A VERY SPECIAL AUTHOR'S NOTE

Note: This might get pedantic. Feel free to skip to the first chapter. I won't mind; honestly.

Good day, faithful readers! I know that it's not typically the practice for an author to preface their own work with a note, but the only alternative was to have the first couple chapters of this thing be accompanied by massive-ass author's notes, and I was really not on board with that. In my last major project, Wild, Wild Love (yes, I did just plug my own story; blow me), I kept the little notes at the end down to a minimum, and several readers seemed to appreciate that. Thus, in pursuit of said lofty goal (what can I say, I aim high), I'm going to lay down a few things before you get started.

First of all, thanks for stopping by! I really hope you stay with me for the entire ride, because I'm pretty excited about this project, and I think it'll be worth your time. Updates might become occasionally sporadic, due to my starting a new job (fingers crossed!), as well as the holidays and the fact that, in agreement with my wife, I have to alternate between this and an original work. So…not sure where that was going…

Right! The fic itself! Basically, this started as a random plot bunny, and then became a literary experiment. The idea, essentially, can be summed up as: What if Zuko, instead of being exiled, was sent into the Army? This, by the way, is a classic way for royal families to get rid of unwanted and embarrassing members, the hope being that they'll either redeem themselves or, at the very least, get themselves killed in a prompt, timely manner. For the kernel of this idea, I must thank the incredibly talented AvocadoLove for their story, The Problem with Zuko.

From there, I began fiddling (it was basically something I scrawled in margins when I needed a break from my very intense, often depressing original project), and the idea grew. Soon, I began tossing in things from my other stories, and before long, I'd decided, Fuck it, why not stop being a dick to Canon, and just run with this? And that's when plot bunny became full-on literary experiment.

The end result can be summed up thusly: What if one were to write a realistic Avatar story, with most of the main characters, and with their personalities and characterizations intact, except for one key thing changed in each person? What would that look like? What would be the end result? Would anyone want to read that? Would I want to read that?

And thus, here we are, The Romance of the Four Nations (which is my nod to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, whose character sheet I use whenever I need Chinese names for Earth Kingdom OCs). In this world, a lot of things are the same, but some interesting things are different. For example, Zuko is not the heir to the throne; without getting into things you'll be reading, Lu Ten's still alive (only his name is Yoshihito now, because I never liked the name Lu Ten, and any time Lu Ten is in a fic, he's basically an OC anyways, so why keep a name I don't like), and Iroh's Fire Lord. Ozai's still a dick, though, and Zuko still gets scarred, but, because Iroh's nicer than Ozai, Zuko gets sent into the Army, which is fighting a low-intensity war in an occupied Earth Kingdom. As a junior officer, he goes to the front lines. He's still basically the same guy from Canon, in that he's still mentally and emotionally marked by his childhood and upbringing, has some pretty intense insecurities, and whatnot. However, being in the Army is all he ever wanted to do (he didn't feel he had much else use, being a spare prince), so, he's basically an unconflicted Zuko. He's right where he wants to be, doing what he wants to do, with the same kind of courage, willpower, and intensity that he brings to everything.

See? Suddenly, we have a whole new story, right fucking there. And that's basically how this is going to work. Everyone's the same, only not. What if Sokka was just a bit less oblivious and a bit more devious? What if Katara was suffering a major crisis of faith in her mission to guide and protect the Avatar, and in the very idea of the Avatar? What if Azula wasn't crazy, and was also a good sister? What if Toph's parents were a bit more supportive, and not so weird?

Also, yes, there will be Zutara. Sorry. We all have our problems.

And, finally, what if a story finally asked the question we often avoid (though I'm sure there're probably hundreds of fics that ask this question):

Why an Avatar?

Intrigued? I hope you are. I know I am.

A final few notes (almost done, I promise): For one, this fic will not be told in first person. My original work requires third-person limited, and I used this story as practice, and it works. Thus, we'll be spending time in everyone's heads. Second, the idea of the different nations speaking different languages will be carried over from Wild, Wild Love, only it'll matter more, and be more important than my little hard-on for language trivia. Also, I won't be using much in the way of Google Translate, no matter how much it amused a native speaker of Finnish in the last fic. Here's a cheat-sheet:

Fire Nation = Nihongo (Japanese)

Water Tribes = Inuktitut (Inuit languages)

Air Nomads = Gorkhali (Nepali)

Earth Kingdom = This…is actually complicated, because the Earth Kingdom is like China, in that there is more than one language. The two big ones to know for the story are Guangzhou (Cantonese) and Putonghua (Mandarin).

And that…just about covers it. If you actually read this…well…I'm very sorry. Hopefully I didn't spoil anything for you. And if you didn't, and are just coming back at the end…I hope you enjoyed the show!

And speaking of the show…we should probably get on with it!

Somewhere, in the wilds of the Occupied Earth Kingdom, a year-and-a-half before the main narratives begins, a young woman, very far from home, walks out of the forest, and into a small Fire Nation Army camp…

PS – Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!