Shield Of The Fire Nation - WritingShop12 - Harry Potter (2024)

Chapter 1: A New Life

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Been thinking about this story for a while now, and thanks to a prompt from one of my readers it finally came into focus enough to write down. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One - A New Life

“That’s it, boy. You’ve gone and done it now.” Vernon growled as he stood over his whimpering nephew before the kitchen table and pulled his belt free of his pants. It had been another slog through the day at Grunnings Drills but it had ended with massive disappointment as once more, for the fifth time, he’d been passed over for a promotion. It made no sense. He’d made sure to shmooze the right upper management personnel, rabidly drove his subordinates to their breaking points to meet and exceed their quotas, and even went out of his way to make sure the secretaries knew just how attractive they looked every day for the last several weeks. He’d done everything right!

Except he’d still lost out on the position to a punk ten years younger than him with a university degree. As if that even really mattered in the real world. Pure nepotism, that was what it was and it sickened him. At least, that was what he had initially thought. However, another, more likely, option had presented itself in his mind; and to him it ranked as the one true possibility. That this misfortune had found him because of his freak nephew’s freakishness. It made total sense! Why, somehow the brat must have done something to the management of the office to make them think he was lazy or incompetent!

Well, he’d just have to sort that out then wouldn’t he? The first thing he’d done upon getting home was throw the boy down and kick him into the kitchen; now here he was.

“You know what to do, freak.” He growled as the belt swished free from his expansive waist and snapped it in his hands for good measure. “Get in the position. Now!” The fat man grinned darkly beneath the bristles of his mustache as the little boy did so and he got ready to start up one of his favorite hobbies. Who needed to go out and golf when one could find such good entertainment and stress relief at home? “You better f*cking count it out, you hear me? Count it!” He really hoped Potter wouldn’t. That would give him all the excuse he needed to double the punishment so the boy would learn to follow orders better.

{SNAP}

“AH!” Harry wailed, and only barely managed to get out, “O-O-One.” For eight years this had been his life. Eight years of a living hell with people that never failed to let him know just how much he was hated in the world. Eight years of working like a slave and enduring every form of physical and verbal abuse in the book. Eight years of living in constant hunger in a cupboard under the stairs.

{SNAP}

“T-T-Two.” This wasn’t the first time his uncle had resorted to using his back as a canvas to work out his frustrations. It wasn’t even the tenth. It seemed every other week something new set him off, and then Harry was made to bear through it. Already his back bore countless scars with the last ones not even fully scabbed over yet. Often the others, his aunt and cousin, sat back at the table and watched. They tended to have suggestions about ‘backswings’ and ‘angles’. No matter what, their presence only ever made the situation worse.

{SNAP}

“T-Three.” It was getting easier now, the pain was becoming familiar. The friend he was never too far away from. And so as the blows kept coming he managed to grit his teeth and bear through it. Many would probably be shocked by the tolerance displayed by one so young, but Harry had no care for such things. The only thought that pervaded his mind at the moment was how unfair this entire situation was. How wrong it seemed.

Why was it always him? Why did he have to suffer? Why did he have to live like a slave and work for people that hated him while Dudley got heaped with praise and toys? Why did people like Vernon have the right to do as they pleased? They were ‘normal, law abiding folk’ weren’t they? That was what they always said after all. Shouldn’t law abiding folk treat their family better than this? Shouldn’t family mean something?!?!?

Once, just once, he wanted to know what it was to be loved. To be a part of a family that wanted and cherished him as one of their own, instead of branding him an outsider worth only ridicule. But more than that, he wanted to actually know what it was to be the powerful one for once. He wanted to wield the strength to stop things like this from ever happening to him again.

Though he couldn’t know it, his words were near prophetic as his magic, long dormant from the will of a meddling old man and the blood wards he’d planted on the grounds, responded to his desperate need at last, flooding his entire being with light and power that fed off of his pain and emotion like a battery, and when that was used up it looked to the new source in his scar to finish the job. It was only for a moment, and seconds later the blood wards sucked it all back up to keep maintaining its frayed edges, but it was just long enough to accomplish its goal.

In the blink of an eye a massive plume of light flashed into existence before winking out, the boy was gone, and Vernon was dropping the belt as he fell over screaming. His hands were latched to his eyes, trying to push away the searing agony of his completely seared through retinas. Though the bastard didn’t know it, the blast that he’d been staring into had completely fried his optical nerves, and he would never see through them again.

The Fire Lord’s Palace - Fire Nation

Iroh, commanding general of the fire nation’s army, was having a lovely afternoon playing in the gardens with his niece and nephew. His son had taken over command of the battlefront at Ba Sing Se which left him with a great deal of free time while he gained leadership experience. It was a siege, so there wasn’t a huge risk of danger. The wall of the city would still take a great deal of time to find a way through after all.

“Uncle?” Azula asked sweetly from her position leaned against a nearby tree. “How much longer until the Earth Kingdom is conquered? It won’t be done before I’m old enough to join the effort will it?” Only eight years old and already so eager to serve her nation. As was just. Though he would prefer it if she expressed that desire in a way that didn’t so often come across as bloodthirsty.

“Hard to say, little one. Perhaps months, perhaps years. The earth kingdom is quite large after all, and even after we take Ba Sing Se there are other cities and strongholds to offer up resistance.”

Zuko, age ten, was sitting beside him and running a hand through the cool water of the pond as the koi fish moved around his digits with ease. “All of this war and death… do we not already have enough? Uncle, why do we keep throwing our soldiers at an immovable object?” As always, the older boy, ten years, was inquisitive and empathetic. He cared about the lives of others. Perhaps a bit too much if his father was to be believed, but the general would never find fault with anyone for caring about those under their command. A prince had a responsibility to worry for the lives of his subjects after all. Sadly, one thing both Iroh and his brother did agree on was that the boy’s mother did tend to shelter him far more than was justifiable.

Thinking about how to phrase things so both of the young ones would understand, Iroh answered, “There are good reasons, and bad reasons, Zuko. As a leader you must know and understand both. The bad ones are the usual suspects. More. We always want more. More land, more resources, more wealth. The greed with which we move cannot be ignored no matter what they teach you in our schools.” He held up a hand to halt his nephew's inevitable next question. “However, that does not mean we are wrong for continuing this campaign of ours. As one who has traveled the world, I can say that we are the most technologically advanced nation on the planet. And the lands we conquer only benefit from the aid that we can provide once proper fire nation governments and colonies are established. I have seen people truly flourish under our rule. And that is the good reason why we continue. To bring progress to the people who otherwise would live without it. Additionally, we have established colonies in these lands so we must also fight to keep them safe.”

“Hm.” Zuko grew silent, introspective, as he usually was.

Meanwhile Azula loudly proclaimed, “Yeah, Zuzu, don’t be an idiot. It’s only right that our nation rules. We’re the best. If an enemy is weak they deserve to be stomped beneath our boots.”

Iroh huffed, “Now, now, Azula there’s no need for-” He was cut off as on the other side of the pond a circular… tear, for lack of a better word, of light came into being. At once the general known far and wide as the Dragon of the West ushered both of the children behind him and entered a ready stance with his flames primed for combat. He didn’t know what this was but he was going to protect his family if it was the last thing he did.

Though it seemed he needn’t have bothered as a second later the haunting light disappeared along with the tear, and in their place stood a little boy staring on at him with wide eyes. For several seconds they stayed like that, gazing almost, it seemed, into each other’s souls; and then the stranger collapsed.

The guards stationed on the palace grounds had started running in at the first sign of strangeness, but Iroh ordered them back at once before telling the kids to go back inside. He would handle whatever this was better without distractions. When he was sure everyone was gone he circled the pond and knelt in front of the child. Upon closer inspection he was definitely older than he had first thought. The boy had to be at least Azula’s age if not a little older, yet his painfully thin limbs helped to make him look younger than he likely was. He had jet black hair reminiscent of the fire nation, but skin paler than an air nomad. His clothes were of a strange make and style beyond anything that the general had ever seen before and he had an odd scar on his forehead paired with bifocals in front of his eyes. That last was a relatively new invention but he still recognized it.

With a start Iroh noticed that the boy was still awake, but only barely, and his lips were moving as he attempted to whisper something to him. Leaning down he asked, “Yes, what is it, child?”

“P-Please.” The voice was a wheeze of exhaustion and pain. “H-Help me.” That was apparently all the energy he had left, as his eyes closed for good. And only then did he notice the growing pool of blood staining the grass under his back.

“By the spirits!” Acting at once he flipped the strange child over and pulled up his shirt, gasping as he beheld a back ripped open and bleeding profusely. Someone had thoroughly whipped him to within an inch of his life. “Guards!” He screamed out to the still warily watching guardsmen, “Bring the medics, now!” They ran to do so and he ripped off his outer tunic and pressed it tightly to the wound, trying to stem the flow of crimson fluid as much as he could. It only took a few moments for the palace medics to arrive and when they did they too were appalled at the state of the boy and quickly whisked him away to the medica with Iroh fresh on their heels. He only stopped briefly to let the children know that everything would be alright, and then went off after them.

That Night

The palace medics had done everything they could, and now the mystery child lay comatose on a bed with his body absolutely covered in bandages and wrappings from head to toe. It had turned out his back was not the only injured part of his body; in fact, the vast majority of his torso, arms, and legs also showed prominent scarring that implied years worth of defensive wounds. Based on his young age, it pained everyone who saw him to think that the boy might not have ever known a moment of peace or happiness. Not if the people who had him did all of that to him.

It had been hours now, and he still had not awoken; so Iroh had yet to leave his side. As a father he hated the idea of any child waking up in a new place alone and afraid. However, the hours of waiting had been frustrating to no end. He had thoroughly gone through every inch of the child’s clothing and found absolutely no clues as to where he came from or how he had managed to pop out of nowhere in the middle of one of the most highly guarded buildings in the entirety of the fire nation. There was nothing else possible but to wait and eventually question the boy when and if he ever woke up.

With nothing better to do, and not wishing to have time wasted, Iroh elected to meditate. During his travels through the different nations in his youth, he had met many friends and acquaintances, and one, Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe, had imparted a particularly interesting lesson to him. Though the realm of spirits was only available to the avatar through introspection, it was possible to feel the ambient energy of chi for a mortal man if one delved deeply enough into themselves. Using this method he had learned how to harness his inner heat and flame to such a degree that no one, not even his brother, was a match for him in battle. It was why, for all his boasting, Ozai had never challenged him to an agni kai. Nowadays he made it a habit to meditate whenever he had free time, as it calmed him to see how ambient chi tended to flow equally through everyone and everything.

Settling down on the floor he crossed his legs, settled his hands in his lap, and focused his breathing in, and out. Slowly extending each action until his entire being was reduced to the eb and flow of air within his being. Once that was done, he focused on his chi, picturing its path through the inner gates of his body out into the world around him… and then the world of his mind exploded with color and light.

Iroh was entranced. Normally he only recognized lines branching like a web connecting people to the elements around them, yet now there was a massive light that felt blinding even with his eyes closed. It only took a moment to narrow down the source and when he did…. Awe was the only word to describe what he felt. The stranger, he was full to bursting with chi. His inner gates appeared to his mind’s eye to be wide as a flowing river. The Dragon of the West had never seen so much potential power held in anybody. Not any of his soldiers, none of his family, and none of his teachers. His own pathways were perhaps a fourth this size.

Yet the difference was not just available power. The youth’s chi was wild, erratic, untamed and untrained. Oh the things he could do with the right instruction. Great and powerful things… yet also terrible if he received the wrong tutelage. Ugh, he just didn’t have enough information, yet there was no doubt he had to be a bender of some kind. Especially with his breath. Each pull of the child’s lungs flooded his system more and more with chi, as if it was forcing him to… acclimate to it or something. Strange. He’d seen something similar with Pakku when he was healing a hunter’s harpoon wound.

On a hunch, he pulled himself out of his trance and moved to lift the edge of one of the bandages. Just over his shoulder one of the lacerations was starting to pull itself closed. Remarkable. Releasing the bandage once more he moved back into his seat and thought some more. With the style of his arrival there was no way he would go unnoticed by the rest of his family, and surely Ozai would have some interest in him. That couldn’t be allowed to fester. But how to stop it? How to maintain control of the boy and his situation? Remaining anonymous was impossible now and the elders on the council would surely sense, to some degree or other, what he had as well if given half a chance. The fire sages might even demand he be given over to them.

The more he thought things over, the more a plan began to form in his head. It was rather brilliant in its simplicity, and would allow him to remove the boy from the influence of the palace before anyone else could sink their claws into him. The real issue was going to be convincing the right people not to object. It was a good thing he was owed so many favors.

Later That Evening

Fire Lord’s Audience Chamber

Fire Lord Azulon sat cross legged upon his raised dais with several fire lit piers erected before him, bathing his regal position in crimson light and power. Before him were his sons and his ruling council. Those men who handled the bureaucracy that came with running a nation as large as the one he ruled. It was tedious to be sure but daily meetings such as these were needed to make sure that his wishes were being executed in the manner required. It also gave his sons worthy experience at what they would eventually end up doing when he either passed on the throne to them or died. No matter what the public may think, no man ruled a country alone. And for the first time in months his eldest was in attendance as well. His was a leveling influence that had been rather missed in council; multiple points of view were always of use after all.

For the first couple of hours things went as expected. The daily issues were brought up, budgets stipulated and agreed upon, and then came the military matters. Those that had brought his eldest back to him in the first place. “My son,” he gestured Iroh forward and stared straight at him as he knelt before him with all due honor. After months of dealing with Ozai’s subtle examples of impudence and clear sense of entitlement, proper respect and deference was appreciated. “What news do you have to report on the war effort in the Earth Kingdom?”

“Much, Fire Lord Azulon.” Iroh knew more than well not to address the man before him as ‘father’ when in official proceedings such as these. The ruler had always maintained that he was the fire lord first, and a father second. “To start, the lands we have conquered and colonized are prospering. The industry and trade we brought with us have buoyed their local economies five fold, and the people there sing our praises.”

“As is just.” Azulon noted.

“Of course, my lord.” Iroh nodded. Though he believed many of his country's tactics were very heavy handed, he couldn’t deny that he had seen the positive progress made with those forced into the fire nation with his own eyes. He reached into his sleeve and pulled forth a bundle of scrolls wrapped in twine that was sealed with his personal insignia. “I have already provided copies of my accounts of the last six month’s battles to the advising council, but to you I give the originals.” He placed them before him on the floor and bowed before continuing. “They will tell you of the many victories that led us to the walls of Ba Sing Se, where our forces now surround them in a siege.”

From his place beside the gathered advisors Ozai openly laughed. “A siege? Brother, you bring your fire lord only news of failure! You should not have dared to return to these halls without securing the capital itself instead of simply stalling your men outside. Why if I-” He was cut off by a raised hand from his father.

“Ozai,” The old man’s voice was full of serious reproach. “In matters of military conquest, military minds should speak alone. You are many things, but a general is not one of them. Perhaps had you seen fit to do your military duty to this nation as your brother did, then you would have the right to give an opinion for how he leads his men. As you have not, however, stay silent.” Ozai ducked his face down in shame, but Iroh still saw the murderous rage that crossed his face before it did so. It was only for a moment, but it was there all the same. The youngest of Azulon’s sons did not handle being put in his place well. “Continue, Iroh.”

The elder son nodded and said, “As I was saying, my son, Lu Ten, is holding the line in my absence and I shall of course reclaim command when I return. It is a good chance for him to gain leadership experience.”

“Agreed.” Azulon nodded. He had done much the same with Iroh himself back when he was on campaign. “How long do you foresee this siege lasting? And is our current placement sustainable?”

“In the past it might not have been. However, with the yield of crops and supplies being carted in from our new colonies in the earth kingdom we could keep our army fed indefinitely, provided there are no unforeseen circ*mstances such as plague or famine. As for how long it could take… my lord, you just as well as I know the courage and strength of the earth nation army. They will hold out as long as possible and they are literally daring us to run straight at the walls in an attempt to breach.”

“A suicidal effort if ever there was one.” Azulon agreed. “All such an action would bring is their forces pelting you with massive rocks from the other side while using their benders to repair any damage you cause. Perhaps a solstice strike, when our benders are at their strongest?”

“I had much the same thought, but not this first one at least.” Iroh amended. “Better to give them at least a year, maybe two, to lean out. Meanwhile our soldiers will only grow stronger, gaining further experience from skirmishing their cavalry forces when they break out to engage us.”

“Hm.” the fire lord gently stroked the length of his beard in thought. “So you estimate two years?”

“Three at the most. By then even their surplus of supplies would have run out and they’ll need to either face us in the field where we have the advantage or offer terms.”

The fire lord considered this for a moment and nodded. “This plan is sound, you have my blessing.”

Iroh bowed low enough to place his forehead to the floor. “My gratitude, fire lord.”

“Bring me victory, Iroh, and that will be gratitude enough.” Azulon waved his hand to send his son on his way, but found himself rather surprised when the man didn’t budge. “Was there something else you wished to discuss about your report?”

“Not exactly.” Slowly Iroh rose back to his feet and folded his arms into his sleeves. “Earlier yesterday evening there was an event in the palace gardens.”

The flames before the dias picked up with the intensity of the rage the fire lord felt at that reminder. “Yes, there was a breach in our security that no one has yet been able to explain to me. Nor has any solution been provided as to who the intruder actually might be or who sent him.”

“I believe I might have a theory.” Iroh said warily, his attention was focused both on the flames and his father in equal measure, trying to judge how far the man’s emotions were turned into what particular mood. He didn’t say anything but the expression on his face made it clear that he had better be quick. “You know of my travels through the different nations, and the enlightenment that it has provided me?”

“I know of the various teachers you have learned from, yes.” Azulon hadn’t been thrilled when his oldest had decided to take a leave of absence from the military to go gallivanting around the world, but the private exhibition he had given to him about the new bending forms he’d created from observing the different elements had been astounding enough to forgive him.

“Well, there are also many legends in far off places that are unknown to our elders and records. Many stories of a time before bending was so commonplace. A time when the physical and spiritual worlds were one.” By now low mutterings could be heard from the others gathered, no doubt wondering where he was going with this story. Iroh cleared his throat to stall them once more and continued, “Warriors of this era were born young and with great inborn potential for power. They didn’t bend the elements as we know them, but the energy within all things.” He pulled his arms from his sleeves and swept them from left to right, encompassing everything in the room. “Not only fire, water, earth, and air… but also metal, wood, sand, and magma. They were forces of elemental nature. It is even said that some came to us from other worlds entirely. Yet when the great schism separated the physical and spiritual realms they vanished into the depths of the spiritual until, legend has it, such a time as their power was needed once more.”

Shyu, grandmaster of the fire sages, stepped forward at that statement, interest clear on his features. “You speak of one such as the avatar, Lord Iroh.”

The general shook his head. “No, I speak of one different yet similar. The avatar is the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, wielding power over the four elements with the experience of every avatar that came before. These energy benders of which I speak had no such connection. Instead, their power was constant amongst the physical world alone. The avatar brings balance, they bring victory. I have only heard of one conflict in which they gave open battle, and it was as mankind’s champions against a great demon of the spiritual plane. One that would have consumed our world whole to sate a never ending hunger. It is said that the destruction caused by their battle created the canyon that is now known as the Great Divide.”

The muttering grew awed at this point and though Ozai was clearly skeptical, Azulon was intrigued. He could not see his eldest bringing such tales into an official meeting unless he had some basis for it. “Why mention these stories now?”

The Dragon of the West took a deep breath and let it out. “I have witnessed the chi within him and it is absolutely massive in its stores.” That got a loud response, especially from the fire sages, as such things were typically within their remit, yet they grew silent at the raised hand of their fire lord who urged his son to continue. “His method of arrival, a portal of light, is consistent with some tales I heard in the Northern Water Tribes of Planeswalkers, and those rare mortals that visited the spirit world. That, paired with his chi levels, leads me to conclude that our visitor did not maliciously invade our home. Rather, I believe him to be from another world, perhaps spiritual, perhaps neighboring, and based off of the damage he had sustained on arrival he did so at great need for his life and safety.”

The old fire lord stared steadily down at his son and said, “I sense a plan on your mind. And that comment on his safety sounds like it has something to do with it.”

“Indeed.” Sometimes Iroh blessed the fact that his father was such a deep thinker. It made him both a great strategist and a decent sounding board, even if he was also an incredibly harsh disciplinarian. “As of yet the boy has not awoken, but when he does he is going to find his wounds mended and his comfort seen to. He will be very indebted to whoever has done this and his gratitude, should his powers be as great as I suspect, could only benefit our nation. Thus I would have him be grateful to us, more specifically the royal family. So…” Here was the big gamble, “I would take him with me to the siege of Ba Sing Se as my squire.”

Instead of the outrage he expected, the general was met with stunned silence. Again it was Shyu that eventually spoke. “Y-You wish to revive the order of Ember Knights?”

“Yes, for a limited membership of course.” Iroh stated as a firm notion for his father’s benefit. “One member, this boy, trained by me and knighted fully when I deem him ready to serve. And as we all know from our history books, the Ember Knights existed to protect the royal family, and were loyal to them above all others.”

“They also deposed several leaders to prop up other members of the royal family they preferred.” Shyu protested, “There is a reason the Order was disbanded before the time of Fire Lord Sozin.”

“Enough.” Azulon silenced them all as he stood up tall to stare imperiously down at them from an even greater height. “We all know what the Order was, but they have long been removed, and their treasonous taint has surely faded.” Golden eyes narrowed on Iroh’s calm and poised form as he asked, “You seek to bind him to us?”

“As surely as can possibly be done. If I train him myself in this way he will be loyal, and we can only benefit from his power staying close to our family. He will be perhaps the single greatest bodyguard we could imagine.”

Azulon considered that and eventually decided the idea had merit. Of course a lot of that decision had to do with supreme interest in how such a warrior, trained at the hand of the Dragon of the West, would turn out. Lu Ten was already impressive enough but it sounded like even he only had a fraction of the potential this new boy did. “Very well.” He said at last. “Let it be known that from this day forward the Order of the Ember Knights has been restored with my son, General Iroh, serving as the current lone member and grandmaster. The boy shall be squired under him and should he be found worthy in Iroh’s eyes he may knight him.”

“Thank you, Fire Lord Azulon.”

Chapter 2: On The Road

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Two - On The Road

Some Time Later

Azula crept into the hospital wing, being careful to move on her tiptoes and skirting those boards that she knew would creak. This wasn’t the first time she’d perused the palace at night, the one time she was free of all minders and could actually explore, but this was the first time she had done so when it was so full of people. They’d all been there to talk to her grandfather but they’d not known she’d been listening from a hidden alcove out of the way behind the fire lord’s dais. She’d discovered it a year prior and had made steady use of it ever since to see what all the hubbub about ruling was. She found it interesting. More so, she found the current topic they’d been discussing even more so.

Could her uncle have been right? Could that boy that had appeared in the gardens truly be so powerful? He’d not looked that much older than her in the brief glimpse she’d gotten before he’d been whisked away by the medics. Granted she was clearly stronger than anyone else in the palace bar her father and grandfather, but still… the chance to meet another prodigy was one that she could not miss; especially since she knew her uncle was leaving in the morning and taking the stranger with him.

With the stealth of the patient she rounded several more corners and descended three floors before finally reaching the door to the private wing of the palace. Azula slowed her breathing and pressed her ear to the wood of the door to focus on her hearing. The only thing that came through was the labored breathing of one person. The medics must have gone to sleep for the night after doing their final checks on him.

Smoothly pulling the door open on well oiled hinges she crept inside, crossed the room, and climbed up onto the only occupied bed to stare down at the object of her interest. He didn’t look like some all powerful energy bender. He just looked like another kid. Granted she didn’t have a lot of experience with those her own age and this one had very interesting and… entrancing features.

The princess found her eyes unerringly drawn to those features with an interest she didn’t quite understand. He had hair darker than her brother, though quite a bit shaggier as well. Skin paler than any person she’d ever beheld, a scar shaped like the lightning bolts she’d seen her uncle launch in the training grounds on his forehead, rounded ears that just seemed… cute. It was a word she’d never considered before, but there it was.

Azula had never seen someone like this before, and though he didn’t seem like what he was described to be, there was no doubt he was unique; and, as she continued to stare on, she found herself wishing that he would be around longer so she could actually get to know him. It was a feeling she’d never had before, and a part of her wondered what that was all about.

The Next Day

Consciousness came back slowly, and the first thing that Harry felt when it began was a gentle rocking paired with an ever present gentle creaking noise, and then a low whistle that finally jolted him into full wakefulness at last. For a moment he panicked as he found himself lying on some kind of fluffy matt in the middle of what looked to be an iron room with one circular window against the far wall. But then a hatch on another wall opened and a weird looking man in strange clothes walked in with an easy smile on his face that immediately put him at ease.

“Easy, young man, you are safe.” The stranger held up his hands and sat down on the floor beside him, crossing his legs and handing over his glasses as he did. “I am Iroh. Who are you?”

After donning the vision granting article, Harry took in the fine features of his apparent host fully for the first time. The man had graying hair, a comforting face, and large eyes that showed a pure expression of ease. The boy didn’t know why but he felt… safe, in this person’s presence. Realizing he was being rude in staying silent so long, he said, “I-I am Harry Potter.”

“That’s a strange name.” Iroh noted. “Do you know how you came to be here?”

“N-No.” Harry weakly looked around and tried to sit up further before simply falling back down, an action that seemed to worry his host to no end. “I-I was….” He trailed off, but the supporting look from Iroh convinced him to keep speaking, “I was being… punished by my uncle. It was really bad and I wanted to just be somewhere else, and then… I was.” He admitted, though contrary to his expectations, the older man didn’t immediately jump on him or try to send him back.

Instead he asked, “This punishment, it was what happened to your back? He did that?”

“Yes. I was… I was being a freak.” Harry couldn’t look the man in the eye. He had been so nice and he was afraid to see the revulsion that would no doubt end up there.

“A freak?” Iroh questioned. “What did you do that was freaky?”

“I-I don’t know.” He scrunched up the blanket in his fist, still not raising his eyes. “Sometimes things just happen around me. Things I can’t explain. And every time they do….”

“He hurts you.” Iroh guessed. He received a nod in response. “Harry, look at me.” The young man did so and he raised one hand, palm up, and willed a small ball of fire to grow within it. At the child’s awed stare he said, “I imagine by your uncle’s standards I am a freak too. So you must be amongst friends now, eh?”

“That’s amazing!” Harry whispered, eyes locked onto the glowing ball as if it were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Iroh chuckled merrily and released the flame before letting his hand fall back into his lap. “I’m glad you think so. What if I told you you could do things like that too, that I could teach you how to do so, and what is more, I can make you strong. So strong in fact that nobody could ever hurt you like your uncle did again?”

“Y-You would do that?” Harry asked with pure shock lacing the tone of his voice. “Why?”

The General placed a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder, and smiled consolingly at the way he flinched beneath his grasp. “Two reasons. One, you appeared in this world before me, so I feel responsible for you. Two, I believe in the promise that you represent, and I can see great things in your future if you but reach for them. You are not a freak, Harry, you are special. And special people deserve to be celebrated, not hurt.”

“I-I would like that, sir.”

“Please, my soldiers call me sir. You will call me master Iroh. It is the proper term for a teacher here.”

“M-Master.” Harry nodded. “What do I do now?”

“Now, you rest.” Iroh hopped to his feet and moved to the hatch where someone was waiting with a tray of food that he helpfully placed on the floor by his new student. “Rest, eat, and grow strong. You have had a rather harrowing experience and your body is weak so it needs to heal. When you feel up to it you can come join me on the deck and we can start seeing where your talents lie.”

“Deck?” The boy quirked his head, and Iroh mused that he likely wouldn’t have any idea what he was on about seeing as he’d been near comatose when he was loaded up with the rest of the men and supplies.

The older man explained, “I could not stay in the garden where you arrived as I had other duties to attend to elsewhere. Duties that you will be following me for. We are currently on a Fire Nation ship en route to the Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se where we will be joining my army for a prolonged siege.” As simply as he could he laid out what was happening and what a siege actually was.

“So your country is at war with this one?” Harry asked, “Why?”

“That is a very complicated question.” Iroh noted and gestured at the still untouched food. “One better answered and understood with food in the stomach.” The boy seemed to get the message as he began to actually eat the offerings. “For almost a century now my country has been involved in a war of expansion. I guess you could say we want to conquer the world, but I am more focused on the Earth Kingdom at the moment.”

“Why?” Harry asked around a mouthful of potatoes.

“That’s where things get more complex. The simple answer would be that we want more than we have, but the complicated one is that we need more. Harry, my nation is an industrious one and as such we need resources. Resources the Earth Kingdom controls. Without them we could very well collapse in on ourselves. In an attempt to gain leverage on us and seize more power for themselves they have been slowly taking those resources away and driving up the prices to unacceptable and unsustainable levels, and so we must conquer them to try and gain more for ourselves that way. Think of it as a political and martial game of tug of war.”

The boy got an odd look on his face and offered, “That sounds… wrong. You don’t seem like you really think that.”

Iroh chuckled lightly and commented, “So young, and yet so insightful. No, I don’t. That is the official line we tell others to give ourselves the moral high ground; and our youth are taught in school that we are the greatest country in the world and so it is our duty to share that greatness with others by expanding to all corners of the globe. I don’t fight for that reason, however.”

“Then why do you?”

“Because of our colonies.” At the boy’s blank stare, he elaborated. “With the Fire Nation’s expansion, our people have branched into new territories and merged with previously existing settlements and peoples, creating new families, lands, strongholds, colonies, and businesses in equal measure. The Earth Kingdom does not like this. Even more, they hate the sight of their former citizens living in relative peace and ease with my own, so they sent out their forces to burn our colonies out, reclaim their lost land, and put any Fire Nation citizen they found to the sword. I could not stand by and allow such things to keep happening to my people so I went to war, and now I have forced their armies into a retreat that has led into a siege behind their walls. Said walls have not fallen in a thousand years so I imagine we are in for quite the wait.”

“So you’re the good guys?”

The General sighed and shook his head. “Consider this your first lesson, Harry. In life there are no true good guys or bad guys. Only those trying to do the best they can with the circ*mstances in which they find themselves. For instance, I fight to defend my people, but the Earth Kingdom believes they are doing the same thing by driving out invaders. Always question, young one. Look to the motives and reasons for things before making your opinions. Now eat up and I will come back to see you soon.”

Time Passes

It took about three days for Harry to regain his strength and when he did Iroh took great joy in showing him through the ship and introducing him to all the soldiers, sailors, and officers. Each was pleased to meet him though the soldiers were understandably a bit over formal with the General standing right beside him.

Harry had been provided a set of loose robes that looked odd to him but felt remarkably comfortable. He was astounded to learn that the relatively large room he’d woken up in was all for him and that he’d have the complete run of the ship at any time, something that would have been unthinkable under his relatives roof. Iroh said it was part of learning to accept independence. As his squire the rank he would hold would be equatable to being an officer, and it was important to learn to go where he needed to without his nerves getting in the way.

As they toured the large vessel, Iroh began to inform him about the organizational structure of the Fire Nation military and how they all fit into it. There was the navy, the army, and there was even research being made into forms of viable air combat that might eventually necessitate an air corps. But what was more interesting was that benders like them were actually the minority in the military. They made up the entirety of the officer class, but in terms of enlisted and drafted personnel the ratio of benders to non-benders was one out of five. The demand was simply more than the supply. That fact actually excited Harry to no end, as it meant that once he was trained there would only be one person out of five that could even hope to lay hands on him again. Iroh’s promise was starting to sound very promising.

“That is why we maintain a healthy supply of weapons masters to offer our troops ready access to training in new styles of combat.” Iroh explained. “One of them has even been developing a new style of martial arts with his daughter specifically to fight benders. He calls it chi blocking and I have a feeling it is going to be quite the sight to behold when it is complete. I’ll have you meeting with one such weapon’s master when we get settled with the army.”

By that point they had reached the portion of the deck nearest the prow, and Iroh gestured for him to sit upon the ground while he leaned on the railing. “Why, though, master? I thought I would be learning bending?”

“You will, Harry. But he who relies on one skill alone is but a fool who is lost without it. We do not know the limits of your abilities yet, and it would only benefit you to learn another form of defense. I believe this is best, and it shall be so.”

“Yes, master.”

“Good. Now,” The older man hopped lightly off the railing and sat cross-legged before his new pupil and settled his fists into his lap, pressing the knuckles of both hands together. “Copy what I do.” When the boy had his pose down, he asked, “Have you ever meditated before?”

“Medi-what?”

The General sighed and shook his head. He supposed he should have seen this coming. With how foreign this boy was he was certain to find many normal acts and traditions here different and strange. “Meditation is a technique that we use to center ourselves, find inner peace, and focus our chi.” foreseeing the next question he offered, “Chi is the natural energy within all of us, but it is that which benders use to perform our elemental feats. I have already looked into you and seen vast chi already inside, so you definitely have it. Now, do as I do.”

And so saying, he led his new squire through an easy meditation exercise wherein he taught him to control his breathing and slow his mind. Then he decided to try something new. This would normally be a practice for several weeks into a training regime, after all the base forms had been learned to familiarize the body with certain types of movement, but if this boy was as naturally gifted as he thought, then this wouldn’t hurt anything. “Do you know why I place such emphasis on breathing, Harry?”

“No, master.” To his credit, Harry didn’t open his eyes or change the cadence of his breaths. He had never been this calm before, never felt so… alone with himself. Harry found it to be a very pleasant experience.

The older man saw this easily on his face and felt a deep sense of satisfaction. He’d tried to teach this to Zuko when he was at the palace, but the prince didn’t really have much patience at the best of times. Simply sitting, breathing, and doing functionally nothing hadn’t sat well with him. “Because true power in firebending comes from the breathing.” He took a comically large and loud inhalation for emphasis and spoke slowly, clearly, and tried to push forth how serious this statement was. “Too many firebenders believe that the strength of one’s muscles is the most important aspect of bending power, and thus they train only for strength, yet find themselves winded and dead on their feet within the first few minutes of a true battle. But smart firebenders know that the breath becomes energy in the body, the energy then extends past your limbs and becomes fire. The use of muscle comes later to augment the breath. Try it. Breathe and feel the energy within yourself. Imagine it moving through your blood and lungs, picture the heat.”

Harry did as he was asked. With his eyes closed he tried to search inward, imagining in his mind a trail of red light starting at his lips and moving down into his lungs with every inhale. Then on the exhale, he imagined it moving out along his arms, through his hands, and into the air once more. Was it just his imagination that the air was starting to get warmer?

“Harry, open your eyes.”

Heeding his teacher’s voice once more, the boy did so, and was instantly startled enough to fall over onto his back when he was faced with a veritable heat haze right in front of his eyes. As he scrambled back and up onto his feet once more he was met with Iroh’s booming laughter and his face turned red with embarrassment.

Seeing this, the General forced himself to calm down. “Do not look so embarrassed, young one. I laughed because I was happy and impressed. Believe it or not, not all firebenders can feel their heat so early in their training. I have known some to not even create a change in the air pressure for up to two months. Discovering one’s inner fire is the first step in a long journey, but it is one that you have already shown great promise in. Come,” he stood up and took the boy’s hand in his own. “Let us go and have some tea. Then we can start doing some light forms to get you used to our fighting style.”

“What about more bending?” After experiencing it once, Harry was insanely eager to do so again.

Sensing this, of course, Iroh answered, “That will come soon as well, but a flame without a wick to set it to is merely uncontrolled chaos. These forms will show you how best to direct and control your fire once you do begin to implement it. One must build a foundation before the house can stand.”

Thus began another week of strict food intake (they had to fix his malnourishment), meditation, lectures, and martial arts forms. As was his way, Iroh began with the defensive maneuvers, and after that first week his pupil made it through all of the usual starter forms and, remarkable as it seemed, everything he learned he seemed to remember. Of course he still made mistakes as everything was still new, but he always got back into the right positions and started the forms up again without needing to be told twice or put back into place. Honestly he showed such dedication that the General decided to offer him a treat.

“Alright, Harry. I think you’re about ready to start adding a bit of fire.”

“Really?” The boy was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Really. I want you to do the latest form again, but this time keep a focus on your breathing. Picture the heat pushing swiftly through your arms in time with your strikes, and remember to aim for the sea; you wouldn’t want to hit any of the crew while they’re working.”

Nodding his understanding, Harry moved closer to the railing and as he faced the water he began to move. At first, he met with frustrating failure, but then he did what his master had taught him several times already; he took a deep breath, let it sit within him for a few moments, and then he tried again.

On his fourth attempt it finally happened. As he completed his last move with a roundhouse kick it felt as though a warm flash was escaping his toes, and with it a trail of crimson light followed his move, filling the air with heat and licking fire in his leg’s wake. As he stared on with sheer awe and delight Harry became suddenly aware of a loud clapping behind him and he turned to see that a crowd of sailors that had stopped what they were doing to watch him were cheering and hooting compliments at him that his face darkening with a blush of embarrassed pride.

“Very good, Harry.” Iroh smiled and patted him lightly on the shoulder. “How did that feel?”

“Amazing.” The child spoke with hushed excitement. “It was like you said. I breathed, and moved, and-”

“And you ignited the air within and without.” Iroh finished for him. Now that you have done it once do you think you can do it again?”

“Yes.”

“Then show me.”

The boy did so and Iroh found himself pleased at the varying streams of flame his pupil was creating. He wasn’t perfect by any means. His limbs were small, undernourished, and still quite shaky, so his form was subpar and he had no muscle tone at all to rely on so his endurance would be terrible for the foreseeable future. Yet far from being a true hindrance, Iroh saw that as a bonus. Harry had no poor habits built up to train out of him and there were no preexisting notions in his mind that could lead to faulty muscle memory. Harry was a completely blank slate to draw up anew in the manner he saw fit. Yes, in the sloppy form of a child the Dragon of the West saw that one enviable thing that all teachers truly hoped for in new disciples, yet rarely if ever discovered. Raw, unrefined, potential completely at his mercy to shape into a perfect form.

In that vein he made a few verbal adjustments here and there and then sent for a stool to sit on while he continued to watch. Though he required several small breaks between form movements, Harry never complained or asked to stop. Indeed, Iroh needed to command him to imbibe some water and snacks after a while so he could replenish his energy. The boy was incredibly motivated and the last thing from lazy, or so it seemed. The General, upon remembering all of the scarring on his body, mused that more likely he was used to going long stretches of time without rest. That would be one habit, at least, that definitely needed breaking. The steel that was endlessly battered and never given a chance to be tempered and treated was sure to shatter after all.

Thus their days went for the next two weeks of sea travel until they made it to the coast of the Earth Kingdom. From there they mounted a caravan leading out from the colony trading pier that met their ship and headed out the last few days to reach the main encampment of the Fire Nation field army. The entire way Iroh took supreme delight in the wide eyed stare of his new charge at every new sight. The oxen-ostriches in particular seemed of intense interest to him and when asked why, he answered that he’d never seen any animal like it in his old world, but that he’d heard of oxen and ostriches both as separate creatures. The idea made absolutely no sense to the older man. How would they ever lay eggs?

For his part, Harry was doing his best not to freak out about all the new and extraordinary things that made up his new existence. Instead he was trying to impart one of his master’s many teachings; to stay silent and contemplate a hard question before speaking out and making himself look the fool. The apparent mixing of species especially caught his interest and it made him excited to think about what kind of other creatures could exist that waited to be seen. It also made him want to know exactly what kind of meat it was that he’d been eating on the ship for the last few weeks.

That attention soon shifted to the fortified military encampment once they reached it, and this time his focus was drawn to the neat and orderly view it represented in the middle of an open field. Thousands of tents and lines of men all arranged and moving in perfect concert. He’d never thought himself a person that liked things to be organized, but he couldn’t deny there was a distinct beauty to it. Then he looked past them all and beheld the wall.

“T-That is what you are trying to get through?” Harry gasped as he craned his neck up high. Even this far from the base he still had trouble seeing the top of the massive outer city wall guarding the entrance to Ba Sing Se.

Iroh laughed at the reaction of his pupil and answered, “Yes, and it is proving just as troubling as you are no doubt thinking. Do not worry yourself though, it will be many months before you must worry about that wall or anything beyond it. We’ll be in the camp soon enough and then I shall introduce you to both the officers and my son, Lu Ten. I think you’ll like him.”

“Is he anything like you?”

“Perhaps a bit. Though I like to think he’s better in the ways that count.”

“Then I’m sure he’s absolutely amazing!”

Chapter 3: Be Like Water

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Three - Be Like Water

Lu Ten had indeed been amazing. The son of Iroh was absolutely massive and the man stuck out like a sore thumb as he met them without fail just after they were allowed entry into the camp by a swiftly bowing series of sentries. He’d apparently been notified by a falcon-squirrel that his father was on the way and been eager to see him again. The man was resplendent in the most epic armor Harry had ever seen. His tunic and loose pants were covered by sets of scaled plate mail and his head was protected by a plumed helm that held a loose covering of chainmail that dangled by his shoulders.

When Harry asked about that as they dismounted the carriage, Iroh explained that Lu Ten was the Captain of the cavalry. His plated armor was meant to absorb and redirect weapon blows while the chains were supposed to cover his face and neck when clipped into place. There wasn’t time for further explanation though as the moment their feet hit the ground the tall form of the cavalryman was upon them and pulling the general into a hug so powerful the older man’s feet actually left the ground.

“Father! You were gone so long!” He crowed before letting him back down. “What kept you?”

The General chuckled merrily as he clapped his son’s shoulders and got a good look at him. “You need a shave, Lu Ten.”

“Ah, the soldiers say a beard makes me look fierce.” Lu Ten waved off the fond reprimand.

“Hm, perhaps, but you’ll need some more work to match my own.” Iroh stroked his own pointed beard for emphasis before turning around and raising a hand to introduce his companion. “And this is what kept me. Lu Ten, meet my new squire, Harry Potter.”

“Squire?” When Iroh explained briefly what had gone down in the capitol, the officer smiled wide and knelt in front of the youth. “You are fortunate, little one. Many are the nobles in the Fire Nation that would sell everything they had in the world for the chance to learn at the feet of the Dragon of the West. I hope you will live up to his expectations.”

Harry, still in awe of the armored man that he was honestly convinced might really be a giant, could only nod, imparting that he’d try his best.

“Aw, relax, Harry. I’m just a man like any other.” Lu Ten gave the small boy his warmest smile and offered, “I was about to go and inspect the komodo-stallions. Would you like to come with me? I’ll even let you feed them.”

“Yay!” The two set off toward the cavalry pens and Iroh released a fresh chuckle at the sight. Lu Ten was always good with children. Sadly there were many small towns spread across the countryside of the Fire Nation that were horribly poverty ridden for lack of resources to farm or mine. Many of those people openly praised their military conquests and resettled in Earth Kingdom colonies for a new life but some couldn’t even do that. Amongst that number many of the youths volunteered as early enlistees in the military rather than starve and Lu Ten tended to take direct command of as many as he could. The current cavalry brigade he led was practically made up of people he’d nearly raised as a result. It was a flawed world they lived in but they did the best they could. Him more than most.

The Next Morning

The cavalrymen met up in the training yard as was their habit to begin morning exercises before bending and mounted training. Lu Ten was a harsh taskmaster but every man beneath him knew that he would never ask them to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself, hence his shirtless presence at their head as he began helping to unload sacks of sandbags for weight work from a nearby cart. It was as he was doing so that a hush fell over his group and he turned to find them all staring at a nervous looking Harry, who seemed to have approached in silence.

Lu Ten eyed him shrewdly and asked, “Harry, what are you doing?”

Clearly nervous at being the center of attention, the boy stuttered out, “M-Master Iroh told me that the m-men train here in the morning and that I should-”

Lu Ten interrupted him with, “I didn’t mean what are you doing here. I meant, what are you doing here late? It’s already five thirty in the morning.”

The boy seemed confused by that statement. “M-Master Iroh said that training started at five thirty?”

“Yes, but being on time is the same as being late.” The Captain of the cavalry marched in front of the boy, put his hands on his hips, and in an instant changed his frown into a welcoming smile. “Remember that, Harry. In the military you should always arrive early and from now on I want you here ten to fifteen minutes before the start of training just like all the other men in our brigade.” He knelt down and ruffled his hair fondly, “Welcome, and know that we are happy to have you. Isn’t that right, boys!?!”

“Hell yeah!” At once the gathered group broke ranks and swarmed the boy to offer welcome as Lu Ten went back to his task of setting up their training circuit. Most of those men had been with him since they were Harry’s age and were more than happy to welcome a newby. Of course he wouldn’t be joining the cavalry, but both his father and himself believed being around a positive group of men could only be good for him in the long run. The boy needed some confidence and there were few greater ways to build it than to be surrounded by it near constantly.

Two Months Later

The siege was progressing as expected. Small skirmishes here and there between their respective cavalry forces, intensive training and drills with the army’s infantry, and tunneling crews thwarted by subterranean earthbenders on constant patrol for such efforts. The war engineers kept themselves busy by experimenting with different methods to try and break through the wall… sadly to no avail. All the while those within the walls were no doubt continuing to eat up their food stores. It was still early days but on the whole everything was well within expectations.

Meanwhile, Harry was doing remarkably well. With two months of regular food, and expert instruction from both Iroh and Lu Ten, he had lost the nervous twitchiness born from years of abuse, and his forms were much more sure and practiced. He had even managed to incorporate his flames into them without conscious effort, showing remarkable aptitude for the discipline of firebending.

What was more, he took to lessons about tactics and pai sho like a platypus-duck to water. The boy wouldn’t be a master for several years yet, but from sheer common sense and patience he was already better than most junior officers the General had been forced to deal with since starting his military career. On the whole, Harry was a sponge for information, and he was desperate to meet every expectation placed before him. Sadly, Iroh had seen such behavior before from abused children. They got so used to being torn down that when given the chance to actually learn and rise they strove to reach the pinnacle of their being with a vengeance for fear of being given up on after should they fail to excel. It took a lot to convince the boy that being abandoned would not be his fate.

Harry’s training had been going so well in fact that he’d already moved beyond the beginner stages of training and into more advanced forms. Normally this would be when a student would be moved up from defense to combat forms, but Iroh wanted to do something different with his squire than the norm. Harry wasn’t just a firebender, he was an energy bender, and the General was interested to see how that would manifest. It just so happened that he’d spent years observing benders of all the nations and as such had modeled his own forms based off of them that were unique unto his own style. So instead of moving directly into assault lessons… he decided to teach him defense from another discipline first.

“Alright, Harry, watch me and do as I do.” Iroh stated simply. He had found that the boy learned best by doing so he was implementing what was known as mirror training or mimicry. Every slow movement was copied by the child in front of him. They were in a cleared space in the training yard while all around them men sat back and watched. It had become common practice for them to take breaks and imbibe water while observing his training and he understood why. Harry was a point of deep interest for the soldiers as his apprentice, and many also hoped to learn of his own abilities by watching how he taught. The price of being a legend had turned out to be scores of interested parties wanting to know if he lived up to the hype.

The boy stumbled through the new movements for a while but soon started to get it down, and as they moved in concert, Harry asked, “This seems different than what we normally train. Why?”

Iroh smiled and answered, “Because I learned this from observing waterbenders. You see, their style is the exact opposite of our own, which means defense via their methods is unorthodox to anyone that doesn’t know it. Why, through them I’ve even developed a method of redirecting lightning, something that no other firebender has managed to find a defense for since its creation three centuries ago.”

Harry seemed thrilled at the prospect and after making sure he could copy the movements of the first form alone, the general stepped back and tried something that had been on his mind for a while now. “Alright, now I want you to keep repeating that form, but this time, close your eyes.”

“Close my eyes, master?”

“Yes, close your eyes, and while you move I want you to focus on your chi. As you do with firebending you should control your breathing and picture its flow within your mind, but this time, do not seek heat. Instead, focus on the cool and soothing feeling of water between your fingers and the refreshing feeling of it passing through your throat when you take a drink. Imagine it and make it real. Let it flow with your movements.”

