Azula sniffed, lifting her chin in a disdain that would make Ozai proud. “If you’re going to give us stupid names, TenTen, then they should at least be right. Call me Firefly!”
“Well, I suppose she does have a point, what do you think, Zuko?” Lu Ten asked lightly, as if unbothered by the children’s animosity. He ignored Azula’s scrunched expression and answered Zuko’s confused frown with a laugh. “I was calling Azula Butterbee, but I don’t think that fits her at all. She doesn’t have a stinger! When I talk about you with my friends, the names should be right. So I’ll let you choose, Zuko, since you can firebend and use swords. Which do you think suits you better? Firefly or Butterbee? Or maybe a totally different little bug!”
-Learning to Fly: Dragon's Wings
It's Lu Ten and his little bugs: Firefly and Butterbee! Once they resolved the nickname debate, they definitely continued treating Lu Ten like a jungle gym. From my series Learning to Fly <3
Commission by @jasminedragonart !!
[ID: A colored digital illustration of Lu Ten, Azula, and Zuko. Azula is on Lu Ten's back, holding onto one shoulder. Zuko is clinging to Lu Ten's waist, one leg wrapped around Lu Ten's and the other suspended off the ground. Lu Ten has a wide stance to keep his balance. All three of them are smiling. Flying around them are fireflies and butterfly-bumblebees. /end ID]
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I love making picrews of my Team Avatar Yangchen or as I’ve been calling them: Team Lesbians + One (Good) Man as featured in Learning to Fly Part 6: Sands of Time
NGL at first I didn’t have intentions of drawing parallels to the Gaang. Akari was the only one fleshed out and was pivotal to the development of the whole LTF au. Huizhong was "earthbending master that died for Yangchen” and there was just a nameless waterbending master. But then I had a laugh bc here we are, Air Avatar w/ a Fire Nation Royal BFF and that’s what Aang and Zuko become... and then I was like whelp we gotta keep playing with that it’s too good to pass up. So Huizhong, Siniq, and Tarkik were born lol.
Since they’re getting introduced though Yangchen’s memoirs, which were written as a way to cope with her grief of losing Akari and Huizhong, Siniq and Tarkik didn’t get much time to shine despite the past chapter having focus on Yangchen’s waterbending journey. I’m not sure if/when I’ll be able to work in fun tidbits about these chaos twins, but they realized from a very young age that they didn’t vibe with Water Tribe gender roles. And being identical twins well... They convinced everyone they were BOTH waterbenders and switched places in all their classes so Siniq could learn combat and Tarkik could learn healing. When they eventually couldn’t keep up the act anymore, they were so established with what they were good at the chief was like whelp guess that’s just how it’s gonna go. My warrior daughter and healer son, no fighting it now. Love these two <33
Huizhong, my love, gets her spotlight in the upcoming chapter of Sands of Time, so I’ll just profess my love for this beautiful bitch <3
How would Toph feel about Zuko heatbending her off the ground? Obviously, being separated from the earth blinds her, but would the warmth help reassure her?
I'm actually not sure if Zuko could lift someone else with heatbending 🤔 he propelled himself upward in the swamp but hmm. anyways forgetting logistics ;3
“Woah, Toph, watch out!”
Though Toph sent the firebender flying away from her with a stomp on the ground, the fireball Aang had been warning her about was still headed straight toward her. Toph was standing between him and the fire, so Aang did the next best thing to blowing the fire away. He wrapped winds around Toph and sent her upward.
The shriek Toph let out was rather uncharacteristic for her, but they had more pressing things to deal with than the sound Toph just made. Once she was back on the ground and in the fight, Aang promptly forgot about it.
This is, until Toph punched his shoulder, hard, once they were safe on Appa’s back.
“What was that for?!” Aang whined, rubbing his aching shoulder.
Toph scowled. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
“Do what!” Her shriek then came to mind, and Aang scrunched his nose. “Do you mean help you?”
“Yes! I’d rather get face full of fire than suddenly find myself who knows how high off the ground!”
“You were only high enough to clear the fireball,” Katara said placatingly.
Toph groaned and dragged her hands down her face, pulling her lower eyelids down with her fingers. “And how am I supposed to know that?!”
