_Avatar
_The Last Airbender
_Book Four: Air
_Chapter 1: A World Divided
"Today, this war is finally over. I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation, and I will. The road ahead will be challenging; A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided, but with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace."
Firelord Zuko, Book three chapter 21
Firelord Zuko's past statement rang in his head, as he looked back into the accusatory glares of the Earth Kingdom Generals.
"Why should we believe you?"
Zuko was attending a peace conference with the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe and his most trusted lieutenants, including Hakoda, and the Earth Kingdoms Council of Five: Five High Generals who had led the Earth Kingdom armies from Ba Sing Se. General Fong was also present.
Aang sat in to represent the Air Nomads.
Zuko had sent messengers to the other countries a week ago in hopes of finally bringing an end to the fighting. He had allowed them to come up with the meeting place: an ancient temple that sat on an island almost exactly in the middle of borders of the four nations. The Earth King and his bear, Bosco, were still missing though, and King Bumi had taken ill recently and could not come, so there was no one to represent the Earth Kingdom but its remaining Generals. With six Generals sitting at the conference table, the Water tribe Chief: Arnook wouldn't come unless he had five military minds with him as well. Zuko on the other hand, had scrounged together who he could at the last second. He didn't trust any of them, since they had all served under his father...
He needed the Fire Nation to look remorseful, but not weak. So there they sat at a large round table, looking more like a they were drawing the lines of war than discussing peace.
A moment ago, for the eighteenth time, Zuko had asked for an armistice so that all the nations could begin to disarm. (An abrupt surrender would not satisfy those in the respective nations who DID desire more war, of which there were far too many to be ignored. But a supposedly temporary peace might help them get used to the idea.)
Unfortunately, the Earth Kingdom Generals were not of the same mind. They each had a long list of grievances towards Zuko and his country. Some involved the abuse of the citizens in Ba Sing Se and Omashu by Fire Nation soldiers; and the burning of farmland and homes during the many battles that had taken place under Firelord Ozai's rule. Other grievances were more personal: family members and homes lost to the war. Battle scars marked almost all the generals before him. Namely the one that addressed Zuko now: General Howe; the Leader of the Council of Five, and infamous around the world for the brutality of his tactics which were matched only by the tactics of only the worst of the Fire Nation's Generals.
"Well? Why should we believe this?", said General Howe again. "I suppose while we withdraw, your armies will come up from the rear and take us out?"
Hakoda moved to say something, but Chief Arnook held up his hand to keep him quiet.
"No, I-" Zuko began, but the general interrupted him,
"That is how your grandfather, Firelord Azulon, conquered the Hu Xin province is it not?"
"Maybe, but I'm NOT my-"
"History has shown that violence tends to run in your family, am I wrong?"
"You will NOT speak of the Firelord's family that way!"ordered one of Zuko's generals. Zuko raised a hand to silence him, and realized with a jolt that it was General Bujing, the same man he had spoken against at 'that' war meeting years ago... Just looking at him made Zuko's scar twinge.
"I shall speak however I wish!" roared General Howe, flaring up at once.
Bujing could not completely stop his lips from forming a small smirk; the 'Peace Conference' would not end well if the leading Earth General was made angry.
Zuko saw Bujing's expression, and knew that he was being played.
Yes, violence did run in Zuko's family. There was no denying it. But that was his father's side of the family; on his mother's side, Zuko was descended from none other than Avatar Roku. If only that meant something. If Zuko brought it up, it would certainly startle everyone. But, at best, Zuko would be reminded that Roku's line also gave birth to Azula. At worst, he would be told to prove it; something that Zuko could not do with only Uncle Iroh's word to go on. Uncle Iroh: the infamous Fire Nation General and Firelord Ozai's brother.
"You claim to want peace," spat General How, "While those who sit by your ear are men who used their own prisoners of war as decoys while they attacking our flanks!"
"I cannot help it if you and your men have so many rocks in your heads that you could not recognize your own countrymen." said Bujing coolly.
"Be silent, General Bujing! Or I will have you removed from this meeting." growled Zuko.