The boy nodded and though he didn’t say anything to gainsay his orders, Iroh could see that he was very confused as to what exactly was supposed to happen. All the same he got into the starter stance and began to move. He was a bit choppy at first, as moving blind threw off his balance slightly, and had to restart himself at least twice, but soon enough something seemed to click and he fell into a groove. The motions of arms and legs coming smoother and faster and at first that was all it was, an admittedly impressive attempt at something he’d only just learned… but then came the first exclamations of shock, followed by more men sounding off with surprise, and as Iroh turned to see what they were all about he realized that many of the soldiers who’d been refreshing themselves were backing away from all of the water barrels as their contents began to churn, rumble, and eventually coalesce into streams that were evenly pulled straight out of them, and dragged through the air to hover in a massive ball above the ever moving Harry’s body.

He seemed in a trance at this point, unheeding of all the new noise and the water above him both. He never stopped moving either. His form just kept repeating over and over, seamlessly transposing from the last kick back to the first strike. There in that space where his mind and body met he had reached perpetual motion into a time without an ending or beginning.

“Harry, open your eyes.” Iroh ordered, and with his words the spell was broken. The boy gazed on with shock at what he was doing and became utterly drenched as the large sphere of water lost all coalescence and fell right on his head. He began to laugh as the gathered men offered well meant ribbing and his master started to develop a plan.

“Lu Ten,” he called his son over. “You’ll need to take command of the army for a little while soon.”

“Whyever for, pop?”

“I’ve got a feeling that Harry and I will be taking a trip soon. Perhaps a few trips over time. I assume you are up to that task?”

“Of course.”

“Excellent.”

That Night

The Gray Goose-Bear was a well maintained tea house on the outskirts of the closest colony to the Fire Nation Army. It was one of several establishments in the town that officers frequented and enlisted men went to when they had leave time. In a stationary situation, such as a siege, it was important to create situations for leisure time, or else the men would become strained, morose, and stagnant.

As it was, Iroh went alone to one of the back tables with a hooded cloak covering his features. It wouldn’t do for the rather crowded room to know who he was and who he was meeting. Said person was also cloaked and waiting for him before an empty table that was carved out to facilitate games of pai sho. As he sat and set his own pieces on the board the host did the same. Nothing was said as the game began and that state of being continued for move after move until at last every piece on either end was accounted for into the shape of a blooming lotus flower.

For the first time the host spoke. “Welcome, brother, the White Lotus opens wide to those that know her secrets.”

“I greet thee in turn.” Iroh answered.

“How can the White Lotus aid a fellow member?”

The General looked both ways and slid a piece of paper across the board before folding his hand back into his sleeves. The other man took it, read it, and slid it back only to see it burned up a moment later so not a scrap of evidence remained. “Can it be done?”

“The Green Plains chapter house. One month.”

“I will be there.”

One Month Later

True to predictions Lu Ten had indeed had no trouble taking command of the army for a short trip away, and Harry had been delighted for another chance to see more of the new world that made up his home. He’d even used his new cavalry training to good effect by loading up the packhorse and saddling the two komodo-stallions they were using as transport all by himself; and during their week and a half journey to the Green Plains he’d ridden as if he were born in the saddle. It seemed joining Lu Ten’s group for their morning training was paying off in leaps and bounds.

Upon reaching their destination, an abandoned hut in the middle of nowhere that seemed to be full of camping supplies and rations, and quickly setting up their tents, Harry finally asked the question that experience told Iroh he should have been asked over a hundred times by any ordinary child in the course of their journey, “Master, why did we come all the way out here?”

Spying an approaching shadow on a nearby rise, Iroh answered while watching it get closer, “You remember when you dropped a ball of water on your head?”

“It’s kind of hard not to.” The boy blushed at the remembrance.

“Well, I called in a favor with some friends of mine to get you a teacher who can explain the things you need to know that I can’t. But you must be sure to never tell anyone in the army about this.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” Iroh smiled as a deeply tanned individual with a mostly bald head in blue hunting furs and riding a polar bear dog finally came into clear view, “our nation is technically at war with theirs.”

The massive beast lumbered on up to their impromptu campsite and stopped right in front of them. “Is this him, Iroh? The Lotus wasn’t clear on the details.” As he spoke his gaze lingered down on the boy. “Small thing, isn’t he?”

“He grows on you.” Iroh smirked before helping his old friend down from his mount. “Much like someone else did when they showed up out of nowhere in the Northern Water Tribe’s harbor drinking tea out of a certain master waterbender’s personal pot.”

“And I still never got it back.” The older man groused before hugging Iroh firmly. “I liked that pot.”

“You couldn’t make good tea to save your life. I saved your students years of bad drinks.” He hugged right back before releasing him and gesturing to Harry. “This is who my missive was about. Harry Potter. Harry, this is Pakku, master waterbender of the Northern Water Tribe.”

Pakku sized the boy up and said, “Strange name.”

“I get that a lot.” Harry sheepishly answered.

“Hm. Well, from how you stand I can tell that you aren’t completely hopeless. I gather Iroh already taught you some of what he knows to prep you for my direct tutelage?”

“Y-Yes, sir.” The body quickly moved to a position of attention at the sudden change of tone from conversational to one of command. “I know all of the starter forms.”

“Good, then I won’t be wasting my time. But first, Iroh, go get some wood. I need to speak with the boy alone.”

The General grumbled a bit about being treated like an errand boy, but nonetheless moved off without too much resistance. There wasn’t much use going through the effort of calling in an expert if he wasn’t going to listen to him.

Alone with his new pupil, Pakku asked, “Which element do you think is the best, Harry?”

“I-I don’t know, Master Pakku.”

“Try to answer, and explain your reasoning.”

The boy thought about it for a while but really, to his mind, there was only one real answer. “Fire.”

“Why?”

“Because when I use it I feel warm, powerful, like nothing can stand against me. I like to feel powerful.”

Pakku nodded. “Yes, fire is a true assaulting force, but it is also a benign source of renewal. Heat can bring new life to old rot. A dead forest sometimes must be burned away to clear room for a living one. Destruction and creation go hand and hand, and they are natural parts of living, but that does not make fire the best element. No, that is water.”

“But Iroh said fire is the best.”

“Of course he would. He’s a firebender.” The old man’s gaze hardened, “But if his stories about you are anything to go by, then you must be more than just a firebender yourself. You must have a mind open to seeing the benefits, uses, and specialties of every element on this world. Do you think you can do that? Can you simultaneously think every element is the best and yet none are?” He was trying like hell to make an incredibly broad subject a statement that a child could understand, but he knew it was still a bit much. Honestly, admitting that any element could be on par with water was anathema to Pakku at the best of times, but for Iroh he was willing to make some exceptions.

Deciding to go more in depth he added, “You have told me why you think fire is good, but do you want to know just why I think water is better than any other element?”

Eager for more information, the boy nodded his head rapidly. It was almost enough to make the stern teacher smile. Almost. Above all else he adored teaching. “Because, where fire is aggression, passion, and forward momentum, water is freedom and adaptability. Remember that, young one, for being a waterbender is like being water itself, making its way through the cracks of life. You should not be assertive as you would with fire, but instead adjust to the practice itself, and you shall find a way around or through any obstacle that gets put in your way. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”

Eyes wide with excitement, Harry asked, “But how can I do that?”

The Waterbender moved one arm seamlessly, and from one of three waterskins at his waist rose a shimmering stream of crystal clear water pulled straight from the sacred pond in the heart of his fortress. “By emptying your mind. Shapeless should your thoughts be, like water. If you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water into a bottle or skin, then it becomes the bottle or skin. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Do you understand?” The boy nodded and so he added, “Water is not merely benign however. In a storm it can rage. With the power of the tide it can flow or crash in equal measure. Be like water, and your enemy will never know how to fight you, for you shall be ever changing as the sea.”

He rolled his hand palm over and swirled the stream into a ball hovering over his palm. “We’ll start with this; pull this ball from my hand.”

“How?”

“I’ll show you.”

Chapter 4: Can You Feel The Rhythm?

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Four - Can You Feel The Rhythm?

Iroh woke at dawn and exited his tent only to find himself facing the usual sight of Harry and Pakku passing several streams of water back and forth at high speeds. The last sliver of the moon was fading fast over the horizon but they were still moving quickly about their work. Harry had come a long way in a month and a half, but they still chose to train primarily at night to use the aid of the moon’s energy to speed their lessons along. To hear Pakku tell it, they had covered three months worth of material in that compressed span of time. In spite of his reserved manner, it was easy for the General to see how impressed the Northerner was. Though he could also see the frustration. This was always meant to be a practice of instilling merely the basics for the lad to build upon on his own over time; as a full apprenticeship to completely master the element would take up time that neither of them had to lose, and Pakku was nothing if not a perfectionist. Leaving things unfulfilled was normally anathema to him.

But all good things had to come to an end. A fact that Iroh noted as he rose to his feet and approached the duo. “Well, I’ve been gone long enough I think. The army is gonna need me back soon to make sure they aren’t slacking too much. How is he doing, Pakku?”

The pair returned the water to their respective pouches (Harry had been gifted two of his own) and bowed to each other before the master faced his firebending counterpart. “The boy has learned everything he needs from me to understand the basic points of waterbending. The rest is going to rely on practice and experience.”

“I’ll be sure he gets it.”

“There is, however, one last thing. He has not had a practical application of healing yet.”

Iroh frowned, “If you’re asking me to burn myself so a student of yours can heal me I refuse. The last five times were bad enough.”

Pakku frowned and waved him off. “I figured you’d be a big baby about that so I have found another idea. I discovered something on my walk three days ago that could be of use, so mind the camp for a bit and I shall return shortly.”

So it was that the Northerner disappeared for a while as the firebender and his student started making breakfast over the cookfire and finishing up the rest of the packing. Indeed, he did not return for two whole hours, but when he did they were shocked to see that he was not alone. Indeed, as Pakku reappeared to stand in front of them he held a tiny, pitifully mewling, animal within his arms.

Iroh blinked with open faced surprise at the sight. A look that was of course parodied comically on the face of Harry. “Is that what I think it is?” The General asked warily.

“Aye, it is an owlbear cub.” Moving as he spoke, the waterbending master laid the animal gently at Harry’s feet. “I discovered a clutch of them breeding in the hills nearby but, as I suspected they would, they left this one behind when the mother was well enough to travel. It’s the runt of the litter, Harry, and it has not been fed in days. As such, its internal organs are failing. Do you remember what I said to do in such a situation?”

“Y-Yeah, I need to stabilize the internal organ functions and then make sure it gets immediate nutrients to offset the damage.” He answered quickly, forcing his awe down to remember one of the myriad of important lectures that had been imparted to him over the last month and a half.

“And the purpose of waterbending in such a maneuver?”

“Jumpstarting organ function and metabolism.”

“Excellent. I’d suggest getting to it soon, though. The poor thing seems about to expire while we sit around talking.”

The boy yelped with the remembrance that their conversation was no longer academic and immediately fell to his knees in front of the desperate creature. In seconds his arms were moving in small, controlled, circular movements that drew the water free from the skins at his waist. Soon enough the liquid was flush with the animal’s stomach and glowing brightly with the application of his chi.

While that was happening, Iroh sidled up to Pakku and whispered, “A bit rough for a final lesson isn’t it?”

The other man huffed with irritation at his methods being questioned. “This is why I do not typically teach children or women, Iroh. Waterbending is not a simple or polite art. It is often the last bastion between life and death, and the boy cannot be allowed to be shielded from that fact. Better he be stressed to save an animal’s life now, then freeze later on when a human one needs his skills to be tested and true.”

“I suppose I can see that as well.” The General couldn’t fail to see the quiet desperation on the young man’s face as he strained to save the life before him. “All the same, it is a cruel lesson. It is… painful to subject the youth to the realities of living in our world so soon. Enough innocence has been lost to this one already.”

The other man agreed. “It is no simpler in my lands as you know.”

“Hm.” Silence reigned for the next twenty minutes as the boy continued to work, and neither failed to notice when Harry’s straining arms started to relax a bit and the pained whimpering changed notes to interested coos. “Well, it looks as if he’s on the right track.”

“So it would seem.”

“But an owlbear? Really? Those things bond for life.” Iroh complained. “We’ll never be rid of it.”

Pakku chuckled low enough to only be heard by his fellow White Lotus member, so as not to distract the boy, and replied, “Why do you think I chose it? Did you think I’d get summoned down here and not get back at you somehow? Ah, relax, it’s a runt. At best it’ll be as large as a big dog.”

“That’s not what worries me. There’s going to be feathers everywhere!”

As they were speaking, Harry’s water returned to his skins and he was soon rushing to their packs before coming back with a few pieces of dried fish and a small bowl to pour a little bit of milk into. As he set these things up and helped the little creature to eat, Harry finally found himself with a calm moment in which to actually examine the creature now that he wasn’t stressing about keeping it alive. The healing, though strenuous, had not been crazy, merely exhausting as he was not used to channeling his chi in such a unique way. From his lessons with Pakku he knew now that it was a simple matter of continuing to feed it every hour and repeating the healing as necessary until the animal was back to a sustainable weight. Without the healing he had done already it would surely have died within hours.

The owlbear, as he had heard the elders call it, was currently the size of a puppy, but instead of fur it was covered in fine white feathers and its face was definitely reminiscent of owls he’d once seen Dudley watching on the Discovery channel with wide yellow eyes and a curved beak to boot. Honestly the entire thing was downright adorable and Harry couldn’t resist pulling it into his arms for a hug.

“Careful, young one.” Iroh cautioned as he came over and squatted down in front of him. “Those creatures are man eaters.”

“Not this one. She’s harmless.” Harry defended as he nestled the owlbear in his arms and stroked its head feathers tenderly, earning pleased croons for his efforts. Unable to help himself he asked, “Can I keep her?”

The older man sighed and nodded. “It’s either that or kill it. Just looking at it now I can see that it has bonded itself to you in place of its mother. owlbears are never really docile with anyone else. Do you a name in mind for it?”

Harry thought about it for a moment and grinned as an idea came to him. “I think I’ll call her Hedwig.”

Time Passes

Hedwig, it turned out, was a hit. The little thing had ridden the entire way back to the army on Harry’s lap and the moment Lu Ten’s cavalry unit laid eyes on her they adopted the thing as their mascot and even stitched up a banner with its likeness to set up in front of their tents. Even its near constantly molting feathers proved fortuitous as the men had started using them to plume their helmets.

It followed Harry everywhere he went and many were the little treats of fish the soldiers snuck its way when the boy wasn’t looking. The only downside, and something that the men lamented, was that it wouldn’t ever be big enough to ride. So it was that instead Harry approached the falcon corps for tips on how to train his pet in message carrying and tracking. As a semi-avian being, it proved just as receptive to the techniques as its winged counterparts and within three months it became a regular sight for the army to see it bustling back and forth between tents and dirt paths with a collar absolutely loaded with sealed missives and scrolls as officers paid to use his services to get messages quickly across camp.

The creature drew almost as many eyes as Harry did when he practiced his waterbending. The moment his cavalry fellows learned he could control water to some extent the firebenders amongst them insisted on training against him so that he could gain some combat experience and they could learn what it was to fight their natural opposite, what many assumed would be the greatest adversity.

Harry was only too happy to do both and soon sparring with Lu Ten’s boys became a natural part of his morning’s activities. To be sure there was some grumbling about it from the other officers, but the knowledge that he was also a firebender kept most of them quiet; and those that persisted in their negativity soon found themselves on the wrong side of an Iroh led tongue lashing. Already he’d even made himself useful aiding the healers in the medica after several of the Earth Kingdom’s raids on scouting parties and supply lines.

But honestly there was only so much that could be done with the limited water supplies inside the camp, and Iroh was interested in what his student could achieve with access to a greater source. It just so happened that there was a rather large lake several mile’s ride out from the encampment and Lu Ten’s men were due for some field training. So the group had made a mission out of it. They’d saddled up their mounts, packed supplies, and each was ready to set up camp at the lake for several days while practicing ranging through the countryside and cantering through formations.

It took about an hour for all of them to reach the body of water and then the men began to offload their gear while Harry started going through his waterbending forms under his master’s supervision using the lake as his medium. He was just winding himself up into the rhythm of pushing and pulling to attempt to create a controlled tidal wave when the first shouts reached their ears. Shouts of alarm and warning followed by barked orders by Lu Ten and the stomping of running feet.

Harry and Iroh spun around and saw a massive dust cloud billowing forth in their direction behind a far hill. The men that had come with them were mounting up in response to it and charging off while Iroh’s personal bodyguard of fifty hardened benders ran over and surrounded the two in a formation that placed them safely behind their bodies with the lake at their backs to avoid being flanked.

“What is the matter, Captain Ro?” Iroh demanded of the lead soldier.

The officer stopped barking orders at his men long enough to answer, “Scouts just came back like the dogs of Agni were on their tails. An Earth Kingdom raiding party apparently left the city and was skirting the edge of our occupied zone looking for active targets, but it looks like one of them caught sight of our group and the rest followed. Then they saw our standard. Right now two hundred very angry Ba Sing Se cavalrymen are bearing down hard on our position.”

For the first time since he’d met him, Harry actually heard Iroh curse, and in short order he found himself shoved behind the big man as the soldiers of the bodyguard drew steel and summoned fire in equal measure. By now the hoard of green armored men was finally visible in the distance and in a scared, yet detached, sort of way, the boy noted that where the Fire Nation cavalry rode komodo stallions, The Earth variety instead rode some sort of giant bird. He was honestly too scared to ask what kind.

“W-We’ll be alright, won’t we?” He asked.

“Of course, Harry.” Iroh offered a strained smile as he adopted his own ready stance. “You forget, we have our own cavalry with us.” What wasn’t said was something so simple that even the squire understood it without words. The enemy numbered two hundred with momentum and heavy armor on their side… and the Fire Nation forces were only one hundred and twenty in total. In the open field they’d still have the advantage but on foot facing cavalry in a dead charge… the earthbenders were a literal rockslide.

With fresh yells Lu Ten and his men finished mounting up and curved off to engage the enemy from the side where one hundred of their own broke off from the host to hold the line while the other half kept bearing down on the defenders. They were close enough now for the ground to shake beneath their charge, and it was making Hedwig coo and cree with terror.

Hoping soothing her fears would ease his own, Harry reached down and placed his hand on her neck only to seize in place as something just ‘clicked’ into place within his mind. Hedwig's scared jitters, his own nervous shakes, and the rumbling of the ground from the cavalry, it all had a tempo, it all had a rhythm, and it all shifted and ground anew as he and everyone else moved with it. The world formed an image in his mind of one big vibration… and it was one he felt like he could control.

Without giving himself time to think and lose whatever courage he had, Harry broke free from Iroh’s protective position, jumped over the shoulders of the bodyguards and ran out to meet the oncoming hoard. “Harry!” “Stop!” “Get back here!” The shouts came in a torrent of noise but he blocked it all out, focusing every bit of focus and attention on the feeling of his boot-covered feet hitting the earth and the reverberations pounding through the air. He didn’t know why, but some instinct buried down deep within was screaming at him that he needed to find the space between them all; that one perfect moment where the vibrations, cadences, screams, and reverbs all coalesced and combined into perfect synchronicity. And….. There!

“Go away!” Screaming out all of his fear and forcing it into a battle cry he called to the chi within, slid to a stop less than fifty feet ahead of the enemy force, and smashed one foot as hard as he could into the ground. Whatever he expected to happen next, whatever anyone else expected to happen next… no one was prepared for what actually occurred.

The moment Harry’s foot hit the ground the earth itself trembled, and then a massive spike of rock rose from the surface, impaled the center line of riders straight through, and scattered the rest, forcing them to draw back and regroup. Harry saw the survivors coalescing once more for a return trip, and he refused to let that happen. The lives of the men behind him were at stake and they had taken him in, trained him, ate with him, treated him as one of their own, and they were the closest thing to a family he had ever really had. He couldn’t help Lu Ten, but he could help them, so not giving himself time for his fear to return he ran back toward his people and just as felt a reverb beneath his feet that somehow told him the earthbenders were charging again, he focused his chi on the lake as he had been attempting before this whole event started, settled into a low but powerful waterbending stance, and rotated in place, pulling on the water with all of his might while forcing the image of the drawing tide into his mind.

Three things happened in very quick succession after that. First, a huge quantity of the lake rose to his will, second the water moved with his form to encircle the defenders before hardening into a wall of solid ice spikes, third the charge had built up too much momentum to stop and the entirety of the enemy ran right into them!

The mounts all died screaming, several soldiers left the mortal plane with them, and after their own shock wore off at such a strange turn of events the firebenders behind him took full advantage of the newly stationary targets they’d been gifted and were quick to rush forward and dispatch all those that remained in a massive, fifty man strong, inferno. Stuck in place as they were, the earthbenders could not avoid it or power through, and soon enough all that remained of the once mighty force were charred husks. The firebenders didn’t even stop to cheer before taking off across the field to aid their own cavalry in mopping up the remainder of the enemy in the distance. It seemed that though Lu Ten’s group had been kept busy and distracted from aiding their General, they’d remarkably proved superior in their fight and though outnumbered had nearly succeeded in destroying all opposition by that point.

Meanwhile, Harry, having never experienced bending on such a high level, and coming down from his adrenaline, had collapsed into the dirt with Iroh quickly rushing to his side. Supporting his head and offering some water that the boy greedily drank from, the General commented, “Harry, that was incredibly reckless… and amazing.” The worry that had been dogging his features since the attack started slowly dissipated into mere concern. “Are you alright?”

“I-I…” Now that calm was finally returning, Harry actually had a moment to reflect on what had just happened; and that meant his memory was finally registering the blood… and the bodies. “I killed them.” His voice was a hushed whisper filled with untold horror.

Iroh could see the clear devastation written across his student’s face, and he desperately wanted to console him, but before he could, he was pushed solidly from the side and had to fall to his knee to avoid toppling over. When he righted himself he saw that it had been Hedwig that had shoved him and she’d quickly subsumed his position and forced herself into the young man’s arms, letting him clutch onto her as if his life depended on the contact. Once more Iroh found himself impressed at the emotional clarity of animals. Of course the creature had known what he hadn’t, that Harry wasn’t ready to talk and only needed comfort, so he had sought to provide it. Soon enough the older man joined the hug as well, pulling animal and human into his arms and letting them both ride out their emotions as his men continued the fight in the distance. He knew it would be over soon and when it was he’d have them see to cremating the bodies here. When that was done, and Harry had had a chance to rest, then he would speak to him about what had occurred this day.

Later That Night

The ride back to the camp had gone full tilt and there had been much hoopla and to do about how an entire Earth Kingdom raiding party could get that close without being spotted. It turned out that a few of the scouts detailed to observe a certain section of the wall had fallen asleep at their posts and because of that they’d managed to slip right by. It was a hard thing to do, but Iroh had still ordered them flogged. Discipline was important and if such actions continued to happen then the next group that went out might not be as fortunate as they had been. As things stood Lu Ten had lost forty of his own men to the assault and had Harry not awoken his abilities as he had then they would likely all have perished.

After seeing to the appropriate punishments, and stopping to give Lu Ten his condolences for his fallen men, he’d returned to the tent he shared with Harry and sat down beside the child’s sleeping mat. The poor boy still refused to make use of an actual bed, citing the fact that it was simply ‘too comfortable’ to fall asleep on. So he made do with a thick layer of furs and a couple of quilts. He was still curled up around his owlbear, but at least he’d stopped crying.

“Harry.” red eyes rose to meet his own, and the General put as much comfort as he could into his voice. “I am going to speak, and you are going to listen. Do you understand?” The boy gave a slight nod; as Iroh had suspected, he clearly wasn’t up to talking yet. “Taking life… is never easy. It’s not supposed to be. And it is a sad fact of life that in war using lethal force is an unfortunate necessity.”

“However, you must remember that those men gave you no other choice. We are at war, and they ‘chose’ to come out and attack us. Your actions saved the life of every man with us, but even then you gave them a chance to retreat, but they came again… they made a choice, and you chose to end it before they could complete it. I know that right now it feels like you’re being torn apart, believe me, I understand the feeling well; but if you think of nothing else tonight think of the faces of those you stood for today, and know that if you had not acted each of them would be buried within the ground right now. If you must take a life, there are worse reasons than to protect those for which you are responsible.”

With that, the old man stood up, crossed to his bed, and dragged it over next to Harry’s position before falling back into it. He refused to let the young man be anywhere close to alone while he dealt with what had happened. “Now, let's sleep. There are few better things for a weary soul than to offer it the oblivion of dreams. If you have need of me in the night you need only speak up.”

Speaking up for the first time, Harry’s voice was so low that Iroh had to strain to hear him. “T-The soldiers with us… I saw their faces. They were afraid of me.”

The General nearly jolted in place at the thought. “That is what you believed? My boy, they were not afraid of you, they were afraid for you. In case you didn’t realize it yet, this entire garrison has practically adopted you as one of their own; and you ran out full bore into an enemy assault without aid or full training. They thought they were going to lose you and it frightened them.”

“Really?”

“Really. If you want to know what they really think about it, then listen here. The men are amazed. To hear them tell the story you held off an attacking army of nearly a thousand not once but twice.”

Wide eyes nearly glowed with confusion as Harry asked, “Why would they say that? There weren’t nearly that many.”

Iroh shrugged. “It is the way of things. Deeds grow greater with every retelling of a tale. And as the hero, you’ve even been given a new name.”

“A name?”

“Aye,” The older man winked down at the little one before rolling into his own covers for the night. “Heroes always have titles, and as the one who held the line and saved the life of the General of this entire army, they’ve started calling you The Shield.”

The Gray Goose-Bear

“This is becoming something of a habit.” The hooded man noted after sweeping his pai sho pieces back into his pocket after he and Iroh had made the symbol of the White Lotus on the board once more. “Is there something that you need to tell us?”

“When there is something of note you will be informed.” Iroh deflected as he slid a piece of paper across the table to be read. Another name for another purpose. “Right now I am merely investing in the future.”

“Hm.” The mystery man examined the name and just as last time slid it back and watched it get burned to nothing. “This favor is certainly easier than the last, but equally so more troublesome.”

“I am aware, but it is necessary.”

“Ugh.” The man groaned but nodded nonetheless that he would get the job done. “Give me another month and then meet back at the same place.”

“Done.” Iroh made to leave but was halted by a raised hand from his host.

Clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to ask, he voiced, “The other elders want me to verify that you do not have the avatar. For obvious reasons they do not want him to be trained in the Fire Nation.”

“Obvious reasons?” The General raised a brow.

“Don’t get defensive, brother. You know what I mean.”

“No I don’t think I do. The Lotus is neutral, is it not?”

“It is.” The other man agreed. “But to that end we seek to maintain that neutrality, which means not giving the Fire Nation perhaps the only true weapon that might potentially be used against them should the need arise. You know we do not agree with world conquest by a single power.”

The General scoffed, “It would take more than the conquest of Ba Sing Se to conquer the world and you know it. But rest assured I do not have the avatar in my possession. Merely something… new.”

The host leaned back in his chair and spread his hands wide. “Then we have no problem, and I apologize for any insult that may have been implied.”

“These are hard times, brother.” the firebender allowed. “Worry and verification is understandable. May harmony and enlightenment find you.”

“May harmony and enlightenment find you.” The man repeated in kind.

Iroh nodded his head in farewell and took his leave, already making new plans for his next sojourn away.

Chapter 5: Be Resilient As A Rock

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar The Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Before I get haters saying Toph is the strongest earthbender in the world, I just want to point out that she was awed to hear about what Bumi did during the eclipse. He is a literal force of nature with a century of practice under his belt.

Chapter Five - Be Resilient As A Rock

It had been a few months since the event that earned him his new title, and Harry came back to his tent to grab a new shirt after completing his morning training only to find Iroh hunched over his deck with a brush held poised in his hand. That was strange. He was normally out and about by now seeing to the running of his army. “Master? Are you alright?”

“Hm?” The older man looked up at his squire and blinked, as if only just realizing how long he’d been sitting there without moving. “Oh, yes, I am perfectly fine, Harry. I am merely composing a letter to my niece to wish her a happy birthday and it is taking me a while to think of the right lines for a congratulatory poem.”

“It’s her birthday?” He asked.

Iroh clarified, “Well, not today of course. No, it’ll be a few weeks yet but I figured it's better to write the missive now so I can send it and a gift to the capitol in time for them to arrive on the day that is her birthday.”

“Oh.” Harry grew silent for a moment as he considered something. Then he asked, “Can I send her a gift too?”

That surprised the General more than a little bit. “You want to send my niece a birthday present?”

“Yeah, uh,” Harry shuffled his feet lightly, “no one ever really celebrated my birthday, so I kind of want to know what it's like to give a gift to someone else. It seems like a nice thing to do.”

Iroh was touched at the thought, and knowing just how few friends Azula had in the capital he couldn’t find fault in the idea in the least. “That is a lovely thought, Harry. But do know that your birthday will indeed be celebrated from now on. In fact, it has been about a year already since you arrived in our world; I think I have the perfect gift in mind for you. But first, tell you what, why don’t you write out a letter to Azula and then I’ll add it with mine. After that you can select a gift for her and we’ll send them both as one big parcel. That way we can be sure they’ll arrive at the same time.

Harry nodded and ran to the small desk beside his bed mat that he’d been using to practice his calligraphy. Writing lessons had been almost as prevalent as bending training once it became known that the boy couldn’t read or write their language, but by this point he could finally read without issue and though his handwriting was still rather choppy, he still managed to write out what he wanted said without too much of an issue. Many of his assignments were to write short missives to men in the cavalry and Hedwig was quite pleased to carry them for him.

About twenty minutes went by during which they both wrote out their letters and then Harry came back to his desk with his sealed scroll and a particular item taken from his personal chest. Iroh eyed it shrewdly and asked, “You wish to send her that? It is rather valuable, my boy.”

“I… yeah.” Harry rubbed his head sheepishly. “I don’t really have anything else of my own to offer, but the guys in the cavalry brought me a bunch of those as spoils of combat and I want to give her something personal.”

Those words easily mitigated the General’s reservations and he smiled wide before taking the object and scroll and bundling them into one package that he swiftly passed off to one of his aides to be sent off in priority mailing. “Very good, Harry. Now come, I have something for you.” He pulled the boy along to one of his own various chests and pulled from it two objects that he swiftly handed to the youth. “As I said, it has been about a year since we met, and since we do not have the same calendar that your old world did to keep track of, let this be a birthday to you now. Happy birthday, little one.”

Harry shakily observed the objects in his hands. One was a thin piece of wood with a fabric covering on one end that reminded him of a violin’s bow. The other was a longer and thicker piece of wood with twin dials at the top, a round drum-like bottom, and two strings running the length of it. “What is this?” He managed to get out.

“It’s an erhu.” Iroh answered simply. “I have seen you listening in on the men’s drinking songs when you think no one is looking. You like music, it calms you. So I thought you might like the chance to learn to play it for yourself.” Iroh was not expecting the massive hug he received, but he accepted it nonetheless.

Some Time Later

The Fire Lord’s Palace

“This boy is already proving to be quite the useful asset.” Fire Lord Azulon noted as he read through the latest missive from the siege. “Iroh’s hunch has already paid dividends.”

Before him his council were all knelt awaiting his pleasure, as was just, but he had wanted to wait on starting proceedings until he had finished catching up on his correspondences. It was always best to go into such things with all the pertinent knowledge at hand. “He’s already saved the life of my eldest and an entire brigade nearly single handed. And at only ten years old as well.” Indeed, Iroh had had the lad for upwards of a year by now and the reports that he had been sending back about his progress had been staggering. With two years left in the estimated siege it actually made the old man excited to learn what else he might accomplish. Thanks to his eldest, even if the avatar did return they’d finally have a true weapon capable of standing up to him in their clutches.

Across the room Ozai was of a similar mind, but for different reasons. He’d admit that he had originally believed his brother’s tales of energybending to be a smokescreen to simply justify the acquisition of a powerful new firebender. Troublesome, but allowable. However, with confirmation finally coming in that the boy could indeed make use of at least three of the four elements already, that changed things drastically. Yes, as an eventual Ember Knight he’d be tied to the royal family near exclusively, but at the moment every one of those ties was locked right onto Iroh and Lu Ten. It was hard enough angling himself into the right positions of power in the men’s absence without such a weapon being under their singular control. The second son had been trying to find a way to dig his own claws into the young man ever since and had recently come up with the perfect solution. Yes, it would piss off a few nobles that he’d made slight suggestive statements to over the years, but what was that to him? They were capable of providing influence, sure, but the boy was literal power.

“Fire Lord Azulon?” He moved to the center of the room and knelt before the dais. “I have a suggestion in regards to the boy before this meeting truly starts.” It was a risk to do this in front of witnesses, but he couldn’t risk wasting anymore time.

“Oh? Do you now?” The old man was intrigued. He was far from blind to his son’s aspirations and he was genuinely curious as to how he would try to twist this situation to his advantage.

Ozai narrowed his eyes at the tone, but continued regardless. “Yes, I have been considering how better to tie young Potter to our family and remove the temptation of other interested parties. As you know there have been great mutterings amongst the nobility about his powers.”

“I have been made aware.” The Fire Lord acknowledged. “What is your suggestion?”

“A betrothal,” Ozai stated as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “to my daughter, Azula.” That earned more than a little muttering from the others gathered. No doubt more than a few had been hoping to use the girl to ingratiate their own family lines into closer positions to the dragon throne. “By pairing the two together the boy will have an even stronger tie to our family than simple training or position. What is more, his unique abilities are likely to be passed down through their children as well, further strengthening our bloodline as a result.”

For a few moments no one spoke, and Azulon found himself actually warming to the idea, though not for the reason his son clearly was. That last statement had been a pointed one, no doubt meant to remind him of Ozai’s own arranged marriage to Ursa to secure Avatar Roku’s bloodline. ‘Ozai wants the boy to have a reason to be in his corner, and no doubt to support his own children’s claim to the throne over Iroh’s son. It's an interesting gambit, though doomed to failure. If I know Iroh as well as I think then the child likely already loves him as a father. However, it could easily serve as a method for the boy to drag his own children over to Iroh’s side, leaving Ozai alone.’ He was inclined to let this play out and see how things ended. The result would be quite telling.

“I can see merit in this suggestion, and I am willing to agree…” Azulon began, waiting for the smile of victory to alight on his son’s face before he brought the hammer down, “on one condition.” He raised a finger and inwardly delighted at the flash of irritation that disrupted Ozai’s previous smirk.

The prince notably swallowed whatever remark he’d been about to unleash and declared, “Anything, my lord.”

“This would be an unconditional and unbreakable betrothal.” Azulon lowered the finger and basked in the pure silence that came about as a result of his statement. And small wonder why. Typically royal marriages were incredibly conditional with contracts several meters long denoting hundreds of rules, clauses, and stipulations for what was expected and what would be allowed for both partners. For the case of Azula, her contract would have no doubt stipulated that she, as a princess and the clear societal superior, would be the head of the family and would be taking lead in any office or position that their marital rank would provide.

If the marriage was unconditional, however, then every benefit that Azula, and thus Ozai, would have had from the match would now be lost. Indeed, the princess would be expected by the family and society to become subservient to her betrothed in all things; and if, Agni forbid, everyone ahead of them in the line of succession was to die or be exiled, then the throne would be the boy’s in her place as well as the position of unconditional head of the family. If Ozai agreed to this stipulation then he would effectively be selling his daughter away entirely and losing all paternal authority over her as well in return for influence with a ten year old boy. The moment the betrothal agreement was signed she would effectively belong to Harry. There wasn’t even the option of annulling the union if he proved to be abusive or unfaithful. It was time to see just how much Ozai really wanted this.

Azulon waited, and when it seemed that his son was not about to agree he turned to address the Fire Sages to ask about the affairs of state, only to be interrupted by Ozai’s voice as he roughly announced, “Agreed.”

“What was that?”

“I said that I am agreed.” Ozai spoke louder, making the result of the transaction clear for all that were gathered.

“Good.” Turning to the Fire Sages again he ordered, “Draw up the agreement. Now.”

Shyu shuffled uncomfortably at the situation they all currently found themselves in, “My lord, surely we have other matters at hand to deal with-”

“They can wait. This happens now.” Azulon declared. “Unless you are refusing to follow my orders?”

“Never, my lord.” Shyu bowed so low his head nearly touched the floor and hurried over to a nearby desk where he quickly drafted an unconditional contract and applied his seal beside the signature block to show that the document was official. The sage quickly ushered himself forth and offered it to Ozai who gave his signature in a manner so violent he nearly ripped through the page before pressing his ring into the ink well and then down beside his name. In short order it was offered to the Fire Lord as well, and his signature and mark were added to the tally. From there every sage present signed as a witness as well as three nobles of differing factions and two military officers. Was it overkill? Yes, but so it went with documents of such import. Everything that could be done was being done to make sure that what was agreed this day could not be ignored, disobeyed, or forgotten later. Ozai had brought this idea forth in public, and public it would remain.

When all was said and done three copies were made. The first was given to the Fire Lord himself, the second to the Sages, and the third to the head of the Noble Block to be filed in their hall of records. It was finished. As of that day the Princess Azula was betrothed to Harry Potter, and his official place in the line of succession had been established.

That Evening

Azula was sitting alone beneath the cherry blossom tree in the palace gardens. Her arms were wrapped around her knees as she watched her mother playing with Zuko on the other end of the flowered space. This was far from the first time she’d been left alone by her mom in favor of her brother. It wasn’t even the tenth. But this time hurt all the more for the simple fact that it was her birthday. Just once she’d thought to have a day that was all hers and hers alone. One where her mom would hug her close as she did Zuko, spend the afternoon with her, and tell her that she loved her.

She should have known it wouldn’t happen. She should have known that Ursa would do what she always did and ignore her. But she’d been a fool and she’d gotten her hopes up for nothing. What did it say that the only affirmation she’d received on this day that was meant to celebrate her birth were a pair of solitary scrolls congratulating her and wishing her the best. They had been delivered by one of the Sages and the senders had actually baffled and delighted her.

First had been her uncle, sending greetings from the battlefront and including with his missive a doll dressed in the latest fashions of Ba Sing Se. Dolls of course were not her preference but it was nice of the man to send her something she could use as target practice. The other scroll had come from… Harry Potter. His writing was choppy, as if he had only just learned the characters, but the fact that it was done by his own hand was sweet, and he’d written that upon hearing she was about to have a birthday he wanted to congratulate her… since no one had ever done the same for him. Why did that mean so much to her? Honestly she’d been almost as touched by that sentiment as she had been by his gift. Included with his scroll had been a heavy belt of green jade speckled with red, and to hear him tell it he was sorry to send something that was still bloody, but he didn’t have anything else to send besides his personal spoils of war. It turned out that that belt was from one of the earthbenders he’d killed upon gaining the name the Shield. She’d not taken it off since opening it and even now, as she moped, she found one of her fingers moving along its cool length. How was it that a boy she’d only seen once, that was currently living in another nation, could show more appreciation and kindness to her than her own mother?

Something twisted within her at the thought. Something that without that belt’s interaction would have been dark, ugly, and destructive. As it stood now though, it was merely sad, lonely, and desperate to reach out for connection.

“That belt is a fine spoil of war.” A serious male voice spoke up from her blind spot. “I approve of its use as a gift.” At once Azula jumped to her feet and spun around, laying eyes on her father and immediately bowing as a result. “Rise.” Ozai raised a hand and gestured her close, sniffing disdainfully at the sight of his son and wife in the distance. Typical Ursa, wasting time with Zuko instead of properly seeing to the needs of their prodigy. Well, at least now he’d have more time to whip the boy into shape. “I have come to wish you a happy birthday and to grant you some gifts.”

“I-I am honored, father.” Azula smiled hopefully up at the man. The only one that seemed willing to acknowledge her existence. Well, he had been the only one. Her fingers still remembered the smooth feel of the jade as the comfort it had brought with it returned to her.

The prince pulled three packages from behind his back and knelt to lay them on the ground for her to take. As the princess began to open them he explained their significance.

“That first is a new treatise on the studies of Fire Lord Kri Ho. He was the first bender we know of to have actually ignited blue flames before you. Several of his techniques are not found anywhere else and most practitioners find themselves utterly incapable of performing his feats. I have faith you will succeed where they have failed.”

Clutching the pile of documents to her chest, Azula happily declared that she’d be sure to do so.

“Good. Now, the second, as your quick fingers have already sussed out, is a throwing knife of the finest steel. I have seen how talented your little friend Mai is becoming with her own projectiles, and it seems a useful skill that might surprise an enemy in the future. When next I see you with that weapon I expect you to be pinpoint accurate with its use.”

“I will be so, father.”

“Excellent. Now, this last is the most important.” Ozai took the package before his daughter could open it and simply placed it in her hands. It is better to leave this sealed until you can deliver it yourself.”

“Deliver it?”

Ozai forced himself to stay calm. There were always eyes watching in the palace and the last thing he needed was to be seen exploding over the way his father had turned this situation around on him. He couldn’t afford to make him angry enough to exile him before he got the rest of the ministers in his pocket. “Yes, deliver it. You see, Azula, you have a duty as a princess of our family. A duty to wed for the betterment of our bloodline. You know this, don’t you?”

“Yes, it was covered in our lessons.”

“Good. Your grandfather and I have decided that you are to be betrothed to your uncle’s squire, Harry Potter.”

“H-Harry?” At that Azula’s hands shot to her belt once more. It was oversized for her but the weight was comforting. “I am truly to wed the energybender?”

“Yes. This package contains your betrothal contract. It is my intention to send you to the siege with the next batch of enlisted recruits so that you might begin getting to know him and organizing his household as befits a new member of the royal family. You will give this contract to your uncle to hold for you both and when you both come of age you shall wed. Do you understand what I have told you here?”

“Yes, father.”

“Then be about your evening. I’m sure you have things to do. Perhaps you might see if Ty Lee or Mai are interested in your company?” Azula perked up at the thought, bowed, and ran off to do as directed. It was a rare thing to be given permission to leave the palace. Meanwhile, Ozai was left considering how best to use his daughter’s friendships with those girls to further his influence with their parents. Yes, his children did have their uses. His gaze rove back to his son and wife, even the disappointments.

Elsewhere

Harry, however, would not learn of this for some time as Iroh was leading him into the wilderness once more to meet another stranger. They traveled the same route and led themselves to the same hut where they once more set up their tents and camp. The wait was longer this time and the duo were alone in the Green Plains for about a week before they saw a solitary form crossing one of the neighboring hills.

They quickly went out to meet him and Harry saw that it was a very old man in a loose fitting cloak that hid his body from sight. Indeed, the boy had never seen someone so ancient in all his years. So he was surprised when said ‘old’ man leaped lithely across the distance, grabbed Iroh in his arms, and started spinning him around in the air as if he weighed nothing.

“Iroh!” The stranger crowed, “It’s so good to see you. What took you so long to ask for a visit? Do you want some rock candy? I brought a bunch!”

“B-Bumi,” the General wheezed, “c-can’t b-breathe!”

“Huh? Oh!” the aged man dropped the gasping firebender at once and rubbed what remained of his hair in embarrassment. “Sorry, Iroh, I tend to forget my own strength in my old age. He he he he.”

“Old age? Bah, you’ll outlive all of us.” The younger of the two chuckled goodnaturedly before clasping arms with the fellow and gesturing his squire forward. “Bumi, I’d like you to officially meet Harry Potter. Harry, this is Bumi.”

“Ah, Harry,” bending over unnaturally far at the waist, Bumi leveled his face with that of the boy and asked, “Look around you, what do you see?”

Harry backed away a couple steps instinctively at having his personal space invaded so suddenly, but quickly did as asked. “Um, I see… grass. Lots of tall grass?”

“He he he, no. That is merely what the land wants you to see. Let that be your first lesson in earthbending; you should open yourself to the possibilities of what else might be hidden from plain sight. Take me for instance, I look like a weak, decrepit, old man. When in reality…” He stood back up and ripped his cloak away, revealing a torso that while covered in age spotted skin was also rippling with near endless roping muscle, “I am the strongest earthbender alive!”

“Wow!” Harry practically had stars in his eyes at the reveal, he was so impressed, and Bumi was happy to flex before him for a while before resting his hands on his hips and pronouncing, “I’m told you’ve already begun studying water, which is good, because that means you already know how to be adaptable. That transfers very well to earthbending. You see, to bend earth is to master the very ground beneath your feet and turn it into a weapon. That means using creativity at its highest potency to make your desires a reality. Of course, this is also the only style of bending where physical strength is actually a true benefit as well, so we’ll need to work on beefing you up as well.”

“You mean I can get as big as you?” Harry asked hopefully.

“Hm?” Bumi shook his head. “Not in the time frame we have here, but I plan to get you started on a real exercise regime and diet while you are with me, and someday you may very well be as big as me. Would you like to be?” The old man was genuinely curious about that.

“Yeah! You look awesome!”

“Indeed I do! He he he.” Bumi smirked over at Iroh, “Better step up, old friend, or I’m likely to take your place as the favorite teacher.”

“We’ll see.” Iroh was chuckling along as well at the banter. From Lu Ten’s reports he knew that Harry worked especially hard at the sandbag drills and clearly wanted to be strong, so he’d had a feeling this meeting might go this way. It made sense he supposed, as an abused youth of course the boy wanted to be the exact opposite of the weak person who’d been so easily hurt. “Now, what’s first?”

“Well, first… we should eat.” Bumi took off for the campsite and as the others hurried to catch up he began preparing some onion soup over the fire. After passing out the bowls Bumi waved a hand and Iroh suddenly found himself shifted to the other side of the fire while the earthbender sat right in front of Harry and asked, “Well, boy, what do you know about chakras?”

Harry blinked, spoon frozen halfway to his mouth. “I, uh, I don’t really know anything about them.” He had learned from Pakku that it was better to admit when one does not know something rather than try to come up with a random answer, and that seemed to work just fine in this case. “Ah, I imagined you might not. They aren’t exactly Iroh’s area of expertise. What about the Jings?”

“Oh,” the boy brightened, “I know those; there are three. Positive, negative, and neutral. Positive jing is the mindset of attacking, negative is defending, and neutral is doing nothing and waiting for opportune times to act.”

“Very good,” Bumi praised, “except there are technically eighty-five jings, not three, but we shall be primarily focusing on the first three anyway as attacking, defending, and waiting are the hallmarks of good earthbending. Now eat your soup and I’ll explain the chakra of earth.” After watching Harry take a few sips he merely raised the bowl to his own lips and downed it all at once before starting back up.

“The chakras are the different points within our bodies that chi flows through, and with different benders different areas are emphasized. When it comes to my students I like to focus on the chakra for earth. It is located at the base of the spine and when you focus chi to bend that element it should start there. Simply focus on it branching out from that point and your motions will do the rest. It sounds simple, I know, but the reality is harder and practical training will show that. However, the barrier to that chakra is fear.”

“Fear?”

“Yes, fear is the biggest block earthbenders run into. It blinds them, makes them freeze, and weakens the connection to the earth. Tell me, when you earthbent before were you afraid, or were you moving in spite of that fear?” Harry’s silence was answer enough. “Yes, you were courageous, and your bending responded to that. Yet even now,” he tapped his foot lightly to the ground, “I can feel great fear in you. So tell me, little one, what makes you afraid?”

Iroh expected many possible answers. Pain, hunger, seeing people die, loud noises, anything that Harry might have suffered and not want to experience again. So he was rather surprised when the boy answered, “The dark.”

“Oh ho? Really?” Bumi raised an eyebrow. “And what is it about the dark that frightens you so?”

Harry stared into the fire for a while before explaining, “It’s not what I see, it’s what I can’t see. In the dark I can’t see Master Iroh, I can’t see Lu Ten, I can’t see the army.” Taking a deep breath he finished, “I can’t see the life I have now. When it’s dark, it feels like I’m back where I started. Back-”

“In your cupboard.” Iroh finished commiseratingly. “Why did you never say anything?”

“What was there to say?” Harry asked him softly as he raised a hand and summoned a ball of fire. “Thanks to you I learned to summon a light whenever I need it. I can fight the dark whenever it gets too bad.”

“Hm.” Bumi waved a hand again and Harry found himself moved to a position sitting right next to him. “We shall speak on this again, Harry, and find a way forward for you. I refuse to let your chakra be held back by fear. For now, though, we will meditate on the earth. I want you to listen to it, feel it, and try to find the rhythm it makes.”

“Oh! I can already do that.” Harry nodded enthusiastically.

