Fire Lady Spits Fire
If Fire Lord Zuko was scared of her, the servants reasoned, the council should be scared, too. He survived great injury, and still took on the traditional Challenge of Strength, even though he was still injured. She was a master of her element, and had become proficient with the tanto knives she'd been gifted. She alone had kept the teens together through the last year of the war, and even Mistress Yina, Head of Household Staff, who ruled the palace servants with an iron fist deferred to her. Why those stuffy council members defied their Fire Lady was beyond them.
A/N: The Challenge of Strength was an idea I originally had where the newly crowned Fire Lord must prove that he is strong enough to protect his nation in a series of fights. People could sign up to be challengers, and they'd challenge the Fire Lord to a fight in an arena with spectators, of course, and the Fire Lord would have to defeat these challengers. I hadn't thought much about consequences of losing the Challenge of Strength, which is why it's never made another appearance. Still, I like this drabble, so I decided to upload it.