As Fire Lady, Katara can build schools, dedicate hospitals, and help craft legislation that will shape the her adopted country for generations to come, but it's the little victories, often heralded by a cup of tea, that make her smile the most.

A standalone story, though feel free to read all of my other stuff.

Content Warning: This is a story involving politics, written by a former Social Studies major who minored in Political Science and watches CSPAN for fun. You have been warned. No adult language, though.

7/31 – Tea

THE LADY ASIAQ PULLED HER FACE INTO A DEMURE LITTLE FROWN, CLASPED HER HANDS TIGHT IN HER LAP, AND SAID, "BEGGING YOUR MAJESTY'S PARDON, BUT I'M NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SEEING."

Her Most Serene and Royal Majesty, Mother of the Nation, Guardian of Hearth and Home, the Fire Lady Katara, bit down hard on the urge to snap something mean at her lady-in-waiting. Instead, she focused on her weak, heavily-watered tea, and convinced herself that the cruel retorts percolating in the back of her mind were the fault of being six-months pregnant with her fifth child, and all the associated hormones and deprivations.

Even my one glass of wine a week comes heavily watered and barely filling the glass halfway, she internally grumbled, sipping her tea and trying not to wince at how milquetoast and bland the blend was. After considering and tossing aside a half-dozen responses, she eventually turned her attention away from the happenings on the floor of the Fire Nation's House of Commons and focused on the Lady Asiaq. "My dear," she said, working hard to keep the Mother of Four from creeping too far into her voice, "I understand that the language is different, but surely some of it is familiar? After all, my husband and his advisors borrowed liberally from the North's system of government when they were drawing up the Constitution."

Lady Asiaq shrugged, unclasping her hands and holding up on so that she could examine the nails. "I suppose; I wouldn't know much about that, though."

Katara bit down on yet another ill-advised retort, less because this one would have been mean and more because it would have reeked of Mom. "You've never observed your own Parliament in action?"

Lady Asiaq rounded on her with an expression caught somewhere between shock and indignation. "Oh, no, Your Majesty, women aren't allowed to attend sittings of Parliament."

Katara could feel the anger, the frustration, the outright rage building deep within her soul. She could feel its red hot fingers slowly clawing their way out of her gut and step-by-step up her spine, ever ready to sink themselves into her brain, there to unleash her infamous temper. "But I saw a several women attending a session last I was in Iqaluit," that being, the Northern Water Tribe's capital.

Lady Asiaq shrugged. "Oh, they only do that when you're in town, Your Majesty."

I knew it I knew it I FU-calm down, Katara, deep breaths, in and out, IN and OUT, IN AND OUT. Katara closed her eyes for a moment, counted to ten, breathed in, breathed out, then counted to ten once more. Ever since the end of the War, and especially since she had taken her place beside Zuko and put on her crown, she had worked hard, day-and-night it sometimes seemed, to improve the lot of women in the North. It had often felt like she was pushing a boulder up a mountain all by herself, but there had started to feel like her efforts were worthwhile. Formal education had finally been opened to women, several girls' schools had been established, and she herself had established a program by which poor Northern girls could attend university in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, an option previously only available to the daughters of the rich and powerful, when it was offered at all. She had really started to feel like she was accomplishing something, especially on her last state visit, when she had sat in the viewing gallery above the North's own House of Commons, flanked by her twin daughters, Kya and Ursa, and seen at least fifty-or-so Northern women scattered amongst the crowd.

I dedicated two schools for girls on that trip, she remembered, her teeth grinding in frustration. Were those a fiction, too, for all that I helped pay for them?!

Finally, though, after what felt like ages, the red mist coloring the edges of her vision began to recede. It was frustrating, infuriating, downright heartbreaking, but in the end, she had to admit that Uncle, as usual, had been right. Ba Sing Se was not built in a day, my dear, as I often must remind your husband. She bit down on a sad, bitter sigh. Oh, Uncle Iroh, I miss you so much. We all miss you. She muttered a quiet prayer for her soul, placed a hand on her steadily expanding stomach, and reaffirmed her promise to name this final child after him, should the baby be a boy.

And besides, she told herself, taking a final, calming breath, it's not like it's this poor girl's fault. Katara gave Asiaq a once-over. Girl was the right word; the Lady Asiaq was barely seventeen-years-old, petite for a young woman of the Water Tribes, with a soft-spoken demureness that made her seem even younger.

She makes me feel impossibly old.

"Well," Katara said, handing her empty cup-and-saucer to her lady's maid and gesturing for a glass of lemonade, "I suppose that's something I'll have to take up with Lord Tiguaak," that being, the Northern ambassador. "He's your…uncle, I believe?"

Asiaq nodded, looking relieved to be back on what was, to her, more comfortable ground. "Yes, Your Majesty. He's my mother's older brother."

