"Are you done playing?" Mai asked Toph when the dome over the village was complete... and not incidentally, the only moving beings
inside it were the two girls and Zuko.
Toph grinned in a disturbingly happy way for someone who had just dismembered a small raiding party's worth of the Fire Nation's
navy. "I'm not playing, I'm bending," she said with manifest insincerity.
"My mistake." Mai looked around and saw Zuko walking towards them. "I'm going to have to thank him," she said
grudgingly.
"Don't feel obligated," advised Toph. "He was seriously tempted to take us home in chains. If Zhao hadn't decided to
grab for power, even I don't know what he would have opted for."
"Most people would say 'even he didn't know', little sister."
"Yes, but I'm awesome like that," Toph reminded her sister. "It's not like you to forget things like that, are you
feeling well?"
Mai frowned. "Clearly I haven't spent enough time with you."
Toph took her hand, much as she had done when they were walking south only a few hours before. "Well, I'm sure that Yue and Bato are
worried so let's go and explain how silly they are," she said lightly. "Did you find your pointy toys?"
"Yes, thank you," Mai said, using her free hand to adjust the sheaths that she had returned to their proper places. The dart
launchers were wrapped in a bundled cloak from one of the soldiers - one of the incompetent barbarians had dropped them in snow and now she would have to
disassemble them entirely and clean them before they could be relied upon. She reached across her body and returned Toph's own dagger, which the little
girl solemnly returned to its sheath.
Zuko joined them as they walked to the edge of the village. Rather than simply opening a hole in the dome, Toph started drawing ice up into
steps along the side.
"Uh... what are you doing?" the fire bender asked. "Why not just go through the wall here?" He pointed at it.
"Feel free to," Toph shrugged. "But it would be polite to wait until Mai and I are above the level of the water
outside."
Zuko stared at the wall, then at the ice beneath his feet. "Water outside? Why would there be water out...side...? You
didn't?"
Toph grinned cockily. "You don't think I could just move all this ice without consequences did you? The entire village is a separate
iceberg now - we're still surrounded by the old ice sheet for now, but there's a decent gap and I wouldn't be surprised if parts of that come apart
as well."
"And we've sinking?"
"Just a bit," Toph assured him calmly. "There's something odd about how ice floats on water, I haven't figured it out
yet but moving ice up to form the walls pushed the ground down... odd, but useful since it's probably the main reason that the ships haven't managed to
hit us with their catapults yet."
Mai blinked. "Catapults?"
"I guess so. It's either that or the birds around here have really huge droppings."
Zuko nodded slowly. I'm beginning to understand why her parents were scared of her bending. It was wrong, yes, but I have to admit: Azula
would have been much more bearable at this age if mother could have removed her fire bending or at least held the threat over her head. And Toph must be even
more of a prodigy than Azula if she's this good at water bending without any formal training.
It only took a few moments for Toph to finish the stairs but by the end Mai could feel the slightest of tremors in the fingers she held
clasped in her hand. While Toph had recovered much of her former strength, or perhaps more - it was difficult for Mai to compare, having never seen Toph in her
Blind Bandit days - it was clear that bending such huge masses had been something of a strain for her.
Taking the height of the steps as a guide, Zuko gulped at the realisation that had he opened a hole in the dome with his fire bending, the
inside of the dome would have flooded to well above his head height with frigid water. Mutely he followed the two girls up to the small platform Toph had
created against the inside wall. With a degree of artistic flair, Toph pressed one hand briefly against the ice and an arch formed, the ice that had previously
filled that part of the wall tilting over to form a bridge most of the way to the ice outside. A moment later, the far side of the moat that had formed around
the village deformed and rose into the other end of the bridge.
The ice scape was much as it had been when Zuko walked across it to reach the village, Toph in semi-captivity in front of him. There were
even a couple of soldiers in Fire Nation red watching them in disbelief. A couple of blackened rocks embedded in the ice, still smoking from the flames applied
to them before launch from a catapult, were new additions though.
"Just leave," Mai told the two soldiers in disgust and the two men stared at her for a long moment, expressions hidden behind their
metal facemasks, before they broke and ran off to the left, clearly planning to circle the village and make their way back to the ships.
"Merciful," observed Toph.
"They didn't see anything," Mai explained. "It's obvious that there was a powerful water bender here, but no one can
report who you are, with Zhao and all the immediate troops dead." She noted a guilty expression flit furtively across Zuko's face. "He
is dead, isn't he?"
Zuko looked away. "Yes," he lied. How he'd managed to survive in court without learning to tell a convincing untruth escaped
Mai's understanding.
