Where The Sun Meets The Moon - A Zutara Fanfic

Chapter III

Katara

"He really said that?" Aang exclaimed in pure shock, his eyes wide and round. His flying lemur, Momo, tilted his head to one side with a purr.

"Yes! Can you believe that?" Sokka yelled. He was expressively flailing his hands and arms around, something he did when he was truly upset. "Who does he even think he is, calling our kingdom feeble? Has he seen his own kingdom's current condition? That economy speaks for itself."

"Firebenders. They're always the same," Aang said with a sigh, his voice not nearly as hateful or bothered as Sokka. He split the custard bun in his hands in half, giving one half to me and a small piece of the other to Momo who was sitting on his shoulder. Sokka and Toph had their own pastries in small, paper bags, but Sokka had been rambling too much to eat any of his own.

"King Ozai is the worst king I've ever met. No wonder everyone hates him," finally, he took a giant bite of his yam cake, shutting up to angrily chew it.

We were walking down a marketplace in the Air Kingdom, not really looking for anything to buy but grabbing some snacks to eat while we walked around aimlessly. Occasionally we'd run into someone Aang knew, and he'd greet them excitedly, sometimes running over to them for a small chat. The castle wasn't too far, so we slowed down our pace to walk for a little longer.

"Did you guys get to talk to the king, by the way?" Aang asked curiously, looking at me for an answer. I shook my head. "So only your dad talked to him?"

"Yes, and we don't know what they talked about," I took a small coconut macaroon out of my bag. "But it didn't look like it went well."

"Dad has been acting weird lately, anyway," my brother continued. "Now he's acting even more weird. It's like Ozai threatened him, or something."

"King Ozai may be disrespectful and cruel but he's not an idiot. At least I hope not," the airbender began twirling some nearby leaves in the air as he spoke. "The Water Kingdom and Fire Kingdom are nearly as strong as one another. He wouldn't threaten someone who's up in his league. He prefers to attack weaker kingdoms," he frowned. "Like ours."

The Air Kingdom seemed to be the Fire Kingdom's target of choice whenever they were 'in the mood' to start a war. Throughout history, all four nations except Earth and Air had fought one another, but aside from their rivalry with the Water Kingdom, the Fire Kingdom seemed to always have an issue with the airbenders.

Aang and his people were relatively peaceful and calm, rarely engaging in any political activities at all and secluding themselves from the other three kingdoms, making them an easy target for unexpected attacks which the Fire Kingdom was infamous for. Due to their pacifistic nature that I personally never agreed with, they stayed far from fighting and violence, so much so that whenever they were under attack they couldn't protect themselves unless some other nation intervened.

If it weren't for the "Blow Out Peace Treaty", named by Gyatso himself and referring to the firebenders fire being 'blown out' by air, the Fire Kingdom would've continued their relentless attacks on the Air Kingdom that had been going on for decades. Their population was the lowest of all due to them. Internally, I was afraid the kingdom wouldn't recover and their less than ideal number of citizens could risk another great war, either wiping them out entirely or conquering their land with ease. It wasn't like Fire King Ozai didn't have the potential to break rules and treaties, as he'd done it many times before, so we were all cautious.

"It's no wonder he hasn't tried anything yet," Sokka snorted mockingly. "He must be too much of a coward to initiate anything with the Water Kingdom because we're so tough and resilient!" He lifted his chin up in pride.