A/N: The Following is rated R; for Reconciliation
It contains dialog, where appropriate, from the final episode S3E18-21 "Sozin's Comet."
Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 18: The Road to Ba Sing Se
Early Autumn, Year 12 in the reign of Fire-Lord Ozai
It was an enormous sound. Nearly fifty-thousand pairs of boots hitting the ground at the same time.
It was less the sound of a single giant footstep and more the sound of an entire stormfront's worth of rain, crashing down to earth in a series of rhythmic concentrated beats. A thunderous cacophony of boots and ostrich-horse claws and drums, underlaid with the intermittent shouts of sergeants, all of it focused on a single purpose.
The east.
The march to Ba Sing Se.
From the ground, from the inside of the beast, Zuko's legion resembled nothing so much as a mass migration of peoples. A messy dust-choked affair of armor and banners, spears and wagons and grim-faced soldiers, its coming presaged by the floating tonnage of Appa the Sky-Bison and behind it, shading the middle of the formation, the enormous oval of the lone airship floating above.
From the bridge of that airship, however, it was an entirely different animal.
When viewed from above, the marching legion looked like a strange black serpent, snaking its ponderous way along the northern bank of the Hebi river, speckled with irregular silver and white scales. Silver where the Sun illuminated spearpoints and white where the rebel forces had lacquered their armor, or simply tied white bands of cloth around their helmets, lances, and forearms, to clearly denote the difference between themselves and the standard armor of their loyalist brethren. Not only would these decorations hopefully serve to keep confusion and friendly casualties to a minimum, they also served as a powerful reminder of the consequences of failure.
In the Fire-Nation white was the color of death, and every member of Zuko's legion, samurai, bushi, and peasant alike, were prepared for that outcome.
Zuko himself flitted from place to place as the Legion marched on. He rode at its head, he and Aang scouted the upcoming terrain for potential threats on Appa, he even marched on foot occasionally, as a reminder to his men, and to himself, that he had not forgotten his roots as a commander of footsoldiers.
But in all honesty, in the privacy of his own head at least, he admitted he preferred the view from the observation deck of The Princess Yue which, every passing day of the march, grew more and more purple.
It had been part of his agreement with Hakoda that half of any captured airships, starting with this first one, were the sole property of the Unicorn. Every day the truth of that became more and more clear as Hakoda's soldiers, having been liberated for the Prison at Shadow's Keep by the now openly rebelling Matsu clan, clambered over the sides of the dirigible, covering the plain grey and crimson of Fire-Nation construction with paints and fabrics in the purple and white of the Southern Water-Tribe, configured in a strange mottled pattern, that was typical of the sails of Unicorn ships. Sokka explained that it was both tactically important, helping the airship blend into the sky behind it, as well as proving Zuko's sincerity in his agreement with Sokka's tribe.
The Southern Water-Tribe would be visibly present wherever the legion went.
It would be a long road to Ba Sing Se, even with an army as mobile as Zuko had worked to make this one. This many people, along with their supply train could only move so fast. Luckily, the limited preliminary scouting reports suggested that there weren't any enemy forces either large enough or fast enough to truly oppose them yet. Despite this, Zuko knew it would be an incredibly busy time, organization, recruitment, and, hopefully, alliance building would consume most of his waking hours as the rebel force marched eastward through what was still properly the Earth-Kingdom.
Marched on, to their death, or their eventual victory.
Both of which, to the samurai of the Fire-Nation, were honorable outcomes.
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"So, explain to me exactly why we're doing this again?" Katara asked, the frown on her face more for the intermittent dusty winds from the south and for the ostrich-horse she rode alongside Zuko with less than a great deal of confidence.
"I am to be seen leading the army," Zuko said from atop his own mount. "'A good leader leads his people from the heights. A great leader leads his people from within them,' Akodo said. You are here… because you enjoy my company." He grinned as he finished, inflecting his last as an almost sardonic question.
"Yes, I suppose that, for some bizarre reason I do," Katara said, flicking her reigns to the side to absolutely no effect. "What I meant was, why are spending, you said three months, making this trip? I practically had to pry your fingers off the tiller to make you leave the colonies the last time. You aren't concerned with your father attacking them?"
"I am," Zuko said, his grin disappearing instantly. "This is why I left the colonial houses behind, to secure their homes and keep an eye on the sea. With any luck, the few naval groups that have joined us, combined with the Matsu massing on the homeland should make any attempt at crossing… problematic."
"But the airships…"
"Are an unknown element," Zuko said scowl deepening. "I do not know their full capabilities nor how they will be utilized by the remaining generals of the War College." He paused for a moment, thinking as they rode along. "…This is a risk. But a worthwhile one, I think. I need the earthers on my side."
"And you think marching across their lands is a good way to go about that?" Katara said cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Well, as they have not responded to any of my written entreaties, perhaps close-range engagement will give them something to consider. Show them I am serious in my intentions."
"Yes. Ok. But… Ba Sing Se? Again? Last time I asked one, the earthers were pretty touchy about you and that city."
"I had hoped to simply return the city to the Earth-King as an offer of goodwill once I wrested the throne from my father, but now… that seems unlikely without personal intervention."
In the few weeks before Zuko and Azula had left the great walled city to journey back to the Fire-Nation, they had appointed one General Seizuka Shin the military governor of their nation's newest outpost. All reports from the occupying forces after they left had seemed as orderly as they could be given the situation.
Then, about a week and a half after Zuko had declared Sengoku, General Seizuka had revealed previously unknown personal ambitions and declared himself the "King" of Ba Sing Se and its surrounding lands, much to everyone's consternation.
"And here I thought the Fire-Nation didn't do Kings?" Katara asked wryly.
"We don't," Zuko said with a growl. "A fact I look forward to reminding General Seizuka of." He snorted and shook his head in somewhat bitter mirth. "But, in the interim, we will march along the Hebi river, spreading word of our intentions and our mission. With any luck, we will pick up another half-battalion or two of dispossessed earth samurai, perhaps some ronin and local scouts as well. If we are to be successful, every hand will be needed."
"And this has nothing to do with the letter that… woman brought you?" Katara asked craning her head over her shoulder to glare at June who was mounted on her shirshu Nyla a few ranks back, chatting with an intrigued looking Toph and a Sokka who, his girlfriend on his other side, looked anywhere but directly at the attractive bounty hunter.
"…My uncle is in Ba Sing Se," Zuko said quietly, his own eye locked on the eastern horizon.
"Zuko…" Katara's face and tone shifting back to her more normal concern as she turned back to him. "I know you want to see him… but…"
"You think that it is my primary motivation."
"I just worry it might be… coloring your decisions, yes. If he wanted to talk to you why didn't he just come here?"
"That I cannot say," Zuko said with another frown. "His letters are just as annoyingly cryptic as he is in person. What I am supposed to make of this-" Zuko fished out the Pai Sho tile that had been included in the brief and, as he had said, annoyingly cryptic scroll that June had delivered- "I have no idea."
"You're… sure it's from him? Not some kind of trap?"
Zuko glanced at her askance for a moment before a small smile forced its way through his normal scowl.
"I am glad you and Mai are getting along now."
"Not the point, and not an answer," Katara said maintaining her composure despite the small flush appearing at her cheeks.
"Yes, I am sure," Zuko said holding the white lotus tile up to the light, examining it again, for perhaps the one-hundredth time. "After all," he said quietly, his eye narrowed, "he 'had it up his sleeve the whole time.'"
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The ronin were a motley bunch.
In any conflict such as this Sengoku, Ronin were bound to appear. As surely as day followed night, or vulture-wasps swarmed carrion, the masterless samurai would flock to any banner that they felt had the potential to feed, arm, and pay them.
It was how they survived after all.
As well as those more basic concerns, any conflict of nearly any magnitude had the opportunity for promotion. A heroic deed here, a life saved there, could see their fortunes reversed in the most powerful of ways. While the odds were slim, any chance to acquit themselves with honor, to climb out of their disreputable state and into the ranks of real samurai was a chance that any ronin would leap into a volcano to grasp. As such, there were already over a dozen firebending ronin, and fifty times that number of their non-bending brethren, among the ranks of Zuko's army, all of them carefully watched and led by trusted full samurai.
