It was a crisp autumn morning in Ba Sing Se when a messenger hawk landed on the rooftop in front of Aang's meditation spot. It screamed at him, and Aang opened his eyes. "Hi," he said. "You have a message for me?" The bird hopped closer. Aang took the message out of its case, and preened the hawk's neckfeathers with a finger. Then he opened the message. His eyes widened.

"Monkeyfeathers!" He grabbed the bird before it could so much as squawk and sped back inside the house, calling "Katara, Toph, Iroh! Come quick, we've got to go back to the Fire Nation. Something awful's happened!"

Heading back to the Fire Nation proved more time-consuming and complicated than Aang had anticipated. They had to pack enough for the journey, and tell Kuei they were leaving, and Iroh had a bunch of instructions and information to leave with Bumi... it took hours.

While they were running around getting stuff ready, then twiddling their thumbs waiting for Iroh to get ready, more hawks arrived. Aang opened each message, he and Katara scanning it for details and reading it to Toph, as they tried to build a coherent picture of what was going on. It was kind of confusing.

"Aang, Katara, Toph,
you need to get back here right now. Admiral Qin just got declared Regent, but I know Zuko hates him and he'd never agree to that. Everyone's saying something about Zuko being attacked by Dai li and brainwashed, but I think that's got to be some sort of setup. Suki, the Kyoshi warriors and I have been arrested on suspicion of involvement, which is bull. If you get this I found a way to get the message to you despite being arrested. Go me.

Zuko fired Qin literally the afternoon before the whole thing exploded – Qin's that jerk from the Northern Air Temple who was blackmailing The Mechanist - and if anyone has attacked Zuko I'll bet it's him. The Earth King's got no reason to hurt Zuko. You've got to get back here, everything's falling apart.

Sokka"

"Avatar Aang,
if you value your friends Fire Lord Zuko, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and Captain Suki and her Kyoshi Warriors, food for Ba Sing Se, and peace between Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, I suggest that you return to the Fire Nation immediately.

Fire Lord Zuko has been attacked and allegedly brainwashed, ostensibly by Dai li agents of the Earth Kingdom. Suki and the Kyoshi warriors have been arrested on suspicion of involvement with the plot. Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe was arrested when he complained about their arrest. Admiral Qin is now Regent for Fire Lord Zuko. Zuko is unconscious, and so cannot make his wishes known.

No one is sure why the Fire Lord is unconscious. He has a lot of bruises, and some cuts and scrapes, but nothing that would cause unconsciousness. Qin may be to blame for Zuko's injuries. We have been unable to determine Zuko's mental state or fitness to rule. He was showing signs of mental illness and severe stress before this incident. Given his youth and the gravity of the political situation, many will demand the regency continue even if Zuko proves to be in his right mind and not brainwashed.

Over the past months, Qin has actively opposed Zuko's policies of providing food to Ba Sing Se and withdrawing troops from previously conquered areas. If Qin puts his own policy ideas into practice, they seem likely to restart the War. There are those in the Fire Nation who do not want war, and would like to get the Fire Lord out of Qin's hands.

Please return promptly to the Fire Nation, but do so with caution. The situation is complex, and Zuko or your other friends may be held hostage if you corner Qin. I do not wish to see them harmed.

A friend"

"Regent Qin of the Fire Nation to Avatar Aang,

Fire Lord Zuko has been attacked, injured, and brainwashed by agents of the Earth King. Given Fire Lord Zuko's current incapacity, Admiral Qin has been declared Regent of the Fire Nation. There are multiple eyewitnesses to the state the Fire Lord was found in, and we can show you the mindbending apparatus, earthbent chair, and stone cuffs found at the scene, as well as an autopsy on the now-deceased Dai li agent.

The Fire Nation takes severe offense at this flagrant act of war by the Earth Kingdom.

All agreements as regards supplying food to Ba Sing Se are now null and void. However, we will refrain from reclaiming land recently returned to the Earth Kingdom as a gesture of goodwill.

Copies of this message have also been sent to Earth King Kuei and the Council of Five."

There were other letters arriving, too. Most of them were unsigned, and they were left guessing who sent them. Katara thought one of them might be from Mai, the one from Ty Lee was obvious, and Iroh might know who some of the others were, but... it was confusing.

Somewhat surprisingly, they actually managed to talk to Kuei directly that very morning. Such a change from the time when the Dai li had given them the runaround for weeks on end. Aang was glad, since they didn't have time for that kind of stupidity.

"Did you order this?" asked Iroh.

"What?" said Kuei. "No! I would never." He looked quite upset at the idea.

Toph nodded, and Iroh relaxed, some of the tension in his face easing.

"I didn't think you did," said Katara, "but is there a possibility that any of the remaining Dai li went rogue?"

