Firstly, Zuko was underwater when last he'd been standing on the spine of Deathwing. Secondly, Zuko tumbled through a vivid hallucination of outer space into open air. And thirdly as he tried to cough for air and find his footing, he found nothing solid beneath his body at all.
He fell. Stone approached him. He tried to yell, and only water came out.
Then he slowed, feather-light once more. He looked around and saw Anduin and Jaina near him, sopping wet and slowly falling.
Zuko coughed out water again. "What happened?"
"Fell in the Maelstrom," Jaina said wearily. "Through the rift between worlds, into Deepholm, the Realm of Earth." She sounded as tired as Zuko felt.
Zuko assessed his surroundings as they descended. Stone, stone everywhere. The world was a cavern chamber stretching beyond the horizons. Pillars of cobalt and obsidian stood around like a forest, clusters of glowing gemstones floated and spun on the air, shimmering quicksilver falls cascaded over cliff faces and down into unlit ravines far below.
In the near distance lumbered the damaged shape of Deathwing, dripping water and lava in gallons. His left wing dragged over the ground. His right wing was furled and twitching in pain.
"Where are the others?" Zuko hissed. "Where's -"
He didn't need to finish the sentence. He heard an echoing shout: "Toph, earthbend! Hurry!"
Deathwing raised his head.
"Damn," Jaina whispered.
She canceled the slow-fall spell, and she, Anduin, and Zuko dropped the short way down to the ground. They ducked behind a stone pillar, out of sight of the dragon.
"What do we do?" Zuko said. He kept his voice low, for the cold stone resounded all.
"We can't let him recover," Jaina said. "He fled to Deepholm once before when injured. It's where he forged his armor plating. We can't allow him the chance a second time."
"Are we strong enough ourselves?" Anduin said. "As much as this conflict's taken out of him, it's taken a greater toll on all of us."
"We must finish him, here and now," Jaina said. "He destroyed Theramore, he nearly destroyed Stormwind, and if we give him an opportunity he will destroy the entire world. We're the only ones now who know where he is. We have no time to find reinforcements."
"We were the reinforcements," Zuko muttered.
"Perhaps the earth elementals will hear the battle, and come to our aide," Anduin said hopefully.
"I know one person who can help us out a lot now," Zuko said. "Toph's literally in her element here, and she's somewhere nearby with Katara."
"Indeed," Anduin agreed. "Suki and Sokka are likely nearby as well. And she may still have the Dragon Soul."
"Let's hurry up and find Katara and Toph first," Zuko said. "This way."
He sped off, weaving through the stone forest in the direction he heard Katara's voice.
"Katara!" he said when he saw her.
"Zuko!" She looked relieved. "Where are we?"
Toph spoke first, her hands passing over the dirt. "Someplace made of nothing but earth."
"Deathwing's here too," Zuko said. "We have to finish him off while he's weak."
"I know. I can feel him," Toph said, standing. "He's this way. Come on!"
She took off running. It was the first time Zuko had seen her move over open ground with complete confidence – it was the first time absolutely nothing was out of her sight. He ran after her, the others following.
Deathwing's voice boomed out in the caverns: "Twilight's Hammer, heed my call! I require your aide!"
"He's calling for help?" Toph said. "We've really got him now."
"Don't get too cocky," Zuko said. "And keep an eye and an ear out for anyone who answers him."
Deathwing's head swung about at their approaching voices. "You insects! You dare face me again, after -"
Toph chucked one of the pillars directly into his open mouth. He made a sound like gagging mixed with a bear's snarl and spat out chunks of rock.
"You wield earth against the Earthwarder?!" the dragon bellowed, eyes flaring.
"The dwarves said you'd put up a better fight than that, Deathwing!" Toph shouted. "Or should I call you No-Wing now?"
He roared and swiped his tremendous paw at the group. Toph deflected his claws with a wall of stone, but only barely. Lava and water flecked across the ground around them.
"Hah! You'll have to try a little harder than that!" she laughed.
"What are you doing?!" Zuko hissed.
"Letting you guys get in close for the kill," she hissed back. "Katara, there's water everywhere, I can feel it! He feels like he's drenched, too!"
"Right," Katara said, and ran through the shadows of the pillars. Zuko and the others whisked after her stealthily.
Toph raised her voice again. "I'll be nice enough to let you fight me one on one, ya big lizard! Mano a mano! Give me your best shot!"
