your hand doesn't get hot?" Sokka asked and nodded towards the flame in his hand he was using to guide his way.
"No. That's one of the first lessons you learn as a firebender, how not to get burned with your own flame. It's also why firebenders need to be so careful what can't hurt us can easily hurt others."
"You're not cold are you?" Hakoda asked. "Your coat doesn't look warm enough."
"I'm fine actually. My uncle taught me the breath of fire. He always said it could save my life if I ever got caught out in the cold."
"Well, this is a different cold from anywhere else in the world, if you ever get caught out in this cold you'll need more than your breath of fire. The thing to do is build a snow fort and look for a tundra ash tree for wood to burn." Hakoda counseled. "The veins in the wood are surprisingly excellent conductors of heat."
"I never heard of a tundra ash tree."
"I'm not surprised. It's the only tree that grows in the Poles and it's exportation is illegal, so most people don't know of it, but the story of how the tundra ash tree came to be is well known among all Water Tribes. Would you like to hear the story?"
"Yes." He was eager to hear more about the Southern Water Tribe's culture, but he noticed Sokka rolling his eyes. Perhaps he had heard this story one too many times. Well he could sympathize when he'd been stuck on his ship his uncle had told him the same stories over and over again.
"One winter the men of this village went hunting on Pirtuk Island. The hunt was led by Hanta, the best hunter in the entire village. While the men were gone a blizzard came and buried the whole village. Worried for the families they'd left behind the hunters cut their excursion short and rushed back home. When they got back to the village all the hunter's families were fine. All of them except for Hanta's; no one had been able to get to his house and watch over his daughter, Nini."
Zuko was hypnotized by the sound of Hakoda's voice. His narration made him feel as if he was there in that blizzard. He felt the urgency the hunters must have felt.
"When Hanta got to his house Nini was missing and the fire in the fireplace had gone out. Hanta went to search for her and was halfway from his house when he heard a voice, "It's so cold and I can't get warm." Hanta turned around and saw his daughter standing there. She was blue like she was frozen."
"She died?"
Hakoda nodded. "Hanta ran to her only to find her body lying on the ground. When the fire went out she'd gone out into the storm looking for help and froze to death. Hanta was so inconsolable with grief he sat down on the exact spot where Nini appeared and wept. The tears that ran down his face flowed like a great river and turned silver in the moonlight. He wept so much that he too froze to death. The villagers buried Hanta and Nini next to each other. The next day a single tree grew from the spot where they'd both been buried. Blue and silver vein like threads ran throughout the tree."
"Their house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm." Bato informed him.
"That's unsettling." Zuko said.
Sokka waved his hand dismissively. "Puh-lease, that's just a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo."
"You shouldn't be so quick to disbelieve Sokka, there are more things in heaven and earth that can't be explained away by science or logic." His father told him.
"Like one person bending all four elements." Bato added.
"I still have a hard time believing that myself." Zuko admitted.
"Well you'd better come around because Pakku doesn't."
"I know. He tried killing me once, and I have no doubt he'll try again, but I'm more worried about Katara."
"Me too." Sokka said.
"I know I can keep her safe, but all of this is taking it's toll on her. She blames herself for Commander Matsumoto going missing, and she was so upset when she thought you were dead, Bato."
"But why Bato?" Sokka asked. "No offense Bato, but if they really wanted Katara to hurry home shouldn't they have said me, Gran-gran, or dad died?"
"No offense taken." Bato said. "I think the reason they chose me because it would hurt Katara just enough. I know she loves me like family, but she would have grieved differently if it had been an actual member of her family."
"No. That's not true." Zuko protested. "You weren't there to see her, but trust me she grieved for you like family."
"Then why Bato?" Sokka wanted to know.
"Whoever sent that letter wanted us both in the middle of the sea, but the couldn't use your father or any immediate family member to lure us out." Zuko said.
Hakoda spoke up. "Right, The Fire Nation is the country of stringent rules and regulations, and since I'm a Chief the announcement of my death, or any member of my family would have required a lot more rigmarole."
Zuko nodded. "There is a whole procedure, and no part of that procedure involves a letter being delivered by a commander. The Imperial Household Department would have never allowed me to be informed of a Chieftain's death, and certainly not the future Fire Lady's father, by anyone else but them. I've been doing a lot of thinking and I think the Fire Sages set us up."
Bato turned to look at Zuko. "Why do you think that?"
"Because of my wedding gift; the ship. It wasn't a war ship it was a cruise ship and we never found it after the attack."
"That is odd. A ship that big couldn't just vanish into thin air." Bato said.