Katara hopped her curt nod did not betray how little she liked the officious, long-winded Lord Tiguaak, who's Inuktitut was even more annoyingly nasal than Lady Asiaq's. "And your father, Lord Ujurak, he's a senior member of your own House of Peers, yes?"

Asiaq nodded. "Oh, yes, of course, Your Majesty. He is the King's second cousin, after all."

Katara somehow resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The Northern Water Tribe's nobility rivaled the Fire Nation's when it came to tangled family trees. "Well, then surely you've picked up a little about how government works, even if only through osmosis?"

Asiaq frowned. "Osmosis, Your Majesty?"

Just then, there came a knock at the door. Katara nodded at her lady's maid, who got up and answered it, speaking quickly with whoever was there. When she returned, she brought with her a tray of cookie and a small, poorly folded piece of paper.

Katara's heart leapt into her throat, and as if it sensed her excitement at both the note and the cookie, her baby began to kick wildly. She gave her stomach a calming pat, even as she shoved an entire cookie in her mouth and greedily opened her note.

It read, in Zuko's careful, precise handwriting:

Lady Fukuyama has launched into yet another speech. You wouldn't happen to have any of those rancid cabbages handy, would you? Kuzon (their eldest, the Crown Prince, who was sitting in for her before the House of Peers today, while she sat in a special viewing box high above the Commons) would certainly appreciate the diversion. How are things in the Commons? How are you? Getting along with your newest lady-in-waiting yet? I love you and I can't wait to see you during the lunch break. Enjoy your cookies!

She allowed herself a goofy grin and looked up at the waiting page. "Did my husband send anything else?"

The page, who looked even more impossibly young than Asiaq, handed over a big box upholstered in scarlet leather with her and Zuko's joint monogram on the front. "The minutes of the first hour's debate in the Peers, Your Majesty."

Katara's goofy grin got even goofier. That's my Zuko; he always knows how to brighten my day. "Excellent. Please, put it right here beside me, and I'll let me jot down a reply to my husband." Even after all these years, she still found it odd to casually refer to Zuko as His Majesty, but the class-obsessed people of the Fire Nation seemed to become wildly uncomfortable whenever she used Zuko's actual name in front of them. She handed Zuko's note to her lady's maid for safe-keeping (I wonder what it is Toph's doing with them all? Surely she's not actually keeping them, and it's not like she can read them…) and turned back to Asiaq. "My lady, if you could hand me a pen and a piece of paper?"

Asiaq bowed her head and quickly produced the requested items. As Katara absently clicked the pen, mentally composing her reply to Zuko, Asiaq broke into a smile. "I must say, Your Majesty, your brother really outdid himself when he invented ballpoint pens."

Katara chuckled. "Yes, he really did, didn't he?" Not that he'll ever hear me say so; someone's got to keep him humble! "Give me just a moment, my dear." With that, she bent to her task.

The resulting note read:

Don't you dare start throwing rancid cabbages – or rancid anything – at the stuck-up twat without me there! I called the first throw long ago, I remind you. The Commons are still in the opening speeches, but judging by what's been said so far, I think the universal suffrage bill might just pass. How's our little boy? He's growing up too quick, sitting beside his father in front of the House! Be sure you eat something besides cigarettes and that horrid black tea you insist on drinking. As for Lady Asiaq, well…I'll talk to you about it during lunch. Give Kuzon a kiss for me, and don't forget, Hakoda and the girls are joining us for lunch, so try to keep the swearing to a minimum. I love you more than I could ever say!

She folded up the note, nice and neat, and handed it to the page. "That's for my husband. Is Her Grace the Duchess Akiyama observing the Peers today?"

"I believe so, Your Majesty. His Grace the Duke is scheduled to speak whenever Lady Fukuyama finally…whenever the Lady Fukuyama finished her remarks."

Katara winked at the boy, to reassure him that his near slip-of-the-tongue would remain their secret. "So not until tomorrow, then? Well, if she doesn't mind, please ask her to come join me here when she's able to; I'd like her opinion of the mood in the Peers."

The page bowed. "At once, Your Majesty." And with that, he was gone, and Katara went back to her cookie, her lemonade, and her teenaged lady-in-waiting.

"So," Katara said, offering the plate of cookies to her lady's maid, who happily snatched up at least four, "what is it you don't understand, my dear? Oh, and would you like a cookie or three? My husband sent more than I could ever eat." Which was far from true, but Katara had never actually seen Asiaq eat and it never ceased to bother her.

Asiaq shook her head. "Oh, no, Your Majesty, I couldn't possibly, and besides, I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense," Katara snapped, unable to stop the Mom that dripped from every syllable of the word. "What do cookies have to do with being hungry? Please, I insist."

