"Katara."
Katara looked around. She was surrounded by a wall of fire. Just an ordinary day in the life of the Avatar.
Roku emerged from the fire. "It's time you learn my history with Fire Lord Sozin. You need to understand how the war began, if you want to know how you can end it. Meet me on my home island on the day of the summer solstice."
"Ok."
---
Mai yawned and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Ty Lee was standing by her bed.
"What is it..."
Ty Lee held up a scroll. "I found this in Azula's trash can."
"Why were you going through her trash? Better question, why were you in her room?"
Ty Lee blushed. "That's not important. The scroll says, 'You need to know the story of your grerat-grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny.'"
---
"There it is," Zuko said, pointing to the crescent-shaped island. "According to the stories, that was Roku's home."
The team landed and Katara frowned. "There's nothing here."
Toph shifted her foot. "Yes, there is. An entire village. Hundreds of houses, all completely buried in ash."
---
Azula looked at the portraits of the past Fire Lords. Her eyes rested on Fire Lord Sozin.
He'd begun the war, her tutors had told her. He spent his early years preparing for it, but he was patient and clever. He famously waited for the comet, later renamed Sozin's Comet, and used its power to launch a full-scale invasion of the world. He died a very old and successful man. Peacefully. In his sleep.
---
Katara took a deep breath and meditated on the tip of a hardened wave of lava. She closed her eyes and they started to glow, her spirit leaving her body.
---
Aang had a sky bison, Katara had a chameleon wolf, and it turned out that Roku had a dragon.
---
"So what does it mean?" Mai asked, reading the scroll.
Ty Lee shrugged. "Maybe there's something written in invisible ink."
"Then how do we make it visible?"
"Oh, I know!" Ty Lee held it up to a lantern. Writing started to turn visible from the heat of the fire. "The Fire Sages keep a secret history in the Dragon Bone catacombs!"
"Alright then," Mai said. She picked up several knives and slid them into her sleeves. "Let's go."
---
The two walked through the catacombs until they found a sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin attached to an ornate door. There was a Fire Nation emblem on the side.
"I've seen these rocks before. They're triggered by fire," Mai said. She grabbed a torch from the wall and held it up to the emblem.
Fire poured from the statue's eyes, nose, and mouth, and the door slid open. The two girls cautiously entered the room.
A large dragon statue filled the room. Ty Lee picked up the scroll under its head. "The last testament of Fire Lord Sozin."
---
"Come, Katara," Roku said as they flew on his dragon.
"Where are we going?"
"To visit my past. Our shared past."
---
"As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter. I remember my friend."
---
Roku and Sozin sparred in the courtyard, laughing as they exchanging blasts of fire. Then Sozin noticed that Roku's foot was too close to a tree root. He lunged and Roku stepped backwards, tripping over the root. He grabbed Roku by the collar of his shirt and raised his hand to deliver a fire blast, and then let him fall.
"Looks like I win again," he laughed, helping Roku to his feet.
"Are you kidding? The tree root did all the work!" Roku patted his best friend on the shoulder. "Nice one, Sozin."
"You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?" Katara asked, unable to hide her surprise. She and Roku were watching the whole scene.
"Back then, he was just Prince Sozin, and he was my best friend."
The two boys looked as close as Katara felt with her friends. What happened?
A lovely young woman walked by them. Roku spotted her and blushed.
Sozin nudged Roku. "Say something to her."
"Uh...ahhh."
The woman smiled to herself, turning away to hide her own blush.
Roku flopped to the ground in embarrassment and Sozin sprinkled grass on his face.
"Love is hard when you're young."
Katara's mind inadvertently flashed back to Jet, and then that time she told Rina she'd rather kiss her than die. "You don't have to tell me."
"Don't worry, it gets better. Now come with me. We have a party to attend."
Lanterns were strung around the courtyard and people danced as musicians played a lively tune.
"Wait, who's party is it?" Katara asked.
"Sozin and I shared many things, including a birthday."
The woman from earlier saw Roku and blushed. Roku, who was walking down the stairs, noticed and began to fall down. Sozin grabbed his arm to steady him, snickering to himself.
Then a group of Fire Sages entered the room.
"Did something happen to my father?" Sozin asked, concern clear in his voice.
"No, Prince Sozin. We're not here for you. We're here to announce the identity of the next Avatar." They bowed. "It is our honor to serve you, Avatar Roku."
Roku's jaw dropped open in shock as everyone bowed before him.
