She turned her head to him, the corner's of her lips flinching upward only for a moment. She sat straight, shoulders pulled back. She stares at him, just across from her. The Avatar, a boy. Thirteen. It reminds her of that afternoon. How she and Zuko had sat in his room. Laid on his bed. Laughed. Talked. "Zuko was thirteen when he spoke out in a war council. He was forcibly challenged to an Agni Kai." She watched the realization settle on Aang's face like sand settling to the ocean floor. "But rather than fighting the General, whom he thought he was fighting, he was to fight his father. The Fire Lord."
"His scar—"
"A horrific gift from Ozai. And the most unpleasant, blood-chilling thing I have ever witnessed."
Aang's gray eyes went wide. Astounded. "You were there?"
"I was," Lian nodded. She had been thirteen, then, too. Thirteen in a nation that was not her own. Now she was seventeen with no nation to call her own. "His uncle, Iroh, helped get me out, back to the Earth Kingdom before Ozai could find me and keep me there. Because he would have. He would have, most likely, kept me there as a glorified prisoner. Zuko and I were to be married when we turned eighteen. He would have kept me prisoner until that happened. And long after."
"But—"
She did not need to hear his words to know his thoughts. She knew. This was a side to her life that not many had seen. Zuko had been her first friend. Her first companion who was not a Dai Li agent. Or her father, who would rather spend his time with a bear than his own child. While they had not spoken of it, as she had chosen never to bring it up, Aang was aware of the ways of royalty. Of the traditions. She knew that, they'd spoken of it. But neither had ever broached the specific subject of it. Lian was to be married, to have children, and to give her father a male heir to the Earth Kingdom throne, to do the same for the Fire Nation. She was to sit silently at Zuko's side and solidify his role as Fire Lord when the time came. She was to be a marble statue. Untouchable. Perfect.
She dipped her chin, eyes avoiding Aang's. Embarrassed. She was embarrassed. It flooded her being and threatened to drown her. She shook her head. "The lives that we are created to live for are not spoken of to the world. And I hate to say it—you could not understand it if you have not lived it. To be born into that life, it is your only purpose. You are there for that reason alone. And if you live for anything else, you are worth nothing. There is no space to make mistakes. To step wrong. To appear as anything less than..." she faltered, her eyes welling with tears. She wiped them away. Looked at Aang. And said, "A marble statue. That is what Long Feng used to call me. He told me that is what I would be. From the moment I was born Princess, to the moment I died the wife of the Fire Lord. And I have carried with me, unwillingly, every day of my life. And Zuko. And..." she gestured to him, then. To Aang. And she smiled. A sad smile. "You. We were put here, in this life, to navigate the world with only one end. One possibility, one reason. And if you do not succeed, if you do not live right, then you are not worthy of honor."
The words sink in. She watches it. She feels it as it sinks back into her, seeping into her skin like a fragrance you can never truly wash away. She watches as it settles within Aang, his shoulders dropping, nodding his head slowly. He understands; she knew he did.
"Zuko was raised by a cruel man who only ever saw him as a nuisance. An annoyance and a weakness. And Zuko has carried that with him in everything that he does. So when he was scarred, when he fought his father and lost, he was exiled. And told never to return without—"
"The Avatar." Aang finished for her. His gray eyes were sad. They were heavy and solemn. It weighed him down, the realization of why the Prince of the Fire Nation appeared as he did. "I understand why you stand by him. Why you didn't say anything earlier. You want to...protect him. Don't you?"
"I do," Lian said firmly. Unwavering. "I think I will always want to protect him. And look for the best in him, because he always did for me. And even hearing those things, the things that he's done, I still believe that he's good. That he is not what his father has made him to be. And I will stand by that, I will stand by him. Always." She leaned forward, then, reaching a hand out towards Aang. She gestured between them—him and her. "But I will always stand by you. I need you to know that. My silence is not me standing with him and against you. Because if it were me, if the decision were mine, I would have taken Zuko at his word. And I would let him teach me what I need to know to do the right thing. Because Ozai is the bad guy."
Aang nodded slowly to himself. As if that allowed him to understand her words and the meaning of them. As if it allowed him to weigh the options, to take them in and choose.
Gray eyes met green. And Aang smiled. "Thank you, Lian."
"Always, Avatar." She grinned.
———
The next morning, they had surrounded Katara making breakfast. Dressed and prepared. Ready for whatever lay ahead in their day.
