Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Danny, AKA TheCollector02 (on Discord) AKA TheCollector1204 (here on this website). Check out his story "When they realized it was love."
After bidding farewell to Zuko and Mai, Aang and his friends flew to Yu Dao, the oldest of the colony cities. He and Sokka were expected at the continuing colony negotiations, which were now focused on the administration of the independence referendum. The Fire Lord would not attend these meetings, as he had ceded his claim and meant to demonstrate his disengagement by pointedly stepping away from the former colony's debate about its future. The friends were welcomed with the usual public celebration, and given temporary use of a large apartment overlooking the city's main plaza.
Katara was immediately offered a position at a hospital, where she began recommending operational improvements. By now she had gained experience in different hospitals and clinics around the world, which gave her lots of ideas for how to run a clinic as efficiently and safely as possible. She also had ideas for studies and practices that would combine the healing traditions from around the world; the diversity of the hospital's staff stimulated her curiosity and fascinated her.
Suki found work on the city's police force, and taught chi blocking on the side to anyone who was interested.
Toph spent her afternoons in the public square, demonstrating her metalbending and subtly looking for earthbenders who might have the potential to learn her unique skill. Now that she was back in the Earth Kingdom, and the Victory Tour was basically concluded, she was starting to think about her next step. She still liked the idea of founding a school to teach metalbending, but a school needed students, and she had to find some.
Aang and Sokka attended endless meetings with colonial leaders, where it quickly became clear that the people felt they couldn't vote on whether or not they wanted their own government, without knowing what that new government might look like. So before they could set the matter before the people, they had to propose the form the new regime might take. But what kind of government would be best? The group ended up giving itself a crash course on political theories from around the world. The colonials all had ancestry from either the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation, and had only ever lived under monarchy, with royally appointed governors as administrators. The political philosophies of those two countries mostly dealt with justifications for absolute monarchy, and the strategies unscrupulous clansmen might use to gain more power for themselves under that system. Many of the colonial citizens wanted to present an alternative to monarchy in the ballot, since they didn't see much point in simply establishing a new royal family. After all, if the people wanted to live under a king, they simply could vote against independence and rejoin the Earth Kingdom. But they were curious about other options.
Luckily, Aang and Sokka were from cultures without kings. They were so young that they didn't have any direct experience in government, but Hakoda had talked for hours with his son during his visit to the Fire Nation, recommending books to explain why the Water Tribe's system of elected leadership worked as well as it did, and describing the policies that helped it to function. Aang was more at a loss; his people's texts had been destroyed, and he had not studied politics as a child. All he knew of his people's form of government was a kid's view of the harmony around him. He had a vague sense that his people had lived in an even more communal and democratic way than the Water Tribes, never wielding power punitively over each other. Resources and work duties were shared equitably.
The people of the colonies were a bit put off by Aang's attempts to describe his people's society. They seemed to think the Air Nomad way of life was too idealistic to work for a large population, especially such a diverse one. There would be too many factions and disagreements. As a group, they seemed to want to come up with a form of government that would force them to work together in coalitions despite their differences. Though Aang disagreed with a view of human nature as inherently antagonistic, and thought any group could get along cooperatively if they worked at it, he also knew it wasn't fair of him to impose his ideas on these people, especially since their own ideas of what they wanted seemed to be coming together. He contented himself with presenting his people's general values and principles, applying them to the concrete questions the committee was considering. Despite the cloudiness of his ideas about his people's governing philosophies, Aang felt sure he was speaking with their voice when he argued for dispersing power across as many people as possible, trusting even the lowliest ones to have a voice and use it well.
"How's the proposed constitution coming?" Katara asked her boyfriend and brother over dinner in their shared apartment.
"Painstakingly, but steadily." Aang answered. "Based on the amount of effort the colony leaders are putting into that document, it seems like they favor independence."
