Chapter 27: The Colonies

Zuko awoke to a bright light on his face and a loud ringing noise. He opened his eyes and found a blurry figure hovering over him. He groaned. If he closed one eye and squinted the other, he could just make out the face above him.

It was Jin and she was upside down.

"Good morning, sunshine."

He groaned again and tried to sit up, but something heavy was holding him down. Craning his neck, he was just able to make out that Sokka was sprawled across him and he was not only snoring, but also drooling. Momo was wrapped around Sokka's head and looked like he had had a hard night as well.

"Should I be jealous?" Jin asked.

Zuko sunk back on the bed and closed his eyes, attempting to go back to sleep.

Above him there was a sigh. "Again." Then there was another deafening clash.

He swore. Jin managed to roll Sokka off of him, and onto the floor, where he landed with a thump and a snort, then immediately continued snoring.

"That was probably bad for his leg," Jin noted.

As Zuko sat up, he realized that the only reason he wasn't hung over was because he was still drunk. He also realized that there were three maids standing behind Jin. One held a bowl of water and a wash cloth, another held a cup of something steaming that smelled disgusting, and the third…

"Is that a gong?"

"Yes. General Jee said that he couldn't wake you and asked if I would like to give it a try." She nodded to the maid, who struck the gong again.

"Cut it out!"

"Then get up and drink this. You don't want to miss the Water Tribe's morning entertainment."

"I'm upset with the Water Tribe."

"Good thing you're attending a peace conference."

"I'm upset with you too."

"You'll get over it."

He took the drink and downed it. His suspicion had been right, it was hideous.

"Come on, we're dividing up the colonies today. You don't want to be out of it or I'll take all your land." She grinned at him and left. He swore at her again once she was gone and was treated to another gong stroke.

Maybe last night's activities had been a bad idea. Curse the Water Tribe and their obnoxiously loud entertainment of traditional drumming. Were they trying to kill him? Probably. Jin had a smug smile on her face throughout the performance as though she knew just how badly it was hurting him.

He only ate a few bites at breakfast before he felt sick and stopped.

Aang was giving him weird looks. "Are you alright? You don't look so good."

"Yeah. I'm fine."

He had it together enough to give his proposal for the future of the colonies (or "the damned colonies" as he had taken to calling them in private), but he felt as though his head would explode at any second. That day and the next (if they stayed on schedule) would be the most challenging days of the talks. He had been staring at a map of the world for a week, trying to come up with a solution.

The colonies conquered by Ozai, like Ba Sing Se and Omashu had been occupied recently, and it only made sense that the Fire Nation should hand the land back and pull out of those areas completely. The Earth Kingdom talked amongst themselves for an hour before agreeing, with the stipulation that the Fire Nation be gone within six months and demilitarization of the area discussed in excessive detail at a later date.

Aang and Katara were trying to play tic-tac-toe as discreetly as possible. Hakoda looked like he was asleep with his eyes open.

They finally moved on to the colonies that Sozin conquered: the Outer Islands and most of the Nataya Peninsula (or the Western Peninsula, as it was called in the Earth Kingdom as the Fire Nation had renamed the area after Sozin's first wife.) Those of Fire Nation ancestry who now lived there were born there. It was the only home they had known. Their parents were born there. Many of their grandparents were born there. They were invaluable members of the community. If they were required to relocate, they would have no home to return to in the Fire Nation homeland. They had intermarried with those of Earth Kingdom decent to the point that no one bothered to identify their ethnicity.

Zuko wanted these areas to remain under Fire Nation control.

Of course this was asking a great deal. They discussed the economy of the disputed land and how it would collapse if the Fire Nation were completely removed. They talked at length about the ethnic makeup of the territories. They discussed the strategic value of the land (it was prosperous farm land and near to the Fire Nation continent.) He then brought in witnesses from the Outer Islands and the Nataya Peninsula to give testimony to their feelings on the subject.

General How thought that the witnesses chosen by the Fire Nation were definitely biased and demanded to bring in their own people. At this, Jin saved them all from having to wait several weeks for the Earth Kingdom to find their own witnesses by bringing in representatives that she had selected who all reiterated Zuko's opinion. They then brought forth letters sent to Jin and to Zuko and to Aang from people in the territories, most of whom begged to stay in their homes.

General Fong and the Governor of Goaling did not look happy and requested a recess where the Earth Kingdom delegation could discuss the matter.

