Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to RMS10, a great reader and friend from Discord. I hope this political chapter goes well with your coffee this morning, friend!
The morning of the independence referendum dawned with a clear sky. Crowds gathered in the main square of Yu Dao for a rally to get out the vote, just before the polls opened. Aang noticed Sokka and Suki speaking privately, their heads close together, but their manner not amorous in the least. Feeling his friend's eyes on him, Sokka looked up and waved him over.
"There are whispers of people gathering arms." The Water Tribe warrior told the airbender. "Getting ready to fight. If the election goes to the Independents, there could be violence."
Suki's solemn eyes pinned him in place as she shared her intelligence. "My sources say that the Earth Kingdom Loyalists are readying themselves for a fight, so that as soon as the Earth King declares war, they can take the colony cities back by force, if they lose the election."
"What if the other side loses? Will they instigate anything?" Aang wondered.
"I don't think so." Suki shook her head. "The Independents know they can't withstand the Earth Kingdom army, and they basically respect the election process. But the Loyalists think they might be fighting with that army at their back, and a lot of them think the whole referendum is a sham to begin with."
"So what should we do?"
"You need to go to Ba Sing Se, Aang." Sokka told him insistently. "Talk to Keui and make sure he doesn't start a war."
"It'll take a whole day to get there, if I fly Appa all night-"
"That's why you have to leave now," Sokka insisted. "You have to get there before the news of the results does."
Aang hesitated. "No, I can't. I have to talk to Katara first."
"There's no time-"
"There's got to be time. We'll make it up in the sky." Aang turned around and left before Sokka could protest anymore. He broke out into a run, leapt onto a bench and unfurled his glider, bending a wind to carry him up over the city rooftops.
He flew to the hospital, where he asked several people where his girlfriend was, urgently. He found her in the middle of a patient exam. Luckily the woman was clothed and they weren't in the middle of healing yet. He pulled her out of the room by the elbow.
"I have to leave for Ba Sing Se now, to make sure King Keui doesn't start a war when the election results come in. Do you want to come?"
Katara was stunned. It took her a couple more questions to grasp the situation as Sokka and Suki had told it to Aang, Then she shook her head slowly.
"If there's a chance of fighting here, I should stay. In case you can't convince Keui, or in case the Loyalists start something without his support. They'll need all the healers here in the hospital."
He nodded, looking into her troubled eyes. Aang knew his girlfriend was right, but the idea of leaving her behind in a city about to be overtaken with violence terrified him. He would have felt more secure with her by his side, but he just had to trust her skill in combat and ability to protect herself.
"Thank you for asking me. I love you." Katara said.
"I love you too. Stay safe." He pulled her into his arms and captured her lips in a searing kiss that he wouldn't allow himself to imagine might be their last.
Then he jumped out a window, unfolded his glider, turned east in the air and whistled for Appa. His bison overtook him in the sky, and they flew side by side for a minute, before Aang banked and took a seat on his friend's head. "I hope you're ready for a long flight, buddy." He told his furry companion. "We have to make it to Ba Sing Se before the votes are counted."
About 30 hours later, Aang landed Appa at the base of the huge staircase in front of the Earth King's palace. He recalled fighting his way up those stairs when he wanted to give the king news of the coming eclipse, and was grateful that wouldn't be necessary now. The guards accompanied him into King Keui's audience chamber.
"Are the election results in yet?" He questioned a guard, one he recognized from his visits and from the colony negotiations.
"We have had no word, Avatar Aang. It was only yesterday; messenger hawks aren't that fast."
Aang breathed a little easier, knowing that his detour to keep his promise to Katara hadn't kept him from beating the news. But Keui might still be on the verge of war. Maybe his armies were already at the borders. He was exactly on time.
The airbender felt tense as he tried to figure out what he would say to the monarch, what could convince him to keep the peace. It suddenly occurred to him that he might have flown into a trap. If there was a plan to start a war, it would benefit the Earth Kingdom to take the Avatar out of commission. He gripped his staff tightly.
They arrived at the Earth King's imposing throne room. More guards threw open the huge doors. Aang noted how many of them there were, wondered if they were all earthbenders, and calculated the distance to the windows, in case he had to make a quick escape.
"King Keui," Aang bowed formally.
"Well, Avatar Aang, what news do you bring?" The scholarly man sat on the edge of his throne, his pet bear beside him.
"The election in the colonies is over by now, but the results aren't in yet. I wanted to be here when you get the news."
"Why is that, Avatar?" The monarch asked suspiciously.
"Some of the colonials who are loyal to the Earth Kingdom are getting ready to fight, and I want to make sure that if they do, they won't be doing it with your support." He answered solemnly. "A small, unorganized resistance is bad enough, but a declaration of war would be catastrophic."
"You and your friend the Fire Lord just want me to sit back and take it while my continent gets carved up and handed to colonizers." Keui accused sullenly, slumping on his opulent seat. "Or at least, their descendants."
"Your continent was divided long before you were born, your majesty." Aang pointed out. "Those lands have not been under Earth Kingdom rule for years. They were lost decades ago by your grandfather and great grandfather. If the colonies decide on independence, you won't be losing a thing."
"My people don't see it that way." Keui looked down, chagrined. "They view me as a weak bumbler who let corrupt bureaucrats run the country for years while I holed myself up in a library. And then as a doormat who failed to seize this opportunity to retake the land that was rightfully ours."