"No, but it could be melted down and it's metal used in an underwater base."
"True, but why would the Fire Sages betray you like that?" Sokka asked.
"It goes back to the same reason why all this started in the first place, fear. Fear of the Fire Nation rising to unstoppable power again, and now that we know Katara and I are going to have a child that can control all four elements I'm sure of it."
Sokka raised one eyebrow. "Call me confused, but wouldn't the Fire Sages want that? I mean they're from the Fire Nation."
Zuko let out an irritable sigh. "It's a long story that I'd rather have to not repeat so I'll tell you when we get back."
"Pfft, whatever."
"We're losing sunlight let's cut the chatter and pick up the pace." Hakoda ordered.
There were many traps to check and different kinds of animals in each one. There were various sea birds, fish, and seals. After carefully removing the animal's bodies from the traps they had to be checked over to make sure they were in working order, and if not repairs had to be made, and then the traps were reset. It was hard meticulous work and Zuko's hands felt numb and stiff with cold but he did his part without complaint.
Hakoda checked over one of the traps that Zuko had repaired and set.
"Good job. You're a fast learner."
"Uh, thanks." If only he knew how he'd struggled to learn his firebending forms; a fact that his own father had never let him forget.
"We'll set this haul in the ice house, and tomorrow I'll show you how we clean and butcher the meat."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"So am I." Sokka said. "I can't wait to see Prince Unfriendly Fire get his hands dirty all elbow deep in blood and guts."
"I lived in worked in the lower ring of the Earth Kingdom for years it won't be the first time I've gotten my hands dirty."
"I'm just joking. Lighten up will ya."
Zuko wasn't entirely sure Sokka was just joking, but his barb wasn't hurtful enough for him to make a big deal. He continued to trudge through the deep snow until they came upon the store house that was made completely from ice.
"Katara carved this building all by herself. The inside as well. All the shelves and ice chest." Hakoda informed him as they stepped inside.
"Impressive, but not surprising."
They put the food away and walked the well worn path back to the house. The closer they got the stronger the smell of dinner became. Zuko's stomach growled again. He couldn't wait to eat. He hurried into the mud room and took off his winter gear as fast as he could and then went to wash up for dinner. He noticed that everything in the house had a greenish tinge to it and he kept blinking.
"Are you OK?" Katara asked when she saw him rapidly blinking.
"Everything looks green."
Katara laughed. "Oh that, it happens when you spend a lot of time in the sun and snow. I'll have to get you some iggaak glasses."
The table was laid with so much food that Zuko couldn't believe that Katara and her Gran-gran had prepared it by themselves. Where did they find the time? Katara described the food to him. There was bannock which was a type of flat bread. Suaasat was a soup in this case it was caribou-moose with leeks, carrots, and wild mushrooms. There was pan seared sturgeon-tuna fillet. Stewed sea prunes. Five flavor soup. Eel that was breaded and deep fried in walrus-seal blubber. The roasted goose-auk sat in the center of the table surrounded by new potatoes. For dessert there was a cake that had been glazed with fireweed honey.
"Our food is much different than what we used to eat when I was growing up." Kanna said as everyone sat down at the dining room table. "Thanks to the steam revolution we're able to cook more of a variety of food."
"It's even changed since Hakoda and I were kids, we certainly didn't have steam heated greenhouses back then."
"Oh, so that's how you're able to have fruits and vegetables." Zuko noted. He had tried everything that was set before him and he enjoyed it all.
"Yes, but we still rely heavily upon imported goods." Hakoda remarked.
"If we didn't my sister never would have had to marry you."
"Sokka!" Katara and her Gran-gran cried at the same time.
"What, I'm just being honest."
"Why don't you try being tactful for a change." His father said.
Zuko said nothing. What could he say he knew that Sokka was right. He'd expected that not everyone was going to blindly accept him, but he still held out hope that Sokka would take to him eventually, he'd always wanted a brother.
"Don't be afraid to ask for seconds or even thirds." Kanna said. "In fact it's good manners to do so, and besides that a skinny boy like you needs to eat heartily in this environment."
Zuko never considered himself skinny, but he more than willingly obliged making both Kanna and Katara happy. The only one who ate more than him was Sokka.
"So, you were going to tell us about why you think the Fire sages are working with Pakku." Bato said after the dinner plates had been cleared away and the dessert was almost gone.
"They Are?" Katara asked.
Zuko filled Katara in about his theory on the missing ship.
"I still want to know why anyone from the Fire Nation would willingly work with the North." Sokka said.