For the first time Bumi actually looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah, I saved master Iroh doing that and I’ve kind of, sort of, been able to ‘feel’ things ever since.”

“What kind of things?”

Speaking up again, Iroh explained, “He knows when people are coming. I don’t think anyone’s been able to sneak up on him since the event first occurred.”

“Really now? Then you are a fortunate young man. You’ve already learned to listen to the earth and respond to it accordingly. Few practitioners ever truly learn that lesson well. I’m one of only five that I know. Though now I suppose we are six. Oh this is going to be fun! He he he he he!” the old man tittered to himself for a moment before a strange look came into his eyes. “If you can do that, then why does the dark still hold fear for you?” At the questioning stares of the others he decided a practical explanation might be what was needed. “Harry, close your eyes and place your fingers on the ground. Are you doing so? Good. Now wait thirty seconds and without opening your eyes point to me.”

Bumi stood up on creaking legs and as silently as possible moved several meters away and out at an angle. Eventually the boy’s arm rose and pointed unerringly right at him. “Perfect!” He crowed happily. “You can open your eyes now. See, boy? Even with your eyes closed, the world in darkness, you were still able to ‘follow’ me and know where I was. I reckon you see Iroh the same way. Light, dark, day or night, the world is still there ready to remind you that it exists if you are open to sensing it.”

The look of pure wonder that reached Harry's face at those words had the king of Omashu belting out with laughter all over again.

Chapter 6: Greetings Beloved

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Six - Greetings Beloved

Lu Ten was going about his business like every other day since his father had taken his squire out into the wilds. He woke up, trained with his men, scared the living hell out of complacent officers, and made sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to. It wasn’t that difficult. A siege was a rather dull affair most days and until one side was willing to commit everything to make the attempt to try and destroy the other, all they could do was wait. In fact, the only truly negative thing was how morose his own men had gotten at the sudden loss of Hedwig. Who knew one little creature could be responsible for so much morale?

However, that continued normalcy could only last so long. They were expecting a new batch of fresh enlistees to arrive at the camp that day from the capital so it was time to dress to impress. Once everything else was seen to he prepped himself in full armor and had his cavalry do the same before joining him, and together they rode out to the port colony to meet the ship.

As tended to be the case during such events a bustling crowd was already waiting ahead of him to offer trinkets, food, and clothing at prime costs to entice the new soldiers as they descended the gangplanks. They’d be fresh out of their basic training with their first bout of military pay burning a hole in their pockets and the locals wanted first crack at it. Well he had quartermasters present and ready to handle them and sort the newbys into their brigades once they were done so he really didn’t have a problem with it. He and his men were there to provide a sense of leadership and awe.

At least… they were until a rather short girl in some incredibly fine clothes, trailed by two others, made her way over to him and declared, “Greetings, cousin. I am ready to be taken to the camp. The escort you brought with you is appreciated.”

“Cousin?” It had been almost four years since Lu Ten had actually seen his youngest cousin so it took him a while to figure out just who this haughty youth actually was. “Azula?”

“Of course.” The princess stood tall and tapped her foot with impatience as a confused look built on her face. “Didn't my father send a missive ahead of us to announce my arrival?”

“No.” Lu Ten hopped off his mount and approached the girl before kneeling before her to be at her level. “Why have you come, cousin? The battlefield is not a place for sightseeing.” Instead of answering verbally she handed him a sealed parcel. With open curiosity he pulled the strings to open it and found a series of documents that made his head swim upon close examination. “I’ll… take you back to camp.” His eyes sought out the other two children as well and he asked, “Who are these?”

“Mai and Ty Lee, my handmaidens.” Azula answered simply. “They will need a tent close to mine.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Lu Ten grumbled before suddenly hoisting a rather surprised girl onto his saddle and positioning himself behind her so that he could make sure she didn’t fall off. “Hold on tight and we’ll be there in no time.”

And indeed they made it to the camp in record time with a dust cloud so large kicked up by their passage that the sentries actually thought they were under attack. It took several minutes to calm everyone down after that and then the Captain and his cousin were moving alone through the line of tents to the largest amongst them. His men had orders to erect a new one beside it for the new girls.

“My betrothed lives here?” Azula asked.

“With my father.” Lu Ten clarified. “As his master it is expected.”

“Then they will need to make room for me as well.”

The Captain offered, “Or we erect you two a tent of your own.” He’d grown up in the court and knew that it was ‘equally’ expected that a betrothed pair would live together as well.

“That is agreeable.” The girl strutted into the tent and her cousin was quick to follow along. In fact he was just in time to see her sniffing rudely at the sight of Harry’s bed mat of soft furs. “He sleeps on the floor?”

Already seeing where that line of thought was going, Lu Ten decided to cut it off at the heels. “It’s the only way he feels comfortable. Look, Azula, there are things you should know about Harry before he gets back. He’s not exactly a normal young man.”

“Yes, I was wondering where my betrothed was.” Indeed, she’d hoped that he’d be around so she could actually start getting to know him. Yet he’d been annoyingly absent from the start of her arrival in this strange new land. It eased her ire a great deal to learn he hadn’t purposely slighted her by not meeting her at the port, but rather he had simply been absent entirely from the camp altogether. “How am I supposed to start organizing our household if he is not here to offer input?”

The Captain cringed at the thought. He could well imagine how his little friend would react to such upheaval. “He and my father have left on a training trip. After discovering his new element it couldn’t be avoided. They should be back in a couple of weeks at the most. But listen, Harry is not going to appreciate you tearing his things out of place, reorganizing his personal space without his input, and uprooting him.”

“Preposterous. This is how things are done.”

“Amongst royalty, yes. But he is not used to that. Sit down.” He gestured to a couple chairs and when the girl grudgingly did as asked, he took the opposite number. “I’m going to tell you a story. The story of Harry Potter. And I hope that when I am done, you’ll understand that big changes are only going to freak him out. Start small, and ‘explain’ to him why you do things instead of just doing them and expecting him to understand. I can tell you from experience that Harry is going to need a lot of work, but he’s definitely worth it.”

“That… fine.” Azula grumbled. She’d had a very clear image of how things would go today in her mind and she didn’t like being so wrong. Hopefully that story would help to set her back onto firm ground again.

Two Weeks Later

Bumi hadn’t been kidding about the intensity of the training he’d had in mind. For two months Harry had done practically nothing but workout and train in earthbending. Indeed the first lesson Bumi had imparted to him was how to make a gym out of rock. Then had begun the training regime, followed by diet instructions, and finally the old man had started throwing rocks at him. A surprising amount of training as an earthbender involved learning to dodge and time counter attacks properly.

To that end, when the king of Omashu had learned that he was trying to learn the erhu, he was thrilled. “All the best benders are musical.” He’d said while insisting the boy practice in front of the fire in the evenings. “Avatar Roku played the flute, my master was a firm hand at the fiddle, and I excel at the drums. Music teaches patience, rhythm, inner peace, and provides a good way to practice a mind-hand connection. Plus, instruments are a big hit with the ladies. He he he.” Thus it was that his evenings had devolved into makeshift solos for the two men and after a while he was told he had quite the talent. One of earthbender’s tips was to compose music based on people he knew, and the boy had more than a few ideas in that regard.

Now, though, it was finally time to say goodbye. Iroh and Bumi shared a warm hug and a few whispered words that Harry couldn’t hear, and then it was time for him to offer his own farewell. He moved to stand in front of the old man and bowed low before righting himself. “Thank you, Master Bumi, for all of your lessons.”

Bumi chuckled at the honorific and patted the young man’s head affectionately. “You are very welcome, Harry. I wish all of my students were as studious and hardworking as you. Keep practicing, eat lots of meat, and continue to exercise, and someday I’m sure you’ll truly be a bender to be reckoned with.”

“I promise I will.” Harry beamed at the praise.

The Earth King co*cked his head after a moment. “There is something else I’ve been meaning to check, though. Would you mind helping me with it?”

“Of course, master!” After everything this man had done for him there was nothing Harry would have denied him.

“Excellent. Then what I need you to do is… airbend!” And with that Bumi’s hands latched onto Harry’s robes and his torso spun in place as he launched the child screaming up into the air.

“Bumi!” Iroh ran over but it was too late, his charge was already shooting up high into the sky. “Why would you do that?!?!?”

“Oh don’t worry, you old sot.” The earthbender waved him off.

“Who are you calling old?”

“We old folks know other old folks when we see them. Just watch and see what happens.”

Iroh was aghast, “He’s never bent air before! He could crash back down and die!”

Bumi scoffed at the notion. “Do you really think I’d let that happen? I aint senile yet no matter what Pakku says. I already turned the ground beneath us to soft sand.”

As he spoke the two of them suddenly became aware of the sound of screaming as the object of their talk suddenly came back into view careening for the earth, only to stop his descent in an instant by instinctively shoving his hands forward and halting his fall with a massive gust of air that ended with him merely rolling away without any major harm. Unfortunately, the wind pushed all of Bumi’s ‘sand’ right back at him and by the time the kid reclaimed his feet the only sight of his teachers were what looked like two brown snowmen. Funny that.

“See, what did I tell you?” Bumi’s voice came from the closer of the two snowmen and a moment later all of the sand surrounding it fell away to reveal him in full. It only took a second for him to release Iroh as well. “Instinct at its finest. It looks like you’ll need to schedule a trip to one of the air temples soon.”

“Yes indeed.” Iroh nodded. “Though I have somewhere else in mind as well. Come, Harry, we’ve been gone long enough.”

“Okay, but are we gonna talk about how Bumi just tried to kill me?”

The old man winked and asked, “Really now, is that even close to the most dangerous thing I had you doing over the last couple months?”

Harry opened his mouth to answer… and then closed it. “Point taken.”

Some Time Later

The first sign Azula got that something strange was happening was the thundering sound of footsteps outside her tent. The second was a confused Mai and Ty Lee coming in to ask if she knew why people were running around and kicking up a fuss. The third was Lu Ten entering with a massive grin on his face and asking her to follow him.

“Whyever for, cousin?” She asked with a raised brow.

By this point the Captain of the cavalry had grown used to the girl’s usual demeanor so he simply answered, “My father and Harry have returned.”

“Why didn’t you say that sooner!?!?” Azula ranted before jogging out the door… only to remember she had no idea where she was going. More than a bit red from embarrassment she walked back inside and waited for a smirking Lu Ten to exit so she could follow. Strangely enough he led her to the camp training grounds where a bunch of men she remembered from the cavalry seemed to all be standing in a circle and waiting with expectant whispers going back and forth.

“What’s going on?” She asked, only to get violently shushed by the gathering of men. Her cousin just gave her a wink and started shouldering through the crowd until she had a view of the sands ahead, and what she saw was rather odd. Her uncle was waving people to and fro to form a full circle around a stool, and sitting on the stool, with an erhu of all things in his hands, was Harry.

Azula couldn’t help herself from staring at the object of what had so quickly become the center of her life. Her betrothed, the new head of her family, a boy that had remembered her birthday when most of her immediate family couldn’t be bothered to care. He was much changed from the solitary glance she’d taken of him back in the palace. For one thing he seemed to have grown at least two or three inches. For another his hair had grown out and now fell long over his neck in shaggy waves. It was a steep contrast to the usual styles of tying back hair into buns, ponytails, and cues that she knew most men in the military practiced. Third, his clothing was no longer outlandish, but it had become equally strange in her view.

Instead of purely red and black garments, such as most firebenders decked themselves out in, he seemed to have gone for a mix of different colors. True he wore the toe pointed boots and black pants of a firebender, but his shirt was a long sleeved dark blue that put her in mind of pictures she’d seen of waterbenders in the North, an emerald green vest covered his chest and a jade belt much like her own cinched the outfit closed at his waist.

The final difference, and one that stopped her breath in her throat, was that he was awake, and eyes of the deepest green imaginable were staring out at everyone gathered with pure joy. He was just so happy, and alive, and… there. He was finally there. Her musings were broken by Ty Lee bursting out, “Is that him? Oh, Azula, he’s cute!”

“Shut up, Ty Lee.” Mai tonelessly muttered.

Before Azula could comment either way a fresh hush came over the audience and as she looked back out on the training ground she saw that Harry himself was the cause, as he’d raised one arm high to quiet the crowd of rambunctious men.

“Um, hello everyone.” He spoke loudly, but clearly he was still uncomfortable being the center of attention. A position that seemed to ease as everyone cheerfully shouted, “Welcome back, Harry!” It was as that call sounded that Azula finally started to understand just how much her betrothed was loved by those around her. She’d never seen such applause before in her admittedly short life.

Clearing his throat to continue, the boy announced, “I’ve been thinking about you all a lot on my travels, and Master Iroh said I should try to compose something to try and encapsulate what I feel for you all, so I kind of made something up. It’s still new, but I hope you like it.” And so saying he lowered his hand, placed his bow into it, and after adjusting the tuning pins on his erhu one last time he set the item to the strings and began to play.

(The last Samurai OST Suite #1 - erhu cover - Hans Zimmer - Eliott Tordo Erhu Player)

The melody started slow and deep before growing into an emotional range that had more than a few teary eyes growing in the crowd. In that one piece Harry had built up his love for everyone gathered and his hope for the future they all shared. And to Azula, who watched his arms move with his eyes closed to focus on his actions, it was a practice of watching an artist at work; one who seemed supremely unaware of the depths of his own skill if she was any judge of character.

The bow moved easily over string producing sounds that she hadn’t thought possible and in spite of herself she found her eyelids growing heavy with the inducement of the melody to the point that she did not even know he’d stopped until the raucous applause of the crowd brought her crashing back into reality. Rationalizing that it was a good time to move again since the piece was done she tried to push out to see him but before the princess could make it two inches forward the boy was swarmed and carried out on the shoulders of his fellows to who knew where. Azula was left alone with her friends, cousin, and uncle who was giving them all a confused look.

“Well,” May deadpanned, “at least you actually saw him this time.”

Azula didn’t even dignify that with a response and moved over to confront Iroh. “Greetings, Uncle.”

“Azula?” His confusion seemed more pronounced than ever. “What are you doing here, child?” His question was answered as his son cleared his throat and handed over the documents she had brought on the journey from the capital. One look at them and she swore her uncle nearly passed out. Certainly he appeared remarkably pale to her discerning gaze. “This… is something I had not expected.”

The princess shook her head. “You did not get any missives ahead of me?” She could understand her cousin not being ranked high enough, but the general of the army?

“I was indisposed.” Iroh defended himself, before realizing that he was talking to a nine year old girl and he really didn’t have to. “Well, this certainly changes things.”

“Indeed.” The princess walked into his personal space and declared, “I have already moved Harry’s things to my tent, but on the advice of my cousin I have not yet decorated or arranged anything. I need to speak to him so that we can start setting up our household.”

Iroh shared a deadpan look with his son who merely shrugged as if to say ‘this is your problem now’. Oh yes, his son had definitely learned the greatest skill of every officer, passing the buck to others when you don’t want to deal with something. “Walk with me, Azula.” He gestured to his side and the girl fell into step with him and the two girls with her fell in behind them both. He could explain things well enough while inspecting how the camp was doing. After so long away it was good to remind the soldiers that their general was still keeping an eye on things.

As they moved he said, “I assume you are going into this knowing how a household is supposed to function?”

“Of course.” The girl’s tone made it clear she thought the idea of not knowing was idiotic. “My lessons covered that in detail.”

“That is good, because Harry has no idea what it entails, what is expected of him now that he is in this new position, or what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like.” When his companion said nothing to that for several yards he looked down at her and saw open shock on her face. Just as he’d expected, life in the palace had bred the idea that everyone lived the way she did. Well, life in this camp would save her of that misconception soon enough.

Deciding to explain more he elaborated, “You cannot treat Harry as a royal consort because he will have no idea what that even means. The traditions in his homeworld were not the same as ours, and his treatment there… was not kind. He has never seen a well functioning relationship, and simply telling him that he is your betrothed will not tell him what that is supposed to mean. Honestly, it might just make him run for the hills.”

“Then what do I do?” Azula was stumped. How could anyone not know what was expected of them? Society had rules for Agni’s sake! A quick look at her friends told her they were thinking much the same thing.

“Try to be his friend.” Iroh said simply. “He has comrades, people he’ll stand up for and die to defend, but close friends are difficult to find here for one of his age. This document,” he waved it at her for emphasis, “binds you together, so you should get to know him. Be close to him. Make yourself the most important thing in his life. And whatever happens will happen. Treat him as a friend before you treat him as anything more. Everything else… you can explain it as you go.”

“So I shouldn’t present myself to him?”

Iroh shuddered at how his squire would react to the formality of a ‘royal presentation’. The eight outfit changes alone would drive him mad. “Definitely not. Just introduce yourself.”

Together they crossed the entirety of the camp before returning to their own block of tents where they saw the form of Harry frantically looking around and bolting towards them the moment he saw them approaching.

“Should have seen this coming.” Lu Ten groaned as the boy skidded to a stop in front of them and immediately started freaking out about how all of his stuff was missing.

“Harry, calm down!” Iroh ordered, easing his student’s nerves in a matter of moments. “I can explain.” And with that he pushed his suddenly very nervous niece forward. “This is Azula, my niece. She arrived here before we returned and she moved your things into her tent. It is right next to mine, see.” He pointed at the structure in question.

Harry quickly moved over to the entry flap and looked inside to verify that his things were indeed inside before coming back. “Why would she do that?”

“Because you are my betrothed.” Azula answered before her uncle could.

Harry blinked and co*cked his head in open confusion. “Huh?”

Azula found herself glad that her uncle had explained this boy’s ignorance. It made things simpler. She stepped up and took his hand in both of hers. “It means I’m going to be your friend. Your best friend. It means there is no one else that will care for you, look out for you, or make sure you’re happy like I will.” She smiled nervously up at his face and added, “It also means that we’re going to be together forever so I really hope you want to be my friend too.”

“I’ve… never had a friend before.” Harry stared into her eyes with wonder. “I’d really like to have one now.”

Their moment went on for a few moments until Ty Lee got bored and shouted, “Well if we’re all friends now then let’s go play!” She grabbed both of them by the sleeves and dragged them out into the main thoroughfare with Mai hurrying to catch up, leaving Iroh and Lu Ten laughing easily in the dust cloud they left in their wake.

Lu Ten spoke up first, “You realize this is going to make things incredibly awkward right?”

“Oh of course.” Iroh agreed. “But there are worse things for him to have right now than a friend and roommate. Of course, we’ll deal with whatever develops later as it happens.”

The Captain must have heard something in his voice, for he searched the lines of the older man’s face deeply and guessed, “You’re gonna be leaving again aren’t you?”

The General nodded. “Yes, but not right away. I’ll give it a few more months but then I’ll need to take Harry on another trip. Though I suppose I’ll need to bring Azula along as well now. This one shouldn’t take nearly as long though. A few weeks at the most.”

“Hm,” Lu Ten stroked his chin for a moment and offered, “you know, if you’re gonna keep leaving me in charge, then I suppose I should have a rank that shows I can handle the situation shouldn’t I?”

The Dragon of the West gave his son a sly grin and said, “How does Commander sound?”

“Sounds about right, I’d say.”

“Good. I assume the siege is still on schedule?”

“Yes, and the engineers are hopeful your timetable will be reached.”

“Excellent.”

That Night

Harry and Azula laughed as they bustled back to their camping pavilion after a long afternoon and evening of tag. Mai and Ty Lee had proved to be a riot and it wasn’t long until all of them were nearly thick as thieves. But it was getting late and as the others moved off to their own tent, the lone boy in their group suddenly realized that he was being led to a new one.

It was then that he remembered Azula mentioning that they were sharing a tent now. “Harry?” She had realized he was stopping in the middle of the street.”

“Uh, sorry, it’s just, we’re sharing a tent.”

“I know. I put your bed mat inside it.” Azula gave him an odd look. “What’s wrong? My bed is there too now and tomorrow we can add some decorations if you want.”

“It’s not that, it’s…” Harry tried to figure out how best to put voice to his worries. Iroh was used to his sleeping habits, and his teachers had adjusted quickly enough, but this was his first real friend. He didn’t want to scare her. “I… I have nightmares sometimes.”

“Nightmares?”

“Yeah, and Master Iroh says I can make a bit of noise because of them.”

“Oh.” Azula was quiet for a few moments before she offered, “I… have that problem too.”

Harry blinked with surprise, “You do?”

“Yeah.” Aula rubbed her arms self-consciously and said, “The servants used to come in and wake me when they got too bad, but my father ordered them to stop because he said it made me look weak. I was actually nervous you’d think I was weird.”

“Never.” Harry decided at once. “This just means we can try to help each other sleep.”

“Huh?” Harry pulled her into the tent, ran across the room, and grabbed the rather fluffy bed that the princess had shipped in for herself. Then he gave the ground a swift stomp that moved the heavy frame across the distance to stop right next to his own mat. Then he whistled deeply and a few seconds later the flap of the tent opened to admit Hedwig, who took in the new situation, squawked once as if to show she understood, and clambered onto Azula’s bed.

“There. If you get scared or have a bad dream you just grab my hand, or hold Hedwig, and if it gets too bad for either of us we wake each other up. Does that work for you?”

“Y-Yeah.” Azula nodded. She’d not expected her betrothed to be so accepting of her problems, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t glad that he was.

So it was that after taking turns in the tent to change into their nightclothes they fell asleep that night beside each other, holding hands through their dreams with Hedwig’s soft body offering comfort to the prodigious princess. Whenever one of them stirred the other’s hand reflexively tightened on their own to show they were still there, and they calmed soon enough after. And for her part, Hedwig contented herself by snuggling up to what she saw as both of her humans. She was used to looking after her boy, but she supposed a girl wasn’t too bad to have too.

Chapter 7: Have You Ever Read The Teachings Of Laghima?

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Had a couple questions on character ages so I’ll clear that up now.

Harry - 10, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee - 9, Zuko 11, Lu Ten - 20.

-Over the next couple chapters another year will end followed by a three year timeskip that’ll take us to the starting events of the show. At that time the ages will be: Harry - 14, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee - 13, Zuko - 15. ( Not saying Lu Ten’s age because I don’t wanna confirm just yet whether I’m letting him live. Mwahahahahahaha)

Note: Yes I know Laghima was from the Northern Air Temple in the Legend of Korra, but it's fanfiction so I changed that.

Note: Bit of a shorter chapter here but that is on purpose. If I included the second half of this chapter it would be way too long. Editing would be hell for me and your eyes would get tired. So the current plan is that I’m doing a shorter chapter here and likely a shorter one after, followed by the final chapter before the time skip.

Chapter Seven - Have You Ever Read The Teachings Of Laghima?

“Again!” Iroh ordered as the last of the wandering flames were put out by the other benders on the sand. It had been about three months since Azula had arrived in his camp and though there had certainly been some growing pains in getting her used to military life, the girl had proved remarkably accommodating. Most of that was likely credited to Harry, who was almost always at her side and ready with a disapproving frown if she got too out of line. The princess seemed quite susceptible to the ire of his disappointment. It had honestly been remarkable to see how far they had gone in bringing each other out of their respective shells. Friendship truly was a marvelous thing.

Of course one thing had led to another and soon enough she had started joining him for his morning training sessions, then his sparring sessions, and eventually Iroh had gotten to a point where he couldn’t in good conscience avoid training her in the finer points of firebending as well. Harry’s life was bound to be full of danger so he couldn’t let his niece accompany him unprepared. The experience so far had proven remarkably eye opening.

Long had his brother proclaimed his daughter to be a prodigy of the firebending discipline and it seemed he had not been wrong. Azula had been blessed with remarkably hot blue flames and the technique of her forms was flawless. However, she embodied the same flaw of her father and so many other firebenders that the General knew. She fought with pure aggression, a staggering lack of defense, and saw her fire merely as a weapon. A means to an end. It made her… predictable.

“Again!” He repeated, and watched as Harry and Azula squared off once more. Much to his predictions the boy had won eight out of nine bouts, and the one loss had been because he had ordered him to only use airbending. It was by far his weakest element and with good reason, as there weren’t any living teachers to instruct him. So most of it was instinct at this point.

This time though he held up two fingers, the second trained element of water. Harry nodded to show that he understood and when the General lowered his hand entirely the pair launched at each other to continue sparring. Of course the princess started with a wall of blue flame but Harry swiftly cut it in half with water from his waist skins and dove through it before sending twin streams snapping like the ends of whips at his foe.

Azula proved her reputation wasn’t for show and ducked and weaved through the assault while kicking out azure scythes to try and throw the energybender off of her. Sadly, Harry had long learned how to deal with such moves by sparring with his comrades and easily slipped between them before pulling the whips back into a solid ball of water that was swiftly launched into Azula’s chest hard enough to send her sprawling through the sand.

“Enough!” Iroh declared, and smiled as Harry once more ran over the sand to help a quietly fuming princess back to her feet. The girl was clearly still not used to losing and her experiences thus far had gone a long way toward humbling her. What he had planned for later in their journey would hopefully finish that job. “Harry, you showed good judgment in timing your counterattack to when your opponent was committed to a course of action. Azula, you failed because you attacked without taking the time to assess your opponent and how he was going to move. You made an assumption that defense didn’t matter as much as sending as many torrents of flame his way as you could and it cost you.”

“But that’s what I’m supposed to do.” The princess defended her tactics. “Father always said that firebenders are at our strongest when we are aggressors. We must always advance and keep the momentum of a fight on our side or risk defeat.”

“And your father has never faced true combat in the field. Instead he has only ever faced his foes one-on-one in sanctioned Agni Kai duels. In those cases he would be correct, but out here his tactics are far from the ideal.” Iroh reasoned back before folding his arms behind his back. “It is clear you do not know the true meaning of firebending yet. But do not worry, you will soon enough.”

Azula raised an eyebrow and asked, “What does that mean?”

“We’re taking a trip soon, little one. First to take care of something for Harry, and then I’m going to show you the true nature of the fire that sings within your chi. It is more than merely a weapon. I promise you that.”

As Iroh took his leave, Harry moved up and squeezed Azula’s hand with his own. “He’s just trying to help, Azula.”

“He criticizes me so much.” The princess looked down. “No one ever used to do that.” Indeed, back in the palace her strength had always been praised. Every one of her former teachers had said she was a talent not seen since the time of Sozin. The only one that ever failed to praise her was her mother, and in that case it was because Ursa ignored her. “It hurts.”

“I know, but it’s how we get better.” Harry answered. “He does the same thing with me, and trust me, I know hurtful words when I hear them. Master Iroh isn’t using them. Come on, if he says we’ll be leaving soon then that probably means within the next few days. Let’s go spend time with Mai and Ty Lee for a bit and then we can start packing.”

Elsewhere

“Is everything set for my departure?” Iroh asked his son as they toured the line of tents that their soldiers called home.

“Yes, father, your ship is outfitted and ready to leave on your order. The men are in fine shape, and the engineers are still on track. But you promise you won’t be gone so long this time?”

“Five weeks, son. Seven at the most.”

“Then that’s fine then.”

They walked along in silence for a while, and then Iroh offered, “I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t important, Lu Ten.”

“I know you wouldn’t.” The cavalryman answered. “But I worry still. There are rumors, father. The Fire Lord is ill, they say. Uncle Ozai is very close to the other council members, whispers tell. Things are being put into motion that could decide the fate of us all, and all of it while we draw ever closer to our last great push at this damned city.”

“Fate will decide the outcome for us.” Iroh reasoned. “All we can do in the meanwhile is play our parts until it reveals itself. Do not trouble yourself so much. Everything will be as it will whether we stress about it or not.”

“Hm.” Lu Ten didn’t say anything more for a while before offering, “Didn’t you say that the owlbear was a runt?”

Iroh cast around with wary eyes to see if the creature was anywhere around to prompt the question, and when he found no sign he answered, “It was supposed to be.” And indeed it had been a shock to them all. As if the princess’s arrival was some sort of signal to the beast it had begun a rapid growth spurt that had astonished every person that knew the small thing it had once been. The damned thing was nearly big enough to ride at that point and its talon-claws made more than a few men nervous.

Three Weeks Later

The trip had taken three weeks of non-stop sailing at top speed after the arrangements were made to leave and Iroh had been gratified to see how ecstatic the youths under his supervision became as they took in the new and interesting sights around the view of the ship in the open water. It was a firm reminder that for all his niece’s haughty and noble bearing, she was still a child that had been far too secluded in her life within the palace until she’d been sent away to meet her future husband. The camp had been a culture shock to start but the more of the world she saw that was different than her norm the better.

That morning they’d finally arrived and the trio had retrieved a few sets of climbing gear and made their way on a half day trek inland. They seemed rather confused at the cliff-face he’d had them halt upon.

“Uncle, why have we come to this place?” Azula queried as she and her betrothed finished setting up their campsite. “If we needed an out of the way location to train then surely there were closer locales?”

“We are not here for training as you understand it, little one.” Iroh chucked easily. He was quite looking forward to this reveal. “Come with me.” He led them over to the cliff-edge, secured their repelling lines, tied a couple safety tethers to him, and showed them how to safely repel their ropes. Then, after Harry spent a good few moments calming Hedwig and forbidding her from trying to follow them, he led the children slowly over the edge and watched as looks of sheer awe crossed their features at the sight they now beheld.

The Western Air Temple was a marvel of architecture with tiered temple structures branching down from underneath the cliff itself to hang into the open air. To gaze upon it was to see the world inverted on itself. As if gravity did not hold sway any longer. It had been abandoned even before the purge of Sozin’s comet, when tensions with the Fire Nation had sent the occupants running to their other temples for less hostile climates, but legend had it that the airbenders used to fill the sky surrounding it with gliders and bison. It must have been quite the sight to behold.

The trio descended to the ends of their lines, then threw grappling hooks to the nearest structures to pull themselves along to the nearest walkway. Once there they tethered their lines and secured their gear so it wouldn’t blow away, and began to investigate the wide open halls that surrounded them. As expected they found mostly dust. And for over an hour that was all there was… until they made it to the fourth building.

Harry stared up at the massive and intricately carved doors that displayed countless images of men and women in flight. “You know, if you hadn’t forbade me from ever gambling with the men I’d ‘bet’ that there’s some pretty important stuff behind there.”

“Gambling is the vice of the lower classes.” Azula agreed. “It should be avoided at all costs.”

Iroh shook his head, “You clearly have never seen the Fire Sages gamble on pai sho.”

Together they pushed one of the great doors open and found a shrine waiting within. Countless meditation matts led up to a raised dais upon which sat a massive bronze statue of an arrow tattooed monk floating above a cloud. Sitting before it was a stand with an ornate wooden staff and a large scroll displayed where they would have been seen by all.

“This… is a master’s domain.” Iroh breathed with excitement as he led the others to the statue. “The airbenders prized great wisdom and skill above all else. To be enshrined as that man was he truly had to be a man above all others. Not just powerful, but wise above his years.”

Harry was honestly a bit intimidated by the statue, but it didn’t stop him from reaching up and taking the staff. He’d been learning the quarterstaff from Lu Ten and that was about the right size for it. He nearly fell over with surprise when what he thought was a weapon clicked in his hand and fins and wings popped out of the sides.

Iroh was examining the scroll at the time and glanced over at the shocked youths examining the kite-looking contraption. “Looks like you’ve found yourself a glider there, Harry. The Air Nomads used them to fly around.”

“I can fly?” The eagerness was bleeding into Harry’s voice enough to even make Azula smile.

“With time, perhaps. Come here.” Iroh waved his squire over and showed him the unrolled view of the scroll. On it were countless images of airbenders in different stances and positions, directional wind flying to show how their forms would look in action. “There is a whole section here about glider use. So if you study hard I’m sure you’ll be able to get the hang of it.” He tapped a ridged section on the glider, still clutched in Harry’s fist, and watched it compress back into its staff form. “The name engraved on this scroll is Laghima, so that is likely his glider you now wield. It would explain why its carvings are so ornate. Be sure to take good care of it.”

“I will.” Harry promised as he leaned the item easily over his shoulder. It truly was beautiful but from the weight it held on the ends he could tell it would be deadly if applied to a foe with enough force. Honestly something about it just felt ‘warm’ in his hand; like it was meant for him. Wait… warm? He looked up and found Azula and Iroh’s eyes latched onto his form and when he turned his head he saw why. The glider was glowing with a pale gold light.

“Harry….” the General said slowly, “focus your chi through your hand but do not bend any elements. Simply ‘will’ more energy into it.”

It took a moment for the boy to calm himself enough to grasp the regular feeling of his chi, but when he did it was a simple matter to channel more into his hand and with that action the light grew brighter. Deciding to test it more he varied the amount he used and laughed at the way he made its glow rise and fall.

Iroh nodded, his suspicion confirmed. The tales of energybenders had often spoken of foci used to channel their strange powers into the wider world such as staves, swords, and wands.

It seemed that this staff was such an item. Could Laghima have been such a warrior? Looking up at the statue with renewed interest, he supposed that it was possible, but likely not something that could be easily verified. “Fascinating. We shall train more with that later, Harry. I am curious what new feats you might achieve. For now though, let us continue searching for a while more and then return to our campsite. There is still more yet to do before we return and we cannot afford to waste time.”

That Night

The trio gathered before the fire after their evening meal and as Hedwig leaned heavily into Harry’s side he began to play a lilting tune on his erhu that put them all in mind of cherry blossoms floating through the wind. A kind piece that filled their hearts with pride and light.

(Kung Fu Panda Soundtrack - Oogway Ascends (Hans Zimmer) - Erhu Cover by Eliott Tordo)

Then as the notes picked up in speed for a final crescendo it happened. The glider staff, looped with an extra bit of rope over Harry’s shoulder, began to glow with the presence of his chi, and all around them the image in their minds of those same cherry blossoms actually came into being, floating in the air and circling them all in a non-existent breeze.

As the boy’s final notes began to fade, so too did the blossoms, and out of curiosity Azula tried to touch one, finding that her hand passed effortlessly through it. “They are illusions.” She mused, so low that only her uncle could hear. It seemed she didn’t want to disturb the peace brought about by that song anymore than he did.

Eventually though Harry opened his eyes and when he saw the last remnants of his creations fade he stared stupidly on until Hedwig nudged him back to full attention. “Well, that happened.”

“Indeed it did.” Iroh nodded. “We learn more about your abilities everyday it seems. But what exactly was that melody, my boy? You’ve not played it for me before.”

The boy blushed a bit and answered, “Well, I made a song for the troops, so I thought I’d make one for you too. It’s what I feel when I think of you. You trained me, uplifted me… showed me that I’m human. You have honored me, so I wanted to honor you as well.”

Only through sheer force of will did Iroh stop himself from tearing up at that admission. “Thank you, my boy. I absolutely loved it.”

Across from them, Azula had a curious expression on her face before announcing, “I have made a decision.”

“Oh?” The General turned his gaze to his niece. “And what might that be?”

“I want to learn the bamboo flute.” At the old man’s stunned look she offered a rare smile and said, “Harry claims all the best benders were musical, and I cannot deny that his music makes me feel… emotional. I am curious if I can learn to do the same for him and others. However, two stringed instruments in the same couple would get dull, I think, so I will learn the flute to accompany him.”

“Is that all, Azula?” The General raised a brow.

“No.” The girl admitted before looking sheepishly at a rather amused Harry. “My mother once told me that a wife needs to learn to share hobbies with her husband. It might be the only real piece of advice she ever gave me and I want to use it to its fullest.”

Not for the first time bemoaning his sister-in-law’s clear favoritism amongst her children, Iroh noted, “I believe there is a Lieutenant amongst the cavalry that plays the flute. When we return to camp I’ll have her start in on your lessons right away. For now though we should rest. Our journey continues in the morning and I want us to leave bright and early.”

Chapter 8: The True Meaning Of Firebending

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Just gonna throw this out there, Aang and Zuko perfectly replicating the Dancing Dragon form after only seeing its representation once is bullsh*t.

Chapter Eight - The True Meaning Of Firebending

In contrast to their last part of the journey, the next location only took them a couple days of nonstop sailing to reach; and strangely enough Iroh had ordered the crew below decks for the last several hours while he alone occupied the helm to lead the ship into an isolated cove. The General would later inform them that he didn’t want anyone to copy his route of approach later on. In fact, the sailors were ordered to stay below until they left.

When the kids saw the ruins across the bay from over the guard rail’s edge, Azula blurted out, “The ruins of the Sun Warriors? Uncle, whyever are we here? This civilization died out centuries ago.”

Iroh gave his niece a level glare and said, “Perhaps you should first educate your betrothed on what exactly the Sun Tribe was first?”

Azula looked at Harry and saw the absolutely lost expression on his face. Knowing how much he hated not knowing things she quickly explained, “Harry, the Sun warriors, or the Sun Tribe as many refer to them, are believed to have been the followers of the original firebenders. In fact, firebending as we know it comes from the styles they formulated and created before passing it down to their descendents. Their people died out but the teachings remained.”

“After a fashion.” Iroh said mysteriously. “Azula, this part of our journey is for you but Harry will benefit from it as well, I am sure of it. So here is your task. Hidden within that city is the secret of ‘true firebending’. You must go there and learn it. Only once you’ve done so will you be allowed to return to this ship.”

“But we’re in the middle of a siege.” The girl protested.

Iroh raised a finger to forestall any more complaints. “No, I am in the middle of a siege. And if you take too long to figure this out then I might just need to leave you here to get back to it. So you’d better hurry.” Of course he was bluffing but the children didn’t need to know that, and from the scared look on the princess’s face she certainly didn’t.

“Hey,” Harry took her hand and led her to one of the lifeboats, “it’ll be alright. Come on, we’ll explore the city, check out some ruins, it’ll be an adventure. And whatever that secret to true firebending is, we'll find it together.”

Iroh allowed himself a warm smile as he watched his clearly grateful niece be pulled along the deck and over to the boats. Yes, he’d had reservations about his brother arranging this union, but time had proven to the Dragon of the West that those two had been remarkably good for each other; and if he was any judge of these things then they would certainly grow further to be perfect for each other as well. Azula was… damaged. Neglect from her mother and singular focus from her father had built a cruel edge to her that came out most when she fought, but that had also stymied her personal growth. Harry’s own brand of damage, against all odds, fit well with her own, and the two had finally started leaning on each other for healing. They had become the best of friends as a result. It was going to be interesting to see how things developed from there.

For their part, Harry and Azula swiftly made a launching craft ready and lowered it into the water before hopping in and rowing off toward shore. “Hey, Azula,” Harry asked when the rowboat finally reached the sand, “what was the deal with this Sun Tribe, anyway?”

“How do you mean, Harry?”

“Well, I see a lot of dragon statues around, and you guys clearly aren’t dressed in the same ways as the tribe.” He blushed as he looked away from a statue of a scantily clad woman seeming to be immortalized midway through some sort of dance.

“I’m really not sure what happened to the tribe.” Azula admitted. “All my tutors told me was that they were our progenitors, the people we came from before settling somewhere else. No one really seems to know when or how they really died out though. As for their fixation on dragons, well, they worshiped them. According to legend the dragons were the first firebenders, and the Sun Tribe learned to bend the element from watching them move. Of course that’s utter nonsense, but it’s how the story goes.”

Harry smiled at the grown up way his friend had imparted that information. She seemed to like acting like someone with all the answers and he liked asking her questions, so it tended to work out pretty well. “What happened to the dragons then? Shouldn’t they still be around here?”

“Uh….” At that the girl looked down and actually seemed to not want to answer for once.

“What is it?”

The princess cringed for a moment before speaking up. She knew that her betrothed had a very large soft spot for animals so there was no way this was going to come across well. “They’re all dead. My great grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, began a practice of dragon hunting amongst the nobility and they hunted them down to extinction.”

“What!?!”

Now it was her turn to take her stressed partner’s hand to calm him down as she explained, “Those that actually managed to slay one of the first firebenders were heaped with wealth and prestige, so their pelts were quite sought after. The slayers even earned the title of Dragon themselves for doing so. It meant they were masters beyond equal.”

Harry grew very quiet for a moment as realization came to him. “Master Iroh is called the Dragon of the West.”

“Yes,” Azula nodded. “It is common knowledge that on his travels he killed the last dragon in the world.”

“I… don’t know how to feel about that.” Harry said at last. He could never dislike the man that had saved and trained him, but he hated the idea of hunting animals for sport.

“Well, we don’t do it anymore, anyway, so it isn’t that big of a deal for us.” She squeezed his hand and started leading him away once more. “There’s no need to feel bad for things that weren’t our fault.”

“I guess so.” Harry agreed before brightening once more, “Let’s go check out those ruins!”

So it was that together they scampered from stone building to stone building, quickly covering the embankment on fleet feet in mere minutes before deciding that a great secret was likely kept in a great place, and their best bet was the massive temple that rose above them at the top of a large flight of stairs that cut through the direct middle of the settlement.

It took a while to finally reach the top, but with the exuberance of the young they soon made quick work of the trip before finding themselves stumped at the appearance of a closed off doorway with what seemed to be a calender of all things carved into the ground in front of it. The mystery was quickly solved when Azula noted, “This looks like a sundial calendar. There’s one just like it on the Fire Sage’s island.”

“So how do we get past it?” Harry asked.

Instead of answering verbally Azula pulled her throwing knife free from her belt and started climbing a nearby pillar. “Azula?” The girl reached the top where a glass ring was mounted and started waving her knife around in front of it. The energybender saw why a second later when a refracted beam of light wavered from her action and eventually settled on a gemstone set on top of the door. It opened on its own power soon after and an incredibly smug princess led the way inside while her companion showered her in praise.

That praise dried up real quick when those same doors slid closed behind them. “What?” Azula asked when faced with Harry’s deadpan stare. “Okay so maybe I should have put a rock in the door or something, but you didn’t think of it either.”

“That’s fair.” Harry agreed. “Let’s check this place out and see if we can find another exit.” And so the two explored the new chamber they found themselves in. It was filled with natural light from a grated skylight in the ceiling so it wasn’t hard to take in the frescoed walls and all of the statues that ringed the floor, showing off a pair of Sun Tribe warriors performing some sort of kata. It was by sheer luck that they discovered the pressure sensitive plates in front of them, and through careful searching they saw that every statue had their own.

“Huh,” Harry stroked his chin like he’d seen Iroh do with his beard when the older man was thinking something through. “Do you think we’re supposed to do the same motions as the statues?”

Azula measured the space between the nearest statue’s feet and their correlating locations on the pressure plates and said, “It looks like it. Quick, I’ll take this side and you do the other.” The girl was halfway to the starting point when she realized hers were the only boots making noise on the stone floor. She quickly turned around and raised an eyebrow at her slow to move fiancee.

Rubbing his head sheepishly, Harry offered, “What if there are booby traps?”

“Huh?” Azula blinked, the idea having never crossed her mind.

“Well, these are old ruins, that door closed on its own, and there are pressure sensitive plates on the floor. Wouldn’t it seem likely that there is a trap in here? I mean what if we’re out of sync with each other or mess up our footing or timing?” This whole chamber was reminding him of a movie he’d once seen his neighbors watching while he weeded his relatives lawn. He thought it was called Indy-something or other.

“So what do you suggest?”

“We practice.” The boy answered, as if it were the simplest suggestion in the world. “We have time now, so let’s run through these movements a few times, get them down, and make sure we can move in sync before potentially risking a death pit opening up underneath us.”

Azula nervously looked at the floor for a moment as the prospect registered with her, but then firmed her features and continued on to the starting position, stopping a few steps back from the plates and getting into a ready stance mimicking the statue. Her betrothed did the same in the position beside her and then they started shadowing each other.

For over an hour they ran the kata over and over until they could remember the motions in their sleep if they tried, and only then did they decide to do it for real. As one they depressed the first set of plates and it seemed they were wise to wait as the moment all four points sank a deep clanking sound could be heard rising behind the walls. A mechanism had been activated.

Moving in concert they slid their legs, arms, and torsos into perfect alignment and synchronicity as they circled the room delivering their deadly dance to a nonexistent audience until at last they reached the end with their fists touching and nowhere else to move. As they slowly lowered them and turned around to see the results of their efforts the two beheld a podium rising from the center of the floor with a gleaming golden stone of some kind sitting innocently upon it.

“Okay, that is definitely a trap.” Harry noted at once.

Azula didn’t agree. “I think not, Harry. Clearly that is the reward for performing that kata perfectly. Why give a challenge and not provide a reward for beating it?” Before her betrothed could talk her out of it the princess crossed the few feet of distance and snatched up the object to examine it closer. It absolutely had to have something to do with her uncle’s challenge and she refused to fail by not figuring it out by any means necessary. She really should have listened to Harry.

The next thing she knew a torrent of green sludge was sending her rocketing toward the grate in the ceiling and slamming her back up against the bars. It didn’t take long to realize she couldn’t move. “Harry!” She screamed.

“Azula!” Using what little he knew of airbending the boy kicked up off the ground and soared up to her position, gripping the bars with one hand and her robes with the other, as he started pulling with all of his body weight behind him. It was no use, she was stuck tight, and what was worse, his hands were stuck to both places as well now. Below them the sludge had already covered the floor and it was steadily making its way up toward them as well. “I’ll get us out of this.”

“H-Harry,” Azula whimpered as she watched the liquid’s steady climb. “P-P-Please do something, I-I don’t want to die like this.” She’d never been so powerless before and it was terrifying to her.

“You won’t.” Her betrothed declared, surprising her with how calm he sounded as he added, “Brace yourself, this is going to be weird.”

Not knowing why, but feeling supremely better knowing her fiance had a plan, she braced herself as much as she could and watched as her future husband let his body hang slack for a moment before starting to swing back and forth, gaining distance and speed with every swing, until at last he clenched his core and sprang the last of the way to connect to the stone ceiling where he drove his toes and heels in as hard as he could.

At the same time Azula’s world turned on its head as the world flipped with it, and with a solid booming sound she found that her head was facing the sky. She also noted that there was a fresh weight sprawled across her body. “Harry?”

“Sorry, I can’t move off of you right now, Azula. I’m kind of stuck to you.” Harry spoke with the tone of one that didn’t really know how to handle what was happening, but she paid it no mind. They were going to end up that way eventually after all so she didn’t mind him taking little liberties like that now. What had her more interested was….

“What just happened?”

“Oh,” Harry looked at the hole he’d created and smiled gratefully as he watched the advance of the sludge stop at the top. He’d hoped that would be the case and it was nice to have confirmation. “I bent the stone of the ceiling with my feet to flip us over and away from the sludge. At least we don’t need to worry about suffocation now.”

“True, but we are still stuck, Beloved.”

“Beloved?”

“Well, I can’t exactly call you ‘friend’ with how you are laying on me, can I?” The princess smirked at the furious blush that adorned her betrothed’s face at her words. He was very easy to rile, and it was fun to see him go all red.

“I am your friend though.”

“And you are also my Beloved as well. After all, we shall be married in time.”

Harry suddenly took note of her wicked grin and groaned, “Do you have to tease me?”

“Only because you like it when I do… Beloved.”

“Grr.” the boy groaned anew and looked up to the sky, “Well, what now? Do we just hang out? Think about our place in the universe?”

Azula scoffed, “I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to stick around here longer than I need to. We’re firebenders, so let’s try to burn our way out of this sludge.”

“I would not do that.” A mystery voice spoke up from the side.

The kids' eyes shot up and suddenly took in the sight of nearly a dozen spears surrounding them. The speaker appeared to be a rather tall man at the rear with half of his face painted red except for a white stripe across his nose and cheekbones. “The sludge is very explosive if exposed to too much heat.” The kids stilled at once as the warriors closed in.

In short order a strange liquid was poured over them that finally freed their limbs and then they were bound hand and foot before being thrown over a pair of the men’s shoulders and carted off to who knew where within the heart of the city itself. When they were finally set back down they found a crowd of hundreds gathered to observe them; all standing behind a row of spear wielding men and the same one with the painted face standing at their head. From the looks of deference the others were giving him he must have been their leader.

Before either of them could say anything, the man proclaimed, “For that trap to activate you had to have removed the sacred Sunstone from its pedestal. For the crime of thievery you must be severely punished.”

“You can’t punish us!” Azula defended. “I’m a princess of your nation and this is my betrothed. We are above your laws.”

“If you are indeed a princess then you are a royal of a country we have not been a part of in nearly three thousand years.” The leader countered. “We do not recognize your authority here. In fact, for being a descendant of Sozin, the man who made the first firebenders extinct, we will have to judge you even more harshly than we would anyone else!”