The problem with the particular group of ronin in front of him was not that they were necessarily any more or less trustworthy than any of the others…
…The problem was that they were all earthbenders.
They stood in ragged rows for Zuko's inspection, all of them displaying a wide disparity of arms, armor, height, and disposition. Some of them conversed quietly, or not so quietly with one another. Others stood silent, at an exceptionally rigid position of attention as if hoping that this might somehow set them apart from their fellows. Despite Zuko's personal experience, and sympathy, with their situation, one of the reasons they were even there in the first place, Zuko currently was eyeing them all somewhat mistrustfully.
Something is… off here, he thought to himself, his one eye glaring at the group.
It was just a feeling that he had, a sensation akin to somebody lying to his face, or as if there was something right in front of his eye that he was just barely missing.
Azula did turn the Dai Li… and she is not beyond sending one out here.
The thought made his palms itch with the tingle of suppressed firebending.
He admitted that it might be a simple miscue of his ever-present paranoia, which had been once again reinforced in the previous months by that quick succession of assassination attempts. But as Mai was always quick to point out "just because you know you are paranoid doesn't mean that somebody ISN'T out to get you."
No matter that he was in the very middle of his rapidly assembling nighttime camp, surrounded on all sides by soldiers he knew were loyal. No matter that this might actually be the safest place in the world for him at the moment.
Largely because Beifong Toph, who stood on his left, was nearly impossible to surprise, and was well known to take a great deal of pleasure in crushing people who tried to kill her friends.
"Yeah. From what I can tell most of these fucking idiots aren't worth the dirt between my toes," that same minuscule earthbender huffed, her pinky digging in her ear. "Most of them are standing like an airbender with a tummy-ache."
"Fair enough, but every hand is needed," Zuko said, his one eye still scanning through them, still hunting for whatever it was that was making his palms itch. "…But, if you do not want them…"
"What the spit does it matter what I want? It's your fucking army."
"Yes, but… we- I had hoped…"
He trailed away for a moment, considering appropriate word choice.
"Just spit it out, Sparky," Toph said with a snort that somehow managed to combine amusement and irritation in equal parts.
"…One of the highest honors and most solemn duties of a samurai is command," Zuko said slowly, as though his words were creeping up on an enemy encampment. "I had thought that, perhaps, the greatest earthbender in the world… might want some soldiers of her own."
Toph blinked for a moment of absolute shock, a truly rare occurrence for her. "Me? Command? You think anyone is going to listen to me?"
"Odd," Zuko said, now with a snort of his own. "I was under the impression that you liked beating the ash out of people. Especially people who think you are too small to be of consequence. If you can train Togashi Aang, then I believe you can train anyone. Even airbenders with gastric problems… Captain Beifong."
"Oooh… Oh, I like that," Toph said, an exceptionally evil-looking grin slowly appearing on her face. "Captain motherfucking Beifong."
"So, do you want them, or not?"
"Yeah… yeah, I can do something with them," Toph said, hurriedly nodding her head in acceptance. "Raw iron to steel, blah-blah-blah. There's even a couple in the back I can already vouch for personally."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Hold on. HEY! DICKHEADS! STOP TRYING TO HIDE FROM ME!" she shouted, pitching her somewhat piercing voice into a nearly acceptable impression of many of Zuko's company sergeants.
Zuko, half-amused as always with Toph's antics, managed to restrain a smirk as three of the earth-ronin that had been trying to remain inconspicuous near the back of the formation winced at Toph's shouting. All eyes turned to them as they embarrassedly ambled their way forward past the rest of the formation.
"Prince Sparky, say hello to my former co-workers; The Headhunter, The Gopher, and-"
"Fire-Nation Man," Zuko finished, his eye settling on the still slightly rotund barrel-chested man who seemed to be trying to hide behind his much thinner compatriots.
At what point is it appropriate to ask him to sign my sake cup, do you think? Zuko thought musingly.
"Well, I can say for certain that these three morons can at least bend," Toph said with a shrug, loud enough for the other ronin to either glare or stiffen even more. "If the rest of them are even half as good, then I'll take the lot."
"You're… not still mad at us?" the one called The Headhunter asked skeptically.
"Nah. You were dumb. Got greedy. I kicked your asses. Dust under the carpet," Toph said with another shrug. "Although… where the hell were you idiots during the eclipse? I mean, it turned out badly, but you kinda fucking let The Hippo and The Pebble down."
"Shan and I heard about it too late," the Gecko said with a shrug of his own. "And obviously Ren here wasn't going to… uh…" his eyes flicked from Fire-Nation Man to Zuko briefly- "well… he didn't hear either," he finished.
"Just as well," Zuko said offhandedly, his eye still on Fire-Nation Man. The mild impulse to get his souvenir cup had been forgotten in the face of there being something… off about the man that he couldn't place. It was the same wrongness that seemed to infest the group at large and as Zuko examined the man he seemed to grow more and more nervous.
"Alright," Toph said, grinning evilly, seeming unbothered by whatever it was that was making alarm gongs ring in Zuko's head. "Now comes the part where I kick your asses, then you kick their asses." She pointed to the now somewhat nervously milling crowd. "It's the only real way to see who's who and what's-"
She was cut off by a sharp intake of breath from behind them and Zuko turned to find an extremely pale Colonel Uesugi Rin, eyes wide and staring at Fire-Nation Man.
"Ren?"
"Is there a problem, Colonel?" Zuko asked, his eye widening in surprise at the largest display of emotion he'd ever seen from the man, then darting back to Fire-Nation Man.
Who he now found collapsed on the ground, his forehead in the dirt, in full kowtow.
What in the… Earthers don't bow like that.
A full Fire-Nation kowtow.
Zuko blinked in surprise and then noticed with some dismay that a full third of the assembled earthbending ronin were in the same position, the others staring at them in confusion.
"I… apologize, Highness," Rin said hoarsely. "I… I must have… I… mistook this man for… I… I once had a younger brother named Ren. But he… he was… lost."
"Lost," Zuko said flatly.
"Yes, Highness."
It was an ancient law, the Rule of Abrogation. Set, for lack of a better word, in stone in ages past. Earthbenders could not be Fire-Nationals. No more than firebenders could be Air-Nomads or Water-Tribesmen. The four nations were separate, distinct. Four elements, four nations. That was the way it was, the way it had always been. Everyone knew that, and children of the Fire-Nation colonies who were "born to the stone" as it was still called were no exception.
They did not die. They simply left. Were exiled. On pain of death. They were just… lost.
Earthbenders CANNOT be Fire-Nation soldiers. Damnit. Everyone knows that, why in the Ash did they come here?
It was simply the way things were. Immutable and static.
…Does that mean waterbenders can't be Fire-Nationals either?
And just like that, a decision was made.
"This is… unacceptable to me, Colonel," Zuko said coldly.
"Yes, sir," Rin said, bowing at the waist and remaining there.
"I had thought your family better than this," Zuko continued.
"Yes, sir." Rin's bow deepened.
"Why is your… brother not armed appropriately?"
"I regret that… what?" Rin was so shocked he jerked up out of his bow and only barely managed to not overbalance.
"We… we fight this war to reclaim our honor," Zuko said, his tone soft but loud enough to be heard by the assembled crowd. "We fight to free ourselves from those who would kill, simply for the element one bends. If we are to have victory, true victory… we must be better than them." He turned and looked down at the man he had previously only known as an earth-rumbler with a bad fake accent. "Uesugi Ren?"
Fire-Nation Man raised his head out of the dirt, bright gold-green eyes wide with a mix of shock and awe.
"I have heard that you were lost," Zuko said quietly. "I am pleased to see that you have found your way back. Welcome home."
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"Absolutely not," Zuko said, trying, hoping against hope really, that his tone spoke of finality.
