The forest glowed with a vibrant blue flash. The stench of smoke filled the air. I coughed, and Mika helped me to my feet. She pulled me away from the scene, though I fought to remain close enough to see the others. "Stay here," she told me.
I shook my head. "I have to stop Azula."
"No, you don't," she said, putting herself between me and them. "Katara and Zuko can handle her, just like they did before."
"Mika," I spat, "get out of my way."
"Please, Saki," she pleaded with me.
"Get out of my way!"
"Saki!" Mika yelled. She stomped her foot, sending a wall of earth up from the ground and barricading us. "Please - just this once, don't worry about Zuko. For goodness' sake, he's fine! Please just think about yourself and this baby of yours. I'm begging you!"
"Mika, I can't," I frowned.
"Why not?"
"I can't tell you."
"Tell me - why not, Saki?"
"Mika, just let me go!"
Her voice came out in a fed up, irritated shrill as she shouted at me. "Saki!"
Finally, I cracked. "Because I love him!" I wanted to stop there, but the words continued to spill out like a waterfall. "For years, I have only had Zuko by my side. He's protected me, he's taken care of me... He's been my best friend. I owe him more than I can give. I have to make sure he's alright, I have to know he's safe at all times. I have to know that he's safe because I love him, Mika."
"Of course you love him," she replied gently. "You're best friends, the closest friends I've ever seen in my life."
"More than that," I said. "I love him much much more than that." I shook my head vigorously. "But I know he won't love me back because I so stupidly told him that I didn't want to be with him before we faced Ozai and the Fire Nation for the last time. Why am I so stupid?!"
She froze. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish's as she searched for an appropriate response. "B-But... But Bao! And the baby?"
I looked down. Shame reddened my cheeks. It burned at my face and spread through my entire body. "I'm not sure I ever really loved Bao," I confessed. "Or, at least, I was never in love with him."
"I don't understand," she exhaled.
"To be honest," I said, looking up again, "neither do I." The commotion of the others had fallen to a quiet, then there was an unsettling silence. Seconds later, the sound of splashing caught our attention.
Mika looked at me and said, "This conversation isn't over, you know."
"Yes," I said while waddling past her, "it is."
As I drew closer to the others, I noticed Azula held to the ground by ice around her legs, binding her in place. More importantly, there was a large body looming over them. It towered about the trees and cast a shadow over the group. Faces - like masks - were floating around the body in circles. The body appeared to be comprised of seaweed and vines, forming arms, hands, a torso, and a head. This head held pale faces that reminded me of the porcelain faces of baby dolls.
This was the Spirit we had been waiting for.
I found my place next to Zuko, whose hand immediately found mine. He looked down at me without saying a word. He didn't speak for a long time, though it looked as if he had so much that he wanted to say but couldn't bring himself to. I gave a squeeze to Zuko's hand. I looked away, giving my attention to the Spirit before us. Her name was the Mother of Faces and, thanks to Aang being the bridge between two worlds, she was going to grant us one request.
"Wait," I said quietly, "only one?" I looked to Misu and Rafa, then to Aang and Zuko. "How do we choose?"
Aang thought this over, then said, "Maybe we don't have to..." He turned to the Mother of Faces. "See, here's the thing... we actually need two favors. I'm sure a big-and-gigantic-yet-beautiful-and-lovely Spirit like you can handle two, right, Your...uh..." He paused, searching for the right word. He eventually settled on, "....Face-iness?"
"Do not test my generosity, young Avatar," the Spirit warned. "One."
"We can't settle for one," I said quietly to Aang.
Zuko frowned as we all turned to face the siblings. "They've waited for so long," he reminded us. "If there's only one, it should be theirs."
"I'm sorry," Aang said with a sympathetic face. "We'll keep looking for Ursa on our own after this."
"It's alright," Zuko said with a sad smile. As Misu approached us shyly, Zuko's face seemed to brighten. She graciously thanked him, repeatedly bowing her head in gratitude. She nervously approached the Spirit, stuttering through her words to speak with the Mother of Faces.
"Ridiculous!" Azula's voice shrilled, followed by a loud crack. She had broken her way out of the icy shackles and was now stomping over towards Misu. Zuko shouted and ran to stop her, but it was useless. She had shoved past him, then effortlessly pushed Misu out of her way. To the Spirit, she demanded, "We seek a princess of the Fire Nation named Ursa! Tell me where to find her!"
