Fire Behind Blue Eyes ch. 34

Aang was up first, having gotten hardly any sleep the night before because he was so worried about what was going to happen. He went ahead and packed up his things and brought them out to the main platform where Appa was anxiously waiting. Kia joined him shortly after. Aang smiled at the both of them and went to watch the sunrise, for it was still a little dark out, with Momo perched on his shoulder.

Zuko woke as soon as the first rays of light painted the morning sky a gorgeous orange and pink. He wanted to smile when he looked down on the sleeping girl in his arms, but couldn't. Instead he bore his trademark scowl today, knowing what this morning brought. They were leaving yet another paradise. He lightly brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face and slowly got up to finish packing without waking her.

Azula rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slowly sat up. She wondered how she'd gotten in her room, then remembered Ty Lee's actions on the balcony. She was furious at first, then realized that they'd be heading to the Fire Nation today. That put her into a good mood. Those brats don't know what they're getting into, she thought with a smirk. Suddenly excited, she jumped out of bed and grabbed her things and walked out.

Toph laid awake in her room staring blankly towards the ceiling. She could tell it was morning by the slight increase in the summer heat compared to the cool nights. She didn't want to get up, she was tired of traveling, but they had a job to do and she wasn't going to let the world down. With a sigh, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, straightened up her hair, brushed the dirt off, and left with the little she traveled with.

Alec yawned and stretched in the warmth of his room. He seemed to be the only one to wake with a smile, though it faded a bit when he remembered they were leaving this morning. And to the Fire Nation, no less. He hadn't seen his homeland in so long and was kind of worried to. If he could help fight, it wouldn't seem like such a waste of time for him, but he knew they wouldn't let him. He'd been practicing with his blue and white fire and it was easier to summon, but he still knew they wouldn't allow it. He just wished after this was over that he could find his father. His things had already been packed for him, so he grabbed them and ran out the door with that last thought.

Ursa woke about the same time as Alec. She was worried what would happen when and if Ozai saw her. Did he still love her? Did he miss her at all? She shook those thoughts from her head. She'd packed both hers and Alec's things last night, so she just got up and grabbed her bag. She almost collided with Alec when she left her room as he was running down the hall. Together, they made their way to the platform.

When Katara woke up, there was no warmth on her back like she'd grown accustomed to the last few days. She'd had a strange dream about what might happen in the final battle and hoped he'd be there to talk to her about it. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up to look around, but Zuko was gone. Her bag was gone as well as his. Sighing, she got up out of bed, redid her braid, and set off to the platform to find him.

Ty Lee's grey eyes snapped open and she instantly jumped out of her bed. She grabbed her things and ran down the hall to jump on Sokka's bed and wake him up. He groaned and flipped over, but she was persistant. She reminded him of what they were doing today and that seemed to get him up. She packed what was left of his stuff and he grabbed his boomerang and swords and they left together.

Mai, surprisingly, was the last to get up because everyone else had awoken so early. She sat up and smiled to herself when she saw the box that Aang had given her on the small table beside her bed. When she got up, she slipped the knives and darts in their respective places and grabbed her bag. She stuck the box down in the bag with the rest of her things and walked out of the room. I'm going to miss this place, she thought as she caught sight of everyone around Appa and Kia.

"Are you ready?" Ty Lee asked her as she came bouncing up.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," she replied in her usual bored tone.

"Come on, cheer up! We're going home!"

"But as enemies. They won't care about my honor, all they'll see is that I'm fighting with the Avatar and I'm a traitor."

"But Azula knows why you're doing this, even though I think you should be trying to help us because you want to and not because you have to," Ty Lee said quietly. "We're trying to end a war. That's a good thing."

Mai gave a barely noticable nod and kept walking past her friend to where the bison were sitting and waiting patiently to leave. Aang had a map out and was looking over it with Sokka trying to determine places they could land on the way so that the animals wouldn't have to fly straight through. Zuko took her bag and tied it down on Kia's saddle (there were still a few left in the temple), then jumped down and joined the discussion over who was going on which bison.

"Toph is riding with me on Appa," Aang said.

"And I have to take Kia because she knows me the best," Ursa cut in.

"I'm riding with my mom," Zuko told them, stepping forward with Katara. "Katara's going to ride with me."

Alec squeezed his way through the group. "I wanna ride with them!" he yelled, pointing to Zuko and Katara.

"I guess Ty Lee and I will be riding with you, Aang," said Sokka from his place near the bison, rolling up the map.

Azula was about to add her two coppers (A/N: like two cents! ahaha!) but Ty Lee stepped in. "I think Mai should ride with us."

Mai nodded her approval, though she was secretly disappointed she couldn't ride with Zuko. She avoided Azula's hard glare, knowing what it was for, and followed Ty Lee up Appa's tail and into the saddle. Sokka handed Ursa the written-on map before climbing up Appa and settling beside Ty Lee. Alec jumped up on Zuko's back and, surprisingly, he carried him up onto Kia. Katara giggled and followed and soon they were all in the sky again.

