As It Should Be - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Aang sighed in disappointment as he put down the heavy book. He had been searching for what seemed like hours without finding anything of interest.
“Another dud?” Toph asked, as she lay on the floor next to him. Since she couldn’t join him in scanning the books and scrolls, she had turned her attention to testing the limits of her earthbending-sight.
“Yeah, that one was about ancient civilisations.” Aang replied,
“Ancient civilisations?”
“Yeah, apparently, once there was a time where all people of all bending abilities lived together, as one tribe. But over time, they split themselves into different groups and moved away, forming the four nations. The book says there were isolated places in the world where people still lived like this, as recent as up to a hundred years ago,”
“A hundred years ago isn’t really recent.” Toph remarked,
“That’s when they stopped looking. This persons’ research was stopped because of the war.” Aang explained.
Toph sighed, “As fascinating as that is,” she said sarcastically, “all we’ve managed to find in this library are a bunch of history books,”
“Not just history,“ Aang corrected, “Three scrolls on crop harvests, five on taxes, two population census books, and four more on history,”
“And not a single romance novel. What kind of library is this anyway?”
“I’m beginning to think it’s not so much a library, as it is…some sort of archive.”
Toph nodded, “Now see, that makes more sense. Archives are about as exciting as listening to the flowers grow. No wonder it’s kept in the secret underground room,”
“Yeah. Maybe we can still find some secret Fire Nation history down here. That could be interesting.” Aang suggested.
“Interesting only if it’s something Zuko wouldn’t want getting out. Like some conspiracy about a distant relative having an affair resulting in an illegitimate child, meaning that someone else should be on the throne, not Sparky.” Toph grinned wickedly.
“Do you think something like that might have happened?”
“I dunno. But if it did and someone wrote about it, it’d be down here, right?”
Aang shrugged. “Probably. But I don’t think we should go digging for information that’s going to hurt our friends.”
“But Aang, if Zuko *isn’t* supposed to be Fire Lord, wouldn’t it be the Avatar’s duty to make things right?” Toph reminded him.
“Well…yeah, but still, I don’t think it’s a good idea. And besides, I doubt there’s anyone else who would do as good a job at being Fire Lord as Zuko. He’s already done so much good. To meddle would cause problems, and that’s definitely *not* what the Avatar is supposed to do.”
Toph rolled her eyes. “Lighten up Aang. I was kidding.  Boy, you’ve really forgotten how to have fun since you became all…Avatar-y.”
“I haven’t forgotten how to have fun,” Aang protested,
“Really? When was the last time you pulled a prank on Sokka? Or impulsively spent Katara’s grocery budget on a gimmicky shrunken head, and then tried to scare her with it? Or what about the time you hid your fire-nation bandana in with Suki’s laundry, and all her clothes ended up a shade of pink? Have you done anything like that recently?”
Aang hesitated. “…well, no. But I’ve been really busy.”
“Oh really? Doing what?” Toph asked him critically,
“You know. Doing Avatar stuff. Meeting world leaders. Assisting peace treaties. Normal stuff.” Aang fidgeted under her sightless gaze,
“So you’ve been attending fancy dinner parties and talking to a bunch of boring adults about politics. Wow, that sounds like *so* much fun, I think I need to lie down just thinking about it,” she replied sarcastically.
“It’s not that bad. And it’s my duty as the Avatar to do all that stuff.”
“But you’re also still a teenager. You have a right to let loose once in a while and do something crazy. Whatever happened to the fun Aang I used to know? The one who first taught *me* the meaning of fun? Did he drown in the sea of avatar ‘duty’?”
Aang sighed wearily. “You’re right, I guess he did,”
“Damn straight I’m right. This is what happens when I leave you with Katara. You become boring and loose everything about you that I love,”
Aang had been nodding in agreement to Toph’s words, but had to double-take that last part, “…what did you say?”
Toph froze as she realised what she had let slip out. “…I said, you’ve lost everything that makes you, you,” she recovered.
Aang began to wonder if he had just imagined her saying something about love. It *was* Toph after all. She never spoke about girly things like that.
Sensing that her next words could massively influence the nature of their friendship, Toph quick tried to find something to change the topic. Instead, she found an anomaly.

“Hey, what’s this?” she asked suddenly, getting to her feet.
“What’s what?” Aang asked,
“There’s something here,”
“Something alive?”
“No, it’s like, a weird part in the floor plan,” Toph manoeuvred around him and set off into the darkness.
“Wait, where are you going?” Aang chased after her, re-lighting his firebending torch.

But Toph led him silently through the sky-high shelves of the mysterious archives, until they came to a missing shelf in the sequence. The empty darkness stuck out like a sore thumb in the dimly lit row.
“What’s that?” Aang asked in awe.
“We aren’t going to find out by just standing here,” Toph replied, taking his hand and pulling him into the enveloping darkness.

