Chapter 56: The Search (Part 2)

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   Azula tossed and turned, nightmares raging inside her mind. Finally, she awoke as she felt her mother's touch. "Mother? How did you get the jump on me?"
   "Give up this futile quest, my daughter. Go home. The throne is Zuko's destiny...along with the Avatar. Yours lies elsewhere."
   "I suppose I should be grateful. You saved me the trouble of finding you!"
   "All your life, you've hidden behind a mask of intimidation and fear. Take it off. Only then will you see the beauty of your own destiny."
   Azula began to lightningbend. "No! Stop filling my head with your lies! The throne is my destiny!" Still, she paused. "Isn't it?"
   It wasn't until then that she realized she wasn't speaking to her mother but, in fact, Katara. Sokka shouted at her to get her hands off his sister yet Katara claimed she was fine.
   "The letter?" Azula realized. "Where is Zuko?"
   She began firebending angrily.
   Meanwhile, Rose and Zuko stood in a quiet place away from everyone else.
   "I'm not his son." he confessed, showing her the letter.
   Rose took it and began to read through it, eyes growing wide with realization. "So you think this man...?"
   "It makes sense." Zuko explained. "Why else would he have no problem getting rid of me? Everything he told me growing up makes so much sense now. And it explains why he told you he has no son."
   She stroked over his scar, trying to calm her husband's mind. "But if that's true, why didn't he try to get rid of you sooner? Why wait for you to, in his eyes, embarrass him?"
   "He tried to get rid of me once before." Zuko said. He recalled the story that Ozai told him about why his mother disappeared.
   "That night was complicated." Aurora spoke up from her spot in the background. "Ozai would've killed you as Azulon commanded but your mother had a different proposition in mind. She poisoned Azulon's tea, allowing Ozai to take the throne. But, since she committed treason..."
   "He banished her." Zuko finished for her. "He mentioned that banishment was too merciful a punishment for treason on the day of black sun."
   "So what does this mean for your throne?" Aang asked.
  Suddenly, Azula appeared from nowhere. She began firebending, yelling, "She told you to steal that letter from my boot! Give it back! I won't let her win!"
  She continued attacking.
                       * * * * *
  Throughout their childhood, Ursa showed she favored Zuko as Azula always creeped her out. Ozai was watching from the palace one day when the person he'd sent for arrived.
   "You must be Vachr of the Yuyan archers. I've heard that you can oin a fly to a tree from a hundred miles without killing it."
   "Any of us can do that, your highness." Vachr bragged. "I can do it blindfolded."
   "I have a mission for you." Ozai said, uninterested. "In a little village outside this city lives a man named Ikem. Find him and end him."
   "It will be done." Vachr said, bowing. "And no one can ever tie my actions back to you. You have my word."
   "No. Let that flea bitten, dirt stained street urchin that his death comes at the hands of Prince Ozai of the Fire Nation."
   "As you wish."
                         * * * * *
   As the group began fighting, Zuko shouted for the others to go check on the rest of the team. "I'm not going anywhere." Rose promised.
   Zuko firebended at Azula, missing her. "What did I say about being reckless?"
   "Well I'm not changing anytime soon."
   Azula lightningbended towards Rose but Zuko knocked her aside, picking her up in anger. "You do not touch my wife!" He shook her. "Why did it have to be this way, Azula? We're family!"
   "Was this her plan all along?" Azula shouted in her crazed manner. "She wants you to throw me off the cliff?"
   "Zuko, please!" Rose shouted. "She's your family. Put her down."
   "After she just tried to kill you--?"
   At Rose's look, he sighed and reluctantly set her back down. "The only thing I can't understand. You had the letter all night. Why didn't you burn it?"
   "Look, we can spend the rest of the day--the rest of our lives--fighting each other but it won't get us any closer to mother." Zuko conceded. "No more fighting...not until we find her. Agreed?"
   "Oh, ZuZu, are you actually on my side?" Azula asked with a smirk.
   "I'm not on anyone's side." Zuko argued, turning his gaze to his wife. "Except yours." He placed his hands on her face, leaning in to seal their love with a kiss. "You're my everything."
   "As you are mine." Rose responded with love in her eyes.
   Azula gagged. "Such a sickening display!"
   Zuko held Rose close. "I guess you'll never understand."
