[act two; chapter ten     -     today's destiny]

    She hadn't ever been surrounded by such an environment. Tossed into the belly of raging shouts and slamming fists, or chairs soaring through the air. It was a strange place, she felt, as she stood at Zuko's side, her eyes flitting from one corner to another in quick succession.

    They approached slowly, Lian and Suki sharing a look of confusion as, of course, they were the only two who had not been involved in Zuko's past with June.

    The woman groaned, tipping her chin in the opposite direction as they stopped before the table. "Oh, great, it's Prince Pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?"

    Zuko's brows furrowed, annoyed. "He's my uncle. And he's not here."

    She shrugged once, looking back to the cup of tea in her hand. Her eyes, dark, Lian noticed, flitted between her and the Prince, before settling back on her tea. "I see you worked things out with your girlfriend."

    Her face immediately ran hot, cheeks bruisingly red. Her brows furrowed, lips pursed. She said, "Oh, no, he's not—"

    And at the very same time, nearly in tandem, Zuko stammered, "She's not my girlfriend—"

    June held a hand up innocently. "Okay, okay. Sheesh. I was only teasing."

    "I need your help finding the avatar," he explained.

    "Hm, doesn't sound too fun."

     His lips twisted into a frown, his body leaning forward as his hands fisted just in front of his chest. "Does the end of the world sound like more fun?"

    Never in her life had Lian seen a creature quite like June's. Her name was Nyla, she learned. A large creature with a piqued sense of smell. She walked in circles, then, helplessly searching for the scent of a boy who was, seemingly, long gone. She collapsed to the ground, paws rubbing at her nose, whines echoing from her.

    Lian, with her hands interlocked behind her back, frowned. "What does that mean?"

    June, crouched beside the creature, turned her head, her eyes finding the earthbender's. "It means your friend's gone."

    "We know he's gone," Toph exclaimed, her arms splayed out on either side of her body. "That's why we're trying to find him."

    "No, I mean he's gone-gone. He doesn't exist."

    Dread seemed to sink into her gut, weighing her down as though it was all that she existed of. As if it were her purpose of living. She felt as though her soul had been stitched and woven together by dread and grief, and an incurable sense of sadness. As if it was all that she had been made for. As if it were her nearest companion.

    She took several steps back, her body leaning against a tree. It held her up, ensured that she remained as she was. Her mind began to run, then, with the idea of what may lay ahead now. Aang was gone. Missing. And without him, the Fire Lord could persevere. Continue with his plans. He would take what remained of her Nation. He would take what remained of the world. She swallowed that knowledge, felt it get stuck within her closing chest. It was suffocating.

    (If you cannot, I will.)

    She had said it. To Aang. To Katara. She knew, standing among these people, that she had a chance at slowing Ozai. Not stopping him, maybe, but slowing him. She would do anything she needed to. She would put aside her life if it meant that the world, the legacy of the Avatar, could continue.

    Even if it meant that it continued without her.

    She didn't quite listen, then, as her friends began to question June. Question her words and understanding of whatever situation lay before them. She didn't hear Sokka's piercing questions or Zuko's new suggestion. She didn't notice a single thing of what was occurring around her until Katara grasped her elbow gently, gaining her attention. "Come on," she said. "We've got a new scent. It's Iroh's."

    They traveled, then, for the entirety of another day, and it was not long after that Lian noticed the landscape surrounding them. They were going to her home. To Ba Sing Se.

    Her breath was stolen from her, leaning up on her knees, looking over the side of Appa's saddle. Sokka followed her eyes, watching as they landed just before a gap in the once great, impenetrable wall of the Earth Kingdom capital.

    Sokka's brows furrowed as he looked around. He said, "We're going to Ba Sing Se?"

    Nyla was digging her paws into the cliffside as June explained, "Your uncle is somewhere beyond the wall. Nyla is getting twitchy, so it can't be too far." She looked up, then, at the group of them. "Good luck."

     And then she was gone, disappearing over the rolling hills, dipping away until they could no longer see even a shadow.

     Zuko turned to them, his eyes, however, lingering on Lian's back as she turned away. As her eyes scaled the wall before her. Her home that lay just miles away. "It's been a long day," he said quietly. "Let's camp and start our search again at dawn."

    They had been sleeping for some time, then, all of them scattered, yet never far from the others. Lian lay across from Zuko, his body turned so that his unscarred side faced up. His ear, unburned and fully-functioning, tipped towards the word around them. Ensuring that he stayed connected to it. They faced each other, even in silence. Even as their eyes began to close and the world began to fade into nothing but the exhaustion that lingered so plainly in their bones.

    However, it was Toph's sudden shout that woke her, that drew her attention. She pushed up from where she laid on Appa, just as the others did, their eyes finding the several bodies that stood above them, perched on the cliffs.

    The younger girl raised her hands in the air as the ring of fire surrounding them dissipated, her eyes unseeing and lost. She exclaimed, "What's going on? We're surrounded by old people."

