Ling
Title: Ling
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Katara, Hama (Zutara)
Genre: Friendship/Humor/Angst
Warnings: None.
Summary:
It's a long way from the Fire Nation to the Earth Kingdom. Sparrowkeet!verse.
A/N: The time has come for me to flatly dismiss two parts of canon.
First: Roku and Sozin cannot be Zuko's great-grandparents.
We're talking clear, straight ret-coning by the creators (which we know for a fact, since "Zuko Alone" stated that Azulon was Fire Lord for twenty-three years, a perfectly respectable reign by any standards). Even if one were to accept that Sozin sired his FIRST CHILD in his eighties (unless all his previous children had died), and that for some reason Azulon had waited to have Ozai until his sixties (because I would say Ozai's age can be reasonably assumed to be perhaps forty), there is the problem of Roku. The absolute latest that Ursa's parent could have been born would be nine months after Roku's death (and Roku's wife would have been in her eighties). That would mean that Ursa (who seemed to be in her thirties in "Zuko Alone") would have a mother or father around the age of seventy-two at her birth.
No. I call shenanigans. Zuko would be at least second-great grandson, more likely third-great, which also means there were more Fire Lords in the last 160+ years than just Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai.
Second: Ursa is dead.
This one is just me stomping my foot and pouting. By the end of "Zuko Alone" I had come to the conclusion that Ursa had offered her life in place of Zuko's, which Ozai accepted, and then Ozai turned around and killed Azulon. (Possibly Ozai had loved Ursa -- though not as much as he loved the idea of being Fire Lord -- and then killed Azulon in anger; also this would have cemented his antipathy towards Zuko, who theoretically cost him his wife. Or not. It's all debatable.)
Anyway, I happily lived with this perfectly reasonable version of the story until "The Day of Black Sun", when for some damn reason we found out Ursa poisoned Azulon and then was banished for it. What? Huh? Does that make sense? No it does not. The hell with it. I reject the creators' reality and substitute my own.
I only rarely tell canon to stuff it in my stories; since I write AUs based on momentary plot deviations, it seems like cheating to change more stuff just to suit my own purposes. I'm doing it anyway. That's just how it's gonna be. (I feel a little drunk on my own power right now, to be honest.)
Anyway, long A/N over with. This takes place immediately following Sparrowkeet and overlaps with The Princess.
Ling
how these days grow long / but i'm on my way back home
Brandi Carlisle, "Dying Day"
***
"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point for the attack. The army and navy will invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun."
***
Taizo
Taizo's family has worked the waters of Imouto Island since time immeasurable. His father taught him the art of using octo-geese to capture little flashing lion-trout as they passed by in their schools; you tied a string around the octo-goose's neck, so that when she trapped a fish in her long tentacles and tried to eat, her meal would stick in her gullet. Then the octo-goose would return, cough the whole lion-trout into the boat, and dive back to capture another. A good morning could yield a catch of over a dozen.
"Remember," Taizo tells his grandson Tomo, who watches with wide eyes as Taizo unties the string, "you must always give her the best fish at the end of the day. Otherwise she won't dive tomorrow."
Tomo nods. The boy selects the largest and brightest fish from the pile and tosses it to the octo-goose; she gulps it down with a chirp, then sticks herself to the side of the boat and accepts a scratch under the chin from Taizo.
"Good girl," Taizo says.
"Good girl," Tomo echoes.
The row back to shore is a pleasant one. The last few days have been stormy -- not that that makes any difference in Taizo's work, fishing happens whether the sea spirits are angry or not -- but today the morning sun is bright and the breeze is cool. They push the boat into the sand and fix it to the same overhanging tree to which it has always been fixed.
"Granddad!" Tomo cries out of nowhere, tugging on Taizo's sleeve and pointing. "Granddad, it's red!"
Taizo follows his grandson's gaze... and his heart sinks. "Tomo, put the fish away," he says as he climbs out of the boat. "And don't look."
Tomo obediently drops his eyes and begins stuffing the day's catch into the sack.
It isn't the first time Taizo has found someone on the shore. The Capital can be a rough place; currents often carry debris from the harbor to the nearby island, and once in awhile the debris is human. Taizo always makes sure to bury the body and ask the spirits to bless it with guidance. His family has always shown respect.
Gentle waves pull at long, tangled hair and silk robes. A woman, then, and young by the looks of it. Sad. Taizo kneels and turns her over onto her back.
She coughs.
Taizo straightens immediately. "Tomo?" he calls.
"Yeah?"
"Run to your grandmother and tell her to light the fire."
"Why--"
"Now, Tomo." Taizo pauses for a half-second, then adds, "And don't forget the fish!"
***
The girl doesn't wake for two days. Fen sits patiently by her makeshift bedside -- a pile of blankets kept inches from the fireplace -- and pats her through her fevered tremblings while Taizo shoos the curious children away.
Finally, on the third morning, the girl opens startling blue eyes. "Gran-Gran?" she croaks.
Fen sighs sadly, and Taizo squeezes her shoulder. His wife has a soft heart. "I'm afraid not," she says, patting the girl's forehead with a white, wrinkled hand.
"Where am I?"
"Imouto Island," says Fen. "You had a bit of a rough time, I think, but you washed up to our home. You're safe now."
The girl runs her tongue along cracked lips. "Water?"
Fen produces a pot of lukewarm tea. "This will be easier on your stomach," she says. "And be sure to sip, not gulp."
After three cups, the girl mumbles her thanks and rolls over. She's asleep again within moments.
"Poor child," Taizo says, then heads out for the morning catch.
***
When Taizo returns for lunch the girl is sitting at the table, slowly eating a small bowl of rice while Fen tries unsuccessfully to stop the children from peppering her with questions.
"Who knocked you in the water?"
"How come you were sick?"
"Were you in the Spirit World?"
"Have you ever gone fishing?"
Fen gives Taizo an exasperated look. "Taizo, this is Ling. Ling, this is my husband Taizo. He's the one that found you."
Taizo nods to Ling, who nods back respectfully. "Thank you," she says, her voice still a little ragged. "Thank you for saving me."
"It is the ocean spirit who saved you, not I," says Taizo. One must not take credit for the work of the spirits. "But I am very glad she chose to so."
Ling smiles. She's a bit older than Taizo thought she was, and in a way she looks a little like his daughter-in-law, lost to the Spirit World two winters ago. Not the same coloring, of course -- where did this girl come by such nut-brown skin? -- but a similar kindness. "Is that stew I smell?" Taizo says to Fen.
Once the bowls are doled out the family automatically raises their spoons; Ling looks around, then follows suit. "To the Fire Lord," Taizo says solemnly.
"To the Fire Lord!"
It's quiet through the first few bites -- Fen makes the best fishhead stew -- but then Ling pauses. "Excuse me," she asks, "but what day is it?"
The children giggle slightly. "Manners," Fen scolds them, then shares the day.
"You're kidding." Ling has turned a bit green. "It can't be that late..."
Taizo takes pity on her. "If you don't have anywhere to go, we have an extra bed in the loft. It belongs to our son, Taichi. He's away in the Earth Kingdom."
"Dad's in Ba Sing Se," Tomo pipes up, beaming. "He won the war!"
Fen smiles indulgently. "He helped win the war," she corrects.
Ling doesn't seem to notice that her spoon isn't actually lifting any stew. "So... Ba Sing Se has definitely fallen?" At the confused looks from around the tables, she adds, "I've been at sea for a long time."
That would explain quite a bit. "Princess Azula and Prince Zuko took the city many weeks ago," Taizo says. "The walls have come down, and the Earth Kingdom is liberated at last."
"Thanks be to the spirits," murmurs Fen.
"Liberated?" Ling echoes hollowly.
There is something strange about this girl. "Where did you say you were from?" Taizo asks, frowning.
Ling looks down at the table, and a blush rises in her cheeks. "Uh... the colonies," she says, sounding sheepish. "It's a very small town. We don't get a lot of news."
Oh. Of course. Taizo relaxes. "Now that the Fire Lord has captured Ba Sing Se and Omashu," he explains, "the people of the Earth Kingdom will join with the Fire Nation, and this terrible war will finally end."
"But what if the people don't want to?" says Ling. Her eyes are wide. "I mean, in the colonies... I've met some people of the Earth Kingdom, and I'm not sure they really interested in, uh, joining the Fire Nation."
Fen snorts. "Lies told by the tyrants of the cities," she says bitterly. "They hide behind their walls and their Earthbending hordes, pretending like their people wouldn't be honored to be part of the greatest country in the world, keeping my son in danger for their own selfishness--"
"Quiet, Fen." Taizo glances at the girl, who is suddenly looking very small and young. "The dinner table is no place for this sort of talk."
"Hey," the third grandchild asks, completely uninterested in the rest of the conversation, "how come you've got blue eyes?"
Taizo sighs, but Ling smiles at the children affectionately. "Where I come from," she says, "lots of people have blue eyes."
"Really?"
"Ooh!"
"Wow."
"That's so cool."
***
The moon is high in the sky when Taizo is wakened by the sound of movement outside. He gets up -- being careful not to disturb Fen as he does -- puts on his slippers and robe, and pads out the back door.
Ling sits on a craggy rock, staring out at the ocean. She jumps when Taizo coughs lightly. "Sorry," she whispers, "was I making too much noise?"
"No, I'm just a light sleeper." He sits down beside her. His old bones creak. "I hope your bed wasn't uncomfortable."
"It was fine. I just..." Ling sighs, then peeks up at the sky and smiles slightly. "Just wanted to be outside, that's all."
Taizo nods. "My son is the same way. He slept in the trees whenever he could when he was young." He looks sideways at Ling; this girl is pretty, sweet, and patient with the children. "You would like him, I think."
"I'm sure I would," Ling says distantly.
"You're welcome to stay for as long as you like."
Ling shakes her head. "I'm really grateful for everything you've done," she says, "but I need to go home."
Taizo frowns. "All the way to the colonies? Alone?" She's much closer to a woman than a child, but that's still much too far for a girl to travel by herself.
"I have to. It's really important that I get there as soon as I can. Besides, my brother and my friends... they're probably worried."
It clicks into place. Ling's age, her confusion, being on a ship for so long and falling into the sea and wanting to leave again quickly...