Zuko got up from the table and looked out the window. So much of his nation's history his own family's history was ugly and painful. He hated to talk about it, but if anything were to change he knew he had to. He pressed his palm against the glass and was glad for the cold that made him feel numb when he was tired of feeling anything at all. He couldn't run from his past, and when he got back to the Fire Nation he'd have to meet it face on, so would Katara.
"Well?" Sokka urged.
"Give him time." Katara snapped. "Can't you see this isn't easy for him."
"Oh, well excuse me. Sokka snarled. "Wouldn't want to make things hard for him unlike what his nation has done to ours for the past one hundred years."
Sokka's words felt like a punch to Zuko's guts.
"Sokka." Kanna said in a warning voice.
Zuko wished she wouldn't reprimand Sokka. He had every right to resent him and now he probably resented him even more for having to repress his true feelings. He still wasn't entirely convinced that deep down Katara wasn't repressing her true feelings about him. Surely there was part of her; even it was infinitesimal, that still despised him.
"In the past the Fire Sages were public servants of the Fire Nation. They took care of the spiritual needs of our people, provided for the poor and sick, and preformed some services to the royal family such as presiding over coronations, weddings, and funerals. When my great grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, began his quest for world domination the Fire Sages were no longer allowed to serve the public. They were forced to be loyal only to him."
Shame colored Zuko's cheeks red with embarrassment. The Southern Water Tribe were such deeply spiritual people they must have found his great grandfather's actions absolutely disgusting.
"When my father became Fire Lord he took the betrayal of the Fire Sages one step further. He began the dissolution of the Fire Temples and liquidated their assets in order to fund his Neo Azulon crusade. Any Fire Sages that resisted him were imprisoned or tortured and killed."
"I guess it didn't matter that High Sage Roku was his wife's grandfather." Kanna said.
"I'm not sure if my father ever loved my mother, and even if he had Roku was dead by then. Besides my father doesn't let personal relationships get in the way of his ambition. Everyone is expendable to him."
"How awful." Katara said.
Zuko looked away from the window for a moment and back at the faces of Katara's family and their faces wore the unified look of disgust he had expected them to.
"Go ahead Zuko we're listening." Katara said. She got up from her seat and led him away from the window and back into the warmth of the dining room.
"The dissolution of the Fire Temples and the brutal murder of the Fire Sages naturally didn't sit well with the people. They began protesting my father's crusade and he did the same thing to the protesters that he did to the Fire Sages. He nearly massacred the entire population of Crescent Island."
"I remember when the crusade started and when it ended, but I was shocked that the Fire Nation agreed to jail Ozai for his crimes." Hakoda mused.
"Fortunately my father severely underestimated the importance of the Fire Sages and the temples to our people. My country, despite it's warmongering reputation, is deeply spiritual, and it's because of losing site of that the world came together to see to it that my father was thrown in jail."
Zuko had not been in the Fire Nation when his father was put on trial and then imprisoned. He'd still been a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, but he remembered that day like it had just happened.
He'd been working a double shift at the tea shop when he'd seen a customer reading The Ba Sing Se Sentinel. The headline had read Fire Lord Ozai stands trial for crimes of humanity committed against own country. Zuko had yanked the paper out of the surprised patron's hands. He'd quickly read the article and ran the paper back to the small dingy apartment he shared with his uncle.
"Have you read the paper Uncle? Did you see what they're saying?" He thrust the paper into his uncle's hand.
His uncle quickly read the story and then let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "I had heard the rumors and hoped that they were not true. I thought surely not even my own brother could be so spiritually depraved." The spark that usually lit his uncle's eyes dulled over.
"If he loses the trial will he be thrown in jail?"
"Yes, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will lose the trial. Fate has intervened and we must go back to the Fire Nation."
"You're going to become Fire Lord again?"
"Yes, but only until you become of age so that you can take your rightful place on the throne as Fire Lord."
"Zuko!"
Once again sights and sounds of the present time slowly came back to Zuko, and just as it had happened in Ba Sing Se he felt as if he were looking through a pair of binoculars that were slowly coming into focus.
"Sorry. I was caught up in a memory."
Katara squeezed his shoulder. "Was it a bad one?"
Zuko looked at the faces in the room looking inquisitively back at him and shrugged. "It was just a memory." He wasn't ready to offer up yet another pound of flesh.
"If the Fire Sages are so spiritual why would they want you dead?" Sokka asked. "They didn't kill your father so why try to kill you?"
"I can't say for certain, but they might not know the North wants me dead." Zuko said. "I owe my life to The Fire Sages. If it weren't for them and my mother my father would have thrown me over the palace walls as an infant."
"My Spirits, why?" Kanna wanted to know.
