AN: Did I say this would be up in 2 weeks... 2 months ago? Yes. And I'm sorry about that. Your patience is appreciated.
On the upside, I have 3 chapters done (because this Fire Break ch ran suuuper long). So promise this time chapter 8 will be up next week.
Disclaimer: It's that time again, I still don't own ATLA or any associated property.
Chapter 7: Fire Break (Part 1)
Zuko woke with the dawn to find the breakfast tray on his bedside table. He ate, dressed, and otherwise readied for his day, gathering the scrolls—read and unread—into his arms and went to begin his lessons. When he got to Lu Ten's wing, he passed a cranky-looking servant, carrying a basket with bedding, a breakfast tray, and a small ceramic jug in it. She paused briefly to offer him a perfunctory but proper bow.
Tentatively, not wanting to get snapped at, he asked. "Which room is the study?"
"He's not there yet, Prince Zuko, he's still in his room."
"Oh, thank you." She left and he realized he wasn't sure which room was Lu Ten's. He approached the door one down from the main suite. He knocked, and heard a loud groan followed by a quieter one that sounded pained. Zuko was about to open it to check when the door he wasn't standing infront of was pushed open.
"By the last dragon's flame," Despite the quiet, hoarse tone, frustration in the half-shout was obvious, "you are not going to confiscate—oh, morning, Zuko. Sorry, thought you were her coming back. Come in, I'll be ready in a second."
"Are you okay?" Zuko looked around the room unsure if he'd ever actually been in here before. The bed was already remade, the desk was covered and surrounded by piles of bound tomes. The room was dimmed with the curtains drawn but Zuko could still tell that there was far more decoration than there had been in even his childhood room. There was a carven vining floral—he thought jasmine—design on the headboard painted with gold; the motif was repeated burned into the side table and on the desk legs. Maps were pinned to the wall around the desk. The wall facing the window was hung with a military unit's banner, a large dragon tapestry, and a narrow tapestry in an Earth Kingdom applique style.
"Yeah just over did it last night," He walked over to the overburdened desk and put a few more papers into a bag. "It's been awhile since I drank, guess I'm not used to it anymore." Lu Ten looked up briefly at him, blinked, then added, "Did I give you all of those to read yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Sorry about that, I was a bit distracted at the time. Why didn't you come and complain?"
Zuko stood stunned for a moment. That had been an option? He'd never have imagined doing that. "Well the note did say some so not all of it's read," He glanced sideways at the piles of books. "What is all this?" He asked, hoping it was not lesson materials.
"They're the compiled military reports and council annals for the years since I left. I had the archives send them up yesterday. Don't worry, at most, I'll give you some of the recent annals to read down the line. Unless you're interested in any of the rest."
Zuko shook his head.
"Alright, let's go across the way." Zuko followed him over to the study, which as far as Zuko knew had always been arranged as a small classroom instead of an office. "So," Lu Ten started still in a low, parched voice, as he leaned against the larger desk, "what was the last thing you learned?"
"Uh," as he sat, Zuko realized he probably should have thought about this earlier, "Before I left I knew the nobles and council members, the various roles of the councils, the more recent military history, and was learning um… some tactics and more in-depth political theory. And over the last three years, Uncle had me read some philosophy but mostly he worked on my firebending."
"Ok," Zuko noted the slightly angry tone that tinted the word and dimmed as he continued, "well today we'll have you review the nobility and relearn the council members, as they've changed quite abit." And to Zuko's great surprise, Lu Ten drew out a short stack of papers from the bag, "These are the current council rosters. I'll start you learning these and who each person is, as well as their family and personal accomplishments. It'll be good review and scoping out what you forgot while taking in the new information."
Zuko took the proffered papers, internally groaning about having to learn not only the individuals but apparently their whole families. Why would that be so important? The pages were wrinkled and stained, some had a powdery residue on them. The handwriting was sloppy and the spelling seemed to be mostly guesses. "Where did you get these? Only one council meeting has occurred since we arrived." Which he only knew because Mai had mentioned it in passing, he wasn't even sure which council it had been.
"Well, they're certainly not my own observations then, are they. Where do you think I got them?"
Zuko bristled. How was he supposed to know? He was tired of people expecting him to be a mind reader and just know these things. Lu Ten didn't need to be snide about it. Although the question had been more gently prompting than taunt. "How should I know where you got it?!"