As the light from his fire rebounded off the walls, Aang realised that they were in some sort of small room, with all the walls made out of book-filled shelves. There was a table and chairs in the middle which were scattered with open scrolls and writing brushes. A cobweb covered oil lamp stood in the middle.

“So, what is it?” Toph asked impatiently.
“It’s a little room. With a table.” Aang replied,
“I can see all that. What’s *on* the table?”
Aang walked over to the table and transferred his torch to the oil lamp, to free up his hands. He picked up the nearest scroll and skimmed the first bunch of characters.
“It looks like some sort of history,” he confirmed.
Toph sighed and sank into one of the wooden chairs. “Please tell me this one is more interesting than the other history scrolls we found,”
“I’d say it’s more interesting. This is stuff about Fire Lord Sozin. And it looks like he wrote it,”
Toph perked up immediately. “Something Sozin wrote you say? Well, what’s it about?”
Aang read some more. “I think it’s like an autobiography. He just talks about his reign, and his plans for the future and his friendship with Roku. Oh, this is just like the stuff Roku told me.”
“I can’t believe that your past life was friends with Sozin. It doesn’t seem possible,” Toph commented,
“People aren’t completely evil. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you….this is interesting…Oh, here’s the part where he’s talking about how he started the war,” Aang skipped the next few paragraphs once he found Sozin’s more graphic details about the war.  
Where he picked up the text again, he found that the author had changed. As had the subject. “I think this is Azulon’s writing now. Wow, this must be like some kind of tradition for each Fire Lord to write out their own version of their history. I’ll bet we could find scrolls with earlier firelords,”
“That’s great,” Toph replied without enthusiasm. She had the feeling that one of Aang’s past lives must have been a history buff.
“Now this is *really* interesting. Azulon is talking about Lady Ursa,” Aang commented.
“Ursa? As in, Zuko’s mother?”
“Yeah. This must have been when Ozai started courting her. He’s taking about her lineage…I don’t get why that’s always so important to these royal-types…….” Aang trailed off as something in the text caught his full attention.
Toph sat in the silence for a while until she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Well, what is it?”
Aang was shocked. “It says…it says……I can’t say it. I’ll just read it out; ‘…while I do approve of Ozai’s choice for a wife, I can’t help but consider her background. I’m not sure how Fire Lord Sozin would react if he knew that his grandson was betrothed to the spawn of the great traitor, Roku,’”
“…wait, is he suggesting what I think he is?” Toph asked,
“That Ursa is a descendant of Avatar Roku? That definitely seems to be what he’s saying.” Aang replied dully. This news had some major implications.
“So, if Ursa is Roku’s granddaughter, and Zuko’s mother, and Roku is your past life…doesn’t that make Zuko you’re great-grandson…from another life?” Toph suggested.
“Wow, I think that does,” Aang’s head was spinning with this new information.
“…do you think Zuko knows?”
“I have no idea,”
“…are you alright? You’re not being very talkative,”
“I’m just…shocked. That’s all. It’s not every day that you find out one of your friends is a descendant of your past life. And Roku is my most recent past life too. This is…wow,”
Toph smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I guess Zuko wasn’t just guessing when he said it was his destiny to help you in the war. You two are connected. You know, spiritually.”
Aang smiled. This was good news. It reaffirmed Zuko’s place on the throne. After all, who better to rule the Fire Nation than a relative of the Avatar? he mused.

~

Katara breathed in the cool air of the darkening sky. It was just an hour from sunset, and she was waiting outside in the palace stable yard. She walked over to Appa. He greeted her with a friendly snort.
“Well, I’m going on a bit of a trip,” she told the flying bison.
He sniffed her hair in response.
“I wish we could take you with us, but I can’t find Aang to ask, and I don’t want to risk it in case someone else needs to urgently get somewhere. That and you deserve a good long break after all the flying you’ve done for us lately,” Katara smiled. Appa was in fact one of the most important members of their group. Without him, she couldn’t imagine how they could’ve even left the South Pole before the eclipse.

Katara heard footsteps come from behind.
“Are you ready?” Zuko asked,
Katara bent down to pick her bags back up and face him, “Yeah, you?”
Zuko nodded, and a stable-hand brought forward two Ostrich-horses, already tacked and ready to go. He helped Katara load her bags as Zuko secured his own, already greatly familiar with travelling by Ostrich-horses.