"You can teach them how to see it." Aang replied gently, persuasively. He pushed back against Keui's faulty logic, as an example of how he could reeducate his people. "Am I weak because I didn't take revenge on the Fire Nation for massacring my people? Is Zuko weak because he chose to give up his claim on the colonies? Your masculinity and your strength as a leader do not depend on shows of force. True power comes from wisdom and acceptance of reality." In case his didactic message was a bitter pill to swallow, he sweetened it with some flattery. "You're a different person than you were when I first met you, King Keui. You've seen the world, you understand what life is like outside your palace walls, and you know how destructive war is. You've taken responsibility for ruling your country in a more hands-on way, and conditions in the Earth Kingdom have improved because of your decisions. You know better than to put your soldiers' lives on the line just for the sake of making yourself look tough."
Keui pouted. "Easy for you to say. You're the most powerful man alive, and Zuko is a master firebender who won his throne in single combat. You two don't have to do anything to win people's respect. You don't have anything to make up for."
The self-centered nature of this objection took Aang aback. It made him want to lecture the man on how he was still working to make amends for the century he'd allowed a war to rage, and how hard Zuko was trying to fix the mistakes of his predecessors. In comparison, Keui's support for the Dai Li had been nearly bloodless and inconsequential. And that was on top of the ridiculous assumption that respect could be won in battle. But he restrained himself, knowing that criticism was not likely to win him an argument against a royal with a sensitive ego.
"Look, Zuko's not going to fight." Aang laid his cards on the table. "He told me that if a new war begins, he'll help with humanitarian aid, and take in refugees, but his military won't get involved. If you declare war, your soldiers won't be fighting the Fire Nation, they'll be fighting some of their own people who just want to have the chance to govern themselves. If there's going to be large-scale armed combat now, you're the one who will start it, and I'm asking you not to. As the Avatar, as the guy who saved your kingdom from being burnt to a crisp, and as your friend, I'm asking you. If the people choose independence, please respect their wishes."
"When you put it that way, how can I refuse?" Keui sighed. "You just came from the colonies: do you think the Independents are going to win?"
"It will be a close election, but if I had to guess, yes."
"Then we will tolerate this final separation by mutual agreement from territory that was stolen long ago by Fire Lords Sozin and Azulon." The monarch stipulated, using petulant, argumentative language that Aang guessed would probably make it into the official statement. It might harden the resentments of the most fanatic Loyalists, but it wouldn't spur them to violence or raise any hopes that an organized army would support them.
"Thank you, King Keui." Aang finally breathed easier, and bowed to show his appreciation. "History will remember you as a peacemaker."
"I'm not so sure about that. My new nickname is Keui the Appeaser." The king grumbled.
Aang cringed. He didn't blame the monarch for reacting this way, under such pressure from his own people. He deserved some praise and ego stroking. "Years from now, when the entire world is prosperous because this peace has endured, your forbearance will make you one of the greatest leaders your country has known. Even greater than Guozhi." Aang knew a little sweet talk couldn't hurt, and might help Keui swallow this hard pill. Old King Guozhi the Builder was one of the ancestors Keui admired most. The Avatar watched the older man preen for a second under the complimentary comparison, then turned serious again. He needed a firm promise from the Earth King to support peace publicly. "Will you make a statement recognizing the new government?"
"Well, they won't truly have a new government yet, correct? Until yet another election?"
"It will be a provisional government until the next election." Aang nodded, glad to see that Keui had followed the news of the election at least this closely. "Basically the same people you and Zuko appointed at the end of the war. But if you would acknowledge the validity of the election results, as soon as possible, that would make a big difference. It might keep the Loyalists from starting riots."
"I understand. If I'm not going to start a war, if I'm going to be an appeaser or peacemaker, I might as well go all in. No point in peasants fighting in the streets if my army's not going to come in and back them up. I'll make a statement. When the official news comes in. It won't be enthusiastic, and it will cite the history, but it will discourage violence." The matter decided, the king turned from ruler to host. "You flew all night, didn't you? You must be starved." Keui clapped his hands, and ordered servants to bring food for the Avatar.
Aang considered asking the king to send his statement immediately, but he sensed that Keui had already given as much as he could reasonably ask. He tried not to think about Katara and his other friends trying to subdue rioters without escalating the violence, or getting held hostage in an attempted coup. They're capable fighters, and too smart to let anyone hurt them, he reminded himself. In coming here, he had done his job as Avatar to uphold peace in the long term, and he had to trust his friends to keep themselves safe, as they played their own parts in repairing the damages of the century-long war. That didn't mean it was easy to keep his mind from worrying about them.
Aang ate his fill, checked on the exhausted Appa, who was already asleep in the stable, and then retired gratefully to the room provided for him. He gave orders to wake him the moment the results came in, or if they heard any other word from Yu Dao, no matter the hour, then collapsed into bed.
When Aang returned to Yu Dao three days later, the city was still rejoicing. When the election results came in, independence had won with a clear, undisputable majority, thanks in part to the nonparticipation of Loyalists who did not trust the referendum process. When they heard the Avatar had left the city to make a personal appeal to the Earth King for peace, the Loyalist resistance had collapsed. A few skirmishes broke out, but the organized armed protests that Suki had heard rumors about never materialized. They had been merely the bluster of old men watching their dreams of the return of an ancient order collapse, unable to withstand the allure of something new.
Aang saw the celebrating crowds from Appa's back, and landed in the square in front of their apartment. His friends joined him immediately, surrounding him in the joyful jostling of a group hug. Within their arms, he reached for Katara, unable to resist kissing her with all of the relief of a returning soldier. The multitude around them cheered, the whole city applauding the Avatar's love as well as its own freedom. Truly, it was the dawning of a new age.
Author's Note: Please leave me a review!
Next chapter: the Gaang travels to Cranefish Town. Get ready for some Imbalance references and Legend of Korra setup!