Published November 19, 2017

"Complications Again"


In life all finding is not that thing we sought, but something else. The lover on being accepted, misses the wildest charm of the maid he dared not hope to call his own. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


Katara started keeping a journal with lists of topics to write about in letters to Iroh and Hakoda. She wanted to write to Sokka and her friends too, but she had no way of knowing where they would be at a given time. The letters they sent her only reported where they had been, not their present location or future destinations. As a rule, neither party mentioned anything of significant political import in their correspondence, in case the letters should be intercepted by someone opposed to Zuko or Aang.

One morning, while Katara was writing letters, a servant came to her room with a summons. "Fire Lord Zuko would like to see you in his study."

The formal invitation seemed odd, but Katara complied. A guard let her into the room, where she found Zuko sitting at a table covered with scrolls, moving beads on an abacus.

"You summoned me, Fire Lord?" Her polite greeting carried a mixture of humor and apprehension.

Zuko looked up and grinned at her. "Hey Katara." His easy smile and amiable words reassured her, somehow, that things were not entirely professional between them. "Can you help me with something? I could use your feedback."

"Sure." She pulled out a chair and sat next to him. "What is it?"

"I've been trying to plan out a budget. I know how to do one on a small scale—I had to manage finances on my ship—but a national economy is bigger and a lot more complex."

"How can I help?" It was more of a genuine question than an offer. Neither mathematics nor economics were her strong points; they were more up Sokka's alley.

"You've seen even more of the Fire Nation than I have, since you guys traveled so much." Zuko slid a piece of paper over to her. It was a rough list of funding categories, with terms like Military, Industry, Law Enforcement, Infrastructure.

"I can think of a few things missing," Katara said, remembering the first few Fire Nation towns she had visited. "Like Education, and the Environment, and Health Care."

"You think those should be under national jurisdiction? As opposed to local?"

Katara shrugged. "I just know there have been issues with them."

"Tell me."

"Well—did Aang ever tell you about his visit to a Fire Nation school? All the propaganda he saw?" This led to a rather long story about Aang's undercover work and secret dance party.

Zuko laughed. "Of course that would be Aang's solution."

"He's very concerned with culture," Katara agreed. "Celebrating it, preserving it …"

"All right, I'll add reforming schools to the agenda. They should allow more free thinking and personal expression, though it might take time for people to accept that on cultural and intellectual levels. What else did you mention?"

"Environment and Health Care. Remember what I told you about Jang Hui?"

Zuko nodded. "There should be standards for minimal impact on the environment."

"I think the manufacture of weapons and war machinery can end altogether—"

"I thought of that too, but that would put a lot of engineers and factory employees out of work." He smiled ruefully. "You see, almost every decision that helps some people can hurt others. The fact that the war is over means that most members of the military are no longer needed. Now soldiers are returning home, and everyone wants to be paid for their service, which is only fair."

"What about officers? Are they retaining their jobs?"

"Well, I'm not shutting down the entire military, but I am letting go of a lot of it. And I created a system for interviewing political and military officials." Zuko lowered his voice, as if wary of being overheard. "It's kind of like how Sokka and Mai interviewed the servants and guards. I need to figure out who will be loyal to me."

"You mean to the Fire Nation?" Katara wondered if Zuko, like other past Fire Lords, would equate his country with himself, or value loyalty to the Fire Lord over loyalty to the Fire Nation.

But Zuko shook his head. "Our nationalism is kind of what I'm afraid of. It's what got the war started, and kept everyone thinking it was justified. Some people might think that being loyal to the Fire Nation would mean getting me off the throne."

"I see. So, who is conducting these interviews?"

"Some of Uncle's friends from the Order of the White Lotus. They're Fire Nation, which makes interviewees comfortable enough to speak honestly about their loyalties." He rested his forearms on the table, looking tired. "The war is so much a part of people's mentality that they don't know how to cope with its end. They've been raised to be proud and nationalistic, and now they learn their side lost the war, and are told that its actions were wrong. That's demoralizing, to say the least."

Katara thought she understood this, but she did not fully appreciate the reality of it until a few weeks later.

