Needless to say, drama bombs went off in every direction. When Ursa learned her son had been arrested, she was insistent that he was innocent, until Mai said, "I saw him. He tried to kill Azula right in front of me."

"How could he? Why would he?"

"He let Ozai corrupt him from jail. Dear old dad spoon fed him ideas on how to be a tyrant, and Zuko lost control."

Ursa was beside herself. She had already lost Ozai to the darkness and now she lost Zuko too. How did she fail to protect her son again? "I didn't even know he was visiting his father."

Katara let Azula have it when she learned the woman was still alive. "How could you do that? Your kids were distraught. I blamed myself. Aang and I fought about it for months."

All Azula could say is, "Want to hold Prince Lu Ten."

Even Katara couldn't say mad with a baby in sight. He had his mother's eyes and hair. Right away, she could tell he was a firebender. "He's gorgeous."

He was a happy baby, a bit pudgy, and he'd just look up at people and smile.

Azula and Haru had to tell their story many times as it was just so bizarre, from how they met to why they hid and what happened afterwards.

Eventually, all of team Avatar passed through the palace, wanting to learn about what had already happened and what was going to happen to Zuko and to the Crown. While they were finding out about their former friend, the sages were getting ready to coronate the Crown Princess once again.

This time, the venue was packed. Most all of the nobles and important people from all over the world had come to this unexpected event.

Azula's servants were attending to her when her mother appeared.

"I just wanted to wish you luck before you go on stage."

"Isn't that bad luck?"

"I think that's just a theatre superstition."

"Well this palace is a theatrical place." If only the walls could talk.

While the two mothers talked, Haru was with his two youngest children, holding them while he talked to Mai for the first time in years.

"I blamed myself," Mai said. "When we couldn't have another child. I thought I was broken some how and I was afraid that Zuko was going to leave me." It was weird, finding out that she had been healthy, and Zuko had been become infertile.

"I think people always blame the wife as it's 'her job' to bare children. It's not fair, but we've been preconditioned that way since childhood."

"To think, Azula ended up having four (She swore she'd never have any). Are you two done?"

"I don't know. She'll be too busy now trying to get everything in order, but I wouldn't be opposed to more kids. Originally, we had planned on just two, but then we decided to try again. Lu Ten was a happy surprise."

He had happened on a rainy night when both of them were really down about not having seen their kids in so long. What started off as a night of holding each other and weeping turned into long kisses, needy touches and well, a baby.

Rei and Hiro were with their Aunt Kiyi. She was tasked with making sure Hiro doesn't ruin his clothes before the coronation. She didn't realize how much he loved dirt. "How did I get the grunt work?" she wondered as she chased her nephew around.

Ty Lee was with Sokka. Now that her guardianship days were over, she was free to come with Sokka back to the tribe. She had fallen in love with him and Hakoda II and hoped to be the mother that Suki couldn't be.

Aang and Katara were with Bumi II, Toph, Satoru, and Lin.

"I still can't believe Sparky is in jail," Toph said as she held her baby.

"He's lucky he's in jail because if he were here then I'd …" Katara paused. She probably shouldn't make threats in front of the baby.

"I was so sure that he put his past behind him, but it just came back."

"No, he just got worse," Toph said. "Even the old Zuko wasn't a child killer."

"Azula said that Ozai had been spoon feeding him ideas from jail. Why would he listen to his deposed father?"

Zuko claimed that it was to protect his legacy, but he never really felt comfortable as Fire Lord. He felt the world staring at him sitting on his sister's Crown and he had to make sure it was his and his forever. It was his jealousy and megalomania that was his downfall.

"I think he was insecure," Satoru said. "Everything started off nice and happy after the war, but then the job got hard. People needed food. Resources were scarce and as people started to doubt him, he became more obsessed with holding onto the crown, so much so that he was ready to kill anyone who might potentially be in his way. He didn't think he could keep control by being a good leader, so he decided to try to take out his competition."

"Poor Ursa," Aang said.

"Which one?" asked Toph.

"I meant his daughter, but his mother must be distraught too."

The Coronation was set to begin.

The Head Sage came out. Everyone stood up as the council proceeded into the arena and they stood as the royal family was announced. They went in reverse seniority order "Introducing Lady Ursa, Lady Kiyi and Sir Ikem, Princess Ta Min, Prince Hiro, Princess Ursa, Princess Mai, Prince Iroh, Crown Prince Lu Ten, Princess Rei (will be Crown Princess at the end of the ceremony), Prince Haru (will be Fire Man at the end of the Ceremony) and Crown Princess Azula (will be Fire Lord at the end of the ceremony)

Once the royal family sat down, everyone else could be seated. First, one of the younger sages gave his spiel about the history of the Fire Lord. Then the chairman of the council went on about the longstanding relationship between the Council and the Fire Lord. Then, the Head Sage gave his speech and then it was the crowning and then it was Azula's time to talk.