The girl cringed back at being shown such vitriol, and Harry wasn’t having that for one moment. “Hey! You leave her alone!” He shouted as he wriggled his form across the floor to lie in front of her. It wasn’t much, but he could at least make his body a barrier between his best friend and this angry man. “She didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Thievery is-”

“We didn’t come here to steal anything.” Harry interrupted. “Our master, Iroh, told us to come to this city and find the secret of true firebending. In the chamber we performed the kata those statues were demonstrating and that stone appeared. Azula thought it was a prize for doing it right; anyone would have thought the same.”

A murmur of agreement came from the gathered crowd and one of them was actually loud enough to be heard saying, “I knew we should have put something else down there.”

They all grew silent once more as the chief raised his hand. With shrewd eyes he examined them both and then asked, “You say Iroh sent you?” The children nodded.

“Iroh is known to us as a man of great honor.” The Chief noted as he scratched his chin. “We will give you the chance to learn the secret we hold. The true way of firebending.” More murmurs rose up at that until he looked over his shoulder and announced, “If they fail they will die anyway.” That shut them up. “Cut them loose.”

Harry and Azula soon found their bindings removed as they were led to a neighboring structure where a raging fire was burning in a massive hearth. “This,” the chief explained, “is the Eternal Flame. The first fire the dragons gave to us to provide heat and life for our people. If you wish to learn our secret ways then you must each take a piece of it to the mountain and present yourselves with it to the masters that live there, Ran and Shaw.”

Reaching into the inferno and pulling a large piece of the fire out with his hand, the chief offered it to them. “Let this be your first lesson, control. If you let your emotions run too hot then you will lose control of this ember entirely, yet if you hold back too much then you will suffocate it before you ever reach your destination.” The kids each summoned a portion of the flame to their hands and the chief pointed to a nearby mountain-face. “You’ll find the tunnel if you head directly in that direction.”

As he spoke the gathered people formed twin columns and cleared the way for them to stumble on through; and stumble they did, all the way through the city ruins and out into the countryside as the fire they held was different than any they’d ever summoned themselves. It was wild, hungry, and it moved with a mind of its own.

Azula especially had difficulty mitigating its hunger as her own natural inclination was toward aggressive attack, not restraint. They were ten minutes into the countryside when the inevitable happened and her flame plumed high in her hand and she reflexively jerked back, losing control of it entirely.

“Oh no.” She despaired as she watched the flame disappear into loose wisps in the air.

“It’s okay, Azula, you can have a bit of mine.” Harry wasn’t having it any easier than his friend, but he still had enough of his own element to share if he was careful. As he willed a bit of it into her hands he said, “Just be more careful this time.”

“Sorry.” She apologized weakly. “I don’t know what the problem was.”

“You don’t know how to hold back.” Harry joked. “Seriously, in the sparring yard every one of your kicks could have cut someone in half. I don’t think a single training dummy ever survived your ‘lightest’ bursts.”

“It’s how I was raised.” The girl defended her usual methods of aggression.

“Well I don’t think that’ll work here. Oh I know, try working on your breathing.”

“My breathing?”

“Yeah, it’s something Master Iroh is always saying. Firebending comes from the breath. Try matching the path of your chi to the flame with your breathing. It’s what I’m doing. Keep your intake calm and the outtake level. Think of us walking like meditation and we’ll be in that mountain in no time.”

“You say that like it’s easy.” Azula complained, though her tone dropped at once when she saw the disapproving stare her betrothed gave her.

After a while he said, “I know it’s not easy. It was hard for me too at first, but I’m here for you, so let’s do it together. Come on, match your pace with mine and breathe with me. That’s it, in and out.”

About an hour later the both of them entered the tunnel at the base of the mountain in tandem and arrived on the other end to find the chief and about two dozen of his warriors waiting for them before a grand set of stairs that seemed to lead to a bridge of some kind. The open sky lay beyond it where the sun was finally cresting the horizon and beginning to rise up into the sky.

They stopped before the chief who eyed their respective flames and nodded with clear approval. “You have passed the first trial. Now, go and present your flames to Masters Ran and Shaw. They will judge both them and your souls to see if you are worthy of learning the truth of firebending. But know that if they find you to be wanting or undeserving, then your lives will be forfeit and your bodies consumed in a raging inferno.”

Such a proclamation had both of the children more than a little nervous, but by then they’d already gone too far to turn back so the two merely continued mirroring each other as they mounted the steps and began the arduous climb to the top as below them the warriors encircled their position and began to pound on drums and chant an odd tattoo toward the heavens.

This continued until they reached the bridge where they faced off to either end where cave entrances waited. From below the booming voice of the chief echoed, “Present your flames!”

Harry and Azula shared one last look before they bowed to the caves with their hands extended out, offering the fire they carried to whatever masters waited within. A moment later the drums and chanting stopped and silence reigned once more. Then the caves began to shake, dust fell in a cloud, and from the cave mouths massive maws of teeth and fire roared as twin sinuous bodies slithered free and took to the air, circling the platform upon which the princess and her betrothed stood in an ever moving cyclone of scale, wing, and claw.

In their shock at the action both of them had lost control of their flames and had retreated into each other’s arms to try and deal with the fact that they were now facing off with two living, breathing, dragons. Though as the drakes continued their circling motion, Azula took note of something. Their motions through the air were incredibly familiar, but where had she seen them before… it came to her in a sudden moment of realization and she harshly whispered in Harry’s ear, “Dance with me.”

“I’m not sure now is the best time, Azula.”

“I mean the dragon kata we did earlier. Look at Ran and Shaw!” She took his chin and moved his head to follow the serpentine motions and she received a moment of gratification at witnessing the same understanding cross his face as it had her own. In seconds they were on opposite sides of the bridge center and then they were in motion themselves. Starting as the dragon’s heads passed them they began to dance, moving their arms and legs into the complex forms, slides, and dance that carried them around the stone’s edge to reach each other’s side once more, slamming fists to fists to end it staring out into the void that was suddenly filled with the newly stationary dragon’s faces as their bodies slammed onto the stone to stare into their eyes. It seemed they’d followed the motions of the children and ended their flight when they finished dancing.

For a few moments the four of them stared each other down, and then the dragons opened their jaws wide, enveloping them both in a plume of flame. It took a while for them to realize they weren’t actually dead, but when they did the children realized they were standing in the eye of a swirling vortex of luminescence containing more colors than they could have ever imagined existing leading up into the sky where it met the light of the sun itself. For over a minute this continued until the dragons appeared to grow bored, as they ceased their actions and slithered back through the air to dive back into their cavern homes. The world seemed a darker place with their passing.

Left alone again, Harry asked, “I thought you said Master Iroh killed the last dragon.”

“H-He must have lied.” Azula could barely speak; she was still so awed with what she had seen. “To keep any others from hunting them he told my grandfather that the last of the dragons had been killed.”

“The original firebenders.” Harry breathed, his hand going to his chest. “Do you feel-”

“Warm, yeah. Harry, there were so many colors there.” She marveled. Wanting to test a theory, Azula threw a punch, and as azure flames began to extend from her fist she concentrated on the new heat in her chest and began to giggle ecstatically as the hue surrounding them became an elegant purple instead of their normal blue. “That’s the secret of true firebending.” She breathed. “It’s not merely a weapon of aggression. It’s warmth and light, it’s energy and life, it’s color and experience.”

From behind them the chief’s amused tone said, “That is correct.” They turned and the leader of the Sun Tribe stood on the other edge of the platform in a position of ease. “Ran and Shaw judged your souls and deemed you worthy of a vision of the meaning of true firebending. And just so you know, Iroh didn’t technically lie, he merely twisted the truth. Instead of killing the last dragon, he was the last to stand before them. They deemed him worthy as they did you and the rest is history. But now that you know our deepest held secret you can never leave!” He waited for looks of horror to grow on the kids faces before grinning and proclaiming, “Just kidding! No, today we shall celebrate your new knowledge and tomorrow morning we will send you on your way back to your ship.”

Chapter 9: Unleash Hell

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Yes I know I have Harry smoke a pipe in a few of my stories already, but I had some interesting ideas about what such a versatile bender as Harry could do with smoke in the future……

Note: For a very particular attack that is soon to come, picture Starkiller’s force pulse from the Force Unleashed 2 trailer.

Chapter Nine - Unleash Hell

Several Months Later

Iroh was sitting alone in his tent meditating when the news he’d been awaiting finally came to him in the form of his son. It had been a time of relative peace since their return from the Sun Tribe’s domain and the children’s training was going remarkably well. Harry couldn’t fly yet but he had managed to get very good at gliding in straight lines. Azula had shocked the entire camp with her new purple flames and her now common radiant smiles had made her the sweetheart of the army. She was still a bit stuck up, but at least now she didn’t walk around looking like she was angry at every person she met.

The tent flap opened and Lu Ten entered with a pair of bound scrolls in his hands. “Father, there is news.”

Iroh raised a brow and waved the younger man forward to take the scrolls. After perusing them both he groaned and leaned back into one of his pillows. “This is not good.” Seeing his son’s confused expression he said, “The engineers think their new explosive compound is powerful enough to blow through the cracks they’ve managed to dig out beneath the base of the wall. By their estimations a sizable hole could be created in a concentrated explosion.”

Lu Ten’s features brightened, “That is excellent news.”

Iroh shook his head, “It would be if my orders were being followed. My desire, and one that I thought was shared by my father, was to find a working formula and then replicate it in three points at different locations around the wall so we could breach on multiple fronts at once and split the enemy's attention.”

“A sound strategy.”

“Yes, except this second scroll bears the Fire Lord’s seal and it is ordering me to attack with the full force of our cavalry and infantry the moment we have a breaching opportunity in one location. It seems that the Fire Lord has grown too impatient to continue waiting on my advice. It is unlike my father.”

“So are you going to listen to the order?”

The General let out a severely annoyed hmph and nodded. “I have no choice. General of the army I might be but this letter wields more authority than I hold. What worries me more, however, is that the engineers can’t tell me exactly how large the hole is going to be, and we are being ordered through regardless. A great many things could go wrong. This is… troubling. Very troubling.”

Lu Ten rounded the desk and clapped his father on the shoulder. “Relax, old man. Aren’t you the one always spouting some nonsense or other about how all we can do is let fate do what it will? Everything will be fine.”

“I hope so, son. I truly do. Get your men ready. We attack at first light.”

Elsewhere

Azula smiled at the way her betrothed continued to glide from one wooden pillar in the training yard to the other. He had been obsessed with the idea of flight from the moment he’d heard it was a possibility and had been practicing with his glider obsessively as a result. What was more, he’d become very fascinated with the philosophies of Laghima, the master that had written his training scroll. The words of such an enlightened man had had a profound effect on the boy and he was often found meditating upon them and taking on a more introspective mindset. Azula was pleased with this as it further proved her betrothed was the last thing from a brash person. She didn’t think she’d like being with someone that would fly off the handle. She was already the fiery one in her relationship, thank you very much.

On the whole, the only habit he’d picked up from their travels that she hadn’t liked was one he hadn’t even started yet. As he flew overhead again she saw the stem of a long pipe peeking from one of the many pouches at his waist. They had been having dinner with the Chief of the Sun Tribe when the man himself had pulled an intricately carved pipe of black obsidian out and begun smoking. The item itself had a bowl at the end shaped like the open maw of a dragon and the sinuous curves of its body were wrapped all the way along the stem until it reached a hand carved wooden mouthpiece.

The chief had taken one look at Harry’s awed face and promptly snuffed out the flame and tossed it over to him. “My gift to you.” He had said. Though upon receiving murderous glares from both his wife and Azula at the act he had immediately ordered that the boy had to wait at least a few more years before beginning the habit himself.

By now the princess had already seen her fiance resting with the pipe in his mouth on multiple occasions and though it hadn’t been lit it was clear he was becoming comfortable in the position. She was finally condemning herself to the idea of her partner being a smoker in the future.

Her lessons in the bamboo flute had begun as soon as she’d returned and she was working on the latest rendition of an original piece when Harry dropped down in front of her. “Dang it!” He exclaimed before spinning his staff back into its resting position behind his shoulder. In place of a sling or sheath he’d crafted a pliable ring that was open on one end and held and released the glider with the right amount of pressure. With a solid sounding ‘click’ it was secure and he began pacing over the sand. “I still can’t turn!”

Azula fluttered a few notes on her flute and would have smiled at the sight of him stopping instantly to listen if it wouldn’t have ruined the notes she was making. What had started as a sudden whim had proven remarkably useful as it had turned out. Harry loved music, and hearing her play had proven to be a permanent distraction for him no matter what he was doing. Even if what he was doing was being mad at himself for no reason. She continued to play for a while more and only ceased when she noticed he was sitting down in front of her.

“Aw, why did you stop?”

“Because I wanted to tell you that you are being an idiot.”

“What?”

The princess sighed and explained, “Harry, you’ve only been at it for a few months now. And since there are no more living airbenders to teach you you are basically reviving a dead art all on your own. Of course it won’t be easy. But look at how far you’ve come. Your combat forms with the staff are amazing, and you can fly for miles in a single direction if you do not land. Do you think these are small accomplishments? Especially when all you have for a basis is a dusty old scroll?”

Harry seemed to consider her words for a few moments before openly groaning and leaning to rest his elbows on his knees. “I’m whining aren’t I?”

“Just a bit, Beloved.” Harry actually surprised her by smiling at the term of endearment. Normally he blushed to high heaven.

“I think I’m starting to like that name. Sorry for my mood, Azula. I just… I feel like there’s something stopping me from advancing. Something,” he gestured vaguely to his head, “up here. I’ve tried to meditate on it using the words of Laghima, but it hasn’t helped.”

“Really?” Azula disassembled her flute into its three pieces and deposited it into her bag to give him her full attention. “What words did he leave?” Although she was not an airbender herself, she still found the teachings of an ancient master to be more than a little interesting.

Harry shrugged and answered, “He said that new growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old, and that a truly enlightened soul could let go of their earthly tether, enter the void, and become the wind itself.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know, but Master Iroh says it likely means I need to let go of my past. Except… I don’t think I can. I can heal from it physically, sure, but what happened to me is a part of who I am. And that block I feel in my head, it is tied to it. I don’t know, Azula. Maybe I’m just not ready to advance in airbending yet. Laghima also said that instinct and natural ability are lies of the mind, and that only at our points of greatest struggle do we truly become greater than we are. So maybe I just haven’t been challenged enough yet?”

“We all have to be bad at something, Beloved. You know how I am with patience.”

“Yeah, I do. So what do we do now? I’m done training for the day.”

Azula grinned and offered, “We could go spend time with Ty Lee.”

Harry shuddered at the thought. “Last time she tried to braid my hair.”

“Well then we’ll go see Mai instead, and I don’t want to see that pipe in your mouth while we do.”

“Yes, dear.”

The Fire Capital

Ozai down a map of the world and allowed himself a momentary smirk of gratification. Behind him his father lay in his bed gasping for breath that would not come but that was no matter to him. The youngest of Azulon’s children could have called the healers, or anyone else for that matter, to aid the old man, but it wouldn’t have been to his purposes. All those weeks of arranging small drops of poison in his father’s morning tea had finally paid off, and as the Fire Lord had grown weaker his own influence in the court had grown stronger. So much so that when he sent his brother a military order in his father’s name no one had bothered to question it.

Yes, the order was given, the army would move, the proper go-betweens had alerted the Ba Sing Se Intelligence Division, and the Black Daggers had been paid their due. Soon the throne would be his, his brother would be discredited, and the only heirs still viable would be his own.

The Next Morning

Having heard the call from the next tent over, Harry went running into Iroh’s tent to stand at attention. At the order of ease he calmed in front of the General’s desk and awaited instructions. He’d noticed the mobilization of the army the night before and figured something big had to be going down. The visage of his master also confirmed that fact as the man was decked out in his finest ceremonial armor. “Harry, the time has come. Today we strike our decisive blow against the city of Ba Sing Se. Either we are victorious or we must retreat. Do you understand what I am saying?”

“It’s your pivotal moment.” Harry answered. “The one you lectured me on. The one where a stalemate ends and both sides muster everything they have to try and end the other.”

“Exactly.” All of Iroh’s normal joviality was missing from his face as he continued, “You are eleven years old now, and a warrior blooded. The cavalry has requested your presence amongst them but I told them the front lines are no place for a squire.”

Harry's eyes fell to the floor as he answered, “I understand.”

“Which is why I told them last night that a knight would be riding with them.”

The boy’s eyes shot up and at last he saw the faint wisps of a grin on the old man’s features. “You’ve learned everything I could hope to teach you about this world, its people, and honor. Though your bending is still unrefined you have more than enough of a basis to build on it for yourself from here on out in the manner that best befits your personal style. What is more, you have already demonstrated your skill by saving the lives of myself, my son, and fifty of our finest men in the field. I recognize your ability. I recognize your accomplishments. Finally, I recognize the service you have given and that which you are ready to continue providing. Are you ready to swear your vow?”

“I am.” Harry could hardly believe this was happening.

“Then kneel.”

Harry made to do so, but stopped after a moment. “Master, could I get Azula? She is my betrothed and I feel like she’d be upset if she was absent for this.”

Iroh nodded his ascent. “Be quick.”

In a flash the boy had retrieved the princess, and as she watched with pride he removed his shirt and took a knee before the General who placed his palms on either side of his head. In a voice of pure solemnity the older man spoke the ancient vow of the Ember Knights. “Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that Agni and your comrades may love thee. Speak the truth, always, even if it should lead to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. Protect the royal family till the last breath leaves your body and see those that would do them harm crushed beneath your boots. Do you so swear?”

“I so swear.” Harry answered. He’d been coached early on on what this act would require and he was ready. Already he was gritting his teeth in preparation.

“Good. Then that is your oath.” Iroh’s right hand lowered and his palm came to rest over Harry’s heart before it began to glow red with heat, “And this is so you remember it.”

Thirty minutes later and his chest wound was coated in burn cream and liberally wrapped with gauze under his heavy robe and armor, his staff was across his back, and he was strapping his owl-bear feather plumed helmet onto his head as he meandered up to the front line on Hedwig’s back. The girl had grown larger than a komodo-stallion in the time since they’d come back from their travels and she was finally large enough to ride. This was to be her first battle and from the way she chirped at the air it was clear she was just as nervous as Harry himself was.

Lu Ten clearly saw this as the boy drew up to the cavalry staging point, as he hopped down from his own mount to personally check the straps on Harry’s saddle and offer a few words before the start of hostilities. It was a new design from the war artificiars and the rather excitable craftsmen had been thrilled at the challenge of making a saddle big and unique enough for such a creature. “How are you feeling, Harry?”

“O-Okay I think.” The boy managed to get out after forcing his teeth to stop chattering. “I threw up twice this morning though.”

“Only twice? My first battle I wretched five times up until the horn started bellowing to charge.” The officer chuckled fondly at the memory and as he finished tightening a couple straps he gave Hedwig a soothing pat on the head to calm her. “We all get nervous before a fight, Harry. Each and every one of us still has a pit in our stomachs even now because we know that what we are going into is no joke. But we are prepared to face it because we will be doing so together. Do you understand? We’ll be beside you every step of the way.” When Harry nodded that he understood what was said, the Commander waved to a conspicuously empty place in the formation. It was right in the center of the wings directly behind his own mount.

“You ride with me, buddy. We got this. I’m counting on you to watch my back. Think you’re up for it?”

Offering his first smile since arriving on the hill, Harry answered, “Of course. That’s my duty as a knight after all. Plus, it can’t be any harder than telling Azula she couldn’t come out here with me.” Though they both cackled at the thought, Harry wasn’t exactly sure it was an over exaggeration. His best friend had not been thrilled to learn he was going into danger without her to say the least. When he’d left her the girl had been mercilessly wrecking a series of training dummies and casting the training grounds in vast amounts of purple firelight.

“Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret, kid; girls don’t get any less scary as they get older.”

“That’s a terrifying thought.”

Lu Ten grinned at the shudder his little friend let out at that and, knowing that he’d successfully distracted him, he led him out to his position and retook his own. From there they watched the infantry fall into position behind them and settled their feet into stirrups and loosened weapons in scabbards.

In short order they heard a massive boom from over the hill and horns sounded through the air announcing the beginning of the assault. With fresh yells from the soldiers and peals of winnying snarls from the beasts the cavalry charged, rounded the hill, and noticed a drifting cloud of stone dust from a recent explosion blowing away from a moderately sized hole in the massive wall of Ba Sing Se. The engineers had been wrong. The wall itself was still standing. However, their orders were to charge through if there was a hole of usable size so that was what they were going to do.

Weapons came clear, fire flowed into hands not holding reigns, and as one they swarmed towards the hole and slammed through. They should have known something was wrong when they met no resistance. They should have known something was wrong when they saw a long stretch of buildings with no alleys at all between them leading on into the distance ahead of them. They should have known something was wrong when they saw no signs of actual people. Finally, they should have known something was wrong when the sky began to grow dark.

Harry saw it first and ordered, “Shields up!” The men, well trained and hardened from months of drills and skirmishes, raised iron shields to the sky and because of it hundreds were saved as wooden arrows bounced uselessly away. However that was not the end. Lu Ten called a halt when he saw a new wall rising ahead of them; and, sensing a clear trap, made to order an immediate retreat… only to find his words trailing off as the sun disappeared once more. This time behind a rain of massive stones flying in from the distance…

Concussive force, explosions, blood, limbs flying in all directions, these were the first things Harry saw as his discombobulated brain fought to right itself. He staggered to his feet and beheld utter chaos. Large boulders were raining down on them like a tidal wave from the other side of the buildings and though the infantry had made it inside behind them they were locked in combat with a surging Earth Kingdom defense that had literally come out of the ground on either side to trap them in a pincer of death.

As inexperienced as he was in such matters, even Harry could see there was no victory to be had here. The Ba Sing Se military had known they were coming. It was the only way a defense like this, in this exact spot, could have been prepared so well in advance. They needed to retreat, but why hadn’t Lu Ten given the order yet?

Harry staggered to his feet and found an equally dazed Hedwig lying beside him. A large gash on her shoulder told him what had likely happened. No doubt a boulder had been coming for his head and she’d thrown him off to tank the hit in his stead. Oh course bloody boulders flying through the air were things he couldn’t feel. The damned benders controlling them were out of his range of perception.

It didn’t take long to get Hedwig up once more and then he stamped his foot into the ground. An instant later he had the battlefield in his mind and knew everything that was currently occurring. Which was why a moment later he was running full tilt through the scores of screaming men with his owl-bear barreling right through behind him. He knew where Lu Ten was, and he also knew where the eight men advancing on him with knives were!

Within seconds they were in sight. Men in infantry armor with malicious grins advancing on the Commander’s fallen form. Harry didn’t stop to think, he didn’t pause to ask questions. That was his friend on the ground, the closest thing to a brother he’d ever had, and these people were a threat to his life. That was all he needed to know.

Over the last several months he’d been working on perfecting a series of airbending attacks and it had certainly been challenging. Azula had been right to comment that he was basically teaching himself a dead art, so a lot of it had been up to his interpretation, and a big problem he’d run into was that as a weapon, traditional airbending seemed useless. Indeed every attack depicted in Laghima’s scroll included merely blowing people away and evading incoming attacks until the opportunity presented itself to run away. There was nothing about taking the fight directly to the enemy like he would with firebending and earthbending.

So Harry had been trying to figure out how something as innocuous as air could be made to harm his foes when he’d stumbled upon one of the camp blacksmiths making a sword in his forge. Seeing his interest the man had explained that swords traditionally started as hunks of metal that needed to be superheated, beaten, folded in on themselves several times, and eventually sharpened to create the final product. The lesson had inspired Harry to try something new, something original. Instead of bending regular gusts of air, he actively imagined the flow of airbending chi as a malleable metal as it passed through his inner gates. By the time it reached his hands and staff it had already been folded over on itself a hundred times over!

Swinging his staff at the advancing knifemen, Harry allowed himself a cold smile of victory as the resultant air scythe cut through them all like a hot knife through butter, leaving eight dead men hewed in half as he rushed to his Commander’s side. What he saw was bad. Really bad. An absolutely massive boulder had crushed both his komodo-stallion and legs and he was gasping in pain as his body began going into shock. Unless things changed soon he wouldn’t last long.

A hand on his shoulder had Harry spinning to deliver another strike but a series of raised hands stopped him. The remnants of the cavalry had finally reached them. Out of two hundred riders only twenty remained, but they’d rallied to the Commander as soon as they’d been able. One look in their eyes and the Knight knew that they had figured out the realities of their situation just the same as he had.

The woman in the lead looked at Harry and asked, “Orders, Sir?”

Sir? That’s right. As a Knight he outranked them. The young man needed to remind himself of that. And there was really only one order he could give. He was young, but he knew the realities of war well enough. “The battle is lost. In a moment I will free Commander Lu Ten and I’m tasking each of you with getting him out of here. Bundle him up on Hedwig and go. Don’t go to the medica, instead take him directly to the General. Something is not right with what happened today and he needs to be made aware.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” The woman soluted.

“Also, tell every infantryman you see on the way to start pulling back too. I’ll hold the line here as long as I can to give as many of you as possible a fighting chance of getting home.”

“Sir, you can’t possibly expect us to leave you here-”

“I expect you to follow orders!” He roared over the tumult of the fight carrying on around them. “Did you forget who I am? I’m the Shield of the Fire Nation, so let me be a Shield!”

The soldier clearly wanted to make another argument to leaving him behind, but she had no basis to stand on and she knew it. So instead she merely gave a subdued nod.

“Good, now stand back.” Harry set his feet, leaned back, and then shot his hands forward toward the boulder. Everyone watching took in a breath to see a massive dent pushed into the stone that freed their superior officer’s crushed legs. The man was in too much pain to speak, and he tried to reach for the energybender, but Harry just waved the remnants of the cavalry forward. “You have your orders.”

When they had Lu Ten bundled onto Hedwig’s back and took off running, only then did he do the same. Stomping his foot to take in the field once more he pinpointed all of the Earth Kingdom soldiers he could and activated his glider to shoot straight up into the sky. Straight lines were easy for him after all, and once he was finally above the clouds, only then did he close the glider again, clip it to his back and start rocketing towards the ground once more feet first, aiming for a point ahead of the red and black armored men. Dimly he noted that he needed to remember to thank Bumi for giving him this idea, as the moment his heels touched the ground he bent and disbursed all of the kinetic force and momentum he’d built up into the positions he’d just found seconds earlier. With the loss of force correlated to his body he landed on all fours just fine (Though the ground still cratered a bit), but the transferred force created spikes of stone out in over one hundred and fifty specific points, impaling the enemy everywhere they appeared.

His landing showed him his attack had been successful, so, as the Fire Soldiers attempted to fall into ranks behind him he erected a wall between them and himself. It was easier to defend a wall than an open street after all. As the soldiers on the other side began to hammer on rock to try and reach him he gave the same orders he had to the Cavalry. They were to retreat. The infantry proved more willing than the others to make a break for it as they took off the moment his words were spoken.

So, as his sensitive feet tracked the retreat of hundreds of men and women his eyes tracked the path of the still incoming boulders in kind. Over the next five minutes he sent dozens of boulders of his own flying to intercept and knock the enemy artillery off course. As he felt the last of his people leave it seemed the Earth Nation finally grew wise to what was halting their complete victory as the flow of boulders suddenly changed to focus entirely on his position instead. There were too many to attempt to stop, so Harry began to dodge. Ducking and weaving between incoming missiles he attempted to fall back through his own wall when a fresh boulder came at him from the side; some of the enemy it seemed had come at him from a new angle, and only his well refined instincts helped him bend enough of the stone to mitigate the damage to himself to a few bruises instead of broken bones.

He was equally as lucky with the second at a new angle, and the third, and fourth, and soon enough he was facing a cavalcade of attacks that even he couldn’t hope to handle alone. He was overburdened, he was overwhelmed, he was… buried. The stones began to surround him, stack on top of him, and press him ever and ever deeper into the earth beneath.

It was as he lay there, being pressed ever deeper into the dirt that it was taking all of his concentration to bend a path through so he wasn’t crushed, that something inside the boy suddenly broke. A barrier that had long been kept within his mind to hold back his true potential by a conniving old man shattered and time in the real world slowed to a halt as his body surged with power and his mental world bore witness to a memory ten years in the making…

He’s tiny and standing behind the bars of a crib. Flashing lights are spilling out from behind the door but his eyes aren’t watching them. No, they are locked on the fearful face of a beautiful woman with red hair and eyes very much like his own. As he struggles to reach her she whispers soothingly to him, “Harry, you are so loved. So very loved. Harry, mama loves you. Dada loves you. Harry, be safe, be strong, and survive.” A flash of green light fills the vision and it fades away once more into the darkness.

As the memory ended Harry came back to himself and seized control of the new power in his veins. He forced it through his chi pathways into his inner gates and let it twist into a coil of fire and air. Then instinctively using his staff as a focus he compressed it a hundred times over before reabsorbing it and channeling it into one point… his mouth. And then he roared.

The resulting blast of superheated air and concussive force shattered the boulders that held him, disintegrated the host of soldiers that had surrounded him to ash, and reduced several surrounding buildings into rubble. The Fire Nation soldiers that had remained near the hole in the wall to bear witness to the fall of their Shield could hardly believe their eyes at the sight, and when they saw the boy himself shooting off into the sky to glide over the obstruction itself, they finally retreated with a new story to tell the men of the camp.

A Few Hours Later

Harry winced as Azula viciously rubbed some more bruise cream into the blue and purple splotches that decorated his back. Though she was infinitely gentle with his old whipping scars she seemed personally affronted at the injuries he’d sustained in the battle that day.

“Stupid.” She whispered over and over as she continued to rub in the healing paste. “It was stupid of you to stay while everyone else retreated.”

“Azula, our people would have been slaughtered without me. I had to-”

“I don’t care!” She interrupted, her hands going still at last. When Harry turned around to look at her he saw that she was actually crying. “I don’t care about them, Harry. Only you. I wasn’t with you to watch your back today and I almost lost you. Do you know what it felt like to watch the attack fail? To see all of those soldiers running for their lives and you not amongst them? You're my best friend, Harry. You make me happy, and safe, and accepted, and-”

This time she was the one cut off as Harry pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry. That must have been terrible for you. I know it’s not an excuse but at the time I didn’t really have that long to consider much of anything. People were dying all around me and I couldn’t do nothing. But I’m here now. I made it, and we’re together again.” He leaned back and wiped the tears clear of her cheeks. “So don’t cry. I promise not to leave you again.”

“I-I’ll hold you to that.” Azula blushed a bit and then snuggled back into his chest. She didn’t care that he was covered in bandages and smelled of smoke and blood. He was her Harry and that was comforting no matter what the circ*mstances were.

It wasn’t long after that that the tent flap opened and a very disturbed looking Iroh entered. He quickly took a seat before the sleeping furs the boy and girl were making use of and offered a wane smile. “Congratulations are in order, it seems, my boy.”

“For what?” Harry quirked his head in his usual confused manner.

Though his mind was clearly heavy, the Dragon of the West still managed a weak chuckle as he answered, “It seems your little show of power had quite the damning effect on the Earth Kingdom army’s morale. From all reports you scared them enough that they haven’t mounted any sort of immediate counterattack to our actions today. In fact, due to that show the men have even given you yet another name.”

Harry groaned at the thought and asked, “What is it this time?”

“They’re calling you the Dragon of Calamity.”

“Dragon!” Azula cheered and pumped her fists in the air with excitement, only seeming to realize how ‘unladylike’ she was being a moment later and cleared her throat to divert attention away from her ‘childish’ actions. “Harry, to be called a Dragon is an immense honor. Especially when it is the military that names you as such.”

“I’m just glad enough of them are still alive to name me anything.” Harry said.

“Indeed.” Iroh agreed before a pensive look came over his face.

Seeing this, Harry asked, “There is more, isn’t there?”

The General sighed and nodded. “First, if anyone asks my son is ‘officially’ missing in action. In reality I have sent him to some of my friends.” The way he enunciated ‘friends’ clued the boy into the fact that they were likely some of his White Lotus buddies. He didn’t know a lot about the organization yet, but he understood his Master trusted them so that was enough for him.

Azula was confused though. “Why is that necessary?”

“There were assassins in the field.” Harry answered. Things with Azula had been so emotionally tense since he got back that he hadn’t had a chance to mention that fact yet. “They went right for him.”

“But why?” The girl persisted.

“Because apparently my father declared yours the new Fire Lord.” Iroh pulled a pair of scrolls from his sleeves and gestured with them for emphasis. “My father died of sickness a short time ago and, according to these missives, with his final breath he named Ozai as his successor instead of me. The messenger who brought these said he’d been ordered to wait to deliver them until after our attempted assault.”

Having been coached in tactics by the man before him it didn’t take long for Harry to put the pieces together. “No.”

“Yes.”

“That’s horrifying!”

“That’s politics.”

Azula watched the back and forth between the two and eventually got out, “What are you talking about!?!?”

Harry turned to his betrothed and explained what he was thinking. “Somehow your dad got into a position where he could name himself Fire Lord. Immediately after that event orders came that focused our one chance to breach the walls of the city on one spot instead of multiple entry points. One spot where the Earth Kingdom army was already waiting for us with defenses and men in place. One spot where assassins within the army tried to take out the only other viable heir to the throne aside from you and Zuko.”

Iroh added, “Those orders also brought about the greatest military defeat of my career. If I know my brother as well as I think I do then that was to sow doubt in my abilities amongst the nobility. It will have worked too. No one in power wants to back a loser. The only way I could take the throne now would be to take my army into the capital and incite civil war. I refuse to subject my country to such a thing so it looks like I’m out of luck. I’ve been effectively outplayed.”

“So your brother is the Fire Lord for good then?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happens now?” Harry wanted to know.

Iroh leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Now, we erect a pier for our fallen. But after that we will break camp and move. Ozai has ordered the army to fall back, leave half their number to reinforce the colony garrisons and shore up their defenses, and then the remainder are to move on to three other fronts. He’s breaking up my command. As for us, we’ve been called back to the capital to join the war council as ‘advisors’. In short, he wants us close for the time being.”

“To shore up power and watch over his rivals.” Harry guessed.

Iroh grinned, “Someone has been paying attention during his pai sho lessons. Very smart. Don’t worry too much though. We’re more useful alive than dead. My brother is many things but a military strategist is not one of them.”

Harry wondered, “The future is gonna be crazy for a while isn’t it?”

“Oh you have no idea.”

Note: And there we have it. Next up a three year time skip to take us to the starting events of the show.

Chapter 10: The Avatar Returns

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Credit for the song lyrics to come goes to AvidReader2425 who sent me some great ideas.

Chapter Ten - The Avatar Returns

Three Years Later

A lone ship carved its way through the icy waters of the Southern pole and as the sun began to crest its way over the horizon its crew was woken from their warm bunks and sweet dreams by the lilting sounds of a stringed instrument above. It sowed and rang out through the acoustics of the ice shelves that flanked them on either side and filled the space between with an ambiance that drew the men and women of the ship to the deck like moths to the flame.

(Dungeons of Dreadrock (feat. Victor Macabies) - Eliott Tordo Erhu)

As the tune carried on, the sharp tones of a bamboo flute joined in, and what met their gaze was a miracle as far as their minds could believe. The moment they reached the deck they beheld a group of spectral tigers literally prancing back and forth as they soared through the air and wound their way up into the sky. Of course their eyes followed the travel and thus they spied the source of the beautiful melody.

Harry Potter, Ember Knight, and the Dragon of Calamity, was sitting cross-legged upon the crow’s nest with his Erhu in his hands, his glowing staff within his lap, and leaning back to back with him with her flute raised to her lips was their Princess Azula. Both had thick furs over their shoulders but it was clear they were both too lost within their own little world of music to care about the cold regardless. For three minutes more their duet continued, but when it finished the tigers pranced around them a moment or two more before bowing and fading away into the knight once more. The soldiers had heard of the Knight’s illusions but to see them for themselves was always a sought after experience.

The duo only realized they had an audience when they heard the cheers, and moments later they were climbing back down to the deck where Iroh stood waiting to greet them. The old man had put on a few pounds during their travels but he was still a veritable font of wisdom and Harry made a point to bow to him as they landed. “Master Iroh.”

“Harry, you and Azula are certainly up early.”

The teenager grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head as he answered, “We couldn’t sleep so we came out here for some fresh air and, well, we noticed how good the acoustics were because of the ice and we just couldn’t resist.”

“Yes, well-” Iroh was suddenly cut off by a loud slamming sound that drew the attention of all gathered to the nearest door where the irate form of Prince Zuko now stood. It was clear that he’d slammed it in anger as he was literally stalking across the deck to them.

The scarred prince demanded, “Do you realize how early it is?!?”

Before anyone else could speak, Azula declared, “Calm down, Zuzu, we were only getting a little bit of practice in.” From the looks of panic on Harry and Iroh’s face it was clear that was the absolute wrong thing to say.

“Practice!?” So angry was the prince that he didn’t even comment on his sister's hated nickname for him. Zuko demanded as he rounded on Harry, “Yet again you cave to my sister’s childishness and waste valuable time with instruments, but still refuse to practice practical skills with me?”

The Knight groaned, “Back to stations everyone.” The sailors followed his order within seconds and once they were alone in their little group Harry answered, “We’ve talked about this, Zuko. I like music so I don’t consider it a waste of time; and I can’t hold back when I train.” It was an issue they’d run into several times since leaving the battlefield. Actual experience in war had taught Harry what true combat ‘really’ was, and training regular forms against another person without intent to kill had become anathema to him. The Knight simply wasn’t capable of pulling his punches, and Zuko had a rather unfortunate opinion of what he could actually handle.

“You train with Azula.” the prince pointed out.

“Yeah, but she likes it when I try to kill her.”

“Guilty as charged.” Azula chirped as she leaned into Harry’s side, ducking under his arm to drape it over her shoulders. She had worked a long time to get him used to physical expressions of affection and it was gratifying for her to see how accepting he now was of it. Then she looked at her uncle and declared, “I have the urge to see polar bear-penguins. I am of a mind to take a hike across the ice to do so and will of course be taking Harry along as my bodyguard.”

“A lovely idea.” Iroh grinned and folded his arms over his stomach. “Prince Zuko, perhaps you would like to accompany them as well? Take in the sights?”

Zuko looked green at the very idea as he declared, “I am not sailing these waters to take in the sights. I am sailing to find the avatar.”

Iroh sighed, “Nephew, the odds of you finding him ‘today’ when you have not for the last three years are astronomical. Why not allow yourself a little break from the strain of your search?”

The prince visibly seethed as he narrowed his eyes on the older man. “I’ll take a break when our quarry is chained within our brig.” Then his eyes turned to the others as he said, “As for you two, do what you want but don’t expect my ship to make anchor and wait for you.”

A distinctly amused sounding chirp sounded behind the group and they all turned to behold Hedwig’s massive bulk sitting right next to them. Sitting down she still stood at almost twice their height and looking down on them as she was, her yellow eyes were full of deep interest in the proceedings. How had she gotten so close without any of them noticing?

Harry said, “Don’t worry about that. No matter where you go Hedwig will find you and following her will get us back soon enough. If you want to train so badly though then why don’t you have Master Iroh show you a new form?”

Anger giving way to interest at the idea, the exiled prince noted “I’ll do that after breakfast.” Then he stalked off, leaving them alone once more.

“Thanks for that.” Iroh grumbled. “Prince Zuko is impatient and relentless. He is not ready for the next form set. I fear you have put his training partners in danger of experiencing his wrath in your place.”

“A necessary trade.” The knight noted with firm certainty. “Don’t worry though, I’ll keep Azula safe.”

“Oh I’m sure you will.” Iroh gave the young man a wink and took his leave to go and grab some roast duck from the kitchens. If he was lucky then there would still be some left over from the last evening’s meal. As he moved down the stairs to the galley he let his mind wander to the trip his niece was undertaking and how similar it was to several others that she and her knight had undertaken over the last few years. Though they were never called such it was clear that their journeys had changed from mere curiosity about the greater world to full on romantic outings, and the former General could not be more thrilled. His niece seemed to have taken his advice to heart and had taken her relationship with Harry slowly, and now watching him return her affections had created a new warmth in his own heart to see.

Their growing love was cast in sharp contrast with his nephew’s temperament however. Zuko’s current lot in life had led to much anger and resentment, and being stuck in close confines with two people that so heavily outclassed him in combat ability had chaffed him to a ‘very’ noticeable degree. Yet another reason Iroh was more than happy to allow his niece’s brief sojourns away from the ship to occur. It allowed a brief cooldown period for tensions to ease for everyone else aboard.

Some Time Later

“Are they much like the creatures of your old world?” Azula asked as she and her betrothed crouched down behind a snowdrift to gaze upon a clutch of polar bear-penguins in a clearing below. The group was gathered around a hole in the ice and seemed to be taking turns diving in to gather fish.

The duo were clad in thickly padded fur coats with hoods pulled over their heads and snowshoes on their feet. “It’s hard to say.” Harry’s face scrunched up as he tried to remember. As more and more time passed his recollections of his old life became harder to remember. “I think the closest thing on Earth was a penguin.”

“Penguin-dog? Penguin-bear? Penguin-viper?”

“Nope, just a penguin. A black and white bird-like creature with a yellow beak and only two wings. My cousin took a trip to a local zoo where they had some and I actually got to come along once and see them.”

“Two wings? How bizarre.” Azula couldn't even begin to comprehend such a creature. “That said, these little ones are rather cute. Do you suppose we could take one or two and build a nest for them?”

“I’m sure your uncle would enjoy the chance to harvest and boil their eggs.”

“He eats enough eggs already. Imagine, the Dragon of the West has gotten fat.”

Though he was well used to the girl’s banter, Harry didn’t like to entertain such comments about his old teacher. “He’s not fat, he’s comfortable. Master Iroh has well earned his retirement and you know if he ever decided to fight seriously he’d still kick both of our asses.”

“True enough.” Azula announced. “But you better not follow his lead. I like you fit.”

“Oh do you?” Harry turned from the animals and pulled Azula with him, pressing her back against the snow drift and leaning into her fully. “You know, I like how fit you are as well.”

“Oh I know.” Azula smirked before darting forward and locking her lips onto those of her betrothed. It was a new experience to say the least. His face was cold, especially his nose, but his tongue and mouth were delightfully warm, and the princess availed herself of their access for several moments before eventually pulling back and resting her head on his chest as he continued to hold her. They hadn’t gone much farther than such embraces, no matter how much nagging came from her father’s letters to ‘hurry up and provide an heir’. Such letters had started coming the moment he’d learned she’d flowered and they sickened both herself and her betrothed. They refused to be pushed further than they were comfortable by that monster. And a monster he truly was. They’d learned that well enough that fateful day in Ba Sing Se, and it had been further reiterated on the day of Zuko’s Agni Kai.

“It’s getting late, Beloved. Perhaps we should make a fire, set out our bedrolls, and snuggle for a while?”

“That would be-” Harry’s voice was suddenly cut off as the duo’s attention was snatched away by a sudden beam of light erupting into the sky in the distance. They kept staring until it fell away and then Harry grumbled, “How much do you wanna bet Zuko thinks that’s the avatar?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that gambling is a deplorable vice?”

“So nothing?”

“You know me so well.” Azula tightened her grip around his waist and asked, “We need to go investigate don’t we?”

“Zuko will be intolerable if we don’t at least meet up with him for it. Even if whatever he finds will be long dealt with by the time we arrive.”

Hastily they ran back up to the rise where Hedwig waited for them, and after giving a swift order the owl bear sniffed rapidly at the air, cawed, and began loping off into the distance at a surprisingly swift pace. While that was happening Azula had been tying a rope around her waist and slipping a pair of skis onto her feet. After giving Harry a thumbs up he attached the other end of the rope to a prepared clip at his waist, pulled his glider free, and took off into the sky. It only took a couple seconds to pick out Hedwig’s form running through the snow and soon enough he had angled himself into an easy air stream to follow her while he pulled Azula threw the snow in the process.

They’d been at it for a few hours and were taking a quick break when they saw a red flare fire off in the complete opposite direction. “Damn it.” Harry groused. “You think the ship ran aground?”

Azula considered that and said, “Well it has been a while since the ice breaker was maintained. Perhaps they just got stuck?”

“But in the wrong place?”

“Logic would dictate they found a lead and trailed it down a new river passage.”

Harry nodded and said, “You are probably right. Come on, let’s get back to it.” And soon enough he was back in the sky with Azula’s skis slicing through the snow beneath him. Strangely enough, Hedwig was only now turning in the ice to change course. Funny that. What were the odds of a second Fire Nation ship capable of launching a flare so far from the nearest outpost?

It took another two hours to track the ship down and what was even stranger was that it was buried beneath thirty feet of snow and ice and there was some sort of massive bison-thing flying off into the sunset. What the hell?

Hedwig reached the ship first and began immediately clawing at the ice to help clear it and Harry landed on the ground beneath it while Azula skidded to a stop beside him before swiftly clicking her feet free and stowing the skis back over her shoulder. When Iroh popped his head over the side they both yelled, “What the hell happened!”

Iroh blinked, looked back at the deck, and then called down, “Apparently the avatar is really alive and well, and he’s a child. He literally just escaped.”

The teenagers blinked stupidly at that statement for several moments and then began to scream up at the old man with every question they could think of.

Later That Night

Harry and Azula were cuddling on his furs on the floor as they prepared for sleep. After so long together she had finally gotten used to his habit of sleeping on the floor and nowadays didn’t even seem to notice the difference in comfort levels. He had been worried that since he slept shirtless she’d be weirded out by his scars, but the princess had merely squeezed him tight and promised no one would ever hurt him again like that. They liked being close and found it hard to sleep when they were apart. Also, Azula enjoyed the sight of all of his muscles. Her man had trained hard and followed the regimen of his earthbending teacher and the results spoke for themselves.

Though at that point Harry could tell that something was stuck on Azula’s mind. She was holding him a bit tighter than she usually did. “Azula, what’s wrong? Are you annoyed that our trip was cut short?”

“No… well yes, but that doesn’t really bother me so. It’s the avatar. He’s back. He’s really back.”

“So it would seem. Though from what Zuko said he’s nothing but a clueless and irresponsible child. He hardly seems a real threat. Why is that bothering you so?”

Azula trembled for a few moments before answering, “The war has been in a stalemate for so long now. We’ve managed to keep you off the frontlines because there has not been a single front that has ‘needed’ your power to break even. But now… the avatar is the one weapon that could turn the tides of the war against us, and if the Earth Kingdom or the Northern Water Tribe were to get their hands on him, train him up, and then unleash him… There is no doubt my father would send you to deal with him. I don’t want to see what would happen if you were made to fight him. He’s a child now, but he will grow older, and the legends say the avatar is imbued with the battle memories of every one of their past lives. Avatar Roku was said to be so deadly that my great grandfather wouldn’t risk inciting his war until the man was already dead.”

Harry gently ran his fingers through his woman’s hair to calm her as he replied, “If I am fated to fight him then worrying about it now will solve nothing. It will happen no matter how much we fret. But I do not think my fate is to fall before him. No coward that hides for a century instead of facing his duty and responsibilities head on could ever stand tall before me and lay me down. I believe that with every fiber of my being. Azula, you believe in me, don’t you?”

“Of course!”

“Then believe that should the worst come to pass I will still be standing triumphant by the end. I’m the Shield of the Fire Nation, and a shield does not shatter. It holds the line.”

His words seemed to have met their needed result as the princess’s arms slowly loosened from their death grip. “I’m being silly.”

“You’re showing you care. It’s nice.” He nearly purred when she rested her cheek on his chest. “No one ever did before you and Master Iroh.”

“Which explains why it took you so long to pick up on my cues and let me share your furs with you.” Azula teased. “Now shut your eyes, Harry. Let us have sweet dreams. Tomorrow the real hunt starts, and you can bet every officer in the military is gonna be on the trail as well the moment they hear about what happened.”