"Leave him," Toph ordered contemplatively. It was not a tone that Mai was used to hearing from her sister and she looked down at
the smaller girl, voicelessly requiring justification for the decision. Toph smiled - less cocky but perhaps more confidently that the smile Mai was more
accustomed to - and elaborated. "I'm not the one he betrayed. If Zuko prefers he be left alive to claim Zuko is a traitor then I'm fine with
it."
"Don't substitute tactics for strategy," Mai warned, a chill going down her spine as they continued to walk away. Zhao alive,
the Fire Nation alerted to a new Avatar, to Toph's name and to her face...
Toph nodded her head. "Let them know fear," she said with what could pass for tranquillity to one unfamiliar with the signs that
the young Avatar was experiencing pleasant anticipation. "Besides," and she looked sideways at Zuko, "It's nice to know that now that
he's made his choice he will stick to it."
Mai nodded her understanding. With all witnesses gone, Zuko might still have been able to return home. But Zhao would no doubt blacken the
prince's name out of sheer spite. Whatever else happened, the rift between Zuko and the Fire Nation had become known and irreversible.
.oOo.
The grand hall of the Northern Water Tribe's city (located further south than any of the relative handful of Southern Water Tribe
settlements was crammed with members of both tribes as Yue recounted the encounter with the Fire Nation, or more precisely as she prodded Mai, Toph and Zuko to
relate their various parts in the story.
None of the three were natural orators but in some ways the very understated nature of remarks such as: "just bent the ice out from
under them while Zuko was trash talking with Zhao" made more impact than any exaggerated bragging could have. Plainly, none of them felt any need to
embroider the story - Zuko in fact seemed outright reluctant to talk at all and Toph was amused at the female hearts beating faster when Yue persuaded him to
explain how he had defeated Zhao.
There were two seats on the broad dais, one occupied by the erect, regal Chief Arnook, who seemed torn between paternal pride and the urge to
ground Yue on hearing of how - once all the villagers were all safe - she had returned almost to the village on Kuku, in order to retrieve the three
travellers. Slouched on the other throne was Bato, who amused himself by watching the reactions of the gathered crowd.
"I believe I speak for my fellow Chief when I welcome you to our city," Arnook said solemnly. "Your victory over the Fire
Nation will inspire all those who stand against their tyranny."
Zuko winced.
"Your own deeds, Prince Zuko and Lady Mai, offer hope of eventual reconciliation between the four nations," the aged Chief
continued diplomatically. "Naturally, the full resources of the Northern Water Tribe are at your disposal, Avatar Toph. How may we serve
you?"
"My plans are a little unrefined," Toph admitted. "For now, I need to improve my bending as far as possible. Yue has kindly
offered her assistance as an instructor in water bending and there's Sifu Broody over here to work with me on fire bending but that leaves one of the four
bending arts and I'm not enthused about herding sky bison to pick up hints about air bending. Sozin's Comet is only a few months away."
Gasps arose from the gathered audience and Bato straightened on his throne. "You're sure?" he asked amusement falling
away.
"You didn't know?" Zuko answered, his surprise obvious. "It'll be in the sky at the end of the summer. I imagine that
it will be the cornerstone of my father's campaign plans for this year."
"Astronomy isn't a great concern of our people," Arnook said, somewhat defensively.
"I'm taking everyone's word for it," Toph said with the by now familiar wave of her hand in front of milky-green eyes.
"What matters is that at the height of the summer - the northern summer, anyway - when fire benders are at their peak strength anyway, they'll have a
few days when their power rises sharply. Everything I've ever heard about Ozai suggests he'll go for some grand gesture with that power to end the war
on his terms. And his terms are going to involve phrases like 'utter subjugation' and 'complete extermination'."
"It was with such power that the Air Nomads were destroyed," Arnook reminded everyone mournfully. "Should he seek to commit
genocide once more, an attack here could end the Water Tribes forever."
Toph shrugged. "He may have other things on his mind," she declared. "Me, for one thing."
"You'll protect us from the Fire Nation? On your own?" asked a sceptical voice from the crowd.
"Nope," Toph said cheerfully. "No one wins a fight by waiting for the other side to hit them. I'm going to go after
him."
Bato reached over and grabbed Arnook's arm before the older chief could object to the plan. "She's right," he said in a low
voice that would not be heard by those on the main floor. "And even if she wasn't, she's the Avatar. We don't haven the right to tell her what
to do."
