A/N: Cindar asked about the lack of Fire Nation questions and the lack of questions about Chit Sang being in prison, so I'm going to work more on those two things in this chapter. Another thing, there are certain parts where I have made up things for/about the Fire Nation, just to help things go along and so that I don't spend 2 hours on one paragraph trying to make things fit.
- Disclaimer: If I owned the show or comic series, I wouldn't be writing this.
- Rated: T
- Warnings: Nothing that hasn't already been shown in the show or comic series.
- Written: No clue.
- Edited: 1/6/17
- Chapter 4:
* "Speaking"
* Thoughts
* Dreaming
* "Dream Speaking"
* Memories
* "Memory Speaking"
Later that night, after everyone had returned to the fire, Katara and Haru began to work on making everyone dinner.
"Hey, can we ask some more questions about the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked, looking to Chit Sang and Zuko. Katara looked up from the cooking pot for a moment, but said nothing and went back to stirring. Deciding on two things. One, it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn more about the Fire Nation. Two, she didn't want to upset Aang or get a lecture from her father at this moment.
"Go ahead." Chit Sang answered with a shrug as he looked to the teen.
"What's your food like?" He asked.
"Really, Sokka?" Katara asked and looked at her brother. "Out of everything you could have asked. You as about their food?"
"What?" Sokka said and raised his shoulders. "I'm a simple kind of person. We didn't really get to try out many Fire Nation foods while we were there." She sighed and shook her head at him. Hakoda smiled slightly. "And while I liked those fire flakes, they burned my mouth so bad I could still taste them two days later."
"We have a lot of spicy foods." Chit Sang answered. Everyone, with the exception of Toph, just gave him a look that said 'Of course the Fire Nation does.' Chit Sang ignored the looks. "Something that I'm pretty sure is a Fire Nation only food, is komodo rhino meat."
"I thought those were animals people ride." Sokka said as Katara handed him a bowl of rice. "Thanks." He said as he took it.
"They are." Zuko answered. "They're used for work and for food."
"What do with the meat?" Toph asked.
"It's mostly used in komodo sausages. But if the meat can't be stored or eaten right away, it's smoked or preserved with salt." He answered and looked at her.
"Here." Katara said as she handed Zuko and Toph bowls of rice.
"Thank you." Zuko said and took his bowl.
"Does it taste good?" Sokka asked.
"Depends on how it's cooked and what it's put into." Zuko answered with a shrug as he began to eat.
"I'd have to agree with that." Chit Sang said with a nod. "When I was a kid, my mom use to put the meat into soup. Now, it might have been because she was a terrible cook, but I never liked it. The sausages are all right… but it's not something I would choose to eat if there were other options."
"Over all," Zuko said. "Our foods are pretty simple as far as what's farmed in the Fire Nation. Like the Earth Kingdom, things actually grown or raised in the Fire Nation are simple to care for, basic and are quick to grow." He said and looked at the fire.
"I'm guessing that's because the Fire Nation likes efficency." Hakoda said, gaining a nod from the former prince.
"How many of the volcanos are still active?" Toph asked as she finished her food.
"Most of them are." Zuko answered and looked to her. "The volcanos are where we draw a lot of our power. So, even when one erupts, the power that comes from it can still help us in many ways."
"How can a volcano erupting, help you out?" Sokka asked. "I mean, a lot of your villages and cities are near volcanos right? Wouldn't you have to evacuate?" He asked and tilted his head slightly.
"Depends on how bad the eruption is, honestly. While most of what's coming out is molten rock, the fire element is still there. While we can't completely bend it away or stop it, we can slow it down. As long as it's not a large eruption, we can usually hold it off until it slows down and cools enough on it's own." Zuko answered and set his bowl in his lap. "As for how it helps us, the ash can help with farming, and when one erupts we then know which volcanoes might erupt again and which are still sleeping."
"Villages are usually not built too close to a volcano, active or sleeping." Chit Sang said. "The cities are mostly built from metal and rock. The villages, at least most of them, are not and would go up in flames in a matter of minutes."
"Couldn't you just bend the fire?" Sokka asked.
"No." Chit Sang and Zuko said at the same time, causing them to look at each other for a moment, before looking back to Sokka.