“Ah…” Katara blushed and muttered an apology.
Sokka shook his head. “Okay, but regardless, I’d rather none of us end up with a face full of fire. So, Toph, let’s say thank you to Aang for saving your butt. And Aang, next time, just blow Toph over instead of up.”
Aang scratched his head sheepishly. “Yeah… suppose that makes more sense. Sorry Toph, I wasn’t thinking.”
Toph dramatically rolled her head around with her eyes, then punched Aang again, much, much softer. “Yeah, yeah, I know Twinkle-Toes. Thanks for the save.”
Some time later, after many adventures and new additions to their group, a similar situation happened again. Only this time, it was Zuko on the other side of Toph and the fireball heading for her. Now, one would expect a firebender wouldn’t be deterred by someone standing between him and incoming fire. However, Zuko was not the average firebender, and since traveling with them, he’d picked up a lot more airbending moves.
So Aang didn’t expect it, but ultimately wasn’t surprised when Zuko called out to Toph in warning and then sent her up over the fire with his heatbending.
Toph yelped and cursed, but the skirmish continued without incident.
Once they were back at their camp, Toph approached Zuko before Aang could step in.
“Hey, Pretty Boy,” she said, lightly punching his arm (since his shoulder was just out of reach for her). “Nice save.”
Zuko bumped her back with a huff. “Hardly, I really should have just bent the fire away, but I wasn’t thinking.”
Aang’s jaw dropped. He looked to Katara and Sokka to make sure they were seeing the same thing, but they weren’t actually paying attention. Fine, Aang would just have to stand up for himself!
“Hey! Why does he get thanks, but I got punch punched and yelled at when I did that?!”
They turned to him in surprise, not realizing they had an audience. Toph raised an eyebrow in confusion, then snorted as she remembered.
“Oh, yeah, guess from your perspective it’s not any different.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
Toph shrugged. “Exactly what I said, Twinkle-Toes, that it probably looks the same to you, at least I’m guessing so from your reaction. But they feel totally different. Your airbending felt like getting yanked off the ground and there was no way to gauge how high I went. But Pretty Boy’s airbending kinda feels like being picked up real quick or something like that.”
“It’s not airbending, Toph,” Zuko grumbled, for the hundredth time.
She waved a hand in the air. “Same diff… Anyways.”
Toph reeled her arm back and punched Zuko’s arm hard enough to send him stumbling a few steps away.
“What was that for?”
Toph grinned. “Equality for team morale.”
Aang would be lying to say it didn’t make him feel better.
Prompt: spirits talking about Zuko in front of Aang who is very confused, because what do you mean the prince of the fire nation is beloved by the spirits??? (I have no idea how your Zuko will act in front of Aang and what their relationship would be at first, but I'm going off the assumption that it's sort of like cannon)
Countdown to LTF's return: 2 days aahh!! And tomorrow is the 5th anniversary! :D
So, let me tell you, I waffled back and forth whether this counted as going into too much spoilery present material. But then I had an idea of a step around and lol. I went with it. We going into the atla-verse heehheh (again) (but not canon compliant with the last into the atla-verse, here, if you haven't read it)
This was Aang’s first time going into the spirit world through a gateway. He was understandably nervous. There were plenty of stories of and from his past lives about how time drastically moved differently when you physically went into the spirit world. But the world was at peace (had been for a while) and even if he was gone for a year or two, his friends had everything handled. The spirit world, however, needed some Avatar intervention. So here he was.
Taking a deep breath, Aang stepped through the gateway.
All in all, Aang had been worried over nothing. Resolving the disputes of spirits wasn’t that much different from solving mortal disputes. It would have been an uneventful journey if not for the… recurring odd interactions.
First, a Knowledge Seeker (weren’t they gone with Wan Shi Tong’s library?) bounded up to Aang with a wide foxy smile. It skidded to a stop at his feet, urgently sniffing the air. It prowled around him, sniffing him, then looked up at him, no longer smiling. It barked at him almost petulantly.
“Sorry? Can I help you?” Aang asked.
The Knowledge Seeker huffed. It jumped onto its hind legs, front legs propped against Aang’s leg so it could push its nose against his hand.
A hazy image of what looked like a young Zuko filled Aang’s mind.