Yue looked at her father who nodded slightly. "We have a small cache of air bending scrolls that the Avatar Kanna left with us,"
she revealed. "I believe that she created many such caches, placing them in trusted hands, for use by her successors in situations just like
that."
.oOo.
Azula walked up the gang plank of Lu ten's flagship in something of a temper. "You've just pulled me out of a very delicate
stage in the negotiations with Long Feng."
"You've been at 'a very delicate stage in the negotiations' for over a month," Lu Ten said and smiled at Ty Lee as the
acrobatic young woman arrived at the top. "Ty, it's good to see you."
She bowed and saluted him formally before breaking with formality and bouncing forward to hug him. Around the deck, the crew of Lu Ten's
flagship either looked discreetly away from the scandalous display of affection or smiled approvingly.
"Tell me that you didn't bring me all the way out here just so the two of you could make out," demanded Azula, crossing her
arms across her chest and trying not to sound petulant.
"I didn't," assured Lu Ten, a grim look crossing his handsome face despite the delightful armful that he had. "Your father
has sent an urgent message. There has been a serious development in the south and I'm pulling the entire Northern Fleet out of our forces here to respond
to it."
"What!" Azula screeched. "Do you have any idea how badly that will undermine my position?"
"The orders of the Fire Lord are not open to debate," Lu Ten reminded her, just a little smugly. "We'll discuss this
inside." He led them into the conning tower of his flagship, opening the door of the map room for the two ladies to precede him inside.
Azula claimed Lu Ten's usual chair at the table for herself but Lu Ten went to the other end, holding out a chair for Ty Lee before
taking the seat at the far end, placing his lover at his left hand in a non-too-subtle reminder to Azula of that particular point he had supposedly scored over
her. Once they were all seated, Lu Ten lifted an unremarkable looking message scroll from the table and slid it over to the princess who examined the broken
seal, recognising the two halves as bearing the discreet markers that indicated it originated directly from the Fire Lord.
She read it silently, ignoring the fact that Ty Lee had taken Lu Ten's hand in hers or the none-too-discreet way that their legs were
moving against each other. It was rather nauseating in her opinion, although the ease with which Ty Lee was leading her cousin along was confirming many of
Azula's long held opinions on the handling of men. The contents of the scroll quickly grasped her attention however.
"This is ridiculous," she declared when she reached the conclusion. "Father can not be taking Zhao seriously. Even
aside from the notion that he would be defeated by someone as inept as Zuzu, my brother has always taken loyalty to ridiculous extremes. For him to find common
cause with a water bender, much less the Avatar - who would be all of twelve years old, for Agni's sake..."
"Quite," Lu Ten agreed. "I've received my own reports from the south, although copies of Zhao's despatches have not
arrived yet." Not even to you, cousin, at least through the formal lines of communication. Lu Ten had compromised Azula's mail as a matter of course
after she was safely distracted dealing with Long Feng. However, he was sure that she had arranged informal ways for her private correspondence to reach her
just as automatically, which was one reason that he had not used the access to tamper, instead simply remaining informed.
Azula nodded thoughtfully. "Zhao is a proud man," she admitted thoughtfully. "He wouldn't report the incident if he could
avoid looking weak. Which raises the question of what he was covering up." She looked questioningly at Lu Ten.
"If his ships were damaged then it had been made good before they reached port," the seafaring prince told her confidently. "I
think we can accept that Zhao encountered some serious resistance on the ice - there were dozens of casualties, out of all proportion to what must have been a
fairly small battle all things considered. Not much more than a skirmish but it's clear he didn't win it. As a commander, or as a warrior, since
he's so badly injured he had to relinquish his command until he recovers."
"What about my brother or the Avatar?"
Lu Ten shrugged. "Hard to say. As you say, the new Avatar would only be a child and half-trained at best I can't see him making the
claim if there's any chance that the Avatar might later refute it. And we've always known that there is a new Avatar. Sooner or later, we would
encounter her."
"You don't say anything about my brother, I notice."
"It's awfully convenient for a capable fire bender - and while he might not be on the level of you or I, Zuko wasn't what most
would call incompetent - believed to be dead to be suddenly helping the Avatar. I wouldn't be precisely surprised if we never heard anything of Zuko again.
As you say, it would be very much out of character for him to turn traitor. Now if I do find him..."
"I don't see anything on here about you taking half the navy after the Avatar," Azula commented. "The presence of ships
blockading Ba Sing Se is one of the visible threats I can use against Long Feng. Removing them will undermine my position, cousin."
