I hope you all are enjoying these frequent updates as much as I do .

:)

Sorry but we won't be getting back to Kazumi for this chapter ,since I wanted to do another Fire Nation fam chapter but I do promise that the next chapter we will be getting back to Azula and Kazumi.

Big thanks to HammerTide for beta reading this chapter !

With that said , let's get it started !


In the wake of the assassination attempt on not just the Fire Lord but also his girlfriend the situation in the palace was...tense to say the least.

Granted considering people were still trying to kill him that was to be expected. The palace was still under high alert for the past few days to investigate the matter and try to figure out who was behind the attack and who the assassins were.

Zuko had ordered his captains to figure it out as soon as possible. Not even two days later, they had come back with the identities of the assassins who had tried to kill him and Mai.

They were all from various backgrounds and social classes- some of them were former soldiers who had been forced to retire following the end of the war, others were regular common folk like farmers and blacksmiths ... and one of them was even the son of a low ranking noble.

It was like the entire Fire Nation was after his neck ... well in all fairness it wasn't like he hadn't experienced such a thing before back when he was working with Aang and the others to take down his father.

Suki had taken a leave of absence to return the body of the fallen Kyoshi Warrior , Sakura back to the island . She was accompanied by both Ty Lee and some of the other Kyoshi Warriors who wished to attend the funeral of their dead friend. Suki had actually been reluctant to take anyone else with her , but after Zuko practically ordered her to take the rest of the Warriors with her , she had no choice.

Because Zuko knew that she definitely wouldn't want to be alone during a time like this. And she said she would be back as soon as she could.

So that just left Zuko , Mai , his mother and her family at the palace ...along with a few dozen extra guards stationed there.

After Suki had taken the majority of the Kyoshi Warriors with her , he felt the need to double the guard for the time being. Though he could understand that he couldn't keep this up for long with how the large number of guards uneased his mother and Kiyi .

And yet ...even with all these things happening , he still cannot escape the torments of paperwork.

Zuko resisted the urge to face plant into the stack of papers from both how bored and tired he was of it at this point. He even had a meeting after this with his ministers about something or another...

Thankfully right as he was in the middle of deciding between setting his papers on fire or starting on them , Mai stepped into the room carrying a tray of tea.

" Long day ? " Mai said as she put the tea tray down.

" You have no idea ..." Zuko groaned as he went through another paper " And I have another meeting after this ..."

" Hang in there Zuko ..." Mai comfortingly said pouring him a cup and patting him on the back " This is just the responsibility of becoming Fire Lord is "

" I know that ... but I didn't think it was going to be this much " Zuko wasn't an idiot . He knew even back then that the roles of the Fire Lord were large and vast to deal with ...but he didn't know the amount was going to be that large and vast.

" Look on the bright side , at least you've managed to stay out of war ...for the most part " Mai said amusingly.

" Please don't remind me " Zuko leaned back in his chair , he did almost foolishly went to war for Yu Dao not too long ago.

" In any case if you need anything just let me know ..." Mai gave him a kiss as she left the room.

Zuko drank his tea wholeheartedly , it wasn't nearly as good as what Uncle made ...but he could tell that Mai poured her heart into it.

He was glad at least ...that Mai would have his back.

Now if only she could help him deal with paperwork and annoying ministers than they would be all set to get married .

He looked at the clock and saw that he only had a few hours before his meeting ...he might as well try to get through some of this paperwork. He wants to get through at least half of it.

...By the time , the meeting rolled around he had barely just managed to get through a quarter of it . But its the effort that counts !


Zuko would and always will be exhausted whenever he had a meeting with his ministers. That was something he would never say out loud of course because Uncle had said that they were vital for keeping the nation running. But he would always come out of the meetings both bored or annoyed depending on how talkative his ministers were feeling that day.

He just hoped this meeting would be somewhat useful and not something he could complain to Mai later.

" So what is it you all wish to speak to me about ? " Zuko spoke in the best professional tone he had. But even he noticed the touch of irritation it had in it, still hung up about the assassination attempt just a few days prior.

" Uh if you would like my lord we can reschedule this and ..."

" Just get it over with please ..." Zuko interrupted , genuinely just wanting to get this over with.