   "Oh I understand perfectly." Azula said, her eyes downcast. She reminded him then of that day on Ember Island when she showed a shed of humanity. "Honestly, if I found someone I was willing to die for...I don't know."
   "Maybe you can have that." Rose offered, kindly.
   "Oh please! You're too cute with how gullible you are." Azula giggled manically. "But I agree with you, ZuZu. Fighting is getting us nowhere. So I'm allowing a temporary truce."
   "Fine by me." Zuko said.
   Taking his wife's hand, the group headed back to the rest of their party.
   "So you guys aren't fighting anymore?" Aang asked, as confused as the rest, aside from Aurora.
   "We've arrived at an understanding."
   "That's what you said last time and she's tried to kill us like 12 times!" Sokka said, annoyed.
   "Let's just go." Rose announced.
   "Coming or not?" Azula smirked.
   The group got onto their separate animals and took off into the sky.
                       * * * * *
   The royal family sat down to dinner, Azula bragging about how her firebending lesson went. Ozai smirked, amused. As Zuko attempted to explain why the teacher corrected Azula, Ozai banged his hands on the table.
   "How dare you lecture your sister on firebending? Despite being a year younger, how many more forms has she mastered than you?!" Ozai reprimanded. "When you were born, we weren't even sure you were a bender at all. You didn't have that spark in your eyes.
   "I planned to cast you from the palace. How embarrassing for a prince of the Fire Nation to have a non bender as his first born! Luckily for you, your mother and the Fire Sages begged me to give you a chance. Azula never needed that luck." Azula smirked. "She was born lucky. You were lucky to be born."
   Ursa stood up in defense of Zuko but, before she could really lay into him, a messenger arrived, asking for an audience with the prince.
   Ozai met up with the archer he had summoned and he explained that Ikem no longer lived in the village. Instead, he had left to a forest where everything attempts to kill you.  
   "But this brings me no assurance of his demise!" Ozai growled.
   "I'm sorry, your highness."
   Ozai softened. "Rise. Grovelling is unbecoming."
   He then forced the man to resign from his position, stomping into his chambers moments later where Ursa was preparing for bed. "Leave me with my wife!" He spat at the maids.
   They left but hovered near the door. Ozai grabbed Ursa's hands. "On our wedding day, I told you to forget your old life! Who you are is now entirely defined by your marriage to me. Any contact with your past--especially past infatuations--is treason!"
   "I knew it!" Ursa shouted back. "I knew you were intercepting my letters!"
   "Even worse, evidence of your treason lives under this very roof."
   "Ozai, don't be a fool--"
   "But I am a merciful man." Ozai interrupted as if she hadn't spoken. "I will allow the child to live, despite the lowliness of his heritage. Ikem, however, deserved his punishment." He grinned, evilly.
   "What did you do?!" Ursa asked, panicking.
   "I wiped that traitorous dog from existence."
   Ursa burst into tears.
                         * * * * *
  The group landed nearby at Zuko's insistence. "If we're going to do this properly, we'll need disguises. We can't just walk in the village as the Fire Lord, the Avatar, her Guardian, and her family."
  Rose took Zuko's hand. "Our family, love." she reminded.
  Zuko shook his head. "Right. Our family."
  He pulled a cloak on over his travelling clothes, putting the hood up. Rose aetherbended, stepping through a portal and immerging in her Fire Nation disguise she'd worn before the day of Black Sun.
   "You look gorgeous, my wife." Zuko said once he was able to shut his mouth again.
   "I wore this while we were in the Fire Nation, before the invasion day."
   "Well, I'm sorry I missed it."
   The teasing tone was evident in both their voices and the team groaned as they applied extra pieces to their disguises. All of Team Avatar was dressed as they had been during their adventures in the Fire Nation.
   Aurora had donned a red gown similar to her usual style of dress. Catie wore a similar outfit to Katara. Will and Jasper dressed almost like Sokka. And Ophelia had donned a fancy deep red dress with a veil covering her face and hair.
   "Um...Aang, the headband thing worked better when you had hair." Rose and Katara mentioned.
   Sokka was putting on a fake mustache and hair made out of Appa's fur. "Ugh, get away from me!" Azula said, disgusted.