The stable-hand mumbled his best wishes to the Fire lord and went back to the stable. Katara looked confusedly as the high saddle of her ostrich-horse which loomed at her eye-level. A hand appeared in front of her.
“Need some help?” Zuko offered.
“…yeah, thanks,” Katara accepted,
He folded his hands into a step for her to step into the saddle. After a few uneasy misses, Katara eventually managed to gracefully swing herself into the saddle, with minimum wobbling at the top.
“Don’t worry, we have all trip for you to get used to it,” Zuko joked,
Katara smiled wickedly, “Oh, I’ll be far better than you by the end,”
“Is that a challenge?”
“A challenge at getting onto an Ostrich-horse? Sure is,”

Zuko laughed at the ridiculousness, “Fine. We’d better get started then, unless you want to keep practicing here,”
Katara rolled her eyes, “No, let’s go. Let’s find your mother,”

And with that, the Fire Lord and Water Tribe Lady set off on their great journey, from which they wouldn’t return unchanged.

~

Toph yawned. “Ok, I’m bored already. What else you got?”
“Toph, this is huge. Can’t I just sit in the knowledge for a little bit longer?” Aang pleaded,
“No. That’s something the Boring Aang does. When you’re with me, you’re the Fun Aang. And I said I’m bored. So, find something else to amuse me,” Toph explained.
“What am I? Your jester?”
“Exactly. And Lady Toph wants to hear another story. On with it, Jester,” Toph nudged him.
“Fine, fine, you win,” Aang gave in. He put down the History scroll and picked up another.
“Oh, you’re going to love this. It’s another research scroll,” he announced.
Toph moaned, “Not another one. What is it with people and researching things?!”
Aang quickly read more of the text, and once again, found something interesting.
“Hey, it’s about the Air Nomads!”
“Sure looks like we hit the jackpot coming here,” Toph remarked, “What’s it say?”
“It’s quite good. He’s got a section devoted to each of the different temples. Look,  my temple! Let’s see…well that’s pretty accurate. We did use the ovens daily for baking,”
Toph rolled her eyes. “Thrilling,”
“Oh, but he got that wrong. We never made fire flakes. Boy, for a historian, this guy isn’t all that logical…” Aang skimmed down the scroll.
“Hey, this bit’s about the Great Air Benders. Wow, I haven’t seen them in…well, since before the iceberg,”
“Great Air benders? I’ve never heard about them,”
“Yeah, it’s strange. Now that you mention it, I haven’t heard anything of them since I came out of the ice either. And I didn’t even think to look for them before when we were looking for air benders. How strange…”
“Does the scroll say anything about it?”
“Actually, it does. It says ‘for many years, the disappearance of the Great Air Benders, since the beginning of the war, has remained a mystery to the rest of the world. Although there are many rumours indicating the whereabouts of this Fifth and Mysterious Temple and it’s people, all have been proven false or dismissed as ridiculous, as of yet. But I, Jamikus L Barku have sworn an oath to spend the rest of my days seeking out the truth, despite the overwhelming obstacle of the war and my Firelord, who has deemed by work pointless as it apparently doesn’t offer him any advantage. But I shall not be deterred. I am about to set off tomorrow to follow a lead; an old wise-man in the far reaches of the Earth Kingdom. And if I don’t return, I shall have either died for the good of my research, or have found the missing Air benders, and am sharing in their secret to survival in this mess.’”

“…cool. Do you think he found them?” Toph asked,
“I don’t know. But we have to try,”
“Hold on, what are you saying?”
Aang stood up excitedly, “Don’t you see what this means? If the Great Air Benders disappeared at the start of the war, they must have found a way to escape the Fire Nation. And if they did that, that means they could still be alive!”
“I dunno Aang. How old is that research?”
Aang checked the scroll. “It’s dated to Azulon’s reign. So?”
“That was a long time ago. What makes you think they’re still alive?”
“Well, I’m still alive. And if they weren’t wiped out by the fire nation, than why shouldn’t they be alive too?”
“Maybe that’s why the disappeared. They were wiped out early,” Toph suggested.
“No, this guy has accounts on the destruction of all the other Air nomads, so if the Great Air Temple was attacked, he’d have written about it.”
“…so what are you going to do?”
“I have to follow in this guy’s footsteps.”
“How?”
“Easy. We find the old wise-man,”
“He’s probably dead by now, if he was old when this guy went to talk to him,”
Toph could feel Aang looking at her sadly.
“I have to try. These are my people we’re talking about,”
Toph sighed. “Fine. But where are you going to start?”
Aang thought about it for a moment. “I know, I’ll go see Guru Pathik. Maybe he’ll know something.”
“Sounds like a plan. When are we leaving?” Toph asked.
“…we?”
“Yeah, ‘we’. You didn’t think I was going to let you do this alone, did you?”
Aang smiled. “You really want to come with me?”
“Of course. This sounds just like the kind of crazy adventure I’ve been waiting for,”

~