Lu Ten spread his palms. "I'll need a large number of ships if I'm combing the entire South Pole for the Avatar," he
pointed out. "I'm leaving several squadrons here under War Minister Qin's command." And not under yours, dear cousin. "They
have orders to make themselves very visible - and they'll be alternating their identification flags periodically to give the impression that there are more
ships present than there actually are."
"I see," Azula said, reluctantly. Lu Ten's instructions gave him that much authority, however little she liked it. "So
your orders are to capture them. Harder than killing them."
"But also more rewarding," he pointed out. "A captive Avatar removes her as a threat for as long as she lives: and we've
been working out how to keep an Avatar alive and subdued ever since your grandfather confirmed the existence of Avatar Kanna fifty years ago. And once the war
is over, she can simply... die, and the next Avatar will be born within the Fire Nation. Raised as one of us... and never, ever allowed to realise what they
are."
.oOo.
"Will you do it?" Ty Lee asked quietly as she sat across Lu Ten's lap, head on his shoulder, several hours later. Azula had
offered to allow her companion to accompany the prince, in case her talents for blocking chi were of use in apprehending his prey.
Despite the temptation to have her at his side, Lu Ten had declined. While Ty Lee was exceptionally skilled, she was far from the only master
of those particular arts and he had pointed out that Azula would be in even more need of protection if Long Feng were to discover that the blockade had been
weakened. Still, he would enjoy her company now, and hope to do so again in the future. Perhaps for many years, he thought, admitting to himself that he did
more than merely enjoy her company.
"Do what?" he asked her, resting his arm casually around her waist. "Capture the Avatar? Marry you? Kill Azula? We have so
many balls in the air, I'm beginning to think I won't be able to keep track of them for much longer."
"Marry me?" Ty Lee's eyes went wide. "Lu... is that a proposal?"
"Agni..." he murmured, realising what had slipped out. "I fail at romance forever." Unbidden, he moved his hand
to rub gently at her back. "Yes... yes it was. Or rather: Ty Lee, you are by far the most wonderful woman that I have ever had the good fortune to meet.
Would you do the honour of sharing the rest of -"
His proposal was cut off when she sat up straighter to kiss him on the lips. It felt like acceptance to Lu Ten, and he leaned into it, a
small part of him wondering if this was how his father had felt about his mother. Everything that Prince Iroh had told his son about his marriage had suggested
that it was a love match, that even as the heir to the throne, Azulon's firstborn son had managed to marry the woman he desired, not merely the most
politically astute choice. It was a rare feat, even rarer under Ozai's rule. Lu Ten hoped his parents had been this happy: right now he wasn't sure if
he would have cared if Ty Lee had elected to take the chance to follow Azula's instructions and assassinate him.
All too soon they had to part their lips, gasping for breath. "- our lives?" Lu Ten finished with humour in his eyes.
Ty Lee giggled and pressed her face against his neck. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes I will."
It was a while later before he asked: "So what were you asking if I would do?"
The girl rubbed lightly at his chest with one hand thinking back. "Zuko. Are you going to..."
Lu Ten closed his eyes for a moment. "If it is him, if he really is alive... I'll do what I can for him, but you know what the
sentence is for treason." Death by fire, as slow as could be managed, which with fire benders in attendance could mean days. "If it comes to it,
he'll die 'attempting to escape'," he promised. "It isn't much, but at least I can spare Lady Ursa having to watch."
It would have been the perfect moment for Ty Lee to kiss away his regrets, to tell him that they didn't matter. But that would have been
a lie. Instead she shifted to sit on the table so that he could rest his head against her for a few precious moments, running her fingers through his hair. The
regrets were a part of him, the most private part that she had found, and denying their weight would be to deny a part of her lover, her fiancé.
"Zuko's my favourite cousin," Lu Ten admitted after a long moment. "I suppose favourite doesn't sound like much when
I'm comparing him to Azula but after... twelve years ago, when Lady Ursa took me into her household, he was almost a younger brother. But I found it easier
to deal with the idea that he'd died on some unimportant battlefield than that he would be fighting with the Avatar against us."
"Lu," Ty Lee whispered, gently pulling at his top knot to make him look up at her. "People grow apart. I haven't talked to
some of my sisters for more than two years, not even written to them. And it's natural that you find the idea of fighting against your cousin harder than
the notion he was dead."
"I've spent years considering Azula's death," admitted the prince slowly. "At first I had to steel myself. After all
this time, after seeing the sort of woman she's grown into, it has become very easy to contemplate the deed. Now I can plan how to kill Zuko, whose love
and respect I have never questioned, and I find that it is not only Azula who has changed."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
inside it were the two girls and Zuko.