She was on her way to the dining room where she and Zuko usually ate their meals. She liked to help set the table after she helped the cooks prepare a meal. As she carried one dish to the table, she noticed one male servant she did not recognize, preparing a tea service. Katara had been trying hard to remember the names of everyone in the staff, so she said, "Excuse me. I don't think I know your name."

The young man seemed startled at being addressed. "What? Uh—it's Wu."

"I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Yeah. I'm new."

"I was thinking because the palace is so big …" Katara stopped, frowning as she thought of something. "There haven't been any new servants hired since the coronation. I know, because my brother helped interview all of them."

Wu looked at her blankly, then dropped his gaze as he wiped his hands on the apron of his uniform. "Well, um, I'm not technically employed—more like an apprentice—"

Katara raised an eyebrow at him. "Who's mentoring you?"

"The—head chef."

"Anadem?" Katara wanted to go and find her now, to see if she would corroborate the man's story, but then it occurred to her that leaving him alone with the food would not be a good idea. She eyed the tea service that Wu continued to fiddle with, adjusting and readjusting each piece of porcelain. "You seemed very interested in that tea."

"I wanted to get it just right."

"Why don't you taste it and see?"

"What? I couldn't—it's for the Fire Lord and his honored guests."

Katara smiled sweetly. "The Fire Lord's uncle, General Iroh, taught us that sharing tea is the best way to get to know a person."

Now he seemed annoyed. "You're not in charge here; I don't have to answer or take orders—"

At that moment, Zuko strode into the room, having heard only the last words spoken. "You dare speak that way to an honored guest?"

Wu blanched and bowed hastily. "I beg your pardon, Fire Lord."

"You'll have to beg her pardon," Zuko retorted.

"I'll grant it," Katara said readily, "if you, Wu, accept the first cup of tea."

The man's skin remained pale, but he set his mouth and nodded. "As you wish." He took up the teapot and poured the liquid into three cups. He handed a cup to each of them before picking up his own. "To your health." He lifted it to his lips and, to Katara's surprise, let the liquid pass through them.

Zuko raised his eyebrows, glanced at Katara, and then sniffed the beverage. His nose wrinkled, but he was not disgusted; he was remembering. "I know that smell … white jade. My uncle made tea from it once, not realizing it was—Katara, no!" At hearing that Iroh had used it, Katara had started to lift her cup to her lips, but Zuko knocked it out of her hands. The liquid onto her clothes, the table, and the floor. "He didn't know white jade is poisonous," Zuko finished, rounding on the server. The man's eyes were wide, until Zuko punched him in the stomach. The man spat out the tea he had been holding in his mouth and fell back on the table.

"Guards!" Katara shouted, as Wu tried to get away. Zuko was much quicker, though, and managed to seize his wrist and hold him down until the closest guards arrived. By this time Avanti and Anadem had also come in from the kitchen and were watching in mild horror.

"It was s'posed to be simple," the would-be assassin muttered as the guards cuffed him.

Zuko had the guards hold the man up so he could face him. "Did someone send you, or did you come on your own?"

"I'm not saying anything."

Fire spilled from the fingers of Zuko's clenched hand, which he drew back in preparation to strike the man. "Tell us!"

The man's eyes widened in fear, and he blurted out, "Some of the generals you fired! I served under them, and they sent me."

Zuko pushed him into the arms of the guards, who seized him and put him in handcuffs. "I want names, ranks, and every detail of this plot."

It was a terrible way to end the day. Their peaceful dinner was ruined, as they now had to ask for someone to volunteer to taste their food and drink, and a physician to stand by in case the taster was poisoned. For Zuko it was an annoyance, for Katara it was a kind of humiliation.

They had known there were people who did not want Zuko as Fire Lord, who had benefited more from Ozai's regime and the continuance of the War. But knowing that they wanted to hurt him stung Zuko, and frightened Katara, though they both tried not to show it.

When they were alone, Zuko asked her for a favor. "I doubt this will stay a secret for long, but … please don't mention this in your letters."

Katara agreed. Though she did not like the idea of keeping secrets, the last thing they wanted was to worry their relatives, or put news like this in messages that could be intercepted.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Katara added, "We wouldn't want Iroh to know that someone tried to use tea to kill you. It would scandalize him."

