Chapter 62

Episode 19, Sozin's Comet: Part 2: The Old Masters

Zuko took a deep breath before walking up to June's table. The rest of us quickly followed him.

When we all stopped behind June, she glanced over her shoulder and let out a sigh. "Great, it's Prince Pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?"

"He's my uncle and he's not here," Zuko crossed his arms.

June eyed me and Zuko for a moment before taking a sip of her cup. "I see you made up with your girlfriend." I blushed and Zuko and me glanced at each other.

"So what do you want?" June asked and eyed the rest of the group.

"We need your help finding the Avatar."

"Hm, doesn't sound too fun," June shrugged.

Zuko balled his fists and knitted his eyebrows. "Does the end of the world sound like more fun?!" He exclaimed and got closer to her face.

She tensed and looked at Zuko from the corner of her eyes before looking at me. I shot her an innocent smile and she put her cup down. "Why would you keep up with his dramatic ass, seriously?" She shook her head briefly.

I shrugged, "He's not that dramatic. Well most of the times at least."

She turned to Zuko and raised an eyebrow. "Do you have anyting that belongs to the Avatar?"

I smiled and looked at Sokka who nodded. "Yeah we have."

And with that we quickly left the tavern. Nyla, June's shirshu, and Appa were just chilling together when we approached them.

June petted Nyla while Katara got Aang's staff for her to smell.

Nyla smelled the staff and then started to circle us for a few moments while sniffing around. Then she whimpered and laid on the ground covering her nose with her paws.

My eyebrows shot up while Zuko crossed his arms. "Well, what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your friend is gone." June kneeled down in front of Nyla and petted her head.

"We know he's gone, that's why we are trying to find him," Toph said and put her hands on her sides.

"No, I mean he's gone gone." June stood up and eyed us. "He doesn't exist."

I tensed and gulped. This was even worse than the worst-case scenario.

"What do you mean Aang doesn't exist!" Sokka stepped closer to June and threw his arms in the air. "Do you mean... like, you know, dead?" His voice lowered and he looked at the woman in front of us.

"Nope, we could find him if he were dead," she said and shrugged. "It's a real headscratcher. See ya." She climbed on Nyla with a small wave toward us.

"Helpful, real helpful," Toph commented and crossed her arm.

I grabbed Zuko's hand and looked at him. "What if we look for uncle Iroh, he must know what to do," I whispered and Zuko nodded.

"Wait," he called out to June. "There's only one person in this world that can face Fire Lord Ozai. We'll be right back with the smell sample." Without letting go of my hand he dragged both of us to Appa. The other's waited with June at the other side of the tavern.

"You have a smell sample of your uncle?" I asked as Zuko looked through his bag. He hummed and nodded. "That's kinda cute," I teased with a smirk.

That smirk fell when Zuko turned around with a sandal in his hand. That gave me flashbacks when uncle Iroh was lost for the first time and we went out looking for him and finding only his smelly sandal. "You know, I take it back, that's not cute."

"That's the only thing I have left of my uncle. I couldn't just throw it away because it smells," Zuko said and I laughed before we went back to the others. That was still kinda cute after all.

He gave it Nyla to smell and the others held their noses shut with their fingers. "You saved your uncle's sweaty sandal?" Sokka asked, his voice a bit higher due to him pinching his nose.

Toph crossed her arms and closed her eyes with a small smile. "I think it's sweet."

"Let's do this," June said when Nyla eagrely smelled the sandal before rushing away.

"Hey, wait up!" Zuko called after her as we got on Appa and quickly followed June.

It took us a whole day until we finally landed. We went through deserts and forests until we reached the ruins of Ba Sing Se's walls.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asked and looked at June.

Nyla was scratching the wall before walking up and down. "Your uncle's somewhere beyond the wall. Nyla is twitchy. He can't be too far. Good luck." She shot us a small smile before quickly riding away.

Zuko sighed, "It's been a long day, let's camp and start our search again at dawn."

I nodded and a yawn left my mouth as I stretched my arms in the air.