   The group finished up with their disguises and caught the end of the play "Love Amongst the Dragons". Zuko and Azula shared a fond memory and Rose smiled, glad for them.
   At the end of the play, Zuko began to ask around when the man playing one of the characters appeared. "I'm sorry I didn't meat to startle you. My name is Noren. I'm the director of the acting troupe. Ursa was once a member. Perhaps we could speak somewhere away from the crowd? You're welcome to come to my home and have tea and I'll tell you everything I know."
   "It would be an honor." Zuko said, bowing his head politely. "Thank you."
   The rest of the group, save for Azula, responded in kind.
                      * * * * *
   At Noren's house, the group sat either around a large table or in some chairs, speaking to him and his lovely wife.
   "We've been married five years." she said. Both Rose and Zuko and Aang and Katara shared looks. "Both of you are lovely couples. Especially the two of you." The wife gestured to Rose and Zuko. "I can tell you were meant for each other. The two of you are a little young, though." She gestured to Aang and Katara this time. "But who am I to say? Noren and I found each other late in life."
   Noren's young daughter began asking for attention from Zuko and Azula. Azula shrugged her off with a firm no.
   "This is Kiyi."
   "I thought your name was Kiyi?" Zuko asked, playfully.
   "It's such a good name, I used it twice."
   As Zuko bonded with the little girl, Rose watched with a smile. Zuko really was sweet and he was good with kids. A thought then entered her mind of a little girl running around the palace, Zuko playing with her and she suddenly found herself wishing for a child of her own with him. He'd definitely make a good father.
   Then she blushed at the thought.
   Soon enough, Noren came in and sat the group down to talk. "Ursa, the woman you mentioned, was our most famous member--but not for her acting. Years ago, she was taken to the capital city for some official business. We're not supposed to talk about her anymore but some people can't help speculating."
   "Rumors say she married into the royal family."
   "What about Ikem?" Zuko asked, curious about his supposed father.
   "Ikem?" Noren asked. "Well you've really done your research. Ikem was an actor too, Ursa's boyfriend I believe. He left shortly after she did."
   "Some say he went to Forgetful Valley, the place people go to forget their heartbreak. You know, I think Ursa came back to town then followed Ikem there."
   "That can't be true." Noren disagreed. "No one's heard from Ursa since she left."
   Talk turned elsewhere and it wasn't long before dark. At their door, Zuko full on bowed and thanked Noren and Noriko, his wife, for their hospitality.
   Rose followed his example, thanking them as well. Kiyi asked that Zuko come back one day and he smiled. "I hope I can come back as well." he told her, kindly.
   Azula began complaining, her mind on burning down the house and the people in it. She was reprimanded by Katara and Catie.
   "Zuko, I've been thinking." Rose began.
   "Oh boy, I'm in trouble." Zuko teased.
   Rose smacked him. "Listen to me for a moment, love. I've talked about this with Aang and Aurora. I think it's best if you forget about Ikem and burn the letter."
   "Why?" Zuko asked, squeezing her hand for what had to be the fiftieth time that night.
   "Because you deserve the throne. You worked hard for it."
   "And why are you worried about my throne?"
   "Put that thought out of your mind, Zuko." Rose said, reading his thoughts. "I love you for you, not a crown, title, or throne and you shouldn't doubt me."
   Zuko sighed, pulling her to his side. "I know. It's just hard to remind myself of that sometimes when everyone only ever wanted me for some purpose. You are the first person to love me unconditionally and expect nothing in return....other than my mother. And honestly, love, I'd rather focus on her right now than who deserves the throne."
   "But, Zuko," Aang added as he moved forward, "you're supposed to be in charge. We need someone to maintain peace and you're the only one who can do that."
   Aurora cleared her throat. "Zuko is correct. We should worry about his mother first. The rest will follow."
   "Then where is she?" Zuko asked.
   "I don't know. I haven't been able to feel her energy. It's almost like when Rose disappeared before the final battle."
   "But I was gone with a giant lion turtle. I doubt his mother is somewhere like that."
   "I do not believe so either."
   "Um...Zuko?" Sokka asked, moving into the conversation. "I don't think we're gonna be able to keep this together much longer."
   He gestured back to where Azula was fighting with Katara and Catie. "I'm expecting either something to catch on fire or get frozen in a few minutes."
