I own nothing
"No. I respect your opinion Minister, but I do not believe it is necessary to retreat to the Royal bunkers. This is not the Hundred Years War. I do not fear this day." Izumi gave the best glare she could muster at Goro. If there was one perfect argument to end the nobility it was him.
"Fire Lord Izumi. We may not be in the same situation that your Grandfather was, but we are at war. The Earth Savages..." Izumi resisted the urge to blast his face off.
"Need I remind you that we are currently allied with the Earth King?" He didn't even stop to consider her warning.
"Will most surely try something. They know that your son has them defeated at every turn." Izumi scowled.
"My son is currently bogged down at Gaoling, a thousand dead just yesterday. Hardly a triumphant march on Ba Sing Se." Goro waved off her concern.
"This is their last chance to win this war. They will try to knock us out of it. Mark my words. Perhaps they will try to ally with the students." Izumi held up her hand. Finally Goro fell silent.
"I do not believe any of my subjects will attempt to use the Eclipse to overthrow me. They know the dangers of the Earth Empire. Besides my father will be here, and you know that they love him."
"Fire Lord, for the sake of..." Izumi had finally had enough.
"I have made my decision. I will stay in the palace. You are dismissed."
Her Father was not there on the day of the Eclipse. He telegram was apologetic, but the situation in Kyoshi was too desperate for him to turn his back on. It was more disappointing then Izumi would care to admit. Ever since Mother had died he'd avoided the Capital like the plague. He'd only visited once, and that was when her life was in mortal peril.
So she rode in the litter from the fire temple to the palace with only Joji and Suzu. The thick red curtains remained closed, but the Royal Family were still able to hear the variety of calls coming from the crowds as they processed through the city.
"Izu-mi! Izu-mi!" The crowd chanted. Izumi wondered how many students had been pulled out by police for chanting for Democracy. Or even worse for demanding that the Royal Family get what the Earth Queen had.
"Princess Suzu I love you!" A lone voice screamed.
Joji laughed. "That poor fellows going to be so sad when you marry Yuudai." Suzu blushed in response, the deep red combining with her short black hair to make her look like a starfishclam.
"He still hasn't asked me." Suzu muttered. "I don't know why, I took him to the the Agni Festival. It was perfect, the moon was shining, and then nothing!" Joji smiled a knowing smile.
"He's probably just scared. You are the Crown Princess after all. I know I was scared asking your mother to marry me. He just needs a little push. Zumi, maybe you could talk to him?" Izumi roused herself from her thoughts and nodded. Joji grinned.
"Where is he now anyway?"
"The West. He's studying how the sulfur from volcanos affects the fish of the Mizunomori. He's going to write his thesis on it. Plus he gets to see how Marine life reacts to the Eclipse. I wish he was here, but the scientific opportunities are astounding." Eager to stop her daughter before she spent the afternoon discussing batsharks Izumi interrupted.
"And if he were here he wouldn't be allowed in the litter." With that Suzu gave a dramatic huff.
Suddenly the crowds outside began to grow louder. Some voices grew harsher. Soon a new chant arose.
"No more Lords! No more Kings! We want freedom! We want equality!"
"We seem to have arrived at the university district." Izumi said dryly.
"We want freedom! We want equality!" The chants grew louder.
"Remember Spiderpig Island!"
"Free Hokaido!"
"We want freedom! We want equality!"
Something hit the litter. It sounded like a rock. Izumi heard the sudden sound of Firebending. The crowd began to scream.
More rocks hurled at the litter.
"Murderers!"
"Down with Izumi!"
"Freedom!"
The litter began to pick up pace, only to wobble and slow down a few seconds later.
Izumi tore open the velvet blinds. She had been right, they were right in front of the University's School of Law. The rest of the procession had been abandoned in favor of her protection. Royal Guards had formed ranks around the litter and were now hurling fireblasts. The fire whipped in front of the crowd, forcing it back. Izumi looked around the crowd, one young man was on the ground and being attended to by other students. He looked burned on his arms, but he wasn't dead. Some one spotted Izumi.
"There she is! Down with the Fire Lord!"
"Bring Back Zuko!"
"We want Iroh!" The crowd picked up the last chant.
"We want Iroh! We want Iroh!" The guards whipped out another round of fire, but the crowd kept chanting. Izumi looked back into the litter. Suzu was pale as the moon. Joji was very red.
"Get us out of here." He hissed. "Now." Izumi nodded. She leaned out of the side of the litter, the calls for Iroh grew louder. A rock barely missed her head. She contorted her body towards the sky, took a deep, deliberate breath, and shot a bolt of lightning into the sky. The crowd fell silent for a second. Then it resumed chanting for Iroh. A lone voice cried above the din.