Zuko smiled at the thought, but the humor did not reach his eyes. They held each other a little more tightly when they said goodnight.


Aang, Toph, and Sokka stayed briefly on Kyoshi Island, at Suki and Oyaji's insistence. Not all the Kyoshi Warriors were there, since they had split into groups to help maintain the peace in parts of the Earth Kingdom mainland, but those who were still on the island were pleased to have Sokka with them once more. Aang's fangirls annoyed Toph, but when he noticed this, he deflected some of their attention to her by urging her to show off her unique skills. Most of the people on the island had never seen an earthbender before, and none of them had known that metalbending was possible!

Though he enjoyed being received as a war hero, Sokka was despondent about leaving Suki behind, despite her reassurances and promises that they would see each other again.

"I wonder if I should just … go ahead and propose marriage, or something," Sokka mused when he was alone with Aang in their guest room. "I mean, I think we're that serious. I can't see myself with anyone else, and I don't plan on dating or anything while we're apart."

"Well, if you think it makes sense, go ahead," Aang said. "You guys are old enough, and your dad likes her."

"Yeah, but now that we're doing different things it might seem weird … like, we should be spending the engagement getting ready to live together, and we wouldn't be doing that. Plus, I don't have a necklace, and I haven't talked to either of our parents about it, and then we'd have to figure out where to have the ceremony and …" Sokka made a sour face as he contemplated everything that would come with such a momentous decision. "Yeah, with everything we have to do, it's probably better to wait."

Since Sokka was feeling so gloomy about being away from his girlfriend, Aang privately suggested to Toph that they minimize their displays of affection while Sokka was around, at least for a while. Toph was fine with this arrangement. She was not as clingy as Aang, but she welcomed physicality because that was how she perceived everything around her. Who needed words when they could feel each other's breaths and heartbeats? She did not care for his lovey-dovey professions and promises, but she reveled in the fact that she was the only one who could make his heart beat so fast.

Toph gradually came to understand her mother's concern about them getting too intimate. She didn't want that level of intimacy, but she was starting to see why someone would want to, and suspected that she might someday. When she and Aang kissed, hugging each other and running their hands over each other's skin and clothes, he sometimes asked her to stop, as though afraid. She teased him on this point, but obliged and backed off, pleased that she had this unique power over the most powerful bender in the world.

They traveled between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation colonies to promote the Harmony Restoration Movement and plan out the steps it would take. Toph often wanted to sit out these boring meetings, but as an Earth Kingdom citizen her presence was valuable to the Avatar and the Water Tribe warrior. She was happiest, though, when they were able to have fun in the towns, or practice earthbending in the open areas.

Then, so gradually that it hardly gave them cause for concern, something happened that changed their plans.

Toph first noticed the phenomenon while they were shopping. "That's weird," she murmured, fingering her meteorite bracelet.

"What is?" Aang asked curiously.

"My bracelet just did something. It was … vibrating."

"You mean like how vibrations in the earth feel to you?"

This caught Sokka's attention. "Do you think someone else was metalbending?"

Toph snorted. "I doubt it." But she looked and sounded wistful.

When it happened again, a few weeks later, Toph admitted that she wished she knew other people who could metalbend. "I know being one-of-a-kind is cool, but. Being the only one was a little lonely."

Aang and Sokka exchanged an incredulous and disparaging look that she could not see. "How do you think I feel about being the only airbender?"

"Or how Katara felt as the only waterbender in our tribe?" Sokka added. "Or how she feels now, being the only waterbender in the Fire Nation?"

"Okay, okay, point taken. And don't get me wrong, I'm proud that I was the one to figure out how to do it, but sometimes I think others might be able to if they just tried hard enough, the way I did. I only found out I could do it when I tried really hard. And it wasn't just physical like most earthbending; it was mental too."

"If you want other people to be able to do it, you need to publicize the fact that it's possible. Most people still don't know that."

"Yeah, you're right. All I needed was some motivation. Getting trapped in a box was pretty good motivation."