"My father said I lacked the spark firebenders usually have. He thought I wouldn't be able to bend." He had one more pound of flesh to offer up after all.
"Boy was he wrong." Katara said. "You're an amazing bender, Zuko."
"What a bastard." Sokka said. "I mean I didn't think it was possible to have a lower opinion of your father than I already do, but wow. Just wow."
Katara gasped.
"What?"
"I just thought of something. Do you still have the order for the outriggers that Suki gave you?" Katara asked.
"Yes, why?"
"Maybe Commander Matsumoto is in on this too. Maybe he's the one that wants you dead, and he could have ordered the outriggers. We can check to see if the writing on the order is at all similar to the writing on the forged letter."
"How come I never think about things like that?"
"Because you're a Fire Nation goon." Sokka answered.
Zuko excused himself from the table and went into his room to find the outrigger order and brought it back to the dining room.
Everyone crowded around to check the outrigger order against the forged letter and were able to conclusively decide it was Commander Matsumoto's signature on both.
"That explains why we never found the ship or the commander." Zuko said. "You don't have to blame yourself anymore Katara."
"So, does this mean that the Fire Nation is also working with the North?" Sokka asked.
"No, I still think only the Fire Sages are, but Commander Matsumoto must have his reasons for getting involved in this."
"I think this is enough evidence to convince Kuei to form a Peace Council." Hakoda said.
Katara nodded. "When we meet up with Toph and the others we'll hopefully have even more."
"I want to go with you." Sokka said. "I'm going to be Chief one day and the more experience I get the better ruler I'll be."
"Can't argue with that." Hakoda said.
What a stark difference, Zuko thought, between the way Hakoda reacted to Sokka's interest in his country's political future and the way his father did. He couldn't ever imagine a life where his father would ever be happy with him sitting on the throne. He shook his head he had to stop living in the past.
"We can take my balloon back to the Earth Kingdom and once we're there I'll request and audience with King Kuei."
Zuko sent a message to Lao letting them know they would be returning to the Earth Kingdom.
Katara and Zuko were so tired that after bathing and changing into their night clothes they immediately crawled into bed. Zuko waited for a moment and then smiled when Katara scooted across the bed and curled into him.
"Dinner was amazing. I can't believe what I was missing out on never having Water Tribe cuisine."
"I would think so if how much you ate was anything to go by. You made my Gran-gran happy. She enjoys people who enjoy her cooking."
"Sorry your Gran-gran didn't get a chance to tell us how one person can bend all four elements. My story about my father and the Fire Sages took up too much time."
"It's all right I'm glad you told us, and Gran-gran can tell us tomorrow over breakfast. I'll finally get to hear about my grandfather. Gran-gran never talked about him I guess the subject was too painful for her."
"I hate that my country has caused so many people pain. I love my country but it will always be tainted by the past."
"I hate that too, but when we go back show me the country you know. Show me everything you love about it. I want to see the Fire Nation through your eyes."
"I can't wait to show you what the Fire Nation is really like, and I hope you'll be able to love everything that I love about my country."
Katara hoped that she could too. There would be nothing worse than to hate the country of the man she was falling in love with.
Zuko woke up before the sun and this time Katara was up with him. There was a lot to do in the morning and they were the only ones to get it done. After dressing the two separated. Zuko went to the ice house to learn to clean and butcher the meat and Katara went into the kitchen with her Gran-gran to get breakfast ready.
"You look well rested." Her Gran-gran noted as she walked into the kitchen.
"It's a lot easier to fall asleep in my own bed in my own home."
"You'll have to learn to make the Fire Nation feel as much of a home to you as the South Pole does."
Katara nodded. "If you did going from the north to the south than so can I."
"It won't be as much of a culture shock moving from the north to the south as it will be moving from the South Pole to the Fire Nation, but I still had to make a lot of adjustments."
"Were you homesick very much?"
"The first few months were the hardest, but it would have been a lot harder if it weren't for your grandfather. He made sure to make the south feel as homey to me as the north."
"I asked Zuko to show me everything he loves about the Fire Nation."
"Your grandfather always said it was a beautiful country, and his best friend Takeshi was from the Fire Nation. He lives there now, maybe you can look him up when you finally get back."
Katara set a bowl of porridge on the table. "That would be interesting."
Zuko came back with her father and brother just as they'd finish getting breakfast on the table.
"How did it go?" Katara wanted to know.
"Better than I expected Prince Unfriendly Fire didn't throw up." Sokka said.
"I lived in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se trust me when I say I've smelled much worse."
