Kiss of the Rose Princess 17

Kiss of the Rose Princess
Chapter Seventeen

Iroh sat in his garden, drinking a calming cup of chamomile tea. He needed it. He felt the presence of the messenger but his only acknowledgement was an invitation to him join.
"Father."
"Hello my son. How did it go?"
"He wants you to leave for the North Pole and said that if you weren't gone within a day, he would come move you himself."
Iroh chuckled to himself as he listened to his son, his still nimble fingers played with a white lotus tile.
"Why should I leave?"
"He said that it has gotten too dangerous for you and the White Lotus here, that you would be safer at the Spirit Oasis."
"The North Pole, huh? Doesn't Meng Zhang know what the cold does to the bones of an old man like me?"
"Father!"
Lu Ten admonished him with a smile.
"Fine, fine. How does he want me to go there?"
"That was not specified."
"We'll, I'm going to have to wait for him after all. This household couldn't possibly arrive at the North Pole in a day. I can't have him growing senile on me, can I?"
"No, Father!"
They both shared smiles and laughter before Lu Ten grew solemn and stood up.
"Father, I must go and inform the North Pole of your arrival."
"Oh all right. Lu Ten?"
"What is it, Father?"
"No more breaking hearts."
"I'll try Father, I'll try."


Katara sat in the darkness of her room. After a few days of rest they would travel to the Library. She was not sure what they would find or even why they were being sent there.

Zuko.

She started counting the number of leaves on her body so that she would not think of him. Anything but him.

Li.

No, not him either. She couldn't think of him and those lovely, horrible memories.

Twenty five leaves, twenty six leaves, twenty seven leaves, twent-why was he the Sun? She knew she should have been happy and over-whelmed by joy…but she could only wonder: why him? Why after she had told herself those things? None of it made sense. What did her mother want her to do? Nothing made sense, she could find no reason in all this madness. Soon, but not soon enough, the darkness of her dreams enveloped her and she wondered what was worse: The world of her dreams or the world of reality?

"Princess Katara?"
A child with white hair and large, beautiful eyes tugged at her silver dress. One eye was a fiery gold and the other a brilliant azure. Katara bent down so that she could at eye level with the beautiful child.
"Yes?"
"You're the Moon, right? You're the one who will end this war?"
"Yes, I am the Moon. I will end this war, no matter what I must do…"
Her voice was sorrowful as she answered the child. She had to end it, she had to.
The child spoke again, a strange emotion in that angelic face.
"My name is-"
"Katara!"
She turned to see who had called her and when she saw no one, she turned to face the child once more, but the child was gone.

"There is no child that I know of who has such strange features."
Saya sat next to Katara as they wrote poetry. She looked over to see what Katara had written.
" 'I remember the moon like a distant dream/The sun a memory from long ago/Etched like a story on the petals of a flower/Dancing in turn since long ago/Shifting like the sands of time/Hiding a treasure from ages past/Broken by a careless touch, a careless word/Frozen by time in a hateful turn/Hidden within the blood/The heritage of two who are as one.' Beautiful, Katara, simply beautiful, you must take it with you."
Katara made no mention of her changing the topic. She could only wonder about the identity of the child, why was the child so…familiar? A shiver ran through her as she felt cold, cruel eyes watching her.

An eye of gold.
An eye of azure.
Snow white hair.
The face of an angel.
But the whispers, are they the whispers of a saint or a sinner?

Saya knew that Katara had not realized what she had written, that she knew the forbidden truth, a knowledge buried far beyond one's reach. Knowledge that had been sealed from her memories in such a way and with such power that it could not be removed. If one read it, they would think it was merely a poem of the Moon and the Sun, but if they knew, of if they only knew the secret behind the truth. Such a powerful secret that she almost let the words burst from her mouth in a flood of broken oaths and promises.

"Mistress, Prince Zuko wishes to speak with you."
A green clad servant entered the room.
"Let him, oh, and bring some tea. Just for two, I believe."
Katara rose and left the room from a different door so when Zuko entered, all he caught sight of was a silver sleeve. He occupied the seat that was across from Katara's recently vacated one.
"How may I help you, Zuko?"
She spoke once the servant had left the tray, noticing the young prince's sullen state.
The words came out in a blur.
"She'savoidingmeagainandIdon'tknowwhatIdidwrongandthenIhadthisdreamthatIwastheSunandIwasinMengZhang'spalaceandIwasrecoveringaftergettingthisscarandshewon'tlookortalktomeandshe'sbeenthoughtfulandsullenandsilentallthetimeand-"
Saya put up her hand for him to stop speaking. She had barely understood what he had said.
"Zuko, please slow down, what happened? I haven't seen you act so much unlike yourself since you decided to help the Avatar!"
"Katara happened! I'm starting to remember things, memories that belong to the Sun! Memories that aren't mine!"
"But aren't you the Sun?"
"No," he swept aside the tea tray and the ceramic tea set smashed when it fell to the floor, "I am Zuko, my parents are Ozai and Ursa, not Meng Zhang and Zhu Que! I'm Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, not some stupid Sun!"
"Would you had preferred that Aang was the Sun?"
"What? NO! It's just…I barely know her…and now all this…everything's so…difficult now…I've started to wish that Uncle hadn't sent us on this mission…I've started to think that a mistake was made…I can't be the Sun. Something's wrong."
"Do you love her?"
"Yes! But that's not it!"
"Really? When did you fall in love with?"
"I don't know! I was far in before I even realized I was IN love with her."
"Then what's wrong?"
Zuko looked at Saya as if she hadn't been listening to him earlier. He was exasperated and angry and she was calm and composed.
"What's wrong is that she seems…disgusted that I'm the Sun…and I feel like we're being used. Like pawns in a game. We're not being told the whole truth."
He got up to leave.
"Zuko, what, I think you should have this."
"What is this?"
She had placed a cream parchment in his wand covered in fluid brushstrokes.
"A poem that Katara wrote before you entered."
"She…was in here?"

Zuko sat on the beach. He clutched at the poem with his left hand, he wanted to read it, but he felt that if he did, he would be spying on Katara. This was something that was hers, something that came from her soul; he could not just read it without her permission. But that cruel piece of parchment kept on calling out to him.

He read it. He wished he hadn't.  That night, he had a strange and horrible dream.

He stood before a mirror in an underground, cavernous hall. The frame of the mirror was made of obsidian or onyx, he wasn't sure which, with a large and dreadful ruby that shined like wet, slick blood at the crown of the mirror. Zuko was dressed in the red and gold robes of the Sun. Part of his dark hair was in a topknot with a golden crown piece. The rest of his hair fell shaggily around his face, hiding his scar. He took a step forward and looked into the mirror. It was someone who looked exactly like him, but without the scar, dressed in robes darker than the darkest night. Black fire framed him and the golden eyes bored in his own.
"Who are you?"
The mirror person's eyes flickered with an emotion. Anger? Hate? Rage? Pity…?
"You don't want to know."
"Why am I here then?"
"I brought you here, to warn you, she's planning something, something horrible, be careful of who you trust."
"Then why should I trust you?"
The golden eyes flickered with emotion, ones that he could more readily identify. Acceptance.
"Because we both don't want what she plans to happen."
"Who?"
"My mother."
Hate filled those eight letters, the words spat out with venom.
"What-"
"Just protect her, but if you can't protect her, I will."