"Zuko… you're being ridiculous," Katara said, seeming torn between anger and incredulity.
"I have no need for any more scouts. Especially not ones of… questionable honor."
Zuko was not certain exactly how the conversation had arrived at this destination. Generally speaking when he and Katara discussed something having to do with the Legion they were minor points of clarification. What was the term for a group of archers? Why did an ostrich-horse rider need a different type of boot than an infantryman? Why did they need all those shovels? These were the types of questions Zuko was used to fielding, and, on the whole, he had found that Katara had an interesting and unique perspective on military tactics that, while not always wholly accurate, was still well-thought-out and was capable of inspiring new avenues of thought as he found the words to explain things to her.
Personnel choices had never been touched upon, and Zuko found himself floundering.
Also, when discussing military topics, they were usually both fully clothed.
Unlike now.
"They aren't bad people, Zuko," Katara said, hoisting herself up on one arm, their shared blanket slipping down as she glared at him beadily. "They know this area really well. Just because they used to work with-"
"That honorless ash-hole?"
"-Jet," Katara finished before changing tactics. "What about the Duke? You think he doesn't want to see his friends again?"
"I think that Koshaku is better off without 'friends' who will probably try to murder him for being a firebender."
"They're not going to-"
"I just don't see the need, Katara. We already have plenty of-"
"I'm pretty sure I've heard someone around here say that we'd need every soldier, every hand we could get, if we were going to have a chance of winning this thing?"
"That's not… not the point."
"It's very much is the point," Katara snapped. "Smellerbee and Longshot were born in the colonies too, and that makes them your people just as much as all those earth ronin you talked Toph into adopting."
"I gave her thirty benders. I never expected her to appropriate every single-"
"Don't change the subject," Katara said cutting off the digression before it could even start. "Give me one, just one, good reason why we can't give them a job."
There was a long pause in the flickering shadows of Zuko's tent.
"I…" Zuko's jaw worked soundlessly as he scrambled to find a reason she would accept as good.
"You don't have one, do you?"
Zuko only growled.
"So, I'll just tell them to report to the quartermaster tomorrow then, shall I?"
She didn't even know what that flaming word MEANT yesterday.
"Katara," Zuko said aloud, trying to rally once more, "they are NOT-"
"Jet is dead, Zuko," Katara said as she plopped back down on her half of the bedroll, her back to Zuko and her posture still angry. "And we do need every hand."
There was a moment of silence.
"Mai-" Zuko started.
"-will be watching them," Katara finished, not turning around. "We've already discussed it."
Zuko exhaled slowly, a hairs-breadth away from a groan. With a gesture, he banished the single candle he had lit when Katara had broached the subject and lay on his back scowling at the tent roof.
"…Fine. Just… fine," he said eventually.
Katara, displaying her normal agility, flipped over, wordlessly pecked him on the cheek, and then returned to her original position, her posture now far more relaxed. Zuko exhaled again, rolled over and, face burrowed into Katara's unbound hair, tried to find sleep.
That, at least, he was successful at.
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Zuko was reasonably certain that his mother would have been disappointed with him.
There were all sorts of little saying that she had peppered Zuko and Azula's lives with concerning courtesy. Things that, had she been there, she likely would have whispered to him in this situation. "Never judge a scroll by its ribbon," was one. "Honor and goodness are invisible to the eyes," was another.
But despite all of that, Zuko admitted that, based on appearances alone, he really didn't like the soft-looking little man in front of him that had, with all the bluster of one of the frequent autumn storms, made his way into Zuko's camp.
While his long mustaches were traditional for the Earth-Kingdom, and Zuko was normally a fan of tradition, they didn't seem to fit his rather doughy face. His ornate golden cap, with its embossed stylized wings, was incredibly ostentatious. The way he had visibly had to restrain a sneer at the simple floormat where he now sat in front of Zuko. All of these things made Zuko's single brow furrow more and more in his own particular flavor of disdain and anger.
There was also the fact that this little ash-stain of a man seemed to be hinting that he could buy a samurai. One of Zuko's soldiers. One of his friends.
Yet another sister that he'd never expected to have.
"These times are expensive ones, as I am sure you know," Beifong Lao said, idly wafting the scent of the tea he had been served, restraining yet another a grimace as he did so. "War is surely the most dangerous and costly of activities, not only in gold you understand, but in disrupted trade as well."
Zuko, who had for several months been running the treasury department for the most powerful nation on the planet, and thus knew damn well how trade worked, said nothing, but sipped at his tea. His mismatched eyes remained on the little man before him as he allowed the silence to do the talking for him.
"Yes… well," Lao continued, attempting to project unconcern for what even he could sense was tension, "given your… honorable intentions, I would be more than happy to supply your army with… a decent amount of gold."
Despite Lao's efforts, Zuko could practically smell the disdain in his voice when he said "honor," and, his teeth gritted behind closed lips, he did his best to keep his rage focused on his tea even as his single yellow eye remained locked on the man across from him.
"Enough gold to see you through a good portion of this conflict," Lao continued. "Certainly more than enough to make up for any… loss you might think you would be incurring."
"A samurai is courteous even to his enemies. Without this outward show of respect, we are nothing more than animals. A samurai is not only respected for his strength in battle, but also by his dealings with other men. The true inner strength of a samurai becomes apparent during difficult times," Zuko thought, quoting Akodo in his mind as his eye went back to his teacup and focused on the way the dregs of his hot leaf juice swirled in a pattern like falling leaves.
And NOT on how much he wanted to throw this pestilential little zeni-counter out of his presence.
OR to set him on fire.
"There is also the matter of you flying the winged boar," Lao continued, seeming ignorant of how close to a fiery death he was as he abandoned his own teacup with a final barely concealed sniff of disdain. "While we must admit that that was rather presumptuous of you, I am willing to let that stand as well. I hope that whatever… mercenaries you attracted with it are both skillful and loyal."
There had been mercenaries of course. Once Toph had been persuaded to hoist what was legitimately her family's mon to her rapidly growing contingent of earthbenders, the number of earthers who had submitted themselves to Zuko's recruiters had very nearly doubled. However, the general consensus was that they came because they had all learned that it was a Beifong who was both the Earth Rumble Champion of Gaoling and the world's first-ever metalbender, not because they believed they would be paid more.
A fact which her own father, with his ridiculous mustaches, seemed happy to ignore along with all the rest of the facts that made Toph who she was.
"Given the circumstances," Lao continued, "I am more than happy to let the implication, that House Beifong stands with you, be a reality. You will have funding, the support of my fleet, and my contacts. Surely that is worth any meager help my daughter might provide."
Zuko, his face still set in a scowl, exhaled a long breath.
Mai will be upset with me if I don't even consider it.
And so, because it was polite to do so, he did.
For the space of a half-heartbeat. Then he took a sip of tea.
Nope. No serenity. Still just hot leaf juice.
"Colonel. Beifong," Zuko barked, making Lao start his mustaches quivering.
"Colonel?" the little man asked, managing to combine confusion with condescension. "Prince Zuko, I have never served a day in my entire-" he cut himself off, his eyes going wide as Toph brushed aside the tent flaps and strode into the room.
Zuko, often without prompting, happily admitted that he was not in any way a connoisseur of aesthetics or style. Despite that, even he had to admit that he was both pleased and impressed by the display that had been managed for Toph. She wore a scaled-down copy of what was quickly becoming the standard officer's armor for Zuko's legion, a less ornate version of the dark armor that Zuko had been given by his sister. Matte black where Zuko's was glossy, and plain white-lacquer where Zuko's was silver. The bracers themselves were actually a series of interlocked iron bands, and Toph and only recently taken a great deal of pride in showing them off in her metalbending demonstrations, bending them out as extraordinarily dangerous projectiles capable of shredding all but the thickest of armors with little effort.