Very gingerly, very carefully, Asiaq reached out, took the smallest cookie on the tray, and began to nibble at it. The woman Toph had long since dubbed Momtara was far from satisfied, but she supposed it would have to do for now. At least I got her to eat more than food barely fit for rabbits.

"Please," she continued, "have as many as you want; Zuko will happily send me whole mountains of them. Now, as I said, what was it that you didn't understand?"

Asiaq shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, I suppose I don't understand what it is they're debating."

Katara frowned. "I thought you spoke Nihongo?" Katara had been assured by Lord Tiguaak that Asiaq spoke the language of the Fire Nation quite well, but now that Katara thought about it, she and Asiaq had never spoken in anything but Inuktitut, the language of the Water Tribes.

Asiaq nodded. "Oh, yes, I'm quite fluent, my father insisted. Still, though…I mean, didn't the men of the Fire Nation get the vote when the Constitution was passed after the War?"

"They did," Katara admitted, "but only men and women who met a property qualification. My husband and I advocated for universal suffrage, but I'm afraid the people were too unsure of democracy to go for it."

It was Asiaq's turn to frown. "Women can vote in the Fire Nation?"

"If they meet the property qualification, yes."

"But…how can they meet a property qualification?"

Gods, what are they teaching in those girls' schools? Katara had helped craft a curriculum template, but she was starting to think that she would have to make a surprise visit to one of those schools to make sure it was being followed. Though that might not help girls like Asiaq; noble girls, when they're educated at all, are educated at home, by governesses. Katara's mood fell a bit more. Not unlike the Fire Nation; the North isn't the only place that needs an education overhaul. I'll get the noble-born and the wealthy to send their children to actual schools if it kills me.

"Because," Katara said out loud, "in the Fire Nation, woman can inherit property." They were also covered by the country's compulsory education law, which required all children, male and female, to attend school – free of charge, if they couldn't afford it – until they were eighteen. It used to be fourteen, but Katara had seen to that. Though, as with so many things, the rich and the well-born can avoid the schools and educate their children at home, and then send them to exclusive academies. The Fire Nation's entrenched class system never ceased to make Katara want to rip out her hair.

"Oh," Asiaq said, looking confused, "really?"

Katara nodded. "Really."

"But surely they don't need to vote. Isn't that men's work?"

Don't scream don't scream don't scream- "Are not women members of society? Are they not affected by the decisions and actions of the government? Do they not suffer when that government goes wrong?"

Asiaq shrugged. "I suppose so…"

"Then shouldn't they have the right to participate in the government, and to make their voices heard?"

Asiaq didn't look convinced. "But surely they have no need to participate, when their fathers and their brothers and their husbands can do it for them?"

"But we don't need the men in our lives to speak for us. We're perfectly capable of speaking for ourselves, and of making our own decisions. And by the same token," Katara continued, gesturing towards the floor of the Commons with a cookie, "even the poorest citizen of the Fire Nation has the right to participate in government and to make their voices heard, and the single most effective way to do that is with their vote, a vote they should've had a long time ago."

Asiaq's eyes went wide with comprehension. "You're very passionate about this, Your Majesty."

Katara leaned back, swallowing another bite of cookie which she washed down with a gulp of lemonade. "I should be; I helped craft the legislation."

The look on Asiaq's face could not be called anything but horrified shock. "Your…His Majesty lets you do that?!"

Katara rolled her eyes. "My husband doesn't let me do anything, my dear," she said, a comment that made her lady's maid, who spoke Inuktitut, giggle. "There's no let about it. I'm Fire Lady, I'm his partner, his right hand. So long as the people insist on not reducing the monarchy to a merely ceremonial function, then my husband will continue to serve and rule them in conjunction with their elected government, and I will stand beside him, hand-in-hand, and continue to do the same."

Asiaq just shook her head in wonder. "Wow…that is…I'm not sure what to make of that, Your Majesty."

Katara leaned forward, offering up a fresh cookie. "How about you do me this favor, my dear: Finish your cookie, eat this one, and ponder why the women of the North are systematically denied their voice, while the women of the Fire Nation and the women of the South are free to make their voices heard. After all, would you say that I'm a bad Fire Lady?"

Asiaq looked hard at the cookie, a hint of hunger glimmering in the corners of her deep blue eyes. "Oh, no, of course not, Your Majesty. Even those of a more…traditional bent in the North praise your talents."

Through gritted teeth, no doubt. Alas, I can't fight them all in one-on-one waterbending duels, like with Pakku, gods rest his stiff-backed soul. "Then, if I, a girl from the bottom of the world, who grew up without a formal education, can do so much, what could you, daughter of one of the most powerful nobles in the Northern Water Tribe, do?"

