The journey to Earth kingdom, and to be precise, to the place where Aang and Ozai fought, was uneventful if you don't count that Zuko tried to jump out of Appa's saddle a few time and since Toph was such awesome firebender – by the time they arrived Zuko was pretty sure that Toph was Azula's evil twin sister, separated at birth, and that at same time would mean that she was firebender, or maybe that was because that he managed to hit his head into tree trunk during one of his attempt to jump out – she managed to quickly locate Ozai or what was left of it. They found Ozai in the same spot where Aang left him; expect he was no longer alive. It is said that human can live a week without water so it was natural that Ozai would die from thirst after several weeks without water. Zuko was unfazed by such discovery, but the young avatar was shocked. Aang still hoped that Ozai may be alive, but now looking at those empty Ozai eyes that stared at him, made him sick and he vomited where he stood. Luckily for Aang, he didn't need to look at the corpse of Ozai for long since after Toph liberated Ozai's body from his earth prison, Zuko put said corpse in bag and tossed it to the saddle without any emotion. Toph tried to joke, but Aang was not in the mood to hear it. All his thoughts now spun around one thing: just how many of Fire nation people he killed or left to die during all this time since he woke up?
Aang wasn't up in mood to guide Appa, so Zuko took his place. The young avatar was sitting in saddle deeply in thoughts about his actions, what it did, and what consequences it had to the rest of world. Even Toph was unusually silent during their way back.
They have returned to palace and unloaded their 'cargo'. Aang rushed to see Katara. He needed to talk with her and maybe something she would say would help him to clear his mind and forget the horror that he saw in that place, but he has no chance to do so since he was summoned to throne room, to attend peace talks with other world leaders. At same time Zuko and Toph resigned to their rooms.
Once Zuko entered his room he was assaulted by unknown assailant, who tried to crush him. Zuko tried to liberate himself form bone crushing hug but had no such luck, his would be executioner had strong arms.
"Did Azula decided to get rid of him now that he was of no use to her?"
Iroh was overjoyed by seeing that his nephew was alive and ok and he hugged him. Only after he noticed that Zuko didn't say a word and started to become blue, Iroh released Zuko and let him breath normally again.
"What happened? Did you lost?" Iroh asked when he noticed that Zuko was no longer having problem to breath.
"Yes, you could say something like that happened. I am not as cruel as my father or as smart as you to find way to get what I wanted. She won and I lost." Zuko exclaimed while looking for any sign of disappointment in his uncle face and he found plenty.
"Don't say like this. You speak as if you have already surrendered and there is no way." Iroh stated.
"There is no way now, maybe at that point when we were still in plaza I had some chance, but now, now I don't have any. Maybe that better. Maybe she will be better fire lord that me, after all she has received training while I was chasing wind during all those years."
"Zuko, don't you dare to surrender to such thoughts, I spend three years preparing you to be fire lord, don't you dare to say you don't want to." Iroh was at the loss, how could his nephew say something like that? He was woken from such thoughts when servant come and announced that Iroh presence was needed in throne room.
Royal funeral was scheduled to take place next day. Normally there should be several days of morning, but neither of royal siblings wanted to do it and instead wanted to get done with it as soon as possible. World leaders and palace guests would participate in it or will be forced to do so. Sokka noted that Azula was extremely cold to anyone, even him, but he could understand it. He thought that she may need to take several days off, to properly mourn her father, but Azula just shrugged his proposal and said that she would deal with it same way she dealt with her mother leaving and that she wouldn't morn Ozai since he was bad father. Sokka knew that it was Azula's way of dealing with it and was just another of her lies to make her feel better. To clear her mind, and since every world leader expect King Kuei were already in Fire nation, Azula jumped head first into negotiations.
"I would like to welcome everyone that came under such short notice to Fire nation so that we could restore peace and balance to the world." Azula started to speak when everyone was in palace throne room. Azula decided to leave fire lord's throne unoccupied during the negotiation and instead was sitting with other near big table that had huge world map drawn on it.
"There is only one person that is not present here, but I believe king Bumi could speak for Earth kingdom and my dear uncle could be voice of Ba Sing Se. You will find the terms of peace in the scrolls offered to you by servants and you are allowed to break the seal and read them. My nation made many things that I am not proud of, big and small, so each of you receive unique proposal coined by best of Fire nation diplomats with me overseeing their job. All scrolls offered to you are identical and contains all terms we will discuss today. You are free to read it at your preferred pace, but I will make small summary or terms I offer to each nation. The leader of nation signing this deal accept that they recognizes that I, fire lord Azula, daughter of fire lord Ozai, and granddaughter of fire lord Azulon, was rightfully and legally crowned to be the ruler and fire lord of Fire nation and that I have legal power to offer and execute statements listed below in these terms of peace treaty." Azula stated and Sokka could see how uncle Iroh winced at those words. Sokka was sure that Iroh would prefer to see Zuko here instead of Azula, after all he was preparing Zuko to take throne all that time and he would have done just that if not one unforeseen circumstance that lead Sokka and Azula meet and push all Iroh's plans down the sink.