In deference to her new rank, as well as the fact that she cared little for any ostentation she could not see, the only ornamentation she wore was the flying raven-hawk pin of a full colonel at her collar. That rank had only seemed appropriate given the fact that, as every earther that joined of late wanted to serve under the Earth Rumble Champion, she now commanded an oversized battalion of earthbenders and samurai. Other than the rank pin, her only other overt display of authority was, in an interesting blending of styles, a deep green sash that slanted from left shoulder to right hip, indicating her mastery of her element in the Fire-Nation style and matching the lacquer that had been applied to the scabbard of the wakizashi Zuko had given her.
All of this might have been ruined by the fact that she currently had a pinky finger digging in her ear as she strode into the tent on bare, slightly muddy feet.
"Yeah?" Toph said, projecting supreme unconcern for anything, including the rapidly darkening face of her father.
Zuko was certain that nobody but Toph could have pulled it off.
"This… gentleman seems to think I have the power to order you to go home," Zuko said, his scowl curling up into a smirk at the growing horror on Lao's face.
"Pssh. Yeah right," Toph said, flicking whatever dirt and wax she had gathered from the inside of her ear canal and on to the ground.
"Well," Zuko said rising to his feet, "that is that then."
"Now… wait just a minute," Lao said, recovering himself and coming to his feet as well, his tone noticeably less cordial and infinitely more honest. "I don't know what you think you are playing at, but just because you've got her playing dress-up…" he paused, turning to Toph and moderating his tone. "Toph dearest, I don't know what these… samurai have told you, but there is nothing to be afraid of. They certainly aren't capable of attacking our home, and-"
"Yeah, but Azula certainly is," Toph cutting her father off with a shake of her head.
"That…" Lao glanced at Zuko then took a step closer to his daughter, lowering the volume of his voice- "you don't need to worry about that either. I've had a letter from the Crown-Princess herself and she assures me that her brother started those vile rumors, just to destabilize the country so he can seize power. This is a pointless dangerous conflict that has nothing to do with us. We will go home and-"
"Dad," Toph interjected again, "you're an idiot."
Lao rocked back in shock and stood in stunned silence for a moment, his mouth hanging open.
"Azula is a fucking crazy person," Toph continued. "And her dad is just fucking evil. Even if the burning-deadly-comet-thing wasn't comingsoon I would still be trying to stop them."
"Toph, dearest… you… what do you think you're going to do? You're blind!" Lao asked, his volume increasing as he spoke, finally culminating with a shout which unsettled his ridiculous hat.
"Yeah. But not nearly as blind as you are," Toph responded flatly.
Lao paused for a moment, gathering himself as he settled his cap back on his head.
"Toph, my dearest child, you need to come home," he said with a new gentleness. "Your absence… well, your mother is not well again. The stress of your absence has only exacerbated things. If you don't come home now…" he trailed away allowing the implication to settle on Toph like a ton of masonry.
Toph stiffened at his pronouncement, then, by the barest most imperceptible margin, she seemed to wilt slightly. Lao, like a hound scenting wounded prey, leapt forward.
"You and she share a delicate constitution, Toph. It would be best for the both of you if-" he cut off, going slightly cross-eyed at Toph's abruptly raised silencing finger.
"Dad?" she said softly, "did you know I… I can tell when people are lying? I… can hear their heart rates through my feet."
There was a rather pregnant pause as Lao's face worked through several different emotions; shock, then outrage, then ice-cold anger.
"Beifong Toph," he said, his voice now without a trace of its previous gentleness, formal, quiet, and deadly. "You will come home with me, this very day, or you will not have a home to come back to."
"Please… don't do this, father," Toph said her fists now clenched at her sides and, unless Zuko was very much mistaken, on the verge of tears. "Please don't make me choose."
"It shouldn't be a difficult choice, daughter," Lao said.
"… you're right, it isn't," Toph said eventually. She inhaled a ragged breath, straightened up, and turned her blind eyes in Zuko's direction. "General? Would you be so kind as to ensure that Mr. Beifong here makes it out of camp safely? We… no longer have anything to discuss."
"Of course, Colonel," Zuko growled. Then with a single arm, and more force than was strictly necessary, he hoisted the now squawking Beifong Lao into the air by the collar of his robe and carried him out of the tent.
"Remove this from our sight," Zuko said as he dropped Lao into the mud at the feet of the similarly scowling Uesugi's Rin and Ren. Then, one on each side of the now very shocked and disheveled man, they did so, frog-marching him past lines of scowling soldiers with green wakizashi.
Toph was shaking very slightly, her back to the tent opening, as Zuko re-entered the tent.
"You need a minute," Zuko asked, his tone more statement than a question.
"No. No, I'm… I'm fine," Toph said hurriedly, wiping her face on her arm and turning around. "Just got some… fucking dust…"
Zuko took a step forward and put one hand on her shoulder. He opened his mouth to speak, but found himself cut off by a finger in his face."
"You try and hug me and I'll bury you up to your fucking nose, Sparky," Toph growled thickly.
"No hugs," Zuko said placatingly, "just a reminder."
Toph cocked her head to the side.
"You will always have a home. For as long as you want it. You are… my family," Zuko said quietly.
In the coming days, when relating this story to others, Toph would claim that she then headbutted Zuko in the chest, causing him to double over in pain.
In reality, she simply leaned her head into his uniform and resumed silently weeping. Zuko, for his part, did not raise his other arm from his side.
That would have been a hug and, for the most part, his family did not do hugs.
-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-
Early Winter, Year 12 in the reign of Fire-Lord Ozai
"Ty?"
"Yes, Zuko?"
"Do you think… perhaps… you could explain what it is that I am looking at?" Zuko asked, projecting as much calm as he could muster and gesturing down the hillside.
"Uh… well… that's… an army," Ty Lee said, her perpetual smile showing signs of nervousness.
"Yes. Good. Right," Zuko said nodding his head at the moderately sized encampment before them, their banners wafting in the faint wind and clearly illuminated by the setting Sun. "…and exactly who's army is it, Ty?"
"Ah… well… those banners are bronze Tori gates… soooooo…"
"I was, we were all under the impression, from what you had said, assured us really, that clan Ikoma, your family's army, was still on the mainland? Garrisoning Otosan Uchi and Shiro Hayai you said. Unlikely to move you said. Not something to worry about you said."
"Ah… yeah. That was me."
"I was also under the impression that your father was siding with mine, which would make the army in front of us-"
"Ah… yeah. I don't… I mean… Dad reeeally didn't want to get involved, you know?"
"…Mai?" Zuko said, his teeth gritted and smoke beginning to trail between his clenched fingers.
"My last report places Ikoma Senji in the capital as of two weeks ago," Mai said, her face a flat mask as she glared down the hill towards the small army that was encamped between Zuko and the large unrepaired rent in the Kaiu wall like it had personally insulted her. "If this is the Ikoma army, then they are being led by someone else and made the crossing in record time."
Or all my intelligence is useless, was the unspoken alternative.
After the scouts (Longshot and Smellerbee most irritatingly) had returned with the news of an unknown force camped dead ahead of them, Zuko had persuaded Aang to fly them nearby to observe and had ordered the rest of his forces to make camp several miles away, concealed by the gently sloping terrain. Now the people he had brought, or who had simply assumed they were invited, stood on a convenient hillside overlooking those rolling hills which extended for many miles, terminating in the still enormous, yet still broken, Kaiu Wall.
"Maybe I should go down and talk with them?" Aang asked, leaning on his staff and peering down the hillside.
"No," Katara said.
"Maybe… they're friendly," Aang said still projecting pensive optimism.
"NO," Katara repeated at very nearly the same time as Zuko.
"Well, somebody needs to go down there," Aang said reasonably. "I'd rather it was me instead of a bunch of soldiers. That has the tendency to-"
Aang was suddenly cut off as Toph snapped into a bending posture and prevented most of a wall of stone from surrounding them. Zuko's blade of fire burst into being at nearly same moment that Katara's water skin arced outward in a defensive maneuver and Sokka's space-sword exited its sheath.
"Weeelll, look who's here!" an elderly voice rang out. Aang dropped his defensive stance immediately as his face lit up in a wide grin.