As soon as he was out of the conference room, Zuko tracked down a servant. "Someone gave me something to drink for my hangover this morning. Can you get me another glass of that? And a damp cloth and a really large pitcher of water."

He was soon lying on a window seat with a damp cloth covering his eyes while Katara, Aang, and Toph played a quiet game of pai sho next to him.

There was a steady stream of people going in and out of the conference room: several of the witnesses were called back in for more questioning, a few military advisors came in, then someone who looked like he was from the university. Zuko was glad that they were taking so long because it would annoy Jin and he could take a nap.

Around lunch he woke up, feeling much better and joined the game of pai sho. Soon afterwards, Sokka stumbled in. He groaned, shoved two pastries in his mouth and lay down in Zuko's vacated spot on the window seat.

"Didn't you just get up?" Katara asked incredulously.

Sokka responded by turning his head towards her slightly and saying "shhhhhhh."

Four games later the sun was setting and Suki and Ty Lee returned from an outing with a very large dress that they just happened to see and just happened to be in Katara's size. An argument broke out about how Katara didn't want the dress and they should take it back and how dare they be excited about her stupid wedding that wasn't going to happen if she had anything to do with it. Aang became very interested in the wood pattern on the table.

Zuko was just thinking about grabbing Toph and making a get away when the recess ended. With a sigh of relief, they filed back into the conference room.

When everyone was seated, Jin stood up. "The Earth Kingdom will allow the Fire Nation to retain the territories conquered by Fire Lord Sozin, with the stipulations that anyone of Earth Kingdom heritage in these territories who wishes to return to Earth Kingdom territories and reclaim their Earth Kingdom citizenship be granted that right." It was clear the Jin hadn't come up with that stipulation. Zuko guessed that it was the Mayor of Goaling, who thought that people would surely want to escape from that terrible area. Zuko figured that not many people would want to leave and if any of them did, then fine, whatever. He was basically getting what he wanted.

"And that the Fire Nation claim these territories in the proper manner. We have prepared our preliminary asking price for the land and resources involved." Oh that did not sound good. Jin handed a scroll to a page, who passed it to Zuko. He studied it for much more time than he needed, just because he could. The price was high, but it was within reason.

He exchanged a look with Piandao. "The Fire Nation agrees to these terms, with the request that this invoice be finalized within the week, and that those who wish to leave do so within the same six month period that has been given for the Fire Nation to leave the recent colonies."

The Earth Kingdom fell into a huddle again, where Jin seemed to have the last word, and snippily said "Agreed. We will adjourn for the day and continue this tomorrow."

Zuko was getting ready for bed when the stone wall in his sitting room slid open with a rumble and Jin stepped out. He gave her an incredulous look.

"Secret tunnel" she said. "It connects my room to this one."

"What?"

"So I can visit you. I put you here on purpose."

He rolled his eyes as she walked forward and draped herself over his couch. He crossed his arms over his chest and remained standing.

"You've been avoiding me" she said.

"Yes."

"Because they made me Earth Queen?"

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Would it help if I said I was sorry?"

"No."

"You really are impossible."

He growled. "Is there a reason that you're here?"

"I think Chief Arnook is going to carry through with his threat of trying to prosecute everyone for war crimes." Zuko groaned, but she continued "I've done some research-"

"When did you have time to do research?"

She shrugged and reached into a bag she was carrying. For the first time he realized how tired she looked. Despite the feelings in his stomach that urged him toward her, he stood his ground.

"These are three cases where Earth Kingdom courts ruled that it was unlawful to try people after their deaths. Here are two that say you can't be tried for something that wasn't a crime at the time you committed it. I'm not sure that will really work because it goes without saying that genocide is a crime, even though it's not written down anywhere. Then here are three that say that a person should be tried in their home court. They were fairly minor offenses: someone from Gaoling stole something in Makapu, and someone else from Ba Sing Se killed someone's goat-bird in Senlin." She now had several scrolls stacked on his table.

He wasn't going to thank her. "You shouldn't have done this."

"Not a problem." She pulled out a final scroll, which looked much more ancient than the court records. "I also brought you this. It's Water Tribe funeral rights. It describes how to apologize for an accidental death. It might be a nice gesture to Arnook."

"I didn't kill his daughter."

"I know."

He glared at her.

"I'll just set it down with the rest."

