The sun rose the next morning amid warm breezes into a clear, blue sky. It was a perfect summer day, the kind that begs for lazy swims in the foaming surf, trivial chatter around half-built sandcastles, and fruity drinks sipped under shady trees. In most parts of the Fire Nation, this was precisely what was happening.
But on a secluded island halfway along the eastern archipelago, an abandoned manor was the site of bustling activity. All along the beach, men clad in red worked alongside others wearing blue; filling iron bomb-pots and fitting wicked, hooked blades to harpoon guns and nets. Meanwhile, green-robed warrioresses drilled combat maneuvers on a nearby hillock, led by a lively figure in pink. All about the small isle, people rushed here and there, sorting weapons and supplies and ferrying them from shore to ships.
This was the scene that lay spread before the Avatar as he stepped outside the house. He ran a hand carelessly over his clean scalp, reveling in the sensation of the balmy sun and crisp wind on his bare head. For the first time in many weeks, he felt like himself again. The moment was made perfect when Momo zoomed in to land on his shoulder and promptly licked the previously hidden tattoo as if welcoming it back. Aang laughed and rubbed his tiny companion appreciatively between the ears.
"Yeah, I missed it too."
The lemur purred in reply as Aang petted him absently, the young Avatar's thoughts wandering elsewhere.
"I've given this a lot of thought, Momo, and I think I'm finally ready to tell her. I don't know why it seemed so hard before." He paused, reaching up to scratch his head in thought. But as his fingers rubbed smooth skin, his face suddenly brightened. "Maybe it was just the hair!"
Momo chirruped in apparent agreement.
"Now I just need to find Katara…"
Aang scanned the organized chaos swirling around him and frowned. She wasn't in the immediate vicinity. Undaunted, he struck out into the commotion to search for the object of his affection and make his intentions known.
After asking around and being pointed in the wrong direction more than once, Aang finally came across Sokka, averting passers-by from going to down to a smaller, secluded section of the beach.
"Hey, Sokka!"
The water tribesman almost did a double take as he noticed the newly revealed air bender tattoos, and he promptly did a little victory dance.
"Oh yeah! The Avatar is back, bald head, blue tattoos and all!" He reached over and playfully rubbed the blue arrow. "You know, I really didn't care for the hair. I just wasn't…you."
"I do feel more like myself now," agreed Aang, running his hand over the tattoo. However, he quickly changed the subject before his mission could be sidetracked. "Do you know where Katara is? I've looked everywhere and I can't find her."
"As a matter of fact, I do," he answered happily, "she's right over there."
"Thanks, Sokka."
"Whoa, hold on there!" cried the teen, holding Aang back by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, to talk to Katara?"
"Can't it wait?"
"Actually, it's already waited long enough," the air bender replied cheerfully, prying his arm free, "and it's really important."
Sokka placed himself directly in Aang's path, suddenly dismayed. "But, you'll interrupt this beautiful moment!"
"Beautiful moment? What are you talking about?"
Sokka draped an arm across Aang's shoulders, turning him toward the beach below where Zuko was helping Katara with her new harness full of water pouches.
"True love," he sighed dreamily. "Even in the midst of running for our lives and trying to end a war," Sokka was ruminating wistfully, "they still found time to fall in love."
"What makes you think they're in love?"
"Just look at them! They're perfect together!"
The Avatar's initial reaction was to question his friend's sanity, and one brow rose as he looked askance at Sokka. Zuko and Katara were good friends, and Aang was grateful for that. After all the animosity that had lingered between them when Zuko first joined, it was a relief to see them so close.
But as his gaze drifted back to the couple on the beach while Sokka rambled incomprehensibly about chores and cooking water, doubts began to blossom in Aang's mind.
"It seems kind of…unexpected."
"Pft! Are you kidding, I've seen this coming for weeks!" Sokka sniffed back a happy tear. "Those too have got it so bad for each other!"
This couldn't be possible. Zuko was fully aware of the whole problem with the Avatar State, and Aang was certain that his fire-bending teacher would never do something like this. Why else would Zuko have been going out of his way to make sure Aang had every opportunity to be alone with Katara?
"This has been going on for weeks?"