She must be a runaway. A girl who left her village for some foolish reason -- following a boy, perhaps -- and then came to see the errors of her ways. Now she is trying to return to her family and make amends.
Taizo understands that his place is to help her. The spirits brought her here, and the spirits do not act without reason.
"You'll need a boat," he says.
***
Sheng
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!"
Lieutenant Sheng rolls his eyes as he sets down his scroll. "What is it this time, Gao?"
"There's something out there in the water! I think it's a ship!"
"You mean another sea-lion?"
"No! I mean, it's the same size as a sea-lion... and the same color... and kind of the same shape..."
"Oh, give me that." Sheng yanks the telescope away from Gao. Lookout duty in the northern dragon of the Great Gates of Azulon is quite possibly the most boring job in the history of the Fire Nation navy, but Gao has only been here for a month and has yet to figure that out. Every time the slightest bit of flotsam drifts past or the tiniest marine animal swims by, Gao jumps into Red Alert. If it keeps up for much longer Sheng is going to flame-broil him.
Gao points frantically a hundred yards to the west. "See? See that?! It's a ship!"
Lieutenant Sheng squints, then adjusts the telescope focus. Huh. "It's not a ship, it's a boat."
"We need to raise the gates!" Gao is nearly vibrating with excitement. "I'll send up the alert--"
"Shut up, Gao." Sheng is already descending the steps from the watch window. A little lost boat is certainly not a great concern, and if Gao sends the alert to raise the gates they'll both be the laughing stocks of the navy -- not to mention probably demoted. Still, no floating craft is supposed to cross the pass without proper clearance, and there is duty to attend to.
There's a small door in the dragon's front claws; Sheng steps outside and picks his way down the wet stone steps. The boat is drifting closer, and now he can see it carries a single figure. "Ahoy there!" he calls.
The figure freezes. As it does, the boat starts to noticeably sink into the water. "Ahoy," calls back a hesitant female voice.
There's a thundering from the stairwell, and a moment later a fully-armored Gao crashes into Sheng's back, nearly knocking them both into the sea. "Who is it?" Gao asks urgently. "Is it invaders?"
"They're on our side of the gate, moron." Sheng watches as waves starts to slosh over the boat's sides. It's clearly going under. "Swim for it!" he shouts at the woman.
The woman dives gracefully into the water; the boat disappears almost instantly beneath the foam. A moment later Sheng's helping her up onto the rocks. "Ship trouble?" he says.
The woman -- a girl, really -- sighs. "I was keeping it afloat," she says, "but then I couldn't concentrate enough to steer."
"I'll bet. How'd you get all the way out here?"
"I'm... uh... traveling."
"Careful, Lieutenant!" Gao's voice is muffled from within his helmet. "She could be a spy!"
Striking a fellow soldier -- even one who is a total idiot -- is against regulation, so Sheng smacks his own forehead instead. "Yes, Gao, I'm sure the Earth Kingdom has sent a half-drowned kid to document our reports on sea-lion crossings."
"Exactly!"
"Hey, I'm not half-drowned!" says the girl indignantly. "And I'm not a kid!"
Sheng glances down at the girl's wet robe... and the body it's clinging to. "My mistake," he says.
The girl blushes and crosses her arms over her chest. Sheng laughs. "I'm just teasing. Come on, we've got towels inside."
"But Lieutenant--"
"Shut up, Gao."
***
The girl -- whose name is Ling, apparently -- comes out of the washroom with Sheng's spare shirt hanging almost to her knees. Sheng tries not to smile, but it's really cute. "Thanks for letting me borrow this," Ling says.
"No problem. Your clothes might take awhile to air out. The sea water gets into everything."
Ling shoots the washroom door a disgruntled look. "Yeah," she grumbles. "I guess it would be weird if they dried really fast."
Sheng's feet are up on the table of the dining hall-slash-rec room, a twelve-by-twelve utilitarian space with a few windows cut into the stone for observing the ocean. "You want food?" Sheng asks, indicating a bowl. "It's military-grade, so you might be better off chewing on one of Gao's boots--"
The girl sits at the table and starts shoveling noodles into her mouth so fast Sheng wonders if she's going to bite through her chopsticks. "Hungry?" he asks, surprised.
Ling pauses for a moment and looks up at Sheng with wide eyes -- very blue, that's unusual -- before gulping down a mouthful. "Sorry. I, uh, haven't had much to eat recently."
Sheng takes a bite of his own lunch. "Lost your supplies?"
"Ran out a few days ago."
"There's some little villages nearby. Nothing exciting, but they've got a couple of markets..." Sheng trails off, watching Ling look down and flush. "Ah," he says. "No money."
Ling shrugs. "It's okay. I've been fishing a little, but eels are pretty gross when they're raw."
"Not a Firebender, huh?"
"No, definitely not." She glances up at Sheng. "You?"
Sheng smirks and snaps his fingers. A flickering flame appears over his thumb.
Ling smiles. She is a pretty one. "Are you any good?"
Because he'd punch a guy who said something lewd to his kid sister, Sheng manages not to take the bait. "Decent," he says honestly, "but not good enough to be Admiral or anything. No one would mistake me for a Fire Lord."
For some reason that makes Ling blush. Probably has a crush one of the Royals. Maybe Lu Ten, except she looks like she couldn't have been more than eight or nine during the siege of Ba Sing Se...
Sheng sighs. His twenty-second birthday is next month. "So, any of your family in the military?" he asks, trying to take his mind off the fact that he's getting horrifyingly old.
Ling pulls at a lock of her hair. "Um, yeah," she says. "My dad and my brother."
"Anyone I'd know?"
"I doubt it. They're, uh, in Omashu."
"Oh. Well, it's cool that they're stationed together." Sheng shoves in another mouthful of noodles. "My dad's been at sea for almost three years. So it's been awhile."
"I'm sorry," says Ling, and she looks like she means it. "Maybe you'll get to see him soon, now that the war's over."
Sheng rolls his eyes in disgust. "Are you kidding? The war's never gonna be over."
"But... Ba Sing Se has fallen. The Earth Kingdom lost and the Fire Nation won. What more is there to do?"
"Oh, there'll always be something more," Sheng says. "Ozai loves war. Not enough to go fight himself, of course, but enough to find some reason to keep bombing or flaming or whatever it is he wants to do this week."
Ling looks completely taken aback. "You think so?"
"I know so." Sheng is fourth generation military and he knows how the world works. "General Iroh, now, he got out there and led the armies himself. I met him once, you know?"
"Did you," Ling says.
"Yep. It was awesome." His father had taken him to a soldiers' banquet when he was ten; General Iroh smiled right at him and recommended the Dragonwell tea. He'd refused to drink anything but Dragonwell for a month. "General Iroh would have been a great Fire Lord. But instead we're stuck with Ozai, then that crazy bitch Azula after him, and we'll all be going into battle until our grandkids are old and grey."
Sheng has been stationed at the Gates of Azulon for two years. He has gotten used to speaking his mind, given that hardly anyone was there to hear his thoughts.
Ling starts to say something -- probably tell him off for his disloyalty -- then swallows and looks away. "Well... what about Prince Zuko?"
"What about him?"
She blushes so red it looks like her face is flaming, but her voice is steady. "Do you think he'd make a good Fire Lord?"
Yeah, definitely one of the girls with a crush. "I have no idea," says Sheng. "He hasn't served. But he did piss off Ozai enough to kicked out of the country... so I guess he can't be that bad."
Ling smiles slightly.
At that moment, Gao bursts through the door with an armful of scrolls and a jar of ink. "All right," he says, narrowing his eyes at Ling. "It's time for the interrogation."
Sheng bangs his head on the table. "Gao, there is something seriously wrong with you."
"We don't know who she is or what she's doing here, Lieutenant." Gao opens a scroll and dips a brush in ink, a grim look on his face. "We don't even know if her name is really Ling."
"Gao, you moron--"
"What were you doing out here?" Gao interrupts, pointing his brush at Ling. "And where are you headed?"
"I--" Ling glances at Sheng, pale and obviously intimidated. "Do I have to answer?"
Sheng shakes his head and takes another bite of noodles. "Just let him do his thing," he says wearily. "It'll be over faster that way."
"Oh. Um..." Ling pokes at her empty bowl. "I'm, uh, trying to get to the colonies. I got separated from my family."
"A likely story," Gao huffs.
Sheng looks up. "I thought your family was in Omashu," he says, frowning.
"Right! My dad and brother are. But, uh, my Gran-Gran... she's still at home. And the last time I saw her she was really sick. Dying."
Gao makes a series of emphatic notes on the scroll. "And where's this supposed home?"
"It's, um, just outside General Fong's fortress. I need to get there as fast as I can."
"Ah-HA! There IS no colony outside General Fong's fortress!"
"Well, it's... it's a really little one..."
Sheng kicks Gao's arm; the scroll is instantly marred by a long black streak. "Gao," he snaps, "leave her alone." Some of the Fire Nation colonies are established, but there are so many tiny hamlets skirting the line between 'colonized' and 'occupied' that they're impossible to map.
"But Lieutenant, I--"
"No. I'm your commanding officer and I am ordering you to stop being so damn stupid."
After Gao slumps from the room, Sheng pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ignore him," he says to Ling. "He needs a hobby."
Ling smiles weakly.
***
After she gets a good night of sleep and a few more solid meals, Sheng motors Ling the short distance back to shore. "Head along the coast to the east," he says as she climbs out. "There's a few little towns where you can rest. It's gonna take awhile, but eventually you'll get to the ferry that goes to Ember Island. It's a big resort; someone there has to be heading east. Just ask around."
Ling nods, hoisting her bag of dry noodles over her shoulder.
"And here." Sheng reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little sack of coins. He pushes it into her hands when she tries to protest. "C'mon, I'm just thinking of your brother. He's a fellow soldier, and if he ran into my kid sister I'd want him to do the same for her."
To his surprise, Ling throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly. To his greater surprise, Sheng finds himself blushing. "Yeah, well," he says, "just look out for yourself, all right?"
"I will."
Sheng waits until the girl is out of sight, then heads back to the most boring job in the world.
***
Chiya
It's three Spark Bombs into the evening, and Hazuki has finally moved from denial to anger. "That jerk," she seethes, reaching into the bowl of fire flakes. "I swear, if he got eaten by a moose-lion I'd laugh and dance on his grave."