She handed a bowl to Lian, "Has anyone seen Toph?"
Sokka rubbed at his back, sore from their current sleeping situations. "I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday."
"Maybe she's just exploring the Air Temple," Haru suggested, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending."
But Katara's expression remained as it was. Crestfallen. Worried. "I think we should go look for her."
Her brother sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "Oh, let her have fun with her rocks. I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again."
The Duke spoke excitedly, as if seeking out another chance to adventure the Temple. "We can go check for her."
"Yeah," Teo offered. "I want to ride that tunnel down to the Hall of Statues again. It'll work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." He gave an example of the updated feature as the three disappeared up a ramp, turning around the corner and out of sight.
Suddenly, and from somewhere behind them, a deep rumble disturbed their breakfast. All four remaining teenagers turned their bodies, looking towards the location of the sudden noise. It was there that Toph slid out, her feet red and raw.
Katara reached her first. "Toph, what happened?"
"My feet got burned."
"Oh, no, what happened?"
"I just told you, my feet got burned."
Lian crouched in front of her, ensuring that the younger girl knew of her presence before speaking. "How?" Though, part of her suspected the answer.
"Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night."
Aang's eyes went wide in surprise. "You what?"
"Zuko?"
Toph sighed, splaying her hands on the ground in front of her. "I just thought he could be helpful to us, and if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out."
Sokka, though Lian wasn't surprised, jumped to conclusions. He leaned forward, angered. "So he attacked you?"
"Well, he did and he didn't. It was sort of an accident."
"But he did firebend at you?" Was the Avatar's question.
Toph sighed, albeit reluctantly. "Yes."
As Sokka went to answer with his usual sarcasm and assumptions of Zuko, Lian turned and pointed at him, cutting him off before he could begin. "Zuko would never have burned her on purpose, and Toph has already said it was an accident. She most likely caught him by surprise. So tell me, Sokka, what would you have done if someone approached you at night without warning? Would you have simply laughed it off?" He went silent and without response, which was the only answer she truly needed. "That's what I thought." She turned back to Toph and crouched down once more. She grasped one of the girl's hands as Katara focused on healing her feet. "I think that was kind of you, Toph, to go to him. To hear him out."
The younger girl responded, not verbally, but with a gentle squeeze of Lian's hand. They didn't need to speak, not like the others. There was simply an understanding between them. Perhaps it was because they were earthbenders, or perhaps it was simply that they shared similar thoughts. Lian was unsure, but she was grateful for it.
"It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better. I wish I could've worked on them sooner."
Toph loosed a sigh. "Yeah, me too."
The moment was followed by Sokka creating a plan, ignoring Lian's sharp looks, as he and Aang carried Toph to the fountain, setting her feet in the cold water.
The Temple ceiling shook suddenly, rocks crumbling all around them. Lian, instinctively, curled her body around Toph's, leaning over her as the boys lifted her from the fountain.
Her head snapped up as Zuko's voice echoed all around, surrounding them. "Stop!" His words were entirely directed at the man with three eyes, having made his return to complete his job. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore. The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop."
But the Prince's words did not matter. Not to the strange man. A second blast second blast knocked the fountain ceiling down upon them. Lian waved her hand, brushing it all to the side, watching it cascade off the edge of the platform. Another blow, in quick succession, followed, then another, nearly knocking Zuko entirely from the Temple's edge.
As the combustion man continued his assault, Sokka quickly guided Toph away, avoiding the attacks as the remaining three took to intercepting the blasts as they came. Katara with water and ice, Aang with fog as a way of distraction, and Lian doing everything she could to reinforce the Temple's foundation itself.
Toph, pressing her body into the ground, acknowledged such an issue. Her eyes, foggy and unseeing, went wide. She was afraid. "He's going to blast this whole place off the cliffside!"
Katara risked looking around the corner, glancing up at the cliffs, only for another blast to be fired in their immediate direction. "I can't step out to waterbend at him without getting blown up. And I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here."
Sokka reached for Lian's hand, grasping it tightly as she stood beside him. "I know how to get an angle on him." He looked at the girl, seeing how she wound her jaw tight, breathing deeply. "Lian—"
"I got it. Provide a distraction, keep him where he's at."
She did not wait for further instruction, slamming her foot into the ground only once, her whole body, with a tandem upper swing of her arms, covered in a suit of rock. She stepped out into the direct line of fire, swinging her right arm in a wide arc, the ground just shallow enough for her to feel the ground heat. And from the crevices spewed a liquid that very few could control or even create. Lava was sent, flying then, in a great wave, destroying one of the man's explosions before it could be anything more than an attempt.