But before that hunt could ‘actually’ start repairs were needed for their vessel, which was why they spent most of the next day sailing to the nearest shipyard to retrofit their ship and hammer out all the dents. The dockmaster assured them they would have the speediest crew on hand to deal with it and see them back to sea that night, but then they were waylaid by the new Commander of the Garrison. Zhao was an aristocratic annoyance with an overinflated opinion of himself. At least, that was what they all privately thought. In person they bit their tongues as he approached them all and plastered false smiles on their faces.

Stopping with his arms folded behind his back he nodded his head to Zuko and Iroh. “Prince Zuko, General Iroh.”

“Retired General.” The older man clarified.

Zhao raised a brow but nodded all the same. “A state well earned for such a great hero of our nation.” Then his gaze turned to the others in the group and grew remarkably wider as he beheld just who else was in their landing party. “And Princess Azula and Knight Potter. I am honored to host you both as well.”

“You should be.” Azula sniffed.

“I’m nothing special.” Harry waved off the praise.

“Nothing special?” Zhao seemed remarkably affronted at such a phrase. “We have all heard tell of your mighty deeds, Dragon of Calamity, and for them all I must insist you join me for dinner. My treat. And perhaps you might regale us with a performance of your instrument? It is said your erhu could make the gods themselves weep for its beautiful sound.”

“We really need to focus on our repairs.” Zuko tried to protest.

Zhao raised a brow and asked the dockmaster, “How long will repairs take?”

“At least a few hours, Commander. We need to repair the winch system, sharpen the ice breaker, and hammer out all the dents.”

“Perfect, then you can all join me for dinner and then we can send you on your way after that.” Zhao grinned with triumph, and with no other options presenting themselves, their party was forced to agree. At that point if they’d insisted on refusing they’d be offering their host a direct insult and while they technically outranked him, they all had a feeling that such a slight would rapidly cause their ‘quick’ repairs to take several days instead.

“What exactly caused the damage if you do not mind me asking?” The officer pressed.

Azula rose to the unspoken challenge and answered, “Our night watchman fell asleep at his post and as a result we ended up crashing into an iceberg. Don’t worry, he’s been justly punished.” The feigned cruel glint in her eyes at those words was very convincing.

So it was that in short order they were all seated at a head table above a cadre of soldiers with Commander Zhao sitting in the center beside Zuko. Each of them had donned their finest robes and garments for the event. It was always important to look your best when being presented to those beneath you.

The meal passed smoothly for the most part. Zhao spent most of it throwing small barbs Zuko’s way, but the prince was well used to receiving worse from his sister so the antics of a man trying to act above his station were of no consequence to him.

Meanwhile, seeing that his attempts to jostle the errant prince into a confrontation had failed, the Commander decided to attempt his plan B. His investigators needed more time to question those aboard the Prince’s vessel about his suspicions about the true cause of the damage to their ship, and what better way than one that had literally walked right into his lap. Standing up he raised a glass to his guests and announced, “Men and women of the port, please join me in raising a glass to our prestigious guests. Three members of the royal family and the Dragon of Calamity himself, Harry Potter!”

A roaring cheer met his words, accompanied by shouts of “Dragon!” “Hero of the Siege!” “Marry me!” “My sister is single and wealthy!”

Azula nearly launched herself across the table at those last two exclamations but Harry’s hand on her own held her back. Raising his glass once more to quiet the crowd of rowdy soldiers the Commander asked, “Are you all as eager as myself to hear the Knight serenade us with his legendary erhu!?!?!?” The answering roar was agreement enough, and at an encouraging nod from his betrothed, Harry stood, pulled his instrument and bow from his pack, and moved to walk down to the center of the feasting hall where a stool was hastily laid out for him.

Sitting down and resting the instrument on his knee he asked aloud, “I hadn’t intended to play today so I don’t have a tune picked out. Are there any suggestions?”

Unanimous shouts of “The Dragon’s Rise!” Were heard all around and Harry nearly groaned as a result. The bards had really done a number with that one.

“You all realize that I didn’t write that one, right? It was penned by another artist almost two months after the siege ended.”

“The Dragon’s Rise!” was repeated over and over until the young man finally nodded his ascent before beginning to tune his erhu. Then, after giving a couple of practice chords a go, the staff across his back began to glow with a pale gold light and his music started to flow through the air like a rising tide. Along with it came images swirling through the air of a great wall, boulders flying through the sky, and men and women running to and fro. The famed Illusions of the Dragon were putting on a show for them.

(A Water Lily (Jia Peng Fang) - Erhu Cover by Eliott Todo)

Amidst the gentle lilting of the instrument Harry’s voice rose above in an even constant, singing melodiously in a smooth baritone that rang up to the raptors above. He didn’t always sing but when did it was always a spectacle.

Broken were the great stone walls

The war cry of soldiers calls

The forward march into Hell

Where friend and foe did fell

For the earthen trap did spring

And the widows lament did sing

For the fallen husband, brother, son

With victory on the run

But hope then stood great and tall

A Shield for us, one and all

And with an almighty Dragons Roar!

All enemies were shook, burned to the core.

The Earth did shake

The sky did quake

All for the Dragon of Calamity’s sake

Three refrains of light and radiance followed and when all was said and done the bow produced a final concluding crescendo before falling still with the Dragon’s head bent in pained remembrance as all around him soldiers cheered on the man who single handedly stopped a major defeat from turning into a full rout and slaughter.

Only Azula, eyes locked onto her betrothed’s lips, could read the last few lines whispered low enough for no one else to hear.

On this field of War

A lamenting Dragon’s Roar

Fallen Soldiers Hear

Revenge for your loss is near.

Without waiting for anything else to occur the princess got up off her chair, rounded the table, and embraced her betrothed as the audience screamed even louder. To them it must have looked like she was congratulating him on a performance well done, but Iroh saw the pain clear enough in the set of the young man’s shoulders.

The General knew how personally his former pupil took every loss that had occurred that day. Others had named him the Shield, but Harry took the title seriously, and he honestly believed he’d failed the fallen by not awakening to his so-called ‘Power of Calamity’ sooner.

Things went rather quickly after that. The dinner ended, Harry was bustled back aboard the ship by his betrothed, and Iroh and Zuko gave their farewells to the Commander personally. After that they took their leave.

As the prince’s vessel faded in the distance, Zhao’s personal aid inquired, “The men aboard verified your suspicions. They had the avatar in their possession and then lost him. Are you really just going to let them go?”

Zhao allowed a dark smile to cross his features. “Do you seriously expect me to pick a fight with the Dragon of Calamity, the princess of our nation, and the Dragon of the West all at the same time? No, letting them go for now is the best option. Especially since we now have verification that the avatar is alive. It is time we sent our own people after him. On that note, send a skiff and a few trustworthy men to follow the Prince, and make sure they have enough eagle-crows for continuous progress reports. I want to know every move they make from here on out.”

Chapter 11: Kyoshi Island

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar The Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Eleven - Kyoshi Island

Omashu

King Bumi chuckled madly to himself as he watched his old friend Aang and his fellows setting off from the gates of his city on the back of that great big bison of theirs. The boy had a lot to learn if he was going to step into the role of avatar; especially if he mistakenly tried to be the same as those that had come before him instead of who he had it in him to become as an individual.

All the same, he had proven an ability to think critically and had even managed to last thirty seconds against him in the ring. Either he was really good or Bumi himself was getting too old. Ah, the old man decided it was probably the first option. From behind him a hidden door opened and the head of his personal mounted guard rode in upon the back of a tiger-ostrich.

“You didn’t tell him about Harry?” The man didn’t remove his visored helm, but he didn’t need to. The coal dark hair spilling out the back would have marked him as a former Fire Nation soldier regardless.

Bumi cackled delightedly for several moments before answering, “Whyever would I do that? It would ruin the surprise!” Oh yes, the King of Omashu was absolutely giddy with the thought of how his little friend and former student would react upon meeting each other. “He he he he!”

At that point the other man did raise his visor, revealing the disapproving frown of Lu Ten. “You do realize that Harry is likely to absolutely murder him, right?
“Maybe. But also, maybe not. Trust me, sonny, when you get to be my age you’ve seen a lot, so any chance for excitement is always fun! Also, Aang has some very reliable youngsters with him and I trust them to keep him safe… for the most part.”

The Ship

“Wandering noble?” Azula queried as she pulled an outfit from their shared dresser.

Harry shook his head in the negative. “Too ostentatious. We’d stand out more than is needed. “Mercenaries?”

Now Azula was shaking her head as she pushed another pair of outfits aside. “The Kiyoshi Warriors are more than enough for their small island. They’d have no need to hire more swords.” They’d been at their game for twenty minutes by that point, ever since their last strategy meeting with Zuko and Iroh when they had decided splitting up and following separate leads for the avatar would offer the best chance of success. The Knight and Princess had decided that a good place for a new avatar to show up was an old avatar’s home, and so they had elected to travel there incognito and wait for a while to see if they got lucky. Now they were just picking out their cover stories.

“Wandering musicians?”

Azula grinned, “Oh, good choice. It’ll be just like that time in Gaipan Village.” She pulled out a pair of plain but sturdy outfits and a couple of pointed kasa hats. “Think these will do?”

“I’d say so.”

One Week Later

The docks of Kyoshi Island were not much to look at for the most part. Certainly they were minor compared to the beautiful building construction that was visible of the town through the trees. However, Harry had long learned not to judge things by appearances. After all, the Fire Nation capital was a marvel of architecture and class, yet it was a hotbed of backstabbing and horrible personalities of the worst order.

Of immediate interest to them both however were the wandering warriors marching through the streets and trees with intricately painted faces and metallic fans cinched at their waists. The Kyoshi Warriors were a famed organization of all female soldiers and both had a keen interest in seeing what that looked like in person. At the edge of the dock they were met by a few of them who were questioning all of the passengers as to their identities and what had brought them to the island in the first place. Border checks, it seemed, were the norm in every society.

“We are Harry and Azula Ember.” The princess introduced their fake identities with a flourishing bow. Considering the fact that Harry had sworn to always tell the truth she tended to be the one to offer the more direct lies in their little gambits. “Wandering bards in search of a berth for a short while before moving on. Might your lovely island have a place in need of music in return for bed and board?”

The lead warrior grinned widely at the announcement and said, “Hell yes, we do. Kami, I swear we haven’t had good music in months.” The woman gave a few commands to her comrades and then waved the duo to follow along after her. “My name is Suki by the way. I’m the Captain of the Guard here so if you ever need anything while you are staying with us don’t hesitate to let me know.” She led them into the town proper and over to a large structure that had to be their inn.

Suki waved over the bartender and explained the situation. Said woman was rather large and held a stern expression on her face. A good sign all around. In Harry’s opinion any bartender or tavern owner that didn’t have such a serious air could not be trusted. Oftentimes they were the ones that dealt with the drunks of the populace so they needed to be able to handle both themselves and their business in equal measure.

“The name’s Brida.” The apron clad woman spoke with her arms crossed confrontationally over her chest. “I don’t hold with bawdy tunes, but if you play level music and tell good stories I’m willing to give you two meals a day and let you stay in my back room for as long as you’re useful. I’ll throw in some blankets and pillows for good measure.”

Harry blinked with open surprise. That was a better deal than they’d gotten in many of their other bard inspired journeys. This woman was certainly fair. “We accept.”

“Good, then I’ll expect you to be playing that erhu I can see poking from your pack around six. That’s when the majority of my patrons typically start showing up.”

Harry bowed evenly and said, “I will be ready. Perhaps you would like my partner to perform her flute in the mornings for the breakfast crowd?”

Brida raised a brow, “Well at least you seem to have done this before. That’d be fine, indeed.”

In short order Harry and Azula were stashing their bags and supplies in their new room, and after he grabbed his staff they set off to explore the town itself. To anyone watching he was just a regular person with a walking stick and she was the same with a few personal defense knives on her belt. Nothing strange about that, and certainly nothing odd about doing some sightseeing. What they beheld was rather interesting. In terms of military strength it was clear they went for quality over quantity. There were perhaps thirty Kyoshi warriors total but each moved with the surety of years worth of training in their strides. It made them both incredibly curious just what their fans were capable of as neither had ever seen a foe use them as a weapon. Of course for an island as small as the one they were on, thirty people could get a lot done.

The construction style of the buildings and homes were primarily wood with a bit of stonework tossed in here and there as a solid base. ‘Well,’ Harry thought, ‘if all else fails we could cause an easy distraction by setting the place on fire.’ In the center of the town was proudly displayed a massive statue of a woman dressed much like the Warriors were with two fans in her hands and an expression of power and authority on her face. That had to be Kyoshi herself.

Harry eyed the woman’s immortalized features and found himself rather underwhelmed. She looked to have been attractive enough, but for a former avatar purported to have been something of a warlord, he expected more. A presence powerful enough to leave him in awe, perhaps. Instead he was only vaguely impressed. “I expected more.” He muttered, hardly thinking to be overheard.

So when a new voice answered, “Like what? Solid gold plating?” The newcomers spun around and found Suki waiting for them. She’d gone down to plain clothes and removed her makeup, but they’d recognize her striking features anywhere. The warrior sidled up to them and offered, “Figured I could offer to give you both a tour if you’re planning on sticking around for a bit.”

“Why?” Azula asked.

Looking momentarily put out, Suki answered, “Well, there aren’t a huge amount of people my age to spend time with that I’m not directly in charge of and you two seemed fun. I guess I hoped we’d hit it off. Especially if you plan on sticking around for a while.”

Azula shared a look with Harry and offered the other girl a warm smile. “We’d be happy to accept.”

And so time passed. For the next three weeks their little trio formed a bit of a pattern. Harry performed in the evenings, Azula the mornings, and in the afternoons they all kind of did their own things. Either they walked around the town, shared meals, or partook in each other's hobbies. In the case of Azula, Suki was thrilled to learn she was a martial artist specializing in knives, and had insisted on sparring against her with her fan. In the case of Harry, they all worked out together in the woods. When the girl’s subordinates came looking for them they were always found running, performing push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches.

Around the midpoint of the third week though Suki started noticing something. Harry spent large amounts of his free time pausing at random places in the streets, leaning on his staff in quiet introspection, or full on meditating before the statue of Kyoshi and clearings in the woods. It wasn’t anything overly suspicious, but she’d never known a musician to be so… spiritual. So the next time she was set to spar with Azula she decided to ask about it.

After the session, while they were both greedily downing skins of water, she finally inquired, “What’s the deal with your man?”

“My man?”

“Harry. You two ‘are’ together right?”

Azula laughed heartily and noted, “Were we that obvious?”

“Just a bit. But really, what’s his deal?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” The princess well knew her man had several odd habits.

“The whole meditation thing.”

“Oh.” Of all the things she expected to be asked about, that was certainly not especially high on the list. Though she supposed it couldn’t hurt to explain a little bit about the situation. “Harry is trying to get a feel for the spiritual energy of this place. He thinks that since a former avatar lived and eventually died here there might be a close connection to the spirit world.”

Suki blinked stupidly for several seconds before coming back to herself enough to ask, “Why the hell would he want to do that? How can he even do that?” To her knowledge only the avatar was able to notice the spirit world.

Azula seemed to grasp what she was thinking as she said, “He can do it because he managed to pick up a few tricks from a very old scroll and some books from a ‘really’ old library. Don’t ask, it’s a long story. But the reason he is doing it here is because he wants to be a sage. It’s actually why we decided to come to your island in the first place.” A little lie to be sure, but not a complete one. They had been meaning to come here for that purpose eventually. The avatar had just sped their plans along a bit.

“A sage? You mean like those old guys in robes that officiate weddings and sign important documents as witnesses?”

“No.” The princess violently shook her head in the negative. “Those have become administrative positions more than anything else. Harry wants to be a True sage.” And hadn’t that been a surprise. When Harry had imparted his secret dream to her she’d hardly been able to believe it. It was a path he’d decided on after many late night conversations with her uncle.

Suki was more than a bit intrigued by that statement. “What does that mean?”

Azula drummed her fingers on her knee for a while before asking, “How much do you know about the times before the avatar existed?”

“Not much. I don’t think anyone really does.”

“You’re wrong. There are still a couple places in the world where records of the time before still exist. In those documents beings were spoken of. Energybenders, great sages, beings capable of breaching the divide between the physical world, spiritual world, and mystical one in kind by finding true enlightenment. Harry… I think he seeks to understand our world better, and he’s looking for a way to help it in some small way. He, like a great many, are tired of waiting for an absent avatar to fix things.”

“Then he’s a bender?”

“Of a kind.”

“That’s… honestly kind of great.” Suki smiled at the thought. “So many benders I’ve met have been so gung ho about running off to join the war effort. They are necessary, sure, but it’s kind of refreshing to hear about one that is seeking the more spiritual side of things as well. And if it helps, let him know that I’m rooting for him, yeah?”

“Will do. Now, are you up for round three?”

All the while Harry spent his nights disappearing into the woods where he received constant missives on the progress of Zuko and Iroh from his trusty owl-bear Hedwig. She couldn’t fly, but owl-bears were remarkably swift swimmers.

Another Week Passes

Harry looked up from his latest moment of pause and grinned before moving on. As his feet carried him further on down the street he reveled in the new awareness the chi he’d left behind in the stone path was allowing him. He called the trick his Chi Landmines. The Ember Knight could use them to further his range of perception through the ground, and set them off as controlled explosions when the need fit him. It was rather interesting what someone could learn to do with weaves of earth, air, and fire when they had nothing but time for three years to train, travel, and perfect their methods. It was an ability that made him truly terrifying to his political enemies as well. The Power of Calamity he’d awoken the day the Siege of Ba Sing Se ended; entwining multiple forms of bending at once and unleashing abilities never seen before as a result.

After this long spent laying the groundwork there wasn’t a step taking place by anyone in a five mile radius that he wasn’t picking up on. Which was exactly why when a rather large object landed out of the sky on a nearby beach he knew exactly who was on it. Moving stealthily out into the wilderness he let his gaze travel over the scene and took note of several factors. One, a group of three was trussed up on the ground between a group of Kyoshi warriors. Two, the same giant bison he’d seen in the South Pole was ambling along over to them. Three, Suki was there, which meant he definitely did not want to cause a scene just yet. Better to send word to Zuko and wait for a more opportune moment.

A Few Hours Later

“A silver coin for your thoughts?” Harry looked up from his meditation and found Suki standing over him. At his nod she sat down in front of him and folded her hands in her lap. “I went looking for you at the inn but Miss. Brida said you asked for the night off. Are you alright? You seem even more introspective than usual.”

Harry sighed and released the hold he’d had on the spiritual energy of his latest clearing attempt. Like Iroh he had learned to see spiritual power and chi, but actually connecting to it had proven unsustainable as of yet. “Just thinking over some things. Tell me, I heard the avatar actually showed up today. Is that true?”

“It is.” Suki affirmed. “His airbending pretty much confirms it. There’s him, a female waterbender, and an annoying sexist.”

“Sexists are always annoying. Did he have anything to say for himself? Perhaps a reason why he hasn’t shown his face in over a hundred years?”

The warrior raised a brow at the sarcastic tone and took a firmer look at the man across from her. His back was deceptively straight and the set of his shoulders was firm. He was annoyed. “Azula did mention you were tired of waiting for him to show up. Do you have some sort of problem with the avatar?”

“Problem? Interesting word that.” Harry drummed his fingers gently over the length of the staff on his knees. He often used it as a meditational focus point. “I guess you could say I have a problem with him. Suki, honor, duty, responsibility, these are the most important words I hold inside of my vocabulary. They have made up the bedrock of who I am today. As a warrior and defender of your people I think you know something about that.”

“I do.”

“Then answer me this: what is to be thought of a person who knowingly runs away from his duty. His Responsibility. What is to be thought of a person that forsakes honor and principles for cowardice and selfish impulses? Do I have a problem with the avatar? Hell yes I do. As far as I’m concerned he surrendered and abdicated the role long ago and has no right to bear the title now, let alone use it to curry favor from your people.” Harry stood up then and stomped his staff menacingly on the ground as he did. “It’s time for a new avatar to rise from the ashes he left in his wake.”

Suki blinked and said, “I’ve… never really considered that. Kyoshi Island has always been neutral in regards to this war so I suppose it hasn’t really been that big of an issue for us. But you do know an avatar needs to be able to bend all four elements, right? I don’t think people would follow someone otherwise. Even if you do become a sage.” She started to laugh a little then as she said, “But you did look pretty cool there for a moment. Did you practice that pose in the mirror or something?”

Harry grinned at the thought. “Who knows. I admit to nothing. Now, I know it’s late, but since we’re both out here in the middle of nowhere, how about an evening workout?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Two Days Later

Aang was absolutely having the time of his life. Sure he’d only brought his friends to the island to ride the elephant-koi, but finding out the people here revered one of his past lives had turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Katara and Sokka were great, but they were also entirely too serious. They needed a place like this to unwind a bit before moving on.

Plus, it was really fun to have a crowd of cheering fans chase after him. It really made him wonder if it wouldn’t have been so bad to be the avatar before he was frozen after all. Then his mind turned back to the war that was apparently going on and a fresh shudder of fear went through him, ruining his otherwise good mood. That was right. Everyone expected him to stop a conflict that had already been raging for a hundred years. How was he going to do that? He was only one kid! Honestly if it wasn’t for the support of his friends he’d have probably run for the hills already. The pressure was that intense.

But where was everyone? The avatar was walking through the main street of the town and it was the first time there hadn’t been anyone to cheerfully greet him or wave him over for a polite conversation. Katara was busy shopping for some supplies for their continued expedition so that explained her absence, and Sokka had decided to train with the Kyoshi Warriors, but the regular people were nowhere to be seen.

The last airbender spent a few minutes flitting from window to window looking for any sign of the populace until he at last found them all gathered in the inn of all places. Out of curiosity he walked inside and found himself needing to shuffle around shoulders within the packed space as he struggled to see what had gathered them all together. They appeared to be all staring up at the North end of the room where a long raised table had been erected, and seated upon it were two people wearing decent looking traveling robes and kasa hats. As Aang watched, they raised an erhu and flute respectively and began to play.

(Lovers (Flower Garden) - House of Flying Daggers - Erhu cover by Eliott Tordo)

It was a light melody that swept him up along with the others in a tide of orchestral beauty. Honestly, Aang almost thought he saw flowers hovering in the air, but that was utterly ridiculous. But that thought drew his eyes to the duo with greater focus where they latched onto a particular staff protruding across the erhu player’s back. He’d recognize an airbender design anywhere!

At once grabbing his own staff he launched himself over the heads of the populace and landed on the other edge of the long table, leveling the weapon firmly at the still playing duo as he yelled, “Where did you get that staff!” When neither of them stopped playing he swung his glider and pushed a gust of air at them that sent their weapons toppling from their grasp to crash to the floor. The flute player shot to her feet, revealing herself as a girl of respectable height and angry features.

The man beside her, however, didn’t move from his position. Instead he sat very still, with his fingers twitching over where his erhu had once been. His hat was still bent low, obscuring his features. “That,” His voice was malice incarnate, cold as the arctic wind and full of utter loathing, “was the first gift I ever received. You better pray to whatever gods will listen that it is undamaged, boy.”

Aang made to shoot back with a scathing response of his own, only to find himself stunned as a child at the front of the crowd threw a spoon at his head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“That’s our bard!” The child pronounced seriously. “Be nice to him!”

The village leader quickly moved to the front of the crowd and soothed the child, along with the darkly muttering crowd itself, before addressing the avatar directly. “Apologies, Master Avatar, but you did rather rudely interrupt a live performance. Many of these people have grown quite fond of the music these two play so what you did is understandably… troublesome. Please, could you politely wait until they are done to ask him your questions?”

Aang was aghast, “But he has an airbender’s staff! I need to know why!”

“Because I am an airbender, idiot.” The man drawled, still not raising the brim of his hat to look up. “Azula, what does this incredibly rude child look like?”

The girl practically lit up with a smile so wide one could be forgiven for confusing her with a shark. “Maybe eleven or twelve years old. Bald. Arrow tattoo on his forehead and he’s wearing a red and yellow outfit. Beloved, I believe the time for waiting is at an end.”

The man sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Can I trust you to limit casualties to those that attack you? I must safeguard the helpless after all.”

Aang was utterly lost as to what was happening. “What are you two even talking about?”

On the other end of the table Harry let out a short laugh before rising to his feet. “You’re about to find out, Pretender.”

“Pretender?”

“Yes, pretender.” Harry at last pulled his hat from his head and tossed it away before pulling free his shirt to reveal his burn-marked chest and scars. As the crowd gasped with shock at the reveal he declared, “You pretend to be the holder of an office you abandoned for a century. Do you really think you can just come back, take it up again, and pretend everything is gonna be okay? Well I got news for you, boy, the past doesn’t die!” In the time it took to blink, Harry rotated his body, pulled his staff free, and sent a torrent of screeching air careening right into the avatar’s torso with enough kinetic force to send his body crashing through the wall and rolling out into the street.

While Azula turned to face the people (and the Kyoshi Warriors that were struggling to push past them), Harry leapt out of the new hole in the inn and began casually strutting over to where the avatar was groggily pulling himself to his feet.

“W-Who are you?” Aang could hardly believe what had just happened. He would have sworn it was impossible if he hadn’t just experienced it for himself. Airbending. An airbender had just attacked him!

Harry stopped five feet away and quirked his head oddly. “Who am I? Yes I suppose that is a valid question. I admit to being so famous in my own nation, for my badge if nothing else,” He tapped the handprint scar on his chest, “that I am unused to proper introductions. I am Harry Potter, Ember Knight of the Fire Nation, and Consort to the Princess Azula.”

“Fire Nation?!?” Aang kicked a few steps further back, but when his foe made no move to close the distance he stopped out of curiosity. “Then you must be working with Zuko!” The airbender wasn’t sure what he was expecting as an answer, but outright laughter from his attacker was certainly not it. Sweat Dropping a bit at the oddness of the situation he found himself in, he asked, “What’s so funny?”

Harry forced himself to become calm once more and adopted his usual battle detachment as he lowered his staff into his unique, personal, stance. “Oh, nothing much. Zuko and I travel together, sure, but we have ‘very’ different goals. You see, he wants to capture you. But me, I’m here to kill you.”

Chapter 12: The Battle Begins

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: I have heard you all, and upon reflection of my ideas I have decided that Suki and Sokka won’t work this time around as a couple. So I’ve moved her pairing in the description. I think I had that originally because theirs was the only real fleshed out romance in the show. However, much like you all I think I added too much buildup now not to let her be paired with Harry and Azula.

-Now, whether or not Toph will be joining we’ll have to wait and see………

Note: Listened to (Burn - by Daddyphatsnaps - Yamamoto Rap) while I was writing Harry and Aang’s fight. An absolute monster facing off against a lamb. Mwahahahahahahaha! And in the grand scheme of things Harry isn’t exactly the good guy in this scenario.

Note: Upon rewatching the first season of Avatar I’m rather stunned to realize how weak Aang really was. I mean sure, he won fights, but that was because no one seemed to have any idea how to handle an airbender. When faced with someone that knows his tricks, like Bumi, he gets dominated. And the only reason Aang lasted against Bumi was because the old man was going easy on him.

Chapter Twelve - The Battle Begins

Three Years Ago

The army had left the field but they were still going to have to wait a few weeks before they could head back to the capital itself. The colonies needed to be fortified and neither Iroh nor Harry were going to set foot on a ship until they were sure that the colonials they left behind were safe from a frontal assault.

That said, it was getting toward the evening and everything that could be done for the day had already been handled. So, desiring some time alone, Harry had elected to go for a walk along the outer edge of the settlement he and Azula were staying in. It was a quaint farming town with strong outer walls along with a hardy populace of both earthbenders and firebenders alike. From what the Knight could see, the two groups, contrary to most expectations, had melded rather well together and many of the families he’d seen had been sporting equal color pallets of green and red respectively in their clothing.

For a while he just meandered around aimlessly, but eventually his feet carried him to a hill on the outskirts of the eastern part of the settlement where a group of men and women were gathered together and crying as they leaned on each other for support. Not one to simply walk away when people were hurting, Harry approached to see if he could offer aid. Instead he grew very still when he saw them all hunched over a small grave of freshly turned dirt. It was clearly one of many new burials in that site.

Realizing just what he was about to interrupt he attempted to turn around and leave, but it was too late. He’d already been seen. The lead woman saw his uniform and knelt deferentially to him. The others were quick to follow suit once they saw what she was looking at. “Knight Potter, you honor us with your presence.”

Feeling more than a bit awkward at this situation, Harry quickly gestured for them all to rise. “Please, stand up. I apologize for interrupting your mourning. I… didn’t know this was your cemetery.”

The woman nodded kindly, understanding clear in her aged gaze. “There is nothing to apologize for. We were merely saying our farewells and wishing their souls a speedy journey to the spirit realm.”

After taking a moment to consider the situation Harry elected to bite the bullet and ask, “If you don’t mind my asking, what happened? Who are all these people?” To his knowledge all of the military dead had been given back to Agni in a great pier of fire at their camp.

“You didn’t hear?” The woman seemed confused.

“No, did something happen?”

The old woman took in a shaky breath and answered, “A trading skiff was sent out two weeks ago to sell our crops to a merchant in the Fire Nation who buys wholesale from us. These graves are the members of their crew. Our brothers, sisters, and…” Her eyes fell to the grave they’d been gathered in front of, “and my grandson. He was only five, and oh so excited to see the ocean for the first time.”

Harry was aghast at what he was seeing. There couldn’t be any less than twenty-five fresh graves here. “What happened?” It was a clear struggle to keep his tone level, but surprisingly enough, the people seemed to be put more at ease at how hard it was for him to stay calm. As if his shared outrage were a calming drought to ease him peacefully into their gathered mourning.

“A raid by the Northern Water tribe navy.” She answered. “Or at least, we think so. Witnesses on the shore who saw the attack say they were flying the colors of Chief Hakoda. Everyone knows he’s from the south, but he and his men fight with the Earth Kingdom and the Northern fleets.”

“A Water Tribe Chief?” The Knight was aghast at what he was hearing, but more because of how foolish he felt. Of course they were a threat. He’d just been too focused on the war in Ba Sing Se to think much about his adopted Nation’s other enemies. Furthermore, he couldn’t stomach a clear assault on civilians. At least in his battles there had been a macabre form of honor. He killed, and his enemies killed, and each side did it because they knew their foes were trying to end them in kind. To attack those that didn’t share that understanding was monstrous. “I am so sorry for your loss.”

From within the crowd a new voice said, “Do not trouble yourself, Young Master.” As the people parted, an older man made his way through and took the hand of the first woman as he added, “We do not blame you for focusing your own strength elsewhere. Many of us have also lost family to Earth Kingdom raids. We know that front is important as well.” He smiled sadly, “Many of our number served our country before settling out here. We know the costs of duty. No, if we must blame anyone then we blame those that committed such an atrocity against an unarmed trading craft just because they flew Fire Nation colors.”

A huff came from a younger woman beside the couple. “We might as well blame the avatar too while we’re at it, for we’ll have as much luck avenging ourselves on him as them.”

“The avatar?” Harry queried. His knowledge on the legendary figure was a bit vague, but he remembered it from his lessons as a being that could bend all four of the elements, kind of like he could. “Why does he matter?”

“Because he should have stopped this from happening.” The same woman noted with cold certainty as she waved her arms in an all encompassing gesture, “All of this! His purpose, his duty, is to bring balance and harmony to the world, but he disappeared and now… now we’ve filled this graveyard, and more are likely to come soon.” With a wail of despair she fell to her knees in front of the grave, “My nephew had his whole life ahead of him. He wanted to ride horses, he wanted to play with swords; he would have been a credit to us and our nation but because this damned war has been allowed to go on for so long he had to pay the price.” Tears began to fall freely down her emotional face as she looked to the sky and began to beg, “Why? Why did you have to abandon us!?!”

She was cut off as Harry knelt in front of her and took her hands in one of his own. Then before her shocked gaze, matched by everyone else present, he raised a hand and summoned a ball of fire, then he willed it into a miniature twister. Then he pulled some water from a skin at his waist and sent it back before lifting a rock behind him with the strength of his will. “A-Are you-”

“No, I’m not him.” Harry answered sadly, “But for the sake of those you lost, and those that are likely still to come, I will be what he should have been. I will find a way to make this world right again. Your nephew, what was his name?”

“Kota.”

“Would you join me in a prayer for his soul?”

Several hours later that was where Azula found him; sitting alone in front of the grave of an innocent five year old boy. It was there that the seed of Harry’s hatred for the avatar was born. The experiences yet to come would show how it grew and festered.

Present

“You want to kill me?” Aang gulped and took another step back. “S-Surely there’s another way to settle this than violence. You’re an airbender, right? We aren’t malicious people.”

Raising a brow slightly, Harry answered, “How would you know what airbenders are anymore? Also, do you see any tattoos on my head? I’m the furthest thing from a pacifist.” And then he swung his staff and sent a scythe of compressed air screaming toward the avatar. Aang only barely managed to dodge it but when no follow up came he turned and saw his attacker frowning heavily at a toppled beam connected to one of the houses behind him. It had been cut in half by his attack. “Hey, kid, what would you say to moving this fight elsewhere?”

“Huh?”

Harry sighed with annoyance and repeated, “Let’s head into the woods or something. I swore an oath as a Knight to safeguard the helpless, and if I cut loose here in town someone other than you is bound to get caught in the crossfire. I don’t like collateral damage.”

“You won’t get the chance to try!” A new voice yelled from their blind spot.

Harry turned and saw a stream of water whipping toward his face and acted on instinct. With a wave of his hand the water compressed into ice and halted a few inches from his face. A sudden heel kick sent it careening back toward whence it came, and the Knight had enough time to see a tan skinned brunette in blue furs dive behind a nearby wall to avoid it before the object shattered. So that was the waterbender then.

“Interesting.” Harry started moving toward her only for his first target to breeze back in front of him on his glider and position himself between them.

“Stop right there!”

“Hm,” Harry sneered, “So you’ll defend her but not the world? Typical. Look I have no problem with her so let’s just go to the woods already.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!”Aang’s eyes were wild as he demanded, “How did you freeze that water? Why do you have that staff? You haven’t even explained why you want me dead?!?”

Harry’s eyes bored into those of the avatar as he answered, “Only fools stop a fight to have a full on discussion about motivations and reasons. It only gives your opponent time to prepare. For instance, I had a feeling if I moved toward your friend you’d jump in front of her to protect her, and low and behold you landed right where I wanted you.” Before the other boy could react Harry shot his right arm forward with two fingers extended, then he flipped his wrist and pointed those fingers to the sky.

Aang yelped as a sudden release of conussive force beneath him sent his body flying vertically, and when he was above the roofline Harry opened his mouth and roared, sending a compressed wave of superheated air at the avatar.

Now, Aang didn’t know what the wavering line of air coming towards him was but he was willing to bet it wasn’t good, so he opened his glider and found himself buffeted away from the town on the wind of a massive change in barometric pressure. By the time he managed to right himself he found he was over the trees of the forest and for some reason a shadow was coming down upon him. Reacting on instinct he veered to the right just in time to avoid a screeching scythe of air from bisecting his torso in two. And a screech it really was, having heard it a couple times, Aang was sure the sound it made was reminiscent of hundreds of birds crying out at once. Honestly, as the attack crashed into the ground below he marveled that it had felt like the air itself was in pain. Seconds later the form of his attacker dropped after it displaying a fantastic example of dexterity by releasing his own glider in midair and soaring back on high before diving back at him again.

At once Aang ducked under the foliage and found himself outracing a heat haze that set fire to leaves and tree alike in his wake as he continued soaring as nimbly as he could between branches before going for broke and pulling hard in a curve to the left for several seconds before dropping to the ground and skidding to a halt behind a particularly large tree.

For the moment he seemed safe. Then he heard the voice call out, “Avatar? Oh avatar?” It was moving in a line behind him, calling to him. “Come out and play! I promise I don’t want to hurt you. I just want your life!” Another scythe sliced through the tree a few inches above Aang’s head and as it toppled over to the side he sprinted out once more to find new cover. All the while the voice called after him, “Running away? Evading? Those are typical airbender tactics. Why don’t you show me something new?”

Three times more trees fell for having the unfortunate fate of being his temporary refuge, and for the life of him Aang was stunned that he kept being found. It was as if that erhu player knew where he was going to be before he did!?!?!? This proved a prophetic thought as the bald monk jumped over a river stream and found the man waiting for him with his staff drawn back and ready.

Harry allowed a bloodthirsty smile to break through his calm as he slammed his staff home against the boy’s chest and heard at least two of his ribs crack before the torso flew back to collide into the nearest tree trunk. The boy crumpled to a heap beneath it and as he cried and tried to force breath into his lungs. The Knight felt a fresh wave of irritation come over him at the sight. “Is that it?” He demanded as he began to stalk closer, “Is this really the peak of what you’ve managed to achieve after one hundred years? Is this all you really are?”

“W-Why do you care so much?” Aang stumbled back to his feet, using the tree to support his weight.

A dark chuckle released from Harry’s lips at that question. He was only a few feet away now, “I care because you’ve made this entire world suffer for a century waiting for you to come back, and all that you became in that time is a disappointment.” Closing the gap he swung his staff to attempt to brain the boy and found himself pleasantly surprised when said preteen ducked under the attack and torqued his body to bring his own staff hurtling toward Harry’s ribs.

Aang’s smile of victory faded away a moment later when he lost all momentum and found his staff clutched motionlessly in the Knight’s grasp. He’d flat out grabbed it mid swing. “You seem confused.” Harry glared down at the youth as he tightened his grip against the boy’s useless pulls to rip it away, “Is it really so out of the realm of possibility that I would stop such a pitiful attack?” With a yank he pulled the weapon free and smacked Aang to the ground before tossing the foreign glider away and slamming his own down on his cowering body again and again and-

Suddenly Harry was flying through the air himself and only as his shock wore off did he see the avatar, no longer cowering in pain and fear, but hovering over him with a blank expression on his face and arrow tattoos glowing with powerful azure light. Twisting midway through his descent the Knight sent a scythe of air hurtling toward his foe, but the newly energized avatar merely turned out of its path and slammed his arms together.

Before Harry could even wonder what that had been about he found the breath ripped from his throat as his body suddenly plummeted toward the ground with enough air pressure to rob him of all sense of direction; but it didn’t stop there, before the Knight could even react he found the earth opening to meet him and creating a trench thirty stories deep that closed behind him with enough noise to wake the dead.

Meanwhile Aang came back to himself in time to direct his body back to his fallen glider before slowing down enough to avoid breaking his legs upon landing. As he retrieved the prized antique he couldn’t help the full body shiver that erupted over his skin. It happened every time the avatar state took over and it scared the hell out of him. When it happened he had no control, no limits, and if he ever took a life because of it he didn’t know how he’d be able to live with himself. For a moment the same worry came to his mind that he’d killed Harry but a loud series of booms sounding beneath his feet fixed him of that concern while doing nothing to alleviate his worry. Such a sound could only be something very very powerful trying to break out of a prison made by the power of the elements themselves.

Unbidden, the memory came to him of his attacker stopping Katara’s water attack and sending it back, but that raised more questions than he had time to ruminate on at the moment, such as what else that monster was capable of, so he instead decided that fleeing was the only thing he could currently do. As much as he hated to admit it, his aching ribs were telling him that he was horribly and undeniably outmatched and if he kept fighting he was sure to die. In his right mind he’d not even been able to land one punch!

Back In Town

Suki was the first to reach the front of the crowd after Harry banished the avatar from the inn and upon doing so she was shocked to find Azula pulling her top free to reveal a tighter, more functional, outfit underneath. “Azula! What is the meaning of this?!?”

The flutist smiled beatifically at her friend and withdrew a slim, coiled, chain from her pocket that she hooked into the circular end of one of the curved knives at her belt before pulling it free and beginning to spin it lazily at her side. ‘What the hell? She’d never used such a weapon or technique when they’d trained before!’ “Oh, you know, just a bit of casual homicide amongst friends.” The girl shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly before a serious look came to her face. “Suki, I want you to know that neither Harry nor I have lied to you. We did come here in peace. We are your friends, and we did not have an open intention of causing trouble. However, we are also here for reasons of our own. If the avatar didn’t come here we would have left as humble musicians to carry on our journey. But he did arrive and now here we are.”

In spite of everything that was happening, Suki felt an unreasonable sense of relief that her friends… were actually serious about still being her friends. Warily drawing her fans she asked, “Well the avatar is here, so what are your reasons?”

Azula allowed a slow curling of her lips as she answered, “Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation, and Harry is my loyal Knight and consort. We came here to find the avatar and end his existence.” Then before all of their eyes the chain in her hands erupted in purple flame and she swung it in a wide arc, bisecting the room in flame and cutting everyone off from her side of the building, effectively removing the bulk of the warriors gathered from running after their endangered avatar and bard.

Suki gasped along with the rest of the crowd at the clear show of firebending. “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

The princess allowed a dark chuckle to escape her lips as the fire lit her face in royal light. “Because this avatar is not worthy. You’ve been sheltered here on this island, Suki, but we have not. Harry and I have seen the suffering spread throughout this world. Innocent Fire Nation civilians put to the sword, Earth Kingdom towns taxed to the point of starvation to pay for their nobility’s lavish lifestyles, Water Tribe barbarians raiding coastal towns and merchant vessels, and a war that seems to be raging without any true end in sight. Millions are dead because of his cowardice and we can not abide that continuing.”

Suki’s hands began to shake on the grips of her fans as she shouted back, “But he’s here now! He deserves a chance to make things right!”

“Make things right? How do we know he won’t just run away again? He abandoned his responsibilities once already didn’t he? It’s better for everyone involved if he is removed and another is given the chance to rise in his place.” Azula scowled and got into a ready stance, her eyes never leaving Suki, “Kyoshi Island has stayed neutral in this war up till now and as the princess of my Nation I promise to keep recognizing your neutrality no matter what happens here today.”

That gave the fearful crowd pause, and seeing it Suki couldn’t help asking, “Huh?”

“You and your people have been good to us and our conflict is not with you, it is with the avatar. We have not hurt any of you and you have not hurt any of us, so if your Warriors don’t get involved then we will be out of your hair before you know it and you will face no repercussions.”

From the crowd the voice of the village leader called, “We accept!”

In her mind Suki found herself more than a bit annoyed that her superior would so readily agree to that, but she also understood. More than anyone she knew the abilities of her warriors, but she also knew that while they were more than capable of defending their people from most threats, making a full enemy of the Fire Nation was not sustainable in the least. It would mean the ruin of her people and their island. That said, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

To the further shock of the crowd she waved her warriors back, dropped her headpiece to the ground, and wiped the makeup from her face with her sleeve before lithely flipping over the flame wall to stand across from Azula in a ready stance. “I am no longer a representative of Kyoshi. I am a private citizen of this world ready to fight you.”

For a moment Azula actually looked hurt. “You would really stand against me?”

Suki gave a predatory grin and answered, “Who said anything about standing against you? I just realized you’ve seriously been holding back against me during our spars and now my blood is seriously pumping at the chance to fight you for real.” For some reason the warrior felt an intense need not to lose her friendship to Azula, one immensely matched by her desire to see how she really stacked up against the other girl. From the answering grin she received as a result, the feeling seemed to be mutual.

As tended to be the way of things in such faceoffs there was no signal to start, no countdown or word, instead Suki just charged.

Seeing this, Azula swung her chain knife in a swift rotation before stomping down on its lead to send the blade shooting out at her opponent. Suki nimbly ducked under the projectile but had to dive to the floor and roll under the table to avoid the cross swing that was made in response.

Azula rapidly searched the ground and strained her ears for any sign of the Kyoshi warrior as she began hopping on the tabletop in preparation of diving away when the girl took her entirely by surprise by swinging up from behind her and nailing her back with a swift ax kick that had her rolling away to regain her feet. As she did she rolled her shoulders and winced, “Damn, girl, you got strong legs.”

Suki laughed excitedly and flashed her fans in a low guard as she answered, “I should after all the squats I did with you and Harry.”

The two shared in their humor and got ready for the next bout to begin… or at least, they would have if the firebender didn’t suddenly find her lower body suddenly encased in a prison of ice. From outside the hole Aang’s body had made in the wall Katara’s voice yelled, “Suki! Come on, we’re getting out of here!”

The former Kyoshi warrior gave her friend an exasperated shrug, as if to say ‘sh*t happens’ and ran out of the building as all the while Azula shouted, “Get that cute ass back here and finish this! I didn’t lose, you hear me, I want round two!”

Meanwhile Suki was racing behind Katara to the center of town where Appa was already waiting and packed up with Sokka sitting on his head and Aang sprawled out on the center of his saddle gasping for breath and covered in bruises. “Damn, kid, Harry really did a number on you.” Suki noted as she ran up to sit on the edge of the saddle.

“What are you doing here?” Sokka asked with shock clear on his face.

“Get us in the air, now!” Katara interrupted any answer the warrior might have given, and, sensing the urgency in his sister’s tone, the southern man nodded and ordered, “Yip yip!” Even though their situation was dire, both siblings took a bit of enjoyment out of the shocked “eep!” that came out of the other woman’s mouth at their sudden vertical motion, but they didn’t have long to enjoy it for as they began heading for the cloud cover they heard a scream of “Get back here!” followed by something that shocked them all… a bolt of lightning flashing past them and searing close enough to Appa’s right horn to singe it black.

As the great beast groaned with pain they all looked over the side and saw a distant dot on the ground taking off after them. As it began to grow closer they saw the distinct impression of a glider.

Katara shared a look with Aang full of fear and silent inquiry. “He’s like me, somehow.” The bald boy managed to get out through the pain of his breathing as he shuffled to the edge of the saddle. “Don’t worry, guys, I got this. He’s only after me.” And so saying, the avatar leaned the rest of the way over and began free falling to crash into the water below. As he’d predicted, their attacker broke off his flight plan at once to veer toward his descent, but before he could reach him the surface of the bay broke with a great crash as Aang reappeared holding the whiskers of the Unagi who, happy enough to show his displeasure, slammed his irritated and massive torso back into the sea once more; an action that coincidentally submerged the Knight and sent Aang flying back into the sky with the impact. It wasn’t long until he was gliding back to his bison and disappearing into the safety of the cloud cover.

After everything he’d just gone through, the air nomad found himself collapsing into the makeshift bed their gathered packs had created. Once he had his breath back he realized that Sokka was questioning Suki again about why she had run to join them after her fight had been interrupted.

The Kyoshi Warrior was silent for a moment before speaking, and when she did talk her words sounded formal, as if she were repeating what someone else had once told her. “Duty, honor, and responsibility.”

“Huh?” Sokka asked with his usual amount of tact.

Suki sighed and pointed flatly at their bruised and battered avatar. “I have the honor of being a follower of the teachings of Kyoshi. That means I have a duty to protect the avatar, but more than that I have the responsibility of making sure he meets his own responsibilities. Do you hear that Aang? I stopped Harry from killing you, and that means I’m gonna make damn sure you don’t run away again.”

“Hey, you can’t talk to him like that!” Katara rushed to his defense, but Aang merely thanked his friend with a weak smile before looking at Suki once more.

“That’s fair enough. But I want to know about the guy that attacked me. You called him Harry, does that mean you know him?”

The warrior groaned and leaned back to recline in the saddle. “Yeah, he’s actually a pretty great guy once you get to know him.” Katara looked about ready to explode at that statement but Suki didn’t give her the chance to as she continued, “Honestly when he took his shirt off and revealed who he really was I was shocked. I thought he was just a legend. A story the Fire Nation told to increase morale and frighten their enemies, but that handprint scar is pretty distinct. His name is Harry Potter, Ember Knight of the Fire Nation, and from what I understand he’s also known as the Dragon of Calamity.”

Meanwhile

Harry gasped for breath as he pulled himself onto the beach with wet fistfulls of sand and flopped over bodily onto his back, breathing hard enough to power a furnace. Damn, but bending enough water beneath him to cushion that much force royally sucked ass. He was just trying to decide if he could afford a nap right there on the beach to replenish his chi reserves when he heard the strangest thing. A sibilant voice was screeching through the air, {My whiskers! My whiskers! Damn that f*cking brat for pulling them so damned hard! When I get my body around him again I’m gonna squeeze so f*cking hard his intestines pop out of his mouth!}

More than a bit curious by this strangeness Harry tilted his head up to look for the source of the voice but all he saw was the Unagi raging back and forth over the surface of the bay. Wait a minute…. Sitting up in full, Harry called out, “Hey, um, Unagi? Can you talk?”