---
"Soon the day came when my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar," Ty Lee read. "He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements."
"Hey, why aren't you packed yet, all-powerful Avatar?" Sozin teased, leaning against the door.
Roku looked away.
"Come on, show me how it's done!" Sozin did an exaggerated performance of the other bending styles. "Using all four kinds of bending!"
"I started packing, but the Fire Sages told me I wouldn't need any more worldly possessions."
"Oh."
"It happened so fast. Everything's going to be different now."
Sozin pulled out the crown from his topknot, the same one Roku would later wear. "Here. I hope you're at least able to have this."
"But this is a royal artifact. It's supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince."
"I want you to have it."
Katara noticed that the dragon was flying towards a familiar place. "Hey, we're almost at the Southern Air Temple!"
"This was my first stop on my Avatar journey. It was the place where I was trained to master airbending, and where I met another close friend, Gyatso."
A young monk bent a stream of air that ruffled Roku's hair and smirked.
"Gyatso?" Katara asked. "Aang's mentor?"
"Hey, Gyatso, want to see a new air glider trick?" Roku called, doing two loops in the air.
"Check this out!" Gyatso stood on top of his glider. Then he lost balance and started to fall. Roku swooped down and caught him. He struggled to gain control of his glider and they both fell, crashing into a group of monks.
"Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes."
Roku was older when he left the Southern Air Temple. The large wall of the Northern Water Tribe came into view. Roku sparred with another waterbender.
"Waterbending was especially challenging for me, but in time, I mastered it as well."
Roku knocked the waterbender off his glacier and smiled to himself.
"I moved to the Earth Kingdom. My earthbending master, Sud, was uncompromising, stubborn, blunt, and a lifelong friend."
Roku and Sud raced up the mountain on slopes of earth. Sud arrived on the top and whooped.
Then he saw that Roku had beaten him to the top. Not only that, he'd had enough time to pour them tea.
"It was bitter work, but it was worth it."
Roku extended his arms and released waves of all four elements.
---
"Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again," Ty Lee continued. "When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and I had changed as well."
"Sozin, or should I say, Fire Lord."
"Customarily, my subjects bow before me." Then Sozin smiled. "But you're the exception."
"After all these years, he was still my best friend," Roku said. "And a few months later, he was my best man."
Katara lit up when she saw who was walking down the aisle. "Roku, it's that girl who didn't even know you were alive!"
"Ta Min. I was persistent. When love is real, it finds a way. And being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances either."
---
"On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future."
Sozin wove his way through the guests until he found Roku and Ta Min. "Excuse me, may I borrow him for a moment?"
Ta Min smiled. "Not very traditional, but ok."
Sozin led Roku to a balcony. "So what's on your mind?" Roku asked.
"I've been thinking hard about the state of the world, recently."
"Sozin, it's my wedding! Have a cookie, dance with someone, lighten up!"
"I know, I know, but here me out. Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord. And although we didn't know it, you were destined to be the Avatar. It's an amazing stroke of fate we know each other so well, isn't it? Together, we could do anything."
Roku nodded. "Yeah, we could."
"Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. Our people are happy, and we're so fortunate in many ways."
"Where are you going with this?"
"I've been thinking, we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world." Roku couldn't keep the shock off his face. "In our hands is the most successful empire in the world. It's time we expanded it."
"No!" Roku shouted. "The four nations are meant to be that. Four!"
"Roku, you haven't even stopped to consider the possibilities."
"There are no possibilities. This is the last I want to hear of this."
"That was my first real test as the Avatar. Unfortunately, it was years before I learned that Sozin had gone ahead with his plan, despite my warning."
Roku flew over the Earth Kingdom landscape on Fang's back. He gasped when he saw the Fire Nation flag flying from an Earth Kingdom fortress.
"I've seen the colonies, Sozin!" Roku yelled, storming into the throne room. "How dare you occupy Earth Kingdom territory!"
"How dare you, a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way! Your loyalty is to your nation first. Anything less makes you a traitor."
"Don't do this, Sozin. Don't challenge me. It will only end badly." Roku turned to walk away. Then Sozin leapt from his throne and fired a bolt of flame at Roku's back.
Roku broke from the floor underneath, having used earthbending to sink below the flames. He fired a blast of air that slammed Sozin into the door and used earthbending to pin him to the ceiling.
Roku's eyes started to glow and he brought down the support pillars, destroying the throne room. He levitated into the air on a cyclone of wind until he was eye level with Sozin. "I'm sparing you, Sozin. I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship, but I warn you, even a single step out of line will result in your permanent end."