"Do you accept this term? If some of you don't accept it, you are free to leave and we will have to deal with it using other, more uncivilized ways." Azula asked and every world leader stated that they accept it. Iroh was rumbling in his seat and Azula with Sokka were sure that Iroh would stand up and leave, but after several seconds later Iroh composed himself and accepted Azula's term.
"Good. Now here are the terms of peace to each nation: For Avatar Aang who also represents air nomads; Fire nation accepts that fire lord Sozin committed air nomad genocide and would return all four air temples to avatar's control at same time would offer funds, people and materials to rebuild temples. All island would be returned where possible and small range of land will be provided for Northern air temple that is in Earth kingdom territory. For Southern water tribe: Fire nation would accept that fire lord Azulon tried to commit genocide and would offer funds, people and material to rebuild and modernize Southern watertribe. To Northern watertribe who were lucky and didn't receive any significant damage during this war, Fire nation would offer big sum of money to help restore and facilitate trade between our nations. They can claim it in any form they want, be it materials or human resources. Term human resources don't mean slaves or manual labor, but refers to the services provided by highly educated people of Fire nation such as scholars, engineers,...etc. I also would like to express my deepest condolence to chief Arnook.
Now since King Kuei isn't here we prepared separate offers to grand lotus Iroh, current ruler of Ba Sing Se, and for King Bumi who speaks for Earth kingdom. You are free to refuse those offers and wait for king Kuei arrival, but if you decide to accept those deals it would mean that king Kuei will be omitted from these peace talks and would get nothing. For King Bumi, I, fire lord Azula, and the Fire nation, would recognize him as sole ruler of Earth kingdom with nations borders being drawn as shown in added map. Fire nation would cede all southern Earth kingdom lands with border going through river connecting Mo Ce sea with Western lake and river connecting Eastern lake with Easter sea." Sokka could see how everyone raised their eyes from scrolls they were reading and started to stare at Azula as if she had second head. Azula raised her hand and silenced Iroh who was about to say something, but later decided to be silent.
"I know that you would like to ask. I, fire lord Azula, recognize my uncle, Iroh, as ruler of Ba Sing Se and offer him to rule all land around that city. The western border would start at Northern air temple and would go straight as batcow flies to meet with Western lake. This will divide northern Earth kingdom to two pieces with Iroh and Order of White Lotus ruling over Ba Sing Se, while the western part of that territory, where Fire nation colonies currently reside, will officially and legally become part of Fire nation." Azula finished her speech. Iroh was red as curtains decorating throne hall. Now he understood why Azula was so charitable. She planned to bribe everyone and at same time to get big chunk of Earth kingdom for herself. Zuko would never do anything like that!
"So you are just bribing us? No! We will not play your game!" Iroh shouted and then he and king Bumi left throne room.
"You can't do this. This would leave world in disbalance!" Aang said, but after Azula turned and started to look at him he decided to drop the point. Aang still hasn't recovered from all that shock he had after finding Ozai's dead body. He knew that he was in no shape to fight Azula.
"Would the avatar would like for me to evacuate the colonies and to separate mothers from their children or wives and husbands that are of Fire nation descent from Earth kingdom people that also inhabit that place? Would that create balance? What would you say to crying child if you take his father or mother from him? The colonies are to stay! Anyone has anything to say about it?" Azula looked at Aang and both chiefs, but no one said a word. Both chiefs returned to read scrolls that were presented to them.
"Those are generous offers fire lord Azula and the Watertribes accept them, but we will need time to discuss the deals with our retinues to properly understand them. Do we have day or two before we would sign them or should we do this now?" Both chiefs looked at each other and then chief Arnook decided to voice what both chief wanted to know.
"Of course, you can take day or two, but it will be better if you decide faster. What about the air nomad representative? I don't think you would need any time to discuss this offer." Azula replied and looked at avatar and both chiefs. Aang decided that there is nothing he could do and signed the deal.
o0o0o0o
Iroh retreated to his room. He needed to think about the recent events. Azula clearly wanted to bribe him and the rest of world leaders in order to secure her place as fire lord and at same time get big chunk of Earth kingdom territory for herself and looks like she succeeded in it. The chiefs of watertribe were already in her pocket and were happy about it, also that Sokka, the son of chief Hakoda of Southern water tribe, was husband of Azula and could influence her, made them more trusting and supporting to Azula's reign that they would if Zuko would be the ruler. There was nothing Iroh could do now.
"Can you believe what Azula did? She is trying to rob Earth kingdom!" Iroh turned around and looked at Zuko.
"Weren't that's why this war was waged? To steal some land from them?" Zuko looked at his uncle.
"No! It was to show the world how great the Fire nation was and to share that greatness with the rest of the world." Iroh countered. Anger was clouding his judgment.
"OH really? We show the rest of the world how great we are by exterminating other?" Zuko has never seen this side of uncle. Iroh was always wise and had full pocket of adage, locution… or whatever those things were called.
"I don't really know what to think now. Maybe I shouldn't had ran on fools errands after my son died and instead returned to Fire nation to become fire lord and end that war. Maybe we all would have been happier that way. I did so many mistakes and some of them I could never fix." Iroh sat on chair and started to sip tea that Zuko has prepared before his arrival. He ignored that tea was just a hot leaf juice. Zuko hadn't learned how properly prepare tea.
