Double Bender

Part 51

"What do you mean Aang doesn't exist?" Sokka asked, rather flustered. "He isn't...dead?" "No." June answered. "We could still find him if he were dead. Hmm, it's a real head scratcher. Well, see ya!" "Wait!" I said. "What?" she said, sounding a little annoyed. I looked at Zuko. "There's gotta be someone else we can go to, right?" Zuko looked up. "I have an idea." He said. "There's only one other person in the world who can help us face the Fire Lord." "Who?" Katara asked. Zuko grinned. "Uncle."
"How can Uncle help us?" I asked. "We don't know where he is." "Just wait," he replied. He ran back over to Appa, grabbed his bag, and pulled out something small. He brought it over, pinching it between his thumb and index finger. A very foul smell filled the air. The little thing he was holding smelled terrible and had several flies buzzing around. The stench was so terrible I had to hold my nose...so did everyone else. "You saved your uncle's sweaty sandal?!" Sokka asked. Toph crossed her arms and grinned. "I think it's kinda sweet." She said sarcastically. Zuko walked over to the mole and let her sniff the sandal (poor thing). Nyla started twitching and moving around. June got on top of Nyla. "Let's do this!" she said as she tugged the reigns and her and Nyla ran off. "Wait up!" Zuko called. We all ran to Appa and Zuko tugged the reigns and Appa rose into the sky.
We followed June and Nyla all through the Earth-Kingdom and she stopped somewhere by the damaged outer wall of Ba Sing Se. "We're going back to Ba Sing Se?" Sokka asked as we landed. On the other side was a pile of rock and rubble by a mountain. It seemed almost like another wall blocking everything out...or keeping something in. "Your uncle should be somewhere beyond this wall. Nyla's getting twitchy so he can't be far. Good luck." With that, she tugged the reigns and rode off. Zuko looked irritably at the departing mole and then up at the setting sun. "It's been a long day." He told us. "Let's stop here and start our search again at dawn." We all pulled out our mats and our blankets and set them on the ground. I set mine close to Zuko's. "Do you really think we'll find Uncle?" I asked. "I don't know." He answered. For some reason, he seemed almost like he didn't want to find him. "What's the matter?" I asked, for at least the hundredth time since I met him. "I know he's going to be mad at me." "We've already been over this." I said. "He probably hates me." Zuko said pitifully. "Of course he doesn't. He's had plenty of time to think about it and, as I said before he has a lot more patience than we do. Besides, if you tell him how sorry you are, how much you regret what you did, and ask his forgiveness and you're truly sorry and he still doesn't forgive you, than he's probably gone crazy." He gave me a weak smile. It probably wasn't the greatest thing in the world to say. I looked him in the eyes and said, "If I can forgive, he definitely can." I set down my mat and lay down. He set his down by mine and looked me in the eyes. "What?" I asked. "What are thinkin' about?" He chuckled a little bit. "The world's about to be destroyed and your main problem is making sure I don't feel bad." "Well, I only say those kind of things to people who are important to me. And you're pretty darn important." He grinned slightly. He was still rather insecure about himself and not sure what Uncle would forgive him. But I could see see that he was strong, strong enough to ask Uncle for forgiveness, strong enough to be our leader, strong enough to face his father.
We slept soundly that night (somehow I'd ended up in Zuko's arms again) when Toph suddenly woke up and put her earth tent back in the ground. Suddenly, a ring of fire surrounded Appa as he growled in fear. We clung to each other as we looked up and saw several people in blue and white uniforms. But, they all looked like old men. I even recognized one of them. Piandao, Sokka's sword master. The rest were very unfamiliar. One had bushy white hair and a serious expression, another was thin with white hair and dark skin, obviously Water-Tribe, and another man who was covered by a thick cloak and was hunched over. His face was more wrinkled than the rest but his face looked...messed up. Not like he'd had an accident or something, more like he was born like that. Not disfigured but...crazy. He looked totally insane! He honestly scared me a little bit. They all wore identical cloaks: Navy with an odd pattern around the collar like a flower...a white lotus! "Well, look who's here!" said the one who looked insane.
"What's going on?" Toph said. "We're surrounded by old people!" "Not just any old people." Katara said. "These are great masters, and friends of ours." She walked over to the thin, serious man with the white hair. "Pakku," she said, bowing respectfully to him. He bowed back. "It is respectable to bow to an old master. But...how about hug, for your new grandfather?" He opened his arms as Katara smile widely as she hugged the old man. "That's so exciting!" she squealed. "Gran Gran must be so happy!" "I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything." Pakku said. Sokka hugged him. "Welcome to the family, Gramp Gramp." I giggled. "Just call me Pakku." Pakku said, a little irritated. "How about...Grand-Pakku?" Sokka said with a goofy grin. "No." Said Pakku seriously. Katara brought Zuko over to the man with bushy white hair. "Zuko," she said. "This was Aang's first fire-bending teacher." "Jeong Jeong." The man introduced himself. Zuko and Jeong Jeong bowed respectfully to each other. Sokka brought Geo and I over to the insane, frail-looking man. "Geo, Tatiana," he said. "This is Bumi, King of Omashu, Aang's childhood friend." Bumi looked at us and said, "You two look like a few odd characters." "Speak for yourself, pal." Geo remarked. Bumi snorted and laughed psychotically. "I like this guy." Geo said. "Master Piandao!" Sokka exclaimed. "Hello, Sokka." The old master said. "Wait a second." Suki said, looking at the masters. "How do you all know each other?" "All old people know each other!" Bumi said excitedly. For some odd reason, every time he talked, he seemed overly