"Bumi!" Aang shouted. He sprang forward with a rush of airbending and nearly tackled the stooped elderly looking man who emerged from the ground dressed in an odd blue and white robe.
Zuko relaxed only minutely, glancing at Katara for her reaction. Seeing that she and Sokka were already putting their weapons away, remarkably relieved looks on their face, he followed suit, banishing his blade of fire but retaining a moderately defensive posture.
"What's going on," Toph asked, her posture also only slightly less aggressive. "Why are we surrounded by old people?"
Zuko blinked in surprise. Glancing left and right he discovered she was correct as a small arc of elderly looking men, all dressed in similar blue and white robes advanced on their position.
Sedately advancing, but advancing nonetheless.
"Sifu Pakku!" Katara gasped, and bounded forward towards an older, somewhat sour-faced man of obvious Water-Tribe ancestry.
"Master Piandao!" Sokka shouted, at almost the same moment as Ty Lee shouted, "Uncle P!" Both of them tore off towards the man that Zuko recognized as Ikoma Piandao, Lord of the Ikoma family.
Well, that explains the army at least, Zuko thought.
He and Mai looked at one another askance as the three groups began chatting animatedly. Mai, who looked a great deal more relaxed now that she knew that her intelligence was not flawed, likely would have shrugged at him if she was the kind of person to do something like that. Within the space of a half-dozen heartbeats, however, she had stiffened again in a subdued fury, something she very much was the kind of person to do, as the fourth man, his wild white hair not doing anything to conceal the two long scars that stretched vertically down the right side of his face, detached himself from the group and moved in front of Zuko, staring at him somewhat imperiously.
"Admiral Jeong-Jeong," Mai said somewhat icily, without a bow.
Zuko tensed at the informal introduction as well. Jeong-Jeong's firebending skills, and his highly public desertion from the navy, were quite infamous.
"Prince Zuko," Jeong-Jeong said, bowing politely and without any trace of the malice that seemed to radiate from Mai. Zuko bowed back silently, to a lesser degree.
The three Fire-Nationals stood staring at one another for a long moment, their version of casual regard only the barest hairsbreadth away from sizing one another up for a fight.
"Ohh-kay," Toph said, rolling her head in a fair approximation of rolling her eyes. "I'm going to go bug Lord Bumi now. Just let you three be dramatic at one another in peace." With that she strode off as she normally did, leaving the three to continue silently staring at one another.
"I must admit some small measure of confusion, Jeong-Jeong-sensei," Zuko said after another long moment, drawing his posture and language up into full formal mode, the safest policy when dealing with someone who was likely an enemy. "While I had no honest expectations upon my arrival here, I did not anticipate an entire military force. Especially one so proudly flying the banners of those I was sure were my enemies."
Jeong-Jeong only nodded, his eyes never leaving Zuko.
"Perhaps," Zuko continued, his tone growing marginally more acerbic, "you might enlighten me as to the purpose of this gathering, and whether or not I should change my opinion of them?"
Jeong-Jeong continued staring at Zuko contemplatively for a long time, only opening his mouth to speak the very moment before Zuko lost his patience.
"You look… very much like him," Jeong-Jeong said, his voice low and rasping with what Zuko assumed was disuse.
"My father, yes," Zuko growled. "I fail to see what that has to-"
"No," Jeong-Jeong interjected, "…Roku. You very much resemble honored Roku." With that, he turned around and made his way back to his compatriots.
Mai, her eyes gleaming with rage, started forward after him, but managed to stop herself in mid-lunge to avoid running into Zuko's preemptively outstretched hand.
"He's a traitor, Zuko," she hissed quietly, her eyes still on Jeong-Jeong's back. "You know we've been hunting him for years, and now he's right there!"
"Technically, we are traitors as well, Mai," Zuko said equally quiet. "I know that he is Shosuro and that makes him your-"
"He is not Shosuro," Mai hissed venomously, her face actually beginning to contort towards a grimace.
"Mai…" Zuko waited, looking to see that she finally looked away from her great-uncle's retreating back before continuing. "This is most certainly not the time for this. Will you be able to control yourself, or must I send you back to camp?"
There was no condemnation there, just a simple question.
Mai closed her eyes and exhaled a shuddering breath.
"All is well, my prince," she said, formal language helping her make her normal calm and ambivalent mask materialize on her face.
Zuko nodded in acceptance and the two of them followed Jeong-Jeong's path ahead to the rapidly quieting riot of conversation that surrounded Bumi, Pakku, and Piandao.
"Prince Zuko," Piandao said as the conversation quieted around him, his tone inflecting into the formal speech as well as he bowed. "Pleased I am to see you."
"As am I, Lord Ikoma," Zuko answered, giving him one his deeper bows, one that he reserved for High Lords that he actually respected. "Might I inquire as to your purpose here?"
"I, and some few of my retainers, are here meeting with some old comrades of mine," Piandao answered, gesturing to the other robed figures.
Bumi waved merrily.
"Comrades… among whom we find a Crane waterbending master, the until recently incarcerated Lord Kuni, and… the deserter Jeong-Jeong-sensei?"
"Interesting times make for interesting comrades," Piandao quoted, "and, if I may be permitted to say, Your Highness, all the days of this era are interesting ones."
Yes, Zuko thought wryly, my father's era will make some future lecturer of history VERY interested.
"Leaving that aside," Zuko continued, "may I, once again, inquire as to your purpose here?"
"You may recall, my Prince, that clan Seizuka is vassal to my own Ikoma?" Piandao said, the barest hint of emotion creeping into his voice. "Word has only recently come to my ears, baseless rumors I am sure, as to the inclination of one of their generals. And so, I journeyed here to learn the truth of such things, whereupon I met with these, my interesting comrades."
"Quite a coincidence," Zuko said, not bothering to conceal his skepticism.
"Quite," Piandao replied, smiling slightly and bowing again.
"Uh… why are they talking like that?" Sokka asked, loudly stage-whisperingbehind his hand to Bumi.
"Oh, you know how Fire-Nationals are," Bumi said loudly with a snort and a remarkably unseemly giggle. "It just wouldn't DO to say that we're part of an ancient secret organization that seeks to end the war, reestablish balance, support the Avatar, and play as much Pai Sho as we can sneak into every alternate Thursday. So they come up with excuses." He shrugged, a maneuver that revealed just how many muscles he was concealing behind his robe and doddering old man façade. "Very implausible excuses if you ask me, buuuut it works for them. Might have just said, 'all old people know each other,' and then left it at that."
Piandao let out an exasperated sigh as Zuko froze in shock.
Secret international organization? … Supporting the Avatar?
"Is my uncle one of your comrades, Lord Ikoma?" Zuko's inflection had dropped the formality for the icy calm tones that normally presaged violence of some variety.
"Yes, Highness," Piandao said quietly.
"And would these comrades-" Zuko reached into his belt and drew out the Pai Sho tile his uncle had sent him- "in some way be connected to this?"
"Yes, Your Highness. We are called the Order of the White Lotus."
"It was up my sleeve the whole time," the letter had said.
The White Lotus tile in Zuko's hand, the one his uncle had sent him, the one he had used to gain them false documentation in the Earth-Kingdom, the one he had "lost" in the days when they still had The Devastator, the one that Iroh had always liked to use, even in the days before his banishment, snapped in half in Zuko's clenched fist.
"I will need to have a word with my uncle," Zuko said.
-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-
There was something about a door.
In most stories a door was a symbol of change, a semi-permeable barrier that indicated a turning point or decision. Zuko knew that decisions were important, doubly so when one was in charge. Any decision he made, on the battlefield or off, could easily result in his death or serious injury, either literally or figuratively. That was the price one paid when one was samurai.
It seemed to Zuko, as he sat in tense silence, that it truly did not matter if the door in question was enormous and bronze, engraved with the roaring lions and rearing scorpions of the Fire-Nation, or if it was the simple loosely tied canvas of a camp tent, unremarkable in every way. A door was a door, a decision was a decision, and the same potent anxiety that had once gripped Zuko in the moments before he had re-entered the throne room in Otosan Uchi once again snaked its way around his mind and heart.
