Sorry about the wait, but I hope all of my readers had happy holidays and will have a great New Year!
A line of Earth Kingdom villagers stood filed near the gate at the entrance of the town during tax collection day. The tax collections were being overseen not only by Earth Kingdom soldiers, but by Fire Nation combatants as well. A collaboration agreement had been met by the Earth and Fire Nations; the Fire Nation soldiers would stay behind to assist in the reconstruction of the Earth Kingdom and in return the Fire Nation army would be allowed to completely withdraw unconditionally in five years. It was not a settlement the entire Earth Kingdom had an easy time coping with; the citizens of the Earth Nation were terrified of the Fire Nation, they simply wanted their army to leave immediately, however the Earth King was aware that the military of his nation alone was not large enough to rebuild the nation on its own, especially after the war had greatly thinned its numbers, so he and the Fire Lord felt they had no choice but to order the Fire Nation army to help with the reconstruction.
A young man reluctantly dropped a handful of coins into the collection box that an Earth Kingdom colonel held in his palms. Two Earthbender soldiers stood beside him and three Firebenders stood uncomfortably behind him.
"The tax is 20 gold pieces" said the colonel when the young man attempted to walk away.
"Last time it was 10!" the man retorted.
"The tax had doubled to aid in the relief effort" the colonel explained. "We all have to do our part in rebuilding our nation."
"Relief effort?" the man repeated. "Our village was destroyed during the war; we're the ones who need help."
"You are required by His Majesty the Earth King to pay 20 gold pieces for your taxes" the colonel said uncaringly.
"I don't have 20 gold pieces" the man said impatiently. "I had to buy food yesterday."
"Next time you will be expected to pay 30 in that case" the colonel said. The crowd murmured quietly. 30 gold pieces was easily worth twice what anyone in the humble farming village made in a month.
"That's outrageous!" the man shouted.
"You have no choice. I'm sorry but we must all do our part in restoring our great nation to its former glory."
The soldier closed the box and turned to leave.
The man he had demanded pay more than what he could afford for his taxes stood breathing heavily. He scowled and retaliated, "What do you know about the Earth Kingdom's glory, you damned hypocrite?! You say you want to restore our country and yet you and your taxes suck us dry of our wealth and force us into poverty. And while we struggle desperately to grow enough crops to earn money sufficient to appease the King and our hunger you sit in your warm expensive bases, stuffing your faces with those dirty Fire Nation savages!"
The colonel halted but said nothing, not wanting to give the tirade of a peasant any validity.
"Those barbarians burned our cities and villages to the ground and slaughtered thousands of our innocents and yet you stand beside them as if they're your allies" the man continued.
"The new Fire Lord is not like Ozai" said the colonel. "The Fire Nation has repented its malicious ways. They are our allies now."
"Is that so?" the man questioned. "They sure weren't my allies when they killed my parents and turned my house into a smoldering pile of embers. They weren't your allies when thousands of your soldiers rode into battle against them, knowing they wouldn't return. They weren't our allies when every single man, woman and child in this country lied awake at night knowing that they weren't safe because any day an army of Firebenders could come and destroy everything and everyone they loved!"
For a while everyone was silenced in awe by this remark. Instead of the colonel it was one of the Firebenders who answered after the quiet drifted for minutes. He removed his helmet and spoke calmly. "I know the people of my country have wronged you" he said. "I cannot speak for everyone in my nation but I am deeply sorry for all of your troubles. It is true there are some soldiers who don't regret what they have done but you must understand that we all once thought that the war was the Fire Nation's way of sharing our prosperity with the Earth Kingdom. It came as a great shock to most of us when Fire Lord Zuko told us the truth. I am deeply sorry for what happened in the war and hope that in time the people of our countries can stand side by side again."
The young, angry man stared blankly at the soldier who had spoken. He seethed with hatred as he yelled, "I know you; you killed my father!"
The man ran at the Fire soldier.
"I did?" asked the soldier confusedly, not remembering the man's face.
The young man kicked up a desk-sized rock with his Earthbending and prepared to strike down the soldier. Before he could however, the colonel stepped between them and batted the young Earthbender down with the back of his arm.
"That's quite enough of that" said the colonel. "The next time you consider using your Earthbending to attack a soldier, consider this; you now owe 45 gold pieces to the Earth King."
The soldiers then left, but the Firebender who had spoken up stared back, guiltily.
The other villagers helped the young rebel to his feet.
"You have some real guts" a man about his age said.
"You were right. Everything you said was right" an old woman said. "The idea of the Earth King making us coexist with those savages is disgusting!"
"We hate them!" another man said. "They should just go home!"
"Yeah!" an old man said. "My wife was killed by the Fire Nation!"