“Huh? You want to see Zuko?”
The Knowledge Seeker excitedly jumped away, tail wagging.
“Um… sorry. He’s not with me?”
It was a good thing Knowledge Seekers were lesser spirits, because if it had any strength, Aang had a feeling he would have had a bad afternoon. The Knowledge Seeker glared at him, barked one more time, then sulkily ran off.
That sure was weird. Why would a Knowledge Seeker even know of Zuko?
But then it kept happening.
A cute little bird spirit came and went, also disappointed Zuko wasn’t around. Hei Bai’s lesser spirits (that Aang didn’t even know existed!) also came looking for Zuko. A cat that looked vaguely familiar traveled with Aang for a day, but moodily stalked off when Aang insisted that Zuko was not going to be joining him later.
Aang even managed to stumble into the spirit world half of the Foggy Swamp and it was clearly upset that Zuko wasn’t with him too!
What in the world was going on? When did Zuko meet all these spirits? Why had he never said anything about it in all these years?
The second Aang was done with his business and safely left the spirit world, he picked up Appa at the village he left him at in the South Pole and made a beeline to the Fire Nation palace. As the Fire Lord’s bestest friend ever and, you know, the Avatar, Aang didn’t need silly things like scheduling a meeting or permission to pop into Zuko’s office.
After getting Appa comfortable with a snack, Aang grabbed his glider and flew up to the window of Zuko’s study. It was unlocked, like always, so Aang popped it open and sat on the windowsill with a pout.
“Zuko! Why didn’t you tell me you had a bunch of spirit friends?”
Zuko startled, like always, and turned to glare at Aang for popping in unannounced (not that he would ever do anything to stop Aang from continuing to do so). “What are you talking about? And why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the spirit world right now?”
Since Zuko didn’t look any different from the last time Aang saw him, he probably hadn’t been away for too long. Aang grinned and pulled his knee to his chest to rest his cheek against it. “Just got back! It was fun, but weird because quite a few spirits were looking for you.”
“You just got back?” Zuko asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. He completely ignored the whole reason Aang was here and instead started to scold him. Rude! “Aren’t you a bit too old to be playing around instead of doing your job?”
“Hey!” Aang stuck his tongue out childishly. “I can play around and do my job, thank you very much!”
Zuko crossed his arms. “Aang, you just left yesterday. I got the report this morning. If you want to lie, at least do it well.”
Yesterday?! Aang nearly tumbled out of the window in his surprise. He quickly shifted his weight so he leaped to his feet inside the room instead.
“But I was there for months!” Aang exclaimed. “I knew time moves differently in the spirit world, but I thought it always went in the opposite direction! Have I really only been gone from the mortal world for a day?!”
Because Zuko was the best, he didn’t call Aang a liar. His eyes widened a bit in surprise, but then he accepted Aang at his word and shrugged. “Well, guess it does, because it really has only been a day. Now what’s this about spirits asking after me? Did I piss them off or something?”
“What? No!” Aang plopped back onto the windowsill with a snort. “It seemed like they were your friends!”
“Well… I don’t remember accidentally befriending any spirits, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I accidentally pissed one or two off so… Maybe they were trying to trick you?”
Aang frowned. That wasn’t the impression he got from the spirits. Besides, most of them had shared images of Zuko from their perspective. Wait a second.
“Hey, when you were younger, probably around when you were banished, did you ever wear your hair in a braid?”
Zuko scrunched his nose. “What? No? Why?”
It was such a small detail, but…
Aang jumped to his feet, rubbing his hands on his head in distress. “Monkey-feathers! I think I need to get going. I think I was in a different world’s spirit world!”
“Huh- What?”
Aang leaped out the window, Zuko’s voice carrying after him, “Aang, what’s that supposed to mean!? Aang!!”
Hopefully Aang would end up in his spirit world this time to properly solve their problems. But… if he happened to end up elsewhere again… He was rather curious about this other Zuko who befriended spirits while banished.
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Lu Ten appears to someone who misses him in a dream (like on a solstice or something).
Countdown to LTF's return: 6 days!!
Wah i debated for a while over who to have him visit :'3 hope you enjoy my probably unexpected choice
Dreams could act as a weak gateway between the mortal and spirit realms. If the dreamer’s needs were strong enough and the barrier between the realms was thin enough, it was possible for spirits of the departed to be called down to visit.
