104 ASC. The 4th Year of Our Phoenix King.
"Do you remember what day it is?" Fire Lord Zuko sips a cup of tea, peering at the Avatar over its rim. Through the bars, the Avatar mirrors him, sipping his own tea, leveling his own stare.
"How could I forget?" The Avatar has grown up since he was installed here, and hair has grown on his head, long and thick and dark. Patches of stubble have started to appear on his face, but although his body has matured, it has remained thin, perhaps now is even more delicate than it had been upon his capture. His voice is lower, the voice of a man, creaky from infrequent use. Hollows under his eyes and cheekbones have chiseled out his bones, and the childish roundness to his face is gone.
"Bringing you back got me everything I always wanted. But it's not what I thought it would be." Zuko runs a hand through his loose hair, filled in where it had been shaved and long in the style of past Fire Lords.
"It never is," Aang retorts. "Do we have to do this?"
"Yes," Zuko says, setting down the teacup. "My father does this every year. You know that."
"You could still let me out," he says, with the hopeful smile of his old self.
"I am letting you out, Avatar. To the parade."
Aang sighs heavily, shoulders slumping. "To the parade."
As he bundles the Avatar into the customary restraints, Zuko lets his mind wander. Back to that first parade, the one in his honor for bringing the Avatar back in chains. Back when he thought his father would be happy to see him, quest completed, stronger, faster, smarter. Back when he thought he'd spend more than a few days at a time at home. "Have you seen my uncle? I know he used to visit you."
The Avatar stiffens. "No, Fire Lord Zuko, I haven't."
His face is shuttered, and Zuko knows it's time to go.
"It didn't work last time, and it won't work this time," Sokka argues. "And this time you won't even have an eclipse to back you up!"
The leader of the freedom fighters chews on a stalk of straw, studying Sokka. "The last one was your idea. Besides, we've come a long way since the Day of Black Sun invasion. We have more warriors with better training. We're stronger, and we're ready to take on the Fire Nation. Or we would be if you weren't being such a coward about it."
"Shut up, Jet," Sokka growls. "We're not stronger. We lost a lot of good people, and you know just as well as I do that we're the last of the resistance. There's no backup this time. We can't attack them head on."
"Sokka, I know what it's like to lose your parents. Trust me. But just because your dad was killed during the last invasion doesn't mean you should be so cautious. This could be our last chance. The Water Tribes won't survive a campaign."
"We don't know that they're planning to attack," Sokka points out.
Jet grins, and it sets Sokka's teeth on edge. "You're wrong. Long Shot sent word that the Yu Yan Archers are meeting the Fire Lord's troops at the Northern Air Temple. They're going to attack the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka. There's no other reason the Fire Lord would be moving troops up there. It's not like he needs to keep the Mechanist in line anymore."
"Do we know how many he's taking?"
"No. The only thing we know is what I know from Long Shot. Don't you understand what this means? The archers aren't guarding the capital. The Phoenix King will be vulnerable. We'll be able to get everything in place."
Sokka snorts. Ozai, vulnerable. "What makes you think it's not another trap?"
Jet crosses his arms over his chest and moves the straw to the other side of his mouth. A beat passes. "It doesn't matter if it's a trap. We're running out of options. It's only a matter of time before Princess Azula finds us, and she doesn't take prisoners. If we're going to go down, let's go down fighting. Let's make the Fire Nation pay for everything they've taken from us."
There's a reason Jet is the leader. Sokka knows this as well as he knows Jet's plan is a disaster waiting to happen. Charisma makes fools of the wisest men. And women, he muses wryly as Katara pushes through the thick tarp in the doorway.
"Hey," Jet says, raising his brows and cracking a grin. "You look pretty today."
Katara glares at him. "Thank you."
"Katara, has Jet told you about this?"
"What's going on?"
Sokka and Jet review the plan. A terrible plan, Sokka adds at regular intervals. A suicidal plan. A beyond idiotic plan. No way are they taking their entire force out of this forest and marching on the capital armed with barrels of explosives. They most certainly will not recall Long Shot from his undercover post with the Yu Yan archers, not when that would be like waving a giant red flag in the air that something is going on. A hand-picked, elite archer who spent over three years building his reputation in a puny little Fire Nation town can't just disappear one day.
The Fire Lord doesn't have the strategic genius or raw power of his sister, but Sokka knows him. He knows Zuko has instincts that rival Sokka's own. Maybe he'll even admit that they're better, if pressed, so that's their first problem. They can't bring Long Shot home to cover them as they fight their way up the beach. Again.
And there's the small matter of their force being about sixty young men, a few women, and most importantly, no Avatars. Katara flinches, but Sokka keeps going. They failed on the Day of Black Sun because their focus was divided. They should have either committed to breaking Aang out of prison and coming back to fight another day or to killing Ozai, but accomplishing both is what got them massacred.
Not again. Sokka isn't going to do that again. Not when his only family left is his sister. Not when they've lost their father, not when the Mechanist and his son are in a cell somewhere building the war machines that took down Ba Sing Se. Not when none of the men of the Southern Water Tribe will ever go home.
Never again.
"There has to be another way," Katara says. "Jet, we can't sacrifice all of our people. There has to be someone for Aang to come back to."
