Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or anything associated with it except my fanfiction

Sorry. I got caught up in the Zelda fanfares going on.

A self-note of how different fanfiction is from fiction. I am pretty inadequate with detailing for fiction, I have noticed - some scenes are difficult to visualize with insufficient information. That's the funny thing about fanfiction - a lot of the details are already resolved.

I don't know. But here is a long-due chapter.

If there is inconsistency in any detail, please let me know. I will try to correct them as soon as possible. It will help make the reading a little more bearable and pleasant

"But we need the assistance! Don't you realize how much of a threat Azula is?"

Aang almost felt sorry for abusing his airbending. But it seemed like no matter how much he magnified his already deafening shouts, the watertribe Council was utterly deaf to his pleas. "As we have told you already, we are sincerely sorry for the difficulties, but we are already almost embroiled in a civil war ourselves. We cannot spare the extra resources to aid you in this endeavor."

Perhaps some of his temper had been clear to the Council. The patience had eroded from their voices, leaving behind tired and very much irritated responses for the Avatar.

"But what if Azula ends up assassinating Chief Hakoda?" Aang thundered. "Surely you must recognize the gravitas of the situation. What Azula forecasts for your tribe - and the world - is far worse than a civil war!"

"Avatar, I know that you must involve yourself in the world's affairs, but that does not allow you to simply meddle in every nation and dictate every course of politics and life. Despite what you may think, the Southern Water Tribe is a nation, one that we are in charge of. A civil war of a nation - though it may not be much to you, worldly one - certainly means much to us."

"Even the smallest of responsibilities are ones I have to parley with," countered Aang. "I am aware of your internal strife, and sympathize with your plight and admire your wariness of the situation, but I would like to point out that Azula serve as the potential catalyst that plunges you into that civil war. A nation needs a leader to remain united, does it not? Regardless of tensions within, a good, steady leader can make the difference between fragile peace and outright revolt. A dead leader cannot fulfill either of these attributes, yet a dead leader is what we will have if improper prudence is devoted to this new issue."

"And yet how exactly, may I ask, was this issue brought to us?"

Aang grimaced.

He knew they needed support. With the might of the Earth Kingdom under Azula's fingertips, there was no knowing the force that would await their reprisal against Azula. The Earth Kingdom had recovered substantially since the Hundred Years' War, and there was no doubt that its military would be put to good use by Azula's cunning. Avatar or not, Aang knew he needed far more than his bending - far more than even the formidable backup from his friends - to be able to surmount such a titanic obstacle.

But it was difficult to convince another nation to take arms up so soon after One Hundred Years of devastation. Let alone to mobilize the many members comprising their militaries, of whom most were likely enjoying the rest of their foreseeable lives in comfort and peace.

Aang and Sokka had agreed that their efforts would best be spent on the Southern Water Tribe, as even though it was still far from its former splendor, the leader of the Southern Water Tribe would be the easiest to sway - for self-evident reasons. In addition, without much of the pomp and grandeur other nations had to uphold, such as the Northern Water Tribe, less time would be wasted on courtesies or subtle waltzes of power.

Or so they hoped. As it turned out, though Hakoda still held the title of Chief, the newly-formed Council of the Southern Water Tribe seemed to be the party that initiated and formalized most of the decisions - and they just so happened to be firmly against Aang's hopes and intentions.

"With all due respect, Avatar, you are the one that washed up to our shorelines unannounced, and would thus be the one most complicit in any such attempt on the venerated Chief's life," drawled one of them - Siku? Aang couldn't see - there were all thin, short lines from where he had been dictated to stand and deliver his case.

He hated how the council was situated so far away from its audience and clientele. They were in the Town Hall - a building whose size nearly surpassed the former Southern Water Tribe's domain. It was one of the only buildings that boasted a dome - one successfully argued for by the Southern Water Tribespeople, a unique break from the Northern Watertribe's typical rectangular structural designs - which would have been acceptable for a showcase; less so for a place to hold meetings and hearings in. Under the vast dome, sounds echoed to an unnecessarily distorted degree. It was only Aang's careful air manipulation that made conversing audible. It did not help that he had been directed to not advance towards the council, as it would be taken as an act of aggression. To reinforce this notion, a massive legion of guards lined the circular room, their marble-like statures imposing, their spears gleaming.