A soft tug pulled on Lu Ten. He could dismiss the call, but he was weak. He never ignored the summons of his loved ones. In a rush of color and sensation, he found himself in an unfamiliar dreamscape.
Flowers surrounded him at every angle. They weren’t just ornamental flowers. Quite a few he recognized as medicinal or poisonous. A woman he didn’t recognize sat in the middle of the garden. She looked up with a curious gaze as she tilted her head.
“Hello there, who are you?”
Though Lu Ten did not know her face, he knew who she was. He did not know her story, or how she came to be this way, but she was obviously missing him even if she didn’t remember him.
“I’m a friend,” he said with an easy smile as he sat beside her.
The woman nodded, accepting the logic of her dream. “I suppose I’ve been needing a friend…”
“How fortunate that I’m here now! Tell me about what’s bothering you.”
Though wearing a different face, her smile was exactly as Lu Ten remembered. He could only hope his visit gave her some solace, even if she forgot it upon waking.
It was the least he could do for his favorite aunt.
Ohoho, anon, for a bit there i was wracking my brain for an idea that didn't involve too many spoilers of things to come. And then I thought of this and wrote it so fast heheheh
“Um, Your Majesty, uh, Fire Lord Zuko… Sir?” Finally, the Fire Lord looked up from his work with a mild look of surprise. Reminding herself of who made up his cabinet and usual guard detail, Haruka took a deep breath and continued talking without waiting for permission. “Your presence is um… requested in the Royal Library.”
Fire Lord Zuko tilted his head, making the dragon sleeping on top of it to crack an eye open in annoyance. He looked unbearably young as he asked, “The Royal Library? Why?”
“Well, there’s, um…” What other way was there to phrase it? Haruka squeezed her eyes shut as she blurted out, “There’s a giant owl!”
“Oh, Agni.”
Someone brushed past Haruka out of the room, and it wasn’t until she opened her eyes that she realized it was Fire Lord Zuko. His little dragon flew past Haruka as well, letting out a cry of indignation. Fire Lord Zuko didn’t call for his guards, which he really should have. It wasn’t proper for the Fire Lord to be rushing off into an unknown situation without protection! A young dragon did not count. Haruka was merely a servant, but she could hardly let her young Fire Lord run off unattended. So she dutifully chased after him.
He was unbelievably fast despite the weight of his Fire Lord robes. Several times, Haruka lost sight of him as he took shortcuts unknown even to her. But she knew his final destination, so Haruka continued running toward the library.
The sight that met her as she burst through the door almost gave her a heart attack. Fire Lord Zuko was standing directly beneath a towering owl. She thought the librarians had been exaggerating! How did something so big even get in here?!
“What are you doing here, Wan Shi Tong?” Fire Lord Zuko demanded of the owl, hands propped on his hips as he stared up at the owl fearlessly.
The owl clacked its beak and then a deep voice came from it, “We had a deal, human child…no longer a prince. My Knowledge Seekers informed me that you are now a lord, but I thought more time has passed. Do humans put children in charge these days?”
Ignoring almost everything the owl said, Fire Lord Zuko rubbed his temples and sighed, “I’ve been honoring our deal, haven’t I? Toasty and all them have by almost every day! I know, because they won’t leave without bothering me first.”
“Hm…” The owl looked around, and despite its expression not changing, it gave the impression of curiosity.
“Seriously, Wan Shi Tong, what are you doing here and scaring the shit out of my staff?”
Wait, Haruka knew that name. She stifled a gasp and stared at the great spirit before her in awed horror. Were the rumors true and not mere propaganda? Had Fire Lord Zuko truly befriended countless spirits before the Avatar’s return? How was that possible?
“It’s been taking too long,” Wan Shit Tong said unconvincingly.
Fire Lord Zuko crossed his arms. “You didn’t even know how long it’s been. Tell me the real reason.”
Just then, Fire Lord Zuko’s little dragon came desperately flying through the open doors. She twined around the Fire Lord, letting out upset sounds, as she was scolding him for leaving her behind. As Fire Lord Zuko cooed apologies to her, Wan Shi Tong bent down toward them. Haruka stifled a shout.