" Very well then my lord ..." Minister Feng said but it had a tone to it " Like I told you in the previous meeting, merchants have increased the price of produce they buy from farmers and reselling them to the people and soldiers . Like I warned you sir , due to the rising cost of produce we may be facing a serious problem in the future my lord such as famine and poverty "

Famine ? Poverty ?

" Why didn't you tell me about this sooner ?" Zuko said with a glare but Feng held his ground.

" I tried my lord ...but you told me that since my sector was still operating at good capacity at the time that there wasn't nothing to worry about ..." Feng said with defensiveness and irritation in his tone " But now that it is a problem , I need my lord's approval on how to go about fixing this ..."

The way Minister Feng looked at him ...was akin to an adult looking at a child who didn't know better . And it pissed Zuko off.

Before he could even say anything about it , another of his ministers spoke up " And that is not all my liege ..." Jiang said " With the increase in taxes due to you wanting to pay reparation money to the other nations , we will have a serious problem funding social programs in the education sector "

The education minister , Ming , looked at him pleadingly . Her own sector hasn't been doing too well since the end of the war .

" Yes , my lord ... I'm afraid that as it is , we cannot afford to hire proper instructors and pay teachers a living wage in public schools " Ming said sadly.

Zuko was close to tearing his hair out at this point.

" My lord ... not to speak out of turn , but I think what everyone here is trying to say is that the Fire Nation's economy as it is cannot keep up with paying reparation money to the other nations and support its own citizens " Jian spoke up again , this time even more serious " We must either reduce the amount of reparation money we are paying to the other nations or cut it off entirely-"

" ENOUGH ! " Zuko suddenly shouted , making all of his ministers go quiet .

Zuko took a deep breath to steady himself , trying not to look like an idiot " The Fire Nation was doomed for an economic downturn sooner or later , regardless whether we won the war or not " Zuko said calming down " And we owe it to the other nations for the century of war we wrought on their countries . If we were to suddenly stop paying reparations , we would only incite the other nation's anger as a whole and possibly reignite the war entirely ! "

" ...But my liege , surely with the unification of nations in Yu Dao , the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes can be understanding towards our own situation " Advisor Jiang spoke , this time looking at him as if he were a child that doesn't understand how badly he's fucking everything up .

" Are you questioning my decision Advisor Jiang ? " Zuko said , his voice had an undertone of anger .

" I am merely advising my lord ..." Jiang settled back down into his seat , but there was a hint of mockery in it .

" This meeting is over " Zuko said with finality .

All his advisors and ministers took the hint and left quickly , leaving Zuko alone to his own thoughts ...

Goddamn ...what I am doing to my nation ? I want to make up for what the Fire Nation did to the other nations but ...

Zuko was so frustrated and confused .

Maybe he needs to pay another visit to his father again.


The walk to the prison felt longer this time around. Or maybe his movements were just slower for some reason. He had been very tired when he left the meeting and walking all the way to the prison just added to that. He pondered getting a palanquin to the prison but that felt both unnecessary and would probably just make the servants think he was lazy.

Entering the prison , he got the usual nods and bows of respect from the guards there. It didn't feel right for some reason when he got them however ...as if they weren't actually meaningful or real in any way and were just a gesture of professionalism.

He didn't want to think about it but he knew ...that not even the guards in this prison respected him.

It didn't take him long to reach his father's cell and opened the door , to find his father leaning up against the stone wall like usual.

" Ah , so he returns once again ..." Ozai said amusingly " No tea this time ? "

" No ..." Zuko said as he sat down opposite his father.

" And what troubles you this time Fire Lord ? " Ozai says more tired than mocking.

Zuko considers his words before speaking " ... There was an assassination attempt a few days back "

" Oh ? "

" The assassins tried to kill me and Mai ... in the dead of night " Zuko explained

" At least you finally understand the pain of being Fire Lord ..." Ozai mused " Don't be so glum , I had to deal with even worse assassinations back then. One of your grandfather's old supporters even tried to kill me by sending a concubine to try and kill me ... not even the worse attempt on my life by far "

Zuko felt it prudent not to ask about that . He did not want to hear about his father's sex life.

" The worse part is we're not even sure they're loyalists to you or ..."

