"Tell me the story about the sun."
"Which story?"
The little boy didn't even hesitate, "The one about how he loved the moon so much, he died every night to let her breathe."
The Firelord sighed, it was his least favorite of all the stories, but the squirming child loved it unfortunately. Zuko could never turn down the large blue eyes of any of his children. "Many years ago, the sun reigned supreme in the sky. There was no night, but instead an endless day filled with scorching heat and unwavering light. Farmers cursed the sun for it made the rivers dry up and their crops shrivel.
"A woman, the daughter of a boat-builder, watched as her father's business dried up with the seas and watched as the people around her started to wither. What could they possibly do against the almighty sun? It was so strong and so far above them that they couldn't possibly do anything. That woman chose to try though. She walked across the world, looking for a way to speak to the sun. She spoke to nomads in the desert heat, hunters on the plains, tradesmen just trying to feed their families, none had an answer and so she looked for the tallest mountain.
"The sun had noticed her before, but had not paid attention. Once she began the trek up the mountain, he watched. He shot his rays of heat at her, but still she persevered. He burnt her food and evaporated her water, but still the woman continued.
Finally, she reached the top. She reached the top and saw him for the first time without his heavenly glory for the sun had chosen to come down to the earth to see the woman who so badly wanted to speak with him. He was struck dumb by her beauty and then again by her fury and she screamed at him for what he was doing. Didn't he see that he was hurting people? Didn't he care at all about the wellbeing of others?
"The sun did not want her to leave and so he promised her he would help instead if only she would stay a moment. If only she would sit and talk with him, stay with him for a little while, and so she did. He fell madly in love with her, and before long she had with him, but he was fire and she was born of the water. They stayed on that mountaintop for years it seemed. He was kinder to the farmers beneath his eyes but the days were still endless.
The two were happy together, until the woman grew sick. The mountaintop was hurting her with it's heat, the smoke from his fire was slowly suffocating her, and the sun did not know what to do. How could he keep his beloved alive?
He took her with him into the sky. She became the moon - healthy again, but the sky was not big enough for both of them. They bumped into each other, and hurt each other by accident. They wanted to be together, but that seemed not to be. Eventually once they had both been hurt too many times to count, he sank below the horizon. And so, the first night occurred, but the moon was lonely and did not want her lover to disappear forever and so they began the eternal dance, seeing each other but hardly ever touching. Keeping them both safe and healthy but apart."
His son, the young Prince of the Firenation was drifting off to sleep, happy to hear his favorite story again. Zuko extinguished the flames in the nursery and was about to leave when a voice muttered sleepily. "When's mom coming back?"
The Firelord just left, no answer given- tear leaking from his eyes.