     Katara shook her head, gesturing to Suki, Lian, and Toph, the three who had never encountered those before them. "Not just any old people, these are great masters and friends of ours." She approached the man who stood furthest to the left, bending at her waist, her hands poised in front of her chest in a bow. "Pakku."

    The old man smiled and mirrored her movements. "It is respectful to bow to an old master." His smile widened into a grin, his eyes lifting to find Katara's. "But how about a hug for your new grandfather?"

     Katara's arms raised, just as Sokka gasped. She shouted, "That's so exciting!" She embraces the man, Pakku, and grasps his hands. "You and Gran-Gran must be so happy to have found each other again."

    "I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything."

    Suddenly, Sokka launched his body forward and onto the man, excitedly saying, "Welcome to the family, "Gramp-Gramp!"

    Pakku winced. "You can still just call me Pakku."

    But Sokka was incessant. "How about Gramp-Bakku?"

    "No."

    Katara, then, went on to introduce the following men, dressed in white and blue, to the others. She gestured between Zuko and another man, saying, "And this was Aang's first firebending teacher."

    The man, with large white hair, tipped at the hips. "Jeong-Jeong," he said firmly.

    Meanwhile, to the other side, Sokka reunited with his own teacher, while Suki looked between them all, her brows furrowed closely together. "So, wait, how do you all know each other?"

    Another man, the only one of the group that Lian, herself, recognized, was Bumi, the ruler of a smaller Earth Kingdom city. He grinned, his eyes finding hers, and said, "All old people know each other, don't you know that?" He laughed, then, accompanied by the occasional snort.

    Piandao, Sokka's teacher, said, "We're all part of the same ancient secret society, a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations."

    Zuko smiled broadly, then, his face alight with something Lian had found she rarely saw. "The Order of the White Lotus," he said.

    Bumi grinned, holding up a ring-clad finger. "That's the one."

    "The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty, and truth. But about a month ago, a call went out that we needed for something important." It was Jeong-Jeong, then, who explained it to them, though his eyes cast to Pakku as he finished.

    "It came from our Grand Lotus, your uncle," the waterbender said, looking only to Zuko. "Iroh of the Fire Nation."

    Toph grinned from behind them. "Well, that's who we're looking for."

    Piandao put a hand out, saying, "Then we'll take you to him."

    However, the only other earthbender present, Bumi, pushed them aside, his eyes wide. "Wait, someone's missing from your group, someone very important. Where's Momo?"

    Sokka, who was standing face to face with the man, albeit unwillingly, choked out, "He's gone and so is Aang."

    "Oh, well, so long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about."

———

    She felt something, then, a tug in her gut. A familiar feeling. One that started from her mind to her heart to the plains of her feet as they pressed into the ground beneath her.

    The Spirit World, she realized, was the feeling. She felt it tug at her, as if pulling her in a direction. She did not know why, not at first. But then, with glimpses of it behind her eyes, she realized why she felt as she did.

    Aang. She knew where Aang was. She knew what he was doing and why. She knew, yet something in her told her to remain silent. To keep it tied closely to her chest. To remain as silent as she had been for hours.

    As they breached the head of the camp, Bumi slid down a wall, his arms splayed on either side of his body. "Well, here we are. Welcome to old people camp."

    Zuko, as if running out of time, had gone off to find his uncle. However, Lian noticed he had found himself sitting silently in front of the tent. Katara had approached him, though only for a moment.

    As the waterbender left his side, Lian found it.

    She sat silently at his side, her hand reaching for his, pulling it into her lap. They sat there, then, eyes cast towards the closed flap of the tent. She could hear every breath he took, even the steady, yet fast beats of his heart. Of how it seemed to rattle within his chest, yet remain entirely at peace. As if the knowledge of whom lingered on the other side of the door had brought him solace in a way that he had never truly had. Or perhaps, she realized, in a way that he had ever known he had.

    They sat, silently, for a time. Just the two. Zuko squeezed her hand gently, his eyes falling to find how her fingers ran gently, yet absentmindedly, over the tops of his hand. He watches her, then. Observes her small movements and the way she maintains steady breaths. The rise and fall of her chest. The soft, water-like movement of her skin against his.

    He smiles and reaches up, grasping her chin in his hand, turning her head. She does not fight him. In fact, she turns her head with a small smile. Leans her forehead against his with a sigh. Murmurs, "We're so close."

    "To what?" He asks quietly.

    "Peace."

    He pulls away, then, his eyes flitting across her face. She grins and turns away, pulling his hand from her face. She pushes up to her feet, her hand brushing over his shoulder. "Why don't you go inside? He will be happy to see you, I'm sure of it."

    She left him there, sitting just before the tent. She finds herself alone, then, wandering to the very edge of the camp. She sits there. She watches as the breeze picks leaves off the ground, as it blows them all around. As it flits through the trees and through the grass. She watches as it all moves around her and wonders, only briefly, how she got there. How, after all she had experienced, her entire life, this was where she had ended up.