Fear. Fear at seeing yet another family member.
So Zuko sat in the dirt in front of that decision, not even ten paces from it in fact, fighting against that fear, his single eye locked on the tent and his standard scowl on his face.
"Are you ok?"
It was Katara, appearing out of the night like all of his worst and best dreams. She came from behind him and sat down on his left. Just far enough forward to be out of his blind spot and radiating that still somewhat mystifying aura of calm as she faced him.
"…No," Zuko said after a long pause. "No, I am not. I do not…"
Katara's right hand drifted over to his left and gently coaxed it out of its white-knuckled death-grip on his katana's scabbard and into her grasp.
"He told me to go with you, you know?" Zuko said quietly. "He knew I was in love with you and said that… that I deserved to be happy and so I should go with you and Aang. Then I betrayed him. Ignored him, locked him in a cell, and just…"
Katara cocked an eyebrow at this, perfectly illustrating what Zuko was sure would have been a remarkably sarcastic comment. But she said nothing aloud, and allowed Zuko to continue.
"I am… conflicted," Zuko continued. "Uncle has been one of the few people that I knew, that I thought, genuinely cared for me. Yet, after all we have been through together, all the guilt, now I find that… that… he is a member of some secret organization dedicated to serving the Avatar? All those times back on the ship… all those times… was he just playing me? Was I just another Pai Sho tile to him? Just a tile to play in some larger game?" The shattered pieces of the Pai Sho tile his uncle had sent him dug into the palm of his right hand, a mere ounce of pressure away from drawing blood.
"Zuko…"
"He was supposed to be the Fire-Lord, you understand?" Zuko continued, now almost rambling. "After my grandfather passed… if he had just… come home, right away, and pressed his claim… then none of this would have happened. Did he intend all of this? All of this? And I… I… it just makes me so… angry. And that anger just makes me…" he finally turned his head and looked at Katara, "… sick. Sick with guilt, and I begin to wish I had never even…" he trailed off, exhaling a shuddering breath.
"…You've told me a lot about your uncle," Katara said after a long moment. "All about how wise and good and smart he is. But I think you need to remember that… he's just a person, Zuko. People do things you might not always agree with, they make mistakes, then regret them. But you can't go back and change the past. No matter how much you might want to." She gave in and finally rolled her eyes. "No matter how much that might have 'doomed' the world," she finished sarcastically.
"Katara, we've been over this. If I had not gone back-"
"Yes-yes-yes, that's not important," Katara said, brushing the digression away with her left hand, a Fire-Nation mannerism she had begun to pick up from Mai and Ty Lee. "What is important," she continued in a much softer tone, "is the fact that you've built your uncle up into this… omnipotent sage figure. He is just a man, just like you." She snorted quietly. "Besides, you're never going to know the answers to any of these questions if you don't ask. What do you stand to lose?"
"Everything," Zuko said, his eye falling into the dirt outside of his uncle's tent. "Katara, I am going to go in there and… shout at him. He will either say something pointlessly cryptic, or shout back. By the end of it, this camp will be in flames and a battle that neither of us can afford will be underway. It will be the very end of-"
"Now you're just being silly," Katara said with another eyeroll. "You love your uncle, and if he's even close to anything like you then he loves you too. So just…" she rose to her feet, tugging Zuko's hand until he copied her- "…go in there and tell him that."
"…Your optimism is going to get me killed one of these days," Zuko said eventually, brushing his lips over the back of her hand, his single eye focusing on the door to the tent. He straightened his posture, released her hand and began to move forward.
"And if I'm wrong," Katara said from behind him, "which I am not, I'll just come in there and freeze you both up to your necks until you stop being stupid."
"Well, always good to have a backup plan," Zuko muttered.
-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-
"I guess that settles it. It must be innate."
The interior of the tent, its floor covered with a surprisingly ornate rug, was filled with flickering shadows. The whole of the space was illuminated by a single candle at its far end which, in turn, was mostly obscured by Iroh's kneeling form. Zuko had only just finished coming through the tent flap and froze in place when his uncle made his pronouncement.
"I suppose that puts paid to your 'only I am unblessed by the heavens' theory," Iroh continued mildly gesturing at the candle in front of him. "Not that I imagine that you lack for self-confidence anymore."
"Uncle…"
"I imagine you must be rather upset with me," Iroh said, finally shifting around to face Zuko, remaining seated. "I admit… I am rather upset with myself as well."
Zuko took a moment to goggle at his uncle who in his long absence had both retied his hair in the samurai's topknot and shed most of the potbelly he had sported for the better part of a decade before responding. "…You are upset… with yourself."
"Yes. I hope you will forgive an old man for misjudging you, and your situation, quite as badly as I have done?"
"Uncle… I… I am the one who should… who should be… why aren't you angry!?" Zuko finished with a half-hearted snap.
"I could never be angry at you for trying to do what you thought best. Not when… not when there was so much I could have, should have told you. I just never found the right time, the right moment." Iroh sighed shaking his head. "So many chances to be brave… so many chances, and now… can you ever forgive me?"
"Forgive you? For… for… I am the one who…" Zuko struggled to find the right words, to give voice to all the things he had been conflicted about, angry and guilty and fearful about, but they all seemed somewhat weak and feeble here under his uncle's calm yellow-eyed gaze. "What would you have told me?" he finally asked.
"That your father was a monster that never deserved a drop of the loyalty that you gave him? That I had been in collusion with foreign elements for years? That the only real hope our family had of regaining its honor lay with the Avatar?"
"I… would not have listened."
"Maybe. Maybe not. We will never know now, and that, my boy, is one of my greatest regrets. I will never know if all of this might have been averted if I had simply been as honest and forthright as you have always been. I am truly sorry, Zuko."
"I had… I had to…"
"You know I never meant to conquer Ba Sing Se?" Iroh said, his eyes boring into Zuko's, his words falling from his lips in the manner of all long-kept secrets. "I had hoped that after a futile two-year siege even my father would see the futility of the conflict and turn from the path of war. Then Lu Ten died, I lost myself to the madness, and when I truly came back to myself your father had already taken the throne and all my foolish plotting was undone. All those lives… gambled away for nothing."
"Uncle… why are you telling me this?" Zuko asked.
"…Why aren't you angry?" Iroh answered.
"I…" Zuko exhaled a long sighing breath, "I could never be truly angry at you, Uncle."
Iroh cocked a bushy eyebrow.
"Irritated, certainly, but… never really angry," Zuko admitted. "You are my uncle, and I love you. I just… I abandoned you!" Zuko said, snapping again and throwing his hands up in frustration. "I threw you in prison! How can you forgive me so easily?"
"Because you are my nephew, and I love you too," Iroh said quietly.
Both of them held there for a long moment, searching the other's face in mirrored surprise and curiosity.
"Huh," Zuko said with a quiet grunt. "That was a great deal easier than I thought it would be."
"I would normally say that you often overthink these things but… I admit that this was far easier than I thought it would be too," Iroh replied, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Shall we have some tea? I've an excellent Earth-Kingdom ginger you might like, and there are a great many, far less sentimental, matters that we ought to discuss, I think."
"Of course, Uncle."
Zuko moved to sit on the rug across from his uncle as Iroh rose to his feet, but both of them froze in mid-crouch at the sound of an exasperated tsk from behind one of the changing screens to Zuko's left.
"That's it?" a throaty woman's voice said from out sight. "You both simply decide that everything's alright… and then tea? No tears? No consoling embrace? Where's the emotion? Where's the drama?"
"Uncle…" Zuko said, hoping against hope that he had not correctly identified the voice, "who is that?"
"Now… nephew," Iroh began, wincing slightly, "you recall, just a moment ago, how you said you could never truly be angry at your poor old uncle?"
Zuko began to feel a vein throb in his head as his eye, now acclimated to the dim light of the single lit candle, began to really assess the interior of the tent. It was far larger than would be expected for a single occupant, there was a double-wide futon on his right, a far more ornate variety of rugs on floor than he had ever imagined his uncle would want to carry with him on a march, and… boxes.
