Fall of the White Lotus [Zutara/Taang]

41 | United Nations

Music: United We Stand - Divided We Fall, Two Steps From Hell

                     "You're dressed like you're from the Fire Nation, you look like a Fire Nation man, Avatar Roku called you Prince Lu Ten..."

The tall firebender looked down on the earthbender girl suddenly walking next to him, her unseeing eyes trained on his face.

The group had continued on their journey, settling into an order in which the Monkey King hopped somewhere up front, followed at a slower pace by Avatar Roku and Prince Lu Ten. Toph and Aang closed their little procession.

Now, as they walked past endless weeping willows, their feet sinking in the mud, Toph had quickened her pace to catch up with the spirit Roku called Lu Ten and was looking up at him expectantly. What she saw was the serious face of a handsome young man, forever in his early twenties, the sideburns making him look slightly older.

"That's right," he replied warily, not knowing where the petite earthbender was going with this.

She suddenly stood still. "Is it true then? Are you Uncle Iroh's son?"

The Fire Prince stopped, too, and turned around, a surprised look in his amber eyes. "Uncle?" he repeated, but when the petite earthbender kept staring at him with her unseeing gaze he nodded curtly. "I am."

"I recognize you," Toph whispered. "From the picture Uncle once described to me."

Lu Ten's face darkened. "What are you to my father?" His piercing gaze demanded an answer. "You call him uncle, yet you are not my cousin Azula."

To his surprise, the Earth Kingdom girl only smiled, which softened her sturdy expression. "Uncle Iroh is my mentor and substitute parent," she said fondly. "After the war had ended, he took me in and let me stay with him in Ba Sing Se. He has taught me the way of the White Lotus and the art of tea making. He encouraged me to become the best earthbender in the world."

She sounded proud, but Lu Ten seemed distracted by something she'd said.

"Ba Sing Se? So, he has finally conquered it..." he said thoughtfully with a ring of sadness in his warm baritone voice.

"With his tea, he has," Toph confirmed proudly. "The Jasmine Dragon is famous in all of Ba Sing Se!"

Lu Ten's features softened. This girl clearly loved his father. "I'm glad you're keeping my father company. I see you love him very much. Things have not been easy for him with Zuko, but training the young ones has always been a hobby of his."

                     Princess Ursa took a sip from her tea and looked up, a surprised gaze in her light-brown eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" She carefully put down her cup. "How in the heavens can the Order be saved by finding me?"

Katara's eyes flashed to Zuko, who suddenly looked just as alarmed as she did. He shot up, his hand slipping from his mother's grasp.

"You're the Avatar's granddaughter and you're a member of the Order! Uncle said-"

"The two of you are members, too, and very high ranking ones at that," Ursa interrupted him matter-of-factly, her hands folding in her lap as she craned her neck to look up at her son. "That means you both know I'm not so important to the Order that finding me would mean her salvation."

Katara and Zuko's gazes met in dismay.

"But... But... we thought..." Katara stuttered, but as soon as she said it she knew - it had been a presumption. And if she were honest with herself, she had already known the moment they had found Princess Ursa. No matter in what way the Order would be saved, the reaction of the White Lotus would have been felt immediately. And she'd felt nothing.