If this was how the Avatar was treated, he could only imagine what other disgruntled citizens had to go through. If they even went through in the first place. There was healthy caution, and then there was this blatant display of elite paranoia. It served nothing but further widen the chasm between those who decided for the people and those who were affected by it. He resolved that in the future, if any government were to erected in his wake, he would advocate for significantly closer connection between authority and subjects than this cold, distant... mockery.

Aang did not even recognize many of the Council Members - the positions were meant to be temporary, after all; a check to stagnation in progress and to tyranny - but from the limited, hushed gossip of daily life Aang managed to pick up in the still air, the current Council Members had been instated promptly after Aang had overseen the first elections. And they had not been changed since.

Azula was like disease of the skin. The Council Members were like disease of the heart.

"As such, I am afraid that though we sympathize with your case, we cannot possibly lend you aid, as larger matters are afoot on our own snow. Dismissed!"

With little ceremony, the two soldiers closest to Aang locked spears in front of him, and without so much of a second glance, immediately began pressing forward. Aang opened his mouth to protest, but realized that there was nothing more he could do.

How atrocious.

It was difficult to not notice that the soldiers all bore patterns of the Northern Water Tribe.

"It's okay, Aang. You did all you could."

Aang might have been relieved by Sokka's reassurance if there were not a scowl accompanying the words.

"It's all so... I don't even get what happened. One moment everything seemed wonderful, like the Southern Water Tribe would get the care and growth it needed to recover. But this - this is anything but that. It's like the Northern Water Tribe is being the Fire Nation and establishing a whole new colony!"

"Hsst!" Sokka slapped Aang on the mouth. Hard. Aang nearly flew backwards from the force, coughing in surprise, almost imagining the tang of blood on his tongue that was inevitable from such a massive blow.

Sokka immediately rushed over, regret plain on his face. "Oh my Spirits, Aang... I only meant to cover your mouth. But people can hear you! They can hear you! It's okay to talk out here in the streets where there's so much going on that what we say will be covered by the inflating prices of arctic hen - which is just unbelievable to me. I can't believe that such a vital staple to our life is becoming inaccessible to us. What have they done to the economy? It's like these people took everything wrong about the world and decided to create a perfect model of it, right here at home! I -"

"Sokka, you were saying," Aang said sternly. Sokka was prone to his tangents, but had improved largely over time. However, when particularly taken by the moment, he would sometimes lose traction in conversation to entertain the thoughts racing in his head.

Aang understood. He was experiencing the same. But matters were too dire now. They had spent all their time flying to hope - just to find it all scoured away.

"Ah. Yes. Right. Ehem." Sokka shook his head. "So... it's honestly just come down to the dirtier side of politics."

"Like bribing and such?"

"No. Well, I mean, yes... that might be a part of it. No, it just comes down to how power and authority work."

Aang waited patiently.

"I'm done with my preamble! Jeez, Aang, I'm not writing another constitution!"

"You're speaking a dissertation, which may or may not be long and may or may not be wrong."

"Well the more you interrupt me, the longer we'll be forced to spend out here. Understood? Okay. Back to what I was saying. Power... authority... right. So the North comes in to help us, right?"

"And?"

"Okay, jeez! So that's all jolly and good. But then comes the decision-making part. We left the South in rather encouraging conditions, you'll remember. The system really, truly looked like it was going to work! But everything fell apart pretty soon after we left. Well, actually there were problems beforehand below the surface, that only ended up showing their ugly faces after we left. So, deciding where to build things. It was fine for the building design to be the way they were at first - some building is better than nothing - but then when us - the Southern Water Tribe - requested places to not be touched, or for certain buildings to be in certain places for certain reasons - the North didn't listen. 'We're the ones building, not you,' they'd say. And this would happen, over and over and over again. Because in the end, we don't have the waterbenders to make the buildings. They do. So when they decide not to listen... we can't really change their course of action.