Hiro was exhausted after the second speech. "My clothes itch." He was not used to dressing the part of a prince.

"Maybe Mom will let you swim in the fountain afterwards," Rei said, baiting him.

"You will do no such thing," Ursa told her grandchildren.

The Head Sage stood up and took the podium.

"I have presided over coronations and I have presided over royal funerals, but I have never presided over a royal funeral and then coronated the same royal two years later."

The crowd laughed.

"Normally, this is the time where I say the same spiel I always say, but I just said it. Most of you remember it when I said it at Zuko's Coronation and at Ozai's Coronation and I doubt anyone wants to hear it a third time, so I decided to prepare something else today.

The Fire Lord is our nation's swinging pendulum. We revel in his victories and are relegated in his defeats. Most would expect that the best Fire Lord is the one that doesn't lose, but that isn't the case. The best Fire Lord is the one that stands up for his people at all costs and sometimes wins and sometimes loses but never gives up. It isn't the ability to avoid getting knocked down, but it is the ability to get right back up.

Azula was celebrated for years for never faltering. She had an amazing ability of luck and skill that allowed her to never fall down. Almost nine years ago, it seemed like her luck ran out, but what replaced her good fortune was resilience. Like a phoenix, she emerged out of the ashes, stronger and brighter than before and ready to take on whatever came her way from parenting to fighting assassins and it wasn't her luck that led to her successes, but it was her patience and understanding.

If there was ever such a thing as destiny, then it has come here and now for the Princess who is truly a marvel."

Azula's emotions were running on overdrive. Who she was now and who she used to be were so different; it felt like a lifetime had passed in the past eight years. She set aside her political ambitions to fall in love and have a family only to find herself back on the throne that she had coveted for most of her own life.

She knelt down before the head sage and after receiving the sacred rite, was crowned Fire Lord Azula. She stood, wearing a crown that had to be made for her since her head was smaller than her brother's. It was gold and adorned with rubies, and with black silk for a cap, showing off all of the Fire Nation's colors.

Now it was time to address her people for the first time.

She walked to the podium, having to stand on the booster box so she could be seen over it and looked into what felt like a million faces.

"Most little girls, play with their dolls and look forward to tea parties and sleepovers. I looked forward to the day I could start my firebending training. I would watch my brother and my cousin practice from my bedroom window, waiting for my chance to shine. I always thought my value was directly tied to my success, and as long as I was the best, then I deserved whatever I wanted.

As a Princess, I represented the royal family, the Fire Lord and the nation. His Fire Lord's goal was my goal and I was ready to do whatever was necessary to make sure that he won. When he won, I won and if I kept winning, I would someday be Fire Lord, as everyone wants a Fire Lord who is a winner.

In my world, the ends justified the means and anyone who stood in my way was someone to be scorned, whether it was my mother, my brother, my uncle or even the Avatar, tasked with the thankless job of trying to keep world order. No good was as great as mine and no challenger was to be feared. What people called luck, I call sheer recklessness, but somehow I got away with it time and time again, until I didn't. Eventually, my cruel ways caught up to me.

It took me a long time to learn that the ends don't justify the means. If you want something badly enough to kill for it, then you are likely overestimating it is value in the first place. If something is rightfully yours, but you cannot achieve it fairly, then it is not your right to have it.

Eight years ago, I ran through the forgetful valley, trying to remove any memory of my victories and my failures, so that I could start anew. I had forgotten everything from my own name to the fact that I was a firebender at all. The skill that defined me was not even a memory anymore.

I was found by my now father in law and he introduced me to his son who I fell in love with and married, and with him I have four amazing children. Along the way, I started to remember who I was. First it was vague memories of swimming with my brother on Ember Island. Then it was parties and festivals in the Fire Nation. When I got pregnant, Rei started firekicking. I thought it was unusual that she was a firebender when I was not and then I tried.

A blue flame emerged from my hands and I was so stunned that I fell down because I didn't understand why my flame was blue. I didn't even realize it was possible. When I went to the library to read about it, there was only one person who was known to have a blue flame, Princess Azula. I thought, well maybe I could find her and she could tell me why my flame is blue.