A great many lacquered wooden boxes.
The kind of boxes meant for holding fans.
"Darling, the two of you are incorrigible!" Lady Xian exclaimed as she swanned out from behind the painted changing screen. Zuko marveled at the changes in her as well, her face unpainted, her hair out of the geisha's shimada and into a typical wide feminine Fire-Nation top-knot, with a flame-shaped pin. She was practically unrecognizable except for her voice and mannerisms. "Honestly, I'm not sure whether to blame your gender or your profession for this lack-luster performance. If the poets are ever going to dramatize this, they are going to have to take some heavy dramatic license."
"…I'm sorry?"
"Darling," Xian continued, gliding over to him and snapping open the fan in her hand as she spoke, "the return of the prodigal is a time-honored cliché in theater, and after you've won this silly little war of yours you know this moment will have to be immortalized. The Ikoma are going to have a field day."
"Uncle…" Zuko growled, "may I ask why the head of the Ba Sing Se intelligence community is here in your tent?"
"Now… nephew," Iroh said grinning sheepishly, "you know that I love you and that, as relatives who love one another, we should never be overly-"
"A Scorpion… Geisha!" Zuko roared, straightening up and taking a menacing step towards his uncle. "You- you-"
"I was never a geisha, Darling," Xian said idly, now examining her nails. "They don't have them in the Earth-Kingdom, you know."
"'Never go into the geisha tent,' you said," Zuko shouted, ignoring Xian in favor of berating his still sheepishly wincing uncle. "'It's bound to be full of Scorpion spies,' you said. 'Never trust a Scorpion Geisha,' you said! You- you- Sun-blinded old foo-"
"Alright!" Katara began as she stormed through the tent flap, "You two idiots are going to sit down and- uh…" she trailed away as she took in the scene and the unanticipated third occupant.
"Sifu Katara," Xian crooned, gliding forward and taking Katara's hands in her own. "So delightful of you to join us."
"Ah… I'm sorry, have we met?" Katara asked, her eyes darting between Xian and Zuko, totally caught off guard.
"No, but we have corresponded, darling. I believe I sent you a basket of citrus fruits."
"Basket of…" Katara gasped. "You're Zuko's boss!"
"Former boss," Zuko growled.
"Citrus fruits?" Iroh asked
"Yes, when we first started-" Katara gasped again, louder this time as her hands flew to her mouth. "You two got engaged!?"
"…Got… got what?" Zuko asked, dumbfounded. The hairpins in Xian and his uncle's topknots had seemed golden in color by the light of the candle, but now, in the moonlight through the still slightly open tent flap, they were revealed to be silver.
Silver betrothal combs.
"Now, Zuko, you know what Fire-Lord Tzu said, 'being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply-"
"You utterly ridiculous old man!" Zuko roared. "I am going to hang you by your toes over a-"
"Hey, can you keep in down in there?" June said as she forced her way into the tent past Katara and Xian. "People are starting to stare." She turned to Iroh. "You got my money, gramps?"
"June, sweetie, it's so nice to see you," Xian said swiveling in her direction. June tensed for a second before giving herself a shake and re-focusing on Iroh.
"Money?"
"Well… yes, of course," Iroh said placatingly, his eyes flitting between the bounty hunter and the not-a-geisha behind her. "But first, why don't you join us for some tea? I believe I have enough cups for all of-"
"Just pay me and I'll be out of your hair. What's left of it anyway."
"Oh… well… yes. Of course," Iroh said still somewhat worriedly glancing between Xian and June, the latter of which still pointedly looking at anything but the former. He eventually sighed and turned to begin sorting through the contents of a large trunk set against one of the walls of the tent.
An awkward, if somewhat confused, silence fell over the tent as he did so.
"So… how has your job been treating you?" Xian asked softly, her voice strangely pensive and very unlike anything Zuko had ever heard from her before.
"Fine," June answered tersely, not turning around to face her.
"I imagine that… hunting bounties… must be very… exciting?"
June only snorted at that.
"I suppose that…" Xian paused for a moment to consider, "in the course of your work… you must hear quite a bit about-"
"No."
"June dear, we both know that criminals talk. Surely that puts you in a fortuitously unique position to-"
"I do not know how many times I have to say this," June snapped, her back hunching in poorly suppressed irritation. "I. Am NOT. A SPY."
"Yes dear, but you could be. Honestly, it would be a great deal safer than just galivanting around the-"
"I like my job," June growled, her fists clenching as she pointedly did not turn around.
"Yes, of course, but you would basically be doing the exact same thing. And making a fair sight more than-"
"You got my money yet, old man?" June called.
"Just a moment," Iroh said, most of his torso now in the large chest.
The awkward silence returned for another long visit.
"… I just don't see the difference, dear." Xian said, again shooing the silence away. "I mean, if you're willing to transport messages…"
"Something I'm beginning to regret," June muttered.
"…then surely asking a few simple questions is not beyond the realm of possibilit-"
"You just DON'T get it!" June said, snapping again and finally rounding on Xian. "I like my job. I do NOT like yours. Why is this so difficult for you to understand?"
"I just… worry, dear. You know it would be much safer if you just-"
"If I just what?!" June said, forgetting her earlier comment and full-on shouting now. "If I spent my whole life hiding? Just tucked my chin, bowing and scraping for every idiot with delusions of grandeur? Just went all in and kept pretending to be harmless? Lying to myself and everyone else? That would KILL me! Just like it killed dad!"
"June!" Xian gasped, seeming, for possibly the first time ever, genuinely horrified.
"I won't live like that, mother," June continued as Katara's jaw dropped. "I will not allow your lies to kill me, just like it killed-" she was cut off abruptly as, faster than Zuko would have supposed possible, Xian's hand came up and slapped her daughter full across the face.
"Your father's death was a terrible accident," Xian said quietly, her face now showing real anger. "He knew full well who I was, and what I was about, and he married me anyway. But how can you think, for even one moment that, had someone killed him, I would not have discovered it? Discovered it, and gotten my vengeance."
June, her face remaining in the same place it had been slapped too, continued to look down and away and another silence blanketed the inside of Iroh's tent.
"We… should come back later," Zuko said quietly, edging towards the tent entrance.
"Shh," Katara said quietly, remaining in place but still looking as openly stunned as Zuko felt.
"Your father was taken from us by the wild capricious whims of the kami," Xian continued after a moment. "I might have had an easier time of it if there had been some guilty party, someone I could punish, some scheme I could unravel. But there was nothing, no plot, no scheme, no enemy, that took Zhen from us, June, I swear to you." She took a step forward and took June's hands in hers. "Your job is dangerous, and I just worry that you will die without reason too. A single misstep, a single foot wrong, a single random rampaging ostrich-horse in a crowded street… and you're gone too."
"I'd just as soon die honest," June said quietly, peering at her mother through the bangs that had come unsettled with the force of the slap.
"Yes, of course dear, you are right. You are your father's daughter after all, and he was never one for subterfuge. Which, honestly, is why I married him. I always knew he meant it when he said he loved me. I… am so sorry, dear."
And with that, and with the beginnings of tears in her eyes, she pulled June into a tight hug which despite everything that appeared to have happened between them, June gradually returned.
"We should come back later," Zuko repeated, now thoroughly embarrassed at what should have been a private display of familial affection.
"No, no, stay," Xian said, only partially avoiding an emotion-laden croak. "See, this is what familial reconciliation should be like. Tearful, but with a happy conclusion."
"Don't push it, mom," June said with a sigh.
-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω-
"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting," Sokka said, a bemused grin on his face as he and Zuko rode a pair of ostrich-horses at the head of the now westbound rebel legion.
To be fair, the events of the last week had not really been what anyone had been expecting.
