[act one; chapter 3     -     mom, am I still young?]

trigger warning: pregnancy related death (end of chapter)

    Lian feels like a stranger. She feels as though she is back, trapped within the shadows; forced to watch as the world moves on around her, leaving her behind like a forgotten statue. She watches as they celebrate, as they reunite. Yet, there she is. Alone.

    She looks over at them as Sokka speaks up, drawing her attention. "Look, we escaped from the Dai Li, we got Appa back, I'm telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll."

    "He won't listen."

    Sokka turns to her as she speaks. He watches her, just as much as she watches him. Lian's braid sits heavy on her back, weighing her down as she looks up at him. Her green eyes, so dark they were nearly black, seemed to swallow every ounce of hope whole.

    "What?"

    "He won't listen. Long Feng isn't dead. And I guarantee that he is with my father. If Long Feng does not listen, neither will my father."

    "Well, we've been doing so good—"

    Lian cuts him off, standing up. "A few hours of good doesn't change anything."

    "Then we build off of it," Sokka says. Lian sighs, and he can see that his words are getting to her. Making sense, hopefully. Surpassing her hesitance and questions. "If we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we need the Earth King's support."

    As much as Lian wants to believe it, truly, she can't. She can't help but feel that they won't succeed, that her father has gone too far down the rabbit hole that the Dai Li have dug for him. That no matter how far she reached, he would always be too far. It makes her heart hurt, makes it sink into the pits of her stomach. But part of her also can't help but try to believe Sokka's words. That these people—these good, kind people—will persuade him to see the things he has been blinded from.

    But Toph, it seems, believes the same things that she does. "What makes you think we'll get it?" She turns her head away, "I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang."

    Sokka sighs, trying to remain hopeful. "I know, but I've got a good feeling about this." He waves his arms in the air, gesturing towards their newest member. "Plus, we've got Lian, now. She's his daughter, and, from what I've seen, a good bender! This time'll be different."

    But Katara, unlike her brother, much agrees with Toph and Lian's sentiments. "Sokka," she says. "Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us."

    "I'm with Sweetness," Toph adds. "I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se. And I can't even see!"

    Aang finally joins them, gesturing from Appa to Lian, and back to his friends. "But now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth. About the conspiracy and the war."

    "See, Aang's with me." Sokka puts his arm around the younger boy, then points at Lian, who, seemingly, sits somewhere in the middle of the two opinions. "Lian can help us, she's already said so. And it's the whole reason we came here in the first place, we have to try."

    Lian sighs, nodding her head absentmindedly. She glances around at the four of them, these people that she is beginning to think may be her friends. She takes a step closer to Sokka, almost smiling when he smiles at the realization that she, too, agrees with him.

    Katara looks between the three, and rubs at her chin. "Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, especially with Lian there to help convince him, things could change."

    Toph pushes off from the ground, standing up with her arms still crossed over her chest. "I don't trust the new positive Sokka." Suddenly, and with a slight humorous tremor to her tone, she points at the older boy, shouting, "Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he?"

    But then, just in that moment, Aang notices something across the water, just there in the horizon. Three boats, drifting almost aimlessly.

    Sokka runs over, "That's probably the Dai Li searching for us..." he looks at his sister, "so?"

    Katara gives in, determination flooding her instantly. "Let's fly."

———

    By time they reached the castle, the sun had already begun to set, and, once again, just as they thought nothing could happen, that they would be welcome in, especially with Lian at the lead, a boulder comes flying at them, nearly knocking Appa from the sky.

    "What was that?" Toph shouts, unable to know or have any sort of idea what, exactly, was happening.

    "Surface-to-air rocks!" Sokka shouts back.

    Lian pushes onto her knees, nearly losing her balance as the sky bison dogges the boulders. She looks over her shoulders at Katara, saying, "Hold on to me, and don't let me fall?"

    The girl nods, wrapping her arms around Lian's legs, all while keeping hold of Appa. She says, "I've got you, I promise!"