    She feels the sudden sting in her eyes. Tears welling, threatening to spill over. Hand cupping her mouth, she leans her head forward, dropping her chest against her knees. And she cries. She cries because she knows, somewhere trapped in her chest and mind, that her childhood is over. On this day, as she sits alone, her childhood has found its end. No matter her young age and remainder of youth. No matter her lack of experience in the world. No matter the lack of all that she had been born to feel or see or do.

    She felt, then, that she had aged years. Only within the matter of mere months. She could feel the harsh ache of it in her bones, in the fabric of who she was and who she had become. For Lian was not the same as she had been when she escaped Ba Sing Se. When she fled from her home. That girl, she realizes, had been naive. She had wanted to believe that every person was capable of good. That no one person could be born inherently evil. That no one was just bad.

    She had doubts, now. They ravaged her mind and haunted her. Reminded her of her own wrongdoings. Of the hurt that she had caused to people in this world. To people who had once been important in her life. It reminded her of how she had held Azula against the wall. Of the things she had said. Reminded her of arguments with her father. How she would spew hurtful words and threaten the worst of things.

    She was not a good person. She didn't believe she was. And she supposed that she would live her life with that constant reminder in the scars on her body.

———

    She sits among them, then, her friends. She watches and listens, her eyes cast at their surroundings, as they seem to swallow them whole. The reminder of what is to come. Of how much life may change by the fall of the moon.

     "Uncle," Zuko says, having sat next to Lian. "You're the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Fatherlord."

    Toph, sitting on Zuko's other side, leans forward and snips, "You mean the Fire Lord."

    "That's what I just said."

    Iroh, then, hums, though his eyes remain focused on the bowl in his hands, left untouched, similarly to Lian's own.

    "We need you to come with us."

    But the old man simply shakes his head, lowering the bowl to his lap as he says, "No, Zuko. It won't turn out well."

    "You can beat him and we'll be there to help."

    Iroh looks between them all. "Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end a war. History will see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power." His eyes flit to Lian, who sits silently at his nephew's side. He watches as her eyes flicker away, focused on the wind-blown blades of grass beneath her. How her fists clench. How her jaw is wound. "The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord."

    Zuko looks to him, then, hopefully. "And then...then will you come and take your rightful place on the throne?"

    "No," he mutters. Sitting around him, their eyes go wide, shocked and awed. But also confused. "Someone new must take the throne—an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko."

    Lian turns her head, lifting her chin, her eyes watching him. He turns his head away, as if ashamed and says, "Unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes."

    "Yes," Iroh says. "You have. You've struggled and you've suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

    The Prince nods, the weight settling upon his shoulders. "I'll try, Uncle," he says quietly. A promise.

    "Well—" Lian turns her attention, then, and fixes it on Toph as the younger girl speaks. Her brows are furrowed, drawn together and slightly hidden beneath her bangs. "What if Aang doesn't come back?"

    "Sozin's Comet is arriving and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord." Iroh turns, facing Lian. As if his words are meant for her. As if they are for her ears and hers alone. A story that had long been threaded into his soul. "When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again."

    The Princess, a girl born to and from the very place he has dreamt of, of the very same place that has haunted her own dreams. She looks at him, nods, and receives one in return. It is clear, then, what lingers between them. A silent promise of freedom, given to her by a man who had, at a time, been a part of why it had been taken.

    He pats her hand, which rests upon her knee. "And when the time comes, Princess, it must be you who brings your Nation back together. You, Lian, are the hope of a bright future for the Earth Kingdom."

    Suki, sitting across from her, puts a hand out. "That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus."

    "Yes," Iroh nods. He looks to his nephew. "Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there waiting for you."

    "I can handle Azula."

    "Not alone. You'll need help."

    Zuko grins. Says, "You're right." And looks to the only person who could provide him the help he needs. "Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

    The waterbender smiles with a single nod, a tip of her chin. "It would be my pleasure."

    "What about us?"

    Lian turns, her eyes finding Sokka's. His blue eyes drift between her and Iroh, as if they would behold the answers he seeks.

    "What's our destiny today?"

    Iroh, glancing sidelong, looks between them. "What do you think it is?"

    Sokka, with a hand pressed to his chin, says, "I think that even though we don't know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet."

    Toph smiles broadly at his side. "And that means, when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we'll be right there if he needs us."

   "Lian," Iroh draws her attention. She turns, glancing at him silently. As if she were a soldier awaiting orders (perhaps she was, then, in that moment). "You must go with Sokka. But you will have your own mission."

    She nods, leaning forward, closer to him so that he may lower his voice. His words, then, would be meant solely for her.

    "You must keep a closer distance to the Fire Lord. To the Avatar. And if the time comes that he cannot face my brother, you must be the one to do it."

This is a shorter chapter, because I didn't really feel like the big fight should be apart of this. I don't know, I really just felt like they needed to be separate from each other, but also to kind of draw the story out a little bit and give it the ending it deserves. 

I hope you enjoyed, BYE!

(Get ready for the next chapter, it's