Toph grinned in a disturbingly happy way for someone who had just dismembered a small raiding party's worth of the Fire Nation's
navy. "I'm not playing, I'm bending," she said with manifest insincerity.
"My mistake." Mai looked around and saw Zuko walking towards them. "I'm going to have to thank him," she said
grudgingly.
"Don't feel obligated," advised Toph. "He was seriously tempted to take us home in chains. If Zhao hadn't decided to
grab for power, even I don't know what he would have opted for."
"Most people would say 'even he didn't know', little sister."
"Yes, but I'm awesome like that," Toph reminded her sister. "It's not like you to forget things like that, are you
feeling well?"
Mai frowned. "Clearly I haven't spent enough time with you."
Toph took her hand, much as she had done when they were walking south only a few hours before. "Well, I'm sure that Yue and Bato are
worried so let's go and explain how silly they are," she said lightly. "Did you find your pointy toys?"
"Yes, thank you," Mai said, using her free hand to adjust the sheaths that she had returned to their proper places. The dart
launchers were wrapped in a bundled cloak from one of the soldiers - one of the incompetent barbarians had dropped them in snow and now she would have to
disassemble them entirely and clean them before they could be relied upon. She reached across her body and returned Toph's own dagger, which the little
girl solemnly returned to its sheath.
Zuko joined them as they walked to the edge of the village. Rather than simply opening a hole in the dome, Toph started drawing ice up into
steps along the side.
"Uh... what are you doing?" the fire bender asked. "Why not just go through the wall here?" He pointed at it.
"Feel free to," Toph shrugged. "But it would be polite to wait until Mai and I are above the level of the water
outside."
Zuko stared at the wall, then at the ice beneath his feet. "Water outside? Why would there be water out...side...? You
didn't?"
Toph grinned cockily. "You don't think I could just move all this ice without consequences did you? The entire village is a separate
iceberg now - we're still surrounded by the old ice sheet for now, but there's a decent gap and I wouldn't be surprised if parts of that come apart
as well."
"And we've sinking?"
"Just a bit," Toph assured him calmly. "There's something odd about how ice floats on water, I haven't figured it out
yet but moving ice up to form the walls pushed the ground down... odd, but useful since it's probably the main reason that the ships haven't managed to
hit us with their catapults yet."
Mai blinked. "Catapults?"
"I guess so. It's either that or the birds around here have really huge droppings."
Zuko nodded slowly. I'm beginning to understand why her parents were scared of her bending. It was wrong, yes, but I have to admit: Azula
would have been much more bearable at this age if mother could have removed her fire bending or at least held the threat over her head. And Toph must be even
more of a prodigy than Azula if she's this good at water bending without any formal training.
It only took a few moments for Toph to finish the stairs but by the end Mai could feel the slightest of tremors in the fingers she held
clasped in her hand. While Toph had recovered much of her former strength, or perhaps more - it was difficult for Mai to compare, having never seen Toph in her
Blind Bandit days - it was clear that bending such huge masses had been something of a strain for her.
Taking the height of the steps as a guide, Zuko gulped at the realisation that had he opened a hole in the dome with his fire bending, the
inside of the dome would have flooded to well above his head height with frigid water. Mutely he followed the two girls up to the small platform Toph had
created against the inside wall. With a degree of artistic flair, Toph pressed one hand briefly against the ice and an arch formed, the ice that had previously
filled that part of the wall tilting over to form a bridge most of the way to the ice outside. A moment later, the far side of the moat that had formed around
the village deformed and rose into the other end of the bridge.
The ice scape was much as it had been when Zuko walked across it to reach the village, Toph in semi-captivity in front of him. There were
even a couple of soldiers in Fire Nation red watching them in disbelief. A couple of blackened rocks embedded in the ice, still smoking from the flames applied
to them before launch from a catapult, were new additions though.
"Just leave," Mai told the two soldiers in disgust and the two men stared at her for a long moment, expressions hidden behind their
metal facemasks, before they broke and ran off to the left, clearly planning to circle the village and make their way back to the ships.
"Merciful," observed Toph.
"They didn't see anything," Mai explained. "It's obvious that there was a powerful water bender here, but no one can
report who you are, with Zhao and all the immediate troops dead." She noted a guilty expression flit furtively across Zuko's face. "He
is dead, isn't he?"
Zuko looked away. "Yes," he lied. How he'd managed to survive in court without learning to tell a convincing untruth escaped
Mai's understanding.