"Is that all?"

"Have you considered taking the title of Dragon?"

"No! Why would I?"

"Well, your uncle learned from the dragons and he has the title. I think you should too. That would be neat."

"He took that title to protect them. And it doesn't mean that you learned from them, it means that you killed one."

"Maybe it's time that changed."

He growled.

"You could be Fire Lord Zuko, the Grumpy Dragon, Hero of the Ba Sing Se Resistance, who ended the Hundred Year War."

"Grumpy Dragon?"

She grinned and nodded.

He sighed. "I'm really tired and we're going to have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah. Alright." She stood slowly and headed toward her secret passage.

Despite the circles under her eyes, she was looking very pretty with her loose hair and thin night robe. Ugg, he couldn't help himself. "That reminds me." She stopped just before she stepped into the passage. "Why is there a dragon on your Royal Seal?"

"Dragons teach that fire is life, not destruction. I'm implying that there are other ways to deal with problems besides violence, and other ways to look at things. Seeing the good in stuff. You know."

He stared at her a moment. "It's a symbol of the Fire Nation."

She looked confused, and then her face changed as if she had had a great epiphany. "You don't get it." She turned back to the table and flipped through several papers until she pulled out a document with her seal at the bottom. She handed it to him so he could look at it again.

It still looked like a dragon being choked to death by a vine-like plant. But that couldn't be it. There was something else here that she wanted him to see. He stared at it. And stared at it. And then it clicked.

It was like one of those jokes that made you want to groan instead of laugh. It was like when his uncle would do something embarrassing that would make him pretend that they weren't related. It was like something that Sokka would have come up with.

The flowers were jasmine.

It was a damned jasmine dragon.

Jin looked smug. He found himself at a loss for words.

"People already call me 'Jin of the Jasmine Dragon'."

He stared at her. "But how did you get away with something so corny?"

"If you didn't already know, I can do almost anything." With a final grin she swept out of the room, closing the passage way behind her.

The next day, after a traditional Fire Nation ballad preformed on the zheng, they tackled the disaster know as the Azulon colonies. If after three generations of Fire Nation control the area should stay Fire Nation, and after five years of control it should return to the Earth Kingdom, then what about the places where the Fire Nation had been for ten years? Twenty years? Two generations?

On the one hand, there were some Fire Nation citizens that had really acclimated themselves to the area. One Fire Nation merchant claimed that it was only due to his shipping company that his town was able to eat. He wanted to know what will become of his town if he were sent back to the Fire Nation. One woman's mother was ethnically Fire Nation and her father was ethnically Earth Kingdom. Would she have to leave? Could she just have Earth Kingdom citizenship if her town is handed over? An ethnically Earth Kingdom man wrote to say that his Fire Nation neighbors were respected and active members of the community and they didn't see them as "Fire Nation" but as friends.

But on the other hand, there were recent reports of discrimination and hate crimes against Fire Nation families in the area. One family's house was burnt down by an Earth Kingdom mob. They were taken in by sympathetic neighbors, and a division was created in the town. Troops came in to evacuate the Fire Nation family, but they just escalated the situation.

Zuko's solution was to give the territory over to the Earth Kingdom and allow any Fire Nation citizens to return to the Fire Nation if the so wished. He also hoped that if any of them wanted to stay, they would be granted full Earth Kingdom citizenship. It was a lot to ask, as the losers in the war. Admiral Chang argued that it was weak to let people leave and to hand over the territory. He claimed that it was not in the best interest of the Fire Nation. However, Zuko felt differently. The people in the colonies were people of the Fire Nation and he wanted what was best for them, even if what was best for them was for them to become citizens of the Earth Kingdom.

These talks went on for hours. He was very glad that he wasn't hung over as the arguments went round and round in circles. Jin finally called for a recess so that the Earth Kingdom could discuss the situation privately. The recess did not end until the afternoon of the next day. At that point, Zuko called for a recess of his own and the Fire Nation considered the Earth Kingdom's offer until the next morning. They were able to sign an agreement by the afternoon.

The peace talks were already three days behind schedule and had already added three new discussion points to the growing laundry list that was the agenda. Zuko muttered that he would be at that stupid meeting forever. He would grow old and die in this horrible city. He thought about finding Sokka again and maybe they could go to the Middle Ring to drink this time, but then he remembered that he had to get up early the next morning and be productive.