Chiya -- Chi-Chi to her friends -- pats Hazuki's back. "I never liked him," she says. "Such a slimeball."
"I know! I can't believe I ever thought of marrying him!"
"You can do so much better."
"I can!" Hazuki tries to stand, but her legs get tangled in her seat; Chi-Chi grabs her before she falls face down on the patio. "I can do better tonight! There's lots of hot guys here!"
"Great idea," Chi-Chi says enthusiastically. She is feeling the buzz of the Spark Bombs herself. "You show what's-his-name!"
"That's right!" Hazuki pauses, then plops back down at the table. "One more drink first, though."
"Of course."
The night has been exciting so far, especially for an impromptu vacation. Chi-Chi had planned to spend an extremely boring weekend doing paperwork from home, but then Hazuki had come by in tears and announced that she'd caught her latest boyfriend with some skank in the Oyster District and it was totally over between them and she needed someone to come with her to Ember Island for her no-longer-anniversary trip, would Chi-Chi be interested?
Naturally, Chi-Chi wrote a note declaring herself sick with pentapox -- which everyone knew the soldiers had brought back from the Earth Kingdom -- and that she couldn't come into work for at least a week. And now she was working on her tan and coaxing Hazuki through the five stages of breakup grief.
"How about him?" Chi-Chi points at a particularly fine specimen of manhood leaning against the bar. "He's hot."
Hazuki turns to look. "Whoa," she breathes. "Nice." Then she makes a face. "Wait, ugh, he's chatting up that little thing."
Chi-Chi narrows her eyes and tries to focus more clearly through her slightly blurry vision, having left her glasses at home because no one wears glasses on Ember Island. It's true: Hot Guy is talking to some girl with wavy, annoyingly beautiful hair. Wavy Girl is gesticulating, and Hot Guy's leaning in like what Wavy Girl's saying is the most fascinating thing in the entire world.
"Bah," Chi-Chi says, and she is about to declare that there are plenty of sexy fish in the sea when Hot Guy leans down and says something to Wavy Girl that makes her step away. Hot Guy grins and says something again.
Wavy Girl hauls back and smacks him.
The crack echoes around the restaurant patio, and the crowd goes silent for a moment. In the quiet, Chi-Chi clearly hears Hot Guy's response: "Bitch."
And Hazuki jumps to her feet with all the fury of a woman scorned. "Oh, you did not just say that," she shouts, pointing at Hot Guy. "Just who do you think you are, buddy? Huh? You men, you think you can just talk to girls that way! Well, you can't! Go rot in the coldest corner of the Spirit World, you bastard!"
Hot Guy looks surprised at the total stranger's outburst, and while Hazuki continues her tirade, Chi-Chi gets up and walks over to Wavy Girl. "Don't pay any attention to my friend," Chi-Chi says. "She's just working off some issues."
"Apparently," says Wavy Girl, sounding a bit stunned.
"Was that creep your date?" Wavy Girl looks a couple of years younger than she and Hazuki.
"Oh, no. I was just asking him if he knew... Never mind. I'm not here with anyone."
"Then come sit with us," says Chi-Chi. "We girls gotta stick together, you know."
***
It takes another round of Spark Bombs, but Hazuki finally stops ranting and cheers up. "I sure told him," she declares proudly. "I only wish what's-his-name was here to see it!"
"That would have been awesome," agrees Chi-Chi.
"Definitely," Wavy Girl -- or rather Ling from the colonies -- slurs the word. Her Spark Bomb is gone and her nose has turned as pink as a sunburn, even through her brown skin.
"Men are completely worthless."
"Exactly."
"No kidding. Except for in bed."
Chi-Chi and Hazuki turn to stare at Ling, whose eyes suddenly widen. She claps a hand over her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that," she mumbles through her fingers.
Hazuki starts to howl with laughter while Chi-Chi takes the empty glass away from Ling. "You don't drink much, do you?"
Ling shakes her head, clearly mortified.
"Well, there's only one solution." Chi-Chi waves to the bar. "Three more!" she calls.
"So, who's your guy?" Hazuki asks. "Or rather, what class of scum is he?"
The blush that crawls across Ling's face can't possibly be all from alcohol. "He's, uh, not my guy. And he's... not scum, he's just... it's really complicated."
Chi-Chi and Hazuki nod sympathetically. It's always complicated with guys. "Is he waiting back in the colonies?"
"No. I'm not really sure I'll ever see him again. Not sure I want to, either. But maybe." A waiter drops off the drinks, and Ling ignores the straw in favor of a straight slurp. "Sometimes I think I miss him, but then I don't, but then I... I have no idea."
"Honey," says Hazuki, "you are preaching to the choir."
***
After awhile, the conversation turns to government gossip. As a secretary in the War Department Chi-Chi has the inside scoop, and she and Hazuki eat it up just as much as anyone else in the Capital.
"It's not propaganda this time," Chi-Chi says, chewing. They've moved on from fire flakes to sizzle-crisps. "Ba Sing Se was taken totally bloodlessly. A couple of files on soldiers who got knocked around by the citizens, but that was it. I couldn't believe it."
Hazuki shakes her head. "Well, if anyone could pull it off, it'd be Azula. She always was crafty." At Ling's confused look, Hazuki explains, "She was a few years behind me at the Royal Fire Academy. Top of all her classes, but just... weird."
"It's Zuko who's the weird one now," says Chi-Chi, recalling the whispers she'd heard in the hallways. "Word has it he stays shut up in his rooms and won't talk to anyone. Totally anti-social. Strange, huh?"
Ling looks down and takes huge swallow of her Spark Bomb.
Hazuki leans forward. "Have you heard anything about how he looks?" she asks in a hushed tone.
Chi-Chi looks around, then says quietly, "They're saying it turned out really bad. Like, half his face is blasted off."
"Oh, wow. Guess he never found a good healer, then."
Ling gulps more of her drink. Not smart. "You better eat some crisps," Chi-Chi warns, "or you'll get super-sick."
"They're too spicy for me," Ling mutters.
Hazuki shakes her head. "He'll have a rough time finding a match, then, don't you think? I mean, if he's as ugly as all that."
"Oh, please. He's the Crown Prince. No girl's going to care if it means being Fire Lady."
"Is he even Crown Prince, though? I mean, has the Fire Lord said anything?"
"Not that I've heard," says Chi-Chi. "But he'll have to settle the succession soon, if all these 'Phoenix King' rumors are true."
"Azula will never give it up without a fight. Even in school she talked like she was already sitting on the throne."
Chi-Chi shrugs. "All I know is, if the decision's been made, everyone's playing it close to the armor." Then she smirks. "But after all, no one has to hook up with Zuko to be a queen. The Fire Lord's not exactly decrepit."
Hazuki lets out an appreciative whistle. "No kidding. I could totally get on board with an older man. Especially now that he's so much better looking than the son--"
"Stop it!" Ling slams her now-empty drink down on the table and glares at them both. "Stop saying that stuff! Who cares if he's got a scar?! It's not his fault he has it! All that matters is what kind of person he is on the inside!"
Chi-Chi and Hazuki glance at each other -- then start to laugh simultaneously.
"What?" Ling asks, clearly confused. "What did I say?"
Hazuki is nearly in tears. "Oh, Ling," she giggles, "I'm sorry, but that was just so adorable. How old are you, anyway?"
Ling blushes. "Fifteen."
"Whoops." Chi-Chi quickly grabs away Ling's empty glass and sets it in front of herself. On Ember Island the bars are really strict about the under-sixteens. "Shouldn't've given you that. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Um, okay."
***
Chi-Chi's surprised to discover the couch empty the next morning. She stumbles into the kitchen -- Hazuki's still snoring like a tigerdillo -- and sucks down papaya juice until she feels something close to human again.
The front door opens with a squeak; Ling bounces in looking cheerful. Chi-Chi blinks at her blearily. "I thought you'd be hurling," she says. "You looked awful when you went to bed."
"I felt pretty bad," Ling admits, "but then I took a long swim. It, uh, helped." She holds up a paper bag. "I brought some seaweed bread."
Chi-Chi's stomach turns. "Seaweed bread?"
"It's what the people in my village eat whenever they're feeling sick. Well, actually they eat seaweed soup, but I thought the bread might work too. I just wanted to say thank you for last night."
"You're welcome. I'll, uh, eat that later."
Ling sits down on the couch as Chi-Chi looks for a toothbrush to get the ashtray taste off her tongue. "Listen," says Ling, "do you know of anyone who's heading east soon? Really soon? I've been trying to find a way back home, and it's taking a lot more time than I expected."
"Well, the colonies are a long way away."
"I'm used to traveling faster than this."
Chi-Chi frowns at the strange comment, but her head's pounding too hard for her to care much. "Well, I know a guy who knows a guy. Masato. He's on the next island over, so you'll have to get there, but he ought to be able to help you out."
"That's great. Thank you so much."
There's a sniffling noise from the other room. "I really miss the jerk," Hazuki moans. "Do you think if I write him when we get back--"
"No."
Later that day Chi-Chi tries the seaweed bread. It settles her stomach instantly.
***
Hama
Hama knows who -- or rather, what -- the girl is from the moment she walks into the village. The skin... the eyes... even the slightest accent that wouldn't be recognizable to anyone except herself. And the graceful arm movements of someone who has pulled the oldest element.
A Southern Waterbender.
Hama thinks she might burst from happiness. All of her prayers have finally been answered.
She moves as quickly through the marketplace as she can, given her creaky joints and aching back. She knows she's getting old and her time in this world is running out. But the spirits have delivered someone to continue her work, so her step has a lightness she hasn't felt in years.
The girl turns away from the fruit vendor, looking vexed. Vexed and tired, and when Hama touches her shoulder, she jumps. "Oh!" Hama says brightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"That's all right." The girl steps back, a slight wariness in her eyes. How could she have come to be this far into the Fire Nation? And so young. She must have been through something terrible. "Can I help you?"
Hama can't resist a wheezy chuckle. "No, dear, I was going to offer to help you. My name is Hama, and I run the local inn. I was just noticing that you look as though you've been traveling, and it's getting dark. Would you like a room for the night?"
The girl hesitates.
"It comes with dinner and breakfast," Hama adds.
That wins the girl over. "Thank you," she says, nodding. "My name is Ling."
The girl's name is most certainly not Ling.