The Mother of Faces repeated the name in a breath voice, almost in fond memory. "Ursa... I remember her. I could not understand why a human with such beauty would ask for a new face." The Spirit held out a viny hand, the palm facing the sky. A mirage of light formed in it, taking the appearance of Ursa. A pang in my chest pounding like an ice pick as I looked at her face for the first time in years. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, then another, then another. But I never made a sound. "To test her sincerity," the Spirit went on, "I offered one as plain as can be." The figure reshaped into a new face, a familiar face: Noriko. "She accepted."
Upon this realization, Zuko gasped. "That's Noriko! Azula, our mother is-!" He looked around, but Azula had already run off out of sight.
"She's gone," I said. "But I know exactly where she's going: back to Hira'a, back to Noren's house!"
"There isn't much time," Zuko frowned and began to run. Once I began to follow, Zuko stopped. He turned to me and shook his head. "You're not going."
"Zuko, you just said there isn't much time. Don't waste it by trying to stop me! Stop making me feel so useless!"
"Saki..." He said my name with so much hurt. As if he couldn't believe that I had ever felt this way, that he was the cause of it. He took hold of my hands and spoke quietly, holding them closely to his lips. "Do you remember what I said the last time we had this conversation? Back on the ship?"
"Zuko, how would I-"
He recounted, "I protect you because I love you. Please, just let me protect you. And your baby. Please."
I was speechless. The last time he had told me this, I'd deferred it and changed the topic to focus on finding Aang. I'll never completely understand why I had done that. I had changed since then, as did my love for Zuko - but, my response did not. "Go get her," I said. "Come back to me safely."
With that, he kissed my hands, then my forehead. Then, he and Sokka sprinted off to catch Azula. I turned to face my friends, finding Mika staring at me. Her face was twisted with a smile in addition to shock.
"We have to help!" Aang declared. To which Katara replied, "Yeah... but who?" Her eyes trailed over to Misu, who was waterbending to keep the Mother of Faces from sinking back into her pool.
"Don't leave us yet!" Misu pleaded with a broken voice. "I beg of you!"
"Foolish human!" The Mother of Faces bellowed. "You dare bend the water of my sacred pool?!"
Misu continued to plead. "We've spent years waiting for you."
"She didn't mean any disrespect, Your Face-iness!" Aang stepped in. "She only-" But his words were wasted on a deaf ear. The Spirit plummeted into the water. Aang wouldn't take this for an answer. He dove into the water after Her.
Katara looked to me and Mika, a horrified look on her face. "I have a bad feeling about this," she stated. "Mika, get Saki out of here. Something tells me this could go south very quickly." Mika didn't hesitate or argue, and, for once, neither did I. Perhaps it was the relentless repeating of Zuko's words in my head that persuaded me, or perhaps it was the horrible ill feeling in my stomach. Either way, I cooperated. Mika gave an affirmative nod, then led me into the forest.
"Can we talk about what you said earlier?" Mika asked as we reached the halfway mark of the forest. She pushed a large, droopy tree branch out of the way as we walked. "About Zuko?"
"I'd rather we didn't," I admitted. Another violent kick to my stomach forced out a groan. "I'd rather just get out of here before anything happens."
She sighed, but nodded. "Understandable." Though she was silent for a few minutes, she tried again by the time we reached the edge of the valley, where Appa was in a sleep. "What about Bao?" She asked. "You're married, after all. Are you just going to leave him..?"
Wetness trickled down my leg, striking me into a frozen position. If there was one thing I knew, I knew it was not pee. A staggering pain ran through my body the way lightning flashes through the night sky, and I cried out. "Mika!"
"Alright, alright," she said in surrender. "I didn't mean to pry."
"No, Mika," I groaned. "My water just broke."
Her eyes widened in horror. She took my hand and led me to lie down against Appa's side. She climbed up to the saddle, then raced back down to me. The bison's fur warmed me, providing even the tiniest bit of comfort during the most painful thing I had ever experienced. I laid there, legs wide open. I screamed, I cried. My throat burned from the agonizing shrills as I swore and sobbed and convulsed. I cursed Bao for causing this. I cursed Zuko and the others for not being with me. I cursed Ursa for not being there to talk me through everything.
"Come on. You can do it. Come on, you can do this," Mika said, repeatedly, in the most reassuring voice that she could muster. Most of the time, I couldn't tell if she was saying it for me or herself. "Breathe. You can do this!"
"Shut up!" I spat. My face was dripping with a mixture of sweat and tears. "Just shut up! That isn't helping!" I desperately wish I had Katara with me to hold my hand and talk me through it as I sobbed from the torture. "Spirits, it's never gonna come out," I wailed.