Katara thought back to the putrid smell of the lower ring and she had to agree.
"On that note we'll get cleaned up and meet you back here for breakfast." Hakoda said.
Zuko was glad to be free of the feeling of blood and guts. The feeling of it trapped beneath his fingernails had nearly driven him insane. He felt as though he could never scrub his hands enough. Never in his life had he had to worry about how his food was prepared not even when he lived in Ba Sing Se. The food he'd brought from the fresh markets had come already butchered. Katara wasn't lying when she said that living in the South Pole would make you realize how much you took for granted.
"You did a good job today." Hakoda told him as he washed up. "Everything that's been asked of you you've jumped right in and done, and given it your all. That's the sign of a great leader. The Fire Nation is in capable hands."
"Thanks." It still felt strange to be praised by a father even if it wasn't his father. His uncle was the only one in his life that regularly told him he was worth something.
"No, thank you. I worry a lot less knowing my daughter is with someone who looks out for her and others. I consider myself a good judge of character, and so far you've proven me right."
"I consider myself a good judge of character too. Sokka said. "Don't prove me wrong."
"I won't." Zuko smiled as he made his way back into the kitchen. He'd been so worried that Katara's family wouldn't accept him, but they had. Katara said that they would, but he didn't let himself believe it up until now.
"Are you going to tell us how Katara's kids will be able to bend all the elements?" Sokka, who was never one to beat around the bush, asked as soon as he sat down at the kitchen table.
"I know you're all wondering how one person can bend all of the elements, and I'm afraid I can't tell you. I can only tell you the role your grandfather plays in all of this."
"What was so special about our grandfather?"
Kanna laughed. "Sokka you remind me more and more of Natsilane each day."
Upon hearing those words Sokka smiled.
"You even have his smile."
"Hey, that's pretty cool."
Kanna nodded. "Eat your breakfast, and after everyone has finished I will tell you everything."
"After, why after? Why not now?" Sokka asked.
"Here isn't the place to tell you." Gran-gran answered.
"Where is the place to tell us?"
"Somewhere you've never been before."
"Gran-gran, Sokka wined, there's a lot of places I haven't been can't you narrow it down."
"We're taking a family field trip to Pirtuk island to visit your grandfather's grave."
The room became quiet enough to hear an ostrich horse feather drop, and everyone seemed as if they were frozen in time. Katara with spoon in hand stared at Sokka without blinking. Her brother stared back a piece of toast hanging from his lips. Hakoda's napkin stayed paused in his hand halfway in it's journey to wiping the crumbs from his mouth. Zuko had been ready to pour milk into his cup but his hand remained on the handle of the picture as if stuck there.
Katara was the first to recover. "Not that I don't want to go, but why there, Gran-gran?"
"I want to make sure you always remember this story, and the only way I know to do that is to take you to a place you will never forget."
"Why is grandfather's grave on Pirtuk island?"
"Finish your breakfast. You'll know everything you need to know soon enough" Hakoda ordered Sokka. "Zuko you'll need to dress warmly even with your breath of fire."
After the breakfast dishes were put away and Zuko was adequately dressed the group made their way to the shipyard. Katara watched Zuko as he took in the surroundings that were so familiar to her, and tried to see everything as he must be seeing it.
The town's layout resembled a snowflake. Wolf Cove was the town's center and everything branched out from there, from the harbor, to the mountains, and the undeveloped tundra. In her Gran-gran's day it had been a hamlet. In her father's day a village. Now Wolf Cove was a town on the verge of becoming a major city. It probably seemed small and barren to Zuko, but Katara was proud of what the South was becoming, and also sad for what it was losing.
"So what does Prince Unfriendly Fire think of our downtown?" Sokka asked the question that Katara had not yet voiced.
"It's clean and quiet. Seems to have enough of everything to be sustainable without overwhelming the environment."
"We're not as sustainable as we once were, but we'll get there with the Fire Navy's help." Hakoda said.
The day was cold as the day before it but without the biting wind. It made traveling down the freshly ploughed main street in an arctic elk hare drawn carriage a pleasant outing. The usual traffic of pedestrians, dog sleds, sleighs, and snowmobiles whizzed by. Just as the steam and metal revolution had changed the South Pole's eating habits it had changed the way they traveled.
The waters down by the shipyard rang out with the loud cracking noise of ice splitting. The waterbenders who worked on barges were keeping the port free from ice. Once the ice was broken up it was taken and cut down and used for shipping or sold around the world. It was one of the South Pole's major exports.
As Chief her father had his own small personal fleet Hakoda looked over the various vessels all waiting neatly in a row. "We'll take the icebreaker."
