Chapter 2: The Moon, The Snow, and The Hotheads

A/N: So hopefully chapters will be longer from now on. I aim at 3-7k per go round, but it always winds up drastically different.

*shrugs*

I don't own Last Airbender

I give you

Chapter 2: The Moon, The Snow, and the Hotheads

Zuko couldn't remember falling asleep in the snow. His slumber seemed much too hot for that. Fitful dreams of lightning and the wide blue eyes of someone he couldn't quiet remember haunted him. Light surrounded him, heightened by a searing flash that struck his chest. Then nothing. A black air lingered for so long, he thought maybe this was his own version of hell.

He was wrong.

Waking up in the gentle lapse of winter was the last thing he expected. He deserved worse. He knew he did. After all of the pain and suffering, he deserved a fate worse than death. The snow wouldn't give him that satisfaction, nor anyone else who wanted him to suffer.

His eyes fluttered, his vision focused.

The night sky held traces of purple, and he glared up at the full moon just within his line of sight. It rose over the mountains of the North, a place he thought he never wanted to see again. Too much pain and suffering by his hand alone had come to the Northern Tribe little less than a year ago. He remembered the unforgiving battle, but not the beauty he saw now. A eyar ago, he never had the opportunity to witness how the night sky never really darkened, nor how the stars circled the moon like a halo of followers bent to its will.

"My first girlfriend turned into the moon."

The words jolted him with a morbid grin. The simple sentence always struck him as odd, but the look on his friend's face when he said it never ceased to press the awkward humor down. How do you respond to something like that?

His hands pressed against his brow. He was forgetting something. Something to do with the moon, his friend's first girlfriend. Perhaps it was the friend, or someone who knew that friend. Or perhaps it was more to do with those eyes, wide and blue and full of terror. He fought to form a face around those eyes, seeing not just the reflection of light in them, but the girl he wanted to protect.

He started, hands digging into the snow.

"Katara."

He sat up too quickly for the still ripped and raw flesh at his chest. His hand didn't dare press against it, knowing the alleviation from its support wouldn't help. It reminded him, the memories flooding him now. Azula's switch to the waterbender during their duel, his panic when he couldn't catch it. Those eyes.

The searing pain of the wound hit him harder when a breeze picked up. It didn't stop his mind's panic.

What happened to her? Did she take his place? Did Azula…?

He couldn't allow the last question to weigh down his mind. If Azula hurt Katara, he would never forgive himself.

The pain ebbed, and the breeze paused long enough for him to lift his head and take in his surroundings.

"I'm either dead, or dreaming," he concluded.

That was the only explanation for where he sat, ankles and wrists buried in down-like snow. It crunched beneath his bare skin. His toes and fingers curled, his body heating them hot enough to melt the snow into cold puddles around his appendages.

He stood, slowly, hands out to balance his unsteady teetering. The closest wall of ice happened to be one he remembered. His fingers dug into the crevices, supporting his weight. The line of the wall led to a cave, one he knew all too well, despite the length of times since he last stood inside its soulful hall. All he had to do was follow the path laid out before him.

A sudden shiver wracked his torso. He stood straighter, ignoring the thoughts that plagued him. He had to find the Spirit Oasis.

Katara woke where all of her dreams took place. The trickling of water tickled her ears, the cold air a welcome reprieve from the Fire Nation's sweltering heat. How she made it so long in the almost inhospitable territory, she didn't know. Even with the lighter clothes given to her by the healers, she found herself unable to control the sweat pooling from her body.

Here, she didn't even worry about the chill rising up her spine. The cold she could handle like it belonged to a part of her. The flow of Qi within her body cooled her like water while this place filled her like no other.

"I should have slept sooner," she whispered into the grass, nuzzling it like a lover.

She sat up, almost reluctant, pushing herself to the edge of the Sprit Oasis to watch the two fish circle one another in ancient harmony. Her mind could never picture what had happened when she came here in person. Tui's fins fluttered like a delicate petal, her mouth nearly brushing the tail of her love. La, strong and mighty as ever stroked the water as if his purpose was to protect his other half. Their balance left part of Katara content, while the other part dreamed of possessing such an incredible thing.

Their love seemed unbroken, even though Katara knew the truth. And it hovered above the pond in the form of an ethereal girl. Her robes and hair glowed pure white, her skin iridescent.

The moon.

"Yue," Katara smiled, the first genuine feeling of happiness she remembered having since Ember Island.