   "I also have that worry." Will said. "And if your sister doesn't refrain from her rude attitude towards my wife, there will be trouble."
   "I apologize for her behavior, Will, but there's not much I can do about it."
   Jasper groaned as Azula continued to argue with the waterbenders. "This was funny earlier but now it's gotten old."
   "Trickster." Aurora called her beloved, fondly. "You're always looking for a laugh."
   Jasper smiled. "True."
   "Look let me just check one more place." Zuko pleaded. "Then we're done." Taking his wife's hand, he announced, "We're going to Forgetful Valley."
                        * * * * *
   "You're lying!" Zuko told Azula. "Dad would never do that to me!"
   "Your father would never do what to you?" Ursa asked as she entered Zuko's room. "What is going on here?" She took Azula's hand and dragged her out of her brother's room. "Time for a talk. Spill it, Azula."
   "Well, I accidentally overheard grandfather talking to daddy in the throne room. Daddy asked for Uncle Iroh's birthright and grandfather got really, really mad. He couldn't believe daddy would do something like that so soon after cousin Lu Ten's death. Now for his punishment, daddy has to get rid of Zuko! Grandfather wants him to know the pain of losing his firstborn."
   Ursa's eyes widened as the implication of what Azula told her sunk in.
   Suddenly, Azula's tone changed and she showed care for Zuko as she asked, "Mommy, I'm so scared for Zuko! You don't think daddy would actually do something like that to him, do you?"
   "Go back to bed, young lady." Ursa told her daughter a bit too harshly.
   She raced to her husband's side. "Ozai, you can't do this!"
   "I have no choice. I cannot refuse an order from the Fire Lord."
   "You listen carefully." Ursa spoke. "I'm going to make you a deal."
   "You have nothing I want." Ozai dismissed her.
   "You want the throne." Ozai mused a moment. "Go on."
   Ursa continued, "I know how to make a poison that is colorless and odorless, completely untraceable. It causes a person to pass quietly, almost as if he'd passed in his sleep. I'll give you a vial of it in exchange for Zuko's life. Once you have it, do whatever you want with it."
   "And where did you learn to make such a poison?"
   "My mother. She was a master herbalist."
   "Very clever, dear wife. Very clever." Ozai mused again. "I accept your plan--on one condition. Once we make the exchange, you must leave the capital city and never show your face here again. With you around..." He growled, "you may decide to poison the new Fire Lord."
   "Fine. But I take the children with me."
  "No." Ozai turned to Ursa. "The children are my collateral. As long as you keep your word, no harm will come to either of them. Should you decide to stay or try to take them with you, however, I will hunt you all down just like your precious boyfriend."
   Ursa reluctantly agreed.
   She set to work and when she was finished, she handed the vial off to her husband. She pulled on a cloak and went to say goodbye to her children. Azula slept but Zuko woke up when she kissed him goodbye.
   "Zuko, my love, please listen to me." she said, quietly. "Everything I've done, I've done to protect you." She held him tight. Then she pulled away, pulling on her hood. "Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."
   Then she turned and left, left the palace, left the city. Only was she was past the Gates of Azulon did she breathe a sigh of relief. She was finally free!
                          * * * * *
   The group entered the forest. "This is it." Rose said.
   "How can you tell? With your special Avatar powers?" Sokka asked.
   "There's that...or that sign over there." She pointed. Sokka nodded. "Ah."
   As the group again descended into arguments, some of the members noticed faces on everything in sight. Next thing you know, Rose started chasing a flutter bat through the woods, Aang close on her trail.
   "Wait, love! Don't run off by yourself! You don't know what's out there!" Zuko shouted as he chased after his wife and her Guardian--oh boy--his brother-in-law.
   The rest of the group chased after, including Azula surprisingly. Moments later, they all emerged into what looked like an oasis similar to the one at the North Pole. Rose admitted such, admiring the place.
   "It is beautiful." Zuko said, though his eyes were on Rose.
   "Be respectful everyone." Rose commanded gently yet firmly. "This is a spiritual place."
   Azula stared into the water and was dismayed to find her mother's face staring back at her. "Azula, you're going the wrong way. Turn back and find your true destiny."
   Azula lost her temper and firebended at the water. Rose and Zuko reprimanded her, the former responding, "What did I say about being respectful?!"