Momo kept flying back and forth between the two groups.. well, more like between Aang and Zuko. Zuko wasn't sure why the lemur kept laying in his lap when he'd come back, but he didn't protest. Instead, he stroked his ears and let him lay there until he was ready to fly back over to Aang. He'd taken to the firebender pretty well and liked him better than Sokka, who always seemed to yell at him for eating things. When he came back to Zuko, he landed on his shoulder and purred in his ear, rubbing his face against Zuko's cheek.

Katara smiled and reached over to pet the lemur, who in turn came to sit in her lap. He curled up in a ball and promptly fell asleep. Zuko glared at the little animal, but didn't say anything. Katara caught his glare and held back a laugh.

"Jealous much?" she teased.

His eyes jumped up to meet hers. "I'm not jealous. Why would I want that furry thing asleep in my lap?"

"I think you love Momo. You just won't say anything because it's another thing for Sokka or Toph to make fun of you for."

He raised a brow and asked, "And what do they make fun of me for now?"

"I don't know, being a firebender? Toph calls you Captain Scarface when you're not around. Sokka always refers to you as a traveling personal heater. Well, to me anyway."

"Captain Scarface?" The look on his face was a mixture of amusement and annoyance, an odd mixture really. "I seem to remember you calling me something like that."

She laughed out loud, earning herself a couple odd looks from the other riders. "I seem to remember that's exactly what I called you. That and Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty, and a couple others that were purely sarcastic. Wow, it seems like so long ago now. We've come a long way since then and now here we are on our way to the Fire Nation. This will probably be the last time we all get to travel together like this."

"I know."

He unconciously reached over and pet Momo, who was still sleeping and purring in Katara's lap. Katara wrapped her arm around Alec, who was sitting on the other side of her falling asleep, and let him rest against her side. She chanced a glance up at Azula, who was watching over the side of the saddle as the last bit of land passed under them.

"How do you feel about flying?" she asked her, not really expecting an answer.

"I'd never done it before a couple weeks ago, but I think it's kind of fun," Azula replied honestly, tearing her gaze from the water to look at the Water Tribe girl. "A little uncomfortable being up this high knowing that if something happened, you could go tumbling down into the ocean and possibly die, but still fun."

"So you're one of those "there's fun in danger" people?" There was a hint of amusement in Katara's voice because she knew someone like that.

"I guess so," she shrugged.

The waterbender smiled. "I guess in that way, you're kind of like Aang. He's always riding these big, untamed animals just because it sounds like fun. Elephant koi, lion-turtles, giant owl spirits, sea monsters, the kid is just crazy."

"Owl spirits?" Zuko questioned unbelievingly. Katara saw a hint of interest spark up in Azula's eyes as well.

"Wan Shi-Tong, the knowledge spirit. He had a library of infinate knowledge buried in the desert and we found it hoping to find some useful information on the Fire Nation but that entire section was burned down. I'm not sure why, but I have a feeling Zhao had something to do with that."

Zuko nodded. "I think so too. Uncle Iroh told me about Zhao stumbling across a library and finding the identies of the water and moon spirits' mortal forms. That's how he knew where to find them in the North Pole."

"Makes sense."

"So you guys have been all over the world, right?" Ursa asked from Kia's head.

"Yep!" Katara grinned. "From the South Pole to the North Pole and all over the Earth Kingdom, even a little in the Fire Nation."

"The Fire- oh yeah, on the Winter Solstice," Zuko remembered. "The Temple of the Avatar, I almost forgot about that."

Azula sat up and looked at him. "I heard that was destroyed."

"By Avatar Roku himself," Katara told her. "Aang went there seeking guidance from him and Zhao and the Fire Sages were waiting for him outside the door, so Roku helped him escape and destroyed the temple."

Alec sleepily looked up at Katara. "How many close calls have you guys had?"

"More than I can remember," she laughed. "The South Pole right after we found Aang, Kyoshi Island, the temple, that place with the pirates-"

"Oh yeah, and I tied you to that tree," Zuko grinned.

"And flirted with me basically." Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes. Katara elbowed him and smiled. "I wasn't really a match for him until we got to the North Pole and I mastered waterbending, but then it really wasn't a fair fight because I beat him."

"Only the first time, but then I beat you!" Zuko retorted.

"And I beat you again after that when we were looking for you and Aang in that blizzard, and then we saved you!"

"I was tired from trekking across the tundra through that blizzard with him on my back. Of course you beat me then."

Ursa laughed and Azula shook her head at them. "You guys argue like a married couple already," Azula said, looking back out over the water.

Momo shook himself awake, chirped at Katara and Zuko, then flew back over to Appa's saddle where Aang was. He, Toph, and Sokka were currently joking about Zuko and Katara and laughing while Ty Lee and Mai were talking quietly between themselves.

"I swear sometimes they argue like a married couple!" Toph grinned. "They sound like my parents."

