rebuilding the world

Part 17

Zuko and Katara left early in the morning, slightly after Aang and Toph did, and flew on Appa to a fire nation village named Hira'a, the one Zuko's mother grew up in. they landed after the sun set and were tired from the long flight. They landed next to a woman older than them but not old enough to be considered an old lady. She wasn't very pretty, like Zuko's mother was, but she was also not incredibly ugly, her face was rather ordinary, in fact.

"excuse me, ma'am, do you know where we can rent a room for the night?" Katara was the one to talk to her, Zuko covered his face with a hood, fearing, as he should, that people will not be as welcoming if they saw his scar.

"I have an extra room if you need it" the woman answered.

"that would be great, thank you ma'am" Katara bowed gratefully.

"oh, please, call me Noriko"

"I'm Katara, and this is..."

"Lee" Zuko interrupted Katara. Noriko looked at him as if she recognized him, but looked away with a smile a few seconds later. She led them to her house, a man and a small child were inside, getting the child, a girl, to sleep. The girl got up when the door opened. She ran to her mother and hugged her, she then spotted Katara and Zuko.

"who are you?"

"my name is Katara, this is Lee, we're just passing through the village on our way to the fire nation capital" Noriko and the man looked at each other as Noriko let the girl down.

"the fire nation capital? It seems quite far from your way, wherever it was you came from" the man said.

"Noren, please" Noriko said to her husband. He sighed and apologized, then went to a side room to put two mattresses on the floor.

"you can sleep here tonight; may I ask why Hira'a?" Noriko asked. Zuko sighed and took his hood down, both Noriko and Noren gasped, the girl looked at him and pointed at his scar.

"scar" she called. Noren took the girl in his arms and took her to the other room while Noriko reached her hands to Zuko, but stopped midway, shifting into a bow.

"fire lord Zuko" Katara and Zuko looked at each other, then Zuko knelt down to Noriko.

"how do you know it's me?" Noriko surprised Zuko with a hug, Katara could see tears in the woman's eyes, she gasped.

"you're Ursa" Noriko's eyes opened and looked at Katara, she let go of her son and looked at him. his eyes widened in realization and he hugged her again.

"mom?"

"my sweet little Zuko, when I heard of the Agni Kai with your father, I did not believe it, but there you are. Who is your companion? Water tribe, I believe" Noriko let go of her son.

"this is Katara, she's a great friend" Katara raised her hand and waved a bit.

"what happened to you? How did your face change?"

"well, after your grandfather died, I feared I would be framed for his death, I escaped the capital and went back to Hira'a, where I was reunited with my old love, Noren. We went to a forest the mother of faces resided in, she gave me this face and I became Noriko. Noren and I married shortly after and had Kiyi six years ago"

"she is lovely" Katara sat next to Zuko, in front of his mother.

"yes, we are very proud. You must be so tired, go to sleep, we'll talk more in the morning" Noriko stood up and went to the other room.