"Leave him," Toph ordered contemplatively. It was not a tone that Mai was used to hearing from her sister and she looked down at
the smaller girl, voicelessly requiring justification for the decision. Toph smiled - less cocky but perhaps more confidently that the smile Mai was more
accustomed to - and elaborated. "I'm not the one he betrayed. If Zuko prefers he be left alive to claim Zuko is a traitor then I'm fine with
it."
"Don't substitute tactics for strategy," Mai warned, a chill going down her spine as they continued to walk away. Zhao alive,
the Fire Nation alerted to a new Avatar, to Toph's name and to her face...
Toph nodded her head. "Let them know fear," she said with what could pass for tranquillity to one unfamiliar with the signs that
the young Avatar was experiencing pleasant anticipation. "Besides," and she looked sideways at Zuko, "It's nice to know that now that
he's made his choice he will stick to it."
Mai nodded her understanding. With all witnesses gone, Zuko might still have been able to return home. But Zhao would no doubt blacken the
prince's name out of sheer spite. Whatever else happened, the rift between Zuko and the Fire Nation had become known and irreversible.
.oOo.
The grand hall of the Northern Water Tribe's city (located further south than any of the relative handful of Southern Water Tribe
settlements was crammed with members of both tribes as Yue recounted the encounter with the Fire Nation, or more precisely as she prodded Mai, Toph and Zuko to
relate their various parts in the story.
None of the three were natural orators but in some ways the very understated nature of remarks such as: "just bent the ice out from
under them while Zuko was trash talking with Zhao" made more impact than any exaggerated bragging could have. Plainly, none of them felt any need to
embroider the story - Zuko in fact seemed outright reluctant to talk at all and Toph was amused at the female hearts beating faster when Yue persuaded him to
explain how he had defeated Zhao.
There were two seats on the broad dais, one occupied by the erect, regal Chief Arnook, who seemed torn between paternal pride and the urge to
ground Yue on hearing of how - once all the villagers were all safe - she had returned almost to the village on Kuku, in order to retrieve the three
travellers. Slouched on the other throne was Bato, who amused himself by watching the reactions of the gathered crowd.
"I believe I speak for my fellow Chief when I welcome you to our city," Arnook said solemnly. "Your victory over the Fire
Nation will inspire all those who stand against their tyranny."
Zuko winced.
"Your own deeds, Prince Zuko and Lady Mai, offer hope of eventual reconciliation between the four nations," the aged Chief
continued diplomatically. "Naturally, the full resources of the Northern Water Tribe are at your disposal, Avatar Toph. How may we serve
you?"
"My plans are a little unrefined," Toph admitted. "For now, I need to improve my bending as far as possible. Yue has kindly
offered her assistance as an instructor in water bending and there's Sifu Broody over here to work with me on fire bending but that leaves one of the four
bending arts and I'm not enthused about herding sky bison to pick up hints about air bending. Sozin's Comet is only a few months away."
Gasps arose from the gathered audience and Bato straightened on his throne. "You're sure?" he asked amusement falling
away.
"You didn't know?" Zuko answered, his surprise obvious. "It'll be in the sky at the end of the summer. I imagine that
it will be the cornerstone of my father's campaign plans for this year."
"Astronomy isn't a great concern of our people," Arnook said, somewhat defensively.
"I'm taking everyone's word for it," Toph said with the by now familiar wave of her hand in front of milky-green eyes.
"What matters is that at the height of the summer - the northern summer, anyway - when fire benders are at their peak strength anyway, they'll have a
few days when their power rises sharply. Everything I've ever heard about Ozai suggests he'll go for some grand gesture with that power to end the war
on his terms. And his terms are going to involve phrases like 'utter subjugation' and 'complete extermination'."
"It was with such power that the Air Nomads were destroyed," Arnook reminded everyone mournfully. "Should he seek to commit
genocide once more, an attack here could end the Water Tribes forever."
Toph shrugged. "He may have other things on his mind," she declared. "Me, for one thing."
"You'll protect us from the Fire Nation? On your own?" asked a sceptical voice from the crowd.
"Nope," Toph said cheerfully. "No one wins a fight by waiting for the other side to hit them. I'm going to go after
him."
Bato reached over and grabbed Arnook's arm before the older chief could object to the plan. "She's right," he said in a low
voice that would not be heard by those on the main floor. "And even if she wasn't, she's the Avatar. We don't haven the right to tell her what
to do."