***
She sends the girl up to her room with a smile. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour," Hama says cheerfully, and as the girl stifles a yawn she wags a mock-scolding finger and adds, "Don't fall asleep on an empty stomach. You'll have nightmares."
At that, the girl cracks a genuine smile. "My Gran-Gran used to tell me things like that," she says wistfully.
"Of course she did. We old women are very wise, you know."
When the girl comes back down to the dining room, looking a bit more rested -- the silly thing must have taken a nap anyway -- Hama passes her a bowl. "When was the last time you had Five-Flavor Soup?"
"Five... flavor..."
Hama bends the soup straight into the girl's bowl.
Her mouth drops open.
"What's your real name?" Hama asks gently.
The girl swallows. "Katara," she whispers. And she bursts into tears.
***
The soup is gone, as are the ocean kumquats and the pickled fish, before Katara has finished her tale. It is a harrowing one, filled with danger and bravery, and Hama is impressed with -- and proud of -- the girl's heroism. She is a credit to the Southern Water Tribe.
"So you see," Katara says, wide awake in spite of the hour, "I have to get to General Fong's fortress as soon as possible. The Fire Nation knows all about the invasion plans for the Day of Black Sun. Our ships will be sailing right into a trap."
A tendril of anxiety winds its way around Hama's heart. "But you can't leave so quickly," she protests. "You've only just arrived. And how will you get there?"
"There's a man named Masato," says Katara. "My friend Chi-Chi thinks that he'll take me. The people in the village said he's gone missing in the forest--"
"Many people have gone missing in the forest," Hama murmurs.
"--so I'll have to find him. Once I do, I need to keep going."
"But you must stay at least a few days," says Hama. The girl can't leave so quickly. The spirits have delivered her.
Katara looks miserable, but she doesn't waver. "I have to. I'm so sorry. I'll come back to visit as soon as I can, but I have to think of my friends. They'll all be captured, or worse, if I don't warn them."
Hama sighs. What a brave girl. Still. "Katara," she says, "may I tell you my own story? Because you see... I too was a captive."
Katara pales.
She tells of the raids, the chains and bars, the humiliation of being fed from rusted cups. Hama stops before relating how she escaped; the girl is not ready to hear the rest. Still, Katara's tears are a balm to Hama's old wounds; she has never shared any of this before. "I am so happy," Hama says, "that you were spared that terrible fate, child, for that is surely what awaited you."
The girl looks down, and a strange blush covers her cheeks. "If Azula had had her way, I'm sure it would have been," she says.
Hama's eyes narrow. The only part of Katara's tale that seems to have any blank spaces is of her time on the Fire Nation ship; Hama had assumed that it was simply too painful for such a young thing to discuss, but perhaps there is more to the story. Still, that is a discussion for another time. "Katara, please. Stay for just two more days. There are things I can teach you, powers no other Waterbender in the world has even imagined. Once you know them you will be an unstoppable force. You will be capable of doing so much more to win this war."
Katara hesitates for a long time... then nods with clear reluctance. "But only two days," she cautions.
Hama smiles. "That's all I ask."
***
Hama tells Katara of clouds, of flowers, of sweat. The girl catches on quickly. Even better, she's not merely defensive; Katara is an aggressive fighter, capable of instant, brutal attacks that slice branches from trees and carve lines into stone.
Katara is everything Hama could have dreamed of.
Nonetheless, the girl seems anxious as they venture out into the night. "In the village, they said people were disappearing out here," she says, peering around. "Are you sure it's safe?"
Hama gives her a reassuring pat on the elbow. "Two waterbending masters under a full moon? I wouldn't worry."
It is quiet for a few minutes, aside from the twigs cracking beneath their feet. Then Katara asks: "Do you like it here?"
"What do you mean?"
"The Fire Nation. Do you like it?"
Hama glances at the girl. "It serves its purpose. Why?"
She shrugs. "I've seen a lot of it by now, and... I didn't think I'd like it, but I do. On islands... the ocean is never very far away, so I'm always around water."
"A Waterbender's place is with snow and ice, dear." Hama stops in a clearing and looks up; the moon is round, full, perfect. "Can you feel the power it brings?" she says, breathing deeply. She glances at Katara with a smile. "Yue, you said her name is now?"
Katara nods.
"Well, Yue blesses us. She gives us life, energy, power. And it is our right, our duty to use it."
The girl looks uncomfortable all of the sudden, but Hama doesn't worry. Once she explains, the girl -- her girl -- will understand.
And Hama tells the girl of blood.
Katara is pale by the time Hama has finished her instructions. "I don't know," she says nervously. "It doesn't feel right. To reach inside someone and control them like that... I don't know if I want that kind of power."
This is unexpected -- hadn't the girl been a captive as well? "Katara, the power is a gift. It has been given to us so that we may turn our enemies against themselves."
"Yeah, but... their free will..."
"They tried to wipe us out!" Why does she hesitate? "Think of your family -- your mother -- our tribe! Think of your own imprisonment!"
The girl looks down at the ground. "I am," she says quietly.
What is wrong with her? "Then you see--"
"No," says Katara. "I don't. What happened to you was terrible, but... you can't treat someone like they're not human just because you don't like them. They're not puppets, they're people."
"People?" Hama snorts. "Nothing but wickedness held in skin-sacks of water."
"That's not true! Just because some of them have done awful things doesn't mean everyone's like that!"
"You are young," Hama says flatly. "Just because a man does good today doesn't mean he will not do evil tomorrow. The bad will always win out in the Fire Nation, little Waterbender."
"No, I don't..." The girl's words die, and then her face turns ashen. "It's you, isn't it?" she gasps. "You're taking the villagers. You're bloodbending them. You're killing them!"
Hama starts to laugh again. "Killing them? Please. That would be more mercy then they deserve."
"But these people didn't do anything to you--"
"They threw me in prison to rot, Katara, along with my brothers and sisters. They deserve the same fate."
Katara's stance has shifted; she raises her arms in one smooth motion. "Take me to them," she orders. "Now."
What a silly, naive child this girl is.
All Hama has to do is turn her wrist, and the girl's hand twists behind her back. It would take nothing to pull her arm from her shoulder, but Hama is merciful. "You should've learned the technique before you turned against me," she says, yanking at the girl's muscles, forcing her to her knees.
She will understand. She will be made to understand.
For a moment, the girl trembles on the ground. Hama feels the tears of pain running down her face, and considers using them as well--
--and then Katara looks up. Even though Hama has not allowed her to do so.
"You aren't the only one who draws power from the moon," the little Waterbender says. The grass beneath her turns brittle and brown. "And you know what? I think Yue likes me more than she likes you."
Hama's eyes widen.
A moment later Hama is blocking a shot of water that whistles through the air, but it is nothing to whirl and send it straight back at her attacker. She yanks liquid from the trees and blasts a wall across the clearing, a terrible thing to have to kill the only remaining Waterbender of the Southern Tribe--
--but the girl stops the wall in its tracks. She wraps the water around herself. She ducks, she spins, she kicks -- she kicks? --
--and Hama finds herself frozen to the forest floor. Before she has even a moment to comprehend what has happened, her hands are cuffed in solid ice.
"Now," says Katara, "you're going to take me to the missing villagers."
Hama can't believe what she's seen. It isn't possible. "How did you do that?" she demands.
The girl smiles humorlessly. "I learned a few things in prison, too."
***
Hama sits in the cave, contemplating what will happen to her next -- she prays death -- and hears the girl ask, "Which one of you is Masato?"
***
Masato
Even if Masato hadn't already been heading to the Earth Kingdom, he'd have dropped everything to take Ling anywhere she wanted to go. He'd been under that mountain for six months. Ling could ask to be sailed to Ba Sing Se and back and he'd have done it in a heartbeat.
They put out to sea the very next morning, Masato squinting against the painful sunrise. He catches Ling's worried expression and shrugs sheepishly. "Sorry," he says. "Haven't seen the light in awhile."
"I understand," Ling says.
There's a quiet few hours while they head out into open water. Masato's vessel -- The Skunkfish Queen, which is what comes of allowing your children to pick the name -- is small but mighty. It's weathered more storms than he can count.
Masato is tired. Part of him wants to go below deck and have his first restful sleep in half a year. The rest refuses to look away from the open skies.
"So," Ling asks, "why are you going east?"
"I run supplies back and forth between the colonies and the Nation," he says, adjusting the sails. "And my family lives on the coast -- my wife, three daughters."
"Which colony?"
"No colony." Masato winks at her. "The wife's an Earthbender. Middle daughter too, I think, but it might just be that she likes to stomp. We'll see when she's older."
Ling looks shocked. "You married someone from the Earth Kingdom?"
"Why not?"
"Well... there's the war..."
"So?" Masato smiles at the feel of the ocean breeze and the taste of salt in his mouth. He's missed this. "I wasn't gonna go running to the Earth King or the Fire Lord and ask for permission. They can go ahead and do whatever they want with their own lives. I've got a woman who can build her own house and that's good enough for me."
"Oh." Ling bites her lip. "Your family must be really worried about you, since you've been gone so long."
"Yeah," he says, his smile widening, "but they'll see me soon."
Ling smiles back.
***
That evening, just as Masato is wondering whether to have dried squid or bean puffs for dinner, Ling lets out a sudden shout. "Over there! Do you see that?!"
He looks in the direction she's pointing. "What? Where?"
"Those ships! With the purple sails!"
He squints. There's a fog rolling in out of nowhere, but...
Uh-oh.
Masato crouches low and shushes Ling. "They're Water Tribe," he whispers. "Don't worry, just stay quiet. They won't bother us if we don't bother them."
"No, it's okay!" Ling takes off her robe and strips down to her underthings -- Masato raises his eyebrows -- then gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for everything," she says. "Say hi to your family for me!"
Ling jumps right out of the boat and starts swimming. She swims faster than any fish or eel or serpent Masato has ever seen.
A Waterbender. Huh. Of all things.
Masato shakes his head in wonder, shifts the rudder to steer clear of the other ships, and keeps sailing towards home.
***
A/N: There's a number of fan-made World Maps out there, all with slight deviations; I've settled on using a combination of this and this. These folks are win.
Also, the Oyster District is a reference to Fandomme's epic fic "Stormbenders". I regret nothing. (Unless it turns out that she minds, and which point I regret everything.)
