Chapter Four

Life was supposed to get easier after Aang had defeated Firelord Ozai. There would be no more war, no more severe conflicts, no more people trying to kill him and his friends…

He had never been more wrong in his life.

Winning the war against the Fire Nation had just been the beginning. Now he was left with a half-destroyed Earth Kingdom, a Northern Water tribe that was still rebuilding from the Siege of the North, and the Fire Nation was left without a leader. As Avatar, it was his duty to maintain the peace, to ensure tranquility in the world. And he had no clue where to even begin.

The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe would have to wait. One thing was certain: he could not leave a nation leaderless, even if their royal line had died out, been imprisoned, or institutionalized. He had approached Iroh before, but he had insisted the throne belonged to Zuko.

Aang shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He could not let his personal feelings get in the way of what needed to be done. There would be plenty of time to miss his enemy-turned-firebending-master-turned-friend once some resemblance of peace was established.

He walked the halls of the palace toward the room Iroh was occupying and knocked on the door. The group had only seen traces of the man since the funeral, though Aang could not fault him for that. He had been Zuko's companion since the prince had been banished from the Fire Nation, and they had known each other for all of Zuko's life. Aang had only known his friends for a year, and already he could not imagine the pain that losing them would have been sure to bring.

"Who is it?" Iroh asked from behind the door, his voice older, more weary than Aang had remembered it. The man had been so strong when Aang had asked him to fight Ozai in his place, so sure of himself when he had declined.

"Uh, it's me," Aang replied. "Aang. The Avatar?" He waited a moment in silence before the door slid open. Iroh stood before him, looking much older than he was, and as though he had not slept in days. "Sorry to disturb you."

"No, it's quite all right," Iroh forced a smile. "Please, come in," he stepped to the side, and Aang respectfully entered. "Would you care for some tea?"

"I'm okay," Aang replied. "Actually, I needed to ask you something…" he trailed off when he saw Iroh's face fall even further.

"I will not do it," the general shook his head. "I have already told you that."

"I know," Aang replied. "But now things are different. There's no one else."

"There is always someone else," Iroh responded. "I have no doubt some long lost relative with a weak claim will step forward in the next few weeks."

"Do you really want some stranger running your country?" Aang raised an eyebrow and studied Iroh's face, studied the defeat lurking beneath the man's eyes. He sighed and set his staff down on a table. "I know you miss him. I miss him too. But he wouldn't want everything to fall apart."

Iroh shook his head again. "Politics are a young man's game," he responded, his tone cold and even. "I want nothing to do with them anymore."

"Will you at least rule until we can find someone?" Aang asked.

"I will consider it," Iroh responded, waving his hand dismissively. Aang nodded, gathered his things and left the room to find his friends.

He had not gotten a chance to breathe since their victory, hadn't gotten a chance to congratulate his friends, to even see them, and it hurt. He needed them, maybe more than he had ever needed them, and life just kept getting in the way.

He smiled slightly when he saw Katara and Sokka sitting in a circle with their father, eating and laughing together, glad that at least some could be happy in the mess he had helped create. "Aang," Sokka waved him over. "Come sit with us."

"Thanks, Sokka," he replied and sat next to his friend, hoping he could pretend everything had gone back to normal, though he wondered if there had ever really been a 'normal' between them. "Hey, Katara," he nodded toward his oldest friend.

"Hi, Aang," she replied and focused back on her breakfast. Aang glanced at Sokka, who shrugged in response. Aang nodded and poured himself a cup of tea, for once unsure of what to say. He wished he had the magic words to make everything better, to make Katara happy again, but there were some things even the Avatar couldn't fix.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Hakoda spoke, cutting through the silence that had drowned the group. "Lightning through the heart," he shook his head. "It doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go."

"No," Aang agreed. "It doesn't." He frowned when Katara pushed her plate away and left the group without so much of a goodbye.

"Sorry about her," Hakoda apologized. "She told me she was there with him. When it happened. It's really taken a toll on her."

"I hate seeing her like this," Sokka shook his head. "It's like she's completely forgotten who she is."

"She'll come around," Aang replied and finished his tea. He hoped she would come around, at least, though he doubted he or his friends would ever be the same after everything they had gone through.

"Well," Sokka set his plate down. "I should check in on Suki." He stood, placing a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?" Aang nodded and watched as his friend left, leaving him and Hakoda alone.

"Can I ask you something?" Aang looked into the man's eyes.

"Of course," Hakoda replied.

"How do I do it? How do I rebuild everything? You helped your tribe do it. What do I do?" he hated himself for being unable to hide the desperation in his tone.

"Unfortunately there's no manual on these kinds of things," Hakoda responded as he started to clean up the area. "And you're not going to find a solution that makes everyone happy. You're going to make mistakes, and you and the rest of the world will have to live with them."

"Great, thanks," Aang sighed and left. He walked, wanting to get as far away from the crowd as he could, wanting to listen to himself and what he wanted for a change, wanting to clear his head. But it wasn't about himself and what he wanted anymore. Every choice he made would have to be for the good of the world.

Compared to that, fighting Ozai had been easy.