Aang gave her a skeptical, slightly concerned look. "You're not gonna do that to the people who shook your bracelet, are you?"

"No, but I'm going to tell them what they can do. Otherwise they might never have the chance to find out."

Aang suddenly smiled. "You know what this reminds me of? When I had to convince you to be my teacher. You'll be doing the same thing, only you'll be trying to convince people to be your students."

"Yeah, well, some people need a push from the outside."

"Could you show me how to do it?"

"Sure, you can try." Toph removed her meteorite bracelet and closed her fist around it, bending it into an asymmetrical lump. Then she passed it to him. "You know the theory, right? You said Guru Pathik told you about it."

"Yeah, from a philosophical point of view. I think it was symbolic for him."

"Well, see if you can feel the earth inside. Then it should be easy."

Aang spent hours turning the metal over in his hands while Sokka steered Appa. He tried to focus on it the way he focused on candleflame while meditating. But no matter how much he concentrated or opened his mind, strained or relaxed his body, he could not make it move or change shape.

"Maybe I just don't have the mindset for it," he said finally, handing the blob back to Toph that night.

Sokka spoke up. "Maybe it's like Katara's healing abilities. Not every waterbender has them. I bet lightning works the same way with firebenders."

"Do airbenders have rare subtalents?"

Aang shrugged. "Not that I know of." Then he became thoughtful, trying to remember. "I think there are legends of people 'becoming wind' or learning to fly, but I don't know if they're historical, or just fables."

"I think this makes us even," Toph said. "I can do something you can't, and you can do things I can't. That's why we complete each other."

Aang agreed, though he was secretly disappointed that metalbending was not something he and Toph would be able to bond over. He tried to think of other activities instead.

One day, while Toph was taking some time to herself, Aang brought up an unexpected but not surprising subject. "Hey, Sokka, can I ask you for some advice?"

"Uh, yeah, if you want."

"I've been thinking about setting up … a date."

Sokka looked at him in surprise, then snorted and started to cackle as if Aang had just told a hilarious joke. When he caught his breath he gave Aang an incredulous but amused look. "A date with Toph?"

"Yeah. The thing is, I've never been on one. It wasn't really part of Air Nomad culture."

"Yeah, they wouldn't have been, would they? Everyone was a monk or a nun."

"You went on dates with Yue and Suki, right? What did you do with them?"

Sokka folded his arms, thinking back. "Well, with Yue things were complicated—I don't know if I'd call those meetings dates. We planned to meet on a bridge … I don't know what we would've done then, probably just talked or walked around the city. Another day, I took her for a ride on Appa. She loved that. So I guess a new or thrilling experience is good."

"Toph does new and thrilling things all the time."

"True," Sokka conceded. "She's hard to impress."

"What about Suki?"

"We got to hang out on Ember Island. While you were swimming or firebending or otherwise goofing off, Suki and I did a lot of sightseeing. We found a game arcade, a restaurant … and before we left Kyoshi Island, we had a private dinner to say goodbye. That was nice."

"I can't see Toph really going for a formal evening. She's not into that stuff, you know?"

"I guess not. But …"

"But what?"

"I'm just thinking. The point of dating, or courting, is to get to know someone so you can decide whether you want to marry them. You and Toph already know each other pretty well, and you're always spending time together because you live together. Of course, when you're living with other people too, it's nice to have time with just the two of you. If that's what you're going for … just tell Toph you want to spend time together, and ask her what she wants to do."

Aang followed this advice. When he asked Toph what she thought of the idea, she did not seem to understand the point of such fuss. "Honestly, we could do the stuff we already do, just without Sokka. Only that doesn't seem really fair to him, since he doesn't have anyone else to hang out with."

"I guess you're right." Aang thought it a good thing that Toph could not see his disappointed expression and posture. Still, she had a point. Sokka was missing his girlfriend, his sister, and his father. Isolating him would not be fair.

They were in a ramen house when it happened a second time. A rotund youth made a ruckus, standing and upsetting his table as he screamed. "ACK! Doom! I swallowed a mouthful of doom!"