Yue returned the notion, sinking to nearly touch the surface of the oasis. Her smile reminded Katara of the stars at night, constant and pure.

"Katara. How I've missed you," she whispered.

Yue never spoke above a whisper. The volume would never suit her or the oasis otherwise. The quiet serenity of the sacred place demanded a silence that never broke the trickling of water.

"I've missed you too," Katara returned in kind. "More than you know. The days have been trying."

Yue chuckled, bell like and sweet. "Yes, I can imagine. The spirits watch the struggles of you and your friends. I watched from the sky as Ozai was struck down."

Katara flinched, her smile ebbing away. If her friend witnessed the fall of Ozai, she would have seen everything else along with it. The thought made her mute, remembering what she left behind while she dreamed.

"Something troubles you."

Katara nodded. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, still dry from the desert like air where she should have been. "I wish I could stay, but I can't."

Yue's smile thinned, her lips pressed together. "I'm afraid you have no control over such things. You have a purpose here just as I do."

"I can't be that important here." After all, I'm not the moon. "I have to go back. Something more important waits for me in the waking world."

"Your importance is relevant to your predicament. I am what holds the balance of water together with La's guidance, while you hold a different balance entirely."

The fish beneath her didn't seem to acknowledge her statement, keeping at their languid pace. Katara couldn't help staring at the disturbances on the surface of the water where their fins would creep up then back down. She wondered how the many convoluted paths that made up the spirit world gave way to this scenario. Her friend appeared forever frozen in her state of beauty and youth, a delicate creature of mist and snow blessed with the knowledge of the world.

"Do you miss him?" she wondered.

Yue knew what she meant, and her calm expression wilted. "Every moment of every day."

"Could you tell me?"

The ice around them seemed to glitter with the glow of the princess in her splendor. She knew what Katara was asking, of course, but the pain in her eyes almost made the waterbender take it back. She bit her lip, hopeful. She needed something, anything to keep her sane.

"When the energy granted by Tui returned to the Oasis, I died." The words were unexpected, and Katara had to hold back her surprise. "But I was reborn into the spirit of Tui, giving her a new life, a new purpose to her power. While she is still a part of herself, I am more of her energy. She is in a state of rest, lingering, but not quite there. La mourns, but she cannot hear, so I act as a bridge. I take her place, I love him in her stead. It is what I give, what I want. All of the care, all of the gifts in the world cannot compare to what La gives to me. This form is his ultimate show of gratitude, allowing me to watch over those who I hold most dear."

Tears gather in ghostly wisps at the corner of her eyes. They evaporate like fog as they fall from her chin.

"I love La like no other, but I still remember the boy from the south who won my heart."

The words lilt like a sonnet, a declaration of the heart. Katara couldn't believe such a sound existed, and for her brother no less.

The waterbender swallowed the tightness in her throat. "Does La understand?"

A small splash of water struck her toes, and she laughed with Yue.

"Yes. He is too good to me."

The fish below her grazed the tips of their noses against her floating feet. Katara can't help the smile that spreads from ear to ear. "There is no one more deserving of you than a gentle spirit who gives you the world."

Yue didn't look as though she believed her friend, but Katara spoke with a conviction like never before. This princess had been granted life not just once but twice. Even if she had to die to achieve the second state, she deserved every ounce of gratitude La gave her. No one's spirit could have merged with Tui in a balance like this, not unless they possessed the heart of a saint.

Katara stood and bowed her head to her friend, listening to her sighing protests, but ignoring them nonetheless.

"I suppose you'll start singing for me next," Yue teased when the waterbender stood straight again.

"Oh no, I wouldn't dare in a place like this."

She indicated the oasis, her gaze lingering on the tranquil setting. At this point, the familiarity made her frightfully aware that she didn't belong in a place so sacred. She belonged in the real world, where reality would remind her just how unworthy she could be.

It disturbed her, her being here, but any taste of divinity couldn't be entirely bad.

Her mouth went dry, and she shook her head free of the thought. A weariness warmed her hands, which twitched in her sudden discomfort.

"Why am I here? Really."

The princess's eyes crinkled at the edges. "You will see."

Katara frowned. Her feeble attempt to come up with a coherent response to the vague answer left her muttering under her breath like an anxious child. She wanted to go back, she wanted to wake up. All her useless toiling in this place was precious time she needed to study, observe, watch. She needed to make sure Zuko didn't die while she stood here in the most beautiful place in existence, pellucid and free.

But she couldn't fail him now.