Yue looked at her father who nodded slightly. "We have a small cache of air bending scrolls that the Avatar Kanna left with us,"
she revealed. "I believe that she created many such caches, placing them in trusted hands, for use by her successors in situations just like
that."
.oOo.
Azula walked up the gang plank of Lu ten's flagship in something of a temper. "You've just pulled me out of a very delicate
stage in the negotiations with Long Feng."
"You've been at 'a very delicate stage in the negotiations' for over a month," Lu Ten said and smiled at Ty Lee as the
acrobatic young woman arrived at the top. "Ty, it's good to see you."
She bowed and saluted him formally before breaking with formality and bouncing forward to hug him. Around the deck, the crew of Lu Ten's
flagship either looked discreetly away from the scandalous display of affection or smiled approvingly.
"Tell me that you didn't bring me all the way out here just so the two of you could make out," demanded Azula, crossing her
arms across her chest and trying not to sound petulant.
"I didn't," assured Lu Ten, a grim look crossing his handsome face despite the delightful armful that he had. "Your father
has sent an urgent message. There has been a serious development in the south and I'm pulling the entire Northern Fleet out of our forces here to respond
to it."
"What!" Azula screeched. "Do you have any idea how badly that will undermine my position?"
"The orders of the Fire Lord are not open to debate," Lu Ten reminded her, just a little smugly. "We'll discuss this
inside." He led them into the conning tower of his flagship, opening the door of the map room for the two ladies to precede him inside.
Azula claimed Lu Ten's usual chair at the table for herself but Lu Ten went to the other end, holding out a chair for Ty Lee before
taking the seat at the far end, placing his lover at his left hand in a non-too-subtle reminder to Azula of that particular point he had supposedly scored over
her. Once they were all seated, Lu Ten lifted an unremarkable looking message scroll from the table and slid it over to the princess who examined the broken
seal, recognising the two halves as bearing the discreet markers that indicated it originated directly from the Fire Lord.
She read it silently, ignoring the fact that Ty Lee had taken Lu Ten's hand in hers or the none-too-discreet way that their legs were
moving against each other. It was rather nauseating in her opinion, although the ease with which Ty Lee was leading her cousin along was confirming many of
Azula's long held opinions on the handling of men. The contents of the scroll quickly grasped her attention however.
"This is ridiculous," she declared when she reached the conclusion. "Father can not be taking Zhao seriously. Even
aside from the notion that he would be defeated by someone as inept as Zuzu, my brother has always taken loyalty to ridiculous extremes. For him to find common
cause with a water bender, much less the Avatar - who would be all of twelve years old, for Agni's sake..."
"Quite," Lu Ten agreed. "I've received my own reports from the south, although copies of Zhao's despatches have not
arrived yet." Not even to you, cousin, at least through the formal lines of communication. Lu Ten had compromised Azula's mail as a matter of course
after she was safely distracted dealing with Long Feng. However, he was sure that she had arranged informal ways for her private correspondence to reach her
just as automatically, which was one reason that he had not used the access to tamper, instead simply remaining informed.
Azula nodded thoughtfully. "Zhao is a proud man," she admitted thoughtfully. "He wouldn't report the incident if he could
avoid looking weak. Which raises the question of what he was covering up." She looked questioningly at Lu Ten.
"If his ships were damaged then it had been made good before they reached port," the seafaring prince told her confidently. "I
think we can accept that Zhao encountered some serious resistance on the ice - there were dozens of casualties, out of all proportion to what must have been a
fairly small battle all things considered. Not much more than a skirmish but it's clear he didn't win it. As a commander, or as a warrior, since
he's so badly injured he had to relinquish his command until he recovers."
"What about my brother or the Avatar?"
Lu Ten shrugged. "Hard to say. As you say, the new Avatar would only be a child and half-trained at best I can't see him making the
claim if there's any chance that the Avatar might later refute it. And we've always known that there is a new Avatar. Sooner or later, we would
encounter her."
"You don't say anything about my brother, I notice."
"It's awfully convenient for a capable fire bender - and while he might not be on the level of you or I, Zuko wasn't what most
would call incompetent - believed to be dead to be suddenly helping the Avatar. I wouldn't be precisely surprised if we never heard anything of Zuko again.
As you say, it would be very much out of character for him to turn traitor. Now if I do find him..."
"I don't see anything on here about you taking half the navy after the Avatar," Azula commented. "The presence of ships
blockading Ba Sing Se is one of the visible threats I can use against Long Feng. Removing them will undermine my position, cousin."