When I looked her up, I read about her deeds and I felt a mix of awe from her talents and horror from how she used them. Conquering Ba Sing Se with two other teenage girls, awesome, but killing the Avatar along the way was dreadful. Then, I read that she had disappeared around the time I had been found. I had been reading about a beautiful monster, only to learn that I was the monster was all along.

I tried to hide from my past, deciding that I should just stay Mina instead. No one would have to know the difference. Eventually, I realized that I would have to tell my husband and when I did, to my surprise, he said it didn't matter who I was before. All that mattered was who I am now and all Mina wanted, all that I wanted was to have a simple life with my husband and my kids.

Despite my best efforts, people found me anyway and I found myself being chased from city to city, evading assassins, faking my own death, investigating my own "murder" and finding my way back onto the throne that I had chosen to forget about years ago.

I want to look at all of you and tell you that I deserve to be here, that the throne is rightfully mine, but I don't know if I can. I didn't do anything to get the throne. My brother foolishly threw it away, and it settled at my feet.

He struggled to balance our nation's responsibility to the world with his responsibility to our nation, and his popularity dwindled. When he felt his throne was in jeopardy, he chose to try and kill anyone who might jeopardize it instead of trying to bring the family together and finding a better way.

He was so obsessed with making sure that his bloodline kept the throne that his legacy dwarfed our father's that he tried to kill me and my daughter to make sure that the sages changed the rules of succession. What he wanted wasn't worth killing for, but he didn't see it that way. I'm not sure how his blunder makes me worthy, but here I am, wearing a crown that I believed I deserved most of my life just to wonder if I should even be holding it.

My brother was worthy of the crown once, but then he threw it away. I wasn't worthy of it before, but I have it now. Somewhere, there is a moral in this story, but I don't know what it is. I do know, however, that I will give my people all that I have. I want them to stand with me when I succeed and I will own my mistakes when I fail. I know I'm a much better person than I used to be, and I hope it's enough.

Thank You."

Azula has given a lot of speeches in her life. She was always optimistic and charismatic in them, winning the crowd with her well-chosen words and effective delivery, but today, for the first time, she was brutally honest. She didn't have any magic words to win them over. All she had was herself, the good and the bad. It was her candor that touched the crowd and it was her vulnerability that made her strong.

She received a standing ovation and then there was the outgoing procession, starting with the Fire Lord and going in the reverse order that they had been announced.

While the country celebrated Azula's return to glory, her brother contemplated his own defeat. Bested by his sister once again, and again it was Mai who had changed sides. Now, his wife and daughter would live in the palace while he rotted in jail. This would be his legacy now. He had managed to become his father.

Ozai found the whole thing comical. Zuko would likely lose his bending and spend the rest of his days here, just like him. Of course it was the son he hated that ended up being just like him and the daughter that he praised who ended up being just like her mother. Ozai taught Azula how to firebend, how to be fierce, how to be cunning, but she would be sharing her glory with his fat brother and his ex-wife, leaving her father as a relic from the past.

"Hey Zuko, at least my wife never turned on me. Clearly, you never beat her enough!"

Zuko pounded at the bars. "I can still burn you from here!"

"Want to lose your bending even faster?" he mocked.

Back at the palace, the Fire Lord was changing out of her stuffy coronation robes into a more comfortable red dress. It showed off her soft curves. Her breasts were still quite big from pregnancy and her breastfeeding. Her round hips had given birth four times and if Haru had his way one or two more. She told him she needed at least a year hiatus from being pregnant to keep her sanity and get the country in order.

His reaction was maybe you could have twins two years from now to keep us on schedule. She ruffled his hair. It had been down past his shoulders, but he had cut it short when they went into hiding. It was starting to grow out again, but Haru liked the shorter hair in the hot Fire Nation.

Haru came to see his wife before the banquet started. "You look gorgeous," he said as he put his arms around her.

"I was serious when I said you better not get me pregnant this year."

"I know," he kissed her neck. "But we can have plenty of fun without making a baby."

"Not until after the banquet."

"Are you sure?"

"I just got this dress on."

"Leave it on." His hands went up her sides. A devilish grin was on his face.

Rei was the Crown Princess now. After talking to her mother, she decided to let Ursa II keep the room associated with it and instead moved into the empty Crown Prince room. Since he was only two months old, Lu Ten would be in the nursery anyway (along with Ta Min) and would not want the room for some time. They could settle the matter then, but Ursa had already lost her father, she didn't need to feel like she had been demoted in the same swoop.