"Think of it this way." Zuko said and nodded to Katara. "Waterbenders can bend the water around them and if a giant wave came at a group of waterbenders, chances are they wouldn't be able to fully control it."
"It's worse for firebenders." Aang said and looked to Sokka. "Zuko's right. While using a giant wave as an example might not have been the best, it still made sense. Airbenders are really the only ones who don't have that bad of a weakness with our element. Our main issue is if there is no air, which is a hard situation to come by. When it comes to controlling the element you were born with, firebenders had the hardest time controlling it out of everyone. Me burning Katara and Zuko burning Toph are examples of this." He said and set his empty bowl down.
"I'd have to agree with that." Haru said, deciding to join the conversation. "As far as controlling the element goes, from easiest to hardest, it would go: Air, Earth, Water and then Fire."
"Why is that?" The Duke asked.
"Because fire is really easy to lose control of." Aang answered and looked at him. "Water can be easy to lose control of too, but you can usually hold your breath and bend it away, fire isn't like that. If you lose control of it and it surrounds you, you're probably getting burned… Or you can even kill yourself. That's why most of the Fire Nation buildings are made out of metal and rock."
"They won't catch fire." Haru said causing Aang to nod.
"I guess that makes sense." Sokka said with a nod.
"It was obvious to me while I was in prison, that most of the firebenders there didn't like the Fire Lord or even what's happened with this war." Suki said. "Do most of the Fire Nation citizens feel that way too?" She asked.
"Probably." Zuko answered with a nod. "There are many people who share the Fire Lord's ideals, mainly generals and people working in the military, but I've met many who don't. A lot of the students in schools definitely don't and many have been punished for breaking the strict rules or saying something against the war or the Fire Lord."
"Many small villages feel that way." Chit Sang announced, drawing everyone's attention. "Most of the small villages have little to no soldiers, so the people there can speak and act more freely."
Everyone was silent for a few minutes as they ate. Hakoda ended up being the one to break the silence.
"The most I have gone against during the war, has been ships." Hakoda said. "What is the rest of your military like?" He asked Chit Sang.
"You'd know more about that than I would." Chit Sang said and looked to Zuko.
"What part of the military do you want to know about?" Zuko asked. "There's the army, the navy, the air force, the Yuyan Archers and the Southern Raiders."
"Let's start with the navy." Hakoda answered.
Zuko nodded. "What makes up the The Fire Navy, is five fleets with ironclad cruisers that are powered by coal as basic units. They're usually commanded by admirals. Zhao was the overall commander, but he only commanded over a few ships and unless there was an order from the Fire Lord, the other ships did as the admirals wanted. The metal used to built the ships are refined as much as possible, to make sure earthbenders can't connect with the earth."
"Too bad I'm around now." Toph said with a smirk.
Zuko shook his head and smiled slightly for a moment, before continuing. "The Fire Navy is very organized and never goes into battle without a set plan, unless there is no time to create a plan that is. A lot of mercenaries are also hired to work on the ships. The Fire Navy is the only part of our military that does that."
"Why mercenaries?" Suki asked.
"If there's a sudden demand for ships, it leaves most of the ship's short-handed." He explained. "Mercenaries don't cost as much as the actual trained soldiers, are more easily gathered, and are expendable more so than the soldiers."
"What about the air force?" Sokka asked.
Zuko looked over to him. "It's made up of war balloons and airships. The war balloons can only hold a few firebenders, while the warships can easily carry hundreds of soldiers. There are usually platforms for firebenders to stand on when an attack is being made. On top of the firebenders, they often times carry bombs. When not being used for an attack, they sometimes bring supplies back and forth from the Fire Nation or colonies to the Fire Navy, it's faster and many of the airships and all of the war balloons can be powered by firebenders, so they don't have to carry coal." He answered.
"Who are the Yuyan Archers?" Haru asked.
Aang glanced at Haru for a moment, before looking back to Zuko. He never did tell Katara and Sokka about what happened when he went to look for those frozen frogs.