"It's a shame that now you have to pay extra taxes just for telling the truth" said a young woman. "It's not your fault you attacked that soldier, any of us would have done the same thing."
The man nodded. "I can't afford to pay 45 gold pieces by next month" he said grimly. "And if I don't pay they'll put me in prison."
"We'll help you" another woman said.
"Yeah if we'll each chip in a little and you'll be able to pay your taxes" said a man.
"No" said the rebel. "I can't ask you to sacrifice your income for me."
"You can't let those soldiers push you around though!" said an adolescent boy.
"I know" the rebel replied. "That is why I will not pay my taxes at all the next time they come."
"What?" said one person.
"You can't do that!" said another.
"You'll be severely punished!" another warned.
"So?" asked the rebel. "Those soldiers will tax me of everything that I am as I am forced to look passively into the eyes of my father's killer. What can they possibly do to me that is worse than what they already put me through? If they kill me where I stand on the day when I refuse it will be worth it, because I would show them that the Earth King cannot oppress me. I would die with my honor and pride intact. I would die with freedom."
The crowd of villagers remained hushed in admiration of the man's defiance. In actuality the majority of them agreed with him, they had just never realized that going against the King was an option.
"I'm with you!" a man said. "I have a family of five to feed; I can't and won't pay 20 gold pieces each month."
"So am I!" said another villager. "I watched a Firebender kill my daughter."
"Opposing the soldiers will be dangerous" warned the rebel.
"What danger? Half of us are Earthbenders!" boasted a young man.
"We outnumber them ten to one!" pointed out another.
"Besides, my family was completely destroyed; like a lot of us, I don't have anything to loose!" proclaimed another.
"Very well," said the rebel. "Next month we will revolt against the Earth King's tyranny and stand up for our freedom!"
"Revolt!" shouted a woman.
"Revolt!" yelled a man.
"Revolt!" shouted three brothers.
"Revolt!" all of the villagers shouted as they took the rebel by his arms and hoisted him into the air, showing their hero to the entire world, not knowing that he was in fact a Dai Li agent whose father's death was to due a heart-attack and that this exact same thing was happening in numerous villages all over the kingdom.
Fire Lord Zuko stood on his balcony once more, staring at the crescent-shaped moon, not speaking.
"Zuko!" his wife Mai called as she entered the bedroom. She ran out to the balcony and stood next to him. "I just heard the news. I'm so sorry."
The news she was referring to was the grisly murder of Ozai, which had been discovered hours prior. The killer was nowhere to be found.
Zuko did not respond.
"Are you going to be ok?" she asked. Zuko nodded weakly. "Please talk to me."
Zuko's mouth slowly opened. "…He told me Mai…he actually told me" was all he said.
"What?" his wife asked.
"He told me what I wanted to know. He told me what I needed to know to protect our son. He told me the truth about my mother. He told me…and I thanked him. I didn't know what I was doing but it just felt…natural. Like something a son would normally say to his father. I had something to thank him for. I felt something in that moment…not love…but something! But now…it doesn't matter…he's gone…forever, along with any chance of…" he trailed off and stopped as silent tears slid from his eyes.
"Oh Zuko I am so sorry" Mai said as she embraced him. Zuko held tightly onto her and nuzzled his head on her shoulder, seeking whatever comfort that could be found.
"You know Aang said something the other day that got to me" Zuko said, holding back the urge to sob.
"What did he say?" asked Mai.
"He said I loved Azula" Zuko said. "…When he said I just dismissed it as ridiculous…but now that my father is dead and all I can think of is the few good times I've had with him…now I remember those summer days on Ember Island when we would all play on the beach and smile and laugh. I remember Azula and me playing tag and my father putting his arm around me. He was right; I love them Mai. They were my family. I miss them. There's nothing I can do about though; they're gone…for good."
"Zuko I'm so sorry" Mai said again. "I know that they had problems, but I know…deep down, somewhere inside of them they cared about you otherwise those days on Ember Island would have never happened."
"Why did it have to end Mai?" Zuko asked dejectedly. "Why couldn't it have always been like it was back on Ember Island, when we all loved each other and were happy? Why did it have to change?!"
"I wish I could answer that Zuko" Mai said understandingly. "Sometimes things change, even when it would be better for them not to."
"My father, my sister, my mother" Zuko began, when he suddenly remembered his older cousin who before he went of to war was like an older brother to Zuko who showed him Firebending forms and helped him get out of trouble, "my cousin, they're all gone. My uncle's the only family I have left."
"Well you do have the family you made for yourself" Mai reminded.
"Dada" a voice from below them said. The toddler Lu Ten crawled curiously at his parents' legs.
Zuko knelt down and spoke to his son. "Hi there little guy" he said, a meek smile forming.
Lu Ten reach out and touched his father's face.
"He looks just like his dad" Mai said smiling.