Lu Ten's eyes pinched shut, as though trying to fend off a headache, at the volume. Oh right, the hangover. "Try looking," he sighed.
Zuko glanced at the scrawled lists in his hand. "Well, it isn't from the archives."
Lu Ten laughed quietly, "No, the writer was certainly no scribe."
Zuko flipped through the papers with frustration and caught that they all had writing on the backs, in a different hand. Looking more closely, he saw they were recipes with parts scratched out or else entirely crossed out. And he also realized the powdery residue was flour. "You got this information from the kitchens?"
"Yep. Specifically, a server about to leave for the night." Zuko must have looked confused because he continued. "We'll go into this more later but, there are two sayings to always remember 'The walls have ears' and 'what you do not see can still see you'."
Great, more proverbs. Zuko groaned and threw himself backward onto the floor.
"The servants know everything," Lu Ten clarified, taking pity on him, and sounding somewhat amused at the dramatics.
"Everything?"
"What is the shift change schedule of city guards in Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring?"
To his own surprise, the answer was already on his tongue without even having to think too hard. "5, 1, 7, and midnight." The guards who didn't go straight home often waited for Pao's to open in the morning, they added to the lunch and dinner rushes, and the newer ones always tried to pick something up as they were cleaning up. He hadn't realized he had known that though.
"What's the best shopping street in the Upper Ring?"
Zuko was about to object that he wouldn't know that but the memories of ladies in the teashop prattling on about their shopping day out, the cloths and clothes, and trinkets. "Quan Yi Street. Ok, I get it."
"Good. It's a valuable thing to have an appreciation for. But, again, later; for now, the councils."
The proceeding hours were dull, going over the lists in an effort to rememorize them and learning the entire families of each member as well as notable points of their careers. It was tedious and incredibly frustrating. Lords Fan and Lon for example had lives so similar down to their shared father-in-law, and differed most in their stances on trade-goods pricing between the homeland and colonies, which made it very hard to keep them straight. He really didn't understand how all this was necessary. Who cared that a production minister and a finance minister were second cousins and their wives hated eachother? Apparently Lu Ten did; he cared enough to cram that and many other such tid-bits into Zuko's brain for hours on end. To top it all, Zuko was not at all pleased to recognize the names of everyone still on the war council.
Lunchtime arrived and he was released at last. "Do you have a firebending tutor assigned to you yet?"
"Uh… not that I know of." Was that why no one had brought it up, he just didn't have one yet?
"Alright, after lunch, come back and we'll cover some of those readings. If that changes by then, send me a note." No such reprieve came while he ate. Although the servant who brought the food also brought the message that dinner would be held together this evening.
The afternoon lesson was at least different than memorizing names and lineages, even if it was political philosophy. He did appreciate how it started with analytical questions rather than phrase meanings. Questions like 'How did Fire Sage Wei's view on Agni's relation to the Firelord and state differ from his student's?' and 'What was the role of the temple in politics during Wei's time?'. But inevitably they did have to move onto the actual philosophy described in the works. Zuko learned that 1) during the end of Firelord Suzumu's reign and most of Sozin's there was a minor but growing shift in thought that changed the Firelord from having a duty to represent the wishes of Agni—determined by the sages—to the Firelord's will representing that of Agni directly, 2) that this was responsible for the infallibility of the Firelord and essential for the beginning of the war, 3) that Lu Ten leaned toward Wei's view—well sort of. Zuko was confused by this, of course whatever Father decided was right, it was one of the fundamental rules of his life, so it only made sense that it continued into his father's role as Firelord.
"Do you think your father's every decision is divinely inspired? Mine's certainly weren't" The little voice that sounded like Azula wanted to point out that perhaps that's why Uncle wasn't Firelord, but Zuko refrained. "That's how it would have to work, anyone of the blood must have it. Unless it's conferred at the coronation, but that would still mean there would be no purpose in the advisory councils since whatever the Firelord originally thought would be correct, and I assure you that's not the case. Anyone in politics knows that's not how it works. But it's what people believe, and we have to take that into consideration, into how the royal family presents itself and how the Firelord presents his decisions."
"So how are things decided?"
"There's council discussion, then the Firelord either accepts their decision or does what he'd already planned to. Sometimes with reaction from the council."