Lu Ten spread his palms. "I'll need a large number of ships if I'm combing the entire South Pole for the Avatar," he
pointed out. "I'm leaving several squadrons here under War Minister Qin's command." And not under yours, dear cousin. "They
have orders to make themselves very visible - and they'll be alternating their identification flags periodically to give the impression that there are more
ships present than there actually are."
"I see," Azula said, reluctantly. Lu Ten's instructions gave him that much authority, however little she liked it. "So
your orders are to capture them. Harder than killing them."
"But also more rewarding," he pointed out. "A captive Avatar removes her as a threat for as long as she lives: and we've
been working out how to keep an Avatar alive and subdued ever since your grandfather confirmed the existence of Avatar Kanna fifty years ago. And once the war
is over, she can simply... die, and the next Avatar will be born within the Fire Nation. Raised as one of us... and never, ever allowed to realise what they
are."
.oOo.
"Will you do it?" Ty Lee asked quietly as she sat across Lu Ten's lap, head on his shoulder, several hours later. Azula had
offered to allow her companion to accompany the prince, in case her talents for blocking chi were of use in apprehending his prey.
Despite the temptation to have her at his side, Lu Ten had declined. While Ty Lee was exceptionally skilled, she was far from the only master
of those particular arts and he had pointed out that Azula would be in even more need of protection if Long Feng were to discover that the blockade had been
weakened. Still, he would enjoy her company now, and hope to do so again in the future. Perhaps for many years, he thought, admitting to himself that he did
more than merely enjoy her company.
"Do what?" he asked her, resting his arm casually around her waist. "Capture the Avatar? Marry you? Kill Azula? We have so
many balls in the air, I'm beginning to think I won't be able to keep track of them for much longer."
"Marry me?" Ty Lee's eyes went wide. "Lu... is that a proposal?"
"Agni..." he murmured, realising what had slipped out. "I fail at romance forever." Unbidden, he moved his hand
to rub gently at her back. "Yes... yes it was. Or rather: Ty Lee, you are by far the most wonderful woman that I have ever had the good fortune to meet.
Would you do the honour of sharing the rest of -"
His proposal was cut off when she sat up straighter to kiss him on the lips. It felt like acceptance to Lu Ten, and he leaned into it, a
small part of him wondering if this was how his father had felt about his mother. Everything that Prince Iroh had told his son about his marriage had suggested
that it was a love match, that even as the heir to the throne, Azulon's firstborn son had managed to marry the woman he desired, not merely the most
politically astute choice. It was a rare feat, even rarer under Ozai's rule. Lu Ten hoped his parents had been this happy: right now he wasn't sure if
he would have cared if Ty Lee had elected to take the chance to follow Azula's instructions and assassinate him.
All too soon they had to part their lips, gasping for breath. "- our lives?" Lu Ten finished with humour in his eyes.
Ty Lee giggled and pressed her face against his neck. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes I will."
It was a while later before he asked: "So what were you asking if I would do?"
The girl rubbed lightly at his chest with one hand thinking back. "Zuko. Are you going to..."
Lu Ten closed his eyes for a moment. "If it is him, if he really is alive... I'll do what I can for him, but you know what the
sentence is for treason." Death by fire, as slow as could be managed, which with fire benders in attendance could mean days. "If it comes to it,
he'll die 'attempting to escape'," he promised. "It isn't much, but at least I can spare Lady Ursa having to watch."
It would have been the perfect moment for Ty Lee to kiss away his regrets, to tell him that they didn't matter. But that would have been
a lie. Instead she shifted to sit on the table so that he could rest his head against her for a few precious moments, running her fingers through his hair. The
regrets were a part of him, the most private part that she had found, and denying their weight would be to deny a part of her lover, her fiancé.
"Zuko's my favourite cousin," Lu Ten admitted after a long moment. "I suppose favourite doesn't sound like much when
I'm comparing him to Azula but after... twelve years ago, when Lady Ursa took me into her household, he was almost a younger brother. But I found it easier
to deal with the idea that he'd died on some unimportant battlefield than that he would be fighting with the Avatar against us."
"Lu," Ty Lee whispered, gently pulling at his top knot to make him look up at her. "People grow apart. I haven't talked to
some of my sisters for more than two years, not even written to them. And it's natural that you find the idea of fighting against your cousin harder than
the notion he was dead."
"I've spent years considering Azula's death," admitted the prince slowly. "At first I had to steel myself. After all
this time, after seeing the sort of woman she's grown into, it has become very easy to contemplate the deed. Now I can plan how to kill Zuko, whose love
and respect I have never questioned, and I find that it is not only Azula who has changed."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.