[Rabbithole: Loo and Sokka, post Mikideath]

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The Fire Palace is techincally a series of much smaller buildings grouped together and locked by walled footpaths and ornate gardens. The Imperial audience chambers are in the centre, near where the Royal family live in a smaller, heavily walled domicile. Guests are quartered in expansive rooms in one of the outer rings, a short walk away from the temple, used by all who live in the Palace.

One of the low buildings in the temple itself is dedicated to memorials to the departed. Smoke rises in thin worms from a thousand incense sticks, set before rolls representing the dead, individually or collectively. At the front, facing the worshipper as he enters, are twin rolls representing the parents of the current Fire Lord - one handsome king with his face marked by a hug burn scar, and one exotic looking blue eyed woman, sporting a scar of her own. As only four people in the world have ever met Melaka Fray, no one's arguing the likeness.

The victims of the recent border attack are in a temporary position next to Zuko. Each name is written out in perfect and careful calligraphy grouped by nation, and not one is left out, no matter who they might have been or which element they subscribed to. The sand in front of that scroll burns with more sticks than anywhere else, today.

Comments

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"Oh, there're stories you've not told me?" Louise laughs, but Ursa reaches to Sokka, a movement which almost forces her mother off balance ("Hey! You're not as tiny as you used to be!")

"Have you got stories about Grandma and Grandad?"

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Grinning when Ursa nearly knocks her mother over, Sokka looks at those little girl hands for a minute before offering his arms to hold her. "I must have told you about a few of them. I've got loads of stories about your grandparents, little girl. Did you know I knew your grandad even before he met your grandma?

"...not that I should probably tell stories about back then, but still."

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Oh, he can have her. He can have her willingly. "She's too old to be held, really," Louise warns, getting rid of her daughter.

"Was that when Grandad was bad?" Ursa asks bluntly.

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"Bah," says Sokka, setting Ursa on his hip with a bounce and a grin. "So long as they can be held, they're not too big. Your mom just doesn't like it when I pick her up anymore. Least she doesn't punch me like your Aunt Hana used to..."

As for Zuko, Sokka laughs and nods. "Oh, he was always bad. He was just more obvious about it when he was a kid, not too much older than you are."

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"How much older?" Ursa asks.

Louise just listens, rapt.

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"Mmmmm, fourteen, I think. I didn't meet him until a couple years later, though." He grins, partly at Ursa, but mostly at the memory. "First three months I knew him, we spent running around the world trying to get away from him. Real persistant guy, your grandad.

"Annoying, too."

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"Roku's annoying," Ursa confides, clearly believing this to be an hereditary trait.

"Why were you tryng to get way from him?"

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"It's possible that it runs in the family," Sokka confirms, nodding. "You've met Avatar Aang, haven't you, Ursa? Your grandad was chasing him and me and my sister Katara were looking after Aang, so we had to fight with your dad a lot to keep him away."

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"I like Avatar Aang," Ursa says. "He's funny.

"Grandad was chasing him because Great-Grandad told him to, and Great-Grandad was a silly."

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Snorting a little in amusement, Sokka glances at Lu before looking back Ursa. "Well, that's one way to put it, sure. After we all got to Apocalyptica and your great-grandad wasn't around anymore, your grandad became friends with Aang. That's where we became friends, too, and where he met your grandma."

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"And Grandma punched him in the face for being stupid," Ursa fills in. She's heard this.

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"Yeah, she did that a lot," Sokka replies, laughing. With another bounce, he sets Ursa down on her feet and takes her hand again. "And after that, he set a bookstore on fire while arguing with me and offered to train me in the same sentence. Violence was kind of his thing back then."

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"It's Meila's thing now," Ursa sulks. Louise clears her throat to point out it's Ursa's thing too.

"Did he teach you firebending?"

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"Another thing that runs in the family," Sokka says to Lu under his breath, winking.

As for Ursa's question, Sokka blinks back at her with raised brows. "Firebending? No, honey, I can't. I'm not a bender and I'm Water Tribe, too. He taught me how to fight for a while, though, and we trained together every day."

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This doesn't impress Ursa, but she tugs on his hand anyway.

"When did you make them stop arguing?"

(Louise is trying not to laugh because she'd rather listen)

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"Spirits, all the time," Sokka sighs, exasperated after forty years and tugging on Ursa's hand right back. "Long before your mommy and her siblings were born, Mel and Zuko wouldn't talk about all kinds of things. So they'd get into these huge fights and run off on each other and as soon as they'd finally have a conversation, everything would be fine. But they'd have to be kicked into it first."

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"I kinda got the impression it wasn't you doing the kicking but various evil relatives," Louise volunteers unhelpfully.

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Very unhelpful. Sokka just snorts and shakes his head, swinging Ursa's arm. "God, no. The only thing that happened after Harth or Azula pulled their stupid tricks was more fighting. Your parents would have their biggest fights after that stuff."

Unless it was Sokka's fault. Then they bonded over mutual brother-stupid.

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"What kind of fights?" demands Ursa.

Not fair, keeping the best story from her.

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"Oh, boy, let me think. I know there were a few really good ones...

"All right, well, maybe three or four months after we'd been in Apocalyptica, your Grandad Zuko told me that he wanted to bring Mel back here with him." He swings Ursa's hand as he nods to the palace and, in general, the world, smiling. "He had it all planned out, too. She was going to be his 'spirit bride.'

"And then, right after your mom and Aunt Hana were born, Mel comes up and tells me she's not sure if Zuko will want to stay with her in Apocalyptica, much less have her come back to the Fire Nation with her!"

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Ursa might be gazing wide eyed at him, but all Louise - who is as interested as her daughter - can say is, "can you really see Mom living like this?"

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"Yes," Sokka replies, looking over at Lu to give her a firm, serious nod, "I can. A lot of things would have driven her nuts about it, but she would have loved the space and the people outside of the palace. You can bet she would have gone sneaking out as often as possible just to find a game of cards in an alley somewhere."

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Louise sighs, dramatically butn out of Ursa's detection. She misses cards.

"Mom couldn't live here," she says. "Anymore than Hana could."

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"She wasn't the same as Hana," he says quietly, swinging Ursa's hand and smiling at her. "She fought the same, but she did it because of her family, not out of any sense of duty. Hana was-- very, very different."

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"I didn't mean personality-wise," Louise remarks. Ursa is just listening now. "I meant the Slayer. Bi-Ying, whatever you call it. Mom had it too."