Aang and Toph approached the door to the War Room silently. Aang was one edge, something about this just didn't seem quite right. Toph, on the other hand, was more then at ease. Her presence toke the edge off a little bit because if Zuko was lying or trying to hide something, then Toph would be able to sense it in an instant.
"We were summoned by the Fire Lord," Aang said, producing the letter for the guards.
"Certainly sir. Right this way," the guard replied kindly while opening the door.
Toph proceeded to walk into the room in front of Aang as he turned to the guard remembering Katara was not with them, "Oh. A waterbender will also be joining us shortly."
"No problem Avatar, I will be sure to allow her in as well."
Aang nodded to the guard and followed the large room. The former grandeur that the room had once had during the war was now greatly diminished. The tapestries illustrating glorious battles the Fire Nation had won during the 100 year war had been removed and were replaced with images of dragons and scenes from Fire Nation mythology such as the birth of the first Fire Lord, and the forming of the nations. The maps of the nations that used to carpet the floors for the generals to plan their tactics had since been replaced by a marble floor. The only thing that still remained was the Fire Lord's chair and the flames that illuminated the room behind it.
"Wow. He has really changed the place," Aang commented while smiling. It was nice to see Zuko was a progressive leader who was trying to put this war behind them. Though Aang already knew this, it was nice to see some reassurance of it.
"I'll take your word on it," Toph muttered bitterly.
Zuko sat in the chair staring down at a book. He looked up at the sound of the footsteps entering into his throne room. A smile crossed his face when he saw his old friends walk into the room. "Aang. Toph," he said, as he put the book down. "Welcome to the Capital. I hope you have found everything alright."
"Yes. It is all lovely," Toph said cheerfully. There was an awkward silence as the Avatar just stared down at the ground.
Zuko picked up on Aang's strange behavior almost immediately, but didn't say anything about it. He just brushed it off as the young Avatar being anxious about the possibility of another full scale war. "I called you here to speak with you before the banquet tonight," he paused for a moment, finally taking in the absence of a key member of their group. "Where is Katara?"
Aang finally spoke, "Oh. She was following us when we left. We must have lost in on our way here. We should wait for her."
"No. That won't be necessary," Zuko spoke sharply, "You can just tell her what I said. I have a tight schedule to keep and I don't really have much time to wait for her."
"Then we won't keep you waiting," Toph said quickly before Aang could object.
"Please take a seat," Zuko said motioning to the floor as he took a seat there as well. "I don't know any other way to put this then to just openly say it. The rifts in the factions are much more serious then we previously thought. There has been a few attempts on my life already and I think this more then demonstrates that the factions will not be able to peacefully resolve their issues. Tensions are too high right now to bring up pulling the Fire Nation out of these colonies."
Aang snapped up, "Zuko. You can't take that land back again from the Earth Kingdom."
"Aang. Calm down. That is not what I am saying. I am merely saying that it is not going to be as easy as we thought. We can't just up and make these people leave. Some have lived there for generations and making them leave isn't fair. That is their homes. We need another solution then just forcing them to leave."
"Yes. We can," Aang began, before he was cut off by Toph.
"Zuko is right Aang," she said calmly, "It might have been Earth Kingdom territory, but there are people who have lived there forever. Plus if we did pull them out completely who says those small towns would be able to survive on their own. Plus you said you wanted peace. Forcing people to leave their homes is not exactly going along the lines of peace."
Aang stared down at the ground, realizing he was wrong. There was a silence in the room before Aang spoke again, "Then what are we going to do to fix it?"
"I haven't come up with a back up plan yet, but I just wanted to give you a heads up before tonight. Tensions are going to be high, so don't mention the conflicts to anyone if you can avoid them." He stood up. "Please, relay this to Katara. I have to go now if you will excuse me." And just like that, he was gone.
Aang stormed out of the throne room, leaving Toph to almost sprint to catch up with him. When they got back to the room, a gust of wind slammed the door behind them.
"What the hell was that?" Aang snapped, at Toph.
"What are you talking about Twinkle Toes?"
"You siding with Zuko like that."
"I wasn't siding with him. I merely agreed with him."
"Well you might as well have."
"Aang, you are acting like I was taking his side in a war. I just said that we can't force those people out of their homes. You would be upset if someone kicked you out of the only home you had known your entire life."
"I am done talking Toph," he muttered as he stormed into his chamber, slamming the door behind him.
"Aang? What has gotten into you?" Toph muttered.