Decisions to Be Made
"I will not tolerate that!" Zuko yelled out angrily as he stared at Aang, nostrils flaring. "You will do as I say!" Aang looked like he was going to explode. "Zuko you can't tell me what to do, I'm doing this!" They were both looking like two saber-tooth moose lions wanting the same prey. Zuko slammed his fist hard into the dining table, making his plate rise. "Avatar Aang, as the Firelord I am ordering you to do as I say!" The mood was as good as destroyed. Everyone else, but the two hotheads, were staring either at their plate of food or at each other. Suki excused herself and took Mika with her. Kiri wanted to do the same. Zuko looked furious and so did Aang. Aang shouted: "Zuko I am not leaving you here!" Zuko got up and again slammed his fist into the table. It made everyone at the table move in their seats in surprise. "Aang, we both want the same thing; I don't want my family or friends to be here at the Palace in time of these turbulences. It's too dangerous!" Aang spat his arms out, yelling: "Yeah? And you expect me to leave my best friend alone here? Never!" Kiri looked at Katara. She was sitting next to Zuko and she looked like she was about to cry. This was not something they'd never experienced before. Friends, and especially not best friends, shouldn't scream at each other like that. They were best friends, and now all of a sudden, they were shouting at each other like enemies. Kiri wanted to yell at them both to shut up. The quarrel was going nowhere. She sighed out loudly. Zuko looked at her, his eyes meeting hers in a fierce manner. "Kiri, tell your boyfriend to do as I say!" he shouted. Kiri shook her head: "I'm staying out of this one…" She mumbled vaguely, almost not daring to answer him back. He looked so out of mind, it was terrifying. Aang got up quickly and stomped his foot in the ground as he yelled: "You don't talk to her like that, she stays out of this, it's between you and me!" Kiri had never seen Aang like this before. His dark grey eyes looked like they were about to shoot lightning. He looked alarmingly scary too. Sokka cleared his throat and raised his finger, about to say something. "No!" Zuko yelled at him. Zuko then suddenly sat down and said: "If you're not out of this Palace, on your way to Republic City before noon tomorrow, I will have my guards escorting you out." His voice seemed calm but under the surface, Kiri could hear an arrogant, almost nonchalant, tone to his voice. Aang spat his arms out in defeat and grabbed his staff and darted for the balcony. In the wink of an eye he was gone. Katara started snuffling and Zuko immediately threw his arms around her, comforting her. Kiri looked at Sokka who seemed to be as jumbled as she felt inside. "I'm, um… Gonna go look for Aang," she mumbled and rushed for the balcony as well.
The fresh air felt good on her burning cheeks. It had felt like a bending arena full of firebenders in the dining room. Could as well have been. She searched for Aang on the balcony but couldn't find him. She hoped he wasn't too infuriated. "Aang?" She called out. The sun had set and the night had already crept up the eastern side of the Palace, making everything dark. "Down here." His voice came from the garden below the balcony and she swiftly jumped down, landing perfectly on a ball of air and a light thud on the damp cool grass. She couldn't see him at first but after her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the night, she saw his silhouette. He was sitting in his lotus position as he always did when he was meditating. "Am I interrupting you?" She asked politely, not wanting him to be mad at her too. He padded the grass beside him. "I am going to meditate…" He whispered with a trembling voice. Guess he still hasn't cooled completely down yet. She watched him as he sat there, the air around him getting more and more clean of vibrations. The furrows in his forehead increased by every minute and he eventually came to look as his normal self again. She couldn't relax enough to meditate. Her thoughts were still with the angry Firelord. Couldn't he see that Aang just wanted to help him out? On the other hand she understood him. He didn't want all of his friends and family hanging around the Palace in these times. Before the event with the rebels almost managing to take over the Palace, they didn't think so many people were against Zuko as Firelord. She shrugged. The thought of again having a Firelord as the old one – Ozai – was really disturbing. Zuko was perfect for the throne. "Am I too selfish?" Aang asked, surprising her. She thought he still meditated. He had closed eyes. "Um…" She didn't know how to answer. No, you're not selfish; you're just trying to help out your best friend… She couldn't get her words to leave her mouth. "Guess I am…" Aang said with a discouraged voice. He got up and started to head for the courtyard in front of the Palace. Kiri followed. "Aang, I don't think you're selfish, it's just, I understand why… Iroh?"
They both stopped as they realized Iroh was walking through the courtyard with hasty steps. When he spotted them he yelped out: "Aang! I heard what happened. Is everyone alright?" And then Aang told him about everything that had happened throughout the last two days; the Phoenix King rebels breaking in, the possibility of guards might have betrayed Zuko, the fight between him and Zuko… It all seemed so gloomy when he just laid it out like that. Iroh put a hand on Aang's shoulder as he said: "Avatar Aang, you must see this from Zuko's point of view. As he watches his loved ones get hurt in his own home, he will resort to the means he finds best. He trusts you with this. You should not see him as selfish; he only does this because he loves all of you." Aang looked ashamed as he scraped the earth beneath him with his foot. "But I really wanna help him out. As the Avatar, it's my job to protect the world from things like this. How can I just go home and be safe while he fights battles here? It doesn't seem right…" Iroh smiled at him and put his arm around him and started walking towards the main entrance. "Trust him with this, Aang. If my nephew thinks he can deal with this alone, I believe it's because he actually can. He is a clever young man." Kiri thought she saw a flicker of anxiety in Iroh's eyes but as she looked closer it was gone. She didn't like that. Did Iroh really believe in his own words? Were Zuko capable of dealing this without Aang's help? Could he really fight the rebels?