Hino decided to stay in the guest room that attached to Rei's room instead of having his own suite. He found having his own quarters a bit too daunting. It felt like the bedroom he had been originally assigned was larger than the upstairs of the house he had always called home.

At the banquet were the Fire Nation nobles, the world leaders from every nation, team Avatar and the Kyoshi Warriors. Suki had been lured out by her warriors her convinced her that skipping would be a slight that would not help her peacekeeping goals for the future.

She was hesitant to come to the palace where her former lover had once reigned and to encounter her ex-husband. She worried that everyone would know about her affair with Zuko since his failure to produce heirs motivated his crimes. Surely, Mai knew by now. She stabbed him. She must have known something.

When she did get there, she saw Sokka, Hakoda II and Ty Lee sitting with the royal family. Azula insisted they were family after all of the things they had gone through together. "You don't go to hell and back for anyone else," she said. Suki's heart became bitter when she saw Ty Lee helping Hakoda get in his chair, tending to him like a mother would and clearly Sokka had chosen Ty Lee as her replacement.

The other warriors were surprised to see Ty Lee with Sokka, but it made sense that she was the one to fill the void. She had already had a crash course in parenting and she had always found the warrior attractive. Everyone knew that.

At the head of the royal table was Azula, her husband at one side and Hiro at the other. They had put the smaller children next to adults to help them as needed. Rei was next to her brother, and then there was Ursa, Ikem and Kiyi. Next to Haru was his father. Sokka, Hakoda II, Ty Lee, Mai, Ursa II and Iroh finished the other end of the table.

"I don't remember the royal family ever being this large," Iroh told them.

"Well, Azula and Haru have been quite busy," Sokka quipped.

Ty Lee elbowed him.

"Are you and Ty Lee gonna get married?" Hiro questioned, silencing the jokester.

This time, Azula was laughing.

"At the wedding, please don't wear a pink wedding dress," Rei requested, anything but pink.

"What if you wore pink as the flower girl instead?" Ty Lee teased.

"Ursa, you're gonna be the flower girl."

"Can I be the ringbearer?" Hiro asked.

The food was plentiful and multicultural with a slant towards the fire nation cuisine: roasted turtle duck, fried turtle crab cakes, grilled unagi, komodo chicken sausages, chilled tomato soup or sea prune stew, roasted pine carrots, rice, tofu, sushi, and spicy bean cakes.

The meal was served family style except for the soups, which were served as starters.

Aang found that they had done a much better job with vegetarian options than the last coronation. "I think I had rice and that was it." There had even been bacon bits in the vegetables.

He was at a table with his wife, Bumi II, Toph, Satoru and Lin.

"Sokka ditched us for the cool kids," Toph teased.

"I still can't believe how much has changed over the past two years," Katara said.

Everything from the politics to their own friends and families was different. Katara never would have thought Suki would have left her brother and he would end up with Ty Lee or that Azula would have married Haru and ended up with four kids or be Fire Lord, while Zuko was in jail, leaving Mai and Ursa II in the palace.

"I know right," Toph went for a turtle crab cake. "To think Princess Crazy got her act together while her brother lost his marbles. Maybe only one of them can be sane at a time."

"Their mother must be so confused," Katara said.

Ursa was confused at first by Zuko's treachery, then by his decision to follow Ozai. It was even weirder when she compared their relationship to her own with her daughter. They had never gotten along before and Azula had seemed like her opposite, but she was just like her: pushed to extremes by the Fire Lord and abandoning their past lives, doing the unthinkable to save their children, being forced to leave them behind and hope for the best, and returning to the palace they thought they would never see again.

Somehow, Azula made her return to her family seamless when Ursa's had been anything but. Sure being gone for eight months is not the same as seven years, but Azula knew how to make it right with her kids. How, Ursa had no idea.

She thought she had been doing well with Zuko, but clearly she had not been and she had lost contact with Azula all together. What did it say about her that the sibling she had favored chose evil and the one she had distanced herself from found the light?

There was something peculiar about the bonds between parents and their children. Every person at the table had a different experience, which had been defining for their personas. Mai wondered how this recent turn of events would impact Ursa II.

Right now, she understood her father had been bad and had been sent away like her grandfather had been, but she won't understand the gravity of his crime for years to come. Her daily routine isn't that much different. Mai had definitely done more of the parenting than her husband, but she surely noticed his absence and realized that it would never be the same again.

As Mai scanned the children at the table, she contemplated their relationships with their parents.