" You make the very bad assumption that people want you dead solely because they worship me ..." Ozai interrupted " Did you ever consider that there are simply some men who hates you for how you are ruling our nation ..."

Zuko couldn't help but feel defensive there " I brought the war to an end . I stopped the meaningless bloodshed our nation has caused for over a Hundred Years-"

" You betrayed your nation because you couldn't stomach the work we did ...and because my dear brother poisoned you with his inane ramble about peace and fairness , as if HE knows anything about that ..." Ozai practically spat out " You turned your back on your nation and made us LOSE the war ..."

" You have not done a single thing to earn the people's respect , unlike your sister who has always served her nation to the best of her ability... and you wonder why people don't like you ? "

" Azula was a prodigy and you know it ...of course she was going to be better than me ... but at least I'm trying " Zuko defended.

Ozai was silent for a moment . As if he was contemplating what to say next.

" ...Do you remember that time when I said that Azula was born lucky ...and that you were lucky to be born Zuko ? " Ozai suddenly spoke again.

" How could I forget ? " Zuko said ruefully.

" Well ... it has come to my attention that I was COMPLETELY wrong about that ..." Ozai said calmly and coldly " I was totally mistaken when I said that ..."

Zuko looked at his father in surprise but from the look of anger on his face he knew that something else was coming.

" My mistake Zuko ... was saying that it was a matter of something as silly as LUCK that sets you apart from Azula ... " Ozai said harshly " While you were busy playing with turtleducks and not taking your position of Prince seriously , Azula was the one who was always practicing her firebending , studying war tactics and history , expanding her knowledge and connections , never settling or stopping for complacency ..."

" Azula got to where she is because of hard work , determination and a ruthless attitude ... while you are complacent , naive and foolish " Ozai spoke matter of factly " If you want to use something as stupid as luck as an excuse for why you are still failing then be my guest ..."

Zuko bit his tongue , the anger in him building up...

" Even now you are the same foolish boy who ran his mouth off at a war meeting he wasn't even supposed to be in-"

" SHUT UP ! "

Zuko shouted standing up , not even realizing he had summoned a ball of fire. Ozai didn't even looked fazed.

" If that's your best attempt at scaring me , than you need to try harder ..." Ozai said boredly " Actually try harder at everything and you might just survive"

Zuko turned on his heel . He was done here.

He slammed the door and left Ozai alone. Though if he turned he might have seen the disappointed look in his father's eyes .

Like always ...


Zuko was still stoking the fires of his anger even hours after his little visit to his father. He hated his father , he hated him for all the things he did and mother ... and yet he kept going back .

And was he right ? Sure , maybe back then he didn't take his bending practice as serious as Azula did and maybe he didn't quite get war tactics as much as she did but ...but ...

Zuko slumped in his seat ...he just wasn't sure anymore and today had been hectic enough.

He closed his eyes to try and block out everything ...up until he heard someone enter his room.

Zuko was ready to boot this person out of there" I thought I said I didn't want to be disturb-"

" Zuko , the trackers you sent after Azula ...they've returned "

Zuko's eyes flashed open and he turned to see Mai standing there with her usual neutral expression but there was a hint of something else in there.

" Wh-What ? Really ? Where are they ? " Zuko was caught off guard by this , he hadn't expected the very trackers he sent after Azula to suddenly return to the palace .

" The captain is waiting in your office , come on " Mai's voice held a sense of urgency and Zuko didn't waste a second following her.

By the time they reached his office and entered , Zuko saw that his mother and Captain Shin standing there with a troubled look on his face.

" Mother ? What are you-"

" I was with Mai when I heard about it so I followed ..." Ursa said and it was clear that she wasn't going to leave.

" I see ..." Zuko understood his mother and he turned back to his captain " Captain Shin , why have you returned so suddenly ? Could you not have simply sent a messenger hawk ? "

" I would have ...if I was able to at the time ..." Shin said gravely.

" Well what happened then ? Did you find Azula ? "

" No my lady , we did not find Princess Azula ... but we did find something else " Shin said , almost scared " Or I suppose it would be more accurate to say something found us ..."

" Found you ? " Zuko raised an eyebrow.