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Katara, Hama (Zutara)
Genre: Friendship/Humor/Angst
Warnings: None.
Summary:
It's a long way from the Fire Nation to the Earth Kingdom. Sparrowkeet!verse.
A/N: The time has come for me to flatly dismiss two parts of canon.
First: Roku and Sozin cannot be Zuko's great-grandparents.
We're talking clear, straight ret-coning by the creators (which we know for a fact, since "Zuko Alone" stated that Azulon was Fire Lord for twenty-three years, a perfectly respectable reign by any standards). Even if one were to accept that Sozin sired his FIRST CHILD in his eighties (unless all his previous children had died), and that for some reason Azulon had waited to have Ozai until his sixties (because I would say Ozai's age can be reasonably assumed to be perhaps forty), there is the problem of Roku. The absolute latest that Ursa's parent could have been born would be nine months after Roku's death (and Roku's wife would have been in her eighties). That would mean that Ursa (who seemed to be in her thirties in "Zuko Alone") would have a mother or father around the age of seventy-two at her birth.
No. I call shenanigans. Zuko would be at least second-great grandson, more likely third-great, which also means there were more Fire Lords in the last 160+ years than just Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai.
Second: Ursa is dead.
This one is just me stomping my foot and pouting. By the end of "Zuko Alone" I had come to the conclusion that Ursa had offered her life in place of Zuko's, which Ozai accepted, and then Ozai turned around and killed Azulon. (Possibly Ozai had loved Ursa -- though not as much as he loved the idea of being Fire Lord -- and then killed Azulon in anger; also this would have cemented his antipathy towards Zuko, who theoretically cost him his wife. Or not. It's all debatable.)
Anyway, I happily lived with this perfectly reasonable version of the story until "The Day of Black Sun", when for some damn reason we found out Ursa poisoned Azulon and then was banished for it. What? Huh? Does that make sense? No it does not. The hell with it. I reject the creators' reality and substitute my own.
I only rarely tell canon to stuff it in my stories; since I write AUs based on momentary plot deviations, it seems like cheating to change more stuff just to suit my own purposes. I'm doing it anyway. That's just how it's gonna be. (I feel a little drunk on my own power right now, to be honest.)
Anyway, long A/N over with. This takes place immediately following Sparrowkeet and overlaps with The Princess.
Ling
how these days grow long / but i'm on my way back home
Brandi Carlisle, "Dying Day"
***
"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point for the attack. The army and navy will invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun."
***
Taizo
Taizo's family has worked the waters of Imouto Island since time immeasurable. His father taught him the art of using octo-geese to capture little flashing lion-trout as they passed by in their schools; you tied a string around the octo-goose's neck, so that when she trapped a fish in her long tentacles and tried to eat, her meal would stick in her gullet. Then the octo-goose would return, cough the whole lion-trout into the boat, and dive back to capture another. A good morning could yield a catch of over a dozen.
"Remember," Taizo tells his grandson Tomo, who watches with wide eyes as Taizo unties the string, "you must always give her the best fish at the end of the day. Otherwise she won't dive tomorrow."
Tomo nods. The boy selects the largest and brightest fish from the pile and tosses it to the octo-goose; she gulps it down with a chirp, then sticks herself to the side of the boat and accepts a scratch under the chin from Taizo.
"Good girl," Taizo says.
"Good girl," Tomo echoes.
The row back to shore is a pleasant one. The last few days have been stormy -- not that that makes any difference in Taizo's work, fishing happens whether the sea spirits are angry or not -- but today the morning sun is bright and the breeze is cool. They push the boat into the sand and fix it to the same overhanging tree to which it has always been fixed.
"Granddad!" Tomo cries out of nowhere, tugging on Taizo's sleeve and pointing. "Granddad, it's red!"
Taizo follows his grandson's gaze... and his heart sinks. "Tomo, put the fish away," he says as he climbs out of the boat. "And don't look."
Tomo obediently drops his eyes and begins stuffing the day's catch into the sack.
It isn't the first time Taizo has found someone on the shore. The Capital can be a rough place; currents often carry debris from the harbor to the nearby island, and once in awhile the debris is human. Taizo always makes sure to bury the body and ask the spirits to bless it with guidance. His family has always shown respect.
Gentle waves pull at long, tangled hair and silk robes. A woman, then, and young by the looks of it. Sad. Taizo kneels and turns her over onto her back.
She coughs.
Taizo straightens immediately. "Tomo?" he calls.
"Yeah?"
"Run to your grandmother and tell her to light the fire."
"Why--"
"Now, Tomo." Taizo pauses for a half-second, then adds, "And don't forget the fish!"
***
The girl doesn't wake for two days. Fen sits patiently by her makeshift bedside -- a pile of blankets kept inches from the fireplace -- and pats her through her fevered tremblings while Taizo shoos the curious children away.
Finally, on the third morning, the girl opens startling blue eyes. "Gran-Gran?" she croaks.
Fen sighs sadly, and Taizo squeezes her shoulder. His wife has a soft heart. "I'm afraid not," she says, patting the girl's forehead with a white, wrinkled hand.
"Where am I?"
"Imouto Island," says Fen. "You had a bit of a rough time, I think, but you washed up to our home. You're safe now."
The girl runs her tongue along cracked lips. "Water?"
Fen produces a pot of lukewarm tea. "This will be easier on your stomach," she says. "And be sure to sip, not gulp."
After three cups, the girl mumbles her thanks and rolls over. She's asleep again within moments.
"Poor child," Taizo says, then heads out for the morning catch.
***
When Taizo returns for lunch the girl is sitting at the table, slowly eating a small bowl of rice while Fen tries unsuccessfully to stop the children from peppering her with questions.
"Who knocked you in the water?"
"How come you were sick?"
"Were you in the Spirit World?"
"Have you ever gone fishing?"
Fen gives Taizo an exasperated look. "Taizo, this is Ling. Ling, this is my husband Taizo. He's the one that found you."
Taizo nods to Ling, who nods back respectfully. "Thank you," she says, her voice still a little ragged. "Thank you for saving me."
"It is the ocean spirit who saved you, not I," says Taizo. One must not take credit for the work of the spirits. "But I am very glad she chose to so."
Ling smiles. She's a bit older than Taizo thought she was, and in a way she looks a little like his daughter-in-law, lost to the Spirit World two winters ago. Not the same coloring, of course -- where did this girl come by such nut-brown skin? -- but a similar kindness. "Is that stew I smell?" Taizo says to Fen.
Once the bowls are doled out the family automatically raises their spoons; Ling looks around, then follows suit. "To the Fire Lord," Taizo says solemnly.
"To the Fire Lord!"
It's quiet through the first few bites -- Fen makes the best fishhead stew -- but then Ling pauses. "Excuse me," she asks, "but what day is it?"
The children giggle slightly. "Manners," Fen scolds them, then shares the day.
"You're kidding." Ling has turned a bit green. "It can't be that late..."
Taizo takes pity on her. "If you don't have anywhere to go, we have an extra bed in the loft. It belongs to our son, Taichi. He's away in the Earth Kingdom."
"Dad's in Ba Sing Se," Tomo pipes up, beaming. "He won the war!"
Fen smiles indulgently. "He helped win the war," she corrects.
Ling doesn't seem to notice that her spoon isn't actually lifting any stew. "So... Ba Sing Se has definitely fallen?" At the confused looks from around the tables, she adds, "I've been at sea for a long time."
That would explain quite a bit. "Princess Azula and Prince Zuko took the city many weeks ago," Taizo says. "The walls have come down, and the Earth Kingdom is liberated at last."
"Thanks be to the spirits," murmurs Fen.
"Liberated?" Ling echoes hollowly.
There is something strange about this girl. "Where did you say you were from?" Taizo asks, frowning.
Ling looks down at the table, and a blush rises in her cheeks. "Uh... the colonies," she says, sounding sheepish. "It's a very small town. We don't get a lot of news."
Oh. Of course. Taizo relaxes. "Now that the Fire Lord has captured Ba Sing Se and Omashu," he explains, "the people of the Earth Kingdom will join with the Fire Nation, and this terrible war will finally end."
"But what if the people don't want to?" says Ling. Her eyes are wide. "I mean, in the colonies... I've met some people of the Earth Kingdom, and I'm not sure they really interested in, uh, joining the Fire Nation."
Fen snorts. "Lies told by the tyrants of the cities," she says bitterly. "They hide behind their walls and their Earthbending hordes, pretending like their people wouldn't be honored to be part of the greatest country in the world, keeping my son in danger for their own selfishness--"
"Quiet, Fen." Taizo glances at the girl, who is suddenly looking very small and young. "The dinner table is no place for this sort of talk."
"Hey," the third grandchild asks, completely uninterested in the rest of the conversation, "how come you've got blue eyes?"
Taizo sighs, but Ling smiles at the children affectionately. "Where I come from," she says, "lots of people have blue eyes."
"Really?"
"Ooh!"
"Wow."
"That's so cool."
***
The moon is high in the sky when Taizo is wakened by the sound of movement outside. He gets up -- being careful not to disturb Fen as he does -- puts on his slippers and robe, and pads out the back door.
Ling sits on a craggy rock, staring out at the ocean. She jumps when Taizo coughs lightly. "Sorry," she whispers, "was I making too much noise?"
"No, I'm just a light sleeper." He sits down beside her. His old bones creak. "I hope your bed wasn't uncomfortable."
"It was fine. I just..." Ling sighs, then peeks up at the sky and smiles slightly. "Just wanted to be outside, that's all."
Taizo nods. "My son is the same way. He slept in the trees whenever he could when he was young." He looks sideways at Ling; this girl is pretty, sweet, and patient with the children. "You would like him, I think."
"I'm sure I would," Ling says distantly.
"You're welcome to stay for as long as you like."
Ling shakes her head. "I'm really grateful for everything you've done," she says, "but I need to go home."
Taizo frowns. "All the way to the colonies? Alone?" She's much closer to a woman than a child, but that's still much too far for a girl to travel by herself.
"I have to. It's really important that I get there as soon as I can. Besides, my brother and my friends... they're probably worried."
It clicks into place. Ling's age, her confusion, being on a ship for so long and falling into the sea and wanting to leave again quickly...