Sokka snickered, Aang raised his eyebrows, and Toph touched her bracelet. "It happened again. When he yelled, my bracelet was shaking." Toph's eyes widened. "Maybe it's not random. Maybe it's happening whenever I'm near someone being really emotional."

"Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation," Sokka pointed out.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that could just be a coincidence."

"Maybe. But if it's not, it'd be a shame to let it go." Toph stood up. "I'm going to talk to him. You guys can go back to the campsite when you're done; I'll meet you there."

As Aang and Sokka left, Toph approached the boy and asked, "What was all that about a minute ago?"

"There was a spider-wasp in my soup!"

"I see." Toph refrained from commenting on how much of a crybaby he had been by overreacting that way. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Uh …"

Without waiting for an answer, Toph sat down across from him. "What's your name, kid?"

He looked at her warily but answered, "Ho Tun."

"You're an earthbender, aren't you?"

"Y-yes?"

Toph swiftly pulled off her bracelet and planted it on the table in front of him. "Bend that."

"What is that?"

"A bracelet made from a meteorite."

Ho Tun poked the bracelet with a chubby finger, frowning. "It feels like metal. I can't bend that."

"You haven't even tried."

"It's unbendable."

"Says you." Toph flicked her hand in the air, and the bracelet rose and began to change shape.

Ho Tun gaped, astonished almost to the point of fear. When Toph dropped the metal back onto the table, he looked at her in awe. "Wh-who are you?"

She smiled, both happy and excited. "I'm Toph Bei Fong, master of earthbending and inventor of metalbending, and I'm going to change your life."


It was after dark when Toph returned to the campsite. "That took a while," Aang remarked pointedly.

"We had a lot to talk about."

"How'd it go?" Sokka asked.

"He's skeptical. He doesn't think he has what it takes, and he says he doesn't want to leave home and travel aimlessly."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not giving up on him. I just need to rethink my idea of teaching metalbending."

Aang and Sokka thought that would be the end of the metalbending school idea. But Toph noticed her bracelet shaking two other times. Whenever it happened, she spoke with the emotional earthbender and asked if they would be interested in joining a school.

Finally, one night, as they ate their dinner around a small campfire, Toph announced that she had arrived at a decision. "I can't just ask people to come travel with us to learn metalbending," Toph reasoned. "I need to find a more permanent place, with access to earth and metal."

"But what about the Harmony Restoration Movement? You can open a school any time in your life, but the Harmony Restoration Movement needs to make progress now."

Toph nodded in acknowledgement. "If I'm going to make this metalbending teacher thing happen, I think I need to break off from you and Sokka."

"What?"

"Parents don't want to just let their kids go flying around the Earth Kingdom. But they'd be willing to send their kids to a specialized school with a fixed location. Plus, it'd probably make the students more comfortable to be on solid ground, and they should be as comfortable as possible, because metalbending is going to take a lot of grit."

"But … but …" Aang sputtered.

"But what?"

Aang cleared his throat. "Sokka, can you give us a few minutes?"

"Sure." Sokka scooped up some fruit and carried Momo some distance away.

"What'll this mean for us—for you and me?" Aang demanded. He almost trembled as he spoke his next words. "Are you … do you want to break up with me?"

Toph was genuinely taken aback, almost indignant. "Of course not! We're not severing ties, just separating for a while. Like Sokka and Suki. If they can make it work over a long distance, so can we. You'll help Zuko with the Harmony Restoration Movement, and I'll work on training metalbenders."

"But on Ember Island, you said you'd stay with me."

Toph frowned, thinking back to their conversations. The night of their first kiss, they had argued about whether they would stay together after the war. "Did I actually say that? I remember you asked, but I never made any promise."

Aang glowered at her. Toph shrugged. "Well, it's not like we're going on opposite sides of the world. If you keep up the Harmony Restoration Movement, you'll be in the area. You can visit me anytime."

"No, I can't, just when I have time to spare, which I probably won't have for a while, with everything that needs to be sorted out."

He expected Toph to have a comeback, but she gave none. Aang huffed and picked up his glider, opened it and took off, leaving Toph alone.

Sokka saw Aang ascending, and figured that meant it was okay for him to return. He looked between Toph on the ground and Aang in the sky. "I think you hurt his feelings."

