rebuilding the world

Part 10

Katara and Suki held onto Zuko and Sokka as they went in silence in the dark forest. Katara stumbled on a branch and fell on Zuko, who caught her before they both fell face first to the ground.

"thanks" Katara helped Zuko up.

"you guys okay?" Suki's voice asked.

"yeah, we're both fine, I think" Zuko's voice answered. Katara was suddenly pushed between something rock hard and something squishier, she could hear Zuko grunt in surprise.

"Zuko?"

"Katara"

"what happened?"

"did a rock trap you guys too?" Sokka's voice yelled, it sounded so far away. The rock suddenly moved, all four of them yelled in fear. Soon the rock opened up and Katara fell on Zuko, Sokka fell on Suki from a second rock. Katara got up to see a small tower, made completely from seashells, stood in the middle of the forest. The trees were cut down to let the sunlight through, Katara thanked the spirits that she could see again.

"hey guys" Aang said behind her.

"I should have known, it was Toph's idea, wasn't it?" Sokka asked angrily.

"Aang, shut your friend up" a familiar voice said from the tower. Aang put a hand on Sokka's mouth as the tower opened to reveal a woman, Padma. She wore a red and white dress.

"were you killed on your wedding day?" Zuko asked. She looked at him and smiled.

"no, the members of my order put this white fabric on my dying body when I became a spirit" Katara looked at her, wondering how someone so young could be hated enough to be killed.

"would you like an explanation about what you have seen on the way here? About the prophecy?" everyone agreed silently and sat down on the rock as Padma flew to the rock and sat on it with her legs crossed.

"first of all, my life. I was born to a respected fire nation family, two whole cycles before Aang's predecessor, Roku. I was a shy girl, and wasn't taught fire bending, the world back then wouldn't allow girls to know any kind of bending. It was only when I was 16 when I started learning fire banding, then earth, water, and lastly, air. Each element took about a year to learn, some took more and some took less. I was almost 20 when I was killed, I never got to do much as the avatar after I finished my studies. My teachers protected me from countless people who tried to kill me, the avatar was hated at the time, and when my airbending teacher wasn't around I was killed. He recorded the prophecy when the spirits turned me into one of them, he should not have heard it. It was a plan the spirits were starting to build; they changed it many a time until the 100-year war ended"

"but the lights shone a few days ago, does that mean the prophecy is the current plan?"

"parts of it, yes, but not all. The spirits like couples where each person is from a different nation. If they had their way, your mothers would be one nation and your fathers would be another, and so would every living person in the world, but it doesn't work this way, not even for all powerful spirits. The lights shone to signal to the members of the order that the time has come to send you six to me"

"what do we need to stop?"

"there are a few. In the earth kingdom, long feng is slowly and silently working towards a coup, he wants to overthrow the king. In the fire nation there are two, the first is Azula, she is building up to a rebellion in the boiling rock, it will rise in a week's time. The other one is the people loyal to Ozai, they are planning on killing fire lord Zuko and reinstating Ozai as fire lord, they want to free him. all three must be dealt with immediately, I'm afraid you will have to split up into three groups"

"we can split into the groups we were in when we stopped the war" Sokka said happily, grabbing Suki by the waist and Toph by the hand.

"I was thinking the same thing. Zuko should not be dealing with his father's people, but aside from that he can deal with anything"

"but Aang, can you deal with something this big by yourself?" Katara looked at Aang.

"the people loyal to Ozai are mostly non-benders, they shouldn't pose much threat to the avatar, and Long Feng's men are all earthbenders, Aang should not have a problem as long as he uses all four elements"

"and I would like to end it as quickly as I can, and if I have someone with me, I could be held back" that was the first time Katara heard Aang talk so maturely, she loved that in him.

"Suki, Toph and I can stop Ozai's men, and you can take care of your sister, Zuzu" Sokka poked his elbow in Zuko's ribcage.

"Azula almost killed me"

"which is why you have the best healer with you, and a master waterbender of her own merit" Katara looked at everyone and blushed, it was a big complement, as Katara worked her butt off to be as good as she now was.

"you guys can take Appa, I'm sure the fire nation will have plenty of places for him to wait in"

"you can sleep at the beach tonight, but please leave in the morning, these potential crises must all be handled within the next week. When you're done, please come back here, let me know how it went, I will see if the crisis is averted" Toph shook Sokka from her hand and bent the big rock around Katara and Zuko again. Before the light disappeared Katara could see another rock swallowing Sokka and Suki. The rock moved again and let her and Zuko go at the beach, far enough from Appa so that he wouldn't be startled, the second rock let Sokka and Suki out right after them, Aang and Toph on rocks they bent to drive them to the beach.

"don't do that again, it's so tight in there" Sokka gasped for air, Suki rolled her eyes and crossed her hands, Katara rolled her eyes, though she did slightly agree with her brother.

"let's get to putting up the tents, we have to be up early tomorrow" she said, pointing to Appa's saddle.