"Been awhile since I've been on one, but it certainly brings back memories." Katara said.
"Yeah, remember how we'd stand at the bow and watch the ship break the ice, and then you'd practice bending by making little animal figures from the ice." Sokka said.
"You're grandfather used to do that. He also made flowers for me since none grow here."
Katara smiled, but inside she felt sorrow tugging on her heartstrings. How lonely her Gran-gran must be. She'd never seen her Gran-gran show interest in another man though there had been plenty of men interested in her Gran-gran. How did it feel, Katara wondered, to love one person so much that you never wanted to date again knowing no one could fill the space your beloved left in your heart, or did her Gran-gran not marry out of fear of being hurt again?
"Reminds me of the ship my father gave me, Zuko remarked, except mine was no where as nice." He stepped on to the icebreaker and then helped Katara aboard.
"What happened to your ship?" Sokka asked.
"It broke down and my uncle and I sold what pieces of it we could for money."
As her father guided the icebreaker through the frigid waters of the Hanyewi ocean Katara, Sokka, and Zuko stood topside next to Hanna as she began telling them about Natsilane.
"Your grandfather was a seventh son of a seventh son, and a healer."
"So that's where I get my ability from." Katara said and looked down at her hands.
"Yes. Those two things, and the fact that he was a master carver and fisher made your grandfather a respectable and sought after man in our village, but it also made him the target of others jealousy."
"I can't believe we didn't know any of this." Sokka said.
"Sometimes even good memories can be painful." Hakoda explained.
Kanna nodded and continued on with her story."There were some men in this village, his older brother's especially, that were not happy to see your grandfather come back home. They had established themselves as important men in his absence and felt his return was taking away from their status, so they came up with a plan to get rid of him."
"There's no way our grandfather would stand for anyone ousting him from his village!"
"Sokka will you stop interrupting and let Gran-gran tell her story." Katara huffed.
"Unfortunately your grandfather didn't know anyone had planned on ousting him from the village. Not until that year's big fishing trip."
"Bad things seem to happen to good hunters." Zuko said.
"Hey, why does he get to interrupt?"
Katara streamed water out from the Hanyewi and bent it around Sokka's mouth a second later the water became a block of ice. "If you promise to stop interrupting I'll melt the ice."
Sokka nodded his head vigorously.
"Go ahead, Gran-gran."
Zuko made a mental note never to interrupt Katara or her Gran-gran.
"Since your grandfather was the best fisher the others on the trip convinced him to go out alone to Pirtuk island where the fish were biting the most, and there it is." Kanna announced.
All three raced port side and leaned against the railing as Pirtuk island came into view. It was roughly three times the size of Whaletail Island. Katara had been to the island a handful of times with her father as a child, but never once had he mentioned that her grandfather's grave resided there. She wondered where it was on the island as she'd never seen it.
"It's getting windy." Zuko noted.
"Well, yeah. Pirtuk means snowstorm." Sokka said.
"It's aptly named then." Zuko shouted to be heard over the howling gale force winds. As the icebreaker got closer to the island the wind grew even stronger. The waves battered the boat and the frozen mist from the water stung any bit of skin that happened to be exposed. Sokka had to help his father guide the icebreaker into port. Katara helped quell the huge waves. The dock was a solid sheet of ice but they still managed to moor the boat.
"Are you OK, Zuko?" Katara asked as they made their way onto the island.
"I've never heard wind like this in my life. Feels like it's sucking the breath and soul out of my body."
"Don't worry." Kanna said. "We'll be in Kaneq cave soon enough."
Tied to one another with rope the group walked in a single file line. The island was almost a pure sheet of ice and their crampons dug into it as they inched their way towards Kaneq cave. Katara bent the snow away from her family so that they could make their way to the cave unobstructed. Her bending the snow away did nothing for the viciously cold wind that felt as it wanted to blow them off of the island. The arctic winds made a mockery of the many layers of clothing she dressed in she could feel the cold down to her bones. She kept bending though it was hard with the wind howling in her ear like a malevolent Spirit.
She felt an overwhelming sense of relief once everyone was sheltered inside the safety of the cave. The howling wind quieted down. It was still cold inside of the cave but not damp and the interior protected everyone from bone chilling cold.
"Everyone OK?" Hakoda asked.
They all nodded. It was much too cold to speak.
Katara's teeth were chattering like a sparrowkeet. "I feel like a glacier." She said when her body warmed up enough to talk.