She must be a runaway. A girl who left her village for some foolish reason -- following a boy, perhaps -- and then came to see the errors of her ways. Now she is trying to return to her family and make amends.
Taizo understands that his place is to help her. The spirits brought her here, and the spirits do not act without reason.
"You'll need a boat," he says.
***
Sheng
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!"
Lieutenant Sheng rolls his eyes as he sets down his scroll. "What is it this time, Gao?"
"There's something out there in the water! I think it's a ship!"
"You mean another sea-lion?"
"No! I mean, it's the same size as a sea-lion... and the same color... and kind of the same shape..."
"Oh, give me that." Sheng yanks the telescope away from Gao. Lookout duty in the northern dragon of the Great Gates of Azulon is quite possibly the most boring job in the history of the Fire Nation navy, but Gao has only been here for a month and has yet to figure that out. Every time the slightest bit of flotsam drifts past or the tiniest marine animal swims by, Gao jumps into Red Alert. If it keeps up for much longer Sheng is going to flame-broil him.
Gao points frantically a hundred yards to the west. "See? See that?! It's a ship!"
Lieutenant Sheng squints, then adjusts the telescope focus. Huh. "It's not a ship, it's a boat."
"We need to raise the gates!" Gao is nearly vibrating with excitement. "I'll send up the alert--"
"Shut up, Gao." Sheng is already descending the steps from the watch window. A little lost boat is certainly not a great concern, and if Gao sends the alert to raise the gates they'll both be the laughing stocks of the navy -- not to mention probably demoted. Still, no floating craft is supposed to cross the pass without proper clearance, and there is duty to attend to.
There's a small door in the dragon's front claws; Sheng steps outside and picks his way down the wet stone steps. The boat is drifting closer, and now he can see it carries a single figure. "Ahoy there!" he calls.
The figure freezes. As it does, the boat starts to noticeably sink into the water. "Ahoy," calls back a hesitant female voice.
There's a thundering from the stairwell, and a moment later a fully-armored Gao crashes into Sheng's back, nearly knocking them both into the sea. "Who is it?" Gao asks urgently. "Is it invaders?"
"They're on our side of the gate, moron." Sheng watches as waves starts to slosh over the boat's sides. It's clearly going under. "Swim for it!" he shouts at the woman.
The woman dives gracefully into the water; the boat disappears almost instantly beneath the foam. A moment later Sheng's helping her up onto the rocks. "Ship trouble?" he says.
The woman -- a girl, really -- sighs. "I was keeping it afloat," she says, "but then I couldn't concentrate enough to steer."
"I'll bet. How'd you get all the way out here?"
"I'm... uh... traveling."
"Careful, Lieutenant!" Gao's voice is muffled from within his helmet. "She could be a spy!"
Striking a fellow soldier -- even one who is a total idiot -- is against regulation, so Sheng smacks his own forehead instead. "Yes, Gao, I'm sure the Earth Kingdom has sent a half-drowned kid to document our reports on sea-lion crossings."
"Exactly!"
"Hey, I'm not half-drowned!" says the girl indignantly. "And I'm not a kid!"
Sheng glances down at the girl's wet robe... and the body it's clinging to. "My mistake," he says.
The girl blushes and crosses her arms over her chest. Sheng laughs. "I'm just teasing. Come on, we've got towels inside."
"But Lieutenant--"
"Shut up, Gao."
***
The girl -- whose name is Ling, apparently -- comes out of the washroom with Sheng's spare shirt hanging almost to her knees. Sheng tries not to smile, but it's really cute. "Thanks for letting me borrow this," Ling says.
"No problem. Your clothes might take awhile to air out. The sea water gets into everything."
Ling shoots the washroom door a disgruntled look. "Yeah," she grumbles. "I guess it would be weird if they dried really fast."
Sheng's feet are up on the table of the dining hall-slash-rec room, a twelve-by-twelve utilitarian space with a few windows cut into the stone for observing the ocean. "You want food?" Sheng asks, indicating a bowl. "It's military-grade, so you might be better off chewing on one of Gao's boots--"
The girl sits at the table and starts shoveling noodles into her mouth so fast Sheng wonders if she's going to bite through her chopsticks. "Hungry?" he asks, surprised.
Ling pauses for a moment and looks up at Sheng with wide eyes -- very blue, that's unusual -- before gulping down a mouthful. "Sorry. I, uh, haven't had much to eat recently."
Sheng takes a bite of his own lunch. "Lost your supplies?"
"Ran out a few days ago."
"There's some little villages nearby. Nothing exciting, but they've got a couple of markets..." Sheng trails off, watching Ling look down and flush. "Ah," he says. "No money."
Ling shrugs. "It's okay. I've been fishing a little, but eels are pretty gross when they're raw."
"Not a Firebender, huh?"
"No, definitely not." She glances up at Sheng. "You?"
Sheng smirks and snaps his fingers. A flickering flame appears over his thumb.
Ling smiles. She is a pretty one. "Are you any good?"
Because he'd punch a guy who said something lewd to his kid sister, Sheng manages not to take the bait. "Decent," he says honestly, "but not good enough to be Admiral or anything. No one would mistake me for a Fire Lord."
For some reason that makes Ling blush. Probably has a crush one of the Royals. Maybe Lu Ten, except she looks like she couldn't have been more than eight or nine during the siege of Ba Sing Se...
Sheng sighs. His twenty-second birthday is next month. "So, any of your family in the military?" he asks, trying to take his mind off the fact that he's getting horrifyingly old.
Ling pulls at a lock of her hair. "Um, yeah," she says. "My dad and my brother."
"Anyone I'd know?"
"I doubt it. They're, uh, in Omashu."
"Oh. Well, it's cool that they're stationed together." Sheng shoves in another mouthful of noodles. "My dad's been at sea for almost three years. So it's been awhile."
"I'm sorry," says Ling, and she looks like she means it. "Maybe you'll get to see him soon, now that the war's over."
Sheng rolls his eyes in disgust. "Are you kidding? The war's never gonna be over."
"But... Ba Sing Se has fallen. The Earth Kingdom lost and the Fire Nation won. What more is there to do?"
"Oh, there'll always be something more," Sheng says. "Ozai loves war. Not enough to go fight himself, of course, but enough to find some reason to keep bombing or flaming or whatever it is he wants to do this week."
Ling looks completely taken aback. "You think so?"
"I know so." Sheng is fourth generation military and he knows how the world works. "General Iroh, now, he got out there and led the armies himself. I met him once, you know?"
"Did you," Ling says.
"Yep. It was awesome." His father had taken him to a soldiers' banquet when he was ten; General Iroh smiled right at him and recommended the Dragonwell tea. He'd refused to drink anything but Dragonwell for a month. "General Iroh would have been a great Fire Lord. But instead we're stuck with Ozai, then that crazy bitch Azula after him, and we'll all be going into battle until our grandkids are old and grey."
Sheng has been stationed at the Gates of Azulon for two years. He has gotten used to speaking his mind, given that hardly anyone was there to hear his thoughts.
Ling starts to say something -- probably tell him off for his disloyalty -- then swallows and looks away. "Well... what about Prince Zuko?"
"What about him?"
She blushes so red it looks like her face is flaming, but her voice is steady. "Do you think he'd make a good Fire Lord?"
Yeah, definitely one of the girls with a crush. "I have no idea," says Sheng. "He hasn't served. But he did piss off Ozai enough to kicked out of the country... so I guess he can't be that bad."
Ling smiles slightly.
At that moment, Gao bursts through the door with an armful of scrolls and a jar of ink. "All right," he says, narrowing his eyes at Ling. "It's time for the interrogation."
Sheng bangs his head on the table. "Gao, there is something seriously wrong with you."
"We don't know who she is or what she's doing here, Lieutenant." Gao opens a scroll and dips a brush in ink, a grim look on his face. "We don't even know if her name is really Ling."
"Gao, you moron--"
"What were you doing out here?" Gao interrupts, pointing his brush at Ling. "And where are you headed?"
"I--" Ling glances at Sheng, pale and obviously intimidated. "Do I have to answer?"
Sheng shakes his head and takes another bite of noodles. "Just let him do his thing," he says wearily. "It'll be over faster that way."
"Oh. Um..." Ling pokes at her empty bowl. "I'm, uh, trying to get to the colonies. I got separated from my family."
"A likely story," Gao huffs.
Sheng looks up. "I thought your family was in Omashu," he says, frowning.
"Right! My dad and brother are. But, uh, my Gran-Gran... she's still at home. And the last time I saw her she was really sick. Dying."
Gao makes a series of emphatic notes on the scroll. "And where's this supposed home?"
"It's, um, just outside General Fong's fortress. I need to get there as fast as I can."
"Ah-HA! There IS no colony outside General Fong's fortress!"
"Well, it's... it's a really little one..."
Sheng kicks Gao's arm; the scroll is instantly marred by a long black streak. "Gao," he snaps, "leave her alone." Some of the Fire Nation colonies are established, but there are so many tiny hamlets skirting the line between 'colonized' and 'occupied' that they're impossible to map.
"But Lieutenant, I--"
"No. I'm your commanding officer and I am ordering you to stop being so damn stupid."
After Gao slumps from the room, Sheng pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ignore him," he says to Ling. "He needs a hobby."
Ling smiles weakly.
***
After she gets a good night of sleep and a few more solid meals, Sheng motors Ling the short distance back to shore. "Head along the coast to the east," he says as she climbs out. "There's a few little towns where you can rest. It's gonna take awhile, but eventually you'll get to the ferry that goes to Ember Island. It's a big resort; someone there has to be heading east. Just ask around."
Ling nods, hoisting her bag of dry noodles over her shoulder.
"And here." Sheng reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little sack of coins. He pushes it into her hands when she tries to protest. "C'mon, I'm just thinking of your brother. He's a fellow soldier, and if he ran into my kid sister I'd want him to do the same for her."
To his surprise, Ling throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly. To his greater surprise, Sheng finds himself blushing. "Yeah, well," he says, "just look out for yourself, all right?"
"I will."
Sheng waits until the girl is out of sight, then heads back to the most boring job in the world.
***
Chiya
It's three Spark Bombs into the evening, and Hazuki has finally moved from denial to anger. "That jerk," she seethes, reaching into the bowl of fire flakes. "I swear, if he got eaten by a moose-lion I'd laugh and dance on his grave."