"You're going to be okay," Mika said. Much to my surprise, she held her calm composure in spite of my lashing out. "I see the head," she announced to me. "It's time for you to push. On count of three - Are you ready? One, two, three, push!"
And I did. I grunted as I pushed, wailing and breathing heavily.
"You're doing great," Mika told me. "Keep going. Come on, come on. One, two, three, push!"
Again, I pushed with a howl that tore at my throat. It felt like someone had been cracking a whip against my vocal chords.
"Good, good!" Mika said almost excitedly. "Almost there, Saki. You're almost there! Just one last good push, okay? Can you do that? Come on, Saki. Ready? Push!"
With all my strength, I pushed. I pushed as hard as I could to get that baby out. And within seconds, crying could be heard that wasn't my own. My breathing had slowed now as relief washed over me. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt the breeze push against my sweaty skin.
"Saki, I'm so proud of you," Mika chuckled. She wrapped the little baby in cloth she had grabbed from the saddle, cooing at her. "What a beautiful baby girl. What are you going to name her?"
Instead of answering, I fainted.
The sunrise was what woke me. Mika had covered me in a blanket at some point in the night. I looked to my side to find that she had also bent a cradle in the night for the baby, softening it with Appa's loose fur. The infant was fast asleep, as was Mika. I sat up and inhaled deeply. The worst part of it is over, I told myself. Now you get to raise a beautiful, sweet little girl. I stood up and found that my clothes were stained with blood, then thanked the Spirits that it was hardly noticable on Fire Nation attire. Softly, I nudged Mika. "Wake up," I whispered as she groaned to being awoken. "We've got to find the others."
Once Mika was awake, I carefully lifted my daughter from her crib and cradled her in my arms as she slept soundly. We began our walk to the Hira'a with Appa following closely behind. Once we neared Noren's home, I could see Sokka, Aang, and Katara gathered in front of the house - Azula was nowhere to be found. Neither Mika nor I called out to them. We didn't need to. Our presence was immediately known and, upon our arrival, the group shouted.
"Oh thank goodness!" Katara cried out as the there ran to us.
Sokka hugged Mika tightly and said, "We've been searching for you both all night! Where have you been? What hap-?" He silenced as his eyes landed on the infant in my arms. "Is that...?"
"My baby," I said happily. "I want you all to meet my daughter."
Aang smiled down at her. He stared at her soft, pudgy face with such a soft smile that he looked almost like a baby himself. It reminded me just how physically young he was. "Congratulations," he said. "What are you naming her?"
I thought for a moment. I had never really had any particular names in mind. I had ultimately decided that the perfect name would come to me when the time was right.
Well, there was no time like now.
"Akira," I decided as I watched her. "My sweet, sweet Akira."
"She's gorgeous," Katara sighed happily. "An angel."
Mika nudged my side, then pointed to Zuko, who was coming towards us. I smiled and began walking to him. "Zuko," I said excitedly, "there's someone I want you to meet."
"First," he said, hand on my shoulder, "there's someone I want you to meet - or, I mean, re-meet."
And with that, a woman came from around the house. My jaw dropped. I tried to find the words to say but was left in silence. There was nothing to say that could perfectly summarize what I was feeling, and there still isn't. It was a mix of joy and sorrow and love and loss and hurt and longing and doubt and hope. It felt like I was stuck in one of those dreams that make you believe that you're awake but then you wake up so confused as to whether it was real or not. I truly hoped that it wasn't a dream; I prayed that it was real.
"Ursa," I said in disbelief. She smiled at me. That hair as dark as bitter chocolates. The slim face, now aged. The amber eyes. How I'd missed it.
"My, Saki," she breathed, "you've grown up so beautifully." Then she gasped once she'd noticed Akira.
Zuko grinned. "As you can see, we all have so much to talk about."
We stepped inside of the home, and we talked for hours.
Author's Note
And THAT is the final chapter of this book. Did you enjoy it? Of course you did, otherwise you all wouldn't be yelling at me all the time!
Now (if you haven't already) is the time to begin The Girl After, the Legend Of Korra fanfiction that follows Saki's granddaughter Leinani. It's still in the works, but there are quite a few chapters for you to read until I update it again.
Thank you all so much for all of the feedback and interactions. I've nothing but love for all of my readers ❤
(This is the part where I walk away while Don't You Forget About Me starts to play in the distance and I throw my fist into the air.)