" ... Like I said in my reports my lord , that we have been facing some difficulties these past few months we have been searching the Forgetful Valley for Princess Azula ..."

" Yeah , you said something about animals attacking you and stuff like that right ? " Zuko asked .

Shin nodded his head " Yes ...but just a couple days ago we encountered something ...unlike nothing we have ever seen before "

" W-What ...did you find ? " Ursa said worriedly.

" ... We encountered some kind of strange ...woman in the forest ..."

" A woman ? " Mai said confused.

" Well ... she wasn't an actual woman...or human I think ... she was extremely beautiful and she was dressed in some kind of white dress kimono ... but at the same time she didn't feel human " Shin explained with a look of fear

" Feel human ? " His mother interjected "What do you mean by that ? "

" Like ...it was this weird presence around her , I couldn't shake this feeling of dread in my stomach ... she was extremely beautiful yes ... but at the same time I felt as though I was being stared down by a predator ...or a monster " Shin said gravely " A horrifically beautiful monster ..."

A monster ...

" Well , what happened ? " Mai got back on track , trying not to seem unnerved by this.

" She approached us when this strange fog rolled in ...and after saying some strange things ... she suddenly attacked us with these ...white flames of hers ... and we all saw her ... with these flaming white wings and blood was coming out of her eyes and mouth and let out this horrifying wail , Agni above-"

" Captain ! " Zuko shouted , trying to get his man to calm down " Please take a seat if this is too much for you ..."

" No ... I think I'm okay now ..." Shin said taking a few deep breaths " After that we fled the camp and I passed out , when I came to my men were said they had taken care of me and had decided to return to the capital . We were already halfway here so I decided to come here myself to make my report "

" Understood Captain , thank you ..." Zuko nodded in gratitude.

" Getting back on topic ..." Mai spoke up " Flaming white wings ... white flames ... blood coming from her eyes and mouth ...this woman definitely isn't human ..."

Zuko thought about it for a moment " Could it be possible that she's a spirit of some kind ? "

" Probably ... she didn't seem human to me " Shin said .

" That ...might actually be the case " Ursa spoke up " The Forgetful Valley is ...known for people going in to end their lives ...it wouldn't be so much of a stretch to think there would be more than a few spirits lingering there ..."

" That ...isn't the only thing , I'm afraid Lady Ursa ..." Shin spoke again , but this time his tone was sympathetic " When we ...encountered this ... Fire Lady ...she said some very strange things ..."

" W-W-What do you mean ? " Ursa said fearfully.

" ...When she asked what we were doing here , I vaguely said we were looking for a young girl who had fled into the forest ..." Shin said slowly " And she laughed at us ... and said that it was funny ... that her family actually pretends to care about her "

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...

A few minutes pass in silence at Shin's words ... but they all understood the implication.

Whoever this 'Fire Lady' is ...she's met Azula before ...and Agni knows what she's done with her.

" So... Azula might damn well be in the captivity of some murder psycho spirit ...or she could be-"

" O-Oh my ... Azula ..." Ursa chocked on a sob as she suddenly started crying. Not even knowing what could be happening to her daughter both terrified and saddened her greatly. Because she couldn't even be there for her.

Like always.

" Mother !" Zuko embraced his mother and held her as she cried. Mai looking on sympathetically.

Zuko turned back to his captain " Captain ...are you fit to return to this assignment ? "

" After a few days rest I will ... I've come this far and I'm not gonna let some spirit bitch scare me " Shin said with bravery " But sir ... we are Yuyan Archers and we are not equipped to handle spirits ..."

" I understand that ... that's why we're going to need the Avatar " Zuko said with finality.


Ozai doesn't even have his bending and he's still burning Zuko horribly.

XD

Now I just want to set the record straight here ...I'm not intentionally trying to make Zuko a bad leader , rather I just want to show that his inexperience in leading a nation is causing these problems. This story isn't completely about Azula becoming a better person and healing , but it also centers around the other characters and how they grow as people . Heck why do you think I have these chapters that focus on Mai , Zuko and Ty Lee at times ?

Anyway , next chapter is going to be about Kazumi and we're finally going to be getting back to some Azula POV.

With that said , see you all in the next one !

Angel Out.