"Sozin and I didn't see or speak to each other for twenty-five years after our battle. I spent most of my spare time here, at home."
Roku and Ta Min ran through their house as the volcano rumbled, Roku's crown clattering to the ground behind him.
"Let's go!"
Roku bent a tunnel of wind through the smoke. Waves of smoke and ash poured through the streets as people ran to evacuate. Lava started to pour from the volcano, and Roku motioned for Ta Min to go without him.
---
"Roku's island was a hundred miles away, but I could still feel it rumbling, and see the black plume of smoke. I had never seen anything like this catastrophe."
Lightning struck the volcano and lava poured down towards the town. Roku bent a wall of earth, but then more lava poured, overwhelming the wall. Roku cut a channel into the ground, diverting the flow of lava towards the ocean.
"This is amazing, Roku," Katara said, awestruck. "You're battling a volcano, and you're winning!" She'd fought a volcano once, but had done so with the power of the Avatar State. There was no glow in Roku's eyes.
"Unfortunately, my success didn't last long, Katara. There was no way I could do it all."
Toxic gas spewed out of the ground and Roku looked up at the mouth of the volcano. A fountain of fire spewed from its mouth.
Roku leapt into the air, blowing wind from his mouth at the lava. It cooled to rock and Roku landed. Then he covered his face as toxic gas spewed up.
"Battling the elements was hard enough. I had to do it while I could barely breathe. The poisonous, volcanic gases were overwhelming."
"It's alright, Fang!" Roku yelled at his dragon. "I'm fine! Get out of here!"
Then a blue dragon swooped down, Sozin on its back. "Need a hand, old friend?"
"Sozin?"
"There's not a moment to waste!" Roku bent the lava down into the crater while Sozin channeled the heat into the air.
Ta Min anxiously watched from the boat.
Lightning blasted from the volcano and Sozin fell, but Roku bent a platform of earth underneath him at the last moment. Then another surge of rock and ash erupted. The two turned and ran.
"Don't breathe the toxic gas!" Roku yelled, right before a jet of it shot directly into his face.
Roku fell to his knees and held up his hand. "Please..."
Sozin looked at the hand. "Without you, all of my plans are suddenly possible. I have a vision for the future, Roku."
He flew away on his dragon, leaving Roku coughing and gasping for air. Fang curled around Roku and they were both swallowed by the wave of ash and lava.
In the Southern Air Temple, a monk held up a newborn baby.
"That's Aang," Katara realized.
"Make sense of our past, Katara, and you will bring peace and restore balance to the world."
---
"With Roku gone and the Great Comet returning, the timing would be perfect to change the world. I knew the next Avatar would be born an Air Nomad. So I wiped out the Air Temples. But somehow, Avatar Aang eluded me. I have spent the rest of my life battling him and his friends. The Fire Nation's greatest threat...the last airbender."
Mai frowned. "Is that it?"
---
"You sent that to Azula, didn't you?" Mai asked Iroh. "She threw it in the trash. Ty Lee and I were the ones who found your secret history, which is actually the history most people already know."
Ty Lee nodded. "The note said that we need to find out about Azula's great-grandfather's death. But he was still alive at the end."
"No. He wasn't."
"What do you mean?"
"Azula has more than one great-grandfather, Ty Lee. Fire Lord Sozin was her great-grandfather on her father's side. Her mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku."
Mai frowned. "And why are you telling us this?"
"Because understanding the struggle between Roku and Sozin can help Zuko and Azula better understand themselves. Evil and good are always at war within them. Because of their legacy, Zuko and Azula alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born within them, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world."
---
With a final blast of earthbending, Katara opened up the tunnel into the ruined house, spraying ash all over her and Zuko.
Zuko coughed. "Why are we here again?"
Katara found what she was looking for. She picked it up and blew the ash off it before handing it to Zuko. "This is a royal artifact. It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince."
---
"You mean...after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin still betrayed him like that?" Sokka asked.
"It's like these people are born bad," Toph agreed
Rina shook her head. "I don't think that was the point of the story."
Sokka frowned. "Then what was?"
Zuko and Katara climbed out of the tunnel, both covered in soot. "I think I understand," Katara said. "Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves that anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone deserves a chance. Just look at Zuko."
"Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph asked.
"I don't see why not." Katara took Toph's hand, then Zuko's. Rina reached out to hold their hands as well.
Sokka stroked his face. "Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that-"
"Oh Sokka, just hold hands."