Chiya -- Chi-Chi to her friends -- pats Hazuki's back. "I never liked him," she says. "Such a slimeball."
"I know! I can't believe I ever thought of marrying him!"
"You can do so much better."
"I can!" Hazuki tries to stand, but her legs get tangled in her seat; Chi-Chi grabs her before she falls face down on the patio. "I can do better tonight! There's lots of hot guys here!"
"Great idea," Chi-Chi says enthusiastically. She is feeling the buzz of the Spark Bombs herself. "You show what's-his-name!"
"That's right!" Hazuki pauses, then plops back down at the table. "One more drink first, though."
"Of course."
The night has been exciting so far, especially for an impromptu vacation. Chi-Chi had planned to spend an extremely boring weekend doing paperwork from home, but then Hazuki had come by in tears and announced that she'd caught her latest boyfriend with some skank in the Oyster District and it was totally over between them and she needed someone to come with her to Ember Island for her no-longer-anniversary trip, would Chi-Chi be interested?
Naturally, Chi-Chi wrote a note declaring herself sick with pentapox -- which everyone knew the soldiers had brought back from the Earth Kingdom -- and that she couldn't come into work for at least a week. And now she was working on her tan and coaxing Hazuki through the five stages of breakup grief.
"How about him?" Chi-Chi points at a particularly fine specimen of manhood leaning against the bar. "He's hot."
Hazuki turns to look. "Whoa," she breathes. "Nice." Then she makes a face. "Wait, ugh, he's chatting up that little thing."
Chi-Chi narrows her eyes and tries to focus more clearly through her slightly blurry vision, having left her glasses at home because no one wears glasses on Ember Island. It's true: Hot Guy is talking to some girl with wavy, annoyingly beautiful hair. Wavy Girl is gesticulating, and Hot Guy's leaning in like what Wavy Girl's saying is the most fascinating thing in the entire world.
"Bah," Chi-Chi says, and she is about to declare that there are plenty of sexy fish in the sea when Hot Guy leans down and says something to Wavy Girl that makes her step away. Hot Guy grins and says something again.
Wavy Girl hauls back and smacks him.
The crack echoes around the restaurant patio, and the crowd goes silent for a moment. In the quiet, Chi-Chi clearly hears Hot Guy's response: "Bitch."
And Hazuki jumps to her feet with all the fury of a woman scorned. "Oh, you did not just say that," she shouts, pointing at Hot Guy. "Just who do you think you are, buddy? Huh? You men, you think you can just talk to girls that way! Well, you can't! Go rot in the coldest corner of the Spirit World, you bastard!"
Hot Guy looks surprised at the total stranger's outburst, and while Hazuki continues her tirade, Chi-Chi gets up and walks over to Wavy Girl. "Don't pay any attention to my friend," Chi-Chi says. "She's just working off some issues."
"Apparently," says Wavy Girl, sounding a bit stunned.
"Was that creep your date?" Wavy Girl looks a couple of years younger than she and Hazuki.
"Oh, no. I was just asking him if he knew... Never mind. I'm not here with anyone."
"Then come sit with us," says Chi-Chi. "We girls gotta stick together, you know."
***
It takes another round of Spark Bombs, but Hazuki finally stops ranting and cheers up. "I sure told him," she declares proudly. "I only wish what's-his-name was here to see it!"
"That would have been awesome," agrees Chi-Chi.
"Definitely," Wavy Girl -- or rather Ling from the colonies -- slurs the word. Her Spark Bomb is gone and her nose has turned as pink as a sunburn, even through her brown skin.
"Men are completely worthless."
"Exactly."
"No kidding. Except for in bed."
Chi-Chi and Hazuki turn to stare at Ling, whose eyes suddenly widen. She claps a hand over her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that," she mumbles through her fingers.
Hazuki starts to howl with laughter while Chi-Chi takes the empty glass away from Ling. "You don't drink much, do you?"
Ling shakes her head, clearly mortified.
"Well, there's only one solution." Chi-Chi waves to the bar. "Three more!" she calls.
"So, who's your guy?" Hazuki asks. "Or rather, what class of scum is he?"
The blush that crawls across Ling's face can't possibly be all from alcohol. "He's, uh, not my guy. And he's... not scum, he's just... it's really complicated."
Chi-Chi and Hazuki nod sympathetically. It's always complicated with guys. "Is he waiting back in the colonies?"
"No. I'm not really sure I'll ever see him again. Not sure I want to, either. But maybe." A waiter drops off the drinks, and Ling ignores the straw in favor of a straight slurp. "Sometimes I think I miss him, but then I don't, but then I... I have no idea."
"Honey," says Hazuki, "you are preaching to the choir."
***
After awhile, the conversation turns to government gossip. As a secretary in the War Department Chi-Chi has the inside scoop, and she and Hazuki eat it up just as much as anyone else in the Capital.
"It's not propaganda this time," Chi-Chi says, chewing. They've moved on from fire flakes to sizzle-crisps. "Ba Sing Se was taken totally bloodlessly. A couple of files on soldiers who got knocked around by the citizens, but that was it. I couldn't believe it."
Hazuki shakes her head. "Well, if anyone could pull it off, it'd be Azula. She always was crafty." At Ling's confused look, Hazuki explains, "She was a few years behind me at the Royal Fire Academy. Top of all her classes, but just... weird."
"It's Zuko who's the weird one now," says Chi-Chi, recalling the whispers she'd heard in the hallways. "Word has it he stays shut up in his rooms and won't talk to anyone. Totally anti-social. Strange, huh?"
Ling looks down and takes huge swallow of her Spark Bomb.
Hazuki leans forward. "Have you heard anything about how he looks?" she asks in a hushed tone.
Chi-Chi looks around, then says quietly, "They're saying it turned out really bad. Like, half his face is blasted off."
"Oh, wow. Guess he never found a good healer, then."
Ling gulps more of her drink. Not smart. "You better eat some crisps," Chi-Chi warns, "or you'll get super-sick."
"They're too spicy for me," Ling mutters.
Hazuki shakes her head. "He'll have a rough time finding a match, then, don't you think? I mean, if he's as ugly as all that."
"Oh, please. He's the Crown Prince. No girl's going to care if it means being Fire Lady."
"Is he even Crown Prince, though? I mean, has the Fire Lord said anything?"
"Not that I've heard," says Chi-Chi. "But he'll have to settle the succession soon, if all these 'Phoenix King' rumors are true."
"Azula will never give it up without a fight. Even in school she talked like she was already sitting on the throne."
Chi-Chi shrugs. "All I know is, if the decision's been made, everyone's playing it close to the armor." Then she smirks. "But after all, no one has to hook up with Zuko to be a queen. The Fire Lord's not exactly decrepit."
Hazuki lets out an appreciative whistle. "No kidding. I could totally get on board with an older man. Especially now that he's so much better looking than the son--"
"Stop it!" Ling slams her now-empty drink down on the table and glares at them both. "Stop saying that stuff! Who cares if he's got a scar?! It's not his fault he has it! All that matters is what kind of person he is on the inside!"
Chi-Chi and Hazuki glance at each other -- then start to laugh simultaneously.
"What?" Ling asks, clearly confused. "What did I say?"
Hazuki is nearly in tears. "Oh, Ling," she giggles, "I'm sorry, but that was just so adorable. How old are you, anyway?"
Ling blushes. "Fifteen."
"Whoops." Chi-Chi quickly grabs away Ling's empty glass and sets it in front of herself. On Ember Island the bars are really strict about the under-sixteens. "Shouldn't've given you that. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Um, okay."
***
Chi-Chi's surprised to discover the couch empty the next morning. She stumbles into the kitchen -- Hazuki's still snoring like a tigerdillo -- and sucks down papaya juice until she feels something close to human again.
The front door opens with a squeak; Ling bounces in looking cheerful. Chi-Chi blinks at her blearily. "I thought you'd be hurling," she says. "You looked awful when you went to bed."
"I felt pretty bad," Ling admits, "but then I took a long swim. It, uh, helped." She holds up a paper bag. "I brought some seaweed bread."
Chi-Chi's stomach turns. "Seaweed bread?"
"It's what the people in my village eat whenever they're feeling sick. Well, actually they eat seaweed soup, but I thought the bread might work too. I just wanted to say thank you for last night."
"You're welcome. I'll, uh, eat that later."
Ling sits down on the couch as Chi-Chi looks for a toothbrush to get the ashtray taste off her tongue. "Listen," says Ling, "do you know of anyone who's heading east soon? Really soon? I've been trying to find a way back home, and it's taking a lot more time than I expected."
"Well, the colonies are a long way away."
"I'm used to traveling faster than this."
Chi-Chi frowns at the strange comment, but her head's pounding too hard for her to care much. "Well, I know a guy who knows a guy. Masato. He's on the next island over, so you'll have to get there, but he ought to be able to help you out."
"That's great. Thank you so much."
There's a sniffling noise from the other room. "I really miss the jerk," Hazuki moans. "Do you think if I write him when we get back--"
"No."
Later that day Chi-Chi tries the seaweed bread. It settles her stomach instantly.
***
Hama
Hama knows who -- or rather, what -- the girl is from the moment she walks into the village. The skin... the eyes... even the slightest accent that wouldn't be recognizable to anyone except herself. And the graceful arm movements of someone who has pulled the oldest element.
A Southern Waterbender.
Hama thinks she might burst from happiness. All of her prayers have finally been answered.
She moves as quickly through the marketplace as she can, given her creaky joints and aching back. She knows she's getting old and her time in this world is running out. But the spirits have delivered someone to continue her work, so her step has a lightness she hasn't felt in years.
The girl turns away from the fruit vendor, looking vexed. Vexed and tired, and when Hama touches her shoulder, she jumps. "Oh!" Hama says brightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"That's all right." The girl steps back, a slight wariness in her eyes. How could she have come to be this far into the Fire Nation? And so young. She must have been through something terrible. "Can I help you?"
Hama can't resist a wheezy chuckle. "No, dear, I was going to offer to help you. My name is Hama, and I run the local inn. I was just noticing that you look as though you've been traveling, and it's getting dark. Would you like a room for the night?"
The girl hesitates.
"It comes with dinner and breakfast," Hama adds.
That wins the girl over. "Thank you," she says, nodding. "My name is Ling."
The girl's name is most certainly not Ling.