    And then, by the time the next boulder comes flying their way, Lian swats her hand aside, watching as it redirects, falling back towards the soldiers in a fiery ball of stone. Together, she and Aang take down as many as they can, cutting them down or redirecting them, watching as they explode mid-air.

    Sokka watches, in awe, as Lian creates the smallest cracks in the boulders, watching as they split and ooze something that he swears, right then, is lava. He looks up at her, yelling, "How did you do that?"

    She glances over her shoulder, grinning. "Lots of practice."

    Aang, then, jumps from Appa, crashing into the ground with a mighty hit to the earth, causing a ricochet of every stone piece of the pavement leading to the castle. Just behind him, then, they follow, rushing for the stairs as the earthbending soldiers swarm them from every direction.

    "Stay behind me!" Lian shouts, stopping herself with her front foot digging into the rock as though it were sand, breaking it apart into small shards of glass. She sends them flying, with a punch of her arm, towards the individual pieces of stone flying their way. And there, with the two earthbenders and Aang, the five make their way towards the stairs, slowly, as they break the pieces of earth, one by one, with Katara and Sokka defending their backs.

    "Lian!" Toph shouts, gaining the Princesses attention. The older girl turns, not even needing to ask to know what she is asking. They copy each other's every movement, lifting the stone pavement and flipping them over like dominos, pancaking the soldiers for a brief time.

    As they run by, Katara yells their way, "Sorry, we just need to get through to see the Earth King!"

    Once again, before they can grow too near to the steps, more soldiers arrive, sending the great statues of the badger moles flying towards them, set to crush them whole. Aang, Toph, and Lian throw their arms up, as if they were to block a punch, causing the pavement to curl around them like the wall of a bridge, shielding them from the impact.

    Katara sends herself soaring across the small stream, landing on the other side of the pavement, now the closest to the stairs. There, she sends the soldiers tumbling into the water, unable to get out, but leaving a newly open space for the others to pass through.

    Lian stays behind, then, as the four and the flying bison contine on, Aang only stopping as Toph conforms the stairs into a slide. He looks back as the older girl readies her arms, looking behind them at the soldiers they had passed. More and more of them begin to swarm them, surround them at all sides. She yells, doing her best to project her voice his way, "I've got it, you go ahead! I'll meet you there!"

    Aang cups his hands around his mouth, "Be careful!"

    He can faintly see the grin pulling at her lips. She tilts her head back and forth, as she anchors her feet into the ground, sinking ankle-deep into it as though it were quicksand. He doesn't need to say anything else to know that she can hold her own. He doesn't know why, but something about her bending is so familiar, so powerful. As if he had dreamt of it...

    Lian stands with her feet perfectly aligned, just across from each other, stable within the hold of the earth in which she knows so well. She feels her lungs expand and constrict—she makes sure to feel every movement of her body. Every breath is completely controlled. She collects herself, her power, and breathes in. And when she breathes out, the world breathes with her. The ground shakes beneath her, reverberating with every shutter of her lungs. She knows that she should care for the damage it may cause, if it would harm anyone. But she presses her heels down, feeling the weight of her power, feeling how far its hold truly spread. She could feel it, and, almost as if raising a wall around it, her power stopped beyond the property of the castle. No other place but here, the very center of Ba Sing Se, will feel her rage. No one innocent would feel it. No, only those who are accomplices to the secrets and manipulation will.

    From where they remain on the slide—once the stairs—Aang shouts, "What is that?"

    Katara glances back, looking down below. At the base of the stairs, Lian remains. But beyond her, all around her, the ground almost looked as though it were the waves of the very ocean that had taught Katara to live. With every breath Lian took, a new bout of power came from her, showering the earth beneath them in her wake. And that is when she sees it. The lines of red, leaking through from below.

    Lava, she realizes.

    Katara, with her eyes blown wide, tells them, "It's Lian! She's turning it into an ocean of lava!"

