8. Agreement

Zuko lives in this room now. The Avatar and his group are still in the courtyard outside, and they know he'd been crying and probably figured out that he'd taken a nap, and Uncle hadn't even bothered to wake him up and now the sun is close to setting and Zuko is never leaving this room again. Not while they're outside. This, he realizes, is probably how Azula feels. Minus the tear tracks, he can't picture Azula crying.

...Even her breakdowns are better than his.

"Zuko," Uncle says. "If you do not want to continue this meeting today, I am sure that Avatar Aang—"

Which prompts a reflexive, "I'm fine, Uncle," which for some reason makes Uncle smile, and somehow that makes Zuko think maybe he really will be fine.

But he's still never leaving this room. Which is going to make it difficult to wash his face, or get un-rumpled robes, or fix his hair and why is he even paranoid about that. Stupid Snoozles.

Also, he's really hungry. Which is weird, since he definitely remembered to eat lunch.

...Yesterday.

Shit.

Uncle slides the door just slightly open and conveys a few quiet requests to Captain Izumi. Which is how a small wash basin and a new over robe (and a non-snotty shirt for Uncle) are shortly delivered to the room. Carried past the Avatar's group.

Zuko drops his head on the table. He's gotten enough sleep to feel feelings again. They're awful.

He and Uncle look presentable by the time another servant arrives with a tray of dinner for them. He eats it, even though his stomach is already twisting. And then they're finished, and another servant is hanging lanterns in the room as the sun sets outside, and there's no excuse to put this off any longer.

So he sits again at the table's head, for the third time today, and slips on a glower that feels just safe enough, and allows Uncle to welcome the Avatar's group back in.

They all take a seat this time, even Snoozles. Since the bison's furry side is blocking the last of the sunset from the window, Zuko supposes they don't have to be paranoid about its location. A servant enters with fresh tea, and very pointedly keeps it out of the Fire Lord's reach until he's poured for everyone. They wait for the man to leave. Then they begin. (Again.)

"Please forgive the interruptions, Avatar Aang," Zuko bows slightly, ruler to foreign dignitary.

"Ah, no problem?" the Avatar replies, scratching the back of his head.

"Are we all just going to pretend the gross sobby tears didn't happen?" Snoozles asks. And looks around. "Okay, I guess we are. Carry on—oww! Toph, no arm punching in front of the enemy!"

Zuko decides that a glower was far too conservative. This meeting deserves a scowl. "Remind me again why you're all here?"

They all look at the Av—at Avatar Aang. The small monk, why does he have to be so young, jumps a little where he sits. "We… we want to end the war."

Which is completely and utterly baffling to Zuko, and it probably shows on his face. The monk keeps talking, a babble of words about the four nations and restoring balance and harmony to the elements, and Zuko sits waiting for a good place to work in a reply but eventually he realizes he's just going to have to interrupt. He holds up a stalling hand (Avatar Aang flinches, Katara sets a thumb on the cap of her waterskin, Snoozle's hand twitches towards his sword. Uncle sips tea. Toph picks something out from between her toes, and flicks it over her shoulder.)

"I agree." Zuko's shoulders tighten under the force of their combined stares. He reaches habitually for one of the maps that's always been on hand in the past few weeks, but there aren't any in this room. Crosses his hands in his lap, and prays that the heat he's feeling in his face is not a blush, or that they don't notice, or that the earthbender will obligingly sink him into the ground now. "I've already ordered the troop withdrawals. It will take more time to fully organize things, but the Fire Nation will not be taking further aggressive actions. We've sent messages, have they... not gotten through?"

"The generals have been throwing them out," Snoozles, is that seriously his name? Now that Zuko's a little more awake he doesn't think so, it was Sokka or Soaka or something, but those are also stupid and Snoozles is the only thing anyone's actually called him by— Shit. Shit shit, he's still talking, refocus. "—So the next hawk, I made sure to get there first myself, and I was all like you know I'm a council advisor, just give it to me, I'll trot it right on over for you, which is how we finally got to read one. Gotta say, it sounded a little too good to be true. 'This is completely BS propaganda to delay you from pressing your advantage and give us time to rebuild our flying death fleet' levels of too-good-to-be-true. I wanted to just throw it out too, but certain air nomads who will remain unnamed thought it might be for real and you deserved to be heard out. So here we are. Hearing you out."

"...Thanks?" Zuko says. This is not the right answer, based on the silence that engulfs the table.

Toph breaks it with a roll of her too-pale eyes—wait, is she blind? "So, Fire Lord Hot Pants."

"What did you—?"

"Focus. Are you serious about ending the war?"

"Yes."

"No more fighting?"

"No. Well, yes, but there have been attacks on the withdrawing troops. We're not trying to start fights but I'm not going to let—"

"Got it. Say something false."

