AN: The exact dare being, "Write a one-shot where Zuko is not banished and interacts with Aang (or any/all member(s) of the gaang)." Although I took creative freedom on the dare so it's a poem. It defects a little from the dare but keeps the main idea of it, and honestly, this is what I first think of when I think non-banished!Zuko. Enjoy my little ATLA obsessors!

Disclaimer- I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor do I make any profit from my works based on the show.

We were told as children that
The war was good,
That we were good.
It was said that Agni had
Looked down upon our ancestors and saw
That we were better than all others, so
He blessed us with the power of fire.
Fire, that was used to light torches so we
Could see on the darkest nights.
Fire, to cook our food so we might not be poisoned by it.
Fire, wielded to protect us from dangers of all kinds.
If we are blessed,
Is it not our duty to share the blessing with others?
Those who were not Agni's sons
And daughters didn't understand why we were trying to
Help them. They despised change,
Because of this they fought us. But we were
An honorable people,
We couldn't let them stay as they were,
The war was our way of helping those less fortunate
Than we.

That was what we were told.
Those are the lies we believed.
When one lives in the homeland and never
Travels further than needed for clothes and food,
One does not see the devastation the war has wrought.
Questioning the war was
Borderline treason, if one didn't
Agree,
He never spoke his mind.

But one did. One man,
Merely a boy,
Didn't agree and he spoke
Out against what he felt was wrong.
For that he was killed.
His name was Prince Zuko,
Son of Fire Lord Ozai and his missing wife Ursa.
That was the day we
Began to question Agni's gift to us,
The day the Fire Lord used it to
Slay his own son. Most turned their heads
And quietly muttered
How sad they were for the dead prince.
Only a few were able to lift off the blinders placed on us many years ago.
We gathered for years, planning
And waiting, growing in numbers and power.

Then hope came back, the Avatar returned!
Agni smiled upon us that day as we
Murdered the murderer and
Took the throne. Our
Queen returned to us and a new Fire Lord was crowned.
Fire Lord Ursa helped the Avatar pick up
The pieces of our broken lands, reuniting all
That had been lost, tearing down prejudices
Set in by false teaching.

Now we tell our children that peace is good.
That all people are good, but
Are capable of doing great evil.