Bujiing pursed his lips, although the mocking look in his eyes remained. He was clearly remembering the last time Zuko had cut him off...
Zuko was losing control of this meeting. He had been a fool to bring Bujing. Now that Zuko thought of it, he dimly remembered that it had been Howe leading the Earth army when Bujing had been leading the conquest.
"You claim to want peace," began General How again," And yet before me sit my mortal enemies, the most despicable men ever to lead a charge. And you no less, Firelord Zuko. I have heard many things about you during those travels that you say 'enlightened you to the state of the world'. You attacked the Southern Water Tribe, and Kyoshi Island, and many other Earth Kingdom villages. Whatever goals you were actually working for, you were not above allying yourself with pirates, bounty hunters, and all manner of scum to achieve them. To top it all off, it was you and your sister who carried out the coup to overthrow Ba Sing Se."
"Yes, two children overthrew your city-" cut in Bujing.
"Bite your tongue and begone from this meeting General Bujing!" shouted Zuko, a small burst of flame coming out his mouth as he spoke. Bujing scowled as he got up, but as he left, Zuko thought he saw a gleam of triumph in Bujing's eye. Out of Zuko's line of vision, Hakota had leaned over to speak frantically in Arnook's ear.
Sabotaged by his own General, his own political inexperience, and the list of his own failures; Zuko was getting close to the breaking point. In a minute, he was either going to challenge Howe to a duel or just blow up the whole room. He looked towards Aang for some support, but he only shrugged and put his elbows on the table to rest his chin on his hands.
"I find as little reason to trust you as I would your father, boy." General Howe concluded.
Zuko's composure cracked; but before he could do or say anything, Chief Arnook cut in, "It would seem that the Earth Kingdom's great General Howe is quick to discard formalities and quicker to incite hostility. It's almost as if you want the war to continue."
General Howe, turned an ugly shade of purple at this, surprise and anger etched all over his face as he turned to Chief Arnook, "I want the war to end, but not at the cost of the Earth Kingdom's freedom!"
"Have you forgotten that it was General Iroh and Admiral Jheong Jheong of the Fire Nation that liberated Ba Sing Se in the first place? Not to mention Master Pakkun of my own tribe and King Bumi of Omashu?" retorted Chief Arnook.
"I have not forgotten, nor have I forgotten that they did this while utilizing an organization that whose practices no one here can account for. I see they have no representatives, why should we trust them? It was Iroh that led the campaign to take Ba Sing Se in the first place, and it was Iroh who was this boy's close confidant while he paraded about our lands."
"You are determined, I see," Arnook said calmly, "to find suspicion in the word of every one here, even that of your allies. Be silent Howe, now I must address the new Firelord."
General Howe did so, but his glare was colder than the frozen north.
Arnook turned to address Zuko, "As General Howe says, there are many reasons to doubt your sincerity. I too have my own list of grievances towards you and your country. The ransacking of our sister tribe in the south, the destruction of my own tribe last winter. Your confidant, General Iroh was a leading General at that battle. I have eyewitness accounts saying that you, personally, infiltrated the city as far as the Spirit Oasis, our most sacred land, to attack the Avatar. I lost Yue, my only daughter, in that battle; and for all I know, it may have been you who killed her. But I am tired, I have lived a long time and seen too much strife; If there is an opportunity to end this war, I will take it for the sake of my people."
Aang was gazing at Chief Arnook intently. Zuko couldn't help but respect this man. He was also listing Zuko's misdeeds, but his calm voice did not incite anger. It allowed Zuko to cool off and really listen to him.
"I propose," Arnook went on, addressing General Howe, "that we agree to the armistice, but the Fire Nation must allow for us to send our own overseers to ensure that the Fire Nation is holding up it's side of the deal."
General Howe mulled this over for a long time; until finally, "Agreed." he said, grudgingly.
Hakoda threw Zuko an apologetic look across the table, which General Fong noticed with some disgust.
Zuko was not so pleased with this arrangement, however. The Fire Nation was still seen as the enemy with this deal. But he accepted the terms and put his seal on the documents, finalizing the compromise.
