A/N: A small piece I wrote in honor of Veteran's Day, one of my favorite holidays. Set post-series.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Warnings: Spoilers. And, as always, probable typos even after editing.

From Majesty to Mother
By: Nuit Songeur

"The Dragon! Let's go to the Dragon!" a small girl squealed excitedly, probably eight years of age. Her silky black hair twisted into a braid trailed behind her as she hurried along the uneven dirt pathway. The girl's sister, who was also her identical twin, grudgingly followed, as if utterly bored by anything that the energetic sister would prattle on about. Their mother was the last of the procession, walking calmly behind her daughters with her head held high and imperiously. For, she was the Queen of the Fire Nation. And also, the mother of twins and, as such, she carried a picnic basket, dangling from her forearm, that contained assorted items for their lunch.

"Calm yourself, Lea," their mother reprimanded softly, addressing the energetic of the two. "We shall reach the Dragon in due time. Come and walk with your sister."

Lea had stopped in her perpetual bouncing to turn and show her mother an expression of dissatisfaction, mouth slightly agape as she impatiently and reluctantly waited for her sister, Gaia, to catch up. Her mother promptly ignored the girl's displeasure. Gaia rolled her eyes as her sister kept pace with her and let loose an exasperated sigh.

"I don't see the point of this," Gaia grumbled in her monotone of a voice. "What's so important about a statue? It's just a slab of rock. I could be doing something else other than staring at some statue." Through their entire trip, Gaia had issued such complaints for she was one who hated being disturbed and hated being forced to go somewhere outside the confines of her bedroom where her books were located.

"Stop complaining," Lea sniffed. "The Dragon is very important to the Fire Nation. You should be excited to see it. Dad had it-"

"Yes, I know," Gaia interjected. "Dad had it built after the Great War to commemorate all those who had lost their lives in it." Lea's mouth twitched slightly as her dull sister began to annoy her with her infamous Gaia-thinks-she-knows-everything attitude. She whipped her head away from her.

"So maybe you do learn things from your silly books and scrolls."

"A lot more than what you learn from your stupid dolls," Gaia retorted. Lea had opened her mouth to respond but their mother cut across them both.

"Girls," she scolded with a light air of admonishment. "There is no need for such trivial arguing."

"Yes ma'am," they both said simultaneously. The queen sighed patiently.

"It is true. Your father- Fire Lord Zuko- had the Dragon constructed shortly after the War's end. When it was completed, the Avatar came and blessed the statue as a relic to represent what had been lost, thus its shape- a dragon. The statue is actually formally called 'The Dragon of the West' in honor of your Great Uncle Iroh who helped secretly preserve the race of dragons. However, our knowledge of the dragons is still quite sparse and limited for they still refuse to show themselves to us today. What we do know of their existence now is a result from the accounts of Avatar Aang, your great uncle, and also your father." Both girls were amazed to hear of the last person.

"So Dad actually saw the dragons?" Lea asked, moving her head to lock gazes with her mother. She nodded.

"Or, what's left of them. There's only two left now and they live somewhere secluded up North, protected by an ancient tribe."

"Fascinating," Gaia remarked in her dreary voice. Normally, one would think that she was being sarcastic and that the subject bored her. However, the queen knew better for she had been similar to her eldest daughter at a time in her life, when those around her called her "Mai" instead of "majesty" or "mother." So, she knew her daughter did not intend to spite. Besides, Gaia was a girl interested in books and history. This type of subject did intrigue her. However, the same could not be said for Lea as she sighed theatrically, brining her boredom to attention.

"Mother, are we almost there yet?" she asked, becoming irritated.

"Just as soon as we pass the crest of this hill," Mai said, maintaining her collected composure. The three females were silent as they continued to traverse the rest of the small incline. Once they had reached the top, the two girls gasped at what they saw below then.

The hill declined sharply, making a steep hillside that led to a deep valley that the floor of was paved with white-washed stone. In the center of this man-made courtyard was an enormous sculpture of a dragon, shaped to a life-sized proportion as Mai knew, thence the necessity of the cavernous valley. The sculpture itself was carved meticulously, outlining every detail of the dragon right down to every one of its scales. The best painters and artists around were the ones chosen to paint the magnificent monument and they did so with great talent, blending in the appropriate shades of red and, at the request of Zuko, adding a metallic component to the paints so that, when the sun shone, the scales glistened brilliantly, if only faintly in the cloudiest of days.

A stairway of steps led down to the ostentatious site and when Mai blinked, she saw Lea eagerly bouncing down the steps, Gaia following shortly behind with, Mai noticed, careful footsteps tainted by an uncontrollable anticipation. The Queen smiled and carefully followed behind her daughters. When she had made it to the very bottom, Mai singled out a spot to which to set her picnic basket down on and to set up a place of leisure for their lunch. She watched as Lea climbed on the statue and began exploring its many crooks and crevices while Gaia settled for examining the bottom, the pedestal that the dragon had wrapped its serpentine body around. She circled around it and stopped once she had found the inscription.

"Mom, there's writing on here," she called out. "It says 'For those who had lost everything and nothing yet not for any small cause. For those who had endured unjustly and even for those who hadn't. Every contribution is deserving and they deserved to be honored and remembered.'" Mai smiled wryly.

"That's one of the cryptic quotes your great uncle came up with. Basically, it means that even though the Fire Nation was not quite justified for ensuing the war, those who suffered for it should still be honored for their losses because they had best intentions for our nation, even if they followed blindly." Gaia blinked at her mother and continued her personal study of the Dragon. Suddenly, Lea called down from her position on the statue.

"Mother, I found something!" she exclaimed brightly. Within moments, she landed on the ground agilely, brushed off her sleeve, and rushed over to the Queen, holding something circular clutched within her fingers. Lea handed the item to her mother and Mai examined it, able to immediately identify it.

"A Lotus Tile," she mused quietly to herself. She flipped it over and read another set of text. " 'Always remember but never forget.'" She smiled to herself- more of Uncle Iroh's cryptic messages.

"I found it behind the dragon's right ear," Lea informed her proudly.

"Yes," Mai acknowledged vaguely, her mind setting off on a tangent.

Mai looked away from game tile and focused on the blue horizon. The Dragon of the West sculpture was a symbol to recognize to those who had fought and lost their lives in the war. And, she thought, that without those brave soldiers, friend or foe to the Fire Nation, Mai would had not found the inner peace within herself she currently had. Her life was different now. Her life was happy. And she had that freedom to be happy and to be happy with her family.

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone. Please review.

-NuitSongeur