"You've done so well," Yue said, as if reading her mind and misinterpreting her thoughts at first. The moon spirit's chin lifted in pride for her friend, but her eyes glistened with something else. "I must tell you, there are grave consequences for your actions and not all of them are yours to bear."

Katara swallowed, picturing that flickering flame of water deep within Zuko's chest.

No, Yue couldn't mean that. That was something out of anyone's control.

But when Katara saw the moon spirit's expression, she knew. The waterbender's eyes filled with the reflections of lightning; a memory she wanted to forget, forever etched into the back of her eyes. Burned flesh, smoke, molten lava, Katara could remember every detail, but none of it made sense.

"Why am I here, now?" she asked again and wiped her clammy hands down her borrowed, black leggings. "I'm no use to him in a dream."

"My dear friend," Yue's smile returned, saddened by something Katara didn't understand. "Who said anything about a dream?"

Aang hated meetings. Granted, he never had the opportunity to attend a great deal many. Not enough to draw an opinion, but he could decide fairly quickly that meetings in the Fire Nation capitol were not something he wanted to attend on a regular basis.

His attention couldn't focus on the angry shouts from the different delegations behind the officer's table. He sat at the righthand seat, the head remaining empty, and across from him sat Hakoda. Arguments about the placement of a water tribe Chieftain above the generals and officers of the Fire Nation had moved on to a different topic, but, comparatively, one of little importance all the same.

"Why would we close the city? Are we under attack?"

"Close the city? Are you deaf? They said we should begin defensive strategies."

"I heard talk of attack."

"We should wait until Prince Zuko has awakened."

Aang refrained from scoffing at this. It was the sanest thing said in a room of insane ideas. However, these people had no respect for the prince before. Most of those remaining within the king's council had to be dismissed before these proceedings. The men allowed to stay served no purpose other than to see firebenders in the seats of the nation's capitol. Aang wondered why he had been so insistent about this detail, given his current annoyance.

This also didn't help his already sour mood.

"It's not going to help if you don't blink," Sokka had said when he found Aang in the infirmary. He begrudgingly sat staring at Katara's head resting by Zuko's hand.

"She's being stubborn," he mumbled.

The childish response was enough to make Aang cringe himself.

But Sokka only shrugged. "When is she never? Her friend was hurt. Let her mother him a bit."

The water tribesman took hold of Aang's arm and wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's shoulder's. He leaned in as if sharing a secret with the Avatar, one that needed to be safeguarded from his sleeping sister.

"Maybe we can get away with doing stupid things while she does."

The words didn't bring Aang any solace, and the bells still tolled in the distance.

"What is that?" he wondered.

"Oh, that's just the rest of the pack. Dad and all the important ones."

Indeed the Southern Water Tribe's Chieftain arrived not an hour later with the Order of the White Lotus. Their goal was to help the Avatar arrange for a meeting of the summit. Once called, the pain of politics ensued like he never imagined.

The first hour consisted of weeding out the herd, the second calming those left to represent their nation, the third...

Well, he couldn't control things outside of the elements, and, as Toph pointed out, they stood in a nation of hotheads. It was no surprise they never shut up.

He felt Sokka lean in from his right. "How long do you think this will last?"

Aang shrugged, though he made sure no one could see. The scrutiny at the table turned too frequently, and if they noticed any side remarks, they would strike out like a viper. While their venom wouldn't do much damage, it would be enough to waste more time.

All together, including those who stood, twenty men and three women occupied the entirety of the war room. The only women present included Toph, the bounty hunter June- to everyone's surprise- who leaned against the pillars behind The Order, and Suki, dressed in a borrowed Kioshi warrior's uniform. It turned out, they had a stowing of clothing from the Earth territories in most of the rooms occupied by the Gaang. Toph had managed to find a green set of trousers and a tunic with Suki's help, but Sokka had to exchange his usual clothes for Fire Nation red, just like Aang. It seems the palace did not care for yellows and blues.

Aang's eyes lingered on Toph, who sat with her head leaning against a firebender's shoulder and her feet in the lap of another. Neither men looked too pleased, but they didn't dare voice their discomfort. They knew who she was, which was enough for them to keep their mouths shut.

Aang cleared his throat to hide a tickle of laughter, and turned his attention back to the arguments further down the table. A man, ironically, named Lee- much to Sokka's amusement- sat stony faced, sneer at the ready. He planted his steely gaze on a man across from him, who Aang remembered being addressed as Zhu, who had voiced the insistence they wait for the prince.

"Zuko won't be awake for some time. We have yet to hear the report from our healers after his condition."