As the sun set, the meeting adjourned, the representatives all began to get up and head back to their respective outposts on the beaches. Aang walked briskly through the trees surrounding the temple, back to where he had set up camp, where Appa was waiting, along with Katara...
About half way there, Zuko caught up to him. Aang turned at the sound of his name. Zuko did not look happy. In fact he looked like he would breathe fire at any second, again.
"Aang, why didn't you say anything back there!"
Silence.
"As the Avatar, they would have listened to anything you would've said!"
Aang did not reply.
"Aren't you going to say anything!"
Finally Aang spoke, "This is your test, your first challenge as Firelord."
"You still could have vouched for me when Howe was-"
"They know you and I are friends, they would have seen it as you using the Avatar to intimidate them into submitting to your wishes. Besides, I said when the meeting began that I was sitting in as an Air Nomad, not as the Avatar. I was only there because there isn't any one else."
Zuko couldn't come up with a good argument for this. "But the Water tribe Chief-"
"-lost his daughter to the Fire Nation. I may have helped save his tribe, and even though Hakoda is on your side, there is no changing the fact that he has suffered because of your family."
Zuko sighed in frustration. "I know you're right, and I knew this wasn't going to be easy. But I never imagined it would be this hard. I thought they'd all welcome a chance for peace..."
"They want peace, but they also want to settle their grudges. By all rights, I should be on their side for the sake of my people."
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Well its not like I can just hand them every Fire Nation soldier that ever hurt someone in battle." he said impatiently.
"I know." said Aang, "You need to convince them to accept the Fire Nation's desire for peace without encouraging them to pick a fight with you and start this war all over again."
"Except the roles of the nations would be reversed this time." said Zuko dryly.
"Exactly."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"I think you should find a way to prove your sincerity to them, or else they'll just keep thinking you're trying to lure them in to a false sense of security."
"A way to prove my sincerity...?" Zuko wondered, "Such as?"
"That I can't answer." said Aang tiredly, "I don't know what else I can tell you."
"What would it take to prove myself to someone like Howe?" thought Zuko aloud.
Aang put a comforting hand on Zuko's shoulder, "How 'bout a gift basket?"
Zuko cracked up, the tension finally broken.
"Don't worry Zuko, the answer will come to you in time."
"Thanks Aang. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"Don't worry about it. Hey, do want to come down to the camp and eat with me and the others?"
"They're all here?"
"Well, Toph is in Omashu and Sokka is visiting Suki on Kyoshi Island, so when I say 'the others' I pretty much just mean Katara, Aapa and Momo." said Aang with a grin.
Zuko thought for a moment, spending the night eating and laughing with two of his closest friends seemed like just the thing he needed after that disaster of a meeting, and the thought greatly appealed to him. But he took Aang's previous words into account as well...
"It's probably best that I don't. The other nations already know we are friends, if we are seen at either of each others campsites, then it will look like we are plotting something."
Aang looked disappointed, but he brightened up and said, "Well then we'll owe you a drink at the Jasmine Dragon, okay?"
Zuko chuckled, "Okay, deal."
With that, they went their separate ways.
Daylight was almost completely gone and Aang could already see the light of the campfire ahead of him, but his thoughts had turned inward again. He had been sincere when he gave Zuko his reasons for not intervening earlier, but he had kept a couple to himself. The first was that he was the Avatar. As the Avatar he had the power to force the opposing nations to accept a truce, but that did not seem right. His role had ended when he defeated Ozai, right? Now his duty was to... to do whatever his next duty was, but the long awaited peace had to be made by the four nations themselves didn't it? That was when Aang had realized that no one could represent the Air Nomads but himself so he had decided to attend. If only Gyattso were alive, he'd have done a much better job...
The other reason was that Aang was feeling very distracted lately by his relationship with Katara.
He and Katara were finally a couple, ever since the last time the whole gang was together in Ba Sing Se, everything he had dreamed of for months had come true. But even so, he couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt off.
Not just in himself, but with Katara as well...
Zuko on the other hand was also thinking of that time in the Jasmine Dragon, and of his relationship with Mai...
'I think,' he thought to himself, 'I have one more reason to keep well away from Aang and Katara right now...'
To be continued...