excited. "We're part of the same, ancient, secret society, extending to all four nations." Piandao explained. Zuko grinned. "The Order of the White Lotus." He breathed. "That's the one." Bumi said. My eyes widened. It all made sense now. That night in the pub and then in the flower shop. The gamer, he was a member and he referred to Uncle...as a grand master! It all sort of just...hit me. I had no idea what was going on behind everything until now. I mean, I knew Uncle was crafty but, damn! This is a whole new level! "The White Lotus," Jeong Jeong continued, "has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth. However, about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important." Pakku explained. "It went out from a Grand Lotus," These titles were getting weirder and weirder. "Iroh of the Fire-Nation." "Uncle!" Geo and I said at the same time. Zuko smiled sadly. "That's who we're looking for." Toph said. "Then we'll take you to him." Piandao said. "Wait a minute." Said Bumi, pushing them both out of the way. "Someone very important is missing from this group." About time they noticed. "Where's Momo?" I face palmed. "He's gone." Said Sokka. "And so is Aang." Bumi's expression softened. "Well, as long as they have each other, I'm sure they'll be alright." I rolled my eyes. "Let's go!" Bumi shouted. I shot Zuko a nervous glance as they lead us through a passage to their camp.
The camp was an outdoor group of tents, hidden by the surrounding mountains. As we walked, Sokka asked, "So Bumi, how did you end up escaping imprisonment in Omashu?" Bumi grinned psychotically again. "I didn't escape." Bumi chimed. "Everyone else escaped. So there I was, back in Omashu, waiting for just the right moment. I didn't know when or what but I'd know it when I saw it. The eclipse was the perfect opportunity. So, I escaped the prison they had me in." He paused for a moment, chuckling to himself. "Then what happened?" I asked excitedly. "Hmm?" he said. "Ohh, they asked what I thought I was doing, I told them I was taking back my city, kicked them around for a little, then I left." "You're a badass." Geo gawked. "So you took back your city by yourself?" Suki asked, rather astonished. Bumi nodded, rather proud. "So what about you guys?" he asked. "Do anything interesting on the day of the eclipse?" Zuko and Sokka exchanged nervous glances. "Nope." "We didn't do anything." "Nah, we really didn't do anything." Oh sure we just organized an invasion that could have possibly changed the entire course of this war but it actually turned about to be a fluke because the Fire Lord knew what we were plotting which resulted in several of us getting captured, myself included. We didn't do anything, nothing at all.
The camp itself was very large. All around were blue and white tents, each about the size of one room in Ozai's beach house (and those rooms were very large). At the front of the formation of tents was an even larger tent, obviously meant for someone very important. "Well, here we are." Said Bumi. "Welcome to Old People camp." We all laughed...Except for Zuko, who was looking very nervous. And when I say very, I mean very. He was shaking and sweating and he looked like he was going to pass out. "Zuko?" I whispered. He said nothing, just kept shaking and looking nervous. I took his hand. It was freezing and breaking out in a cold sweat. Zuko let go of my hand and walked over to Piandao and cleared his throat nervously. "W-where is he?" he stuttered. Piandao pointed to the very large tent. "Your uncle is in there, Prince Zuko." He said. Zuko walked over to the tent and paused, shaking a little more. I walked back up to him. "Are you alright?" I asked gently. Finally, he found his voice. "No," he admitted. "I'm not okay. My uncle hates me, I know it." I turned to face him. "I'm sure he doesn't-" "He loved me and supported me in every way he could and I still turned against him." He turned away from me. "How can I face him?" "You're sorry for what you did right?" I whispered. He looked back at me and I could see tears forming in his eyes. He was so sad and so ashamed of what he did he could hardly live with himself. Even more, he was having a hard time believing that he was worth forgiving. "More sorry than I've been about anything." I put my hands on his face is the most reassuring way I could. "I'm sure that's all he needs." I whispered. He looked guiltily at the ground, still unsure about whether or not Uncle would forgive him. I looked into his deep, sad, golden eyes and kissed him on the cheek. "He'll forgive you, I'm sure of it. He loves you and wouldn't just turn around and hate you, even though you're sorry." "The last time I saw him, he was so angry and-" "Nope." I interrupted. "We're not doing this again. There's no time for guilt or regret. We've got to move on. If he doesn't forgive you...very unlikely by the way," I added this quickly so he wouldn't be even more nervous. "But if he...for some reason doesn't..." I couldn't even finish my thought. "It'll be fine. He'll forgive you, trust me." He still looked very unsure (I admit it, I was doing a very crap job of reassuring him). I gave him a tight hug and whispered, "He will." and kissed him again. He smiled weakly at me, turned towards the tent, took a breath, and walked inside.
We waited for him all night. By the time the sun was coming up, I was exhausted. Suddenly, I heard whispers coming from inside the tent. "Uncle," I heard Zuko say, "I am so, so sorry. More sorry than you could ever know-"
Zuko was suddenly cut off. Uncle had grabbed him and started hugging him. "I don't understand." Zuko continued. "I thought you'd be furious with me!"
"I was never angry." Uncle whispered. I could feel happy tears coming to my eyes.
"What?" Geo asked. I looked at the tent. Geo smiled as well. Uncle forgave him, I thought.

Hey Wafflebunnies! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. My holiday was pretty great, though we had leftovers for five days...nothing wrong with that. But there was also the mountain of work that had to be done, two essays, a chemistry project....BRAAAAAARGH!!!!! I don't like work!!!
Grr. See you later wafflebunnies.
~Maeve