"About a third of the Dai li are still at large," said Iroh. "Neither I nor anyone else has any idea where they are, or what they're up to."

"So there could well be Dai li involved," said Aang.

"I don't think all of Azula's little group of Dai li were ever found," said Katara. "If one of them were working with Admiral Qin, that would make a lot of sense."

"Why would the Dai li want to put this Admiral Qin in power?" asked Kuei. "Could it be Princess Azula? That girl is rather alarming."

"That's a good question," said Iroh. "Though I doubt my niece was involved. Zuko tells me she's had a psychotic break and has been moved to an insane asylum."

"Zuko was trying to get the Dai li sent to the Earth Kingdom in chains," offered Katara. "So they could be under threat of exposure by Qin. I wouldn't put anything past Azula normally, but I suspect this wasn't her."

"If Qin caught a Dai li agent, he could beat them up until they did as he ordered," said Toph.

"Or the whole thing could be a frame to get my nephew out of power," said Iroh, "with no actual Dai li involvement at all. Some of the letters suggest that."

"This is too confusing. We're going to have to go there and find out," said Aang.

"What do I do?" said Kuei, frowning uneasily. "I don't like this. You impressed upon me very firmly that Ba Sing Se was facing riots if we mishandled the food situation. If there's no food coming..."

"What I said stands," said Iroh. "But this problem cannot be solved from Ba Sing Se. What you can do is tell everyone we're on our way to deal with this right now, and that it should get fixed shortly." He smiled. "Given that the Avatar and his friends took down Fire Lord Ozai, Azula, and the airship fleet, I think we can handle one non-bending Admiral with delusions of grandeur."

"Yeah, we're not leaving Sparky in Qin's hands, we're not letting him stop food shipments, and we're not letting him invade anyone." Toph stomped the shining stone floor for emphasis, but refrained from bending anything. "Leave Qin to us."

"We beat him at the Northern Air Temple, and we can do it again now," said Katara. "And if Zuko has been mindbent, I can probably help him. I helped Jet."

Kuei looked relieved. "I do hope so. For your friend's sake as well as that of my own people." His smile turned sad. "I found out the hard way what it is to have an untrustworthy regent. At least I was a full adult and could fire him when I finally figured out how awful he was. How old is your friend?"

"He's 16," said Aang.

Kuei winced.

"He's almost 17 now," Iroh added. "Adulthood for most things in the Fire Nation is 17, but positions of power are usually not taken on until 20. There have been regencies until the latter age in the past, but there have also been Fire Lords as young as 16 who ruled independently. I believe Qin will most likely try to hold on until Zuko is 20, unless he can be forced out before then."

Kuei sighed. "Perhaps I have been remiss in keeping you away from your homeland so long. Your nephew probably does need a regent, but I don't like the sound of this Qin fellow at all. I would much prefer to see you as Regent."

"I think the Council of Five might beg to differ there, but I will not leave the Fire Nation, or my nephew, in the hands of anyone who will restart the War or shut down all food shipments to Ba Sing Se. Not if it is in my power to do otherwise."

"Thank you." Kuei pushed his glasses up his nose. "I always forget that you were the Dragon of the West. You make it so easy."

"I try," said Iroh, wearing a wry smile. "I wish I could forget."

They bid each other farewell, and were soon aboard the bison, heading east.

Notes: Age of majority in the Fire Nation is never stated anywhere I can find. A fair number of cultures have the legal age for various things being different depending on the thing. For example, in Utah you can vote at 18, but you need to be 21 to drink alcohol. I looked into age of majority in China and Japan. Couldn't find much on China, but I found a bit on coming-of-age ceremonies in Japan. They were a bit of a moveable feast and could be held anywhere from 13 to 20 years of age, with the age tending to move upwards in times of war. They fell out of fashion during the Meiji era, but have had a bit of a comeback in modern Japan. I headcanon the Fire Nation as having had something similar, but it falling out of fashion during the Hundred Year War, being replaced with graduation from school and conscription at age 16 for military service, deployment into combat zones forbidden until the age of 17, and higher ranks of officerdom being normally 20 or older. Azula and Zuko's activities can be explained by Ozai being an abusive parent with the power to get away with it. Roman minimum age requirements tended to get waived for the children of the Emperor, so I think this is believable. I don't think Mai and Ty Lee were ever in the military, even if they were doing special ops in practice alongside Azula. All the uniformed Fire Nation soldiers you see in the series look like adults, and when the Gaang steals uniforms, they're always too big for them. Incidentally, I also see 17 as the minimum age for marriage with parental permission, and 20 as the age without it. Which could be awkward for Zuko if he wants to get married before 20. Can you imagine him trying to ask Ozai for permission to get married?