Deathwing roared, reared, and pounded his claws down. Toph launched herself out of the way with a block of earth, landing atop one of the pillars. She laughed again. Deathwing made an utterly feral noise as he clawed once more at her, and once more she sprang away to an even higher pillar. He snapped his jaws at her, and she threw herself onto the edge of a nearby cliff, quicksilver pouring down on either side of her.
"He's lost himself," Anduin whispered as the group circled around back. "He's going mad and losing focus."
"Let's hope she doesn't get herself killed too," Zuko said, and regretted it at the looks on their faces. Especially Katara's.
Toph continued to fling herself about, flying like a trapeze artist with taunting cackles and japes, higher on higher on cliffs, outcroppings, and columns. Deathwing roared wordlessly in rage as he knocked over one pillar after another and clawed out gouges in cliff faces, even as she jumped beyond his reach entirely. All the while lava poured out of the wounds on his wings and back.
Katara made smooth beckoning motions with her arms and gathered all the water off of Deathwing, herself, the others, and the ground around them. Deathwing didn't even notice, focused on Toph alone.
"That is it! YOU WILL BURN FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" Deathwing shouted, and took a deep breath.
"Do your worst, O Jawless Wonder!" Toph said.
Deathwing's flame breath lit the caverns for miles. Zuko could see a tiny figure in the brunt of the blast. His heart dropped -
until he saw the other tiny figure, the real Toph, sliding down the side of another pillar well away from the flames. She'd left a stone decoy and used the echoes for ventriloquism.
And then she knocked the entire pillow over by removing a small, critical chunk of stone at the base. It clattered over Deathwing's head with booming cracks and added its dust to the clouds of smoke. He shook his head furiously to knock away the dirt and stone.
"Now," Jaina said. "Strike!"
Katara solidified the water into an ice spike the size of a fishing boat and launched it through the air where it drove with precision into the exposed flesh on Deathwing's back. Lava-blood spurted out and turned the ice to steam; she rolled her hands and pulled the steam clouds back to condense to ice again.
Deathwing's head turned to look back toward them, and Jaina responded with a barrage of arcane missiles at his face. The violet bolts of magic sought his eyes like homing missiles.
Zuko didn't try to bend fire at the dragon – instead he bent the heat away, drawing the fiery energy out of the lava blood so that it hardened to stone while still coating Deathwing's body, all the way down his legs to the floor. A moment later, Toph laughed from somewhere above again, as the chunks of stone splintered into javelin shapes and stabbed themselves into Deathwing everywhere they touched him.
Deathwing flailed, bleeding and blinded, his horns knocking down stalactites where the ceiling was low enough. Whichever ones Toph didn't bend into Deathwing himself, Anduin deflected away from the group with quick, well-timed shields of light.
The group kept on the move as Deathwing kept turning to try to find them. The dragon smashed and raked his claws over the ground and breathed flame every few seconds. Zuko deflected the fire breath away, mentally noting how much weaker it was than at Theramore. There, it had taken all of Zuko's concentration just to save himself. Here, he could run and bend through it with ease.
Katara kept reforming and restabbing with the ice, then as the ground became unsteady she spread it out as ice sheets under Deathwing's feet. The sightless dragon stumbled worse, bellowing smoke as he cursed them and all their kind. The landscape quickly became utter wreckage around them, acres of rent earth, shattered pillars, and scattered gemstones.
"You – foolish – whelps," Deathwing growled. His back leg fell under him in a pool of his own molten blood. More of his metal plating peeled away and fell to the ground like unmanned tanks. Seams split open between his scales of their own accord, spilling out even more lava. "The End Times – are still... still inevitable."
Zuko and the others didn't relent, didn't respond. It wasn't the time to talk. Even Toph had stopped taunting, focusing on laying on wound after wound, crushing and piercing the dragon's body as it lost more of its shape. Deathwing seemed to be having trouble keeping himself in one piece anymore, as the last of his armor dropped away. The only metal left was his jaw, but even that bled.
"You'll... see," Deathwing rasped. He didn't try to turn or fight anymore. He breathed raggedly. "This world... your world..."
His other hind leg collapsed, barely solid anymore. His forelegs shook, his head dropped until his face nearly touched the floor.
"You'll see."
He fell with a ground-shuddering whump. He wasn't dead yet. His torso still heaved with labored breaths.