"I'm not scared bitch! I can do it to!" A bolt of lightning shot towards the litter. Izumi twisted to redirect it into the sky. She was partially successful. It avoided hitting anyone, but she did blast the head off statue of Princess Ursa.
"This is getting out of hand." Izumi muttered.
As if on cue a roar rumbled over the square. A shadow passed over the sun, preveiwing the Eclipse. Izumi suppressed the urge to smile, it would have looked tasteless under the circumstances. She began to yell instructions.
"Kogigo here!" The great orange dragon heard her and swooped down towards the Earth. Kogigo coiled himself around the litter and the guards, not even acknowledging the rocks and fire being hurled him. Joji stood halfway up and looked out at Kogigo.
"About time. What took you so long?" A mighty tail began to shake the litter. Joji shook his head.
"Nice to see you to buddy. Now are we getting out of here?" Another shake of the litter, Joji was knocked back into his seat next to Suzu. Izumi rolled her eyes.
"Kogigo, help the guards will you?" The dragon roared, stood up and fire into the sky. By now the crowd has quieted, a dedicated few still chanted for liberty, but most now stood slack-jawed at the dragon.
A captain of the guard, red armor gleaming in the sun, too the opportunity.
"Disperse! Disperse! Return to your homes! There will be a full curfew from now until sunrise tomorrow! Break it on the pain of death!" Izumi blinked rapidly, then called the captain over to the litter and whispered in his ear angrily. The guard stood strait up, turned white as snow, and addressed the crowd again.
"Please return to your homes! There will be a curfew until after the Eclipse has ended, any violators will be detained." The crowd broke into cacophony. Some cheered, others booed, some brave students tried to restart the chants. But the crowd was still awed by the dragon overhead, and it began to disperse. No-one proved desperate enough to become a martyr. Izumi dispatched orders for the Capital Police to investigate the instagaors of the riot, and ordered the litter to procede. As the litter slowly began to return to more friendly parts of the city Joji stood up and took a seat next to Izumi. His face was the most somber Izumi had seen it since her mother's funeral.
"That's not always going to work, is it?" He asked quietly.
"It isn't." She replied.
Izumi still ardently refused to leave the palace for the Eclipse, however she did consent to a doubling of the available guards. She had been expecting the reinforcements to be led by Colonel Aya, a friendly women who shared Izumi's taste for long hours. Unfortunately Izumi found herself in her private study with General Ito, horrendous forked grey beard and all. He towered over Izumi and her desk and had an annoying tendency to follow her with his amber eyes.
"General Ito, I'm surprised to see you here. If I remember correctly you are still assigned to the archives." Ito's eyebrows wrinkled up.
"In spite of the efforts of, certain elements in the Army, I still have a few friends. I thought I might pop by to discuss a matter of great importance." Izumi suppressed a scowl and instead focused on the lionturtle carvings above her door.
"The answer is still no. I cannot in good conscience approve..." Ito interrupted.
"Oh? The Northern Operations Center? I've long since accepted that you would not see my reasoning. No I am here to discuss the future of our nation." Izumi raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to sit in a silk chair in front of her desk.
"So, what do you have to say?" Ito frowned.
"I trust you are in good health? Today's...excitement hasn't taken it's toll?" It was now Izumi's turn to frown.
"I appreciate your concern. I remain in good health."
"And I trust you do not intend to cave to these dangerous Equalist radicals?" Izumi smiled blandly.
"A few were firebenders, so I doubt they were Equalist."
"Amon was a waterbender."
"I suppose so. And to answer your question I do not intend on going anywhere but I do intend to launch inquiries into why these students are so upset." Ito grimaced and shifted in his seat.
"I see. The obvious answer is that they do not know hardship like we did when we were young." Izumi did not make the obvious comment about how both of then were of high noble rank and allowed him to continue. "But philosophy is for lesser people. The issue I come to you with is that of your succession." Izumi raised an eyebrow.
"As far as I know the line is clear."
"That's the issue. The Princess is a lively girl, but I fear she lacks the drive needed to lead this country well." Izumi frowned suddenly and began to wonder just how much thought Ito had put into this little chat.
"If you think that my daughter is at fault for the incident with your son then your are wrong." Ito held up his hands.
"This has nothing to do with what happened on Ember Island. I have only the interests of the Fire Nation in mind. I'm not the only one who believes it. Many are concerned with her hobbies."
"My daughter's hobbies include looking at fish for several hours, the opera, flying her dragon and going on chaste walks with her boyfriend."
"Hardly the makings of a leader on par with you or your father. She spends half her days at the Royal Marina looking at specimens. When crisis strikes she is not the leader we need. Her current...acquaintance is from some minor province, not enough to unite the fighting classes around her. Now your son on the other hand, there is a man with potential. With the right marriage he could lead the nation well. The water tribes are disunited, the Earth Kingdom is broken and the United Republic is in chaos. With a strong have the Fire Nation could assume a leading role in the world. But not under your daughter." Izumi closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.