"I don't know a whole lot about them." Zuko admitted, sighing internally. He still hated how easily he'd been taken out by one archer. "But I do know that they are Colonel Shinu's archers. They're highly skilled and guard the Pohaui Stronghold. According to Zhao, they're skilled enough to pin a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away without killing it." He had to admit, that was probably true. The shot that one archer took at him, well most archers would have ended up hitting Aang instead.
"The army?" Katara asked, trying to not sound as annoyed as she was.
Zuko was silent for a moment, surprised that she'd actually asked him a question, but shrugged it off and answered. "The army has both firebenders and nonbenbers. The nonbender soldiers usually have things like spears, swords, and shields. The cavalry are the ones who ride the komodo rhinos. The army is also who uses the tanks. The tanks only have firebenders in them, are armored and have ports that let the crew to firebend out of. They can also shook giant grappling hooks."
"War prisoners are also sometimes dressed as soldiers and used." Chit Sang suddenly said.
"What?" Sokka said and looked to the firebender. "Why?"
"They're used as distractions." Zuko answered. "The idea behind it is, if they're used, there's a higher chance the soldiers won't be killed."
"That's terrible." Katara said in a low voice.
"I agree." Zuko said, causing Katara to glare at him. Zuko sighed and looked away from her.
"Who are the Southern Raiders?" Hakoda asked, even though he already had an idea who they were.
Zuko looked at him and was silent for a moment. Knowing what he did about their tribe, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea and not to tell them about the Raiders. He sighed and finally spoke. "The Southern Raiders are an elite force, that were given the job of raiding the Southern Water Tribe and the Southern Earth Kingdom. Their job was to kill all of the waterbenders in the Southern Tribe," From the corner of his eye, he could see Katara's hands clench into fists. "Steal supplies for the Fire Nation and devastate the coastlines of the South Sea."
Seeing Katara's reaction to the conversation, Suki decided to change it. "Hey, Chit Sang." Suki asked, causing the firebender to look at him. "How come you were at the Boiling Rock?" She asked.
"I got into a fight with some guy and ended up killing him." He answered simply.
"You… killed someone?" Sokka said and unknowingly got a little closer and in front of Suki.
"During the fight he knocked me down and tried stabbing me. I grabbed a rock and hit him with it." He explained. "I was just trying to get him away from me, but the hit killed him instead. I found out as I was being arrested, that he was a soldier that worked on Commander Zhao's ship."
"But you still killed someone." Katara said. She didn't trust this man to begin with, but now that she found out he killed someone, even if it was an accident like he said, it still made her want him gone even more. She definitely didn't want him sleeping near them or sparring with Aang.
"Yes." Chit Sang said with a nod.
"What was the fight about?" Aang asked, his face expressionless.
"He attacked my girlfriend." He answered.
"Didn't you leave her back at the Boiling Rock?" Sokka asked and tilted his head slightly.
"I didn't have much of a choice." Chit Sang answered and looked to him. "During the second escape, she was in one of the coolers."
"Why was your friend there?" Toph asked.
"Same reason I was. We were all together when the fight happened, so we were all arrested." He answered. He then looked to Zuko. "Hey, didn't you get into a fight with Zhao?" He asked.
"I've gotten into several fights with him." Zuko said.
"I meant the one that ended with an Agni Kai." He clarified.
Zuko was silent for a moment, before sighing and nodding. "Yes."
Chit Sang laughed slightly. "Heard you humiliated him in front of his men." Zuko only shrugged and said nothing. "Who challenged who?"
Zuko was silent for a moment. He really didn't want to talk about the Agni Kai with Zhao or about the man himself. "I challenged him." He answered.
"What lead up to that?" Was his next question.
He sighed and spoke. "It started out with him inviting Uncle and I for tea. Uncle accepted before I could refuse. While we were with him, he had his men interrogate my crew and he found out that I had the Avatar and he escaped. Our argument got worse from there and let's just say he said something that made me want to fight him more than I ever have." Zuko answered. "So I challenged him and we fought."
"Where'd you burn him?" Chit Sang asked.
"I didn't." He said and shook his head. "I already won. There wasn't a reason to burn him. I made him think I was going to, but I aimed my attack next to his head instead of at it and told him to not get in my way again."
"That was your second Agni Kai, right?" Chit Sang then asked, causing Zuko to stare at him. "What?" He asked after noticing the look he was getting from the other firebender.