Hiro was just like his dad, loves to get outside and play, according to Azula, both track dirt into the house like no other and apparently think earthbending indoors is okay if she doesn't see them even if she finds the evidence later.

Rei is clearly her mother's daughter with her sharp intellect and her outspoken nature. She can be brutally honest, but she showed influences from Ty Lee as well, helping her brother cut his meat as the acrobat helped Hakoda II and having a doll collection that Azula would have burned at that age. How would the chi blocker's stay affect Rei as she matured? Was it permanent or will the influence weaken over time?

Absent from the table were Ta Min and Lu Ten II, their personalities not yet defined. Both of who would be royalty as long as they could remember. How would this affect them compared to Rei and Hiro? Surely it would be different, making the transition from small town kids to royalty versus only knowing life in the palace. Also, they missed all the drama, or at least they won't remember any of it, missing some of the scars that their older siblings had to bear.

Kiyi was clearly Noriko's daughter, showing humility from being raised as a small town girl and not a Fire Nation noble. She had quickly become acclimated to the palace, but she had a way of treating everyone the same. Title just didn't affect her outlook the way they did with the other Fire Nation elite. Her upbringing had been so different from Azula's and Zuko's it was hard to picture her as their sibling. Not only did they have different fathers but for six years, they had different mothers as well.

Hakoda II was just like his father from his laugh to his appetite and Mai wondered if he would remember Suki this time next year. He hadn't seen her in two years and he had known Ty Lee much of that time. If she stayed with his father, then she would be the only mother figure he would remember. What happens when he learns about the mother who left him behind? Mai hoped that Ty Lee could fill the void Suki left in her wake.

The adults had their relationships with their own parents varying from following in their parent's footsteps, to a parent being murdered, to being used as a war machine to just being ignored. None of the adults at the table could say the same thing about their parents and yet they were all here at one table as one family.

Five days ago, Mai lost her husband and she thought her world had come crashing down, but she realized that she had gained so much more. "Could you pass the pine carrots?"

After the meal came a toast for the new Fire Lord and dessert. The new monarch couldn't drink, as she was breastfeeding, so Haru took two glasses. "I'm just taking one for the team," he said.

"How horrible for you."

Glasses clicked and people drank before moving their way to the dance floor or to the bar.

Mai watched, as the couples went to dance, even the children were dancing. She swore that Hakoda II and Sokka had the same dance.

The first Hakoda watched his son and his grandson and was glad to find that Sokka was happy again and had a woman who would be there for both of them. He had noticed that Suki grew distant from Sokka once the Kyoshi Warriors moved to the palace and was surprised when they got married instead of breaking up. When they divorced, he was sad for his son but not surprised. Sokka deserved a woman who was 100% in, and Suki was not.

The bitter woman drank watching what she thought was her ex-husband flaunting his new life in front of her. When Ty Lee spun Hakoda around, Suki clenched her hand so tight her knuckle turned white. The other warriors noticed her drunken staring and hoped their leader didn't start a scene. Maybe they should have left her at home.

Little Ursa left her mom to go dance with Hiro and Rei. She was used to just sitting in place like a good little princess, but Hiro and Rei would do no such thing. Mai was glad that the kids had become close so quickly. She wasn't sure if she would ever give Ursa II a sibling, so it was nice that she would grow up with two children near her age and three other children in the house, although Kiyi wouldn't be a child for much longer. Who knows, Azula might have more babies.

The Fire Lord was dancing with her Fire Man. He towered over her, both in height and in width as he was broad shouldered and well muscled. She pulled him close to her body, the two moving seductively across the floor. Despite the fatigue that comes with four kids, their passion for each other burned consistently, probably the reason they had so many kids in the first place.

Katara danced with Aang, Toph with Satoru and Bumi and Lin tried to dance but they were mostly falling off their feet, especially Lin.

Mai was so amused by the baby she didn't even notice a former acquaintance approach her.

"May I have this dance?"

It was Ruon Jian. He no longer had the long hair that he used to flip and his voice was deeper, but he had the same pretty face.

"You have no better prospects," she teased.

"Well, I was married, but then my wife left me for Chan, so I can't say I do."

Mai made a face. "And I thought I had it bad."

"There's always someone who has it worse."

"Well in that case, I think I will dance with you."

They started talking about what happened to them after the war, mostly RJ since everyone knew Mai's path.

"I joined the peace corps after the war," helping to clean up polluted rivers caused by the factories.

"Good for you."