The beast halted mid rampage at his voice and slowly his great head swung around to hover right over Harry’s own. {Can you really hear me?} Its voice sounded immensely hopeful. {Please say you can! No one has been able to talk to me since Kyoshi and it’s been unbearably boring since she passed!}

“Uh, yeah, I can hear you.”

{Yay!}

“This is so weird.” Harry chuckled under his breath before asking, “So what’s your name?”

Chapter 13: All This Over A scroll

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Flipping a couple of canon events around here. In the show the Scroll Theft occurs after the Winter Solstice. However, there are some events I’m planning that require this progression instead. I promise it will all make sense.

Note: I couldn’t resist including one of my favorite Grand Admiral Thrawn quotes in this piece. Damn but Disney is doing him dirty these days.

Chapter Thirteen - All This Over A Scroll

“Dragon of Calamity?” Sokka asked. “Why do they call him that?” They’d been flying for the last hour and only now that they were relatively sure that they were safe from pursuit did the Water Tribesman feel calm enough to ask for some more clarification about the man that had single handedly driven them from the relative peace of Kyoshi Island.

At the rise of that question, Suki soon found everyone’s attention locked on her so she shrugged. “I really don’t know much. Just a bit from the stories that made their way to my island on occasion. From what I understand, though, he single handedly stopped a military disaster from leaving his army decimated, and in so doing turned over two hundred Earth Kingdom soldiers to ash at once. I think I also heard someone call him the Shield of the Fire Nation a couple times.”

Sokka couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Seriously? That guy looked like he was around my age?”

Suki nodded, “Yeah, he is. But according to the stories he’s been at war since he was a very small child. They say he took his first life annihilating an entire Ba Sing Se cavalry unit and earning the title of Shield while he was at it.”

“He sounds like an absolute monster.” Aang grumbled. “What kind of airbender can just kill like that? All life is sacred!”

“All life?” The Kyoshi Warrior raised a brow. “Are you telling me that if you had Fire Lord Ozai in front of you right now you wouldn’t take his life? You wouldn’t seize the chance to end this war permanently?”

The airbender gulped and rapidly shook his head in the negative. “Of course I wouldn’t! That would just make me no better than him! The monks at my temple taught me that all life is sacred and worth protecting and cultivating. There is never any excuse for using deadly force.”

Aang fully expected his friends to back him up, so he was incredibly shocked when Sokka said, “That’s foolish, Aang.”

“Huh?”

“Do you seriously think this war can be ended with pacifism?” The Southerner asked with clear shock. A look shared by his sister. “What’s your plan? Just go talk to the Fire Lord and ask him to stop his campaign?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, how else am I gonna do it?”

Suki took one look at the complete innocence displayed on the avatar’s face and let loose a groan of pure irritation. “You’re going to take even more work than I first thought. I’ll tell you how you do it. You master the four elements, go right into the man’s throne room, and take his head off from his shoulders.”

Sokka nodded, “Suki is right on this one. And never an excuse? Don’t you remember Monk Gyatso? We found his body resting over a bunch of dead Fire Nation soldiers. It sure looked like he used deadly force to me.”

Left under the full gaze of all three of his companions, Aang did the only thing he could think of, he jumped away to sit alone on Appa’s head. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Well we need to talk about it.” Suki argued. “We can’t keep going on without an idea of what comes next.”

In response, Aang just waved over his shoulder casually, “You’re worrying too much, Suki. Just relax, I’m sure everything will work itself out.”

Katara gave their new friend a commiserating glance. “Sorry about that. I’m sure he’ll figure it out for real when the time comes. He is the avatar after all.”

The Kyoshi Warrior growled and crossed her arms. “You know, it’s starting to get pretty hard to argue with Harry’s estimation of that boy.” Shaking her head to get back on track she added, “All the same, he needs to start learning the other elements and fast. Katara, you’re a waterbender, right? Can you start his training with that discipline?”

The Southern girl suddenly got a shifty look in her eyes as she answered, “I… don’t really know enough. I mean, I can get him started, but he needs a ‘real’ teacher. It’s why we are heading to the North Pole.”

“But you froze Azula in place!”

Suddenly getting defensive, Katara exploded, “I don’t know how I did that, alright!”

“Damn it.” Suki sulked and crossed her arms over her chest. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

Katara stewed at the memory of that event and a metaphorical lightbulb went off in her head as she recalled what had become of her attack on the Knight. “It looked like your pal Harry sent my water right back at me. Do you know anything about that?”

Suki noted the twitching of the avatar’s large ears at the question and decided to throw the group a bone. “I actually do, and it is what made me think he was only a legend. According to the stories Harry isn’t just any random bender. They call him an energybender and, based on several accounts of him bending all of the elements at one point or another, some people started to believe he might actually be the avatar.”

Meanwhile

Iroh made his way carefully down the stairs to the rooms below deck and steadied himself against the wall as he did. Ever since their new ‘traveling companion’ had joined up with them, the wake the creature had left in its path as it trailed beside them in the ocean had made the already unsteady footing of sea travel even more cumbersome. Already many of the soldiers had voiced complaints that they kept losing their footing and banging their heads on walls. It was a good thing they were all wearing helmets.

The target of his journey was a room at the end of the hall, headed off by a closed hatch with thick dark smoke seeping through a crack in the bottom. Strangely enough he found his niece pacing along the hall in front of it. He’d expected her to be inside. As he got closer and actually managed to smell the smoke he understood why. Burly Burl, Earth Kingdom pipe tobacco. It held a very bitter aroma and Harry only ever smoked it when he was in a bad mood.

“Azula?”

The princess jumped at the shock of being snuck up on and quickly rushed to her uncle’s side. “Uncle, please, you have to talk some sense into Harry.”

He raised a slow brow, “Is he really that bad?”

“I’ve never seen him this angry with himself before. And he’s smoking Burly Burl!”

“I noticed.” The old man wrinkled his nostrils.

Azula shuddered, “It’ll take hours to air the smell out of our room.”

Iroh said nothing to such a frivolous statement, as he knew that Azula was fretting over her love in the only way she knew how to show. She worried about him a lot more than many realized upon first glance, but once they got past her posh exterior and attitude there was a very lovesick girl underneath the princess persona. “I will speak with him. In the meantime can you go above deck and make sure no one tries to make calamari out of our new friend?”

The girl’s eyes flashed with anger at the very idea. “No one would dare. Harry left clear orders that it was not to be harmed.”

“Zuko has been getting more and more upset by its disruptive presence.” He hinted, and smirked as the girl took the bait just as he’d known she would.

“Zuzu!” She took off running for the stairs and he knocked twice on the hatch door before cranking the entry wheel and swinging it open wide. Entering the room with his hands folded in his sleeves Iroh found his old pupil sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor with his dragon pipe stuck between his lips and his erhu on the ground before him. His ‘broken’ erhu. The poor thing seemed to have developed a broken spine during the young man’s tussle with the avatar.

Harry looked up at his entrance, and then down once more in shame. “Master Iroh, I… I’m sorry.”

“For what, my boy?”

“For what?” The young man’s eyes grew huge and he lifted the broken instrument in shaking hands. “You entrusted me with this beautiful instrument and now it is broken. I failed to keep it safe.”

“It is only an instrument Harry-”

“It’s not just an instrument!” The teenager yelled, before seeming to realize just ‘who’ it was he’d raised his voice to and looking down once more with renewed discomfort once he did. “I am sorry, master. I am not myself. It is only that this was the first gift anyone ever gave me. The first thing that was just… mine. I’ve carried it with me for years now and nothing has ever happened to it, but one fight with the avatar and now it’s in literal pieces.”

Iroh nodded and sat down across from the boy before reaching his hand across the divide. Harry dutifully passed over the pipe and after taking a couple of puffs on the item that he easily breezed out through his nose he passed it back and noted, “Your mood is not just about the instrument though.”

“No.” Harry slumped down and took another puff of his own on the pipe. “I faced the avatar, and I lost. No, that’s not quite right. I don’t know how to put it into words.”

“Try. This is important, my boy.”

The Knight took a deep breath and let it out, gathering his thoughts. “I absolutely dominated him. The airbender was muck beneath my boot. An utter disappointment in every conceivable way, yet just as I was seconds away from caving his bald head in… it happened.” Harry glared at the floor at the recollection, “His tattoos lit up and he released more power than I’ve ever seen anyone else possess. More than even King Bumi.”

“Was he truly that powerful?” Iroh asked.

“No! That’s what I’m trying to say!” Harry threw his hands in the air in clear exasperation. “The thing that beat me wasn’t that coward! It was something else! Something massive contained within his body with a mind of its own. That’s the only way I can think to describe it. The thing that beat me wasn’t him. It was-”

“His past lives.” Iroh interrupted a knowing glint in his eyes. At his student’s curious look he gestured for the pipe again and puffed away before explaining, “It’s something the sages back at court told me once. The Avatar has a state of being where the experiences of their past lives take over. Their ultimate state.”

Harry groaned and fell back to lean on his hands. “Azula mentioned something about that too. Damn it. How do I kill something like that?”

Iroh passed the pipe back and ordered, “Smoke. You’re too emotional.” Only after watching the teenager do so, and gain some measure of calm from the act, did the former General say, “I have said before that your goal of murdering the avatar may not necessarily be the right one. Would it not be better to turn him to your needs and designs instead?”

“Of course not. I could never trust him to serve us well. He’d just run off at the first sign of trouble. That boy has no idea of the real world or the necessities it demands; and only a fool would rely on a tool that would shatter the first time it was put to the test.”

“Then you should educate him. Harry, a good General does not deprive himself of a useful resource to sate his hatred.”

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m not a General. I have you for that.”

“Maybe so.” Iroh chuckled. “That said, I might have an idea for how you can learn to stand against his Avatar State.”

“Really!?!?”

“Yes, but I need a bit of time to put some things in place. In the meanwhile I have directed our helmsman to change course to the nearest port.”

“And Zuko let him live? Why are we going there?”

“Zuko proved amenable after I promised to ask about any possible avatar sightings when we arrive. And I am taking us there so that I might find a new pai sho piece. I lost my lotus talon.”

“The horror.” Harry dryly remarked. “You base your entire strategy around that piece.”

“Indeed. It might also be a good time to find someone who might repair what was broken.” His eyes fell to the erhu, and a sad smile crossed his lips as the young man picked up the pieces in shaking hands. “It was not your fault, my boy. And I am not blind, I see the way you love and cherish it; your appreciation for the gift was never in question. I won’t lie to you and say that your erhu will be the same that it was, but that does not mean its song cannot come through even more clearly than ever when shown a tender hand.”

“I just… I let us all down on Kyoshi Island.”

“No, you experienced one defeat. That alone is not enough to fall to pieces. Do you remember the mantra I taught you after the battle of Ba Sing Se?”

“Yes.”

“Speak it to me now. What are you?”

Harry straightened his back, placed his hands on his knees and recited, “I am a warrior. A warrior may retreat, he does not flee. He may lie in ambush, he does not hide. He may experience victory or defeat, he does not cease to serve.”

Iroh grinned triumphantly and proclaimed, “Exactly. And your service has not ended. Victory will be yours in the end, I have no doubt.”

Merchant Port

Zuko stomped through the bustling streets of the merchant town with eyes roving to and fro in search of his targets; and why was he in such a foul mood? Because his sister was following right behind him and negging him constantly.

“Oh Zuzu, how idiotic can you be? You lost our uncle and my betrothed the moment the gangplank lowered! You should really have your eyes checked while we are here.”

Forcing his steaming mood down to avoid setting fire to the entire port, Zuko growled back, “That’s funny, Azula, because I seem to recall you losing sight of them as well? Whyever would your gallant knight go running away? Hm? Maybe he finally wised up and grew tired of you.”

The princess raised her nose regally and replied, “Hardly. I’ll have you know that our love is stronger than ever. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? No, you’d need a girlfriend for that first. Besides, we both know why he and uncle ran off and it’s bound to be utterly troublesome in the end.”

Both royals shuddered at once and voiced together in a tone of utter horror, “A shopping spree!”

And indeed ten minutes later when they finally tracked the two down they saw several of their soldiers carting full armloads of goods and items back toward the ship. It made sense, the vessel had a rather healthy stipend directly tied to the royal accounts in the capital, and Harry had quite a bit of money set aside from his spoils of war that Azula had taken charge of and grown even further through wise investments in the Colonies. In short, there was a lot of money to play with and both Iroh and Harry were notorious for being unable to walk away from a good deal.

More than a bit relieved at having finally found the errant shopper, Azula immediately entered her betrothed’s arms and melded herself to his broad chest. “You ran off.”

“I saw a good deal. Eight new kasa hats for the price of three for buying in bulk. We needed replacements after Kyoshi Island anyway.”

Zuko blinked at a particular item he saw being carried by another of his men and asked his uncle, “You bought a Tsungi Horn?”

The older man laughed heartily and responded, “Of course! For ship music night. It will go perfectly paired with Azula’s flute.”

The princess was smiling along too at that, and leaned her chin up to look into her betrothed’s eyes as she asked, “What about your erhu?” Her smile turned into a worried frown at his sudden uncomfortable look. “Harry?”

“That….” he answered, “wasn’t such a good deal. Azula, I found an instrument dealer who could repair it, but, well…”

Iroh spoke for him, “The shop owner fleeced him. He was the only man in town with the parts and experience necessary to fix it and he knew it.”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, but I probably spent five times what the erhu was worth to fix it.”

Azula knowingly ran her fingers through his hair to calm him. A penchant for good deals her intended certainly had, but in every other case he was incredibly frugal with his spending and it made sense that a large purchase such as that would make him uncomfortable. “It is alright, Beloved. That instrument is a part of you, and I understand the place it holds in your heart. It is alright to spend a bit on yourself every now and then, you know.”

“I guess.” Harry leaned into her hand and allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of her nimble fingers massaging his scalp.

Meanwhile Zuko was visibly gagging at the cute sight before him. “Need I remind you both that this exile is not a couple’s retreat for you two? We need to get back on the ship and keep hunting the avatar!”

Iroh clapped his nephew on the shoulder and said, “Of course, Prince Zuko, but surely one last stop wouldn’t hurt? I saw an interesting merchant ship just a ways down the dock and who knows, they might have some information.”

“Fine.” The prince allowed

The group made their way over to the moored two masted ship and strutted over the gangplank and into the hold where they began perusing the vessel’s wares. Azula found a pair of black silk sashes that paired well with her and her betrothed’s ever present jade belts. Zuko found a nice padded coat that would fit well beneath his armor on cold nights. Iroh discovered a handsome statuette of a monkey with a necklace of embedded rubies. Finally, they all found their ears twitching at a conversation taking place between the apparent captain and one of his crew.

“Sir, we lost the Water Tribe girl and her bald partner.”

“What? How!”

Breaking in between them both in a moment, Zuko demanded, “The bald partner, did he have an arrow tattoo on his head?”

Some Time Later

Things moved quickly from there. It turned out that stopping in the port had been a fortuitous plan as their quarries had landed a short time ahead of them. From there they’d run into the pirates they’d been buying from and made off with a scroll denoting several different waterbending forms. The pirate captain was very keen to get it back as he had a buyer already lined up in the Earth Kingdom for the artifact, and after a short bout of haggling he’d agreed to sail the nearby river with them and their shallow water craft in search of them.

Iroh had thought they should go by land, but the prince, and Harry, had argued that was not the best use of their resources. After all, the object stolen had been a waterbending scroll, so logically it seemed more than likely that the people they sought would be near water…..

That Night

Suki opened her eyes from within the blankets of her bedroll and searched around for the thing that had alerted her keen senses. It didn’t take long to see Katara tiptoeing over to the packs, taking the scroll, and shuffling off into the foliage, no doubt to reach the river and practice. The Kyoshi Warrior would have had to be a fool to have missed the jealous rage the girl had been developing over the last several days. It had started with mentioning Harry’s redirection of her attack and was rapidly followed by how, admittedly annoying, fast Aang picked up the little tricks she’d created after months of solitary effort. The waterbender hadn’t learned one of life's hardest lessons yet it seemed; that all people weren’t born equal. Some were born with inherent talent, and others needed to work their asses off to reach the same heights. It was unfair, but it was also just the way things were. Suki herself had had to deal with that issue with more than a few of her subordinates in the past. Perhaps she should offer a few words of support?

After another moment of thought she slipped out of her blankets and took off after the other girl. It wasn’t difficult to track her traveling companion through the brush and trees to the river (Katara wasn’t trying to cover the signs of her passage after all). And low and behold Katara was in front of the river trying ineffectually to bend water and cursing up a storm at how much it wasn’t working. Strangely enough though, the scroll was closed and sat on a large rock beside her as she seemed to be attempting… a heel kick?

“What are you doing?” Suki’s question caused the girl to nearly jump out of her skin, and the warrior honestly laughed at the way her startled motion actually pushed the waves of the water away from her as a result.

“Suki?!?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“You followed me!”

“You said you were done with the scroll? What are you doing? That didn’t look like any of the moves you were studying with Aang?”

Katara held her deer in the headlights look for a few moments more before deflating with a sigh and gesturing out to the water. “I saw your friend do this when he sent my water flying back at me. I’ve been trying to copy the technique but something is missing. I just can’t get it. I bet Aang could though.” The sulking nature of her tone was unmistakable.

Suki let a comforting expression cross her features as she said, “Katara, Aang is the avatar. It makes sense that he would have a natural affinity for other elements. That doesn’t mean he’s better than you, only that he’ll need to work all the harder when he ‘does’ find something that gives him trouble later on. He’s not used to hard work yet but you are, and that is something to be proud of.”

“I know. I do know that.” Katara grumped for a few moments as she gathered up the scroll and started walking over to her so they weren’t raising their voices over the distance between them. “It’s just frustrating, you know? I spent all my life teaching myself what little I could and waterbending was just… my thing. Now it’s his thing too and he’s already better at it than I am. I don’t know how I stand in our group without it.”

Before Suki could reply to that a deep and amused voice called from the shadows, “Well that is quite touching and deep. I applaud you for your stellar introspection. Suki, you have quite the habit of getting people to open up to you, don’t you?” The second it took for the young woman to realize just whose voice that was was a second too late as she suddenly found herself buried to the neck in the ground.

“Run, Katara!” She screamed, and true to her order the girl started running off… only to bump right into the chest of Prince Zuko. A quick look at the man approaching from over the royal’s shoulder confirmed what she’d already known from her ears. Harry had found them too.

Chapter 14: From A Certain Point Of View

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Fourteen - From A Certain Point Of View

Zuko was giving his planned spiel to their captives, bound to wooden posts stuck in the ground by the campfire, about giving up the avatar in return for favors and freedom, but Harry didn’t really care about that. He fully expected them to refuse flat out and really their purpose was only useful in the end as bait. But was he there taking part? Nope.

Instead, the Knight had made his way to the river and after bending a portion of the water away against the current to mark his position he witnessed the massive head of the Unagi pulling its way free of the current to loom over him. Contrary to the particularly awesome and terrifying look of that situation, the beast’s voice was absolutely thrilled. {You called! Finally! f*ck, waiting down below sucked so much ass.}

Not for the first time Harry found himself smiling widely at the monologue of the sea serpent. The Unagi, it seemed, had a rather colorful vocabulary, and to hear him tell the tale he picked it all up from Kyoshi herself. It seemed one of the most famous avatars of all time was one hell of a pottymouth.

Flashback

Harry walked further into the bay and the great sea beast lowered its head to level one of its great eyes on the young man. {I’m Mushu, who are you?}

“Harry Potter. I must say, I’ve never heard of a talking cobra-eel before.”

{Hey, you’re talking to me, not the other way around. Most humans can’t f*cking hear anything.}

“Where did you learn to talk like that?”

{My last human, Kyoshi.}

Harry blinked, “Avatar Kyoshi was your master?”

The serpent bobbed its head in a very human gesture of assent. {She hatched me herself and told me to guard the bay in her absence. But it's been a long time now and I’m so Kami-damned bored.}

“Wait, wait, wait, Kyoshi could understand you?”

{Duh… Or at least I think she could. I wasn’t very smart or articulate when I was small, but she always seemed to understand what I was trying to say. I mean, she swore a lot when I didn’t do tricks right, but that’s just humans for ya.}

“I’m… not sure that’s right. But I’m certainly glad to meet you.” An idea started forming in Harry’s mind as the implications of a sentient, ginormous, cobra-eel came into stark reality. “Hey, I could always use another companion. You say you're bored, wanna come with me?”

{I don’t know.} The beast’s tone seemed wavering, unsure.{Kyoshi said I had to stay here and guard the bay.}

“Well Kyoshi isn’t here anymore, is she? I mean, it’s been a few centuries already so surely you’ve watched the bay for long enough. Don’t you want to see some more of the world than just this island?”

{I….} The serpent’s body writhed in the water with indecision (something that was rather hypnotic to view) and finally it admitted, {That does sound nice. Would… would you be my rider?}

Harry’s mouth fell open for a moment in shock before he snapped it closed and asked, “Huh?”

{Kyoshi used to ride me around the bay and use me to get to the mainland and back. It was so nice to be f*cking useful. I miss that.}

“That sounds great, honestly. But how would I even do that?”

{I’ll show you!} The serpent happily shimmied forward and coiled its body several times around the young man, an act that folded its back fins over each other into makeshift steps leading up to its head.

Shrugging off the strangeness of such an event, Harry carefully mounted the fins and carried on up to the crown of the cobra-eel’s skull. “Now what?”

{Put your arms forward.}

Harry did so and found himself once more surprised as the beast’s whiskers arched back and laced lightly around his wrists.

{Alright, so I’ll start swimming around and gently, gently I tell you, squeeze my right and left whiskers to signal which direction you want me to go.} When he had the human’s affirmation Mushu made sure to level his skull just over the surface of the water and began swiftly moving about the bay, letting the man on his skull get used to pulsing which directions he wanted. Then he decided to go for broke and leveled out before shooting out to sea and ramping his speed to his swiftest pace, delighting in the wind streaming past his fangs and the ecstatic whoops of the Speaker. Oh how he’d missed the joy of sharing in such experiences with a partner. Kyoshi had been his everything, and then he’d had nothing. Now though, this human seemed more than an adequate replacement.

They stayed out there for a while before Harry began directing Mushu back toward the island. “Alright, big guy, let’s go pick up my betrothed and then we can really get underway.”

{Where are we going?}

“Adventure. The world is a big place and I’ve got a feeling we are going to see a lot of it together.”

Flashback End

“How was your assignment at sea?”

{Excellent.} It almost sounded like Mushu was purring at the remembrance. {There were three small vessels trailing your ship. I sank all of them.}

“Perfect. Are you ready for scratchies?”

The serpent purred as it lowered its chin to eye level and Harry reached up to vigorously scratch it under its jaw. For a good ten minutes he scratched all over Mushu’s jaw as it rotated its head with delight before settling back down to eye level. {Do you want a ride?}

“Not yet. I have some work to do for a while more. How are you liking being by the ship?”

{It’s alright. The she-bear is rude, though.}

“Hedwig?”

{Yes. That bitch had the gall to chirp at me that she was your favorite. Can you believe that sh*t?}

Laughing off-key to hide the truth of the statement, Harry offered, “Yeah… insane. Are the crew giving you trouble?”

{Naw, they keep throwing me fish. It’s awesome!}

Well that was a nice change from the crew’s former hesitation in regards to the sea beast. It seemed that much like the cavalry unit of his youth, his pet had been officially adopted by the crew as their mascot. The men were even starting to call themselves the Cobra-Eel Division. Interesting the ideas that pop into people’s heads after months at sea.

“Well, I should probably get back to Zuko. I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright. Can you do me a favor though and take Azula for a ride? I really think she’d love the experience.”

{Yay!}

A Short Time Later

Katara had been stewing in her own thoughts for several minutes as she processed the fact that her prized necklace, the last thing she had of her mother, was kept within the clutches of her greatest enemy, when Suki’s gasp of shock drew her heavy lids open to see something that scared the ever-living-sh*t out of her. Where before the clearing ahead of them had been empty save for a central campfire, there now sat a solitary figure with his legs crossed and hands folded easily in his lap.

He didn’t seem inclined to speak first, so Katara took that moment to assess perhaps the most deadly man she would ever meet for herself. Harry Potter didn’t seem to be overtly tall. He was a little taller than her but definitely shorter than her brother, though he was absolutely massive with muscle that was clearly defined even through the form fitting clothing that covered his body. Said clothing was nearly as outlandish as the thick and shaggy black hair that seemed to fall to the middle of his back.

He wore a long sleeved blue shirt, a green silk vest with a black sash around the waist cinched tight by a jade belt, and black pants covered his legs until they tucked into a rigid looking set of pointed boots. The airbending staff that had started his and Aang’s confrontation was visible across his back. It was almost as if all the nations were represented in his outfit at once.

“See something you like?” He didn’t open his eyes, but the turn of his lips was deeply amused. “How uncouth. I’m a betrothed man after all.”

Katara floundered for a moment while Suki surprised her by openly laughing and coming back with, “Please. You and Azula spent weeks checking out my ass on my island. I don’t think either of you mind getting checked out in kind.”

“It’s a great ass.”

“I know, but yours isn’t so bad either if I don’t say so myself.” Suki winked at the man for emphasis.

Katara finally reached the end of her patience and shrieked, “Are you kidding me, Suki?!?!? We’ve been kidnapped and you’re… flirting with the enemy!”

“Your enemy, Katara. He’s my friend.” The warrior defended before wiggling her fingers bound above her head to the stake. “Hey, Harry, friend, old pal, any chance of loosening these ropes? My fingers are starting to go numb.”

Still not opening his eyes, Harry answered, “Sorry, not falling for that, Suki. Azula really wants a rematch and if I give you even a shot of escaping I swear I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Oh, it’s nice to know she cares. Where is she anyway?”

“Back on our ship. She had a few things to take care of.” Indeed, that spy of Zhao’s they’d found amongst the crew should be spilling his guts to her right about now.

“Stop being all chummy with him!” Katara raged against her restraints as she ineffectually attempted to literally stomp over to the other girl to give her a piece of her mind; and she became even more frustrated by her normal routine of lecturing others being thwarted. “He’s evil!”

Harry sighed with annoyance and answered, “Evil is a matter of perspective. From a certain point of view I’m the hero in our little story and you are the villains.”

“I don’t see how you can even joke about that. You’re the one working for an evil country hell-bent on conquering the world!”

“And why is that a bad thing exactly?” Finally he opened his eyes and Katara found her breath catching in her throat at the verdant brilliance of his gaze. “Why is one nation taking control of this world such a bad idea?”

Katara seethed angrily and nearly shouted, “Because the four nations are meant to be just that! Four! It is the way things have always been!”

“And how has that worked out so far?” Maybe it was his level tone, or the way he refused to be baited by the angry tirade of the waterbender, but Katara found her attention absolutely locked on the man before her. “War, it’s all you’ve ever known, isn’t it. I study the art of war and work to perfect it, but you have also felt its effects first hand all the way in your southern tundra. Let me ask you, if you have suffered so much in such a far off and remote location, then how has the rest of the world fared in comparison?”

“The Fire Nation-”

“Is only a symptom of a larger problem. I have studied the history of this world in great detail, and do you know what I’ve discovered? My nation is not the first to attempt something like this. It isn’t even the second. Every nation at one point or another has made a play for world conquest, and every time the common people suffer, and do you know why it never ends? Because the avatar always steps in and says ‘the balance must be maintained’, ergo the status quo continues. Then a couple decades pass, the avatar dies, and someone else tries again until the cycle repeats, over and over and over again. Every time people die, and those above them just get richer and more powerful. All the avatar really does is set the stage for more death under the excuse of keeping all things equal.”

Katara couldn’t help getting drawn into the impassioned speech of the older boy. Something about him just screamed confidence and capability. “That’s… that’s the avatar’s purpose. To keep things equal.”

“There is nothing equal about only maintaining the status quo. It’s laziness, and it only leads to people in power thinking it’ll be ‘their’ time to finally be the ones to take everything for themselves every generation.”

“So what is your solution then? If you’re so ‘knowledgeable.’” The sarcasm was clear in the girl’s tone, but Harry’s answer shut her up with shock.

“Simple. Actually let one of them succeed.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, huh?” Suki parroted.

“You heard me.” Harry grinned. “Granted you want to make sure it’s the right one. Fire Lord Ozai is evil, I admit it, but he’s a pawn whether he knows it or not yet. We’ll make use of his Will to Dominate as long as it is needed, but once everything is finished and the dust has settled we’ll make sure the ‘right’ person is sitting upon the throne. One that actually cares about their people and the future they will represent.”

The waterbender couldn’t have stopped the incredulous tone of her voice if she’d tried in her response of, “Zuko? You think Zuko could possibly be that person?”

“I’ll admit, he has a ways to go first. Iroh and I are trying to curb his more violent impulses and daddy issues but it is slow going. All the same, he has a great deal of promise buried beneath the surface. Putting that aside though, just stop and ask yourself what one unified empire could actually achieve? The progress it could make for this world. Waterbending healers in every town, available to all, instead of merely at the poles. Earthbenders the world over to offer help with construction, aid in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Firebenders to help clear dead forests and offer heating to families that would otherwise freeze. Imagine never being cold in the arctic! All of that paired with the knowledge that our industry and technological advancements would finally be available to all.”

Taking a deep breath after that monologue, Harry continued, “But more than that, imagine an end to the class systems that cripple advancement. One leader making decisive choices instead of a squabbling noble class. One government. One system of law. One military. One shared culture that unites us all instead of dividing us. One people instead of four nations.”

And imagine it she did. Katara could hardly believe how good that sounded. All the same, one thing bugged her. “You didn’t mention airbending? Now that Aang is back, he could make more.”

“I don’t plan to let him live that long. The Fire Nation has had a century to prepare. A century to build up strength and plan. No one will ever have as good a chance as we do again to succeed where so many have failed before. The avatar will try to stop all of it, and I cannot allow that to happen.”

All at once the spell broke for Katara and the bright future that had been built in the realm of her mind shattered. “You can’t build a better world with this much death. It isn’t right. And murdering Aang to do it shows me how full of crap you really are.”

Harry groaned and placed his palms on his knees, finally breaking out of his meditative pose. “I suppose it was too much to hope for you to see reason. All the same, I had to try. Don’t worry though, once the avatar comes to save you I can take his head and then you can be on your way.”

Suki asked, “Why are you here, Harry?”

“What, is my stellar conversation not good enough for you?” At the girl's deadpan stares he sighed and answered, “Look, you’re bait, I’m the ax. When the avatar sticks his head out for you I’ll strike. Simple as that. But also, I’ve missed talking to you, so it’s really a win-win situation for me.” As an aside he added, “Of course Zuko is sending those pirates out to hunt through the woods for him too so I suppose they might find him for him. You should hope for that. Because Zuko taking him alive is the only thing that might stop me from killing him.”

Katara felt a stirring of hope as she asked, “Why is that?”

Harry shrugged, “I swore an oath. One that I take very seriously. But the gist is I have to follow the orders of the royal family. If I find the avatar on my own, that is one thing, but killing him while he’s being held by my prince, who very much wants him alive, is another matter. Of course if he tries to escape then all bets are off.”

Elsewhere

“Aang! Aang, wake up!” The avatar groaned as Sokka roughly shook him awake from a rather grand dream about watching a herd of sky bison fly over large clouds.

“Sokka,” He complained as he waved the older boy away “It’s sleepy time.”

“Katara’s missing!”

That woke Aang up real quick and in an instant he was sitting up. Unfortunately that swift motion knocked his skull into his friend’s and for several seconds after that all they could do was rub their noggins to try and stave off bruising. Finally though, the airbender managed to ask, “What are you talking about?”

“I woke up to use the bathroom and she was gone. The scroll was too. So I went to the river to see if she was there and I saw… I saw…”

“What?”

“There’s a Fire Nation skiff on the other side of the river right next to that pirate ship Katara stole the scroll from. I think Zuko captured her so we need to go now and rescue her!” Sokka was in no way prepared for the shifty look his young friend developed at that suggestion. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh, Sokka, maybe we should take a breath and just think about this for a minute.” Aang hedged.

“What!?!?”

“I-I just mean that if Zuko is here then Harry is probably in the area too and-”

“They have my sister!”

“I-I know that, b-but that guy wants me dead and-”

“And nothing!” Sokka raged, “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You seriously want to sit here while Katara might be getting tortured at this very moment?”

The avatar blanched and rapidly shook his head. “N-No, definitely not. I just…”

“Just nothing. Stop being scared and help me with this!” The southerner shook his head with annoyance and strapped his trusty boomerang over his shoulder. “Come on, I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“Well let me put it this way, we’re gonna see just how loyal pirates can really be.”

It didn’t take long to find the group that was searching for them. After all, it stood to reason, in Sokka’s mind, that finding one of their party would only incite others to start canvassing the area further for the rest of them. Sokka approached first trailing a loosely bound Aang behind him. “Hey boys.”

“There he is!”

“Get him!”

“Wait, why is one of them already tied up?”

Sokka quickly held up his hands and pointed leadingly at Aang. “I brought a deal for you.”

The apparent leader, the pirate with the big hat, stepped to the front of his little hunting party and raised an eyebrow. “What kind of deal?”

“Well, this is who that prince you’re working for is looking for. What he didn’t tell you is that he’s the avatar.” That got the men whispering excitedly so Sokka continued, “He’s probably worth at least five times the scroll’s value to the Fire Lord in chains. That said, why should you miss out on the return of investment for your scroll as well? Here’s the deal, I give you Aang, and you help me rescue my sister and our friend from Zuko. While we do that we make sure you get your waterbending scroll back and you can take off with more wealth in your future than you could ever imagine.”

The pirate shrewdly noted, “I can imagine a lot. And that Knight is in the camp in case you didn’t know. I don’t much feel like committing suicide by taking him on.”

Sokka let an anticipatory grin spread convincingly onto his face as he said, “Don’t worry, I have a plan to deal with him.”

“What’s to stop us from just killing you and taking him now?”

Sokka had thought hard about that argument and was ready with a response. He’d even smeared wet grass all over Aang’s face to give the airbender a sickened hew. “Simple, really. I poisoned him before approaching you. It’s slow acting, but still deadly, and I’ve hidden the antidote in the woods. Once we have my sister and Suki I’ll hand him over to you and tell you where it is.”

A Short Time Later

“Ah, you’ve found him. Excellent.” Zuko smirked across the space of the beach that separated him and his soldiers from the pirate and his crew. They’d all gathered by their ships for an easy tradeoff of goods and true to form his side had Katara and her Kyoshi Warrior friend tied to nearby trees while he held the scroll in his hands. “Now hand over the boy and you can have your scroll.”

The pirate leader smirked and answered, “Yeah, about that… there’s been a change of plans. We’re keeping the boy and the scroll!”

Zuko groaned and shared a look with Harry, who was leaning against the tree Suki was currently tied to. “Don’t say it.”

“Don’t say what? That pirates can’t be trusted? I’m pretty sure I already mentioned that several times already, Zuko.”

“Harry, I swear to Agni that if you say I told you so I’m going to-”

“Attack!” The pirates interrupted their dialogue with screams of aggression as they charged directly at the firebenders, leading the way with smoke bombs to cut off the firebending advantage.

Harry sighed as he lost sight of his prince and kicked away from the tree to intervene. “Sorry, Suki, I hate to cut our conversation short but I gotta go save my prince.”

“Don’t worry, Harry, I guess I’ll just ‘hang’ out here and wait for you to come back, eh?” Suki smiled at the cackle her words brought out of her friend. She knew that Harry loved puns.

“Clever girl. I’ll be back soon.” The Knight started moving off toward the fray, pulling his staff free as he did. And so focused was he on that task that he didn’t see the glint of light reflecting off a fast moving object to his right until it glanced off the side of his head, coincidentally knocking his glasses free in the process. “Damn it!” Harry fell over clutching the bleeding line that now cut the side of his scalp and staring at a world gone absolutely blurry.

He tried to orient himself and after a few seconds of fumbling around he finally managed to reclaim his feet as he stomped his heels into the ground. Finally he felt a bit better after indulging in the rush of the earth’s reverberations, and he started to get a feel for where everything was again; which was why he found himself rather confused when he couldn’t feel the presence of the captives that had just been behind him. What the hell?

Meanwhile Sokka was leading Suki and Katara away toward the ships with Aang jumping over to join them out of a neighboring smoke cloud. With the ease of years of practice he reached up and snatched his trusty boomerang back out of the air and kissed it happily before jumping onto the nearest ship. He absolutely loved it when a plan came together. “Come on guys, we have to move!”

Back on the beach Harry was moving around on his hands and knees trying to locate his glasses. The damned things were so small that they registered to his senses as just another rock, and waiting to sail to the nearest port to find a doctor capable of making him new ones was not something he planned to do so he really needed to track them down. “Zuko! Give me a hand with this!”

From somewhere to his right Zuko called out, “I’m a little busy at the moment!”

“I’ve lost my glasses! Come help me look!”

With his hands on the ground he felt the prince running off after… a ship pulling away? “I don’t care! I’m chasing after the avatar!” Zuko’s voice was definitely annoyed by this point.

“And I’m chasing after my eyesight, one of these things is more important than the other!”

The second skiff sounded against the sand as it pulled back into the river as well in pursuit of the avatar and Harry just grumbled as he kept searching. “One of these days he’ll learn to think before acting.” The energybender spent another five minutes searching before eventually grasping the edge of his lost article and pulling them back onto his face to reward him with blessed sight once more. Oh but that was delightful.

Further looking around showed him Iroh was waiting there for him sitting on a nearby log. “If you were here the whole time then how come you didn’t grab my glasses for me?”

“If I solved all your problems for you then you would never learn anything, my boy.”

Harry leaned against a nearby tree and commented, “Or you just ‘wanted’ the avatar to escape.”

“I admit nothing.” The old man offered his former squire a serene smile as he added, “Though if I were so inclined, I might justify it by saying you are not yet ready to face the avatar again head on. Not if he brings the Avatar State to bear against you once more.”

“So are you finally ready to help me with that problem?”

“Oh yes. You see,” he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a very familiar pai sho piece, “I finally found my white lotus talon, so that means there are no more obstacles to going where we need to.”

“And where is that?”

“You shall see.”

Chapter 15: A Change Of Perspective

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: One note of worry from readers has been that I’m working too hard to keep my story canon compliant. Let me assuage those worries. The rest of this story is gonna go way off the path of the original material. The previous chapters were necessary to introduce characters and build up ideologies. Now that that is done the real story can finally begin.

Note: Apologies folks but I’m taking Katara off the pairing. I know, I like her too, but the way this story has progressed, and with what I have planned for the future, it really won’t work to pair her with Harry after all. But don’t worry, I have someone else in mind that is sure to work just as well and make more than a few of you quite happy.

Chapter Fifteen - A Change Of Perspective

“Come on, Harry! Keep up! We’re almost there!” Iroh shouted down at his former protege as he continued hiking nimbly up the steep cliff face of a very particular mountain in the north. They’d left the ship two weeks prior to reach this vaunted location and the old man was feeling more than a bit lively now that the final destination was finally within his sight.

Several feet farther back Harry huffed and puffed as he trailed after his teacher with nearly all of their bags hanging down from his back and shoulders. The energybender grumbled, “Easy to keep that pace when you haven’t had a couple hundred pounds weighing you down for the last three hours.” But nevertheless he carried on up the weed overgrown path until he turned a final corner and blinked in shock at the sight that finally met his eyes. Within an overhang of rock bored into the side of this high point in the mountain was a… temple? It was hard to tell really as much of the stonework was overgrown in vines and wandering plants, but one section of floor in the center of the space was suspiciously clear of the incursion of nature. Indeed, Harry saw Iroh standing next to it and stretching as a sign that their journey had finally reached its end.

“Come, my boy, and take a load off. I think you will appreciate this place.”

Still grumbling about being made a pack mule, the young man stalked over and dropped every bag at once at the old man’s feet, delighting in the near weightless feeling he gained as a result of finally freeing himself of his burden. “Where are we?”

“Well and truly lost, Harry. The best place to be. Indeed, I happened to find this place by accident several years ago and I have reason to believe that it was a nexus point for energybenders like you in ages long past.”

Harry’s interest piqued at the implication. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Well, there are no records of this place anywhere. I checked. Also, none of the elders in my Order are aware of it. Considering the number of learned minds held within the White Lotus that should be impossible. However, the amount of spiritual energy held within this location is staggering. In fact, my first glimpse of your chi reminded me a great deal of it. If there is a way to tap into your true potential and reach the same heights as the Avatar State then I believe that this is the location to find it.”

“How?”

“Search within yourself.” Iroh waved the young man forward and gestured to the cleared space. “This is the central nexus of the energy contained within this temple. Upon that floor are six engraved rings bound together and circling one central disk. I am only guessing, mind you, but I would suggest positioning yourself on the central disk and meditating on that energy. Perhaps you might get lucky.”

Harry gave his master an appraising look and eventually groaned. “You’re just throwing darts in the dark and hoping one hits a target aren’t you?”

“Have you ever trained an energybender? It’s all guesswork. Just try it while I set up our camp. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Famous last words if I ever heard them.” Harry noted sarcastically before settling himself into the center ring and folding his hands and legs into his usual meditative pose, then he closed his eyes and began focusing on his breathing. With nothing else to go on he decided to attempt to feel the spiritual energy around him and found himself nearly bowled over by the sheer amount of it that seemed to be concentrated within the temple space. It was mind blowing, but what to do with it? Focusing deeper the young man realized that the energy held differing feelings, much as his chi did when accessing the different elements.

Acting on a whim he began to channel his chi for fire and grinned as one of the surrounding rings lit up with wild red light. Water, earth, and air created similar results, but what about the other two? There were elements of fire, earth, and air inside them, that was plain to his senses, but the elements alone were clearly not enough. Perhaps a variation? Focusing on one he weaved fire and air together and received a glowing yellow response that put him in mind of sunlight. Running with that idea he then weaved earth and air and received a final ring of black. Dark. Earth, air, fire, water, light, and dark; that was the trick.

Harry only had a single moment to bask in his victory over the puzzle before the light from all the rings coalesced into the air and shot into his chest. He raged over the influence of the foreign energy, fought and forced his own will over it at last before finally accepting it as his own. And then he opened new eyes of pure orange power and saw… everything.

Elsewhere

The gang had been flying for a while but after the events with the pirates it became clear that they were frightfully low on supplies. They’d been chased out of the port before they could procure more after all. The urge to just keep running and try to get to the North Pole sooner was strong amongst the group, but the truth of the matter was that they needed more food or they’d never survive the last couple weeks of travel they had left.

After much discussion they elected to land on one of the coastal shelves to hide Appa before donning cloaks and moving into one of the towns their map said should be about a mile or so away on foot. What they saw upon arrival was enough to bring more than one look of shock to their faces.

“Uh, Sokka?” Aang asked, “Didn’t your map say this was supposed to be an Earth Kingdom town?”

“Y-Yeah.” Sokka gulped as he stared at the clearly displayed Fire Nation banners hanging from the city walls around the main gate. “But the map is pretty old. I guess it didn’t cover border changes.”

“There are no border changes.” Aang grumbled stubbornly, “This isn’t right.”

From her place at the back of the group where she’d been watching the rear for signs of ambush, Suki countered, “And what exactly is your basis for saying that?” She and Katara had informed the airbender about what the Knight had told them about his motivations and it was clear to see that the bald boy was not taking any of that, or the current state of the world, well. “It’s not like you stuck around to stop it.”

“Hey, leave it alone-” Katara tried to interrupt but Suki cut in at once with:

“He needs to face the fact that this ‘is’ his fault!” The warrior’s voice was full of conviction as she added, “Shielding him from it won’t save him and it certainly won’t prepare him. The world is f*cked up and it stands that way because he ran away. One thing Harry was right about is that it has been a hundred years and things have changed. Thinking about the world in terms of ‘right’ ‘wrong’ or ‘it should be because it always has been’ is not going to get us anywhere. Not realistically at least.”

Heading off his sister’s no doubt incredibly emotional retort, Sokka asked, “So what are you saying exactly?” The Southerner was actually incredibly interested in the answer. His sister had been a little girl when their father went off to war, and was thus free to bear the blessing of idealism. But Sokka had been older. He’d seen the looks on their warriors' faces, felt the somber notes of war, and understood more than most that the world was not a place of idealism and kindness. He’d been unable to be anything but a realist since he was twelve years old.

Seeming to sense his seriousness, Suki kept her voice level, not letting it rise to the emotional high she was feeling, as she noted, “We need to find a new balance. A new way that things should be. We can’t go backwards.”

Aang bristled at the very suggestion and declared, “But that’s wrong! We have to go back. That’s where the balance was maintained. Balance is all that matters!”

Suki shared a look with Katara that clearly implied, ‘See, I told you he’d respond like this.’.

In response, Katara walked over to Aang and said, “Maybe Suki’s right. I mean, would it really hurt to at least consider an alternative? Perhaps a compromise at least?”

Aang shook his head, as if the very idea was horrifying. “I don’t know how to explain it to you, Katara, but even thinking about changing the world in any way just feels… wrong. Four nations, four peoples, four elements. That’s just how it needs to stay.” And as was his habit when things weren’t going his way, the avatar spun on his heels and took off alone towards the city at speed.

Suki stared after the literal cloud he left in his wake and then rounded on the others. “Okay, you can’t tell me you both don’t see a pattern rising here.”

Sokka nodded, “I didn’t before, but now that you mention it… Aang has been showing a remarkable lack of seriousness lately. Last night I tried to suggest he spar with us but he just said ‘Airbenders aren’t violent’ and started muttering about not being like Harry.” And indeed, Sokka had been training with Suki every evening. They’d discovered he had quite the hand for armed combat when given an actual teacher.

Folding her arms over her chest, Katara grudgingly noted, “He didn’t want to talk about what comes after reaching the North Pole when I asked him either. He just said he was sure things would ‘work themselves out’.”

Suki nodded, “He glances off the issues, avoids conflict, and refuses to budge or compromise. Meanwhile, Harry has an active plan for the future and a means of achieving it. What’s worse is that he’s actually a very reasonable and approachable person. That’s not good.”

“No, it isn’t.” Sokka agreed with a knowing look in his eye. When his sister made a sound of impatiently annoyed confusion he elaborated. “People don’t only follow symbols, Katara. They follow leaders. Aang, our friend though he is, is not a leader. Until recently he had no goals or real drive, but Harry has both in spades. That Knight is powerful, smart, driven, charismatic, and he has the single most powerful military in the world at his back. As things stand now, if he and Aang were to face off and demand the leaders of the world choose sides, who do you think they’d choose? An unproven avatar that ran from his responsibilities? Or someone like him?”

“That… that isn’t going to happen though.” Katara sounded as if she were trying to convince herself as much as them.

“We can’t know that, sis. Realistically people want to ally themselves with the winning side. It’s just human nature.”

Suki, meanwhile, just shrugged and started off toward the city gates. She’d already pushed the envelope with her friends as far as she could that day and she knew it. Sokka was reasonable, but his sister was an obstinate rock in the stream. It would take time to wear her down to a smooth exterior that would allow the water to pass over it.

By the time she reached the gate the others had caught up and thus they were present to share in her shock at the sight before her. The guards were apparently used to traders from all nations showing up so they had barely looked twice at their foreign features before letting them in. And small wonder, as the crowds moving about the streets were just as diverse, if not more so. The trio beheld hundreds in all manner of colors and clothes moving about their business as if nothing out of the ordinary were occurring. More staggering, of course, were the families. Men and women in red and green clothes holding hands and sharing space with small children; all with massive smiles upon their faces and laughter in their eyes.

It didn’t take long to find Aang hiding in an alley with his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and eyes locked on the crowd going about their lives. “Aang?” Katara knelt beside him and rubbed his shoulder soothingly. “Are you alright?”

“This is wrong.” His voice was a tremulous thing of sorrow and confusion. “All of this. It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“These people, together, happy.” Aang shuddered anew and added, “It feels wrong,” he rubbed a hand against his chest, “in here. Everything inside me screams this is a crime against the balance of nature.”

