Chapter 3

After a few minutes of pitying himself on his bed, Fire Lord Zuko arose and put on his day robe, ready for any pressing business. The difficulties he had to deal with as a king, especially the threat of this new coup that wanted to destroy him, were merciless. Many of the decisions and choices he had to make during council meetings were burdensome, since they would decide the fate of the Fire Nation and also how everyone thought of his country and of him as a leader.

Stepping out of his room, he almost suffered a heart attack. Mai was still there, hidden in a dark corner of his bedroom's foyer! "Mai!" he shouted happily.

"Yeah?" she answered in her usual monotone voice.

"So, um... Does this mean you forgive me? Are you giving me a second chance?" he queried hopefully.

She didn't bother responding.

"I guess not," Zuko said despondently to himself.

"Depends, you idiot. I have to decide if I can. Just because you stopped listening to your father doesn't mean you won't become like him. And keeping a secret like that from your girlfriend shows you can't trust me."

"That's not true! I'm not evil! I'm not like my father, and I never will be! I do trust you! And I'm sure you've kept secrets from me! Everyone has secrets!"

"But mine aren't bad secrets. I had a date with another boy, Kei Lo. And you should be glad I did."

"When was this?" Zuko asked, feeling dejected. "And why should I be happy?!"

"First of all, you had a date with that girl, Jin, in Ba Sing Se, right? So why can't I have one? Anyway, that's how I learned about the New Ozai Society in the first place. The guy I went out with was one of them, and he took me to the society after our supposed 'date'. If you're sad that I tried to have another chance at finding love, then at least be grateful I uncovered a possible threat on your life."

Zuko looked away, not sure what to say. "Thanks...," he grumbled.

The two of them silently gazed at each other. Needing a change of pace, the young king asked softly, "Would you like to take a walk through the garden with me?"

Mai continued staring at him, then began walking down the path out of the palace to the rose garden, which was interspersed with fire lilies throughout and a large, enchanting pond in the center. Zuko slowly followed her, stunned that she had accepted his offer to come along. The Kyoshi Warriors trailed after him, granting the former lovebirds enough room for a bit of privacy. Sitting down on one of the wooden benches with her, he looked over at Mai.

"Please listen, Mai. The very first time I went to visit my father was right after the war ended and I was newly crowned. I wanted information on my mother's whereabouts. The trip was fruitless, though, because he wouldn't relinquish anything to me, and after dealing with the issue in Yu Dao, I tried again and again to get him to reveal her location and physical state, but it was futile, so I stopped. I was—the reason—I only went to see my father for information about my mother and because I was having trouble with my people. It isn't easy being the ruler of a nation, especially when some of my own subjects think I'm a traitor for helping to end the war by working with the Avatar, thus giving the other nations a victory. The Earth King and I decided to remove the Fire Nation colonies from his kingdom, and it was easy enough to eliminate the newer colonies, since most of our citizens wanted to come back. But it was much more taxing with the older colonies in the Earth Kingdom, since some had been established well before the war had ever started, like Yu Dao, the very first colony. Also, taking all the Fire Nation civilians that were from the ancient colonies back to our country would have had a tremendous effect on them.

"When I traveled to Yu Dao, I met a family of one of our Fire Nation people whose wife and daughter were earthbenders. I noticed marriage between the two races was very common, the people having bonded over the century. This was problematic because if I had ordered all our citizens from the older colonies to return, then families would have been split apart. Families, whose children weren't benders, would have had to choose which parent to live with. And even the families of pure Fire Nation residents would still have lost the only homes they had ever known. So I called off my support of the Harmony Restoration Movement and ordered colonials from the other ancient colonies to return.

"Of course, that caused quite a bit of trouble, since Earth King Kuei was extremely angry about this, which, in turn, started a huge battle within the city between our armies. Even though I wasn't trying to reclaim supremacy over the colonies, it appeared as if I was acting like my father when I sent my army to Yu Dao for that battle. In reality, I was just trying to have the colonials remain in their homes. But after Aang ended the strife and talked to the Earth King, Kuei realized that the world wasn't the same after the Hundred Year War, with the people in all the remaining colonies no longer divided into two different races of either the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation. They had bonded with each other, like Aang and Katara or Sokka and Suki, creating one people, one community. Thankfully, this cohesion put an end to the Movement.

"I realized then that I had been correct in defending people and their bonds with each other in Yu Dao, and that I had to make decisions myself, without my father's assistance or the Avatar's help. I learned that I must set a steady course to ensure our nation's stability, knowing that my choices could cause the fate of our country to prosper or perish.

"Later, when Yu Dao elected two Earth Kingdom and two Fire Nation citizens as representatives to form a new, coalition government, the other colonies followed suit after Yu Dao's individual government was successful. Then Aang and I created the United Republic of Nations together out of all those former colonies, and a fifth nation was made, where citizens from all the original four have come together to live."

He remained silent for quite a while and gazed down at the flowers. "It's beautiful, isn't it? It's even better with the fire lilies. I wish they would blossom for more than a few weeks each year. Just like something else I wish would stay longer," he added softly.

Mai kept her gaze on the flowers, knowing what—or rather, who—he was talking about. She turned to him, warmth showing in her eyes. "Yes, the garden is magnificent, and I am staying. My father and his society aren't going to overthrow my former boyfriend."

Zuko almost gasped, unsure of how to feel. Mai was going to stay at the palace in order to protect him! But she had called him her former boyfriend. Unwilling to let her see his heartache, he forced his shoulders not to droop. "Thank you," he replied.

They sat on the bench for a few more minutes before Mai got up and began her walk back to the palace. The Fire Lord remained there, glancing at his retreating love. Finally rising, he and his bodyguards followed her, and he prepared himself for the day's business.

© 2015 imaginator1