Double Bender

Part 59

The wedding was about four months after that. It was a very big event, much to my objection. But almost the whole Fire-Nation was there, several people from the Earth-Kingdom attended, and even the king of the Northern Water-Tribe (my uncle) came as well. Zuko and I barely got a minute to ourselves. Heck, even the month leading up to it, we were almost never alone. We were always being flooded with questions from subjects, advisors, even servants about the wedding. We didn't even know the answer to half of them. I was practically terrified on the day of the wedding, that's when I found out about a very stupid tradition that Zuko couldn't see me in my dress. I say tradition, more like superstition. The wedding had me very jittery, every eye in a mile radius was on me.
But finally, we got our time alone. On the ferry to Ember Island, for our honey-moon. Uncle was left in charge of the Fire-Nation while we were gone, which probably explain the soldiers drinking tea instead of defending the palace by the time we got back. But I digress. By the time we were about halfway to the island, it had started to get dark. Aside from the captain of the ferry, who was on the upper-deck, steering the ship, we were alone. Zuko had his arm wrapped around my waist and I had my head leaned on his shoulder and we were standing over by the edge of the ship, looking out over at the black, rolling waves. My mother's ring was no longer dangling on a chain around my neck because it was sitting around my finger, next to the ring Zuko had made for me. Funny how I thought how I should only wear my mother's ring on a chain around my neck because it didn't fit me for a long time, and even when my finger was big enough for me to wear it, it didn't feel right...until now.
We were standing in silence when suddenly, something had started shimmering behind us. Zuko and I quickly turned around and we were faced with a shimmering, smiling Geo. For some reason, she was wearing a flowy white dress, whoever convinced her to wear a dress should be paid. Her hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders. I didn't know what to think, my dead best friend was glowing right in front of me. I looked up at Zuko, who was mirroring my confused expression. "Hello," Geo whispered. Zuko and I still stood there in silent awe. Finally I found my voice. "Geo?" I whispered. "Is that really you?" "No," Geo said sarcastically. "You're just going crazy." Then she looked at Zuko. "Well it's about time you asked her." "You saw?" he asked. Her beautiful, sincere smile returned and she nodded. "The wedding was beautiful, by the way." "You were there?" I said happily. She nodded. "We saved you a seat." Zuko commented. "Right up front." "I was there." She said wistfully. "Why did you come to us?" I asked, trying to make the question as polite as possible. "I came here to ask a couple of favors." "Anything." Zuko answered. "First of all," she asked "don't forget about me." "Never!" I exclaimed. She laughed. "But I want you to remember me, my whole story. You don't know all of it yet." "Tell us." I begged. "Alright." She smiled. "Well, I was running. Running from about everything. I had just learned that I'd be forced into an arranged marriage. The chief of our village had just betrothed me to his son. So, I ran. But by the time I got to my family hut, it was all ashes. There were five lumps of ash on the ground." Tears came to her shimmering eyes. "My family. My mother, my brothers, Farro and Lee, Lee's wife, Myra, and my little sister, Naussica." I suddenly understood why she paused whenever she called us her family. She was missing her real family. The thought nearly brought tears to my eyes. As she spoke, shimmering images of her family appeared just as quickly as she did. Except, she said that five people had died, six people appeared; A middle-aged woman, a stern-looking young man, and kind faced young man, a little older than the first. Standing next to him was a beautiful young woman with long black hair, and next to her was a little girl of about seven or eight. "You wouldn't believe how long it took Myra to admit that she loved Lee." I suddenly recalled what Geo said back in Ba Sing Se when she had the argument with Zuko. She was mad because he wouldn't admit that he loved me. He asked if she spoke from experience and she said she knew someone who did...Lee. Standing by the ones she said were Lee and Myra was a little boy. "Who's this?" I asked, looking at the little boy. "That's Lee and Myra's son. He somehow made it out alive but, unfortunately, I don't know where he is. That's the second favor I have to ask." "We'll find him, I promise." Zuko promised. "What's his name?" I asked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Try