"Toph, get us over there," Katara said.
Toph conveyed them quickly with earthbending, near Deathwing's head. Katara carried the water along with her in the form of a large sphere floating behind her. She moved forward with a severe, focused expression.
"I don't know what Aang said to you," she addressed Deathwing, "but I can guess. He tried to talk you down. He tried to offer you a peaceful way out. He showed you mercy. Didn't he?"
Deathwing growled bitterly and tried to rise.
"And you killed him," she said. Her voice cracked, tears falling down her face again. "He showed you mercy!"
"...stupid... mortal..."
"Well, I won't."
The water sphere formed an ice spike again. With one sharp motion, Katara sent it into Deathwing's throat.
He gurgled as steam issued from his neck, he still he wasn't dead. Katara gave a frustrated sob.
"Allow me," Toph said. Without flair, she added a javelin of stone to the wound. It pushed deeper and deeper until finally Deathwing let out his last breath and lay still.
"C'mon, Anduin," she said, "I'll show you where Sokka and Suki are so you can heal them. I'm pretty sure I felt them nearby."
Anduin silently followed her away.
Katara flopped down to sit where she stood amongst the rubble. She took a few hitched breaths but looked too tired to cry anymore. Zuko sat next to her.
"What now?" Zuko said wearily.
"I don't know," Katara said.
"Nor do I," Jaina said. "Even with Deathwing's defeat, the Twilight's Hammer won't rest. Not while there are still Old Gods left to serve and worlds to end. At least now, their job will be much harder without Deathwing to help them."
"How are you so... collected?" Zuko said.
Jaina hesitated. "I am a leader. There's a time and place for mourning. I... I can put Thrall and the others from my thoughts for now." She looked around. "And I'm still alert for cultists. Deathwing called out to them; who knows if they might still show up?"
A voice answered: "They won't."
Zuko and Katara jumped to their feet and looked around, prepared for another fight.
A figure strode from the shadows, eyes gleaming with a golden glow. When the figure hopped down over the steppes and broken pillars, Zuko gasped as, once again, he'd come face-to-face with his sister on Azeroth.
"Azula?!"
"Oh Zu-Zu, don't look so surprised. All of you ended up here, why shouldn't I?" Azula said. She looked human – mostly. Her eyes flickered with their own light and her skin looked strangely ashen, as if coated with literal ash. Her hands appeared blackened as if dipped in ink and left to dry.
"But you – We fought you! You were enslaved -" Zuko said.
"Yes, I was. I don't recall ever fighting you, though," Azula said. "And I'm not here to do that now, either, so you can go ahead and lower your fists."
"I'm not putting my guard down around you."
"Me neither," Katara said, forming a water whip.
Jaina looked between the three of them. "What's going on? Who is she?"
"My sister Azula," Zuko said. "As for what's going on, that's what I'd like to know."
"My, you really have been out of the loop, haven't you?" Azula said. "While you and your girlfriend and all your little friends were running around doing whatever it is you do in the wilderness, dear old dad got a visit from some very interesting people."
"The Twilight's Hammer? They got to our world?"
"You're catching on! Good for you." She clapped sarcastically. "Oh, can you imagine? All these strange people with their amazing magic, bowing before the Fire Lord and telling him they've heard of his legendary prowess from across the galaxy. How they've come to aide his designs on the world."
"And he went along with them?" Zuko said dubiously.
"Not at first, until they started lending him their magic... their servants... their slaves and monsters," Azula said. "In return, they wanted some of his best firebenders for their special training program to unlock their greatest potential. At least, that's what they told him. And after so long having the entire world against him, everyone hating him, resisting him, even his own son turning against him, you can imagine how glad he was to finally have someone on his side."
"And then what?"
"I was naturally much more suspicious of their honeyed words. It takes one to know one, you know? So I started spying on them," Azula said. "And through my network of spies, I learned they'd made the same promises to all the world leaders. They were playing him for a fool! The Fire Lord!"
"Why? What did they want?"
"Us, brother! Benders!" Azula said, her eyes flaring. "I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. He told me I was blinded by short-sighted ambitions, that I just couldn't understand the affairs of state like he could. He said I was trying to usurp him, that I was the liar!"
"You don't have the best track record," Zuko said.