"With one big difference" Zuko said with his grin widening. His finger softly touched Lu Ten's left eye. "You've never had a scare there little guy, and you'll never have to."
He picked up Lu Ten and held him in his arms.
Just then a servant walked in, holding the baby Ursa. "Fire Lady Mai" she said. "Ursa has woken from her nap." Mai took her daughter in her arms and the servant departed.
The baby began cooing happily.
"That's my little girl" said Zuko, his tears finally stagnating. He then looked to his son as his inquisitive arms reached for the sky and then to his wife's smiling face.
"Thank you" he said. "I love you guys." Zuko and Mai then kissed, though were careful not to drop the children.
The next day in Ba Sing Se, Katara lay on her bed in the room of the palace the Earth King had provided for her. Though she was not fond of the idea of having to remain shut up in the palace, guarded around the clock, she had to admit that her room was not something to complain about; she had a large, soft bed, as well as dozens of other elegant pieces of furniture and a magnificent mirror that had a cabinet underneath it where every hygiene provision that could possibly ever be needed was to be found and food would be brought in with a simple request to one of the servants.
The door to the room swung open and Aang shuffled merrily in, Sokka and Suki walking behind him, Little Hakoda in Suki's arms.
"Guys!" Katara exclaimed as she ran over to them. She gave her husband a kiss then gave her brother a hug as well as her sister-in-law.
"Well this is a fancy setup" Sokka said as he looked around the room. "You should get attacked by the Dai Li more often."
"Aang told you already huh?" Katara asked.
"Yeah are you sure you're ok?" Suki asked.
"Of course I am," Katara assured, "I've dealt with much worse than a few Dai Li agents."
Sokka sat down on a nearby chair adjacent to a table that hosted a bowl of litchi nuts. He held out his hand and prepared to take a handful when out of the blue Momo lunged out and smacked them from his palm. As the kernels fell to the floor the greedy lemur quickly nibbled away at them as Sokka started swatting him away.
"Bad Momo!" shouted Sokka. "Those are mine!"
"Sokka, you aren't seriously going to eat nuts off the ground are you?" Katara scolded.
Sokka rose to his feet embarrassedly and replied, "Uh…of course not."
"Well anyway" interjected Aang. "Do you guys mind keeping Katara company while I take care of something?"
"Well sure Aang" replied Suki. "But what do you have to take care of?"
"I'm going to go find Long Feng" said the Avatar. "He's attacked my family for the last time."
"Wait a second" Sokka said. "You're going alone? Don't you want our help stopping Long Feng?"
"It's just Long Feng, Sokka" Aang said. "I can stop him by myself."
It may has well have been said that the word 'what' escaped every pair of lips other than Aang and Momo's.
"You're going to try to stop Long Feng, by yourself?" the always logical Sokka asked.
"Why not?" Aang asked as if the issue was entirely simple.
"Oh I don't know, maybe because he's a maniacal, calculating, homicidal maniac!" shouted Sokka.
"He's right Aang" Katara agreed. "Remember, Long Feng killed Jet."
"He also had Ba Sing Se under his control for years before you came along" Suki added.
"That may be true" admitted Aang. "But I'm the Avatar."
"So what?" said Sokka.
"So…" Aang replied sarcastically. "…I'm stronger than Long Feng. He may have killed Jet but Jet didn't have mastery of all four elements and of the Avatar State. I stopped Fire Lord Ozai by myself I think that I can handle Long Feng."
"Fire Lord Ozai fought you one-on-one" Sokka reminded rationally. "That's not Long Feng's style. There are hundreds of Dai Li agents."
"And there are over a thousand Avatars" countered Aang. "And when I'm in the Avatar State their power is mine."
"Long Feng is a bureaucratic coward who hides behind his agents; do you really think he'll risk his plan in a fight with you?"
"I don't think he'll have a choice."
"Why are you so determined to do this alone?"
"Because, when Katara was almost killed I wasn't there; I didn't do anything. I'm her husband and I'm supposed to protect her but I completely failed. When a man was about to stab her in the neck I was out buying a teapot. This world won't be safe for her and my children as long as the Dai Li is around. So I'm going to find them and stop them, and I don't need any help; I'm not the goofy kid you found in the iceberg anymore, I'm a man now."
"Are you sure Aang?"
"If I need any help, I'll ask."
Sokka looked to Katara and Suki and they appeared as confused as he was.
"Well at least tell us where you're going" the Water Tribe warrior requested.
"First I'll search Lake Laogai" Aang explained. "Then I'll continue my search from there. It'll probably only take a few weeks at the most."
"Exactly how do you plan on stopping Long Feng?" Sokka asked shortly.
"I figured I'll just use Energybending, take away his Earthbending and then hand him over to the Earth King" Aang said.