"Yeah, if they just wanted to be part of the Earth Kingdom, they wouldn't care what goes on the other part of the ballot." Sokka pointed out. "Since they're getting involved, it seems like they do want to govern themselves, instead of just letting Ba Sing Se tell them what to do."
"Of course they want that." Katara exclaimed, perplexed. "Who wouldn't want a say in their government? Honestly, living under a monarchy has never appealed to me."
"I mean, some monarchs are good, like Zuko and Keui," Toph put in. "But then you also have Ozai, and Azulon, and Sozin…."
"An elected leader could be bad, too." Sokka pointed out. "Like Crazy Chief Tokala." This demagogic Northern Water Tribe leader had led a disastrous attempted invasion of the Fire Nation over 400 years ago, only to be defeated by young queen Izumi.
"Sure. People make mistakes. As long as it's human beings casting ballots, you're going to have some of them make bad choices." Aang answered reasonably. "That's why you have to set up the government in a balanced and equitable way, so that no one nutjob can sink the whole ship. I don't think the constitution we're working on will be perfect, but I'm certainly glad that the colonial leaders are genuinely interested in trying to create a fair system, rather than in slapping something on the ballot so they can just pick subjection instead."
"Sounds like you aren't really neutral." Katara smirked.
"No, I guess we're not." Sokka admitted, glancing at Aang with a wry smile. "But we have to keep our private thoughts on the issue to ourselves at this stage."
The young men had a particular challenge feigning neutrality when the election rules were being written. The committee needed to set the rules for the administration of the referendum itself. They had to decide who could vote, and how, and where.
For one tumultuous day, debate raged about whether or not women should be allowed to vote. The outraged and insulted female representatives threatened to walk out, and their most conservative male counterpart invited them to leave. A shouting match ensued.
"Our girlfriends will murder us if we let them disenfranchise half the country." Sokka muttered to Aang.
The airbender nodded, his eyes wide in horror at the chauvinistic discussion going on around them. "Not just us, though. Katara, Suki, and Toph will lay waste to all these misogynists. And their enablers."
Aang stood and pleaded for the men of the committee to go home and talk to their wives, mothers, and daughters before they made a decision on the issue.
"Yeah, and if you don't listen to them, don't be surprised when a bunch of warrior women come in here and kick your asses." Sokka warned, crossing his arms. "In fact, I hope they do. That's the only way some men learn." Aang looked at him sharply. "What? I'm including myself in that number. I thank the spirits every day that Suki knocked some sense into my idiot head."
The following day, the chastened delegates voted 15 to 6 to allow all adults to vote in the upcoming election. Sokka and Aang slumped in their chairs in relief.
The committee finally settled on rules permitting everyone age 18 or older who had resided in the disputed territories for at least a year to vote. Then the group had to decide on procedures for administering the election, and Aang argued for making the process as inclusive and accessible as possible.
As recently arrived nonresidents, Aang and Sokka and their friends weren't eligible to vote, so they just tried to stay officially nonpartisan, especially in their efforts to administer the election itself. They did make a point of encouraging wide participation, though, organizing an information campaign to educate people about when and how to vote.
As the election approached, Yu Dao and the other colonial cities divided themselves into factions that grew to be called the Independents and the Loyalists. These parties did not split strictly on ethnic lines, but the majority of the Loyalists were from the Earth Kingdom, and the majority of the Fire Nation citizens were in favor of independence. The large group of people with mixed ancestry were the ones who would decide the election, and they were mostly undecided. Among these bicultural citizens, each individual seemed to have picked a side based on their personal experiences with people from the two nations, or their opinions of the group working to formulate the independence proposal.
As the day of the election approached, tension in the city increased. Partisan rhetoric became increasingly vitriolic, straining friendships and causing disagreements within families. Several tavern fistfights over politics spilled out into the streets and became all-out brawls. And a few of the most extreme leaders encouraged their followers to arm themselves, as rumors of war rumbled underground.
Author's Note: Please leave me a review!
Next week: Election day.