Team: Earth Kingdom

Round: One

Category: Drabble

Prompt: Paintings on the Wall

Word count: 371


"The palace renovation project is going well, Nephew," Iroh said, then added with a hearty chuckle and a clap on the young man's back, "I love what you've done with the place!"

"Thanks, Uncle." Zuko rolled up the parchment containing the plans for the new "throne" room—where the first order of business was to get rid of that ominous throne. He wanted to remove all remnants of a regime that ruled by fear.

"Time for tea?" Iroh made a sweeping gesture with his arm, enunciated by a billowy sleeve. The Earth Kingdom fashion suited Iroh, Zuko thought, but looked out of place against the backdrop of Fire Nation red. Of course, a peacemaking Fire Lord was also an anomaly.

Zuko stopped short in the corridor and made a gesture that mimicked his uncle's from mere seconds ago. "What do I do with these?"

Iroh seemed to follow Zuko's line of thinking. "They're just paintings on the wall, Nephew. They don't define you."

Zuko's eyes drifted from the portrait of his great-grandfather, Sozin, then to Azulon, and finally rested on his father's stern face. "Yeah, but the p-p-people—"

"They don't define you, either."

Zuko turned to find his uncle's gaze warm and loving, as always. "But they are a part of me."

"And so am I. And so is your mother. And Avatar Roku. And even your friends—especially your friends who have helped you where your family has failed you," Iroh said.

"But what if I fail, too?" Zuko felt a lump forming in his throat.

"Zuko, I will count the ways in which you are not a failure, but only over a pot of ginseng. Let's go." Iroh lightly gripped his nephew's elbow, but the young man lingered. "Get rid of the paintings if they bother you that much," he added.

Zuko shrugged. "You're right. They're just paintings on the wall."

He had changed a lot of things since his father's rule, even the way the palace was decorated. He did this mostly so he could forget, but Zuko decided to leave the paintings so he could remember.

"My past will always be a part of me," he said with finality. "But it doesn't have to define me."