    "What!?" Sokka shouts, turning to find the evidence for himself. And, sure enough, lava has flooded through the cracks, creating a pool. An entire strip separating the soldiers and outside world from them.

    As they reach the top of the stairs, however, they feel one more wave of power, and Toph, the only one truly able to understand the magnitude of it, feels the projectile launch of earth. And, just behind them, with a loud thud, Lian stands. She wipes at her forehead, the back of her hand returning covered in sweat. She sees them slow and waves her hand, "Don't slow down, I'm right behind you!"

    And they trust her.

    "Which way to the Earth King?" Sokka questions, loud enough for Lian, having just caught up to them, to hear.

    "Just ahead!"

    But, before they could rush in that direction, the magnitude of the damage Toph had created stopping the soldiers within the castle settled before them. Sokka ran, climbing up the mound of rubble, looking in the direction that Lian had told him to. And there, just down the hall, lay a large door, painted in gold and green.

    He stares at it, breathing out, "Now that's an impressive door. It's gotta go somewhere."

    And then, Sokka is jumping down, and running towards the door. But before he can do much, before he can try to open it on his own, Aang has blown it open, causing the water tribe boy to fall flat, looking back at the Avatar. "A little warning, next time?"

    "Father!" Lian shouts, running forward. But just as she is about to breach the footsteps of the stairs, Long Feng intercepts, stopping harshly before her, the Dai Li at his front. "We need to speak to you."

    Long Feng looks at her father, at the man who was supposed to raise her, and points at the kids behind her, and, finally, at her. "They're here to overthrow you. And Lian, your own daughter, is helping them."

    Sokka, however, jumps to the defense. To her defense. "No, we're on your side. We're here to help."

    "You have to trust us!" Katara adds, taking a single step forward.

    But the King pushes up from the throne, standing to his full height. His eyes, however, do not, not even once, linger on his daughter. To go to the four who stand behind her, as if accusing them of the very thing only the Dai Li have ever done to her. "You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, break down my fancy door, force my daughter to go along with your plan, and you expect me to trust you?"

    "Father—"

    He cuts her off, his eyes, nearly the same as her own, finding her. "If you're on my side, then drop your weapons and stand down."

    And then, together, the four do just that. They release their weapons, the image of compliance.

    Aang forces a smile. "See, we're friends, your earthiness."

    Lian cringes, dropping her gaze, avoiding her father's eyes. She does nothing, not even slightly, as the Dai Li entrap her friends in restraints. She does nothing as they say her name, one by one, a question rather than a plea, as she settles on her knees before her father. She pulls her weapons from every hidden place on her person, dropping them in front of her. She can feel his eyes, the King's, tracking her every movement. And, slowly, she lowers herself, her hands outstretched, her head settling between them. And she pleads.

    "Father, please, I beg of you. As your heir, I urge you to listen to me, please. Just for a moment."

    Around her, her words fall on deaf ears. They do nothing, just as she does nothing, while her friends are restrained and pulled away.

    Long Feng orders, "Make sure the Avatar and his friends never see daylight again."

    Lian lifts her head, allowing her eyes to meet her father's. "Please, dad."

    And she sees the shift. Sees the realization bloom in his eyes. He leans forward, just slightly, as his eyes widen. He looks to Lian, to his daughter, for answers. As if she is truly the only one in the room he can trust. "The Avatar? He's the Avatar?"

    Lian looks back, only to find him pointing at the wrong person. She would laugh, if it were any other circumstance. But she only shakes her head, looking forward again. "Not him. The smaller boy, with the arrows. He is the Avatar."

    But still, Long Feng keeps his hold strong. He is grasping onto his power with bleeding fingers, and Lian hopes she is the one that causes him to finally fall. "What does it matter, your highness? They're enemies of the state."

     "Perhaps you're right," he looks away. But Basco, her fathers beloved pet, finds comfort and endearment in Aang. "Though Basco seems to like him."

    "Father," Lian draws his attention once more. He looks down at her, where she remains bowing, and returns to his marble-like state. As if he were mirroring her. "Please listen to him."