"Why didn't you say something?" Zuko asked. He took her hands that managed to both be numb and painful at the same time and inched her gloves off. He pressed his hands over hers and she could feel heat coming from him. His hands moved up to her face and cupped her cheeks. Her teeth stopped chattering and she smiled as she got the sensation back into her face. Sliding his hands down from her face to her shoulders he held her in not quite a hug. The warmth from him was subtle at first but she could feel it increasing until the warmth radiated through her. "Better?"
"Warm as toast." Katara noted the approving look her father gave Zuko even though he didn't. Of course he'd approved of Zuko long before she had having met him first, but had she not approved of Zuko, even though her father did, he wouldn't have forced her to go through with the marriage. Her father not only respected her as his daughter he respected her as a person. Katara loved that about him. Every time she was reminded of how much her father loved her she was reminded of how much Zuko's father did not love him. She wondered if she'd ever get to meet the man who'd cause her and Zuko so much pain. She'd love to give him a piece of her mind and a token of her waterbending.
"This is surprisingly homey." Zuko said as he looked around the high-ceilinged cave.
"We have Bingwen to thank for that. He was an Earthbender friend of Natsilane. He was the one who made all of the furniture in this cave." Kanna explained.
There were tables and chairs. Couches and a row of bunk beds were carved along one wall. Sconces were strategically placed around the cave. After lighting the candles in the sconces Zuko got a fire going in a hearth that was so large it nearly took up one wall of the cave. The bundle of tundra ash wood they had brought along ignited right away.
"Is this where our grandfather's grave is located?" Katara asked.
"It is." Kanna said. "It was made by his friends using all four bending elements, but it isn't in this room."
Sokka turned away from the fireplace. "Our grandfather was friends with an airbender?"
"Yes, but that's a story for another time."
"Once we've all warmed up we'll take you there, in the meantime let Gran-gran finish telling you about your grandfather." Hakoda said.
"Natsilane managed to catch an abundance of fish right here on this island. After he netted his haul he called out to the others to come back for him, and they did, but after he had loaded the fish on to the boat the other benders began to sail away from him as fast as they could. Your grandfather thought perhaps that it was a mistake so he called out to his brothers until his voice went hoarse, but the boat kept sailing further and further away. He began to panic it was growing dark and he had no provision with him besides his polespear. There wasn't a single tree on the island for him to make a fire. The only thing he could do was hunker down in this cave and hope to survive until the morning"
Kanna was every bit of an amazing story teller as Hakoda was. Zuko supposed it was probably common for families in the South Pole to sit around the fire and tell stories that had been passed down from one generation to another. Storytelling was just one part of Katara's amazing legacy.
"How could his own brothers be so cruel?" Katara asked as she wiped tears from her face. Zuko took her hand and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. He wasn't crying, but he remembered how much he cried on the day he'd been banished. After his ship disembarked from a cargo ship he could do nothing but watch it sail away towards the Fire Nation knowing he could never return.
"As your grandfather was falling asleep he heard a great wailing moan that made his hair stand on end. He raced out of the cave as fast as his feet would carry him and saw a sealion turtle."
Sokka leaned forward in his seat. "Sealion turtles used to come here? I've always wanted to see one."
"A great many. This particular sealion turtle was hurt. It's cries of pain brought your grandfather to tears. He walked to the edge of the shore and saw that it was bleeding. He couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, but he knew that if he didn't help the animal it would die soon. Without hesitation he jumped into the icy water to help and saw that the turtle had a harpoon stuck deep in it's leg. Your father removed the harpoon and healed the sealion turtle's wound."
Katara couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her grandfather had healed a Sealion turtle. Suddenly she felt a lot more confident in her abilities to heal. She vowed to study every scroll and book she could get her hand on in order to become a better healer, no the best healer the world had ever seen. She was going to make both her Gran-gran and her grandfather proud.
"Natsilane promised the sealion that if he made it back home he would make the Southern Water tribe protectors of all sealion turtles. The sealion turtle was so grateful that he called upon two of his Spirit friends, Hanta and Nini, to give him a safe passage back home."
Katara looked at her brother. He looked caught between, fear, disbelief and pride. He had always favored science and reason. What couldn't be explained he chose to ignore. He had always struggled with believing in the more spiritual side of life despite being surrounded by so many spiritual things.
"Hanta and Nini gifted your grandfather a tree trunk from a tundra ash tree. With his bending and his polespear he was able to carve out a boat, and with the moonlight to guide him he sailed back home. He'd been freezing before but after being visited by the two Spirits he wasn't cold during his trip nor was he hungry."
"You mean our kitchen table is made from the wood Hanta and Nini gave him, we've been eating our food off of a daddy and daughter ghost table."