me." I chimed. "Mushie." She answered. I laughed a little, thinking back to Ba Sing Se when Uncle had to correct everyone about how to pronounce his fake name. "We'll find him." I repeated. "Thank you." She said, a few more tears coming to her eyes. "Well, after that, I saw my father, the not-so-admirable Admiral Zhaow." "He's your father?!" Zuko asked, obviously a little shocked. She nodded. "That explains how you can also bend fire." She nodded again. "But that makes no sense." Zuko said. "He's horrible and selfish, he almost doomed the Northern Water Tribe. And you were so kind, albeit sarcastic, but still good." "You tell me how that is Zuko." She said, looking at the scar on his face. Zuko looked back at her with a smile. "Anyway, he wanted me to come with him and I refused. And then, he gave me this." Then she turned around and I gasped. The dress she was wearing was low cut in the back. All over her back was a large red burn. Bigger than the one that I had. It went all the way up to her hair down to the bottom of her back. "Your father gave you that?" I gasped. She nodded sadly. "When I woke up, Zuko and Uncle were there. And the rest, you know." "That's incredible." Zuko breathed. "I had no idea." "We won't forget that story." I promised. "We'll even tell it to our children." Zuko flushed with embarrassment. He wasn't really sure if he was going to be a good father, seeing as he'd had a horrible example of one. Geo sensed his discomfort and said, "Don't worry, Zuzu. You're going to be a great leader, and a wonderful father. And Tatiana," she looked at me, "you're going to be an outstanding mother." The rest of her family had already faded and she was starting to fade herself. There was one more favor I was burning to ask her, but I'd already asked enough of her. "There's something else, isn't there?" Geo asked. "I know because you used to look at Zuko that way." Zuko and I looked at each other awkwardly and then looked away. "Uh oh," said Geo sarcastically. "I think I just ruined the wedding night buzz." I laughed. "So what is it?" I looked at her and said, "Could I see...them...again?" It wasn't the best way to phrase the question, but Geo read it, loud and clear. "We're so proud of you, Tatiana." A motherly voice said. In front of me, two people materialized. One was a man with brown hair, green eyes, a green and yellow suit, and a warm smile. The other was a woman with long flowing brown hair, dark skin, blue eyes, a blue and white dress, and a beautiful, motherly smile. "Mom?" I breathed. "Dad?" The two of them stood close to each other, looking like a painting. "You were wonderful, sweetheart." "You saw...?" I asked. My dad nodded. "We saw just about everything. By the way, it's nice to see that my dagger came in handy." "Your dagger?" I breathed. "But how did I...?" Dad winked. "I'll never tell." He said slyly. "You saw...everything?" I was so dazed I barely knew what was going on. "We spent most of our time in the spirit world." Mom said. "In fact, your friend Aang actually passed by us a few times and didn't even realize who we were. But, whenever we had the chance, we came as spirits, just to check up on you. We had to be careful and make sure you didn't see us. One time, there was a very close call." I thought hard back to when there might have been a close call. Suddenly it came to me. "Hama's inn!" I cried. My mother nodded. "That explains a whole lot." "When we saw that your friend Geo here died, we knew that we should tell you the truth. And then..." "I got married." I finished. "We couldn't get a moment alone with you. But now, we finally did. And here we are." I made my way out of Zuko's arms and slowly made it over to my parents. I suddenly started crying, tears of saddening joy poured from my eyes. My parents held out their ghostly arms and held me, for the first time in a long time. "I missed you so much." I cried. "You were so strong." Mom said. "But I just wanted to hold you." "Now you can." I whispered tearfully. "Now look at you." My father said proudly. "You and your friends saved the world. We couldn't be prouder." Suddenly, they all started to fade. "Our time's running out, sweetie." Mom said. "Don't leave me." I begged. I wanted them to stay even longer, just hold them a little more. "We won't leave you." Mom said. "We never had." I looked over at Geo. "I love you guys." She said. "I won't forget about you. Ever." In a flash, we were alone, in the darkness, confused, but overjoyed.

Stop crying, it's not over yet. Just one more part and then we're done. Then what? Well, I'll give you guys some suggestions after that.
Thanks Wafflebunnies, for reading, see you in the next part.
~Maeve :D
BTW, That ghost in the picture is Geo