***
She sends the girl up to her room with a smile. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour," Hama says cheerfully, and as the girl stifles a yawn she wags a mock-scolding finger and adds, "Don't fall asleep on an empty stomach. You'll have nightmares."
At that, the girl cracks a genuine smile. "My Gran-Gran used to tell me things like that," she says wistfully.
"Of course she did. We old women are very wise, you know."
When the girl comes back down to the dining room, looking a bit more rested -- the silly thing must have taken a nap anyway -- Hama passes her a bowl. "When was the last time you had Five-Flavor Soup?"
"Five... flavor..."
Hama bends the soup straight into the girl's bowl.
Her mouth drops open.
"What's your real name?" Hama asks gently.
The girl swallows. "Katara," she whispers. And she bursts into tears.
***
The soup is gone, as are the ocean kumquats and the pickled fish, before Katara has finished her tale. It is a harrowing one, filled with danger and bravery, and Hama is impressed with -- and proud of -- the girl's heroism. She is a credit to the Southern Water Tribe.
"So you see," Katara says, wide awake in spite of the hour, "I have to get to General Fong's fortress as soon as possible. The Fire Nation knows all about the invasion plans for the Day of Black Sun. Our ships will be sailing right into a trap."
A tendril of anxiety winds its way around Hama's heart. "But you can't leave so quickly," she protests. "You've only just arrived. And how will you get there?"
"There's a man named Masato," says Katara. "My friend Chi-Chi thinks that he'll take me. The people in the village said he's gone missing in the forest--"
"Many people have gone missing in the forest," Hama murmurs.
"--so I'll have to find him. Once I do, I need to keep going."
"But you must stay at least a few days," says Hama. The girl can't leave so quickly. The spirits have delivered her.
Katara looks miserable, but she doesn't waver. "I have to. I'm so sorry. I'll come back to visit as soon as I can, but I have to think of my friends. They'll all be captured, or worse, if I don't warn them."
Hama sighs. What a brave girl. Still. "Katara," she says, "may I tell you my own story? Because you see... I too was a captive."
Katara pales.
She tells of the raids, the chains and bars, the humiliation of being fed from rusted cups. Hama stops before relating how she escaped; the girl is not ready to hear the rest. Still, Katara's tears are a balm to Hama's old wounds; she has never shared any of this before. "I am so happy," Hama says, "that you were spared that terrible fate, child, for that is surely what awaited you."
The girl looks down, and a strange blush covers her cheeks. "If Azula had had her way, I'm sure it would have been," she says.
Hama's eyes narrow. The only part of Katara's tale that seems to have any blank spaces is of her time on the Fire Nation ship; Hama had assumed that it was simply too painful for such a young thing to discuss, but perhaps there is more to the story. Still, that is a discussion for another time. "Katara, please. Stay for just two more days. There are things I can teach you, powers no other Waterbender in the world has even imagined. Once you know them you will be an unstoppable force. You will be capable of doing so much more to win this war."
Katara hesitates for a long time... then nods with clear reluctance. "But only two days," she cautions.
Hama smiles. "That's all I ask."
***
Hama tells Katara of clouds, of flowers, of sweat. The girl catches on quickly. Even better, she's not merely defensive; Katara is an aggressive fighter, capable of instant, brutal attacks that slice branches from trees and carve lines into stone.
Katara is everything Hama could have dreamed of.
Nonetheless, the girl seems anxious as they venture out into the night. "In the village, they said people were disappearing out here," she says, peering around. "Are you sure it's safe?"
Hama gives her a reassuring pat on the elbow. "Two waterbending masters under a full moon? I wouldn't worry."
It is quiet for a few minutes, aside from the twigs cracking beneath their feet. Then Katara asks: "Do you like it here?"
"What do you mean?"
"The Fire Nation. Do you like it?"
Hama glances at the girl. "It serves its purpose. Why?"
She shrugs. "I've seen a lot of it by now, and... I didn't think I'd like it, but I do. On islands... the ocean is never very far away, so I'm always around water."
"A Waterbender's place is with snow and ice, dear." Hama stops in a clearing and looks up; the moon is round, full, perfect. "Can you feel the power it brings?" she says, breathing deeply. She glances at Katara with a smile. "Yue, you said her name is now?"
Katara nods.
"Well, Yue blesses us. She gives us life, energy, power. And it is our right, our duty to use it."
The girl looks uncomfortable all of the sudden, but Hama doesn't worry. Once she explains, the girl -- her girl -- will understand.
And Hama tells the girl of blood.
Katara is pale by the time Hama has finished her instructions. "I don't know," she says nervously. "It doesn't feel right. To reach inside someone and control them like that... I don't know if I want that kind of power."
This is unexpected -- hadn't the girl been a captive as well? "Katara, the power is a gift. It has been given to us so that we may turn our enemies against themselves."
"Yeah, but... their free will..."
"They tried to wipe us out!" Why does she hesitate? "Think of your family -- your mother -- our tribe! Think of your own imprisonment!"
The girl looks down at the ground. "I am," she says quietly.
What is wrong with her? "Then you see--"
"No," says Katara. "I don't. What happened to you was terrible, but... you can't treat someone like they're not human just because you don't like them. They're not puppets, they're people."
"People?" Hama snorts. "Nothing but wickedness held in skin-sacks of water."
"That's not true! Just because some of them have done awful things doesn't mean everyone's like that!"
"You are young," Hama says flatly. "Just because a man does good today doesn't mean he will not do evil tomorrow. The bad will always win out in the Fire Nation, little Waterbender."
"No, I don't..." The girl's words die, and then her face turns ashen. "It's you, isn't it?" she gasps. "You're taking the villagers. You're bloodbending them. You're killing them!"
Hama starts to laugh again. "Killing them? Please. That would be more mercy then they deserve."
"But these people didn't do anything to you--"
"They threw me in prison to rot, Katara, along with my brothers and sisters. They deserve the same fate."
Katara's stance has shifted; she raises her arms in one smooth motion. "Take me to them," she orders. "Now."
What a silly, naive child this girl is.
All Hama has to do is turn her wrist, and the girl's hand twists behind her back. It would take nothing to pull her arm from her shoulder, but Hama is merciful. "You should've learned the technique before you turned against me," she says, yanking at the girl's muscles, forcing her to her knees.
She will understand. She will be made to understand.
For a moment, the girl trembles on the ground. Hama feels the tears of pain running down her face, and considers using them as well--
--and then Katara looks up. Even though Hama has not allowed her to do so.
"You aren't the only one who draws power from the moon," the little Waterbender says. The grass beneath her turns brittle and brown. "And you know what? I think Yue likes me more than she likes you."
Hama's eyes widen.
A moment later Hama is blocking a shot of water that whistles through the air, but it is nothing to whirl and send it straight back at her attacker. She yanks liquid from the trees and blasts a wall across the clearing, a terrible thing to have to kill the only remaining Waterbender of the Southern Tribe--
--but the girl stops the wall in its tracks. She wraps the water around herself. She ducks, she spins, she kicks -- she kicks? --
--and Hama finds herself frozen to the forest floor. Before she has even a moment to comprehend what has happened, her hands are cuffed in solid ice.
"Now," says Katara, "you're going to take me to the missing villagers."
Hama can't believe what she's seen. It isn't possible. "How did you do that?" she demands.
The girl smiles humorlessly. "I learned a few things in prison, too."
***
Hama sits in the cave, contemplating what will happen to her next -- she prays death -- and hears the girl ask, "Which one of you is Masato?"
***
Masato
Even if Masato hadn't already been heading to the Earth Kingdom, he'd have dropped everything to take Ling anywhere she wanted to go. He'd been under that mountain for six months. Ling could ask to be sailed to Ba Sing Se and back and he'd have done it in a heartbeat.
They put out to sea the very next morning, Masato squinting against the painful sunrise. He catches Ling's worried expression and shrugs sheepishly. "Sorry," he says. "Haven't seen the light in awhile."
"I understand," Ling says.
There's a quiet few hours while they head out into open water. Masato's vessel -- The Skunkfish Queen, which is what comes of allowing your children to pick the name -- is small but mighty. It's weathered more storms than he can count.
Masato is tired. Part of him wants to go below deck and have his first restful sleep in half a year. The rest refuses to look away from the open skies.
"So," Ling asks, "why are you going east?"
"I run supplies back and forth between the colonies and the Nation," he says, adjusting the sails. "And my family lives on the coast -- my wife, three daughters."
"Which colony?"
"No colony." Masato winks at her. "The wife's an Earthbender. Middle daughter too, I think, but it might just be that she likes to stomp. We'll see when she's older."
Ling looks shocked. "You married someone from the Earth Kingdom?"
"Why not?"
"Well... there's the war..."
"So?" Masato smiles at the feel of the ocean breeze and the taste of salt in his mouth. He's missed this. "I wasn't gonna go running to the Earth King or the Fire Lord and ask for permission. They can go ahead and do whatever they want with their own lives. I've got a woman who can build her own house and that's good enough for me."
"Oh." Ling bites her lip. "Your family must be really worried about you, since you've been gone so long."
"Yeah," he says, his smile widening, "but they'll see me soon."
Ling smiles back.
***
That evening, just as Masato is wondering whether to have dried squid or bean puffs for dinner, Ling lets out a sudden shout. "Over there! Do you see that?!"
He looks in the direction she's pointing. "What? Where?"
"Those ships! With the purple sails!"
He squints. There's a fog rolling in out of nowhere, but...
Uh-oh.
Masato crouches low and shushes Ling. "They're Water Tribe," he whispers. "Don't worry, just stay quiet. They won't bother us if we don't bother them."
"No, it's okay!" Ling takes off her robe and strips down to her underthings -- Masato raises his eyebrows -- then gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for everything," she says. "Say hi to your family for me!"
Ling jumps right out of the boat and starts swimming. She swims faster than any fish or eel or serpent Masato has ever seen.
A Waterbender. Huh. Of all things.
Masato shakes his head in wonder, shifts the rudder to steer clear of the other ships, and keeps sailing towards home.
***
A/N: There's a number of fan-made World Maps out there, all with slight deviations; I've settled on using a combination of this and this. These folks are win.
Also, the Oyster District is a reference to Fandomme's epic fic "Stormbenders". I regret nothing. (Unless it turns out that she minds, and which point I regret everything.)