"Fire Lord Iroh is also the demands of some of the students. Surely you of all people would not need their calls." Ito just smiled a frankly disturbing grin.
"That's the beauty of it. The lower classes with be mollified by him, and we can turn outward. Naming Iroh as heir would unite this country under the right sort of leadership." Izumi breathed outwards harshly.
"Suzu has a birthright that cannot be denied, in addition she has a dragon that can shoot flames from her throat."
"She would step aside if she thought the nation needed it." Ito said surprisingly mildly. Izumi fell silent. He was right. Suzu was a soft soul.
"Do you have an answer?" Ito asked, a look that was both sympathetic and a smirk. Izumi stared up at him defiantly.
"Such a move would signal to the world that the Fire Nation has no respect for the rule of law. It would destroy our credibility abroad." Ito face turned dark.
"I'm not so sure. Did you see the latest poll from Republic City? 45% think Iroh would be a good President. If he played his tiles right the Fire Nation could regain some lost land without a fight." Izumi was done. She stood up and pointed at the door.
"I have had quite enough of this. The fire nation I rule has had enough of conquest, and I will not tolerate attempts to tamper with the line of succession, that is how we got my mad grandfather. You are dismissed." Ito's face turned towards anger.
"I am looking for the best path for our nation, unlike..." Izumi sent out a blast of fire past Ito's head.
"Get out."
Ito stood up and turned towards the door. Then he turned back around, bowed curtly, and left the study.
The Eclipse came in the middle of dinner. It was only the royal family and the servents in the large, red hued dining room. They were all clustered around one end of the shiny gumpine table, eating roasted lavahog and chestnuts, exquisitely prepared as always. Suzu and Joji were dressed fairly casually (for royalty) but Izumi wore a more formal outfit, complete with rank insignia and a sword. She felt a little over dressed.
The "debate" with Ito had left Izumi even more quiet then usual. Joji hasn't tried to get her to discuss the pro-bending championship (why her husband had enamoured himself with the sport she would never know) but had failed. So now he was listening to Suzu talking about the possibilities of the new Varrick Industries Water Tank held for studying aquatic life.
"...that's thick enough that even an angry maniteewhale couldn't break through it! You could put a whole reef in one! We could study the unique interactions between the phytozooplankton and the bearmoose fish without having to sail anywhere! Can you imagine that?" Joji nodded slowly.
"Uh huh."
"And the ladybug fish! No one knows their mating cycle! But with this we could figure it out!" Suzu beamed.
"Where would you put this stuff?" Joji asked. Suzu paused for a moment then resumed gushing.
"I guess the zoo. You'd need a whole separate building, but you could let visitors in to see the animals. Like a water zoo, or aqua-zoo or..." Suzu trailed off.
Izumi could tell why. She suddenly felt kind of woozy. Drained, even more tired then she had been before. Joji looked like he felt the same way. She tried lighting a fire in her palm. Nothing.
"The Eclipse." Suzu whispered. Izumi nodded.
"Shall we go see it now?" Joji asked.
Before Izumi could reply a servingman dressed in white entered the room with a covered plate. Izumi narrowed her eyes. It wasn't time for dessert, and someone had clearly messed up the diner schedule. The server grinned maniacally.
"You tyrants are powerless! I can't believe it! Our victory is at hand." He lifted the cover off of the plater to reveal a shock glove.
This melodrama cost him any chance of victory. As he lifted up the glove to put it on Izumi grabbed her knife, still greasy, and threw it towards the server. The blade impaled the glove and knocked it out of his hand, sending it to the floor in a shower of blue sparks. The server stared at the dying glove, then at Izumi. Izumi stood unsheathed her sword, it was ceremonial and thus blunt, but the attacker didn't need to know that. She kept onto her chair and then onto the table, keeping the high ground. She sprinted down the table towards the attacker, knocking over Joji's plate as she went. The attacker made a break for the door, apparently not having any weapons other then his glove. He had enough of a head start go make it. Izumi cursed herself for not having some throwing knives, her mother would have killed her. She probably could have stopped and let him escape, she could hear guards running towards the dining room already. But they should have been here already, who knew how many friends he had on the inside of the palace?
Izumi made a split second decision, not allowing herself to think of the consequences of a mistake, and threw her sword. End over end the dull but still deadly blade soul towards the man running the length of the room. Her aim was true and the hilt of the spinning sword slammed him in the back of the head. He fell and sprawled onto the floor, the blade clattering to the ground beside him. The attacker was merely stunned, not even knocked out, but it was enough. Izumi was upon him, pinning him to the ground.
Joji and Suzu finally moved from their stunned silence and ran to Izumi's side. Izumi sighed.
"I don't think I'll go view the Eclipse, I've had enough excitement for the day."