On the fifth day of Christmas
Title: Bitter Earthquake Weather
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Characters: Iroh, Long Feng, Katara
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1200+
Summary: Iroh has never met Long Feng in his life. This is perhaps why it went unnoticed for so long.
Author's Notes: Please read jakia's Resistance is Futile first since it explains so much of what's going on in here.
Also, for the purposes of this story, I'm using a different theory of how 'bending works than I usually do.
---
Bitter Earthquake Weather
***
Iroh had never met Long Feng in his entire long life. He had heard quite a bit about the leader of the Dai Li from the children. About what a ruthless man he was, about how he ruled the Earth Kingdom in everything but name, about his manipulations and deceits. He knew to be wary of the man. He expected to dislike him.
He had not expected his heart to jump in shocked recognition as he laid eyes on Long Feng, had never expected to hear that voice again. That man was dead, dead for six years now, deaddeaddead, Lu Ten was dead.
Lu Ten was dead.
...
They'd never recovered the body, had they?
("They did something to Jet," Katara said softly. "Changed his mind somehow. Made him do what they wanted.")
Long Feng had green eyes. Lu Ten's had been gold, like his uncle and grandfather. Like his cousin. But Long Feng had green eyes, and they said he was an earthbender of some power. The Dai Li could not change a man's 'bending.
The voice was exactly the same. How could Long Feng have Lu Ten's voice?
Later, Iroh had no idea how he went through the rest of the meeting, though he blessed its relative brevity. The more he saw of the man, the more he saw little touches of gesture that made his heart ache.
Lu Ten had been dead for six years. Six years. Six long, long years that had destroyed Iroh, burned him to the ground. He had arisen from the ashes as someone new, someone he dared to think was better.
Six years. Long Feng had been the Cultural Minister of Ba Sing Se for six years.
***
Zuko trusted Iroh with his life. Toph trusted Iroh. Aang trusted Iroh. Katara kept that little litany up as she puttered around the kitchen in his apartment, making food for lack of anything better to do. Iroh had gone up to the palace to serve tea to the Administrator - her mouth turned at the thought of that man - and there was little in Ba Sing Se that interested her. She'd already lingered longer than she meant to, from one warm touch on her wrist.
The outer door opened, but she focused on the salmon she was preparing. It cut easily under her ulu, and she couldn't help but sneak a few pieces of the skin. They didn't really have these kinds of fish in the south, but they had similar fatty fish. Water Tribe dishes could be adapted to Earth Kingdom ingredients, she was quite sure.
Iroh's footsteps sounded more heavy than normal, and he bypassed the kitchen without greeting her.
Katara paused, then carefully cleaned her ulu and laid it to the side. She washed her hands and wiped down the counter, arranged her ingredients so they did not take up quite so much space, then went to find the old Fire man.
Iroh knelt by a chest in his bedroom, holding a small portrait in his hands. She paused in the doorway, uncertain, and then his shoulders shook. Just slightly.
She crossed the room to wrap her arms around him, resting her cheek against his head. One warm hand reached up to clutch her arm, and she winced at how strongly he gripped her. At least bruises didn't show much on her skin.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
He didn't answer for a long time. When he finally spoke, something like a fire slowly dying could be heard in his voice. "When I was the son my father wanted me to be, my son died here. We never recovered the body, though. Now I go and see this Bureacratic Administrator, this Long Feng, and he has my son's voice and face. Yet he has green eyes and has never been outside the city in all his life."
Katara felt herself blink, and she squeezed Iroh with a hug. "But Long Feng isn't your son."
Such an awful, terrible man couldn't be the son of Zuko's uncle. Even ignoring that Long Feng was an earthbender and Iroh most definitely was not, no one as kind as Iroh could raise a man who could do what Long Feng had done.
"No," Iroh agreed quietly. "There is nothing that could change a man so much that he would not recognize his own father."
("Long Feng said something," Aang said quietly, curled up against her side in a little ball. "He said something and Jet just went crazy. He attacked me, did everything he could to kill me, it was like he wasn't Jet anymore.")
Katara felt her blood run cold.