Azula scoffed. "That's beside the point. Why would I lie about that? If they really were our allies, I would have welcomed their help in crushing our enemies. But they were playing everyone. When Sozin's Comet came, what should have been a decisive victory over the Earth Kingdom turned into chaos, a rout. I knew where they were getting their help from, but Father wouldn't see it. He was too far gone. Trickery, hypnotism, whatever it was they did, they had him. I couldn't get through to him."
"Had' him? Not 'have'?"
"Well, you can't have someone who's dead, now can you?"
Zuko and Katara gasped.
Azula continued, "Not that the destruction under Sozin's Comet wasn't immense, of course, but the Fire Nation took heavy losses too. Not Father, though. Not that day. I was foolish to keep pressing the issue. I should have played by their rules, I see that now – I should have gone back to my old ways of trickery in return, but I was starting to panic. Everything was slipping out of our control. Mine, Father's, the Fire Nation's.
"The war intensified. The Earth Kingdom started leading offensives against us. Even the Northern Water Tribe attacked us. Then, they must have been tricked too – they started fighting each other. The Earth Kingdom fell apart, divided by in-fighting. The Fire colonies were attacked and scattered. The Fire Nation wasn't spreading its culture anywhere anymore. No one was winning anything, we were destroying everything we had left."
Azula laughed bitterly. "Can you imagine I actually went looking for you? Not to hunt you down, I mean. I tried to find you and the Avatar. I realized this senseless war wasn't doing us any good, and I hoped your merry band might put an end to it and cut our losses.
"Well, Father found out. He called me a traitor, made some unkind comparisons to you, and decided to banish me. But he didn't send me off with a ship like you. He handed me over to the Twilight's Hammer. He said, 'Maybe you'll learn your place under their tutelage'."
Zuko's mouth hung open in shock as he tried to absorb the information. The Twilight's Hammer inciting chaos and all-out war on his world, his father treating Azula like Zuko – what state would the world be in once they got back? Would there be anything left to salvage?
"So, there you have it," Azula said. "I was sent here to this... 'Azeroth' and its connected elemental realms."
"But you said the Fire Lord is dead?" Katara said.
Azula sneered. "Yes, not like that isn't exactly what you wanted anyway. The High Priestess happily informed me of his fate."
"Then you'll be happy to know she's dead too," Zuko said.
"Oh, I know. News travels fast with cultists. For all their talk of keeping secrets beyond mortal understanding, they love to gossip," Azula said. "She wasn't the only one to die. Plucky heroes from Azeroth came through in droves and took out most of the cultist camps in Deepholm and elsewhere. And once the Hammer's control over us was weakened enough, we turned on them. I led that little rebellion, of course. The 'normal' elementals were glad for our assistance. Turns out even monsters made of pure magic don't like being enslaved, either."
"How selfless of you," Zuko said flatly. "So now what? Are you going back to claim your place on the throne?"
"You're the heir, aren't you, Zu-Zu?" Azula said. "And I'm not really feeling up to a duel right now. Maybe later, after I make sure there's anything left worth ruling over. Now, where's the Avatar?"
Zuko, Katara, and Jaina shared an uncomfortable glance.
"Oh come now," Azula said, "You can't honestly think I'm going to try to capture him after all this. Times have changed, brother."
"He's..." Zuko swallowed. "He's dead."
Azula's eyes widened. "What?"
"He's dead. Deathwing killed him. Just before we fell down here."
"But..." Azula looked bewildered. "But the Avatar's supposed to bring peace and balance and all that to our world. How is he supposed to do that if he's dead?"
"It's not like it's our fault!" Zuko snapped. "You think we wanted it to happen?!"
"No, of course not. But this is incredibly inconvenient."
Katara glared. "I'm glad you think my friend dying is inconvenient for you!"
"For me? Well, yes. But also for everyone. If anyone stood a chance against the cultist's forces, it was him. Now we'll have to wait for the next one – which nation will that be, again? Water?" Azula tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"How dare you! He's not just some weapon you can replace!"
"Oh, I know! Maybe those undead people can raise him as one of them. Do you think that will work? Or maybe he'll come back without the Avatar spirit, just an empty shell -"
"Shut up!" Katara slapped her with the water whip.
"Don't bother, Katara," Zuko said. "She's just trying to get under your skin."
Azula laughed. "It's good to know I haven't lost my touch."
Toph and Anduin returned with Suki and Sokka, who were bruised and limping. All of them except Anduin assumed combat stances the moment they saw and heard Azula.