"More like months, actually. If I had to guess, I'd say it started at the Solstice Festival. Of course, you're young so you probably never noticed it happening, but for those of us who are older and more mature, it's sooooo obvious!"
Now Aang was scrutinizing the scene before him, and weeks worth of interactions between his two friends suddenly took on drastically new meanings. He felt like a blind fool. Here was Zuko in broad daylight with Katara, his hands all over her; fastening buckles and helping to tug her dress smooth under the harness, gently pulling silky strands of her hair free from the confines of a wayward strap. They chatted and laughed and teased, and finally Katara wrapped Zuko in a tight hug. When Aang saw blushes blossom on both benders' cheeks, he felt his blood begin to boil with feelings of betrayal…and rage.
"Yep," Sokka concluded with satisfaction, "someday, when my sister marries the most powerful fire bender in the world, we can look back and say we watched the moment it all came together. Isn't it great, Aang? …Aang?"
When no answer came, he turned only to find an empty space where the Avatar had been.
"Eh, kids. They just don't get it."
Unconcerned, he merely shrugged, then went back to his sentimental observations sighing sappily all the while.
Toph was having a miserable day. Despite her best efforts to put on a brave face and focus on a solution rather than the problem at hand, her heart just wasn't in it. Instead, all she could do was worry, and that was something to which she simply was not accustomed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop going over the things she had said, and hadn't said, to her parents when she left.
By mid-day, she had given up all pretense of trying to help get things ready.
So she sat on a boulder away from the hustle and bustle of battle preparations, trying to organize her muddled thoughts. As she contemplated her guilt, a familiar footstep approached with a heaviness that seemed to match her own beleaguered mood. Somehow, that only served to bother her more.
"Shouldn't you be training or something?" she nagged glumly as Aang settled wearily beside her.
"I don't really feel like training."
"Then I hope you feel like fighting, because we're down to the wire now and you've got a job to do."
"Do you really think you have to remind me of that?" he retorted peevishly. "I know I have a job to do, Toph. I get it, okay! I don't need you, or Zuko, or Katara, or anyone else hunting me down to remind me of that today!"
"Hey, you came and sat on my rock."
"Oh, well, excuse me for invading your personal pity party, but you're not the only one with a lot on their mind!
"What is your problem?!" Toph shouted, rising angrily to her feet.
Aang opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as he spotted two figures coming up the hillock. Instead, he snapped open his glider. "That's my problem," he growled under his breath, and took off into the air just as Zuko and Katara crested the rise.
"Aang, wait!" Katara called as he flew away. "Ugh, I missed him again! I've been trying to catch up to him all day."
"I keep missing him too," Zuko admitted with a note of concern, "and I need to talk to him."
"Good luck with that," huffed Toph as she began to tromp away. "Just try not to get your head bitten off if you do manage to track him down."
Zuko crossed his arms with a scowl and Katara's brow wrinkled with worry.
"He's probably just nervous," she reasoned.
"Yeah, probably," agreed Zuko, but he didn't sound convinced.
The flurry of commotion that blanketed the small isle peaked with the sun, and as the day wore on into sunset, it subsided with the sun as well. The dazzling orange of the western sky bathed the gathered warriors on the beach in amber light. All their preparations were complete.
Away from the bulk of the crowd, the Avatar's teachers gathered around Appa, waiting for the signal to depart and wondering where Aang was when Sokka jogged up carrying an armload of paper. Sokka handed each of them a small stack bound by a hole in the corner tied with string.
"What's this for?" asked Zuko as he scanned over the top page.
"Those are your speech notes."
"Speech notes?"
"Yeah. You can't send all these people off to fight without a good pep talk. Who better to do that than the Avatar and his teachers?"
"Forget it," the prince interjected, thrusting the papers toward Sokka. "There's no way I'm saying this stuff."
"Me either," added Katara, shaking her head as she began to read aloud from her notes. " 'Let us all hold hands and lift our hearts for the joy of peace?' That sounds ridiculous!"
"I can't even read it," chimed in Toph.
"I know some of it sounds corny, but-"
"No, you idiot, I mean, I can't read it!"
Sokka peeked over the top of the pages to look at the writing. "It is my penmanship…?"
"Hello! I'm blind!" She yelled as she smacked his head with the papers. "I can't read anything!"