***
She was the Hope of the South, Avatar Aang's closest confidante, a thousand other little titles and traits that meant she could walk into the Supreme Administrator's new office as easily as she pleased. Though, from the look on Long Feng's face, she really shouldn't push it.
Of course, the only reason Katara was here at all was for her own peace of mind. After she confirmed what she knew - that he was just a vile man from the Earth Kingdom and nothing more - she never needed to see him again.
"Is there something you need?" Long Feng asked, setting down the paper he was reading.
She smoothed her dress even though it didn't need it and thought of ice. Of Pakku. They were much the same thing to her. "Yes."
All she needed to do was touch his skin, though looking at him, that would be harder than she thought. Earthbenders seemed to like to show off some of their skin, especially their arms. But he wore robes that covered him from neck to toe. Perhaps he could touch his scalp, though, since he shaved his forehead.
Katara didn't lunge, precisely. Her movement was utterly graceful, flowing as she laid fingertips against his scalp, as his hand closed stone-hard around her wrist.
She'd have bruises to match the ones Iroh gave her.
Her waterbending pushed into him, feeling all the damage to his body - broken bones that had healed, wounds that had scarred, illness that lingered protectively. Long Feng's hand on her wrist tightened, bones ground together, and she pushed in even further. His mind, she just needed to feel his mind, feel his brain, and then she'd know-
She nearly staggered.
Jet had been cracked. Little cracks in rock that had filled with water and could widen but had not yet.
Long Feng was... Pieces. Bits and pieces, how was he even sane, so many burning pieces and dust all glued together and still coming apart, more glue than burning dust.
Healing flowed out of her before she even thought about it, the renewed water from the Spirit Oasis drawn out of her necklace. Long Feng's eyes glazed, and his hand fell away from her wrist. Waterbending flowed faster and faster out of her, draining her, as things happened on a level she couldn't even perceive. With a soft cry, she stumbled back, wrenching her hand away from his skin.
He looked at her with gold eyes.
"How dare they?"
The room began to shake. She wobbled, fell to her knees-
Her eyes glanced out the window, and she twisted to stare.
The whole city was shaking.
Oh, spirits.
-End-
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Characters: Iroh, Long Feng, Katara
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1200+
Summary: Iroh has never met Long Feng in his life. This is perhaps why it went unnoticed for so long.
Author's Notes: Please read jakia's Resistance is Futile first since it explains so much of what's going on in here.
Also, for the purposes of this story, I'm using a different theory of how 'bending works than I usually do.
---
Bitter Earthquake Weather
***
Iroh had never met Long Feng in his entire long life. He had heard quite a bit about the leader of the Dai Li from the children. About what a ruthless man he was, about how he ruled the Earth Kingdom in everything but name, about his manipulations and deceits. He knew to be wary of the man. He expected to dislike him.
He had not expected his heart to jump in shocked recognition as he laid eyes on Long Feng, had never expected to hear that voice again. That man was dead, dead for six years now, deaddeaddead, Lu Ten was dead.
Lu Ten was dead.
...
They'd never recovered the body, had they?
("They did something to Jet," Katara said softly. "Changed his mind somehow. Made him do what they wanted.")
Long Feng had green eyes. Lu Ten's had been gold, like his uncle and grandfather. Like his cousin. But Long Feng had green eyes, and they said he was an earthbender of some power. The Dai Li could not change a man's 'bending.
The voice was exactly the same. How could Long Feng have Lu Ten's voice?
Later, Iroh had no idea how he went through the rest of the meeting, though he blessed its relative brevity. The more he saw of the man, the more he saw little touches of gesture that made his heart ache.
Lu Ten had been dead for six years. Six years. Six long, long years that had destroyed Iroh, burned him to the ground. He had arisen from the ashes as someone new, someone he dared to think was better.
Six years. Long Feng had been the Cultural Minister of Ba Sing Se for six years.
***
Zuko trusted Iroh with his life. Toph trusted Iroh. Aang trusted Iroh. Katara kept that little litany up as she puttered around the kitchen in his apartment, making food for lack of anything better to do. Iroh had gone up to the palace to serve tea to the Administrator - her mouth turned at the thought of that man - and there was little in Ba Sing Se that interested her. She'd already lingered longer than she meant to, from one warm touch on her wrist.
