Shawn Colvin- "Sunny Came Home"


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After

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The period immediately following the coup is one of the most tumultuous emotional experiences of Zuko's life. The port and its roads are the first to fall, but securing them gives a sure path through the city and up to the walls. The waterbenders with their stolen ocean flood the whole course, and the warriors of earth with their tiny, terrifying child-general follow in the wake to surprise and overwhelm the three gates.

Inside the prince's forces meet with General Iroh's rebel guards, and after finding Azula he feels the gnawing pain in his lungs give way to hope. They gain control of the palace within hours, and the city proper within a day. With his uncle and the Avatar at his side, nothing stands in the way of Prince Zuko's birthright, or the changes he intends to bring.

The pride and relief that settles over his heart is tempered by the knowledge that his three closest family members have died in a single week, one at his own hand. That is a weight Zuko will hold close for the rest of his days: Azula's death is a lesson in the frailty of power, and his part in it is a reminder that honor is a goal to be sought.

It is not, and never was, a state of being.