"And that can't be said to be divine will or inspiration?"
"I wouldn't call ministers doing things behind the Firelord's back divine inspiration. Besides when was the last time you've heard anyone at court talk about Agni?" Truthfully, never. "It's just a justification of the Firelord's decision making power independent of the temple."
"So you don't believe in Agni?"
"Of course I do. I just don't think the Great Spirits are that active in our dealings." Lu Ten shrugged. "But it's not really about what I think, you need to come to your own conclusions about how you are going to approach decision-making with a council. Have you read Lord Maki's treatise yet?"
"Uh… I don't think so."
"How about Lord-General Soon?"
"Is that the one with the heavy fire metaphor?"
"Yes."
"Why is it laid so thick? It was like reading two documents at once."
"Yeah, well, I think he was writing two documents at once." Zuko gave him a weird incredulous look, Lu Ten shrugged. "The Unification was a weird time. And, I mean, did you try any of the moves?"
"No. Why would I, it was metaphor?"
Lu Ten shrugged again, "When I was younger, I'd try anything someone told me worked." Zuko recalled the stories over dinner in Ba Sing Se, and had since come to the conclusion that his cousin was either far too curious for his own good or had been surprisingly gullible. "But Soon's metaphor's do function as actual firebending instruction too. There are some pretty cool forms in there, and some interesting old bending theory."
"Ok…"
"Right. Back to the politics." Zuko half regretted that the conversation had gotten back on track. The next hour was dedicated to the role of the Firelord in maintaining the state's unity, and what was required of him to do that, from the perspective of a pro-unity former regional ruler.
"But there's not that sort of distinction between the islands anymore."
"Among the more central larger islands none at all, now, but some of the further islands still retain parts of their old governments—even if they are under the Firelord. Can't you think of any part of the Fire Nation this might be comparable to?"
"Uh?" What would 700-year-old political guides on unification apply to now? The islands had successfully unified centuries ago, even if some of the outlying ones have a governing system left because of communication lag. Further than those there was the colonies. Soon was talking about bringing independent states into a whole, that was roughly comparable to bringing new lands under a new dominion, he guessed. "…the colonies? But it's not really the same."
"True, there are further complications—a greater cultural difference and less bonding commonalities, for instance. After the Unification there would have been a similar post-war tension between parties, as now. But there's still applicability. Applicability is really all we can ask for with philosophy."
"Well that's helpful," Zuko muttered. All this political philosophy seemed only slightly clearer than Uncle's proverbs but in so many more words. He wondered if all those sayings counted as a philosophy. They were certainly vague and 'applicable'—whatever that really meant. Although they weren't very politic, maybe they were 'applicable' to other things. The philosophical foundation building continued for more hours, little of it was working through modern application, understanding the ideas and how it came from contemporary thought or events.
The sun was getting low when the grumpy woman from that morning reappeared at the study door. "The kitchens are preparing dinner. Let the poor boy go, Lu Ten, the two of you have been at it all day." She still sounded crabby even if the words were coming to his aid. Zuko had never heard a servant talk like that before. She was giving Lu Ten orders, scolding him even, and with no title or honorific. Something like that was unheard of in his home. No servant would have ordered Father, and after what happened to the maid who told Azula off at age nine, none ever did so to either of them. But Lu Ten seemed unfazed by this show of disrespect to his face, he just looked out the open door at the coloring sky—there was still something about the way Lu Ten looked at the sky that made Zuko uncomfortable.
Then he smiled, "Yeah, ok." He looked at Zuko, "Go on, you're free. Read Maki by tomorrow morning though."
That was it? Was he going to wait until Zuko was gone to punish the woman? Zuko looked to the woman, for some sign of her reaction, but the open doorway was empty and slow, calm footsteps could be heard on the floor boards. He looked back, Lu Ten was standing up, no particular expression on his face. Zuko was very confused, and hadn't even begun to gather the scrolls or leave.
"If you want to keep going til dinner we can," Lu Ten sounded amused, looked it too when Zuko's gaze focused. Oh right, he was just sitting there.
"No, I'm going. Have a good evening." Zuko hurried out, half convinced that if he stayed Lu Ten might actually continue teaching.