As the wave came crashing down, clearing the path of his fire, Lain saw Sokka's boomerang curve through the air. She could not see it much from there, but she knew, then, when the blasts stopped, that the man had been taken down.
Temporarily, that was.
It was not even a moment later that the man was on his feet, dazed, with a hand pressed to his forehead. They ran, then, as he inhaled to send another blast their way. Lian pushed at Katara's back, yelling at them, telling them to run. And they did. They pushed their arms, diving behind the corner wall when, suddenly, the man himself exploded, combusting, bringing down portions of the Temple with him.
Lian looked up, her eyes, almost immediately, finding Zuko climbing a vine, holding on as tightly as he could. They waited, then, for him to find his way back to them. His head was hung low, as if he had been the one to cause the destruction with his own hands.
As he approached, Aang looked to Lian. He remembered her words, the story she had told him. She nodded, only once. He sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks, Zuko."
"Hey, and what about me? I did the boomerang thing." Sokka gestured from where he stood behind the Avatar, earning only a pointed look from Lian.
Zuko stepped forward. "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the past few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor." His eyes drifted, then, just enough. And amber met green. "It's something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what's right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world." He turned his body in Toph's immediate direction, hands braced in front of himself. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident." And though she could not see him, his physical apology as he bent at his waist, hands poised at his chest. "Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."
Lian shifted, letting her eyes draw from Zuko to Aang. She saw it, then, just as she had the night before, as realization settled within the Avatar. The knowledge of what and who stood before him.
"I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher." He ignored the shocked looks around him, Katara and Sokka's eyes blown wide. "When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." He stacked his hands, bending at the waist, just as Zuko had only moments before. A show of respect. "I'd like you to teach me."
The Prince repeated the action, standing taller than Aang. He smiled. A genuine smile. The one that Lian had carved into her memory, never to forget it. She hadn't seen it in so long. Four years. "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."
"Not so fast," Aang quipped, stopping the conversation before it could go any further. "I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them." He turned his body, then, to face them. "Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?"
She shrugged with a smile. "Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet."
Aang turned again. "Sokka?"
"Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it."
Though he already knew what her answer would be, the Avatar turned to the eldest of their group. To Lian. "Lian?"
She looked between Zuko and Aang. Then at the others. "He will be the best person to teach you in this circumstance. Of course my answer is yes." She bid them both small smiles, and while they were not forced, their disappearance was.
"Katara?"
With a clenched jaw and fists, she ceded. "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."
Zuko's face split with a broad smile. "I won't let you down, I promise.
———
Lian was leaning against the doorway, hands linked behind her back. Zuko hadn't noticed her, hadn't acknowledged her presence. She enjoyed it, really. Just being able to watch him, to be this close to him.
He turned, then, eyes finding her immediately. As if he were drawn to her.
(He was.)
He took a moment. Just a moment to look at her. To let it settle within him that she was so close. He observed her scars, the thin, jagged ones across her right eye and the bridge of her nose, courtesy of his own sister. His eyes drifted to her black hair, to the way it rested against her collarbones now. She stood there, in front of him, dressed in blues and grays, her hands bandaged similarly to Sokka's. And her eyes, her light green eyes, were so...curious. Inquisitive as she watched him watch her.
He spoke, then, without thinking much of what to say. "You don't hate me?"
"I could never hate you." Her brows pinched together, as if she was shocked by her own words. He would not blame her. Not really. If she did. She offered him a small smile, then, the corner's of her downturned lips lifting just so. "I'm glad you made it here safely. It is..." she paused, drawing her lips in, trying to hide the way her cheeks tinted pink. "It is good to see you, Zuko."
He could not help his grin, or the way he dipped his chin just slightly to avoid her eyes. "It's good to see you, too, Lian."
And then she was turning, pushing off the doorframe, and walking away. Her hand passed over Katara's shoulder as she did, offering what little confidence she could. And then she was gone from Zuko's sight, but never far from his mind.
Ahhh, Zuko and Lian are reunited and I love it. I've been waiting for this chapter since I first started writing this story, so I'm excited it's finally here.
Also, Lian bonding with Sokka and Aang, aka them being best friends is my favorite thing ever.
Anywho, that's all. I hope you enjoyed, BYE!
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