"I know uncle, I know. Don't worry about the things you can't change."
o0o0o0o
Zuko was walking corridors of palace when suddenly someone hit him and he fell on his ass, and couldn't stand up. The reason why Zuko was now lying on floor was one pink acrobat.
"We missed you, Zuzu." Ty lee chimed and was sitting on Zuko. This time no one would interfere with her plans. She chi blocked Zuko's legs so that he couldn't run away and dragged him to nearby empty room.
"We missed you, Zuzu. Why didn't you come to greet us after you returned?" Ty lee started to play with Zuko's hair.
"We?" Zuko inquired even if he knew what that 'we' meant.
"Me and Mai." Ty lee answered and started to massage Zuko's chest.
"Oh… I… I was coming to greet you right now, but look like I wouldn't need it. Now, if you would be so kind and get of me, we could come to see and greet Mai together." Zuko needed time to think of any ways to get away from this pink acrobat.
"I don't think this would be possible. Mai is asleep now." Ty lee replied. She put some sleeping powder in Mai food and now Mai was soundly sleeping and unaware of what nefarious plot Ty lee had cooked.
"Maybe we should check if she has woken?" Zuko didn't want to surrender.
"Oh, I am pretty sure that she is still sleeping and will do so for some time." Ty lee put her hands under Zuko's cloth started to touch his bare chest.
"Ty lee this isn't the place, nor this is good time, for this." Zuko tried to protest, but everything was in vain.
o0o0o0o
Sokka at same time was walking same corridor and hear Zuko's desperate attempts to ward off Ty lee and decided to interfere. He was actually looking for his new brother in-law since his dad wanted to talk with Zuko about some matter concerning Zuko and Katara. Sokka and Azula had long talk with Hakoda about their future and family. Sokka was sure that the talk would have been even longer if they weren't married, but since Hakoda couldn't do anything about it and was happy that Sokka decided to took responsibility, the talk was shorter that Sokka has imagined, but still long. Now that Aang and Zuko, two boys that had spent extended period of time with Katara without anyone overseeing their actions, returned, Hakoda had to be sure that boys acted properly with his little daughter and that there will be no new air or fire bender popping out of her any time soon. Luckily Katara didn't do anything stupid like Sokka and messed with her life – if anyone dare to touch his sister Sokka himself would execute justice – but Hakoda wanted to be sure that she and everyone around her knew it. Katara and Aang already had their talks with Hakoda and, let's just say both of them looked as if some vicious animal has literary eaten and shit them out. Now come time for Zuko to experience this joy.
"Zuko! Just the man I was looking for! Ty lee, could you please untangle and let him stand up? There is some serious business that demands Zuko's presence." Sokka stated when he saw two bodies laying on top another on floor.
"Sokka, can't you see that we are busy? Come later, maybe a hour or two?" Ty lee raised her eyes to see who dared to interrupt them.
"Sorry Ty lee, but I can't. Prince Zuko was requested to attend important meeting with chiefs of watertribe that can't wait. Something about his actions during that failed invasion." Sokka lied.
"Why you always have to came at the worst time? Oh I just got brilliant idea." Ty lee fussed a little and jumped toward Sokka. Sokka had to step back to avoid Ty lee's vicious attacks until his hand came upon metal plate that was lying nearby. He took the plate and raised it in front of Ty lee. Ty lee had no time to stop her attack and her fingers connected with plate at same time hurting them.
"Ouch." Ty lee shook her hand as pain coursed through it.
"Stand down Ty lee. If I wouldn't return there will be people looking for me and it could be bad for you if they found you and us in compromising position. Zuko, can you walk?"
Both men left the room, with Ty lee looking at another missed opportunity that just walked away.
"Thanks for save, Sokka. Is there really any meeting that required my attention or was all this just a bluff?" Zuko asked when they were in different corridor and away from Ty lee.
"Oh, it's nothing special, just my dad wanted to talk with you. By the way do want to get out of palace on another trip? We need someone to collect and release all prisoners of war. According to Azula, a colonel should do this task, but if you want any reason to get away from palace for several weeks, I could arrange you this mission. The ship is ready to go next day morning, it just needs commanding officer. Or if you like Mai and Ty lee company you can stay." Sokka replied.
"I will think about it." Zuko was unsure of what to do, on one hand he wanted to stay and enjoy the palace pleasantries and talk with Mai, but on other hand he wanted to travel the world and be as a far as possible form Ty lee.
Finally they arrived to the room where Hakoda was staying, and before Sokka opened the doors and let Zuko in he looked at the scared prince as if he would see him for last time.
"Good luck." Those were the words that Zuko heard before he entered the room. The room was dimly lit since it was already dusk and the curtains were closed and there in chair sit chief Hakoda with big knife on his lap. It all looked as if some vengeful spirit decided to make this room his home.
"Prince Zuko, I presume. Come, we have something to talk about!" Hakoda commanded and motioned for Zuko to come closer. Zuko was unsure what was worse now, to get trapped in same room with Ty lee or with the chief who looked as if he was ready to skin him alive.