Toph harrumphed. "It's his fault for being so clingy and making everything seem 'official'. We kissed, and we're always gonna be in each other's lives, so why do we need a label like 'together' or 'broken up'?"

Sokka scratched his head, trying to find the right words. "I think it's like the difference between being married and being single. If you're in a steady, exclusive relationship with someone, you don't date someone else."

"That makes no sense. That's what people get married for. If you're not married, you can kiss and date and do what you want with whoever you want."

Sokka looked at her skeptically. "So if Aang found another girl to hang out with and kiss, you wouldn't mind?"

Toph paused. She tried to imagine how that would feel in the earth beneath her feet. It made her want to bend a wall up between Aang and this phantom girl.

But she and Aang were still distinct people, and she wanted freedom for him as much as for herself.

Toph shrugged and replied, "He can do what he wants."


Aang landed on Appa's saddle, out of the perception of Toph's feet, in time to hear her say to Sokka, "I thought Aang would help me find places for sale or rent. I can't read signs or advertisements. Will you help me?"

"Sure, I guess," Sokka answered.

"Great!" he spat. "Are you going to leave too, Sokka?"

The Water Tribe boy was bewildered at being the subject of Aang's anger. "What? No, I already promised—"

"If you're going to join Suki or go back to the Water Tribe, you can tell me up front."

"Hey!" Toph pointed at Aang. "If you're mad at me for wanting something that doesn't revolve around you, don't take it out on Sokka."

"Revolve around me?" Aang repeated incredulously.

"Yeah. You're not a student who needs a teacher anymore. There are other people who need me now."

"And these strangers are more important to you than me?"

"What if you found people who could airbend? Wouldn't you want to teach them?"

This hypothetical made Aang falter. Toph nodded. "I thought so." Having nothing else to say, and not wanting to prolong the argument, Toph stalked away, sat on the ground, and bent her earth tent around her.

After a moment, Sokka spoke up. "Are you upset that it's something you can't share with her?"

Aang sank down to his knees in dejection. "Yeah, maybe that's part of it."

Sokka put a hand on his friend's shoulder and spoke reassuringly. "I'm not gonna leave you by yourself, buddy. Katara would never forgive me if I did. You're family to us."

"Yeah. I thought Toph felt that way too."

"I think she does. She's just not as attached to family. I mean, she left her parents, and even when she made up with her mom, she left her again. Toph may be an earthbender, but she's not exactly rooted in terms of her lifestyle. She likes having freedom."

"I know that; I was the one who helped her get it!"

Sokka nodded. "Yeah. That's probably one reason why she loves you. You showed her how to be free. You still show people how to be free. But when you're in a relationship … I guess you have to figure out what freedom means for you, as individuals and a couple."

Aang looked up at the night sky. He thought he saw a shooting star, which reminded him of the night he and his friends witnessed a meteor shower, and how he had tried to describe stars to Toph. "I just … I knew Team Avatar wouldn't be together forever, even if we all survived the war. But I didn't think we'd be so fragmented so soon."

"Yeah. I get that." Sokka added some wood to the fire, and watched it settle before he addressed Aang again. "Look, we all went through a lot together. We changed the world. And the world is still changing, recovering from everything it went through in the past hundred years. We're trying to help it settle, but at the same time, we're trying to figure out how to settle, and we all have different things we want to do. That's going to take time. We can't expect too much too soon."

Aang hugged his knees to his chest, staring into the fire. "I guess you're right."

They went to sleep soon after that. In the morning, Aang was waiting outside Toph's earthen tent when she came out. He stood up and said, "I'm sorry I got mad last night. I respect and support your decision. If you want to leave, I won't hold you back."

Toph was taken aback. He had been so sad and angry before, but now he sounded … almost detached. Like the way he had acted at the Serpent's Pass.

"Well," she said finally, "I still need to find a place."

"Then we'll ask around wherever we go."

"Okay."

"Okay."

They did not argue about the matter again, but it did not feel resolved. Sokka could tell they did not feel at ease with each other. But they acted as though everything was fine, so he let them be.