Lee's nose wrinkled in disgust at this thought. "Haven't you heard? The healers aren't allowed to touch him."

Aang could feel the already sweltering heat begin to boil. Sweat dripped down his head, and he was glad he didn't have heavy hair like the water tribesmen or the firebenders. Katara would be absolutely miserable.

The thought of the waterbender pulled at his anxiety.

"What do you mean they're not allowed to touch him?"

Lee's sneer spread wider. "The waterbender. She won't let them, keeps claiming she knows how to fix him."

"She's a master water bender," Pakku drawled then.

The table's attention turned to the man standing beside sword master Piandao. Both seemed comfortable within each other's vicinity, and they were flanked by June and Bumi. Anyone else present, Aang didn't know, but they all wore different colors representing every nation still in existence.

"She's a master waterbender with healing abilities," Pakku clarified when the council didn't react. "If she can't figure out what's wrong with him, your healers won't. Trying to cause trouble over the matter is pointless."

"Then why is it taking her so long?"

Pakku turned his head and cocked it at Lee. "Why does it take so long to learn a bending form? There are complexities that make every learner's experience different. You can't expect a healer to understand every body they touch when they may not know these complexities. A lightning bolt is different with every strike, as is it's effect on a man."

Aang nearly reached to touch the tender spot on his back. It had taken Katara a long time to try and heal that wound, and that was with the help of the water from the Spirit Oasis, not to mention Aang's being the Avatar, which could have helped or hindered the process. Either way, there was no telling how different Zuko's reaction could be with the unremarkable water here in the Fire Nation.

He frowned, finally understanding the waterbender's frustrations better. If the 'complexities' were as vexing as Pakku made them out to be, then Katara's exhaustive efforts could all be for nothing. The only problem in his new found realization was there wasn't enough to satisfy him. He wanted to know more from Katara herself.

"I don't understand," Lee said.

"I don't expect you to. You're a firebender," Pakku said. The older man's eyes traced the room, then fixated on Aang. "Perhaps you will trust the Avatar's opinion on the matter."

Eyes turned to Aang, and he resisted the urge to shrink in on himself, or blush. Instead, he kept a calm, cool composure, his face immaculate and not betraying his thoughts.

"Katara is gifted. Her understanding of healing is unmatched in the Fire Nation."

His words seemed to calm the hotheads, but he could see the uneasy glance Sokka gave him from the corner of his eye. Aang ignored it.

"If Zuko is otherwise incapacitated, then who will lead us until he is well?"

The room tensed, and eyes flickered to and fro. No one could answer the question with any sort of certainty. One firebender cleared his throat and stood. His hair fell loose around his shoulders, half pulled into a topknot streaked with grey. His robes were more grand than any firebender general's, which led Aang to conclude he was a noble of some sort. The severe lines and wrinkles around his lips and eyes either meant he laughed quite a lot, or frowned just as much.

Had Aang thought to expect anything else, he would have been prepared for his words.

"I put forth the Avatar to stand in our lord's place."

Aang blanched. "You can't do that."

The man rose a brow at the protest, turning to Aang.

"You are the peace keeper of the nations. I can think of no one else greater."

"Peace keeper of the nations," Aang emphasized. "I can't serve just one. I understand your predicament, but I can't be responsible for your nation above all others. That's not my purpose."

He sniffed, eye narrowed. "My motion stands. I put forth the Avatar to serve in our lord's stead."

"And the Avatar is telling you he can't do that," Aang snapped. He stood up, not hoping to reach the man's height. He floated towards him on an air current and landed without a sound before him. "I don't serve you, and I don't serve the crown. I serve the people. You have no control over me, in any way, to put my name forth."

The man's expression didn't change, and he tilted his head to take in Aang's entire appearance. His robes, his staff strapped to his back, his tattoos. The boy could feel him scrutinize every inch of him.

When he spoke, his lips twitched. "I suppose a child can't rule a nation as great as this one."

"This child just took down the previous Fire Lord," said Hakkoda. "This child has more wisdom in his tattoos than you do in your family line. You don't control him, and he will not bend to your will. Your nation is no greater than the suffering it's caused. I suggest you sit down, Zemin."

The man didn't move, and Aang's eyes narrowed. "Or you are dismissed, sir."

The room waited, and the decision was made quickly. Zemin took a step back and moved towards the doorway. The rest of the company watched him, some surprised, others relieved. When he turned to fixate his stare on Aang again, he smiled.

"Good luck."