    The King nods. Only once. "I'll hear what he has to say. Sit beside me, Lian. Please."

    And she does. She sits there, on her knees, just beside his throne, listening, waiting, watching. Hoping.

    Aang steps forward, then, standing front and center, ordering the attention of everyone in attendance. "Well, sir, there's a war going on right now. For the past 100 years, in fact. The Dai Li's kept it a secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city and to control you."

    "A secret war?" The King questions. Though, somehow, he does not seem to disagree with it. "That's crazy!"

    Long Feng, of course, keeps up his ruse, a smile pulling at his lips. "Completely," he muses.

    Aang's gray eyes find Lian's green ones, and there, he swears, he only sees one face. Kyoshi. It is as though he is staring at her, conversing with her in the Spirit World and he wonders, then, how he hadn't realized it. The similarities that linger so plainly. All of Lian's features, the ones that do not mirror her father's, come from Kyoshi. Not completely, of course, but most of them. And he knows, then, that Kyoshi's bloodline did not end. It had continued, just as she had teased briefly once, and he knew that it had found residence in the Princess before him. And he knows, then, that Lian does not know. She has no idea, and he feels something familiar ache within his chest.

    She nods, then, not knowing what circulates through his mind. But Aang knows he must continue on. He must speak the truth. For his sake, for his friends, and for his newest companion, Lian.

    He looks right at the King and says, "Long Feng didn't want us to tell you, so he stole our sky bison to blackmail us. And blackmail is the least of his crimes. He brainwashed our friend! He's even tried to do it to Lian!"

    The King's eyes fall to his daughter, whose head is bowed downward, eyes cast to the ground. And then he looks to Long Feng, a lying, cheating, scheming man. He lies right through his teeth, yet again. "All lies." He does not look at anyone other than the King, as if his lies could surpass whatever amount of realization floods him. "I've never even seen a sky bison, your majesty. Frankly, I thought they were extinct."

    The King returns to his seat, looking down at his daughter. And this time, she is looking back up at him. Her eyes search through his own, and there, looking at her, he finds a familiar face. Her mother. And he knows he must try. He must try to understand her, here. Her and her friends. For if he does not, he fails. As a leader, and, especially, as a father. "Your claim is difficult to believe," he relinquishes. "Even from an Avatar."

    Long Feng leans in close, too close, and whispers to the King, spilling lies with blood. "These hooligans are part of an anarchist cell that my agents have been tracking for weeks. If you listen to them, you're playing right into your own destruction."

    And, as always, her father gives in. "I have to trust my advisor."

    Lian pushes to her feet, just as the others get pulled away, "Wait, no—"

    But Sokka, turning around forcibly, shakes his head. "Wait, I can prove he's lying!" He looks to Lian, then, nodding his head. "Confirm this for me, please, Princess?"

    She nods once. "Of course."

    Sokka, then, looks right at the head of the Dai Li, locking eyes, forcing him to watch as his reign of power crumbles right beneath his feet. "Long Feng said he's never seen a sky bison. Ask him to lift his robe."

    "What?" The man in question gasps, exasperated at such a thing. "I am not disrobing."

    And then, with a great huff of air, Aang reveals all that remains to be revealed. As Long Feng's robes are forced upward from the wind, a mark on his leg is all that can be seen. A perfect show of the truth.

    Aang points at the marking, saying, "Right there, Appa bit him!"

    "Never met a sky bison, have you?" Sokka leans forward, smiling.

    As he pushes his robes back down, the man continues on, "That happens to be a large birthmark. Thanks for showing everyone."

    The King raises a hand slowly. "Well, I suppose there's no way to prove where those marks came from."

    "Actually," Lian says, drawing his attention. She gestures behind her friends, stepping forward. "There is."

    Then, all thanks to Appa, it is proven. There is, without a doubt, no questions remaining. The marks left on Long Feng's leg can only come from one thing.

    The King nods,