Water Lily in a Sea of Fire

Chapter 94: Saying Goodbye

The Gaang stayed at the beach house for two nights, and their last night there was spent in the stable where they all slept on Appa one last time together. They returned to the palace the day before they were to leave the Fire Nation.

Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Suki ate breakfast with the royal family on their last morning in the Fire Nation. Despite Iroh's attempts to keep the conversation interesting, there was a solemn mood hanging over them due to their impending separation. Zuko and Chiara were not anxious for the emptiness of the palace after their friends leave, and the others were not looking forward to traveling without the prince and princess's company. Aang would miss Chiara's motherly nature, and even Toph would miss the way she took care of them making it sound like it was all in the spirit of being hospitable. Katara would not have her waterbending partner who also helped her with the chores. Sokka would no longer have his sword sparring partner in Zuko, and he would definitely miss ruffling his friend's feathers. And though he would never admit it, he would miss the way Prince Angry Jerk playfully jabbed back at him. Aang, too, would miss his Sifu Hotman, but less so his temper.

After breakfast when the table was cleared off, Iroh whispered to Ezih, and a few minutes later a servant entered with a tray holding six tubes. Three tubes had blue tassels and the other three had yellow ones.

"Avatar Aang," started the Fire Lord, "after discussing this with my nephew and daughter, we have decided to return these relics of your people." Aang's eyes lit up as Iroh lifted one of the tubes with a yellow tassel. "These are scrolls of the Air Nomads that we discovered in the Fire Lord's personal collection." Everyone leaned forward to see the scroll when Iroh laid it out on the table. "There are several scrolls like these, and other relics as well, that we intend to return to you, but I imagine they would be too difficult to take care of on the back of a flying bison. Whenever you are ready, we will be willing to deliver everything we find in our possession to whatever location you choose. In the meantime, we will treat them with the utmost care."

Aang's eyes were sparkling with tears of joy over Iroh's offer.

"These three scrolls are small enough to travel with," continued Iroh placing the two other yellow tasseled tubes before him, "and we thought you would like to take them with you."

"Yes," said Aang in a tone of awe. "Thank you for this."

Iroh nodded before looking at Sokka and Katara. "Sokka, Lady Katara, we also discovered many items of the Southern Water Tribe, including these scrolls." He gestured to the three tubes with blue tassels.

"Are they waterbending scrolls?" asked Katara excited at the prospect of learning the techniques of her own Tribe.

"These scrolls contain stories and legends written down by the Tribe," he said. "But we'll continue looking for others."

Katara removed one of the scrolls from the tube and unrolled it. She and Sokka were scanning over it.

"Gran Gran told us some of these stories," he said.

"It might not be a waterbending scroll," said Katara enthusiastically, "but this is incredible."

"Years ago when I first brought Chiara to the Fire Nation, I considered searching among the collection for waterbending scrolls from which she could learn," said Iroh, "but I decided not to do so for fear that my search might raise suspicions as to her origins."

"It's amazing no one ever figured out where she was from," said Suki.

"It was quite clear from her features that she wasn't native to the Fire Nation, but she doesn't have the typical blue eyes of the Water Tribe. Hers are as green as the North Sea that borders the Earth Kingdom." He gave Chiara a tender smile which she returned. "And though there may have been some who tried to guess her ancestry, no one dared to discuss their speculations in my presence in those days." His tone was deep and made it quite clear that it would have been a dangerous mistake to do so.