"So then it snowballs. The people grow restless. Some things happen that are all hush-hush - that's the reason why security is here. But most importantly comes the government.

"Now you've seen Dad. Amazing leader, very quick on the draw. But he's old, and getting a little slower. It's hard for him to hop on the politics game when his whole life has been deciding how to distribute resources during hard times. Compared to the North, which has had millemnia of practice - stuff we've lost over the past century. So he tries his best, but there's nothing really to do. They just... ran him in circles. It's horrible, but that's what happened.

"Now, it looks like Dad's a little more than a figurehead to placate us. I actually kind of regret not staying behind. I feel like I could've helped a little, or at least slow this attrition down. But at least they keep him around. Obviously, with their benders, they easily would be able to suppress the people. But that's time, and energy, and they only really care about sitting around like nasty fat rich people - and they certainly act like that. So Hakoda's just to make sure the people think they have some say in the government. But even now, the plan is starting to not work so well. You've noticed this. The people love Hakoda, but when he's the only one of us who has a say in what's happening, but what's happening isn't what's good for the people - well. Questions will be asked, to say the very least."

Aang blinked. It was a lot of words. Too many, in fact, to get across the point. Sokka was fast, but sometimes he didn't know how to parley for the people who needed help to get up to speed. "So... trying to say what you said, with less fluff than you said... Because the North had influence from bending advantage and from deciding construction... they hold the power, and with no one really to stop them, they've become corrupted by it."

Sokka nodded. "Slimy little..."

Aang cut him off. "Hey. Let's not do that. Even the best of us might not be able to handle it when there's nothing stopping us."

"Even if that's true - which it's not - people should have more reasoning."

Aang shook his head. "Now, Sokka. If you had the chance to create a new kind of demolition material that would make mining a lot easier, but the only testing spots at hand were Fire Nation houses that house important historical artifacts, would you do it?"

"Okay. Maybe I was being extreme when I said it wasn't true. But the fact still stands, that people should know not to do this. It would be tempting to blow up those houses, but I still wouldn't."

Aang shrugged. "You never know till the time comes."

"Are you saying I should?"

He snorted in exasperation. "Forget I said anything." He put his hands to his temple and breathed. In. Out. It was all so much to handle. Everything had been going right - the reconstruction, the exoneration, the diplomatic relations... everything had been showing signs of improvement, signs of moving past the Hundred Years' War. Was that really all just a fantasy? Did it really take Azula's insurrection to reveal that?

He looked up when he felt the hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. You did great, okay?"

Aang sighed. "It's not even that. It's... will things ever get better? I was so happy in Ba Sing Se, thinking everything was all right..."

"Then that would be a sorry existence to have, having nothing to worry about. There would be nothing for us to compare the happiness to. And you know what happens after that."

He grimaced. "I know that. The monks were kind enough to give a... lecture... on that"

"But you have progressed things. At least people are able to focus their efforts on making things better instead of just surviving through a war."

"Perhaps."

Suddenly, Aang sensed it. A disturbance. A ripple of unease through the people. Then alarm. Screaming. People began to run, nearly bowling Aang and Sokka over. They glanced at each other. Aang scowled.

"Smoke."

"How are we getting through the crowd then, Avatar Obvious?"

Aang grabbed Sokka by the scruff of the neck, crouched down, and sprung. Reaching out with his hand, he barely grabbed on to the ledge of the shortest building, and barely managed to pull himself and Sokka on top of it.

"I guess that works," Sokka winced, checking his collar for any damage to the fabric.

"No time to ogle your fashion. Just follow me! We gotta go!" Aang began to sprint towards the smoke. Unlike smoke from a hearty cooking fire or a massive warning fire, this smoke was thin. Wispy. Controlled. Wafts of steam, less visible, silhouetted the smoke, as the screams continued from below. Even from such a distance away, it was obvious where the smoke was coming from.

Hakoda's house.

Constructive feedback always welcome