"Not ghost, Sokka, Spirits." Katara corrected. "I think it's amazing."
"So do I." Zuko said.
"After that incident your grandfather's bending got stronger, and though he could still only bend one element he told me from that day forth he could always feel the energy emanating from the other elements."
"Then why can't I?" Katara asked.
"Have you ever tried to feel the energy of the other elements?"
"Well no, but I never knew that I could."
"You should try." Zuko said. "Maybe feeling the energy of the other elements is an acquired skill."
"Maybe, if I was closer to my grandfather's grave it might help me feel what he felt." Katara looked to her Gran-gran. "Is that why you brought us here?"
Kanna nodded. "Yes. Did you know that before Hanta and Nini's death there never used to be a snowstorm on this island? Back in Hanta's day it was called Qanuk Island. This island is one of the most spiritual places in all of the South Pole."
Natsilane's grave was in a room all to it's self. It rested on a dais and was shaped like the shell of a sealion turtle. The epitaph read Natsilane of the Southern Water Tribe, Son, bender, warrior, Husband, and friend to many.
Katara walked up to it slowly and the closer she got the more she could feel the vibrational humming energy. It was different from what she felt when she bent water. The same push and pull was there, but she could feel the energy the other benders must have felt within their elements. The cool air swirling around her, rocks beneath her, the fire from the lanterns, the water dripping from the stalactite, they all gave off their own unique energy, and she could feel all of them coming together like a four part harmony.
"I can feel it, I feel the energy." Zuko said. "It's like a pulse."
Katara reached out and took Zuko's hand and she could feel him feeling the other elements. In that moment they were simpatico. Katara felt as if they were dancing without moving and she could feel his heart beating in time with hers. Steam rose from the point were their hands joined, but neither one of them let go of the other.
The Steam was neither cold nor hot. Katara wasn't sure at this point if either she or Zuko were its source. It continued rising from their hands curling forth from between their interlaced fingers like thin ribbons. The steam flowed down around their feet growing higher and thicker. Steam continued to flow around their feet until Katara couldn't see or feel solid ground. She tried bending the steam but couldn't this was not regular steam it was something else. Something more powerful.
"What is going on?" Zuko asked. "Where did the ground go?"
Katara shook her head too afraid to speak. She could only look down at her feet where the solid ground used to be. Whenever she moved it felt as if she was walking on water or the surface of clouds. She gripped the sleeve of Zuko's shirt as he pulled her closer to him.
"I don't like this I can't feel solid ground and I don't think this steam can last forever."
"It's not steam. I can't bend it."
"So what do we do?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is we'd better figure it out fast." Katara cried.
The dense steam began to roll back revealing bit by bit an endless black pit below. More and more steam dissipated so that there was less and less "ground" for the two to stand on. Panic was bubbling up in Katara she didn't know how far below them the darkness went, but she was pretty sure that it was a fall neither of them would survive. It was pointless to call out because no one could hear them, and even if the could what would they be able to do?
"Just hold on to me." Zuko said. "I'll break your fall."
There was nothing for them to do but keep backing up towards the wall. Katara's heart was beating in what felt like triple time and she could feel Zuko's heart beating just as fast.
They stood backs pressed flat against the rock wall palms trying to grip any outcrop they could find. Their legs ached and shook from standing on tiptoes trying to stay put on the little sliver of steam floor that was left. Without warning the bit of steam vanished and Katara and Zuko found themselves falling through the endless black pit.
They were falling so fast she was sure that all of their bones would shatter upon impact of the hard cave floor. She wondered if their bodies would ever be found. The blackness started to fade away and she could see the floor rushing up at her. Close your eyes her brain screamed at her. Close your eyes so you don't see it coming, but she couldn't close her eyes.
Zuko was still holding on to her as they fell pulling her on top of him in hopes of breaking her fall. The gesture was both noble and futile.
"Katara we're slowing down!"
He was right they were slowing down. In fact they weren't just slowing down. "We're floating." Katara shouted. She pushed away from Zuko and did a flip in mid air and then another. Zuko watched her but did not join in her zero gravity acrobatics. The descent became slower and slower until their feet finally touched solid ground as if they were placed there by the guiding hands of an invisible giant.
"Welcome young ones. We've been waiting a long time for this day." Two men greeted in unison.
Katara recognized one of the figures at once. Her grandfather. She'd never seen him before, but she knew who he was sure as she knew her own name. Her Gran-gran had not been lying when she said Sokka favored him. She recognized the other man by seeing traces of her husband on his face. He was Zuko's great grandfather Roku, the High Fire Sage.
"Grandfather? H-how are you here?"