"What's she doing here?!" Sokka said.
"It's a long story," Zuko said, "but I don't think she's here to fight."
"Sure, that's what she'd want to to think! And more importantly, how is she still alive?"
Toph huffed. "I told you, Sokka. That was future stuff. Alternate future stuff. Deathwing obviously didn't die on top of Wyrmrest Temple either, did he?"
Sokka blinked. "I... Okay, granted. But what's she doing here anyway? Come to ambush us with the rest of the cultists while we're weak from fighting Deathwing?!"
"Oh, you silly peasant boy, do your legs ever get tired jumping to so many conclusions?" Azula said. "The Twilight's Hammer is as good as gone here, thanks to me."
"A likely story!"
"I know. Because it's true. And I'm only here talking to all of you because I was looking for the Avatar. Yes, yes, I know he's dead." She waved dismissively before anyone could interrupt. "Those cultists did a number on our world. Sowing discord everywhere, enslaving benders left and right, reaping all our natural resources. Quite clever on their part, really. It's just a shame they had to cross me to do it."
"Wait, what?" Sokka looked around at the others. "Really?"
"I don't know," Zuko said. "I wouldn't doubt it, though. We won't know for sure until we get there ourselves."
"How are we getting home?" Sokka said. "How do we even get out of this Deepholm place?"
Jaina spoke up. "That I can answer. There is a temple here with portals back to Azeroth. It resembles Wyrmrest Temple, though I'm not sure which direction -"
Toph stomped her foot. "Found it." She pointed.
"So what do we do about her?" Sokka said, gesturing at Azula.
"I am not having her come with us," Katara said.
"Oh, I wasn't aware that you were in charge of my movements," Azula said.
"Just try and follow us, you'll see how well that goes," Katara growled. Suki and Sokka nodded agreement.
Zuko didn't know what to do. If Azula was telling the truth – and it was a pretty far-fetched thing to lie about – then having her around would be useful. The enemy of his enemy, after all. Unless she wasn't his enemy's enemy. If she was still under Twilight thrall, she could be trying to rile them up, or mislead them somehow. And in that case, did he really want to leave her to her own devices?
He sighed. "We need to take her with us. As dangerous as she is to keep around, how much more dangerous is she when no one's watching her?"
"I'm flattered," Azula said.
Anduin said, "She may stay in Stormwind under supervision. We will return through the temple portal. We all need rest, and I need to inform the other leaders of Deathwing's demise."
"What about Chromie?" Toph said. "Did anyone see what happened to her?"
They all shook their heads.
"If she lived – if any of the Dragon Aspects lived – they'll find us in Stormwind," Anduin said.
"What about... Aang's body?" Katara said. "We shouldn't just leave it out there."
"I can retrieve it," Jaina said. "It's near Dalaran City. I need to inform the Kirin Tor of all this, anyway."
"Let's not tarry here," Anduin said. "The earth elementals will do what they wish with Deathwing's body."
Toph cleared a path through the wreckage and rubble toward the temple. The group followed after, quiet and exhausted. Zuko cast a glance back at the dragon's cooling body, watching as the last embry glow under its scales faded.
IIIII
Zuko found himself wandering the cool, spacious halls of Stormwind Castle that night, unable to sleep, as he had another night that seemed years ago. That night, he had dreamed of Deathwing murdering his father. This night, both had died. Zuko hadn't even gone to sleep yet; he was afraid of what he'd dream this time.
Azula had been given her own quarters, under guard, but Zuko doubted any guards would be effective against her if she wanted to escape. As long as her goals aligned with the others', she'd play nice. He worried how quickly that would change once they saved their own world and defeated the Twilight's Hammer there.
Zuko's wandering brought him to the dining hall. Anduin and Jaina spoke quietly by the light of a candle. No one else was present.
Anduin looked up and smiled wanly. "Prince Zuko, hello. I can't say I'm surprised to see you wandering again."
"Am I interrupting?" Zuko said.
"Not at all. We were discussing how to proceed from here. You ought to join us, it's your world and nation involved now."
Zuko shrugged and took a seat across from them at the table. "Seems like a pretty odd time and place to have that kind of discussion."
"It's an informal meeting, brought about by sleeplessness," Anduin said in a joking tone. "For as exhausted I am after today, well... you know how it is."