That an army that no one could have anticipated had appeared on the very steps of Ba Sing Se was improbable, to say the least. Even more improbable was the fact that, no matter that it was numerically smaller than Zuko's force, it contained an unprecedented density of sword and bending masters of all nationalities that was more than capable of maintaining, and effectively prosecuting, a siege on the still damaged Ba Sing Se. Even more unlikely was the fact that the rebel forces were now accompanied by one of the most powerful and respected of the Earth-Lords. Already messenger hawks were flowing in and out of Zuko's camp from the varied Lords and Generals of the Earth-Kingdom and Zuko's hopes for the upcoming campaign had his spirits justly high.
Everyone seemed to have had their spirits raised remarkably
Zuko, having discovered that he had been forgiven by his uncle for any perceived transgressions, and had accordingly forgiven him for those few things that Iroh felt he had done wrong, had had yet another burden lifted from his shoulders.
Had she been the type of person to do such a thing Mai would have been nearly giddy with excitement after she gained access to Lady Xian's intelligence apparatus. The efficacy of their merged networks was much greater than the sum of their parts, and now both forces had a much greater understanding of the strategic picture which Zuko and his uncle had made great use of in their brief time strategizing together.
Aang, who was that kind of person, was practically alight with pleasure to discover that, not only was his oldest friend now coming with him, but there were a large number of people who not only supported him but had never stopped believing in him. He had been practically levitating in excitement, chatting animatedly with Lord Bumi and Ty Lee, as Zuko had ridden past him to the front of the column to begin the days march.
Zuko himself was not certain how he felt about this "Order of the White Lotus," but, as he had frequently said, every hand was necessary. If they wanted to save the honor of his people, and the lives of this entire continent, he was more than happy to work with them.
Finally, Katara had been rather smugly pleased to discover that her old waterbending teacher, Kakita Pakku, was attempting to woo her honored grandmother. While he had not yet been successful, Katara had said that, based on the contents of the letter her "gran-gran" had written, he was at least going about in a far more "respectful" manner than he might have done without her intervention.
This was actually what Sokka and Zuko were discussing in somewhat muted tones at the front of the marching column. The improbability, and the "icky-ness" as Sokka put it, of the old people they knew getting married.
But other than that "icky-ness" of Sokka's Zuko felt rather good about the future. They had a plan now, and even the paranoid part of Zuko was mildly calmed by the fact that it was not just his plan, but his Uncle's as well. Zuko would march back to the western ocean, gathering forces that would be summoned by Bumi and those that had already been summoned by Hakoda. They would liberate a few captured fortresses, proving their sincerity as they did so. They would fight whatever loyalist forces moved to intercept them wherever strategically and tactically viable and then eventually re-take Omashu. Xian's intelligence network said that a large contingent of airships were being assembled in a secret airbase just outside of the city. Once the city and those airships were theirs they would be well placed to counter, and eventually defeat, Zuko's father and bring this war to a final conclusion.
It was a good plan, with many redundancies and with room for adaptation. Even Zuko, who knew full well that no plan ever truly survived the first arrow, was beginning to feel cautiously optimistic about the future.
He really should have known better.
The idle banter regarding Sokka's grandmother and her dating life was shattered as the sensation of powerful firebending blossomed in Zuko's mind along the left side of the road the legion marched down.
"AMBUSH!" Zuko roared. Sokka managed to pull his sword as Zuko wheeled his ostrich-horse around and galloped part of the way down the line, shouting the whole way in the brief moment before the trap was sprung.
And then the first arrow was fired…
…and the plan disappeared in a concussive blast of fire.
A/N: Well well well, what have we here? Another update? In the same MONTH? Gasp!
Good evening my friends and welcome to the authors note of this, the 18th chapter, of my ongoing keyboard smashing extravaganza! Hope you enjoyed the preceding words and sentences and so on, as you generally all seem to do (for some odd reason.) Remember to comment kudos blah-blah-blah, you know the drill, if you're still reading it's because you want some a doze…
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META-BITS
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Purple Camo: Because why not? Hakoda's not an idiot, he gets the strategic concerns. Might as well go all in on supporting his daughter's boyfriend. I just like the idea of one of those big nasty battle-blimps in a goofy evening sky colored camouflage. But I admit, I'm weird like that.
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Vignettes: This is another of those chapters that darts around through times and space like a… thing… that darts. A dart-y thing. I'm running low on similes today apparently. Just try and pay attention to the time-stamp and remember that this chapter takes place over the span of 3 months. Hope that came across.
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The Lost: The thrilling conclusion to my own weird interpretation of how the Fire-Nation deals with its colonies and the earthbenders that may or may not inhabit them. The topic fascinates me slightly, and sets Zuko up for a much larger confrontation in whatever I replace "The Promise" with. Whether or not I write that far is a matter of some internal debate. (More like me begging pleading what have you with my muse to come back).
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Fire nation man was ALWAYS intended to be an Actual fire-nation citizen, but somewhere in the middle of book 4 I realized that he was ALSO Rin's brother. One of those weird, not actually a decision, things. But it does segue nicely into…
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Everyone is related: When you have a culture and a society that is stratified by a specific trait or ability the likelihood of people with that trait being related becomes much higher. Aristocracies intermarry and people of a certain class tend to know one another. And sometimes they date!
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But anyway, many of these revealed family relationships were a great deal of fun for me to keep in the back of my brain. Some of them, like the Mai&Jeong-Jeong thing came as a complete surprise. Mai was PISSED at Jeong-Jeong in this scene and I didn't realize why until much later. She's his grandfather's younger brother and his defection was a HUGE dishonor to her family. They are all ABOUT duty, and defection is about the worst thing you can do.
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Mr Beifong: As I go on, and think about this stuff far too much, the more and more Lao pisses me off. I love Toph to pieces and anyone who does her dirty is going to get the figurative uppercut from me. I don't know how you watch Toph beat the hell out of some dudes, by herself, and then insist that she need MORE protection. So I am pleased to give Toph a breaking point there with her dad. Maybe I could have gone the reconciliation route (I did that a lot in this chapter) but this felt right to me. Toph played it cool until Lao tried to use her mother's illness against her.
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That just about broke her heart. I think she realized that this is something he had been doing for her whole life. And honestly what's worse than using someone's affection for another to manipulate?
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Fuck that guy.
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Iroh, Grand Poohbah of the White Lotus: I managed to fit many of my concerns about Iroh's membership in the white lotus into Zuko's little brood-fest. It's got to come as a shock that the kooky old sage figure is the head of an organization that would have been your enemy only a few years ago. This is why Zuko is conflicted. He gets that his Uncle was on the RIGHT side, but it's somewhat dismaying to find out that he might not have been on HIS side the whole time.
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Tearful Reconciliation: This scene was hard for me to write. I expected it to go one way, which was the way that canon did it, but it simply refused to do so. Maybe because Zuko is older, maybe Iroh is less sure of himself, I don't know. They just both realized at pretty much the same time that they didn't want to be angry or sad or guilty at each other and so said "we good?" "yeah, we good."
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And then Lady Xian swanned in. And real drama ensues.
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Pakku, apparently a smooth operator: I'm sorry canon Avatar, you know I love you but that was some bullshit. Pakku, the man Kanna leaves for being too sexist, just shows up at the south pole and all of a sudden they get married? I mean I get that they're old and probably have no time to waste but… holy hell. I require a better explanation! I deserve a better explanation. So no, Pakku isn't Katara's gramp-gramp. He's trying, and maybe in a year or two of groveling Kanna will go on a DATE with him, but otherwise F' That.
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WARNING!: This chapter's cliffhanger is the beginning of the war. The for real war. I not at all subtly remind you here and now to check the chapter/author warnings, if you are on AO3. If you're a FFN person THIS is your early warning notification.
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This is a samurai epic.
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And in samurai epics… people die.
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/faint sound of the ominous bassoon of foreshadowing.
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Have a good one! Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll get a bunch of this done in my free time this week!
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NEXT TIME on a very special "Avatar: The Last Dragon"...
Zuko fights. People die. There is much ado.
TUNE IN. Some random Zuko time, but same Zuko channel!
Original post date: 24 Feb 2020