The outer door opened, but she focused on the salmon she was preparing. It cut easily under her ulu, and she couldn't help but sneak a few pieces of the skin. They didn't really have these kinds of fish in the south, but they had similar fatty fish. Water Tribe dishes could be adapted to Earth Kingdom ingredients, she was quite sure.
Iroh's footsteps sounded more heavy than normal, and he bypassed the kitchen without greeting her.
Katara paused, then carefully cleaned her ulu and laid it to the side. She washed her hands and wiped down the counter, arranged her ingredients so they did not take up quite so much space, then went to find the old Fire man.
Iroh knelt by a chest in his bedroom, holding a small portrait in his hands. She paused in the doorway, uncertain, and then his shoulders shook. Just slightly.
She crossed the room to wrap her arms around him, resting her cheek against his head. One warm hand reached up to clutch her arm, and she winced at how strongly he gripped her. At least bruises didn't show much on her skin.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
He didn't answer for a long time. When he finally spoke, something like a fire slowly dying could be heard in his voice. "When I was the son my father wanted me to be, my son died here. We never recovered the body, though. Now I go and see this Bureacratic Administrator, this Long Feng, and he has my son's voice and face. Yet he has green eyes and has never been outside the city in all his life."
Katara felt herself blink, and she squeezed Iroh with a hug. "But Long Feng isn't your son."
Such an awful, terrible man couldn't be the son of Zuko's uncle. Even ignoring that Long Feng was an earthbender and Iroh most definitely was not, no one as kind as Iroh could raise a man who could do what Long Feng had done.
"No," Iroh agreed quietly. "There is nothing that could change a man so much that he would not recognize his own father."
("Long Feng said something," Aang said quietly, curled up against her side in a little ball. "He said something and Jet just went crazy. He attacked me, did everything he could to kill me, it was like he wasn't Jet anymore.")
Katara felt her blood run cold.
***
She was the Hope of the South, Avatar Aang's closest confidante, a thousand other little titles and traits that meant she could walk into the Supreme Administrator's new office as easily as she pleased. Though, from the look on Long Feng's face, she really shouldn't push it.
Of course, the only reason Katara was here at all was for her own peace of mind. After she confirmed what she knew - that he was just a vile man from the Earth Kingdom and nothing more - she never needed to see him again.
"Is there something you need?" Long Feng asked, setting down the paper he was reading.
She smoothed her dress even though it didn't need it and thought of ice. Of Pakku. They were much the same thing to her. "Yes."
All she needed to do was touch his skin, though looking at him, that would be harder than she thought. Earthbenders seemed to like to show off some of their skin, especially their arms. But he wore robes that covered him from neck to toe. Perhaps he could touch his scalp, though, since he shaved his forehead.
Katara didn't lunge, precisely. Her movement was utterly graceful, flowing as she laid fingertips against his scalp, as his hand closed stone-hard around her wrist.
She'd have bruises to match the ones Iroh gave her.
Her waterbending pushed into him, feeling all the damage to his body - broken bones that had healed, wounds that had scarred, illness that lingered protectively. Long Feng's hand on her wrist tightened, bones ground together, and she pushed in even further. His mind, she just needed to feel his mind, feel his brain, and then she'd know-
She nearly staggered.
Jet had been cracked. Little cracks in rock that had filled with water and could widen but had not yet.
Long Feng was... Pieces. Bits and pieces, how was he even sane, so many burning pieces and dust all glued together and still coming apart, more glue than burning dust.
Healing flowed out of her before she even thought about it, the renewed water from the Spirit Oasis drawn out of her necklace. Long Feng's eyes glazed, and his hand fell away from her wrist. Waterbending flowed faster and faster out of her, draining her, as things happened on a level she couldn't even perceive. With a soft cry, she stumbled back, wrenching her hand away from his skin.
He looked at her with gold eyes.
"How dare they?"
The room began to shake. She wobbled, fell to her knees-
Her eyes glanced out the window, and she twisted to stare.
The whole city was shaking.
Oh, spirits.
-End-