4. Fire
Ozai sipped the tea. "Fire Lord Zhuque was powerless to oppose Grand Secretariat Baihu, but resolved to change that. He began the largest armament program the world had seen and built a Navy that would have crushed Senna himself. But he died with his work unfinished, and the task fell to his son, Sozin."
"But Avatar Roku intervened," said Zuko. "Where was the Avatar in all this? Why didn't he keep the balance?"
"Whose balance, Zuko?" said Ozai. "Should he have propped up the hegemony of the Water Tribe? Omashu? Ba Sing Se? There is no stasis, only flux. There is no legitimacy from simply being the status quo. As to the Avatar, he could have been Moran's ultimate weapon… but he was always a such wild card. Avatar Kyoshi did stop Chin the Conqueror, but only when he threatened her homeland, and I doubt it would have made much difference. Had he captured the Throne, the Bureaucracy would have absorbed him and returned to its own plans. Avatar Kuruk was a fool, concerned with trials of strength and chasing women. Tension between Ba Sing Se and Omashu mounted throughout Avatar Yangchen's life, yet she failed to defuse it. Even your little friend ran away for a hundred years. We assumed the cycle had been broken, we didn't expect you to actually find him."
"But he returned," said Zuko, "and fulfilled his destiny."
"Yes… They are like us, in a way. Though they are formidable benders, their real power lies in what they represent – not in what they can compel others to do, but in what others will willingly do for them."
"The riddle of steel," said Zuko.
"The riddle of steel," Ozai agreed. "Naturally, many kings sought to harness such a powerful symbol to their own ends, not least Sozin himself. Some even succeeded. But despite more or less elaborate attempts at fraud, and sometimes aided by assassination, the cycle moved on, and no king derived lasting advantage. And as with any non-meritocratic appointment," Ozai smiled at Zuko, "quality cannot be guaranteed."
"I've earned my Throne by right and fire," Zuko snapped. "Sozin feared the Avatar enough to exterminate a whole people."
"He had been personally threatened by the Avatar," said Ozai, "and barely lived long enough to execute his plans. But above all I suspect he never forgave Roku for not having joined him – not as a compatriot, but as a brother. Perhaps without Roku the War wouldn't have lasted a century. He merely delayed the inevitable, but it gave the Earth Kingdom time to prepare. Of course, that wasn't the only factor. You may be surprised to learn Sozin never intended to conquer the Earth Kingdom."
"Well, he had everyone fooled," said Zuko.
"Admiral Han's strategy was to control the seas and a few strategic enclaves, denying Earth Kingdom commerce while protecting our own. He even attempted to break away Omashu from Ba Sing Se, but the coup was crushed."
"What changed?" asked Zuko.
"War is a hungry beast. Mission creep, imperial overstretch, call it what you will. We needed to protect the colonies which supplied the coal for the ships that protected the colonies. Defensive perimeters increased to guard the increasing defensive perimeters. With the Court an ocean away, much discretion was left to the Generals. Under Fire Lord Azulon's reign the sea war became a land war, and resources and influence shifted accordingly. General Qin called the Northwest Earth Kingdom the geographical pivot of the world, the heartland – whoever controlled it would control the continent, whoever controlled the continent would control the world. Ba Sing Se had not yet unlocked this potential due to their technological backwardness, but they were catching up."
"Rather self-serving," said Zuko.
"Indeed. But budgets were approved, and the rest is history. It is difficult to refuse a man with an army behind him."
Zuko exhaled. "I know."
"I heard about the coup," said Ozai.
"Who told you?" demanded Zuko.
"Good night, Zuko."