   "She told you to bring me here, didn't she?" Azula asked, angrily. "So she could keep lying!"
  As the gang prepared to fight Azula, yet again, a bunch of what appeared to be shruiken shapped like flowers came out of nowhere and lodged themselves in a tree. It took a few moments for Katara and Catie to realize that they were flowers that had been frozen with waterbending to be used as weapons.
   "I've seen this once before." Ophelia spoke up.
   At that moment, Azula firebended through a vine that attempted to attack Sokka. "Thanks!" Sokka told her, confused.
   "The more peasants I have protecting me, the better my chance of escaping this nightmare forest." Azula shrugged him off.
  Something attacked Zuko and he yelled, "Hey a little help here!"
  Rose immediately began bending, protecting her husband.
   As the rest of the group panicked, Ophelia, Catie, and Katara waterbended and demanded the waterbenders show themselves. So they did.
                      * * * * *
   Ursa walked to the door of her old home and knocked. A little girl answered. When Ursa asked for her parents by name, she was informed that they had both passed away years ago.
   Filled with grief, she sat on the porch and cried.
   As she sat there, feeling sorry for herself, Noren appeared and began talking to her. He offered her breakfast and she accepted, smiling at the one person to show her kindness in a long time.
                      * * * * *
   Moments later, the group sat in the oasis, enjoying food around a roaring fire with their new friends. Zuko and Rose were holding hands while Aurora and Jasper fed each other like over the top couples usually did.
   "You two are being way too cutsie!" Rose teased her older brother and oldest friend.
   Jasper smirked. "After watching Will and Catie for the last five years and you and Zuko and Aang and Katara for over a year? My how the tables have turned!"
  The group laughed, including their new friends, an older woman (Misu) and a man in a mask (Rafa). The pair explained what Rose had told the group earlier, about the oasis being spiritual.
   At a question from Katara and Catie (who were honestly becoming so much alike it was scary), Misu explained their story. Misu and Rafa were siblings although vastly different from one another. Rafa constantly stole items from the Northern Water Tribe where they were from yet he always returned them when reprimanded by his sister.
   One day, she found him alone in the snow, his face horribly disfigured. Despite their healers best efforts, no one could fix him. Misu went looking for a miracle and found information on a spirit that lived in that forest that could give someone a new face.
   Unfortunately, it was in the Fire Nation so she spent many years learning how to fight using waterbending. They spent years looking for it in the forest but found nothing.
   "So you spent your whole life trying to heal your brother?" Rose asked.
   "Of course." Misu said, looking at Rafa. "Of course." Rose agreed, looking to Will and Jasper. "Of course." Katara parroted, her gaze on Sokka. Zuko and Azula caught eyes then looked away.
   "Sorry to interrupt your sob story." Azula began, speaking up despite Zuko trying to placate her. "But we're on a mission of our own to find a woman named Ursa."
   "We haven't seen her. I'm sorry." Misu said.
   She explained that when the spirit was near, faces would appear all over the forest then a giant wolf spirit, the same one they'd fought, would pick a pool from one of the four to drink from and there the spirit would appear. They'd never been in the right place at the right time.
   "There must be something I can do to help!" Rose stated. "Perhaps I could contact the spirit and convince her to come here."
   "Ugh! This is a waste of time!" Azula said, standing and walking away, Zuko following behind. "Why must we help a couple of Water Tribe peasants when we have our own mission?!"
   "Rose is the Avatar." Zuko reminded. "Helping people is what she does." Azula scoffed. "And we're her team so helping people is what we do too."
   "No wonder you don't want to be Fire Lord anymore, ZuZu." Azula shrugged him off. "You'd rather go galavanting around the world helping poor people with your girlfriend...oops I mean wife."
   Before Zuko could retort, Azula lost it, again accusing Ursa of orchestrating this whole thing. She grew angry and attacked the couple. Zuko threw himself in the way of one of her lightning attacks.
   Meanwhile, Rose found herself wandering a spirit version of the forest. Eventually, she found the wolf spirit and quickly introduced herself.
   The wolf spirit began to run away and Rose grabbed ahold of it, riding the wolf spirit all the way to another spirit that called itself the Mother of Faces.
   Rose only stared in shock.

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