"...What?"

"A lie, Sparky. You know what those are?"

"I… yes? Why—Sparky?" Zuko has always known he's bad at reading people, but when he looks around the table expecting expressions of let's make fun of the teenage ruler and instead finds ones of intense concentration (and an encouraging nod from Uncle), he realizes he should just give up on trying entirely, people don't make sense. He pinches the bridge of his nose, and squeezes his eyes shut. They're still waiting when he opens them. "...I'm the Avatar?"

"Keep going," Toph says.

"And, uh, I fly around. On my bison. And do Avatar things." Is he supposed to just talk until she says to stop? "...Balance and harmony, yay?"

The earthbender goes from serious face to a small avalanche made of laughter.

"Well that was horrifying," Snoozles says.

"I don't know," the actual Avatar says, with a certain amount of friendly pity, "I thought it was pretty good. I do fly around and do Avatar things."

"He's not lying about ending the war," the earthbender says, when she can talk again. "And I can tell."

...She could? Zuko stares at her.

There's a porcelain clatter in front of him. When he looks down, his tea is sloshing in its cup and the Water Tribe peasant is far-too-casually sipping from his own. And Uncle is sighing his Nephew We Talked About This sigh (which he cringes slightly at, even though it's not directed at him), and the waterbender is dragging her hand down her face, and the Avatar just looks embarrassed.

"Did you just switch our cups?" Zuko asks, slowly. "Why wou—? Do you seriously think I'd poison you?"

"I don't seriously think you wouldn't," Snoozles replies, just as slowly. "Also I was thirsty. Your lunch was really spicy, and Katara won't let me drink from her combat waterskins, which is apparently now every waterskin."

Which is about the time Zuko loses his temper. He's had just enough sleep for yelling to seem worth it again. "If I was going to poison anyone here, it would be the Avatar, not his non-bending hanger-on!"

"Also true," Toph helpfully verifies.

"Perhaps we should all calm down, and enjoy our tea before it cools," Uncle suggests.

"I do not have time for this." Zuko's head is in his hands and he doesn't remember putting it there. But while his eyes are shut, maybe he can just take another quick nap, the last one felt really good— No. No, sitting up straight again. Even better: standing. "Thank you for visiting. It's been a pleasure."

"Lie," the earthbender sings.

Do not shout at the blind girl, do not. "I'm sure you can find your way back to the Earth Kingdom from here."

The earthbender wiggles her hand. "Kind of half-and-half. You really think we can't find our way back?"

"I've seen this group try to navigate," Zuko growls. "You got better when you added a blind girl."

Snoozles snarls. The blind girl in question throws back her head and laughs again. And Uncle's lips… twitch. Almost smile, before he looks away. Which is the only reason Zuko sits back down.

There's a lot of angry, awkward tea-sipping.

"So… the war is really over? The Fire Nation is going to stop attacking?" Avatar Aang asks, like Zuko hasn't already said exactly that. "That's… That's great. I was—well, I didn't know what to expect when we heard you were Fire Lord, but if you want to stop the war and we want to stop the war then we can just work together and make sure everyone else stops, too! I'll talk to the Earth King—well, once we find him, but it can't be that hard to find a man with a bear—"

What.

"—but until then I can talk to the generals and make sure they don't attack your troops as they retreat—"

It's not a retreat, it's a withdrawal. And back up, the Earth King is missing? With a bear? What kind of bear? Wait, is this the stupid bear that got a birthday party? The bear that was probably eating better than him and Uncle in Ba Sing Se? That bear?

"—And if you need help with the colonies, maybe we can ask the Water Tribes to lend extra ships—"

Zuko is still a little hung up on the bear, but he shakes himself out of it. "Stop. Just… stop. What were you saying about the colonies?"

Avatar Aang stares down at his hands as his thumbs chase each other in twiddling circles. "I know I kind of… broke a few of your ships. At the North Pole."

Sent over a thousand people into graves of steel and salt, yes.

"So you might not have enough for the evacuation. And I'm sure everyone would be happier if this got done as quickly as possible. Katara and Sokka know the man who leads the Southern Water Tribe's fleet, he's a friend of their dad. I'm sure he'd help."

"Help evacuate the colonies," Zuko repeats, and the tea between his hands is steaming again like it's fresh from the pot, or just about to boil.

"Yeah." Avatar Aang smiles. Everyone else at the table is distinctly not smiling, maybe not even breathing, as they look from the Avatar to Zuko and back again.

"We won't need help with that," Zuko says, "because we won't be doing it."

"Truth," the earthbender says.


AN: Trivia: the bulk of this chapter was written as the original chapter four. Then I realized I really needed to set up Azula's situation, and we might as well get in one uncomplicated uncle-nephew hug before the plot hit.