Asiaq reached and carefully took the proffered cookie. "I don't know, Your Majesty."

"Neither do I, young lady, but I'd love to find out."

And with that, the Lady Asiaq blinked, took a massive bite out of her first cookie, and took the second.

Just then, a knock at the door announced the arrival of the Duchess Akiyama, just as pregnant as Katara. Katara lumbered to her feet, and the two women bowed and kissed each other on the both cheeks, a custom Katara had brought with her to the Fire Nation and that she was pleased to see was spreading.

As they settled, Katara switched into Nihongo and asked the Duchess, "So, Emiko, how goes it in the Peers? I have the minutes of the first hour of debate, but I'd like to hear your impression."

Akiyama Emiko, a woman Katara considered a close friend, smiled and took a proffered cookie and a cup of the same weak tea Katara had been drinking all morning. "Well, the big problem is that my fellow Peers think the whole matter is beneath them. You know how they can be about acknowledging that the lowborn and the poor even exist."

"Tell me about it. Do you think the bill will pass?"

The Duchess laughed. "If that uptight idiot Lady Fukuyama goes on much longer, the entire House will unite to push the bill through just to shut her up."

Katara giggled. "I knew that old biddy would come in handy sooner or later. How's my son behaving himself?"

That just made the Duchess laugh even harder. "When your note was given to His Majesty, he laughed, reached over, and gave His Royal Highness a big kiss on the cheek. The whole House roared with laughter."

Katara clapped her hands and smiled even wider. "Oh, I love that man, I really do. Did that at least make Fukuyama stop for a minute?"

The Duchess rolled her eyes. "I doubt the old bat even noticed. How goes things in the Commons?"

Katara sighed. "The Conservatives are dead-set against it; I think they're afraid of having to demean themselves by having to actually campaign for votes from poor people. The Liberals are still divided right down the middle, but I'm hoping that the other, minor parties might be able to exert enough pressure to break any potential deadlock. I really do think a lot of the moderates are killing time to see what the Peers do."

The Duchess nodded, face set and serious. "So, there's hope, then." She turned, then, to the Lady Asiaq, who, Katara was pleased to see, was not only halfway through her second cookie and holding a tall glass of lemonade, but had also been intently watching the speech being given by Murasaki-san, a leading member of the Conservatives. "What do you think, Lady…Asiaq, right?"

Asiaq turned, eyes wide. "Oh…um…what do I think…?"

"Please, speak freely," Katara said, a very Mom hint of encouragement in her voice.

Asiaq nodded, frowned, looked out at the floor of the House, and then, somehow, slowly, carefully, the frown turned into a small, uncertain, but still very welcome grin. She turned back to Katara and the Duchess, took a gulp off her lemonade, swallowed, and said:

"I think I'd like to know more about all of this, Your Grace."

Katara smiled, reached out, patted Asiaq's knee. "And would you like to come with me to the Commons tomorrow?"

Asiaq smiled, with more certainty this time. "I'd like that very much."

Katara almost danced with joy. Yes, she was Fire Lady, a strong and forceful Fire Lady, who could commission schools and dedicate hospitals and work side-by-side with her royal husband, but it was the little victories that made her feel like she was truly accomplishing something.

Even if it was one woman at a time.

This...almost didn't get up in time, guys. There are a lot of reasons, but mostly because I'm a total political nerd, and the first version was...let's just say that it was much longer, and would only be of interest to other political science nerds and my lovely, amazing, beautiful wife, who gets hot and bothered when I talk politics to her.

Also, in case it's not clear, I'm pretty far to the left in my politics. If that bothers you, I don't particularly care; I have to listen to my asshole, Trump-supporting step-father and little brother rant about ultra-right-wing bullshit every damn holiday, you guys can let me drop a little SJW liberalism in your fanfiction.

Anyhoo, not a long AN today, mostly because it's getting late (it's past ten here in Texas), I need to hang out with my wife, I gotta work tomorrow, and most of all, if I don't stop myself now, this AN will become longer than the story, and who would want that?

Well, I mean, my wife, and also a lot of you, but my wife has already heard my rant about my vision of the geopolitical structure of the Avatar-verse post-War. If you guys want to hear it, feel free to send me an Ask on Tumblr (I'm under kangaroo2010), or hit me up on Twitter ( Historybuff2013). If you PM on here, be warned, I SUCK at responding to those in a timely manner.

Also, due to the looming Zutara Week deadline, I wasn't able to give this a good proofread. I hope to come back later and fix that, but if I don't get around to it, please, be nice. Remember, I love you guys, so please, love me back! *looks cute*

Moving on! In tomorrow's thrilling episode, Zuko and Katara wander away from the Gaang and find themselves standing by a pond full of turtleducks, in what will essentially be a rewrite of the opening of A Different Path. Stay tuned!