"Aaaaw man! Your speech had one of my best lines too." He took the booklet back and started flipping through the pages scribbling in changes. "Maybe if I reword this and move that, then Aang can…wait, where is Aang?"
"Actually, we where hoping you knew," admitted Katara.
"I haven't seen him since this morning, now that you mention it. Can't you find him, Toph?"
"Nope. He's not on the ground."
"No one has seen him," Renzu announced as he, Loki, and Ty Lee walked up.
"Well how is he supposed to read this speech if he's not here?"
"We don't have time for this," Zuko interjected. "If we don't leave at sunset, we may as well not bother leaving at all." He started to walk away, but stopped and turned back around when Sokka coughed conspicuously and found everyone staring meaningfully at him.
"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Well," Sokka started hesitantly, "I sort of promised everyone a speech."
"So give them a speech. We still need to find Aang."
"No one wants to hear him talk," Renzu said good-naturedly. "They want to hear someone important!"
"Most of these people are Fire Nation soldiers…" Ty Lee pointed out.
"Exactly! Everyone's really only interested in hearing from two people," added Sokka.
"And since one of them is busy throwing a hissy-fit at the moment," concluded Toph bitterly, "That's leaves you, Mr. Future Fire Lord."
Zuko let out a heavy breath. "Fine."
Although he was irritated that Aang wasn't there to do what the prince felt was the Avatar's duty, he understood Sokka's point. Many of these men were prepared to fly in the face of reason and fight against their own country; something needed to be said. So he and the others climbed into Appa's saddle and the bison flew up to hover just high enough for Zuko to be seen above the crowd.
Not for the first time, Zuko wished his uncle were here to give an encouraging word. He could use a piece of advice. Heck, he'd settle for some incomprehensibly absurd advice if it meant have Uncle Iroh here. Zuko sighed at the thought, and then cleared his throat nervously. The sound echoed across the beach as the surrounding ridges provided perfect natural acoustics.
"For the past century, my father, my grandfather, my great grand father, have told the people of the Fire Nation that this war was our duty, our destiny; that we were sharing the wealth and glory of the Fire Nation with rest of the world. But they lied. The war has been fought, and our people sent off to die, for no other reason than love of power.
"It's been as harmful to the Fire Nation as it has to the rest of the world. While Fire Lord Ozai has been taking over cities in the Earth Kingdom, our own towns are falling apart, and being overrun by thugs. Everything - every nation, every continent, every person - is out of balance.
"The upcoming battle isn't just about ending a senseless war; it's about keeping our world from being destroyed. This burden shouldn't be Aang's alone; it's ours too. The Fire Nation started this war, and now it's time we end it. Because if we allow Ozai to finish what Sozin started, then even the Avatar won't be able to save us."
"We can't expect him to do this alone; we all have to work together to set things right. This is our fight. This is our duty. The Avatar may be the only one powerful enough to defeat Ozai, but one person alone cannot end 100 years of war. That's why I am here," he motioned toward the other teens standing beside him, "why they are here, why you are here. Together, with the Avatar, we will restore peace and balance to the world."
Suddenly, as if the whole thing had been planned from the start, Aang burst out over the crowd on his glider and a roar of approval swept across the beach in the Avatar's wake. He continued to fly around as people dispersed toward their appointed ships.
Zuko and Katara had just been dropped off on Huo's ship, and Appa was flying away with the others when Aang landed on deck.
"Aang!" Katara cried happily, "There you are! We've been looking for you all day. Are you okay?"
She made a move forward to embrace him, but was forced to step back as he spun his glider in a flourish to close it. Before she could recover, he brushed past her with a brusque statement.
"Let's do this."
As he disappeared into the hold of the ship, Zuko and Katara exchanged worried glances. The prince then gazed up to the bridge balcony where Huo watched, and gave nod to let the Commander know that they were ready to depart.
A signal flare was launched into the twilit sky and, as one collective unit, the fleet of Water Tribe and Fire Navy ships set sail toward their fate.
Author's note:
Okay, so THAT took me a little longer than I expected. I cannot apologize enough for the long wait between chapters. For those of you still reading, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. I have no idea how long it will take me to do the last "episode" but I'll try not to wait a year until I post again!