"She's always been a fighter, as long as I can remember. Even in the middle of the water on a simple fishing trip," Sokka sighed, reminiscing back to the day they met Aang. "At least she has her heater for when winter comes around."

Aang laughed at that. "I can be a heater now too." He took a deep breath and Toph could feel a slight increase in heat because she was sitting closest to him.

"Stop, Twinkle Toes, it's hot enough out here."

"Sorry," Aang giggled, returning his body temperature to normal.

"I wonder what Captain Scarface is talking about over there," Toph mused. "I can hear his voice, but I can't make out what he's saying."

Aang listened closely. "Whatever it is, he sounds happy."

"Momo, don't eat that!" Sokka screeched, practically jumping on Mai's lap to get a moon peach away from the lemur. Momo chittered at him and flew off to Zuko's lap again.

"What the-" Zuko looked startled as Momo landed in his lap, leaving small paw prints on his tunic.

Katara laughed. "He must've gotten into something over there and Sokka chased him off again."

Momo chittered his approval at her, poofing his fur up a little and she nodded at him. Zuko pet his fur back down and he curled up on his lap. Katara smiled down at Zuko's hand on Momo.

"Anyway," Zuko continued, "I had to look away because he stood up right there and he wasn't wearing anything. I told him to take another 5 minutes and walked away before I saw something I would've had nightmares about for the rest of my life." He sighed, a small smile playing over his lips. "Those were the days, huh Katara?"

"Oh yes, because I so enjoyed constantly running from you and Iroh. I was happy at the North Pole before the entire Fire Nation fleet showed up and tried to kill us all. I think, after this is all over, I may go back. Of course, I'm going to check up on the progress in the South Pole first and make sure my grandmother is okay."

"What progress?" Zuko scoffed. "Your village was, like, 3 ice huts and a 2-foot high wall surrounding it and you were the only waterbender in the entire South Pole."

"Master Pakku from the Northern Water Tribe took some of his students down to the South Pole to help restore it back to what it once was. He's the one who taught me what I know now, with the exception of my giant water bubble thing," she grinned. "You know, before he taught me anything, I fought him and almost won?"

"You fought a master without any previous real training and almost beat him?" Ursa's astonished voice spoke up. "How'd you manage that?"

Katara noticed Azula glance over at her and smiled. "Well, I'm naturally a powerful bender. That's how I found Aang, actually. My brother and I were on a fishing trip and I got mad at him and threw kind of a temper tantrum-"

"I can see that happening," Zuko grumbled quietly, hiding a smirk. Katara hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"I was yelling at him and every time I'd throw my arms back, a giant wave would splash up and the giant iceburg behind me would crack. I was so furious at Master Pakku for not teaching me because I was a girl that I yelled at him and ended up making two water vases explode and half the floor around me crack."

Azula's eyes widened a bit. "He wouldn't teach you because you're a girl? I would've fried him!"

Katara nodded. "It's customary in the Northern Water Tribe that men learn to fight with waterbending and women use it to heal. The only reason he decided to teach me is because he found my necklace. He made it for my Gran Gran back when they were betrothed, but she ran away because she hated those customs and it got passed down to me."

"It's a small world after all," Alec began to sing, laughing. He yawned and leaned up against Katara again.

Ursa turned a little to see her. "Are you considered a prodigy?"

"Hmm.. I never thought about that," Katara answered honestly. "Well, Master Pakku said that I'd advanced more quickly than any student he'd ever had, and he's not one to give compliments lightly."

"Well, you're a prodigy to me," Zuko smiled, wrapping an arm around her. Momo jumped up on Katara's shoulder and purred in her ear. She giggled and pet him. "I guess Momo agrees."

"I guess so," she said as Momo chirped in her ear.

He chirped again before jumping off and flying to visit Aang again, this time very wary of Sokka. Sokka sat aside with his arms crossed glaring at the lemur as he landed. Ty Lee elbowed him and he averted his eyes. She shook her head and continued to talk to Mai.

"You'll be remembered as one of the ones to bring the 100 Year War to an end."

"Azula would kill me, and I can bet she'll try something on you too."

Ty Lee placed a comforting hand on Mai's arm. "You know this war is unjust and it's tearing people apart, not only in the other nations but in the Fire Nation as well. Do what you think is best for our people like Zuko is. He's going to be Fire Lord and stop the war and bring fathers and brothers back home to their families. Besides, is Azula really as bad as all the elements combined, especially since Zuko can bend lightning himself now?"

Mai sighed. "I'm already helping you guys, I'm not sure what you're trying to convince me to do."

"I'm trying to convince you to do it for yourself and not just because you owe them a life-debt."

The gloomy girl sat back, lost in thought.

'I'm a noblewoman and they're still my people too. I can help bring peace back to the world and bring families back together, but not without losing lives.'

But so many lives have already been lost because of the war, remember? The boy you're riding with is the last airbender because of the Fire Nation.

'I guess this way takes less lives. At the end of the summer, so many more people will die because of the comet.'

You're doing the right thing.

'Am I?'