On the throne, sat a silver-haired metalbender with a small chain in place of a crown on her head; a bead of jade hanging in the middle of her forehead. She wore the finest silks in the entire Earth Kingdom, but no shoes, preferring to use her second sight knowing a little too well that what she saw with her eyes could be deceiving. She played the part well, ruling. But still, she was no queen. Merely a leader doing her friends a favor: maintaining order in the Earth Kingdom and returning peace to the villages and provinces the Kingdom's former interim dictator ravaged relentlessly.
Her emerald eyes gazed down on the visitor who knelt before her, a foreigner dressed in crimson and gold, wearing armor with spiked shoulders, and a proper crown atop her head. The foreigner, another old friend, kept her head touching the floor as she knelt before the metalbender and her advisers waiting.
"Thank you for coming to meet me, Fire Lord Izumi," the metalbender said coolly addressing her old friend with her chin held high and her hands planted firmly on the golden arms of her throne.
"The honor is mine, Your Highness, Earth Queen Suyin. Thank you for the invitation," The Fire Lord said with her face still facing the floor, her own silver hair tumbling over her shoulders.
"Rise," the Earth Queen ordered.
The Fire Lord stood and so did the Earth Queen.
The Earth Queen turned to the dozen advisers who flanked her throne, and the two dozen Royal Guards who formed a human wall between the two women, and the four dozen Dai Li who lined the walls of the throne room, waiting.
"As for the rest of you," the Earth Queen addressed the extensive guard. " Leave us."
They all bowed and walked backwards out of the hall, never once turning away from the woman they had to obey.
The Earth Queen waited for two to be alone before speaking again. "Now, how about a hug for an old friend?" the metalbender asked her old friend, running down the steps from her throne to leap into the Fire Lord's arms.
"It is good to see you, Suyi," Izumi said hugging the younger woman opting to use her childhood pet name in lieu of her formal titles.
"Likewise, Zumi," Suyin said tiptoeing to wrap her arms around the older woman's neck.
"So what's happened? You said in your letter that it was an emergency."
"It is! Or, well I think it is. I received word that Tonraq and the Chieftains of the Northern Water Tribe have traveled to Republic City and persuaded the council to back them ontheir new position."
"And that is?"
"They want me to stay in Ba Sing Se and call off the elections. They are under the impression that if left to herself, the Earth Kingdom will either elect an anarchist or dissolve into independent city-states."
"Is the latter a particularly bad thing?"
"I am beginning to think no, but I don't want my personal wishes for Zaofu to remain autonomous to cloud my judgement on this."
"What does Tenzin have to say about all that's happened?" Izumi asked walking with Suyin towards a side door where metalbending security team members from Zaofu took up guard positions behind the two rulers as they walked.
"He didn't even know. Apparently they didn't invite him to their 'Word Leader' meeting," Suyin replied.
"Or me," Izumi added as they rounded down another corridor, Izumi looking at Suyin, and Suyin looking straight forward, her eyes open, but most likely tuned out, unseeing, letting her bare feet guide her to wherever they were going. She was worried. "When did you last hear from him?"
"Yesterday. He's on his way from the Eastern Air Temple with his family,"
"Oh! That will be fun, at least! I should have brought Ursa. She loves spending time with Huifan," Izumi said.
"-except Huifan. The eldest girl has volunteered to train the next class of metalbenders for the Zaofu Security Team, AND she's the new artistic director in my dance company in the Metal Clan," Suyin replied.
"That- is actually really unexpected. I always thought she would insist upon staying with her family, to protect them."
"She did, but Kya thought of a solution. Told her her talents were wasted remaining with those who know her so well. Convinced her that she was needed not just by them but the whole world. That she would be loved and that she can help other's like her to realize their full potential. Where that might be, none of us know. So about a few months ago, she set off to travel the world on her own and ended up settled in Zaofu. We're all glad she took a less dangerous path than me, at least."
Izumi could not just hear but feel the sadness in her old friend's she laughed lightly at Suyin's last comment.
"But hey, I think you turned out okay," The Fire Lord said to the Queen patting her on the back like a big sister would do to her baby sibling.
"Yeah, but it wasn't easy."
"Nothing is."
The two exited the palace and continued down some white marble steps into an expansive and lavish garden space that spanned thousands of acres.
"So when are the elections supposed to happen assuming you ignore the advice of Republic City and the Water Tribes and continue with the first assignment they have given you?" Izumi asked.
"The end of this year," Suyin answered.
"And what is the structure of this new leadership supposed to be?"