Jaina spoke up. "We've already sent missives to the other world leaders. I informed the Kirin Tor and Wyrmrest Accord – the mages and dragons. Alexstrasza and Nozdormu survived the attack on Wyrmrest Temple and will arrive to meet us with the other leaders. Ysera is still unaccounted for. She may have fled into the Emerald Dream."
"The Emerald Dream?" Zuko asked.
"The realm of druids and natural spirits," she said. "If she's there, she'll no doubt hear from us soon, from the druids. Tyrande's husband is an archdruid, and she's been contacted as well."
"As have Prophet Velen, King Gelbin, King Greymane, the Dwarven Council..." Anduin said. "Ah, and others. I won't bore you with all these names, you'll be meeting them shortly regardless."
"I... I will?" Zuko said.
"You are also a world leader. And you were partially responsible for killing Deathwing. You and your friends will likely be showered with congratulations."
"Oh." Zuko sighed. "It doesn't feel like much of a victory."
Anduin frowned sympathetically. "Because of your father? I'm sorry, I understand how -"
"No, you don't. Your father was loved and respected. He treated you well and tried to protect you." Zuko touched the burn scar on his face. "My father did this."
Anduin and Jaina's expressions changed the way everyone's did – horror, pity, shock, embarrassment. Everyone always either stared awkwardly at the scar, or awkwardly tried not to. Everyone always wanted to know how it happened yet never wanted to be the one to ask.
"Remember when I told you my father was the one trying to take over our world?" Zuko went on, lowering his hand. "My friends and I were on a mission to kill him. Before we got summoned here, we were hiding out in the Fire Nation, in my family's old vacation house, training and planning to... to put him down before he could destroy everything. His plan involved harnessing the power of a comet to do pretty much what Deathwing did to Theramore."
"I'm... so sorry," Anduin said. "I can't imagine..."
"Even though it's what we were planning to do, I can't -" Zuko put his hands on his head, elbows on the table. "I know I should feel happy we 'won', but I don't. Aang thought he could come up with a way to defeat my father without killing him, and even though I shot him down, a part of me wanted to believe he would. What if he could have? Now it's too late to ever find out.
"And on the other hand, I know I should feel sad to lose my father, but I don't feel that either! I don't feel like I lost him, because he never – I never really had him in the first place. I don't know if I wanted him gone. I wanted him to be a different person all along. I wanted..." Zuko ran his hands through his hair in frustration before dropping them again. "I don't know what I wanted. I don't know how I feel."
"I – I see now that I can never understand the position you were put in," Anduin said after a moment. "I am sorry for your loss. The loss of what should have been a much happier family, if nothing else."
"Thanks."
Jaina let out a long breath. "I do understand."
Zuko looked at her. "You do?"
"While my father was not an evil man, he was short-sighted, stuck in the past, and unwilling to accept offers of peace from his enemies. He was relentless in his hatred for the Horde. In the end, I was forced to side against him," she said, "and my decision cost him his life."
Zuko couldn't think of anything to say. The three of them sat in silence for several moments, digesting what they'd shared together.
"Garrosh is heading down a dark path," Anduin finally said. "Even the threat of Deathwing's cataclysm couldn't give him pause in his relentless hate."
"I wish we could do something to help you," Zuko said, "but I don't know if we'll have any help to spare, if what my sister said about our world is true."
"I meant what I said this morning," Anduin said. "Stormwind will help you."
"This morning feels like forever ago... Didn't you say all the heads of government had already left?"
"They won't have gone far. Our couriers will reach them quickly," Anduin said. "Besides, I... I believe it is a good time to abdicate as 'High King of the Alliance'."
"What? Why?"
Anduin shrugged self-deprecatingly. "While I am prepared to lead Stormwind, I have to admit I'm not nearly ready to lead the entire Alliance. I'll discuss it with the other leaders. I believe Tyrande would be a better High Queen. She is the most long-lived of us all, and has the most experience with leadership. Of course, we may all decide to simply form a council, not led by a single person but voting in unanimity, similar to when the Alliance first formed."
"Actually, I believe Velen is older," Jaina said. "But we don't know if he'd want to lead us all."
"A High King who sees the future would be a powerful asset," Anduin joked. "Very reassuring to the people."
"I hope you all work something out," Zuko said, standing. "I'm going to bed."
Anduin and Jaina bid him goodnight, and he returned to his quarters. Exhaustion pulled him down like a rock into the depths of his pillow and a sleep where he didn't dream at all.