"Right" Sokka said judgingly. "What about the other Dai Li agents?"
"Well…I didn't exactly think about that. But without Long Feng they'll just fall apart and go back to their lives won't they?"
"What if they don't?! What if you just make them mad and they try to kill you again? Didn't you come up with a plan?!"
"No, but I'll figure it out."
"I should come with you."
"No. I can defeat Long Feng by myself. I want you guys to stay here and watch over Katara while I'm gone."
Before a rebuttal could be offered the Avatar was already halfway out the door.
"Wait Aang" Katara said. "I have something to say."
Aang halted. "What?"
"Don't be gone too long" she said. She placed a palm over her belly. "This is the kind of thing I need you around for."
"I won't be gone long" Aang promised.
A month later the village where the rebel had stood up to the tax-collecting soldiers assembled at the gate that served as the entrance of the town. Those who were gifted with the abilities of Earthbending stood ready and those who weren't, were armed with anything available; things such as pitchforks, hoes, kitchen-knives, and work hammers. About three dozen villagers had assembled to defy the collectors. The rebel stood at their head.
The same colonel and soldiers, including the ones of Fire Nation lineage, who had collected taxes the prior month shuffled into the small town with the collection box.
"Everyone form into a line" the colonel said as he did every month, paying no notice to the quiet intensity of the townspeople.
No one moved.
"We will be oppressed no longer" the rebel informed calmly.
"You again" the colonel acknowledged. "I trust we will have no further problems. Hopefully the harshness of your taxation this month will detour you from supplementary defiance."
"The taxes were always harsh!" a villager spat.
"I see you have infected others with your opinions" said the colonel.
"It is you who are sick!" a woman shouted. "You who stand with the Fire Nation soldiers; you disgrace your kingdom!"
The colonel sighed. "This was quite amusing," he jested, "but we do have other duties to attend to. Now please tax payers, step forth."
Not one of the villagers stirred.
"I see" the colonel said. "It is sedition then. A final warning though, if this entire village refuses to pay, I have no qualms about haling all of you to prison, to stand trial for treason."
"As I said before colonel" the rebel began menacingly. "Our people will be oppressed by neither you nor the king any longer." He lifted his arm and performed a gesture that was the signal for the Earthbenders.
The other Earthbenders shot their fists forward and a storm of rock and dust barraged the warriors, focusing their efforts particularly severely on the Firebenders, who fell prostrate to the ground, their knees and femurs shattered by the onslaught. The Earth Kingdom soldiers stood horrified as blood leaked like oil from harsh cuts on their faces.
"We will show you three compassion being that you are of our nationality" the rebel said. "However, the Firebenders die."
The colonel said, "I cannot allow that." He stomped his foot roughly and thrust forth a boulder, only for the rebel to kick it aside and to strike him with his fist, the humble villager rendering the experienced soldier unconscious with his bear hands.
"That's for humiliating me" said the rebel vengefully.
The other two Earth Kingdom soldiers hastily picked up their comatose leader and stood fearfully.
"Fly you fools" said the rebel. The soldiers did not need reiteration; within a minute they had run out of sight of the village.
The livid villagers crowded around the fallen Firebenders like hyenas around the corpse of a wildebeest.
"This is what becomes of those who cross the Earth Kingdom" the rebel said as the defenseless Firebenders gazed apprehensively at their attackers. "Finish them."
In a flash of metal tools and stone the rage of the villagers was hurled down. The bloodcurdling howls of the soldiers rang through the air like the winds of a tornado, until the Firebenders died, warm blood drenching their bodies, their eyes open in shock and their jaws gaping ajar, like those of a slaughtered animal.
"We have done it" the rebel proclaimed, a gleam of proud malice in his eye.
"We owe it all to you" proclaimed the eldest man of the village. "Had your spirit not inspired us we would have never taken the initiative to claim our vengeance."
Like a toothpick in a freshly cooked Thanksgiving turkey, a pitchfork was lodged in one of the Fire soldiers' backs. The rebel who had instigated the insurrection took the tool by its handle and removed it in a quick, yanking motion.
"Hope is kindled" said the rebel. "Kindled for all the Earth Kingdom; the noble act carried out here will forever serve as a glimmering spark of justice for all subjugated Earth Kingdom citizens."
"It is all thanks to you" said a young, female Earthbender. "That gleam of hope was lit in your heart. You have the courage and strength of a Lion Turtle."
"I am flattered" said the rebel. "And humbled, however this gleam was not born in my heart. I was inspired by the valor of a much greater man than I."
"Who? Who is the man who motivated you to rise above the pathetic squalor of a browbeaten peasant?"
"A man of the highest esteem and honor" declared the surreptitious Dai Li agent. "He has many aliases, but he is known to me as Long Feng."