"Broken into three branches like a grafted tree that are supposed to check and balance each other to avoid favoritism of any particular region and restrict the abuse of power of the few or the wealthy."
"And how exactly are they supposed to do that? What are the roles of each branch?"
"The legislative branch is supposed to receive and process civil disputes and conflicts. It, itself will be divided into a house of intellectuals, nobility, and the wealthy, and a house of elected commoners from each region. They're supposed to draft and pass laws and regulations that the judicial branch is supposed to enforce if the local law enforcement cannot handle it, or the conflict spans multiple last branch is the must confusing to me. My current understanding is that some elected leader, like Raiko, us supposed is to approve every development, YET also have the power to veto it, AND act as the figure head responsible for conveying all that has changed to the people."
"Before I tell you what I think, I want to hear your opinion," Izumi said to Suyin. "because while you are still Earth Queen, you have the sole authority to make the final decision on whether or not to hold the elections in the first place or stay Queen. Wu is nothing anymore."
"First of all, I am fine with ruling the City of Zaofu. I want to. The population is just under a million people with a relatively steady and manageable growth rate. Nearly all citizens of my municipal share a handful of common goals and values. I never wanted to impose my ideals on such a vast nation with so many diverse tribes, villages, and cities spread over such a wide area. But, I feel like I have to. I don't think that the proposed branches of government would work with each other or for the nation, even with the checks and balances."
"Why?"
"Because very few rules can be enforced equally across all of the regions. The kingdom still lacks the infrastructure and organization. Kuvira's tactics worked because she oppressed where she should have negotiated,"
"To what rules are you referring to?"
"For one, the mandatory flat tax. They want to impose a flat, monetary tax on each city based on said city's population neglecting the fact that some cities are just villages that are incredibly underdeveloped and impoverished, that can't spare anything for a tax. They survive through trade still and barely produce enough goods to export and amass revenue."
"What would you do?"
"I would impose a tax based on the revenue of the village or city."
"How would you calculate the revenue of places like the Swamp where there is a large population, millions according to Kya's estimate, and no city or central government to collect a census on the people?"
"Not tax them?"
"And how do you think the wealthy citizens of places like Zaofu, Ba Sing Se, Gaoling, and Omashu will react?"
"Not well."
"Exactly.
"So what would you do, Zumzu?"
"In the Fire Nation, we have nationalized the production of weapons, regulate the trade of raw materials, and invest a lot into education and the arts, not forcing both, but merely supporting one or the other."
"Why?"
"It keeps people busy, and when people are busy, they have less time to think about uprisings. If they do think about uprising, they have no weapons with which to do so, since we control the inventory."
"Busy how? Through forced labor?"
Izumi laughed. "No! It is kind of like your city, Zaofu, where everyone is encouraged to reach his or her greatest potential, just on a national level."
"The Earth Kingdom has six times the land area and four times the population of the Fire Nation! How could I encourage everybody to reach his or her greatest potential-"
"You don't have to rule alone or be the only person encouraging. A queen can still have advisers, representatives, committees- Think Suyi, you have a nation at your disposal. Surely there is someone you can trust to spread the word and the kindness among the people."
"At this point, I trust my husband and my children, but none of them have any interest in politics except Junior who is currently serving at least sixty years in prison after violating the conditions of house arrest to join Pema's lost cause a year ago!"
"You trust me."
"You're the FIRE Lord, if I even hint that I may let you help me run this country, if they even get wind of the conversation we are currently having, I will be burned alive at the stake!"
"How about Masaru? I can spare him for a week a month to meet with you if you need help? He IS your half-brother,"
"He's still a firebender. The loyalists won't care that he is a son of Toph Beifong because of firey blood in his veins,"
"Yet the loyalists are okay with the Water Tribes and the Rogue State vetoing their elections without consent of the Fire Lord and the Patriarch of the Air Nomads?"
"It is complicated."
"It is not. In the end, only you can make this decision, Suyin."
"But I can't! I don't know what is best!" Suyin replied.
A/N
Another Sequel to 'Lives Forgotten', that is Suyin-centric. You do not need to read that long-ass other story to understand this one. Just know that Izumi has two kids, IrohII and Ursa, and that Lin and Tenzin have six children together that are older than Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan. Bumi is still Bumi, Kya still Kya. Izumi is married now to Lin's brother Masaru (who is the son of Satoru and Toph). Eska and Desna are still Eska and Desna, Tonraq is still Tonraq, and the council in Republic City has been reinstated after Raiko fucked up everything in my previous FanFic.