"I don't care for talking about Agni Kais, or about Zhao." He answered in a low voice.
"It's something we should know about." Katara suddenly said, causing everyone to look at her.
"And why is that?" Zuko asked. He wasn't even trying to hide his annoyance at this point.
"Uhh… Guys…" Aang said and looked to his two teachers and friends.
"Because you want us to trust you. Well, if an Agni Kai is usually fought to the death, we know you didn't kill Zhao. What about your first Agni Kai?" She asked, her face hard. "Think about it, Zuko, we know basically nothing about you, expect that you're the son of the Fire Lord and have traveled the world hunting us."
"Katara…" Aang said, trying to get her attention. "I understand wanting to know more-"
"This isn't wanting to know more, Aang." Katara said and looked to him. "This is needed to know if he's ever killed someone and what it was about." Aang sighed and was about to speak again, when Katara looked back to Zuko. "Well?"
"It's got nothing to do with you, Katara. I've never killed anyone." Zuko said, narrowing his eyes at the waterbender before looking back to the fire. "Drop it."
"Katara." Aang said again, getting her attention. "Something you should know about an Agni Kai, at least before things were changed, is that it usually ends by the first person to get burned." He said quietly to her and then glanced at Zuko.
Katara looked at Aang for a moment, then looked back to Zuko. She knew his scar was from a burn, but she never found out what the burn was from. She always assumed it was from a training accident or something like that. She never thought it could have been from something like an Agni Kai. That still changed nothing at this moment though. Zuko was far too secretive for this group. If they are all to trust each other, they needed to know things about each other and no one, except for apparently Chit Sang, knew anything about him.
"Do you know what the Agni Kai was about?" She asked and looked to Chit Sang.
"Katara." Zuko almost growled and then looked to her. "It has nothing to do with you. Leave it alone." He said and then looked to Chit Sang. "Say anything and I'll show you how I beat Zhao." He threatened. He was doing his best to keep his anger in check, he had been since he joined the group, but Katara's pressing for information about him was really starting to get old. The fire in the middle of the group had already grown slightly since the beginning of this new conversation.
Chit Sang raised his hands in the air as a form of surrender and put them back down, saying nothing.
"So now you're threatening people?" Katara asked loudly. Hakoda was about to speak when Zuko did.
"You don't even trust him." Zuko pointed out. "Why would you care if I threaten him or not?" He said and crossed his arms slightly. "It's not like I threatened him out of nowhere. It's not like there wasn't a good reason to."
Katara faltered for a moment. "That doesn't matter. You still threatened someone. A threat is a threat. No matter what the reason is!" She raised her voice slightly.
"Katara." Hakoda said. "Enough. This is going nowhere except for into an argument."
"So you're taking his side?" She asked and looked to him. Hakoda sighed.
"I'm not taking anyone's side, Katara." He said and shook his head. "I've spoke with him about opening up to the rest of the group. But you can't force someone to do that."
"He's right, Katara." Aang said and looked at her. "Forcing people to open up, will only make them want to hide things more, which in turn will make you not want to even try and trust him and will make him not want to trust us."
"Aang,-" She started, but stopped when Zuko stood. She turned to look at him, her face still angry.
"Forget it, Aang." Zuko said and shook his head. "Just like she can't force me to tell her things I don't want to talk about, you can't stop her from acting like this. It's not worth the breath." He said and began to walk past them.
"Excuse me?" Katara said and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.
Aang winced slightly, knowing he was probably going to have to stop the waterbender vs firebender fight that was likely going to happen now that she touched him.
"Let. Go." Was all Zuko said. "I'm not going to tell you again." He said when she didn't let go of him. The calmness in his voice did scare Aang slightly, but he wasn't too worried about the firebender suddenly attacking. That is, unless Katara didn't let go of him.
"Katara, come on." Aang said and stood. "Fighting like this is pointless."
"It wouldn't be a fight, if he just answered the question." She said and looked to Aang, before quickly pulling her hand off Zuko's shoulder with a slight yelp.
"Katara?!" Aang said worried as he was at her side in an instant.
She was holding her hand to her chest. "I said. Let. Go." Zuko said and glanced back at her. "In case you didn't know, firebenders can control their body temperature."