Suki sighed and yanked the boy back to his feet. “Lament the truths of the world later. Right now we have supplies that need buying.” Katara gave her a dirty look, but Sokka agreed and cast his vote in her ascent. He didn’t really think coddling the avatar would help in this situation either. Faced with that Aang wiped his eyes clear of the moisture that had gathered and nodded before reclaiming his feet and falling in behind them.

It turned out the reason so many had gathered near the gate was that an open air market was a couple streets over. The group made their way to it and spent the next twenty minutes gathering up all the supplies they’d need to make it the rest of the way to the north pole. It was as they were putting the last items in their packs and starting to edge back toward the gate that they saw it. A group of kids playing in a group and shouting about powers and moves, as many kids are want to do when partaking in the grand world of pretend.

‘I’m Captain Lu Ten!’

‘I’m General Iroh!’

‘I’m the Ember Knight! The greatest hero in the world!’

The group froze and watched as the three boys ran against a wall of other boys and scattered them before laughing in a tumble of limbs on the ground. Before they could stop him, Aang approached one of the nearby adults who were staring at the little ones proudly and asked, “What are they doing?”

The woman, clad in a fire red dress, looked down curiously at the hooded boy and asked, “You don’t recognize it? Oh you must be new here. The children are pretending to reenact the breach of Ba Sing Se. It’s an important event around here.”

Now Suki was curious, and against her better judgment she asked, “Why? Didn’t the attack fail?”

The woman shrugged and answered, “Yes and no. Yes, our army failed to take the city, but thanks to the efforts of the Ember Knight” her arm snaked around the waist of a bulky green clothed man, “the Earth Kingdom has been too scared to attempt to drive us from our homes and families ever since. He showed them true terror, and thanks to that we get to live our lives in peace.”

Aang blanched and before the others could stop him he declared, “But you aren’t living in peace. You’re invaders upon this land, and that Knight is evil. He kills people!”

All noise around them ceased, even the roughhousing of the children stopped, and the older members of the group stared nervously out at the populace who all wore grim visages and started to surround them. The couple, who stood out from the rest, too wore slowly storming looks as they waved one of the children behind them and stared imperiously down on the suddenly very nervous avatar.

“You must be supporters of the Earth Kingdom’s regime.” The man growled. “We get a few of you every now and then. You lot are only too happy to call our way of life monstrous, yet you still have no trouble at all partaking of our trade and port access when it suits you.”

“I-I only meant-”

“You only meant that we should abandon this land we were born on, that we and our children have spent our entire lives working to make better, and that our family and friends have died to defend just because a hundred years ago the Earth Kingdom owned it.” The woman growled with pure malice now lacing her voice like venom. “Be glad that we aren’t savages like the army of Ba Sing Se or those cowards from the North. We have enough civility to simply kick you out instead of cutting out your tongue like you deserve.”

“My tongue?” Aang gulped. “W-What for?”

“Aang, let’s just go.” Sokka grabbed his arm and started pulling him away.

Before he could get free though, the man answered, “For bad-mouthing Knight Potter.”

Aang shook himself free of his friend’s grasp and petulantly said, “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. I’ve met your knight and he’s evil.”

“Our Knight,” the woman growled, only held in place by her apparent husband, “stood with us over my nephew’s grave after Northern Water Tribe raiders slaughtered him and everyone else aboard an unarmed trading ship.” Katara and Sokka gasped at that revelation, but the woman was too worked up to take notice. She merely continued, “He prayed for little Kota’s soul and promised that he’d fix the world the avatar abandoned. He shed tears for our lost ones and mourned right beside us. As one of us. If you call that evil then you must be a monster beyond the reckoning of men. Now get out. You are no longer welcome here.”

The gathering of armed guards along the stalls was incentive enough, if the murderous glares of the populace hadn’t done the job already, and, seeking to avoid anymore problems, Suki and Sokka snatched Aang up and carried him under their arms as they sprinted out the gate to freedom with Katara hot on their heels.

Mountain Temple

Iroh had been staring at the spectacle his apprentice represented for about an hour and to say he was shocked was certainly an understatement. Harry sat in the middle of a wild spectrum of colors with incandescent eyes blazing as he literally floated in the air. There wasn’t much else to do but wait for the trance to end (mainly because he was afraid to see what would happen if he did anything that caused the young man harm in his current state). What was stranger still were the physical changes he beheld. Indeed, the Knight’s cheek bones had grown a bit more defined and his already long hair had grown at least a couple more inches in length. Whatever could be the cause of such a difference?

With Harry

Harry Potter beheld everything and nothing in an endless corsage of reality. Hundreds of worlds, each crazier and more outlandish than the last, passed before his gaze in expanses of seconds and eons; he wasn’t sure which; time was odd in that strange place. He saw impossible vehicles soaring through the sky, epic battles taking place amongst the stars, massive reptilian monsters worshiped as deities, a god of a man with fire burning from his eyes and a large S on his chest, a bald hero destroying a moon with one punch, and a team of super-powered humans with X’s on their chests working to better the lives of their people in a world that hated them. All of these realities and more were laid out for his vision like a grand play, and though they didn’t stay long before he felt his soul move past them, each was fascinating in a new and entrancing way.

But eventually he reached the end and found his body tumbling through an immense void before seeming to crash through a barrier of what his mind perceived as something akin to glass and entering a wide open realm in freefall. He saw blue skies, white clouds, and the green foliage of a lone mountain rising swiftly to meet him. Acting out of sheer desperation, much like that day with King Bumi long ago, he oriented himself chest first to the rapidly approaching clearing at the highest point of the peak, and only when he was right above it did he push out with a massive gust of air, slowing his descent until he managed to land softly upon his feet.

After taking a couple seconds to make sure he was still in one piece following whatever the hell his experience seconds before had just been, he finally looked up and found a final surprise waiting for him.

Sitting on a throne of aged wood was a being that defied all reason. He had the size and shape of a man, but the face of a monkey. He wore golden armor, had an insanely beautiful staff resting against his shoulder, and bore a circlet of gold across his brow. “Well,” the being’s voice was high, chirpy, and full of amused mirth, “it certainly took you long enough to find your way here, Young Sage.”

Chapter 16: Sun Wukong & His Mountain

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar The Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Finally introducing Sun Wukong!

Chapter Sixteen - Sun Wukong & His Mountain

“Ugh!” “Ow!” “Dammit!” Harry attempted to dodge yet another swing of the strange monkey-man’s staff only to once again find himself shocked by its unnatural reach and sent tumbling back into the dirt with what felt like a few shattered ribs for his trouble. Then the strangeness compounded itself as the air seemed to fill with an odd peach scented hue and he found himself feeling right as rain once more as he staggered back to his feet only to repeat the exercise and this time block a blow hard enough to feel his arm bones shudder beneath the skin.

Only his foe’s comically wide grin let him know he was on the right track before he decided to alter the flow and attack on his own. This had been their pattern from the moment of his arrival. The strange being had welcomed him and then launched from his throne to attack him without another word to explain why he was employing such harsh treatment. It wasn’t as bad now though. At the beginning Harry had been sent sprawling to his back and ass with every step and every other second of combat; now he was actually making it up to a minute or two before reaching a painful end and oddly recuperating.

This time the Knight ducked in close, parried the next four attacks and moved as if he were going to jab before employing one of the monkey’s techniques he’d witnessed. As his foe moved to swipe away what he fainted as his attack, Harry instead drove the tip of his staff into the dirt and used it to leverage his body into the air before rotating in midair to use his body’s momentum to slam the weapon into the earth, or in this case right on top of the monkey’s head!

The wind went out of his sails when he actually succeeded… but all that he got for his struggles was a fresh grin, a hoot of laughter, and a crack to his own cranium hard enough to plant his body three feet into the earth.

As he felt his muscles and bones knitting back together, paired again with that odd smell of peaches, Harry suddenly realized something; as if his new head damage had finally connected the pieces of a puzzle. The monkey had smiled, but he’d smiled before too. Yet those smiles were only when he had implemented the being’s own moves and tactics against it…

Yanking himself out of the ground, and keeping a wary few feet between himself and the oddly stationary monkey, Harry guessed, “You’re… training me, aren’t you?”

“Ew! Ew! Ew!” The monkey hooted in his odd approximation of laughter. “Monkey See, Monkey Do, eh? He he he he.”

Harry sweatdropped and asked, “Any chance you’re related to King Bumi?”

The monkey twirled his staff lazily onto his shoulder and quadruple backflipped back across the length of the glenn to balance on the edge of his throne seat on his toes. “Nah, but now that you mention it, that guy is awesome! A kindred spirit if ever there was one. I’ve been watching him for years and boy is he entertaining. Almost as entertaining as you. Though I’m pretty sure he’d have recognized what I was doing sooner. Didn't Bumi teach you to open your mind to the possibilities of the world?”

“He did.” Harry agreed, “But this isn’t my world, is it?”

“It is and it isn’t.” The monkey noted cryptically before standing tall, spreading his arms wide, and somehow creating a halo of ambient light to illuminate his form in dramatic silhouette. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sun Wukong, the Supremely Handsome Monkey King, Buddha of Victorious Fighting, and the Great Sage Equal To Heaven. This is my mountain in the realm above and beyond the one you know. In this place I see all, hear all, and pitch in when things get interesting.”

“And I’m interesting?”

“Infinitely so.” Between one blink and the next, the monkey king was standing close enough to breathe on him as he stared down into Harry’s eyes. “Oh yes, interesting indeed. I haven’t trained a new sage in eons; mainly cause no one has been worth the effort, but you, you seem to understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That serving nature and balance aren’t the same things. The true state of harmony in the universe is controlled chaos, it is change, and a Sage more than anything else is an agent of change. We exist to make sure harmony happens and that the universe reaches its potential, even if we have to tear down the status quo to make it happen. That’s one of the reasons heaven hated me. I stirred things up, caused problems, and broke the status quo, but they were too complacent to see the things I did were necessary. Ew! Ew! Ew!” that same laughter before he added, “So how about it? Would you like to be a sage? To be set on the path of enlightenment?”

Eyes beaming, Harry set his staff before him in both hands and bowed to the great being. “To be a sage is all that I want. I am ready to learn.”

“Such an easy answer, Young Sage?”

“I set out on this journey to gain strength, so why would I turn away from the chance to achieve it.”

Sun Wukong leveled the young man with what amounted to a stern expression on his face. “What I offer is not just strength. Far from it. I offer power, knowledge, a way of life, but also commitment and longevity. To be a Sage is to be everlasting. A demigod amongst men. An agent of change and harmony. When we finish here you will no longer be human. So I ask again, will you commit to this training? I will not ask a third time.”

“And I will not change my answer.”

That stern expression continued for a few seconds more before the monkey king began hooting with fresh laughter, a state that seemed to be his default setting. “Good! I’d not have accepted you backing out anyway after all the effort I’ve put into you all these years.”

“Eh?”

“You think you wound up in the Elemental Nations by accident? Please, I saw your potential and decided to cultivate it. A few strings of cosmic chance plucked and here we are. Be grateful, and also be ready!”

Only by sheer luck and instinct did Harry raise his staff in time to block the blow that had been aimed at his neck. “What are you doing!”

“Training you!” Sun Wukong knocked the teenager’s legs out from under him and smashed a heel into his chest to send him tumbling back over the ground five or so yards. “You see, the gardens around us are full to bursting with Peaches of Heaven. Their scent fills the air and rejuvinates the body. Just one is enough to grant a being immortality, but you are imbibing the essence of hundreds just by breathing this air. That grants me a great deal of leeway in how to treat you and pass along my martial arts style.”

“M-Monkey see, M-Monkey do.” Harry repeated the phrase he’d heard as he shakily reclaimed his feet.

“Exactly! Ew! Ew! Ew! I’m going to beat you to the brink of death, break every bone in your body, let you heal, and do so all over again as many times as it takes to get you to copy my moves perfectly! Don’t worry too much though. It would take an awful amount to kill you now, and this process should only take a few months by my reckoning.”

“A few months!”

Sun Wukong offered a smug grin full of faux worry. “Oh, did I forget to mention this? My realm is above mortal worries such as time. An hour in your world is closer to four thousand hours here. We’ll have years together before your Master Iroh even starts on dinner! Now dodge!” He swung his staff again and smirked as his new student managed to avoid the swing if only barely. Good thing he wasn’t trying to kill his pupil so soon in his journey. “By the time we’re done you’ll have a body of iron, reflexes swifter than a shooting star, and battle instincts born of training under the strongest being in creation. Oh the great, terrible, and delightful things you’ll do with that power. Ew! Ew! Ew! I can’t wait to see it.”

Time Passes

Harry groaned as he eased himself into the healing waters of the hot spring on the edge of the mountain peak. He’d honestly thought Shifu Wukong, as the Monkey King had asked to be called, was kidding about beating him to the brink of death and then repeating the process, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. Indeed after months of near endless combat the Ember Knight thought he could safely say that indeed every single bone in his body had certainly been shattered at least once. Some of them honestly felt like his teacher had been vindictively seeking a sense of completion more than actually imparting some form of experience, muscle training, or technique. All the same, he’d finally reached a place where his Shifu declared he was as good with the staff as he was going to get without a few centuries more of practice and told him to take a bath before joining him for some meditation.

He didn’t know if it was the training, or the influence of the peaches, but Harry had definitely noticed some changes in himself over the course of the last several months. He was faster, stronger, more durable, and perhaps that last was a reason that his Shifu had insisted on continued brutality in the training long after Harry had managed to copy him flawlessly. He might have wanted him to know what he was no longer forced to endure as his hardened bones refused to break to blows that had shattered them at the start of his experience.

What was more, he’d also noticed that he was getting markedly… hairier. His normally long locks had fallen even further down his back, but his chest, leg, and arm hair had gone from a casual dusting to incredibly thick. Harry didn’t know what to make of that. All the same he continued to soak as he thought about his training so far. His teacher was a harsh taskmaster, but surprisingly he was far from cruel. Everything he’d done so far had had a purpose intended, and it had been remarkably effective.

The scent of peaches was stronger there in the spring and Harry noted a few of the fruits themselves floating around in the water, likely to add their unique properties to it as well. He had tried to ask the Monkey King about them more than once so he could gauge exactly what they were doing to him, but the ancient being had merely laughed and told him not to worry about it. That he would inform him later on when it truly mattered.

It mattered to Harry though. It was one more thing that was making him different from Azula. The woman he loved, the one he missed more than anything at that time. His best friend. What would she think of the thing he was becoming, the lengths he was going through to become it? These thoughts kept him busy for a while until he finally decided he’d had enough of the water and exited to donn a nearby robe before returning to the mountain peak where he found his Shifu waiting for him in a meditative pose on the edge, overlooking a vast expanse of land below.

“Sit, Young Sage, sit and see.” Wukong gestured to the space beside him and Harry did so, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap. “What do you see? Look closely.”

Harry did so, allowing his gaze to drift downward. At first all he could perceive was the vague outlines of landmasses, but the longer he stared the closer they came into focus, and the more fine details he started picking up as a result; until at last he was witnessing straight up facial expressions and eye colors. With a voice of pure awe, the Knight asked, “W-What is this?”

“Ew! Ew! Ew!” Sun Wukong hooted happily for a while before saying, “I had a feeling you’d pick up my tricks quickly but even this is a delight to see. This is the first step in the next leg of your training.”

“How so?”

“I am going to give you True Sight. It is the ability to see all things as they truly are, even if they are hiding behind the guise of another.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll understand in time. But one true benefit you are experiencing now is the ability to see over a truly great distance. Another is perfect vision. Those glasses are a hindrance to you and I want them gone sooner rather than later. Also, what can you tell me about the realm beneath us?”

The tone of his teacher’s voice let Harry know that this was far from a simple question, so he gazed down once more. It only took about a minute of hard staring to figure out where the monkey had been leading him. “It isn’t only one realm.”

“Spot on! My mountain looks down over all creation so that I can see where best to send my… personal attention. Yet even with this boon I still miss things on occasion. Let this be another lesson to you, Harry, even with all my power I have blind spots. With the strength you are gaining it would be too easy to assume you are all powerful, but all it will take is the right blindness to spell your doom.”

Harry growled low in his throat and declared, “I will not be blindsided. I will not be defeated. I still have too much to do.”

“I hope you are right, Little One. Now,” Wukong back somersaulted to his feet and started walking off into the interior of his personal domain, “follow me.”

“I thought we were meditating?”

“We are, just not here.”

A Short Time Later

“Y-You’re a real b-bastard, you know that?”

“Ew! Ew! Ew! Suck it up, Young Sage. I spent forty-nine days in here and you only have to do two weeks.” The two were indeed meditating as planned, but instead of a calm glen or cliffside they were in a confined metal room filled with acrid smoke and red hot heat. “The Furnace of the Gods will sear through the obstructions of your sight and rebuild your eyes anew with divine prominence. All you must do is not blink.”

“For two weeks!?!?”

“Yes, and if you do blink the process starts all over again.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a sad*st?”

“Yes, on several occasions. Now suck it up and stare on!”

Time Passes

Three months. That was how long the hell of the furnace lasted. There were times that Harry seemed about ready to meet the two week deadline, but then Sun Wukong would pull a funny face, or faint a jab at his nose, and the knight’s eyes would slam closed of their own accord to send him right back to square one. It seemed to delight the Monkey King to no end to be the cause of such distractions, and every time his pupil groaned at starting over he hooted in his usual primate manner.

All the same, victory was eventually won for the Knight and he marched proudly out of the Furnace of the Gods; though he did not do so unchanged. The first he noticed of it was during the soak he immediately took after his ordeal in the hot spring. He settled into the calming heat, released an eminently pleased breath, and opened his eyes wide to see a face reflected in the water remarkably different from the one that had begun his journey.

His once brilliant green eyes had changed into a harsh red and the sockets surrounding them had turned pitch black. At first Harry thought it was a result of the smoke exposure and soot, and had tried to rinse his eyes out and wash off the stains to no avail. The changes, it seemed, were permanent. ‘Damn it,’ he thought, ‘I look like a damned raccoon.’ He supposed Azula would be okay with the change but he elected to stay away from Ty Lee for as long as possible. That girl would surely have some interesting nicknames for him if she saw him now. The old ones were already bad enough.

After he was done in the spring, Harry redonned his robes and walked back to the mountain peak to find his Shifu already meditating by the same clifface as last time. The Monkey King looked up as he returned and remarked, “My, my, my, quite the image you strike now, eh? A sage indeed.” And just to drive that point forward he gestured to his own eyes where, looking closer now, Harry noted rings of slightly different colored fur much like his own skin.

“You might have warned me first.”

“And where would be the fun in that? Trust me, Young Sage, when you teach a student for the first time, you too shall take an unholy pleasure in watching them suffer just the same as you did. It is the way of things. All must pay the toll of effort and flesh to reach the goals they desire. Now sit beside me and gaze on the realms below, I think you will get more out of this exercise now than before.”

Following the commands of his master, Harry knelt beside the great being, folded his hands in his lap, and allowed his lids to grow heavy as he gazed down upon the open cosmos laid out before him. He could hardly believe how right his teacher had been. He could see everything, vast worlds, people’s faces, and even individual fish swimming in streams. From such a height as he found himself it should not have been remotely possible. “How?”

“Ew! Ew! Ew!” Wukong hooted as he answered, “The gift of the Furnace. I can see a thousand li in a day and six hundred li at night. Furthermore I also have the gift to see through disguises, illusions, and transformations. Having gone through the same test I did, you have earned something very similar. What the limits are for you, well, that will be seen in time. But for now, look there.” The monkey king pointed to a specific place below and as Harry’s eyes narrowed in on it he asked what it was. “That,” he answered, “is the world you came from. A world of very old magic; what we would call chi.”

Harry swallowed a thick lump in his throat at the very thought. He had no urge to dwell on the hell his life had been before arriving in the Elemental Nations. “Why do you show me this?”

“Because the magic there is yours by right, and it will only benefit you to learn it. So together let us watch and practice. I guarantee your staff will work just as well as their wands.”

Reluctantly, Harry forced his eyes to meet the world indicated and whispered, “I want nothing from that world. Not its magic, not its people, not even its knowledge. It is a place of nothing but suffering.”

Wukong leveled his protege with a look of fond exasperation and said, “Has your training so far taught you nothing? It is through suffering that we grow. When you came here I beat you to the brink of death one hundred times one hundred times, and now your skin could stop a blade as easily as if you wore my armor. You suffered months in the Furnace and now your eyes and mind have ascended to the heights of the divine. I have no doubt suffering the reminder of that world will have an equally beneficial result. Trust me. Trust in my training.”

Harry sighed and acknowledged the order by focusing on the point beyond his vision, a place so full of ambient magic that it pulsed a vibrant purple right before his gaze. It was something he’d never have understood before, but now he could recognize it like he’d known it for years. Power. Magical power. And an expression of it that he’d never seen before.

With his Shifu offering detailed input on how to magnify and reduce his vision, Harry took in the view of his homeoworld’s benders, these… wizards, and beheld how their spells worked, the way they molded their chi to fit their desires. Transfiguration especially held his interest…

Time Passes

Harry sat beneath a cherry blossom tree, his erhu in his hands and the bow dancing over the string as Sun Wukong leaned against the tree trunk and watched. The instructions for this lesson had been clear, play a song and produce the best illusions he could while he did.

{The Gondor Theme - Minas Tirith - Elliott Tordo Erhu}

As the Ember Knight continued to play, the light around him twisted and bent with the tone of his music until the image within his mind took hold. The clearing disappeared before their eyes to be replaced with a fantastical view of a city of marble white stone. Several rings of tiered masonry and artfully crafted architecture followed, rising high into the sky as the main theme of the piece reached its crescendo.

“Enough.” The Monkey King waved his hand and the image snapped out of existence faster than a torch sunk into a water barrel. “You show promise, that is true. Much more than I thought I’d need to work with. However, you seem stuck on music as your trigger for such effects.”

“People like that.”

“The ladies especially, eh?” Wukong wiggled his eyebrows and laughed uproariously at the blush his words created. “This is good. You’ll need that luck.”

Harry co*cked his head quizzically at that statement and said, “I am already engaged.”

“Ew! Ew! Ew! One woman will not be near enough. You are a demigod now, Harry. A Sage in training and immortal of spirit if not yet completely of body. You have touched divinity and grown a spark within yourself. I said I would explain some of those changes you feel and one of them is this. We deities have, shall we say, a more than healthy sexual drive. Once you start getting intimate with a girl you’ll feel compelled to keep going and you’ll certainly find your partner getting exhausted long before you are. I myself maintain a harem of over two hundred of the most beautiful women in all of creation to meet my needs.”

“T-That is more than any man could satisfy.” Harry gaped.

“You think so now. Just you wait. Ew! Ew! Ew! Oh I can see it now. Soon they’ll be calling you the Devilishly Handsome Sage. The slayer of hearts and lover of women in every nation!”

Face furiously red now, Harry muttered, “I don’t think my fiancee would be happy about that.”

“Who can say, little one. Yet that is a problem for another day. For now, let us work on your illusions. By the time we’re done we’ll have them at your beck and call music or not!”

Time Passes

“Okay, seriously, what the f*ck!” Harry yelped as he hopped to his feet and started spinning in place, hands whipping behind his back and head cranking to try and look over his shoulder. Meanwhile Sun Wukong was rolling on the ground laughing and pointing right at him.

“I-I knew this was possible but it’s still great to see! Ew! Ew! Ew!”

Harry finally got a grip on what he sought and slowed to a stop as he pulled the offending article in front of himself to view it in full. “Why do I have a tail!!!!!!”

Wukong roared a finale to his laughter and kipped back up to his feet to gaze on the new addition in full. “I can think of two possible reasons. One, it happened because I trained you, and the magic of my realm is infested with my very essence. Two, channeling so much pure nature chi in your training might have forced a metamorphosis in your being. Either way it is a good thing for you.”

“How!?!?!?”

“Because you can do cool things like this!” He flipped over and used his tail to hold him upside down from a tree branch. “And this!” He dropped down and landed next to a weight bench that had miraculously appeared from nowhere and began lifting the bar with his tail. “And this!” The bench disappeared and he smashed a nearby rock to splinters of rubble with a powerful tail slam.

“Alright, alright, I get it. A tail is a useful thing. That said, don’t you think you should have told me this was possible?”

“Well I didn’t know if it would happen at all, and where would be the fun in ruining the surprise? Now come along and let us continue training. I suppose now we’ll need to add in some mobility training for your new appendage as well.”

Chapter 17: The Face Stealer

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar The Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: For Harry’s new sage look picture a mixture of Goku from Dragon Ball Z and Hashirama from Naruto.

Chapter Seventeen - The Face Stealer

Time Passed

How long had it been? Harry couldn’t be sure. Some days it felt like mere years and others entire lifetimes. He’d studied combat, magic, chi channeling, illusions, and philosophy to such a depth that he often felt like he was downright breathing his teachings in his sleep. Sun Wukong was a ‘very’ thorough teacher and it showed with the benefits provided to his young protege. What the Monkey King had not planned for was what Harry would do with the magical lessons specifically. Indeed, Harry had combined transfiguration and runes to create three items of monumental power.

The first was his staff. With painfully etched runwork he’d made it unbreakable and capable of channeling gravity to add or decrease its weight at will. In the process of testing it he’d accidentally smashed the tip of the mountain clean off; something his teacher told him was par for the course when training sages. However, Harry wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that his master was so blase about massive destruction, expected or not.

The second was a circlet of jade that he’d painstakingly carved with his own hands and then imbued with the essence of the Heaven Peach hot spring. It had been trying work but the young man had tied the object and location together in a way that even had his Shifu chuckling with amused delight. The Great Sage rarely saw anything new in his existence and it was a great joy for him to do so now.

The third was a set of scaled armor black as night. Each scale was in truth a ridge of obsidian that had been harvested from the heart of a nearby volcano and then sewn together with the threads of fate, and carved on the inside with the most intricate runes he knew. There had only been enough for a chest plate and greaves for his arms and legs, but the effect they provided was well worth the effort. His time in the Furnace of the Gods had left an impression, and thus he had created an armor that was unbreakable, made him impervious to heat, and allowed him to breathe underwater. That last had been done specifically with Mushu in mind, as Harry had some very interesting ideas for how such a skill could be paired with his use.

But that was another matter separate from the issue that pervaded his mind now. He was currently busy enacting his final lesson. The last trial that would see his training with the Shifu complete. An eye to the future, he called it. The ability to seize the weaves of creation in one’s mind and receive a blessed image of the future. There atop the center of the cosmos Harry was closer to the origin of all things than anywhere else imaginable, and the location was having an effect.

His breathing was even, his mind was still, and just as his master had taught him he let himself feel the world around him. Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to drift away as he beheld the true nature of everything. It was then that the vision came. A swift thing of fury and rudeness that would have taken his breath away were he not locked into his current trance. To his mind’s eye came the image of a great owl, resplendent in white and full of ancient knowledge, yet determined to gain even more no matter the cost. And the great palace in the desert it called its home was truly something to behold. There was an insistent feeling of need that came with it. He was ‘supposed’ to go there. To learn what secrets awaited.

When he came to once more into the central plane of the Monkey King’s mountain he was not surprised to find his master’s face positioned less than an inch ahead of his own. The great being made a habit of trying to surprise him. When the young man gave him no satisfaction he leaned back and rested on his palms. “Well then, Young Sage, what did you see?” When Harry told him, he noted, “That sounds like Wan Shi Tong, the keeper of the Spirit Library. Interesting that you should be fated to meet him.”

“Why?”

“Because he tends to disapprove of visitors. Most effusively! Ew! Ew! Ew!” Sun Wukong back rolled onto his feet once more and rapped his apprentice twice on the head with his tail. “That is the last you must learn here. Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Shifu.” Harry rose and bowed to his master, who soon returned the gesture.

“You are most welcome, little one. But do not think this means you are done learning, merely that you are done studying directly under me. I have provided you the foundation, now you must study and learn through experiences of your own just what kind of house you might build. I foresee greatness in your future for sure; even if you do not become so great a sage as myself. Ew! Ew! Ew!”

“No one would ever be as good a sage as you, Shifu.” Harry laughed right along with him as he reclaimed his feet and stretched his back. Once he was limber once more he extended his arm to the side and summoned his staff back to his hand from across the glen. Magic did have its uses on occasion, even if it was only preventing the need for walking. “But you haven’t taught me yet how to leave?”

“And where would be the fun in that?” Wukong tilted his head quizzically. “No, I think there is one last bit of entertainment you might provide me. Yes indeed. There is a spirit in the realm below. A rancid stealer of faces that knows the ins and outs of the realm between realms. If you can face him with no fear, with no change in your face at all at his appearance, then he will offer you a deal. Knowledge of the way out for something that you have on your person. I’ve a feeling that you’ll get the better end of the deal and I can’t wait to watch and find out.” Wukong then flipped over Harry’s head and landed in a cross legged pose on the edge of the mountain so he could see what happened beneath it. “On you go, Young Sage!”

Harry sighed and shrugged before moving off to the descending path leading down the cliff. This really was par for the course for his shifu. Why be overtly helpful when there was entertainment at hand? It was all a part of his charm in the end.

It took about a day to reach the base of the mountain while moving at speed and it was only there that Harry noted that his teacher had not told him where to find the Face Stealer. Typical. Well, that wasn’t so bad. Opening his eyes wide he began scanning the horizon in a branching telescopic view. It was slow going as he had to sort through all the details that came to him, but eventually he found the path to the spirit world and decided that was the right one for him.

Distance was a strange thing in the lands surrounding the Monkey King’s mountain. One step could take you miles, a jump could land you between worlds, and a sprint could cross the cosmos. For the purposes of Harry’s current task, a strong stride got him to the spirit world within a few minutes. He knew the moment he crossed over as the gravity affecting him changed, he felt a pulling at his skin that receded as he slipped through the membrane of reality, and the creatures floating through the air scattered as they finally noticed him. Yes, this was a strange world indeed.

Spirits, ghosts, creatures of all kinds that had abandoned the mortal plane; as he walked through the kaleidoscopically colored world Harry saw them all. There were even a few dragons cooling off in a nearby stream. If he let himself go he could lose years of his life just exploring this endless expanse and seeing what all it had to offer, but that was not his desire. No, that was to find a way home. To see his fiancee again and hold her close. For Azula the time would have been short but for him, well, his heart had been yearning to know her own once more for longer than he could put into words.

And so he kept on, his far reaching eyes searching the lands around him for any sign of interest or familiarity that might lead him to the Face Stealer. It didn’t take long to find a suspiciously dark section of the landscape that was certainly ominous in the extreme. Well, if he were a dangerous and malevolent spirit that was definitely where he’d hide. Also, in his experience the Spirit World had a habit of directing you where you needed if you let it so he supposed that was likely the place.

Meanwhile

Sun Wukong looked down on the path his young student was taking and hopped lithely back to his feet. ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘it should take Harry about half a day to reach the cave. Plenty of time for a little fun in the meanwhile.’ And so saying he slammed the butt of his staff into the earth of the mountain peak, pulled it back to a comical angle and used its strength to launch himself a kilometer into the sky before rocketing back to earth and smashing a passage straight through it down below a dozen pantheons different hells before finally reaching the one he sought.

Of course he met a paltry resistance of only ten thousand demons and two dozen greater deities, but he dealt with them soon enough without any great difficulty. The current Hades of the realm raised some stink about him coming back after last time, and to be fair the Monkey King had agreed to leave and not come back, but current Wukong couldn’t be held to the promises of past Wukong. Past Wukong wasn’t here now! So of course he merely knocked the deity out. Killing him would be rude under current circ*mstances.

After that he casually moseyed on over to the good old Book of Life and Death and crossed out the name Harry Potter. That young man was far too interesting to let such a thing as the natural progression of life and death take him. And speaking of the lad, he had to be close to the Face Stealers lair by now, didn’t he? Best to get back to the mountain and enjoy the show.

Elsewhere

Harry stared down the gaping maw of the cave before him and let out an annoyed sigh. Of course it was a place surrounded by dead foliage and next to a river of black sludge. Could a place be any more stereotypically bad in nature? Still, might as well get it over with. Walking right up to the entrance he slapped the opening with his staff and settled his face into its blankest setting. “Oy! Koh! I have a question for you!”

For a few moments nothing happened, and then the air filled with the creaking click of thousands of large pincer-like limbs in motion as between one breath and the next a massive centipede monster launched out of the cave mouth and stopped only an inch from his face. If the ceramic mask wearing being was expecting a reaction at his quick arrival he was soon disappointed at the result. Harry merely moved his head a bit to take in the rest of its body. The spirit appeared to be a monstrous centipede, with a torso long enough to circle the width of the tunnel behind it leading back into the darkness several times over. The remarkably human features on the face were the most demonic thing by the way they contrasted with the rest of its form. Those two things should not, under any circ*mstances, mix.

“You are not afraid?” The spirit’s voice held an odd clicking quality, as if a pair of invisible pincers were colliding beneath the surface to enunciate its words. “How odd.”

“I have a question.”

“Yes, I heard you the first time. But perhaps I’ll just eat you now and be done with it.” The Face Stealer began drawing itself out of the cave and circling the intruder’s body much as Mushu had in the land of the living.

Still keeping his face blank of all reactions, no matter how much his mind was screaming at him to strike first and make this thing his bitch as his Shifu had taught him, Harry returned, “You are a spirit, which means you have to follow the cosmic rules of cause and effect. Give and take. Push and pull. You can not take my life unless I meet your requirements, and as you can see, I’m not blinking.”

“Hm… fascinating.” The great spirit spun back to face him with a new face to try and startle him, but when that failed it merely inquired, “Well then, how might I be of assistance?”

“I need to find the way back to the material world.”

“And what would you give for such knowledge?” Chittering laughter began to build in its throat. “As you said: Cause and effect, push and pull. You get nothing without giving something in return.”

“I am aware of the cosmic law of equivalent exchange.” Harry nodded his understanding. “What is it that you would ask for in payment?”

Throughout their entire discourse, Harry had been keeping an eye on where the spirit’s attention was centered, and he mentally grinned as he saw that his plan was indeed working. That mental grin faded at once at the answer he received.

“How about the spirit held within your scar?”

“Eh?” it took every bit of the Sage’s self control to avoid reacting to that statement. The idea of a foreign entity making his body home was utterly horrifying beyond anything he had ever considered before. “There’s a spirit inside me?”

“Oh yes.” Koh’s current face fell back to his level and began swishing back and forth like a pendulum, drawing the sage’s eyes to the pattern like the hypnotic light of a moth lamp. “And it feels remarkably malevolent. I am certain that I could make quite the mask out of it if it were left to my tender mercies. So do we have an accord? Directions home in return for your dark passenger?”

It wasn’t even a hard choice. “Done.”

The Face Stealer’s entire body shuddered with delight and several things happened at once. First, one of its thousands of claws seared a bloody furrow across Harry’s forehead. Second, its current mask split all the way down the middle and a sinuously long tongue shot out like a toad to slurp up the black fluid that was ejected by the motion. Third, the spike at the end of its tail, that had been positioned perfectly behind him, slammed through the Knight’s chest far enough for the tip to become lodged in the ground on the other side.

Harry gagged and coughed blood onto the cold earth as the spirit chittered with rapturous delight above him. “W-We had a-a deal…” He wheezed.

The spirit broke from its enjoyment and looked back down at him. “Yes, yes we did, and I am still keeping my end now by telling you that the way back is remarkably simple. All you would have had to do is meditate, find a true measure of peace within yourself, and send a mental tether back to your physical body in the material world. A sage is remarkably adept at planeswalking as a matter of principle after all. Of course, that cut changed the physical features of your face from when our meeting started so the only requirements keeping me at bay were nullified.” Fresh chitters of joy filled the air as it added, “Do not worry, little sage. Your suffering will only last a few more moments, just long enough for you to bleed out and me to absorb your face into my collection.”

“T-That is w-where y-your wrong.” The chittering stopped as Face Stealer took note of the growing level of strength in the young man’s voice, paired with the following sentence absolutely lacking in weakness and hesitation. “After all, you actually think I’m where I seem to be.” Before the spirit’s eyes the air around his supposed ‘prey’ warped and the scene available to its eyes changed. The scratch he’d made through the former scar was flipped over on itself, the torso he’d just ‘speared’ disappeared entirely, and the real body of the sage he’d been antagonizing was now visible in truth standing vertically upside down on top of his staff which had been pressed into the earth. He’d been upside down in the air through the entirety of their conversation and dealing with only his forehead occupying the same space from before.

“I guess the restrictions on my actions are severed as well.” And so saying, Harry spun in the air, twisted his staff over his head, and willed the gravity within to the strength of a shooting star. A fun fact about increasing gravity, it doesn’t just make an object heavier, it makes it denser as well, so when the hardwood met the ceramic mesh of Koh’s ‘face’ it was harder than diamonds and packing enough power to break the earth asunder.

When the dust cleared Harry saw his target had disappeared within the depths of a massive crater and he shrugged. He couldn’t really ‘kill’ a spirit, but he was sure he’d at least managed to ruin its day. Regardless, he had his answer so it was time to find a peaceful place, far from here, to seek out his physical body once more. His journey was soon to meet its end.

Some Time Later

Iroh found his latest sip of calming tea interrupted by a choked gasp of shock as his previously floating apprentice fell back to earth and began stretching like a cat before hopping to his feet and looking at him for all the world as if nothing was the matter. “How long?” He asked.

“Eh?”

“How long was I gone?”

Iroh blinked a couple times as he cleared his throat to get it working right again, and to allow him to take in his former student’s new appearance and strange armor, and answered, “Three days, give or take a couple hours.”

“Three days…” A faraway look entered the young man’s eyes as he performed some mental calculations before they shot wide open and he exclaimed, “That’s 288,000 hours!” Rounding back over the cliff edge he raised a fist to the heavens and bellowed, “Damn you Wukong! I’ll get you back for this!”

In another world the Monkey King raised a glass of wine to the heavens, laughed delightedly, and answered, “Do it if you can, kid!”

Two Days Later

Harry adjusted the fit of his robes for the fifth time as Mushu continued speeding him and Iroh along the ocean surface. The ship was finally coming into sight and he was more than a bit nervous to see Azula again. He was much changed from the last time he’d seen her and he worried that she might not like the new additions to his body as much as he’d hoped.

Seeing this, Iroh gently gripped his hands and pushed them down without taking his eyes off their destination. “Worry not, Harry. Knowing my niece as I do there is not a change that could ever be applied to you that would make her dislike your appearance. Why, I believe that even if your entire face were covered in burns she’d merely love you all the more for having such a ‘fierce’ battle scar.

“Master, I have a tail!”

“And it’s rather eye-catching. I’d even call it distinguished.” And indeed, Iroh found the sight of the new appendage wrapped around the young man’s waist to be rather fitting. Even the dark circles around his eyes seemed to fit his face perfectly. He looked… complete, for lack of a better word. As if this were what he was always meant to look like and those around him were just now seeing the real thing.

“Really?”

“Really really. Now buck up, we’re almost there and it wouldn’t do to meet your princess with anything other than joy on your face.”

And when Mushu pulled level with the ship Harry did just that, literally hopping over the deck railing with the biggest smile on his face possible. One equally matched by Azula, who met him halfway across the deck in a massive hug, paired with several kisses scattered across his lips and face before finally gripping his cheeks to take a full look at him.

He waited with bated breath for her response and found himself massively relieved when she merely commented, “I like your hair longer.” Harry chuckled deeply in his throat and kissed her again. “I missed you. More than you can possibly imagine.”

“I might understand a bit.” She whispered into his lips. “Life on a ship without you is just… empty. I need you.”

“And I you. I-” He was cut off by a new shout of ‘Hare-Bear!’ and then a new weight latched onto his back and he found the adorable form of Ty Lee nuzzling his cheek while one of her hands bussed a suddenly nervous and blushing Azula’s cheek. “T-Ty Lee? What are you doing here?”

“Hare-Bear, you look like an actual bear now! No, more like a cute little Monkey-Coon. No, like a-”

“Ty Lee!” Azula was still blushing as she shouted her friend down. Both she and Harry had been rather awkward around the bubbly girl ever since their last interaction with her. Two years prior she’d been called back to the capital to finish chi blocking training with her father, but before leaving she’d insisted on some ‘flexibility’ classes with Harry and Azula.

Needless to say, both of them had gotten rather debilitating cramps from the poses and Ty Lee had volunteered to ‘massage’ them out. As was her nature, the rather forward girl had taken the opportunity to fondle both Harry ‘and’ Azula’s rears, and it was in that moment that the princess realized that she rather liked girls as well, much like Ty Lee if her following comments were anything to go by.

Back in the present, Ty Lee shamelessly kissed Harry’s cheek before vaulting over his head to do the same with Azula. Then she reached into her shirt and pulled out a scroll wax-sealed with the crest of the Firelord. “I bring an urgent missive from the capital. The Fire Lord believed that a personal messenger was best for it.”

Azula shuffled over to his side and noted, “She arrived yesterday but had orders that she could only deliver the message to your hands specifically.”

“It’s a goody!” Ty Lee teased as she waved it back and forth in the air like a bone for a dog.

Harry just sighed and snatched it from her hands before she could blink. Then he tore the seal, read the contents, and let out a groan before shouting to the nearest watchman, “Set course for the capital! We have been given leave to return for a period of two weeks and ordered to do so the moment these words are spoken!”

“Aye, sir!” The man ran into the guardhouse to tell the helmsman, and the deck became a flurry of activity as Azula looked back at him with wide eyes.

She muttered, “For my father to lift Zuko’s banishment, even for a limited time, the contents of that letter must be extraordinary.”

“You don’t know how right you are. Here.” He handed her the missive just as a rather shell-shocked Zuko came up from the belowdecks and made his way over to them. “I was just informed we are going home. What is happening?”

“My wedding.” The scroll fell to the ground from Azula’s suddenly limp fingers. “Father has grown impatient waiting for us to make an heir. So he has arranged for Harry and I to marry once we arrive back in the Fire Capital. He says in the note that he hopes the consummation will bless us with a son.”

As Zuko’s mouth began to flap like a fish from shock, Harry added, “There’s more. Apparently he’s arranging a full scale assault on the Northern Water Tribe and… he’s putting me in command of it as a wedding present.”

Chapter 18: Wedding Preparations

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar The Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Eighteen - Wedding Preparations

As the crew cheered, crowed, and victoriously pumped their fists in the air at the fact that the coastline of their capital was finally coming into sight for the first time in years, Azula and Harry were down below in his room having a far more serious conversation.

“So you are telling me that you are not going to be faithful in our marriage?” Azula asked with a raised brow as she stared down the form of her clearly uncomfortable fiancee as he sat on the floor beneath her.

“I’m not saying that, Azula. My teacher made it very clear that I’m going to have… urges, once I start getting intimate; and we both know how a Fire Nation wedding is supposed to end. I just… I want to be honest with you, at all times. I don’t want to cheat, but I also don’t want to force you. I don’t know how these urges are going to come out or what they’ll do to me, but I want you to have all the information I can give you.”

Azula didn’t say anything for several moments; and then she promptly told him to stay there, left out the hatch, and came back several minutes later with her arm looped through that of a practically vibrating Ty Lee. “You are lucky that the royal family has a provision for such things.”

Harry blinked stupidly as the acrobatic girl lost all composure, launched herself in a flying cartwheel across the floor and landed right in his lap.

“I’m your girl now, Harry!”

“Uh, Azula… what’s going on?”

The princess offered her betrothed a fond smile and replied, “Did you truly think I would blame you for urges and circ*mstances beyond your control? You gained this power to serve our nation and protect me and we’ll just need to deal with the side effects as they come. As for your urges… there is precedent for a royal harem, you know. All I ask is that you let me choose its member concubines as your wife.”

“Ty Lee.” Harry said, finally understanding as the girl in question began nuzzling his cheek like a kitten.

“Yes,” Azula kissed his forehead as she sat down on the ground beside him and rested her own head on his shoulder. “She has never made a secret of her attraction to you, I like her as well, and she is my closest friend. There are a few others I would consider sharing you with at the moment but she is one of them. Is she agreeable?”

“Yeah, Harry?” Ty Lee giggled happily and planted a smooch right on his shocked lips. “Am I agreeable?”

Azula giggled herself and tapped the tail that seemed to have wrapped around her waist with a mind of its own. “I’d say this is speaking volumes for him. Ty Lee, one of the first things you must learn as part of the royal harem is how to read Harry’s stunned silences. It doesn’t take much to floor him.”

Ty Lee snickered and leaned over to kiss Azula as well. “I’ll have to learn how best to read the both of you.”

Outside calls of “Land Ho!” Alerted them to their proximity to the coast and Harry promptly scooped both women up like bags of sand by slinging his arms around their waists and charged up the stairs as fast as he could. The Fire Nation was as much his home as everyone else’s aboard, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss his rooms there as well. He’d gotten quite cozy in the palace after returning from the war.

He only came to a skidding stop by the rail when he reached the side of Iroh and Zuko; the latter of whom had open tears falling from his eyes. The former gave the two girls under his arms a side eye, but only ended up sharing a knowing grin with Azula before looking back out at the rapidly approaching dock.

Iroh offered, “There is likely to be a Triumph in your honor. Are you ready?”

Harry set his betrothed down on the deck and leaned his head against Azula’s. “Must we go through that, master? This doesn’t need to be a spectacle.”

Zuko dried his face and glowered at the others. “With my father everything is a spectacle. We’ll just have to suffer through it. I imagine he’ll want to parade the Dragon of Calamity before the populace to increase his popularity and arouse excitement for the coming marriage. He’ll have leaked the knowledge of the event that draws us forth to the people weeks ago to build anticipation.”

“It is better to simply suffer through it.” Iroh agreed.

Meanwhile Ty Lee began hopping in place and kissing both Harry and Azula’s cheeks repeatedly as she exclaimed, “Yay!!!! I love a good parade!”

Two Hours Later

The streets of the capital were packed to overflowing with the populace. People cheered, screamed with joy, and reached their arms up to the large platform being pulled through the main thoroughfare by a dozen rhinoceros-oxen. Fireworks were lighting the air above as a marching band paraded behind, and all the while Harry and Auzla, both clad in their most impressive sets of armor, waved from the highest point on the platform as the twin official advisors to the Fire Lord stood below proclaiming the greatness of their passenger’s deeds.

“He made the walls of Ba Sing Se shudder!”

“She subdued the avatar’s friends with one swipe of her chain-whip!”

“He traveled to the world beyond our own and gained arcane knowledge and the power to move mountains!”

“She tamed the heart of the Dragon!”

“Join us in exultation for our Princess and our glorious Ember Knight! Azula and Harry! May their wedding be blessed!”

The people cheered all the more and the procession followed through. Zuko and Iroh were not present for it however, and had been bundled down the less populous roads to the palace ahead of them. The Fire Lord didn’t want the people to get a long enough view of his disappointment of a son when he desired everyone’s attention elsewhere.

It wasn’t a huge problem for Harry though, and after a while of waving and offering what seemed to be the entire population of the city his love, he decided to do one better. So, he swiftly front flipped down to the base of the slow moving platform and pulled his erhu free of its place over his shoulder. If it was even possible the cheering increased in fervor into a fever pitch before he raised his bow high and cast a wide area silencing charm for several meters surrounding him. The people seemed to get the message easily enough from there and then he began to play.

{The Last Of The Mohicans - Erhu Cover by Eliott Tordo Ft. Valentin Catil}

Seeming to take his cue, Azula pulled her flute from one of her sleeves and quickly began to accompany him; meanwhile the sky filled with images of victory and triumph that followed them all the way to the gates of the Fire Palace until the gates slammed close behind them.

In contrast to their immediate experience the space ahead was remarkably barren of people. No doubt they were all off getting the necessary items and locations prepared for the wedding. The advisors stayed long enough to tell them that the Fire Lord was expecting his Knight in the audience chamber and then scurried off to do who knew what.

The teenagers shared a knowing look before Harry leaned down and kissed his soon-to-be wife one last time. “Head on inside. I’ll deal with the big bad Fire Lord.”

“Thank you, Beloved.” Azula leaned into him for a moment before taking her leave. It had taken her a long time to realize the monster her father was turning her into, and she had no desire to let him attempt to sink his claws into her again. She also knew her betrothed was far too useful to be eliminated by the man so she felt safe enough leaving him be for the time being.