“Ah, so this is the surviving lóng. I doubted the truth of my Seekers’ claims.”
“Oh, that’s what this is,” Fire Lord Zuko said, rolling his eyes. “You could have just said you wanted to meet her.”
The feathers around Wan Shi Tong’s neck puffed out at it proclaimed, “This is no mere social call, human child lord! I am the keeper of the greatest library of all realms and I-”
“And you were curious. Jeez, you don’t have to make such a big deal about it.” Fire Lord Zuko held up the dragon wrapped around his arm. “Now would you like me to make introductions or not?”
For a moment fraught with tension, Wan Shi Tong stared down the Fire Lord. Then, its feathers abruptly smoother out and it ducked its head close to the pair again. “Hm, very well, since you insist.”Slowly, Haruka backed out of the room. The great spirit hadn’t seemed to notice her yet, and she had a feeling it would be better if it never did. Once in the hall, she raced off toward the ministers’ officers. Someone who knew more about Fire Lord Zuko’s involvement with spirits needed to be informed about this!
LTF prompt: Zuko mentionning he met Hakoda and Sokka and Katara's reaction
Countdown to LTF's return: 4 days!! AAAH!
Haha took me a while to decide if this counted as too close to things to come, but decided this actual conversation probably isn't happening for a while if ever so ;3 vague somewhat LTF canon-compliant set at some point
Light from the fire flickered around the group as they chatted. They had stopped a little earlier for dinner than planned, so now it was too early to get ready for bed. Aang had gotten Zuko started on a story about his travels, this time about his visit to Foggy Swamp.
As was always the case when Zuko was sharing stories, Katara had to listen carefully to follow each thread of thought. He was really bad at skipping important details and then peppering them in later on in the story.
“Anyways, Ms. Yawen warned me that-”
“Wait a second,” Katara interrupted. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
Zuko turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Well, she’s your aunt’s wife, isn’t she?”
“Hold up, Aunt Atka is the one who told you to go to Foggy Swamp?!” Sokka shouted.
“No, Ms. Yawen told me to. Ms. Atka kept implying I should go to the North Pole, which I’m actually now realizing was because she thought I was the Avatar and wanted me to learn waterbending but…”
Sokka held a hand up to cut Zuko off. “Stop, stop, stop. Are you telling us that the Wings only made an alliance with the Southern Water Tribes because you happened to meet Aunt Atka?”
Like the most infuriating person ever, Zuko scrunched his nose as if the question was preposterous and said, “No. The Wings allied with the Southern Water Tribes after I met the fleet leader, Chief Hakoda.”
“DAD?!” Katara and Sokka exclaimed.
“What?!”
Toph toppled over laughing and Aang didn’t fare much better trying to contain his amusement.
Sokka jumped to his feet and pointed at Zuko accusingly, “How could you have never mentioned you’ve met our dad?!”
“I didn’t know he was your dad!”
Katara rubbed her temples, debating between pulling her hair out or pulling Zuko’s hair. “We’ve talked about him leading the fleet before.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a council, isn’t it? You never said he was the leader!”
Fingers raised to make a counter-point, Sokka froze. He frowned, then dropped back to the ground as he sighed, “Yeah, alright. Fine. I’ll give you that.”
“Well, how did you meet him?” Katara asked eagerly.
Aang sat up from where he ended up falling over with giggles. “Hey, the swamp story isn’t finished!”
“He can finish it after he tells us how he met our dad,” Katara shot back. “Did Aunt Atka tell you how to meet him?”
Zuko shrugged to Aang, then answered, “Actually, I happened to stumble upon him when I was sailing the ‘Air Lantern.’ And funny thing is, if the timing had been wrong, might have stumbled upon the fleet on the Sazanami instead! Man, what a mess that would have been.”
“Oh, this is definitely going to be better than the swamp story,” Toph cackled, getting more comfortable to listen.
Sokka groaned and dropped his head in his hands.
Perhaps even worse than when he skipped important details, Katara couldn’t stand it when Zuko started with harrowing details as if they were funny little anecdotes!
“Keep talking,” she said through gritted teeth when Zuko looked like he was about to get sidetracked asking after their reactions.
