Chap. 2

Inquisitions

"Fire Lord! Are you injured?! How could you go out there and let that thing hurt you? Oh we must call the royal physician and....."

"I didn't answer the question yet, Hun Lo." Zuko said, as he and the others entered the room. "And the answer is that I'm fine."

"Well,.... well that is good." Hun Lo replied, composing himself again. "But I do wish you would not endanger yourself in such a way, sire. The Fire Nation needs you so much now."

"I don't plan to leave it anytime soon." Zuko said as he returned to the throne and sat back down. "Now, if you would record the reports from our guests concerning the Earth Kingdom?"

"Of course." Hun Lo said, taking out a fresh scroll as Zuko motioned for Tierra to speak. The dog stepped forward, took a breath, and began to speak.

"So far, tings have been on schedule. Da Earthbenders and Firebenders are combin' der skills to rebuild some of the towns around Ba Sing Se's walls. It's amazing ta watch- the Earthers bring up da materials and da Fire boys fuse it togetter. The Earth King is tankful, but dere have been some problems."

"What sort of problems?" Zuko asked.

"Not all de Earthbenders are happy wit havin' hotheads in dere towns. We had ta calm a few riots while we were dere. And more den a few Firebenders are complainin' about havin' to put things back togetter."

"Have they been doing anything about it?" Zuko asked with concern.

"Nuttin yet, but it's got me worried."

Zuko sighed, as he rubbed his forehead. "I was afraid this might happen. I gave specific instructions to the generals to keep their troops in line, but there's only so much they can do. Do either of you have any recommendations?"

"The best thing I can suggest is to just let them get used to each other." Sokka replied. "I mean, we didn't warm up to you at first either."

"But these men are representing the new Fire Nation, not my father's version." Zuko replied. "I can't let our chance to help rebuild the world turn into another war."

"It ain't dat bad yet." Tierra said. "I tink Sokka's right; we gotta give 'em time. But if I were you, I'd make one hell of a punishment fer attackin'."

"Disobeying the Fire Lord's order is punishable by death." Hun Lo replied sternly.

But this only got an angry glare from Zuko. "I will not put my own people to death for this." He said. "Send word to my generals, and to the Earth King. Tell the generals that any unwarranted attack against Earth Kingdom citizens is subject to the highest punishment, but not death. And ask the Earth King to do what he can to remind his people that we are trying to make up for our past."
"I shall send the messenger hawks as soon as possible." Hun Lo said, bowing. "Is there anything you require of me?"

"No. Please let me know if anything else requires my attention."

Hun Lo bowed once more and then left the room. Once he had left, Zuko allowed himself to slump in his chair, letting some exhaustion creep into his face.

"Heavy is da head, innit?" Tierra asked.

"I'm begining to wonder if this is what made my great grandfather go crazy all those years ago." Zuko replied. "It's hard enough keeping Hun Lo and his 'traditions' at bay, but hearing about more riots in the Earth Kingdom..."

"You mean you've had problems here too?" Sokka asked.

"Many of the people are not happy with having so much of the country's power go towards helping the other Nations." Zuko explained. "Most are satisfied since the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom send us supplies to make up for it. But every day, I hear about protests and rumors about factions."

"Ya didn't tink ya would?" Tierra asked. "Jeex kid, I thought ya were smart. Yer changing da way a whole country's functioned for a century. Ah course people 'er gonna be upset."

"Boy, and you haven't even heard the reports about the Air and Waterbenders yet." Sokka said.

"Why? Have you heard something?" Zuko asked.

"Well no, but I'm just saying if this how the Earth Kingdom reacted, well, I mean you guys did almost wipe out the Airbenders and all..."

"Thanks Sokka. I feel much better now." Zuko muttered.

"Don't worry about it yet." A voice said from the door, as Trueno walked in. "After all, Aang and the others will be back tomorrow. You can hear first hand how everything is going. No point in worrying till then."

"Yeah, that's true." Zuko replied. "How'd it go with the rhino?"

"Fine." Trueno replied. "I saw it had a piece of a spear stuck in its foot, and after I got it out, leading it back was easy."

"How'd you get close enough to pull the spear out?" Sokka asked. "And how'd you even notice it when nobody else did?"

"It was charging the walls, and when it did, I saw something glinting in its foot. I waited for the chance, and then grabbed it and yanked it out." Trueno replied smoothly.

"Guess you didn't need all that animal training you got before." Sokka added.

"Naw. Every once in a while you get something easy."

"I wish I could get one of those." Zuko replied. "None of this has been easy so far. Every time I put something new out, I hear more protests from everyone. Sometimes, I wish I could just snap my fingers and make everybody work together."
"Dat kinda magic don't exist." Tierra said. "Nutitin's supposed ta be dat easy."

"Really?" Sokka asked. "You mean you guys haven't seen magic before?"

"I said dat kinda magic don't exist." Tierra answered. "We've seen magic plenty a' times. We see lotsa wizards in our work."

"We should tell you about Merlin one of these days." Trueno said. "He was great to hang with."

"Did he have any magic for getting people to work together?"

"If he did, he kept it with him. Besides, why would we need to learn magic?" Trueno replied back. "We've got enough power as it is."

"..... Yeah, I guess you're right." Sokka said. "But I do wish we had something like that right now."

"Yeah, well we don't." Tierra said back. "So let's keep workin' on fixin' dis place ourselves. But first, I'm gonna get some chow. You comin' True?"

"Sure." The ram answered, as he and the dog walked out of the room. Sokka watched them leave, then turned to his brother and said, "Hey Zuko, can I ask you something?"

"No, you can't sit on the throne." Zuko replied.

"No, not that. I wanted to ask about...., well, the Fire Nation kept more of the story of the Elementals then the Water Tribe did, right?"

"Yeah. My father turned it into mythology, but..."

"Well, I heard something weird in the Earth Kingdom. They used some word I've never heard before. Is there anything in their legend about a...Magus?"

Zuko thought a moment, then said, "Not that I can remember. Are you sure that you heard it right? I've never even heard that word before."

"Me neither. But the people who talked about said it was something really important, like a talisman they had."

"Probably just another version of the story. But you should ask Fuego about it. He might at least know what the word means."

"I'll do that. Thanks." Sokka said, as he turned to leave the room, a crafty expression growing on his face....

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