Lu Ten watched Zuko snap out of whatever mental daze he was in and rush on out. Hi-Hi was probably right, he'd over done it today. Although he didn't imagine he'd have the chance to do that for long once the kid restarted formal fire bending training, and he had a lot to catch him up on.
He sighed. There was so much Zuko needed to learn to fill in the gaps in his lessons.
His father had wanted to protect Zuko, and he understood that, oh he understood that desire all too well, but he'd sheltered him. Lu Ten understood that too, Zuko was young and reminded him of the recruits that would come into his units, he'd tried to protect them too; he'd quickly learned better as the sparing of those fresh faces only served to get them killed faster. He knew he didn't have the whole story with Zuko, probably never would unless he sat down and forced a very long discussion from him, but he'd heard enough to know he'd been through a lot, much more than he ever should have at his age. And knowing the little he did, he could understand the desire to keep Zuko away from Uncle Ozai for as long as possible, Lu Ten was happy enough to have kept a close position to look after him. But what had his father been thinking? That pulling an untrained heir whose status was still exile and hadn't had contact with the homeland for three or more years out from the Earth Kingdom would be taken well by ministers and councils? Had grief and sentimentality so dulled his father's already blunt political savvy?
He wanted to storm down and question the general's decisions like he used to when he reviewed battle plans or saw how many scrolls a servant had put on his desk to read. Even to write an impassioned letter sent on the hawkery's fastest bird. But he couldn't face him after their last interaction, couldn't go walking amongst those cells. The thought of the stone walls and narrow windows sent chills up is spine.
Hi-Hi had left for the day after her dinner announcement so someone else, a young member of the kitchen staff who he'd never seen before, brought dinner to his room.
The atmosphere of family dinner was less tense than two nights before. Just as silent but the air was far less confrontational.
"How does your training go, Azula?"
"Very well, Father, I shall be needing a new master soon. I've reached the limit of this one."
Father nodded. "And what of Lo and Li's instruction while you were on your mission? Have you continued with them since leaving them behind?"
"They were fine. No, I haven't gone back." Azula downright pouted.
"Then do so in the interim before a new master can be found, and continue afterward. They will challenge you, further improving your progress."
"Yes, Father."
"Zuko," Zuko stiffened his posture even more when attention turned to him, determined to live up to the welcome he'd gotten. "You will be having a test before the school of masters in two days to determine how your firebending has progressed or suffered, in order to determine who will be handling your training from now on. Prepare for it, I trust you have been practicing anyway."
Zuko swallowed his nerves as quietly as possible, he had not really been practicing, not forms anyway. Even before coming home, or the Earth Kingdom, he hadn't progressed far for all the practicing he'd done; Uncle had been so busy keeping him reviewing the basics. And no matter how well practiced, just past the basics wasn't going to impress anyone. There was that advanced move, but should he, it was an unknown and couldn't be shown without lightning.
Zuko nodded in acknowledgement of the news. He didn't trust his voice not to crack from nerves, it would show a lack of confidence and Azula would never let him live it down. Hopefully it came off as stoic and assured.
He got a satisfied nod in response. And the rest of dinner passed in silence again. Zuko's head was filled with what he needed to go over tonight and tomorrow—only two days to get ready from not truly practicing in months—and how he was going to get the materials to check forms.
The meal ended and they were dismissed. With them out in the hall the doors were shut behind them, Azula took the opportunity to breeze past him. "Bet you're regretting lazing about the last two days. From what I saw on the ship, everything needs work, and you've barely progressed since you left."
"I know advanced forms!"
"Have a good night, Zuzu." She didn't even look back to say it, just gave an exaggerated yawn and wiggled her fingers in a sort of wave over her shoulder as she moved down the hall.
"At least I don't have to study with Lo and Li." He muttered under his breath at her receding back. There was something just really creepy about those two.
Did the palace library have bending scrolls? He vaguely recalled scrolls being in the practice rooms, but there weren't normally many flammable things in there for obvious reasons. He'd check first and bring the couple he had, maybe even Soon's stupid metaphor-ridden treatise.
PS/AN: I know this didn't seem to have a lot happening, it had the misfortune of being the section that was mostly set up for what's coming up.
And for those that are interested, the /loose inspirations/ for Wei and Soon, are Augustine's "City of God" and Sun Tzu's "Art of War" with ALOT of world flavoring. Wei, meaning "exulted", was the closest synonymous name to Augustine I could find.