"Sounds good, I'm tired," Sokka said and we decided to just sleep on Appa today.

Sokka and Suki slept on his tail, Katara on one of his legs, Toph made herself a tent out of earth and me and Zuko were also on one of his legs but on the other side.

What a surprise. We didn't get much sleep as we were suddenly surrounded by fire.

There were four old people in the same blue uniform standing on the rocks of the fallen wall, looking down on us. I recognised three of them. Sokka's sword master was on the right, next to him a man with white bushy hair, then Master Pakku and on the left, King Bumi who grinned when he saw us.

"Well, look who's here," Bumi chuckled before his chuckle turned into some kind of snorting and laughing.

Sokka turned to us and I grinned at him as he shot us a smile. That was a rare case of us actually having luck.

The fire surrouding us disappeared and the four masters jumped off the rocks and stopped in front of us.

"What's going on? We're surrounded by old people," Toph asked and came to my side.

"Not just any old people," Katara said with a smile on her face and walked up to the four masters. "These are great masters and friends of ours. Pakku." She bowed to her former waterbending master.

"It is respectful to bow to your elders," he briefly bowed as well before standing up straight with a smile on his face. "But how about a hug for your new grandfather?" He opened his arms.

My jaw dropped as Katara immediately went in for a hug and Sokka put his hands on his head and let out a shriek. When Katara pulled out, Sokka grabbed my arm and dragged us to Pakku quickly. We pulled him into a hug as well. "I'm happy for you," I said with a small smile on my face.

"Welcome to the family, gramp-gramp," Sokka said with a toothy grin.

"You can still call me Pakku," he said and tried to get Sokka off. I pulled out of the hug and pulled Sokka away with me by the back of his shirt.

Sokkii still grinned. "How about Gran-Pakku?"

Pakku had an unimpressed expression on his face. "No," he bluntly said and Sokka pouted.

Katara turned to Zuko who had just bowed to Pakku. "And this is Aang's first firebending teacher." She pointed at the man with the white bushy hair and a line over his left eyes. That must have been a scar from sword fighting or something.

Zuko and me bowed to him and he did as well. "Jeong-Jeong," he introduced himself.

After all the introductions, Suki knitted her eyebrows and eyed the masters. "Wait, so how do you all know each other?"

"All old people know each other, don't you know that?" Bumi asked and laughed.

I raised an eyebrow. He is so weird but cool.

"We're all part of the same ancient secret society," Sokka's former master, Piandao, said, "A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations."

"The Order of the White Lotus," Zuko said with a small smile.

White Lotus? So that's why these old people are so obsessed with the white lotus.

Bumi raised his finger in the air with a grin. "That's the one."

"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty and truth," JeongJeong explained, "but a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."

"It came from the Grand Lotus," Pakku said and looked at Zuko. "Your uncle. Iroh of the Fire Nation"

Of course he is the Grand Lotus. I didn't expect it any different and smiled.

"Well, that's exactly who we are looking for," I said and smiled at Pakku.

He nodded and glanced at the other masters. "Then we'll take you to him."

"Wait!" Bumi pushed Pakku out of the way and looked around. "Someone's missing from your group. Someone very important."

We all had completely forgot about Aang for a moment but of course his best friend would notice that he's missing.

"Where's Momo?" Bumi asked and came closer to my face. I sweatdropped but still answered him.

"He's gone, and so is Aang."

"Oh well," Bumi shrugged. "As long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Let's go."

I shook my head slightly as we followed the Lotus members to their camp. And to uncle Iroh      A/N - Heyyy this chapter is a bit shorter, sorry. I still hope you like it tho :)We're getting closer to the end of the book and I wanted to ask you if I should continue this story with the comic plot line or I was thinking about maybe writing some chapters about Jasmine's mom's past in the Fire Nation. (I have the first comic at home but still haven't read it.)Anyway, I hope you enjoy the book so far. Please leave a vote or comment if you like. Stay safe and healthy :)