"I wish I could say it was for philanthropic reasons. My parents got sick of me being drunk with Chan all the time and said do something useful or we're cutting you off. I was bitter at the time, but I needed a wakeup call. I thought I was cool because I flipped my hair, gross!"

Mai snickered. "I like it much better short. I can actually see your face."

"Do you like looking at my face?" he winked at her.

"So you're still cocky as ever."

"I'd like to think I grew up a little."

"Just a little."

"Yeah."

Eventually, Mai had to get little Ursa to bed.

RJ said he would write to her.

"I would like that." It would be nice to have someone outside the palace walls to talk to, and maybe it would amount to something. She didn't mind taking her time to find out.

Azula and Haru put Rei and Hiro in bed as well. They read to their children Karo Finds a Dragon and did all of the voices. Hiro fell asleep half way through, but Rei made it until the end. Haru offered to move her brother to his own bed, but Rei said he could stay for the night. "I sleep on the left side anyway."

He had spent many nights in her room after their parents "died" and she got used to the snoring little bugger.

Sokka and Ty Lee put Hakoda II in bed too. They were staying in a suite in the palace before going to the tribe. Ty Lee had never been there before, but she was excited to see Sokka's world.

Sokka wondered if he should have approached Suki. He saw her there, but she never made eye contact with him. He didn't want to put her on the spot, but he worried if she felt too intimidated with Ty Lee there to approach. Maybe he should have sent her a letter before the coronation.

The couple went back to the party to mingle with their friends. He had not seen as much of his sister or the others since he started investigating with Ty Lee.

"So you do remember us," Toph teased them as they approached.

"I know I've been MIA lately, but I was doing important work."

"You work? Where?"

He explained how he and Ty Lee had been chasing leads, trying to figure out who had been after Azula. They had made a few trips into the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, looking into people who might have been threatened by her reign or her progeny, but when nothing turned up, they focused their attention on Zuko. "Once we found out he was sterile, it was the only thing that made sense."

"He was sterile?"

"He couldn't produce a firebender. He knew the only way to get his daughter on the throne was to prevent Azula from producing one, but she already had."

"Even if both her kids had been earthbenders," Satoru started, "they could have just married firebenders, and he would have had the same problem."

"Sparky was worried about an immediate takeover or else Ursa II could have married a firebender to produce an heir."

"Are Zuko and Ozai really in cells that face each other?" Aang questioned.

"Yeah," Ty Lee admitted. "Azula didn't do it on purpose, but Zuko had passed some law that puts people in blocks based on the offense and trying to kill Princesses puts you in the same section as trying to burn down the Earth Kingdom, so they ended up face to face."

"They're going to kill each other," Sokka said.

"I'm sure Ozai was taunting him all day. He's very childish, I mean if you can imagine a homicidal child."

Katara came back after getting Bumi to go to sleep and the group went to the lounge, catching up and sharing their summer plans. Sokka and Ty Lee were going to the tribe for a few months and then going to a fall vacation in Ba Sing Se before spending some of the winter in the palace.

Katara was jealous that Sokka took Hakoda travelling to so many places. Aang's work was often dangerous, so Katara would stay behind with Bumi. They did, however, have a trip to the tribe planned as well as one to Gaoling to visit Toph and her family.

Toph was excited to be back at work. Satoru had been a stay at home dad while she got her metalbending academy going again and once she was a bit older, he'd be right back to engineering.

Iroh came into the room. "Mind if I join you?"

"Gramps. I haven't seen you in forever," Toph told him. "What's going on?"

"Well, nothing too interesting well other than all of the murder attempts and conspiracies with my family but that's nothing new."

"Iroh being sarcastic?" Toph questioned. "Hmm."

"The conspiracy part isn't new at all, but it is new that Zuko was trying to kill Azula this time and Ozai was helping him just to help Azula stop him. It's like the opposite of the war," Ty Lee pointed out.

"Maybe it's like tag, everyone has to be it at some point," Iroh lamented. Azula let go of the crown years ago and that's precisely why she deserved it. It wasn't what power she was entitled to but what she did with the power that she had. She didn't have much after she ran away, but she made the most of it.

Zuko, however, let the crown get to his head. He used his power to keep his power not to better the nation and when he decided he would do whatever it took to keep the crown in his direct bloodline, he lost what had made him worthy in the first place.

He hoped that the future generation did not have this battle for the throne, that Rei and Lu Ten II could just be siblings. Without the stress of war and with united parents, the odds were in their favor. As happy as Iroh was for the good that had come out, he felt distressed that he had lost a second son to greed. He made flippant jokes to try and cover up how miserable he felt.