Harry wasn’t sure if it was his newly enhanced instincts and… urges, but he couldn’t help but stare long and hard at the girl’s posterior as she jogged away. It was… entrancing. He only looked away when she turned a corner of the building heading to the royal apartments, likely to begin the lengthy process of preparing for the ceremony that night. He remembered Master Iroh had mentioned something once long ago about the ceremony including something in the range of eight outfit changes. He honestly couldn’t imagine what that might look like.

Deciding that he’d made the big guy wait long enough he slung his erhu back and rested his staff on his shoulders before making his way inside at an unhurried pace. The ceremony wasn’t for several hours yet after all. All around he saw the usual sight of palace bureaucrats and servants bustling about to get the massive structure ready for the day, but this time their numbers were doubled, likely to cater to the grand spectacle that was to come their way, even if the wedding itself was going to take place at the central temple just off the coast of the capital. It was tradition that the Sages officiated weddings in the heart of their faith. A sign of their devotion to the nation and the divine blessing of royal unions.

He came to a stop at last in front of the great bronze doors to the Fire Lord’s audience chamber. Well, he’d left the big guy waiting too long as it was. Time to get the worst part of the day out of the way before the best could begin.

Elsewhere

Azula had been bustled into her old rooms almost from the moment she left Harry’s side, and at once a veritable army of servants had stripped her, bathed her, and sat her still dripping on a chair before her wall-length mirror. From there a towel had bound her hair to make sure it dried straight and without any knots and a scented blindfold had been slipped over her eyes as her finger and toe nails were trimmed and polished and a rejuvenating paste was layered over her face.

As much as it irked her to sit still for so long the princess had already expected the spa treatment, and she couldn’t deny the shoulder massage that had started midway through was just lovely. Oddly enough, once that action started all the tittering conversations of the servants cut off and once their multitude of tasks were done her keen ears took immediate note of the way their feet scurried out of the room, leaving her alone with the apparent masseuse.

For ten minutes more nothing was said or done differently until at last the massage ended and the blindfold was gently pulled free. Azula was struck dumb by the sight that greeted her as it did. So much so that she couldn’t bring herself to speak a word as the woman behind her continued unwrapping the towel and running her long, well maintained, fingers through the long locks she held.

“Hm,” the woman smiled softly in the reflection of the mirror and started running a comb through it all, “you always did have such lovely hair.”

“W-What are you d-doing here?” Azula gulped and began to shake softly in her seat. Years of pent up anger, resentment, and sheer longing rising to the surface of her mind in seconds. She’d not prepared for this. She’d not thought it possible. She’d not dared to hope that this woman would even deign to acknowledge she’d arrived back in the capitol; not with Zuko also at last back in the country. She never had before.

“I didn’t want to miss my own daughter’s wedding.” Ursa, wife of the Fire Lord, and mother to Azula and Zuko, lowered one hand and cupped her daughter’s chin from behind, stroking her cheek and not ceasing her combing as she did. “It’s a mother’s duty to prepare her daughter on their big day. You look absolutely beautiful, dear.”

Azula couldn’t bear it, the tenderness, the notes of affection in her mother’s voice, or the kindness in her gaze that she had been bereft of all the years she spent within their family home before leaving for the front lines, and the ones that followed before her brother’s banishment. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes as she gripped the arms of her chair like lifelines and said, “Don’t try to act proud now, mother.” The moisture grew thicker. “Not… not today. I can’t take platitudes or false emotion today. I know the way you look at me. The way you’ve always looked at me since my bending revealed itself when I was five. I could see it in every glance, every scowl, every move you made to hide Zuko behind you when I walked by in the halls. You think I’m a monster.” She tried to look away, to hide the tears that were finally falling down her face, but her mother’s hand took a gentle hold of her chin and finally turned her to look at her in full instead of her reflection.

Azula saw that her mother was older now. Not much, but there were small bits of gray in the edges of her hair that hadn’t been there before, and the lines of her face were harsher, wiser. And for once there was real kindness in her eyes. Kindness directed at ‘her’ and not Zuko. For the first time in her living memory Ursa was actually looking at ‘her’.

“Azula,” Ursa cupped both sides of her face and stared into her eyes, “You’re confused, and you’re right to be. I… I have not been a good mother to you. It has taken a long time, and many firmly written letters from your uncle and betrothed, but I finally see that. And I have never thought you a monster. I love you.” Her hands moved back behind her head and began to braid her hair with the deftness of long hours of practice. “But not all husbands are like the one you are soon to have. Not all marriages are kind. And not all people are equal. This is something that I know you know well.”

“What does that mean?” Azula gulped, but could not tear her gaze away.

Ursa sighed softly. “It means that what your father and I have has never been love. He is a hard man. A cruel man. But one that I learned to live with as long as I never took my eyes off of him. But when your bending arrived before your brother’s I saw the look in your eyes, awe, power, and vicious delight, and it was so much like Ozai’s. I… I was afraid that you were like him, and I was even more afraid for your brother. His bending didn’t show until a year after your own, and I believed that Ozai would do him harm if it meant putting you in his place. You, his prized student and preferred heir. I had to make a choice. Zuko needed me more; he needed my protection; he needed an ally in his corner at all times to make sure he lived long enough to take the throne. I put everything I could into making sure he survived, but I didn’t realize how much that effort was pushing you aside until it was far too late to change things.” She finished the braid and pulled it over her daughter’s shoulder with finality. “Then the Agni Kai happened.”

Azula shuddered at the memory. She could still see it clear as day in her mind’s eye. Her brother kneeling before their father as she stood in the arena stands beside her betrothed and uncle. Zuko refusing to fight and Ozai sneering down at him with contempt and his fist aflame. The Fire Lord called his heir a sniveling coward in need of a lesson in respect and engulfing his head in fire. When the smoke cleared her brother was curled up on the ground clutching his face and her mother, impossibly, was standing in front of him with her hand still raised in the knife-like motion she’d used to redirect the main force of the attack. The Fire Lady hadn’t been fast enough to save her son’s eye, but utilizing the skill she’d inherited from her grandfather she had prevented him from being completely blinded.

No one in the crowd could hear what was said between them, or how she had justified interrupting the sacred proceedings of an Agni Kai, but the next thing anyone knew the leader of their nation was looping his arm through hers and leading her from the field. In seconds Harry and Iroh were at Zuko’s side to work on healing him, but the damage was too extensive for even the Shield of the Fire Nation to prevent the scarring, even if he did heal the eye’s vision. The next day they all received notice that the prince was banished until he could find the avatar and Harry, Azula, and Iroh had gone with him as a form of protest and show of solidarity

“What did you do?” Azula whispered.

“I promised him I’d let him start trying for a second boy.” A sad smile crossed the woman’s face as she continued, “Once he had an heir and a spare the terms of our marriage contract were met. He had no more legal right to my bed. I gave him that permission to come back to it and he spared your brother.”

Azula blinked, “But it’s been years and I’ve heard nothing about a new brother or sister?”

Ursa cracked a wry grin and shot back, “Yours was not an easy birth, dear. Only the palace healers knew how hard it really was so I was dealing from a position of utter strength. I can’t have any more children, but your father didn’t know that at the time. It saved Zuko’s life.”

The Fire Lady moved over to the dresser and grabbed a light makeup brush and a bit of charcoal blush. “Now let’s get you ready for the first day of the rest of yours.”

More than a bit touched by the connection that was being offered, Azula nodded her thanks.

Ursa swallowed thickly at the acceptance and then let a wry grin cross her face. “Now what’s this I hear about you initiating a royal harem?”

The Fire Lord’s Audience Chamber

“I don’t like to be kept waiting.” Ozai was sitting on his plinth above several rows of flames, staring imperiously down at the Sage below. It spoke volumes that he didn’t even flinch at his tail or his new look.

Harry reflected that the man probably had a spy on his ship that would need dealing with. He’d be sure to tell Azula; she liked ‘dealing’ with traitors. Kneeling before the throne Harry replied, “The palace was my first stop after the Triumph. If you felt my pace was too slow then you can blame your elders who organized it.”

The flames around the dais blazed higher for a few seconds before settling down once more in time with the Fire Lord’s mood. “I will. Now, as my General, how many ships will you need to take the North for me?”

“Three.”

“Only three?” Ozai asked skeptically.

Harry nodded. “I could take the North on my own, but I’ll need a ship to carry me and my group there and two carriers to occupy the Northern Water Tribe once I’ve won.”

“You are very confident.”

Harry raised a brow, “And you must be equally so if you wanted to be so insistent on my taking command of this offensive. Trust in my expertise and power and I will see the North added to the empire.”

Ozai stared down at the Sage and grinned at the sheer confidence he displayed. Honestly the idea of giving the lad command had been a stroke of genius if he did say so himself. The leader of the Fire Nation was far from blind to the influence young Harry had with the military. It was useful to tie that influence to him now through marriage, and more so if he won the North and gained acclaim immediately after such a union still fresh in the populace’s mind. It would make his family all the more popular. However, if Harry lost the campaign then that influence would disappear and a potential rival to his ultimate authority would be swiftly removed from consideration. As shown with his brother, failure was not rewarded with confidence. No matter the outcome it was a win for him.

“Very well. You shall have your three ships.”

“And an end to Zuko’s banishment.”

The grin fell away at once. “Excuse me?”

“You hear me, my lord. You sent your son out on a wild goose-bird chase but you were wrong. The avatar does exist, and he is back. At this point you have the entirety of your military looking for the kid so should they be exiled too until they find him? No, Zuko has done everything you’ve asked of him and more, and I can’t have my second in command following me in dishonor.”

“Your second in command?”

“It's about time the people see their crown prince in a role of authority, don’t you think?”

Ozai growled visibly for several moments before finally nodding. He could see Harry wasn’t going to budge and he’d already committed too many favors and resources to this campaign to allow the brat to walk out now if he didn’t meet his demands. “Fine. It will be announced to the people during the Royal Presentation. I suppose you want Iroh back on the war council as well?”

“Hardly. He’s the best advisor I could hope for. He comes with me.”

“Very well. How will you accomplish this fine feat of yours if you won’t use superior numbers?”

“I’d rather make that a surprise, but suffice it to say I’ll be showing a certain master that the student has surpassed him. I don’t expect a huge loss of life on either side. Merely those that ‘need’ to die.”

“General Hakoda?” Ozai guessed, well aware of the young man’s past associations with the Colonies.

A thunderous look crossed Harry’s face, breaking the cool mask he’d worn since first walking into the room. “I will not let that man live while children lie buried in the ground because of him. Eighteen civilian merchant vessels! He will burn!”

Ozai actually liked the look of murder on Harry’s face. It was one that he was very much unused to seeing. “Good. Very good. I couldn’t agree more. After the Tribe is taken, how long until I have a grandson?” His priorities were very clear.

“As long as it takes.” Harry paused for a moment as he considered what to say next. “Out of curiosity, what is your policy on royal bastards?”

Ozai found his brows raising an annoying amount of times during their conversation and this question brought about a no-different response. “Natural born children come first and those that show talent can be legitimized by my decree. Send a written appeal with evidence of their advantage to our family line and I’d approve it. Are you planning on cheating on my daughter?” Ozai wasn’t thrilled with the idea but as long as the lad gave him a true heir first he wouldn’t argue. Powerful men had needs after all and noble brides were notoriously frigid; he knew from experience.

“Azula has decided to create a royal harem. This is a double wedding.”

“To who else?”

“Ty Lee.”

The fire Lord was actually impressed. “Her family is very influential… Yes,” he mused, “yes, I can use this. My congratulations on your political foresight. I approve. Notify the elders to create a subservient portion of the vows and a position for the girl as a royal concubine and it will be done. While you are on campaign I will think on who else to add later.” Ozai was thinking of all the favors he could elicit by adding noble daughters to the Sage’s harem when the young man rudely cut off that train of thought.

“Azula is in charge of the harem. She has approval on who is included. Talk to her first.”

“You deign to tell me-”

“It is her marriage. She has the right.” Harry’s tone brooked no argument. “Push this and I will push back… violently.”

“You are sworn to defend the Royal family!”

“And I will, but I can still defend you without your legs.”

Ozai steamed for a moment, but honestly found himself impressed by the balls on the youth. If others had been present for the meeting he’d have to have him killed of course for his impertinence, but as it stood now he could deal with it later. “Fine, but I expect your harem members to be a benefit to the nation, Knight. Not just any random harlot on the street.”

“Understood.” Harry stood and bowed once more. “Was there anything else?”

“No.” Ozai waved a hand to the door. “Go and prepare yourself for the ceremony. I will see you again at the island.”

Chapter 19: The Wedding

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Time for the wedding and then… the North Pole!!!!!!!

Note: Sorry for the wait on this one. Real life got in the way for a while. Also, I wrote pretty much an entire page worth of a wedding scene involving firebending before realizing that would exclude the ceremony for nonbenders. Had to rewrite a bit after that.

Chapter Nineteen - The Wedding

Harry soared through the sky, seeking to clear his head after the annoying interaction with the Fire Lord and ruminating on the state of things to come. The siege of the North was an important event to be sure but he needed to put it aside for the moment and focus on the events currently at hand. The events that currently had his mind moving a mile a minute. He loved Azula, he did, but finally taking that final step with her: The wedding, the Presentation, and then the bedding… it was enough to drive a man crazy.

That said, he wasn’t expected until the start of the ceremony and he had a stop to make before heading to the island. Reorienting himself in the sky he dived back down toward the palace and pulled up at the last second to avoid splattering onto one of the upper terraces. As his momentum ceased he clicked his glider closed and landed in a crouch balancing on top of the railing. Ahead of him Zuko and Iroh blinked with confusion at his sudden entrance to their personal apartments for a few seconds and then came out onto the veranda to meet him.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready, young man?” Iroh smirked as he clapped his apprentice on the shoulder. “It’s a big day for you, after all.”

“Well I had news to share, and I wouldn’t think of getting ready without you beside me.” A knock sounded on the door across from them and then silence returned. “That will be the palace staff bringing my armor and robes here instead of my rooms. I figured I could fill you in on what I know and get dressed at the same time.”

“What’s there to talk about?” Zuko glared, but not at him. No, his vitriol and longing were directed at the door and the vast grounds laid out on the other side of it. The distance that he had been relegated from the heart of the palace and thus his father and mother. “We’re still not welcome.”

“Actually, we are.” Harry grinned at the sudden interest of his friend those words elicited. “Your father ‘really’ wants me to take the North for him, and he was willing to give me some concessions to make it happen. First, you are no longer banished. That edict has been repealed.” Zuko fell to his knees at that info dump, temporarily insensate at the knowledge that his shameful exile was finally at an end, but the Sage didn’t stop there. “You are also appointed my second in command on the Northern campaign. It’s time you had some real military experience outside our ship alone.” Harry clapped his hands onto the prince’s shoulders and said, “Consider this my gift to you on this auspicious day.”

Seeing his nephew was unable to speak while he processed all of that, Iroh noted, “Well done, Harry. But I sense that isn’t all?”

“Indeed.” Harry crossed the floor, opened the door, and dragged the large package left for him inside. As he began pulling the various items out and laying them on the floor before him he said, “I’ve also had you posted as my personal advisor instead of returning to your former position on the war council. I need you with me.”

“You don’t even have to ask.” Iroh smiled as he moved back into the room to help a young man he loved as much as his own son dress for the most important day of his life. “I’ve said it before, wherever you go, I go. Now raise your arms.” The young man unclipped his jade belt and did as directed. Iroh in turn lifted the ornate robe free of his shoulders and picked up the crimson replacement from the stack. “I am curious as to your plan, though. I heard through some old friends you only asked for three ships.”

Harry chuckled. “Can’t get anything past you, old man. Yes, I only asked for three ships. Our vessel and two carriers.”

“So you don’t intend to wage open war, then.”

“No.” the Sage confirmed. “I could, but thousands would die needlessly. “Master Pakku is a proud man, but he is also reasonable. I believe with the proper show of force, followed by enough opportunities to surrender with honor, and the right incentives at the end to show we won’t just be enslaving his people, this can be accomplished without a huge loss of life. The more waterbenders that survive to join our empire the better, after all.”

“I’m not sure of the ease that you expect, young man. The North Pole has never been taken by an outside force.”

“I’m not talking about ‘taking’ it. I’m talking about annexing it into the Fire Nation. Think about it; we let them keep their traditions, culture, and bending practices, and only insist that they allow our garrison to occupy them, set up colonies within their borders, and facilitate the marriage of key members of their government to trustworthy Fire Nation citizens. Perhaps patriot veterans of past conflicts. Within a few generations our two peoples will be so intertwined that it will be nigh-on-impossible to separate them.”

“Perhaps.” The older man slipped the sleeves down his charge’s arms, folded the robe closed over his chest, and then cinched it tight with his jade belt. Then he took the strange armor that the boy had made on his power journey and slipped it over his torso, followed by placing the circlet on his head. “Or perhaps you will have to unleash Calamity on the North to force them into submission. Are you willing to go that far? What limits will stop you now that you have been trained by a god?”

“Is this really the time to discuss philosophy?” Harry smirked. “Don’t we need a pai sho board to get into the heavy topics?”

Iroh chuckled low at the suggestion, but the hard light in his eyes showed that he wasn’t so easy to put off. “I’m serious, young man. You know the true face of war just as well as I. The best laid of plans can fail in an instant. Are you prepared for what might happen should Pakku not react as you expect? You promised my brother a victory and now the people will expect it as well. A dream such as yours will not come to be without sacrifice.”

Harry dropped his gaze to his hands at those words. Hands stained red with the blood of both those he’d killed and those he’d failed to save. “For a unified world, one free of hate and war, I would pay any price… even my own soul. Yes, Master Iroh, I will do what I must to see it done. Though, I would prefer not to fill an entire graveyard if it can be avoided.”

The former General stared at the back of his student’s head for several moments before nodding and returning to his usual happy demeanor. “Good. I’m glad we got that all settled. To be a General is to be one that can make the hard decisions, after all. In the end there will be no one to blame but yourself; but that also means all the praise will be yours as well when you’re successful.”

“When? Not if?” The younger man finally raised his eyes to his mentor as he slowly got back to his feet.
“Of course.” Iroh chuckled merrily and finished slipping the wrist and ankle greaves onto him. “My thoughts should be clear enough by now, young man, but in case they truly are not let me state it, I believe in you. I believe that true peace is only possible at your hands, and I believe that you will be the one to pull this world into its new age. I have trained you, raised you, and I know that you are capable of even more than you believe. If there is a path forward you will find it.” Then without waiting another moment he pulled the boy into a tight embrace. “And I am so proud to call you family on this day. I love you, Harry.”

“And I you, Master.” He hugged the bigger man right back. A short time later they went back to getting prepared but the only thing left was his great mane of black hair and there was nothing much to be done about it. It had never elected to stay styled before and this day was no different.

“I’ll be taking Mushu to the island. Can you ensure Hedwig makes it with you?”

“Of course. She’ll have a place of honor on my boat. You can’t get married without her there to carry the rings for you.”

“Very true. She’d likely claw my face off if I tried.” Harry walked to the wall and pulled his glider free, rested it on his shoulder, and clicked its fins out in preparation of soaring back out of the veranda. “You might want to splash some water on Zuko’s face. He’s looking a little lost.” And with that he took his leave.

Two Hours Later

Azula approached the front gates of the palace with Ty Lee following in her wake holding the train of her ceremonial dress behind her as an honor guard formed twin columns to lead the way out into the streets. She was in the first of her official outfits and it was taking all of her energy to walk without falling over. Whoever decided high heeled shoes were important for a wedding ceremony must have been a sad*st in her estimation.

In fact, so focused was she on watching where she stepped, that the princess didn’t notice the sight waiting in the streets until she was on the other side of the gate, but when she finally looked up she was nearly brought to tears of joy at the sight of thousands of her countrymen waiting on either side of the street with fresh cheers on their lips and endless fists of flower petals flying from their hands into the air so they might fall ahead of her path. Her country had arisen and come to celebrate her on this day and nothing could have possibly made her more happy or proud.

Forcing her calm to reassert itself before happy tears could ruin the hours it had taken to perfectly form her makeup, Azula shared a small smile with Ty Lee and then took off into the petaled street at a stern pace, her arms folded into her sleeves ahead of her and an imperial look in her eyes. The people had come to see a princess and a princess was what she would give them. As she strutted down the main thoroughfare to the docks below, the honor guard fell in behind her, and the crowd in turn fell in behind them as they passed. Every second the cheers grew louder and the sky filled with the pink glow of sunset coming into contact with thousands of cherry blossoms. It was the single most beautiful thing that the princess had ever seen and it made a perfect day even grander.

Soon enough she reached a palanquin pulled by twin rhinoceros-stallions and as soon as she was settled within beside Ty Lee she began a gentle wave to the people as they were pulled along the rest of the way to the docks, acknowledging everyone that she could in the brief window that she had to try and impart in some small way how much their open support and love meant to her.

Upon reaching the docks a hundred-woman choir began to sing the national anthem of the Fire Nation in tandem as she led her retinue’s way to the ceremonial barge, set herself proudly at its stern, and began gliding out onto the peaceful water of the bay with oar strokes from the crew smooth enough to barely seem to disturb the calm surface of the water.

She expected the short ride to pass in relative silence after everything else that had occurred, and was thus greatly shocked as tradition was suddenly cast aside in a massive geyser of water as Mushu’s great head burst out of the sea and rose level with her position, his long sinuous body keeping an easy pace with the speed of her own vessel. Her betrothed was sitting easily on its head and he had his erhu resting at a ready position in his lap.

“Harry!” Azula exclaimed delightedly as she glided over to the barge’s rail to be closer to him. “Tradition says we are to meet only at the top of the temple.”

“Well I’ve never been much for tradition.” The Sage sheepishly said as he rubbed the back of his head. “Also, I just couldn’t wait any longer to see how beautiful you’d look in your dress. In Agni’s name, you are perhaps the most beautiful you have ever been.”

The princess thanked her thick makeup for hiding the near full-body blush his words created within her. Harry was a very straightforward man, she knew, and so his compliments always carried more weight than anyone else's. “All the same, what will the Fire Sages think of this breach of protocol?”

“Nothing they haven’t already begun to say already, I’d imagine.” He noted before pulling his bow from behind his back and resting it on the strings. “Perhaps an accompaniment to the temple? I wrote a new song just for you.”

“Y-You did?” She asked eagerly.

“Of course. When I learned that we were to finally become one my mind immediately started to race with music. I put it all together and, well, this is the result.”

(A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) - Erhu Cover by Eliott Tordo)

He pulled his bow slowly and the air filled with the delightful music of his instrument that was soon paired with spectral images of himself and Azula at various points of their life together up to that moment. Them as children meeting outside his tent. Them training together in swirling forms that to the common onlooker must have seemed as if they were dancing. Them sailing the seas and playing their instruments amongst the ice shelves and upon the beaches of Kiyoshi Island. Finally, them as they were now, gliding into the fading sun as the dock of the Fire Sage’s island came up to meet them.

And all along the way the crowd of thousands waiting back on the shore filled the air with their continuous cheers and roars of congratulations. The Princess and the Knight were beloved by the people, and the people were happy to let them know it. They were even more happy for the free glimpse into their lives that they were given.

Harry reached the shore first and gingerly disembarked from Mushu’s head before walking down the wooden structure of the dock to offer his hand to his bride as her craft grew level with him once more.

“Thank you.” Azula whispered to him as her guard and servant train followed her passage. “I almost fell over there.”

Harry blinked with surprise. “You can dance along the railing of a ship without missing a step, flip over a burst of flame, dodge water whips, and swing your chain-knife in every possible direction, but you can’t walk in heels?”

“Shut up.” Azula could almost swear her blush must be showing through her makeup as she looped her arm through his. Ty Lee was certainly laughing as she gathered up her friend’s train again, and the three of them set off to mount the stairs leading to the greatest temple in the nation; meanwhile the nobles that had followed in the ship behind them grumbled at the sight of the couple already together ahead of them. Tradition dictated that the husband and wife were not supposed to meet until they both arrived at the temple after all.

For his part, Iroh simply chuckled beside Zuko and Hedwig, the latter of which happened to be decked out in her finest cavalry regalia. The rings were hanging from a silk pouch around her neck and the trio quickly fell in behind the couple as the nobles, all dressed in their finest black robes, followed with heads properly bowed, the procession rising up the mountain to reach the temple at the top. Only the Sages were allowed to wear orange at a wedding, and only the couple were allowed to wear any other color. The attendees were supposed to wear some variation of black or gray as a reminder to the newlyweds that only death would end the commitment made on the day of union.

Everyone crowded into the temple where five mats were nestled facing each other at the front of the main chamber, and over a hundred others arranged facing them. The nobles and guests knelt on the watcher’s matts, the Sages lined the opposite wall, and Harry and Azula knelt on their own mats with Ty Lee kneeling on the fifth behind and to the left of the princess adopting her place as an official concubine in the coming proceedings. As one the group waited for the next ten minutes as the bells above tolled to announce the start of the ceremony. Moments later the Fire Lord and his wife entered with the same pomp and ceremony to kneel ahead of them.

Then all was quiet as the Sages began to move. In short order they placed matching crimson shawls over the newlyweds shoulders and then set trays in front of the four of them before setting a fifth in the center with a steaming pot of tea. Harry rose, poured for the elder couple, and then returned to his seat. Only after the Monarch and his wife took a sip each, showing their acceptance of proceedings and the right of Harry as the host, did the Sages remove the pot and replace it with the betrothment contract. It was finally unrolled to the last bit of free space.

Harry and Azula signed their names, pressed their royal rings into the wet wax beside them, and then spun the contract around for the rulers to do the same. Finally Ty Lee was gestured forth and she added her own seal to the mix as well. Once everything was documented three more copies were made before the Sages held the works high and the bells rang once more.

Next was a shared round of sake in the same manner as the tea to celebrate before Harry bowed to both parents, turned, and kissed Azula deeply. The nobles all clapped properly to show their congratulations and Hedwig promptly strutted up to them before lowering her head to offer the bag. With hands that only shook a little, Harry untied the drawstring and handed one of the rings to Azula before retrieving his own. Then they placed them on each other's fingers and raucous cheers at last burst from all gathered, the necessary formalities at last completed.

In short order Ozai and Zuko went out to lead the guests to the anteroom where a feast had been prepared while Iroh and Ursa led Harry and Azula to the prepping chambers on the other end of the structure. It was time at last for the Royal Presentation.

Seeing the clear nervousness on his protege’s face, Iroh asked, “Are you ready, young man?”

“Is anyone ever?” The boy blushed as his eyes turned to the door he knew led to the shared bedroom that Azula would also be looking at from her own side. “Things… won’t be the same after this. Azula and I have never gone this far. What if I, ya know, disappoint her somehow?”

“You won’t.” Iroh chuckled at the uniform worry he would swear every groom must go through on their first nights. For sure he’d been terrified of the same thing when he married his own wife all those years ago. “Azula loves you, all of you, and what happens tonight is only going to make you grow closer as a pair. By rights you could have taken her at any time in the past but you waited for the perfect moment out of respect for her; and she knows this and cares all the more for it. There is nothing you could do to ruin what’s coming or be a disappointment to her.” The Dragon of the West comically looked around to ‘be sure’ they were alone before leaning in and hiding his next words behind his hand, “But if all else fails there’s the tricks in that scroll I gave you a while back, eh?”

Harry’s blush extended even further as he recalled the very… intricate positions drawn on the scroll his master had secretly gifted him on his thirteenth birthday. Apparently a great scholar two hundred years back had made a detailed study of every conceivable sexual position imaginable and had written them down for the enterprising scholars of the future to consider. The Sage doubted they could have foreseen the ‘instruction manual’ that it would eventually turn into. “Dirty old man.”

“Perils of growing old at all, young one. You’ll understand yourself one day. Now buck up, this is the first night of the rest of your life.” In short order Iroh divested the young man of his outer robes, armor, and then slid a silk kimono over his shoulders. “Are you sure you want the last bits?” He held out the black sash and circlet. “They’re just going to be coming off.”

“Yeah.” Harry smiled as he took the items and put them on. “The sash was a treasured gift and I would honor it. The circlet… well that is going to be serving a purpose as well.”

“Alright. You still wish to sail in the morning?”

“As soon as we can. The faster we get underway and out of Ozai’s realm of influence the better.”

“Understood. Then I shall take Ty Lee along now and get out of your hair. She’ll be set up in your bunk with her things by Azula’s by the time you return.” The old man laughed merrily at the dopey grin that came to his former protege’s face and took his leave at last. Harry swallowed the fear that remained within him and finally pushed through the last door to the room within.

What met his eyes was a cozy sleeping chamber with a large bed decked out in silk sheets and a fireplace roaring with a flame that provided the space a comfortable glow of heat. No gooseflesh was going to be found within this space. Harry, knowing what was expected, moved over to the end of the bed and sat gingerly upon it to await the mental toll that was coming. Moments later the other door creaked open and he straightened his back and rested his hands upon his knees. A Royal Presentation was essentially… a stripshow. At some point in the past some wise Sage or other had come to formulate the idea that anticipation could lead to greater virility and chances of conception. And so on the night of weddings, or in some cases when a betrothed pair were introduced, anticipation was built for the time of copulation by presenting a number of different outfits, each more revealing than the last.

When Azula entered the first time she was still wearing the outfit from the wedding. She walked before him, turned in a slow circle so he could see all of it, and walked back out. A short time later she came back in with one of the outer layers removed. Again and again she repeated the process, always coming back with one less article of clothing until at last she finally stood before him in some sort of silk bodystocking that hugged every curve without revealing a hint of skin. By that point Harry was nearly panting, and when she returned moments later in only a silk wrap across her chest and a tiny cloth of fabric around her waist he couldn’t take it anymore.

At last he rose and took her into his arms, and it was with an odd amount of relief that he realized she was just as nervous as he was. “Hey,” He cupped her chin so she would look up at him, “I love you.” The words were clearly the right thing to say as her skin, which had been shivering despite the heat of the fire, stilled against him.

“Thank you.” She whispered. It was the strangest thing. Azula had been prepared for a Royal Presentation since she was a child, but actually doing it… Seeing the way Harry’s gaze had remained riveted to her, full of lust and desire, it had nearly reduced her to a puddle of pure delight and satisfaction. Then, when he’d taken her in his arms, she’d realized that her greatest desire was about to come true and she’d nearly frozen. How shameful. Thankfully her betrothed… no, her husband, a thought that made her preen, had broken her free so that she could carry on.

Azula reached between them, and slid his sash free, smiling at the remembrance it brought her as she set it down next to her own. Then she slid the kimono from his shoulders and followed the motion by reaching out to put his hand on her chest wrap and her own at the waistband of his pants. As one they pulled the articles free and what came next… came naturally.

The Next Morning

Azula purred happily in absolute contentment as she stretched awake and opened her eyes, only to find that… the world was different? Instead of lying in a bed in the middle of the Royal Fire Temple she instead found herself lying in a bed in the middle of some kind of glen at the top of a mountain?

The slight rumbling of the chest beneath her cheek had her looking up to her amused husband’s face. “Good morning.”

“Good morning yourself, beloved.” Not feeling like moving an inch yet, the princess merely crossed her arms beneath her chin and asked, “Where are we?”

“My pocket dimension.” He supplied helpfully. “I captured a bit of the Monkey King’s world while I was training there and put it in my circlet. I thought it might be nice to wake up together in peace someplace beautiful.” He cupped her face and added, “Though I suppose anywhere is beautiful as long as you’re there.”

“Flatterer.” Azula chirped contentedly before looking over and seeing a small pool with fruits of some kind bobbing on the surface. “What’s that?”

“That?” Harry’s grin was so wide it was practically leaking into his voice. “Well, I ‘really’ didn’t like the idea of outliving you so… I mayyyyyyyy have lifted some fruits of immortality from Sun Wukong. What can I say, a prankster god trained a prankster.”

Chapter 20: Northern Welcome

Chapter Text

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Avatar the Last Airbender. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Chapter Twenty - Northern Welcome

Harry and Azula stayed in their little pocket dimension long enough to consummate their union twice more before returning to the mortal plane where they donned their clothing once more and left the temple hand in hand. It amused them greatly to see the piles of drunken nobles laid out on every available bit of space leading to the great front doors. An old superstition in the Fire Nation was that one could count the years of blissful marriage ahead from the number of guests unable to leave the shrine under their own power by the end of the night. By the looks of things the couple had a long time to enjoy each other indeed.

As Iroh had promised, their ship was docked and waiting at the bottom of the island and there was a raucous cheer of congratulations from the crew as the newly married couple boarded; it was paired with ecstatic hoots from Hedwig and a large splash from Mushu off the starboard bow. These people had been with the young ones for years and it pleased and honored them more than they could put into words that they’d finally taken the last leap in their journey as a pair.

Azula blushed at the open praise and buried her face in Harry’s chest as he led them past the raucous, and rather bawdy, praise and comments of their longtime friends until they were safely making their way down the stairs to the bunk rooms. Along the way the new Prince of the Fire Nation had ordered the ship to cast off, so all that remained was to wait until they could make contact with the carriers on the open water.

The next surprise came when they reached the door to their cabin, entered, and found a naked Ty Lee waiting for them and lying atop their bedroll. The two were stuck dumb as the other girl laughed light as the jingling of a bell and hopped lithely to her feet, taking both of their hands in her own as she dragged them back onto the ground where she’d just been.

“T-Ty Lee?” Azula gulped, her eyes unable to look away from the other girl’s clearly unblemished, slightly pink, skin. “I-I had meant to call y-you later tonight.”

“No time like the present!” The gymnast practically sang as she leaned over, kissed her best friend lovingly, and then rolled on top of Harry. “I’m your official concubine after all, and I want my turn! With both of you!”

The next two hours were spent with a crew hurriedly bustling around the deck to distract themselves from the remarkably loud and animalistic screams of pleasure echoing up the stairs from below.

The North Pole

A few weeks later saw the flotilla of Fire Nation vessels traveling at last through the frozen waters of the North Pole, and for the second time in his life Harry found himself surrounded by the perfect acoustics of massive ice glaciers surrounding his passage. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“Hey Zuko,” Harry began, the subject of his inquiry standing beside him at the side of the helm donned in his best armor for the occasion, “you’ve been practicing the drums, right?”

The Prince nodded slowly, wary of where the Knight was going with that question. “I have been training my dexterity and ambidexterity with them.” Zuko had thought instruments a waste of time for most of his life, but seeing how well Harry, his sister, and uncle performed their bending while citing their instrumental training as a huge help to their efforts had finally convinced him to try one out for himself. It had been Master Piandao that had suggested the drums to him during one of his brief breaks from his hunt for the Avatar to continue his sword training with the blademaster. Uncle Iroh had many useful connections and Piandao was one of them. The former General thought a dedicated master would teach his rather brash nephew patience… it hadn’t ended the way he’d hoped.

“Perfect.” Harry grinned, told the helmsman to continue the course, and bid Zuko to follow him outside. The Ember Knight’s keenly forged eyes had already made out the ice wall of the Northern Fortress in the distance and it wouldn’t be long before the watchman on duty took note of it as well. Plenty of time to get at least one song done before things got too heavy for the levity of music.

In short order he’d tracked down Azula and Iroh, informed them of what he wanted to do, and retrieved all of their instruments via a summoning charm. They were only too happy to accompany him. The surprising bit came from Ty Lee who began bouncing on her toes the moment she heard her core group of people were setting out to play some music. “Oh! Finally I can dance!”

Harry flew up to the crows nest under the power of his glider with Azula strapped to his chest; Zuko and Iroh set up their tsungi horn and drums at the base of the mast. The Knight had told them that he and his wife would start the piece and that they should join in as the rhythm and need met them. It was to be an improvisational number but one that could be felt by all gathered.

Once everyone was ready, and the crews of the three vessels looked up to see what all the fuss was about, Harry placed his bow to the strings, Azula hovered her lips over her flute, Iroh prepped his breath for the first bellow, and Zuko raised his mallets high… then they began to play.

(One Day + Davy Jones Theme - Eliott Tordo Erhu Cover)

The song swept through the air like a warm breeze, capturing the hearts of all who listened and filling their souls with courage. All the while illusions of ships on the sea sailed through the air and Ty Lee pirouetted around the deck with the grace of a gymnast, contorting her body to the flow of the music in ways that shouldn’t have been physically possible and lightening the mood of a previously tense atmosphere on the eve of conflict.

Harry especially found his eyes locked on the way her hips gyrated. Was this what his Sifu had meant about his changes? He could swear he hadn’t used to be this perverted before his training but as it was now he couldn’t avoid thinking about all the numerous ways in which his women were beautiful every second of the day. It seemed if he wasn’t meditating, training, or planning for the upcoming conflict all of his attention was on Azula and Ty Lee’s curves.

As the final crescendo of the piece sounded against the icy terrain the first alarm bell began to ring, signaling that the outer defenses of the Northern Water Tribe were finally coming into view of the watchmen’s eyes. It was time to get to work.

“Ready the landing craft and prepare for glory!” Zuko bellowed across the deck.

“Belay that!” Harry shot back and floated back to land beside the man. Clapping Zuko on the shoulder he explained, “Never attack a fortified position directly, my prince. It is a surefire road to madness and slaughter.”

“Surely with your power-”

“And I intend to use it to soften them up. But for all we know they might have turned the city on the other side of those walls into a killing field. I’ve seen the results of that tactic once and I refuse to lose one more man to it. Besides, a full assault will only harden the defender’s resolve to repel us. No, I have other plans.”

“You could share them with the rest of your staff.” Zuko steamed.

Harry was about to offer a flippant reply, but the sight of Iroh actually nodding in agreement with a stern expression on his face was enough to sway him back around. “Apologies, Zuko. I am so used to being in my own head… Come and speak with me and I’ll explain it all. To start, you must understand that a brutally subjugated people will only resent their conquerors, but a people brought about through compromise might be reasoned with in good faith. To that end-”

Iroh watched his student lead his nephew away along the gunwale and smirked down at Azula. “How do you think he’ll take it?”

“Not well.” The princess grinned. “Zuzu wants glory and conquest. He doesn’t yet understand Harry’s vision of the world, but he will. Now that he’s no longer exiled and has a front row seat, he’ll get to experience a world of peace brought about with the aid of his own hands. It’ll take time, but it will be glorious.”

The former General-turned-advisor looked deep into his niece’s face and smiled softly. “Marriage suits you well. You seem… calmer.”

“Oh, I am.” Azula laughed easily. “It’s like that last barrier that existed between me and Harry disappeared overnight. I feel as if I know him just as well as myself now. There are times where he doesn’t even have to tell me what to do. I know exactly what he wants and where he needs me to be.”

“Ah, newly wedded bliss.” Iroh guffawed. “It was the same way for me and your dearly departed aunt. And how are things with Ty Lee?”

“Good for the most part. Honestly I’m glad she’s able to pick up the slack in our bedroll. Harry’s Shifu wasn’t kidding when he called him a god with godly urges. Without her I’d be too exhausted to do anything else.”

“I-Indeed.” Iroh nearly choked at that. He’d never imagined himself having such a frank discussion with a member of his family about such private matters.

“But she hasn’t figured out how to actually sleep on the ground yet. It feels wrong to snuggle with Harry while she swings above us alone in her hammock.”

“Give her time, dear. She’ll get there. Now do you intend to go with Harry for the parlay?”

Azula’s soft smile turned predatory. “But of course. I always wanted to meet another one of Harry’s teachers.”

Far further on the deck Zuko’s startled exclamation of “You want to do what!?!?!?!” Had the entire crew chuckling. Each of them was well used to the antics of the Ember Knight by that point.

Two Hours Later

“Do you suppose we’ve let them stew in our presence long enough, my dear?” Harry cooed into his wife’s ear as he held her from behind at the prow of their ship.

“I’d say so, my love.” She leaned back and pecked his cheek. “So what’s first? Diplomacy?”

“I’d say shock and awe and then diplomacy. Better to deal when they have a taste of what they might otherwise be facing.”

“Can I come with?”

“Not for this part. I don’t want to hurt you by accident.”

“You couldn’t hurt me if you tried, Harry. But I’ll stay just the same. Though I do expect to be there for the next part.”

“Of course.” Harry kissed her once more for luck and then pulled away and leapt over the side of the ship to land atop the head of Mushu, who had been idly swimming around his vessel in preparation for what was coming.

“How are you, my friend?”

{f*cking cold.} Mushu answered simply. {You know I’m cold blooded, right?}

“I gave you warming charms.”

{It still sucks dick. Couldn’t we have gone somewhere warmer?}

“We will in time. And the faster we make these people submit the sooner we can leave. Are you ready to scare the sh*t out of them?”

{Better f*cking believe it.}

At that Harry performed a slow kata atop the cobra-eel’s head and formed the energies of water and air into a coil that filled the very atmosphere around him with fog so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Once all visibility was distorted he put his hands back through the gauntlets of Mushu’s whiskers and began pulling away from the flotilla.

The duo sliced easily through the frigid waves until the walls were only a hundred feet or so away from them, and only then did he release his control, pull his staff free of his back, and cut it through the air to dispel his cover, revealing his personage to each and every defender above. It was no surprise when over a hundred extremely high powered jets of water immediately shot down from the walls with enough strength to tear the flesh from his bones.

Though that was also exactly what Harry had been waiting for. He raised a hand and channeled a power that he hated. The power of magic. The second before what would have been impact the water immediately changed form, transfigured into a harmless deluge of sand. As the enemy tribesmen no doubt stared on in shock, the Sage did not rest on his temporary victory. Instead he slipped into the first waterbending stance he’d ever learned.

Motion. Motion without end. Perpetual movement that carried him in an arc surrounding the great serpent’s head as all around them water and sand began to overflow him in a great orb.

On The Walls

“What is that bastard doing?”

Pakku didn’t dignify that question with a response. Nor did he look to see which of his soldiers had broken ranks to voice it. No, his eyes were latched onto the movements of the young man below. The flawless movements. “So,” he said to himself, “the student wants to show that he has become a master in his own right. But how, I wonder…” Remembering well the story of the vaunted assault on Ba Sing Se, he thought he might have an idea. Luckily he’d prepared for just that eventuality.

“Fall back to the second wall, everyone!” He gave the order and waited until every man had descended a bended ramp to the secondary fortifications before following himself. Assuming that the Dragon of Calamity would be coming at some point he’d spent the last few years erecting a series of tiered walls instead of just one; and with the number of benders under his command that he had Pakku was certain he could repair the breaches in the inner sanctum and outer fortifications as they came while repelling any invading force before they could gain a foothold, then all that would be necessary was to fill the holes, drive out the firebenders from any ground seized in a counterattack, and then wait for the next strike. Any power great enough to destroy one wall surely had to have a drawback of time before extended use, and the other walls would hold in the meantime. Here in their stronghold the North would survive, and they would outlast the Fire Nation with ease. The only worry was how many losses his people would sustain before the enemy finally gave up and left.

At the prompting of a brisk command one of his aids brought Pakku his spyglass, and his keen eye traveled back to the bay where the strange, multi-elemental, orb had finally pulled away from the Dragon’s body and coalesced before him before condensing into the size of dinner plate. But wait… was it starting to turn red?

With Harry

‘Over and over’, he thought to himself as his arms continued their endless progression. ‘Over and over a thousand times. A thousand times a thousand. Make it tighter. Make it hotter. Forge it into something beyond what it ever could have been on its own. Give it pressure. Give it life. Give it rage.’ The coils within him grew hot as he added fire to the forge and superheated his creation. Then, at last, he brought his hands to a rest in front of his chest… and he let it all go.

For a moment nothing happened, and then the superheated water, air, and sand hot enough to melt diamond all exploded out faster than the strongest ballista could fire a bolt. The world went white. A crash of thunder sounded and echoed throughout the ice shelves. A wall existed breaking the sea in white froth… and then it didn’t.

When the light of reality returned to the world every eye that had been observing the calamitous act took note of the sea rushing in to fill the breach made in the ice shelf, and they also took note of the creator of such wanton destruction moving off on his great beast back to his ships. Harry Potter made no attempt to breach the other walls. He made no attempt to carry on.

As Pakku zoomed his lens closer to the young man’s face he saw one thing more that no one else did. He witnessed his former pupil’s lips parting to form two words that came through as clearly as if he had been standing right there next to him. “Your Move.”

Northern Water Tribe Citadel

Princess Yue was sitting alone in her bedroom atop the tallest tower in her city and staring down from her balcony at the bay below. A bay filled with the lights of the Fire Nation vessels set to conquer her home and everyone in it. It was more than a sobering sight. It was pure horror. Pakku and the elders believed they could withstand this siege, and perhaps they could… this time. But what about the next time? Or the one after that?

Yue was no fool. She’d been trained to help lead her people from the time she could walk, and thus knew of the great might of the Fire Nation war machine. Sink one ship and two more inevitably came to replace it. She had advised the elders to send messengers to the Earth Kingdom to ask for aid, but her father had outright refused the suggestion. He claimed that the Water Tribe did not ‘beg’ for the aid of others. No, they left that to the Earth Kingdom that had been utilizing their raiding vessels for years, and offering fine tribute to the tribe for the privilege.

Her father’s pride was going to be the end of them. Especially considering Master Pakku had told her in confidence that he agreed with her, yet could not publically voice dissent against the chief. She knew how much it had taken that proud man to admit to a woman that she had had a good idea, and she appreciated his candor more than words could describe. Yue only wished she knew how to save her people. She wanted to help, not stay locked in a tower waiting until a suitable husband was selected for her to lead the tribe when her father retired.

It was as these thoughts were buzzing through her head that a strange voice broke through the night behind her. “And I thought I’d seen all the beauty the North had to offer. I’m glad to have been mistaken.”

She spun around at once and saw the form of a tall, well built, man with coal blackened eyes, a furred tail twitching by his feet, and clothing of every color. She couldn’t stop the scream that came out on instinct. At once the guards burst through the door, alarmed at their charge’s clear noise of fear.

“Princess!” The lead guard rushed in, “What is the matter!”

Yue made to ask him how he could not see the over six foot monster standing right in front of them, but said monstrosity’s next words answered that question for her.

“They cannot see me, princess. No one can. I’m not really here. I suppose you could say I’m only an illusion or a trick of the mind. Now send these boys away so we can have a nice little chat, would you?”

The princess gulped and forced a serene expression onto her face. “My apologies, gentlemen. I… accidentally jabbed my foot on the door-sill.”

The guards exchanged confused looks, but there was no one else present in the royal chambers so they were forced to take their charge at her word. “Very well. Please, though, try to be a bit more careful, Princess Yue. These times are dangerous and for all we knew there could have been an assassin in here.” With that, they took their leave.

Meanwhile, the specter was meandering about her rooms and taking in her artwork. “Well you’re a terrible liar. Believe it or not I find that to be a rather endearing trait. Shall we sit down?” He gestured to a pair of chairs by her tea table and the silver haired beauty was quick to drop into one of them. She was honestly feeling a bit faint.

“Can you sit down? For that matter, who are you? And why are you here?”

The illusion seemed to consider that question for a moment before answering, “In order, I can ‘appear’ to sit, if that would ease your temperament here.” He quickly did so, sitting so close that his knees would have been touching hers had he been real. “As to who I am, well, I am Harry Potter, Ember Knight, and General of this military expedition. At your service.” He sketched a mocking bow and laughed at the woman’s gobsmacked expression. “And I’m here to offer a deal. One that I would very much like for you to carry forth to your father, and good old Master Pakku.”

“You know Pakku?”

“We’re what you might call old friends.” He leaned forward so that they were staring eye to eye with less than an inch of space between them.

Idly, Yue noted that this man didn’t seem to have any qualms about personal space. She also detected a light hint of a sweet aroma that put her in mind of Master Pakku’s pipe. How could an illusion have a scent?

“Before I explain my deal, please know that I have no wish to cause widespread carnage and destruction to your people or your beautiful city. Rather, I seek to gain their allegiance, not their supplication. As such, I vow here and now to not use the Power of Calamity from this moment forward to the end of this campaign.”

Yue didn’t think it was possible to get any more shocked than she was, but this took the cake. “Why would you give up such an enormous advantage?”

“I already said. Because it would lead to too great a loss of life. I really do not want to hurt your people any more than I have to. To that end, I hope that this concession will show the good faith with which I offer the terms of this deal.”

“What terms exactly?”