"You burned my sister?!" Sokka yelled and instantly went to Katara's side as well.
"No." He said and shook his head, turning to look at them. "She was just surprised by the sudden change. She's fine. Had I intended to burn her, I would have done more than raise my body temperature. I just wanted her to let go." Aang got Katara's hand away from her, to prove what Zuko had just said. "She thought she was going to get burned, so she backed off." He said and then looked at Katara. "I've taught Aang this, now let me teach you. The best way to never get burned, is to make sure you give fire space."
"You-" Katara was cut off by Hakoda's hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him slightly and he only shook his head at her. His expression hard.
"Leave it be, Katara." He said. "No offense," He said and looked at Zuko then looked back to his daughter. "But Zuko's right in saying that fire needs space. One of two things will happen when you try and smother fire. It will either go out, or it will spread. Trying to force someone, a firebender at that, to tell you something they do not want to talk about, will result in one of those."
She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it and sighed as she looked away from her father and towards the fountain. When she looked back up, Zuko was gone and Aang was standing in front of her. "Don't say it." She said and crossed her arms slightly.
"I wasn't going to try and scold you or anything." Aang said and shook his head. "I just wanted to let you know, that I know exactly how you feel about this. I felt the same way when he first joined and first tried to join. I know what it's like to hate the Fire Nation. When I saw what they... What they did to my people..." He said and looked around at the temple, before looking back to her. "Hate was the only thing I could think of and that triggered my Avatar state. I could have killed both you and Sokka when that happened. You pulled me out of it, because while I was and still am sad about what happened, I knew it was pointless to hate. It's not what the monks taught me and by hating the people who had done that to my people, it was going against them and they would have been disappointed in me for it."
"Aang-" She began.
"No, Katara." Aang said and shook his head, cutting her off. "Leaving behind everything you've ever known, is hard. Everyone here has had to do it. We all come from different cultures and therefore have a different way of feeling about it. I've seen a few Agni Kai's back when I would visit the Fire Nation. If his scar is from an Agni Kai, it could have taken months to heal and he's lucky he still has his eye." Katara's shoulders slumped slightly as he spoke. "I can't imagine it was someone that wasn't of high power that he fought with. Members of the royal family don't usually get challenged, because they get training in firebending like no one else. Firebenders in the royal family, are often times the most powerful firebenders in the nation and sometimes in the world."
"Chit Sang." Hakoda said and looked to the other firebender. "I doubt you want to get into a physical or elemental fight with Zuko, but can you at least tell us what kind of person he fought?" He asked.
"Another member of the royal family." Chit Sang answered.
Hakoda sighed and looked to Katara. "Look, wait for him to calm down and then go and talk to him." He said. "No arguments. If you actually try to understand how he sees things, it could help get you the answers you want."
She sighed and nodded. "All right." She said.
"I doubt he's going to come back tonight, but tomorrow would be a good time to try and talk to him." He said and then looked over to Chit Sang. "On a different note, we should move the airship. That's easily seen from the sky and it doesn't exactly blend in with the rocks."
"Tonight?" Chit Sang asked.
"Yes. It will be much harder to see at night, so it's better to move it now while it's dark. It'll be harder to spot, should someone come this way." Hakoda answered. Chit Sang nodded and stood up, following the man to the airship so they could hide it.
A/N: Sorry if there were not enough questions about the Fire Nation in this. I'm thinking about wrapping this up within the next two or so chapters. This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but most of my stories are that way and I just write too much for it to be a one-shot. Anyway, sorry about errors and such. Sorry if things seem all over the place. Sometimes when I write, I don't exactly realize what I'm writing until much later.
OK, now I am caught up to where I left off on my other account, at least with this story. That being said, I am probably going to try and focus my attention on the last couple chapters of this story, since I had always intended to end it within the next chapter or three. If anyone is reading my other two stories, A Brother's Promise, while it does have somewhat of a plot now, is still mainly one-shots, so that is kinda my I don't have anything better to do story. The Count had a set plot right now and I will hopefully be getting back on that soon. I will also probably work on transferring the rest of my stories, as a couple of them are done and just needed editing. I will end up deleting that account once I have the rest of my stories on this one.