Jet looks down at her, fingering his swords, and then he looks away. "The Avatar isn't coming back, Katara. I know you promised him you'd free him, but that isn't an option anymore. We're going to attack the Fire Nation, and we're going to blow as much of it up as we can. We'll drop blasting jelly in its volcanoes, in its streets, in its prisons, in the palace. The only thing that matters is that it's destroyed."
"Jet-" Sokka has a bad feeling about this, but Jet isn't listening to him anymore.
"Katara," Jet whispers, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilting it up so she's looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry. The Avatar is going to die. When we're done with the Fire Nation, there won't be anything left."
Katara jerks away from him. "No. No, Jet. I won't let you do this. I won't help you destroy more innocent lives."
Jet clenches his fists and straightens his back, stepping toward her so that she has to crane her neck to look up at him. "Then why are you still here?"
"I chose to forgive you. That doesn't mean I'm going to ever help you do that again."
"You don't have a choice," he says, and Sokka can see the hollow blackness in his eyes. "We've already lost everything. We have to hit them before it's too late. If we can stop the war, stop the invasion of the Water Tribes, the Avatar can be reborn. The world can rebuild if the Fire Nation is destroyed."
Sokka thinks he might vomit. "Jet, this isn't the right way."
Jet whirls on him. "We've tried all the right ways, Sokka. We didn't blow up any more dams after Katara got all weepy about the first one. We haven't bombed the colonies. We haven't even ordered Long Shot to assassinate the Fire Lord. The only thing it's done is get us cornered. It's time to start doing things my way again."
Looking at his sister, a few paces back and trembling with rage, Sokka shakes his head. "We won't let you murder all those people. And we won't let you murder Aang."
"You're a monster, Jet." Katara's trembling has become a tightly restrained vibration. "How can you even consider this?"
"You're free to leave any time."
"Oh sure," Sokka grumbles. "We'll just take down the Fire Nation all by ourselves. Sounds like a great idea."
"Then let me know when you have a better idea. Otherwise, our mission starts in four days. When Smellerbee and The Duke are done mixing the blasting jelly. We start by blowing up the outer islands." Jet storms out of the room, shaking the trees in his wake as he swings away by the hooks of his swords.
The Water Tribe siblings look at each other, and Sokka slumps against the wall as Katara wraps her arms around herself. "They've been planning this a long time," he says.
"I know. We have to save Aang. Sokka, you're the plan guy. You've got to think of something."
"The plan guy. Right."
Sokka remembers when he used to be proud of that. He remembers when being the plan guy was fun, even. That was a long time ago.
As the years pass, Zuko increasingly thinks this parade is really supposed to be some kind of mockery. The details are always the same: He rides a komodo rhino at the head of a platoon of soldiers, Avatar in chains among them. Captor and captured, on display for all to see. The Fire Nation is winning, the Fire Nation has captured the Avatar. Greatness is spreading.
Zuko is starting to wonder if they've spread too much greatness and not kept enough for themselves. Atop his rhino, he looks at the once beautiful homes in the caldera, stripped of their metal trim, their ceramic tiles. The damage from the Day of Black Sun was repaired not with steel and brick but with wood, and he can see a smoky haze in the air that's semi-permanent these days. The weather is hot and dry, and the wooden houses make quick kindling for many a careless bender.
The first year, he rode, tall and proud, eyes set on the palace. His banishment lifted, his uncle beside him, honor restored, Zuko had returned home. It wasn't as he remembered it, somehow, but then nothing is the same after three years away. At least then the people had come out to celebrate. Looking at their somber faces now, things are more complicated.
Then again, things were complicated the first year too.
Your betrothal has been renegotiated, his father said. You will resume visits with Mai and her family when you return to the Fire Nation.
When I return? He'd been back a few hours. Three years gone, and he hadn't even been back to his mother's garden.
I am proud of you, Prince Zuko. I am proud that you have returned home with the Avatar. But you are the Crown Prince, and it's time you fulfilled your duty.
Zuko's head spun. He hadn't seen the turtleducks.
It's time you joined our troops on the battlefield.
It is my honor to serve the Fire Nation, Father.
Good. Commander Zhao intends to attack the Northern Water Tribe by the end of next month. You will lead the fleet.
Yes, Father. Not Zhao. Anyone but Zhao.
Welcome home, Prince Zuko.
Zuko bowed, retreated. That was enough, wasn't it? Father was proud of him. His honor was restored. That was enough. It had to be.
His people are looking gaunt now. Healthy, compared to the Avatar's skeletal frame behind him, but thin just the same. Their flowers are wilted, their homes unkept. The crowds grow smaller every year despite repopulation efforts, and he's seen the casualty lists, written the notifications and condolences. Even after Zhao's aborted mission almost certainly saved some lives, most of them aren't coming back. Some are coming back missing arms, legs, sight. Some are coming back with broken minds.
How long can you survive before you become the villain?
Sokka's face is grim. "I have a plan, but you're not going to like it."
Katara kneels next to her brother, bent over his maps. "We have to save Aang, Sokka. Just tell me what I have to do."
Sucking in a deep breath, Sokka looks into her eyes. "Zuko is on his way to the Northern Air Temple."
"I know."
"I can't stop Jet from starting the bombing. I've tried."
"I know. What do you need me to do?"
Her brother breathes in, out, slowly. "If there were any other way-"
"Sokka!"
"You have to go to the Northern Air Temple and convince Zuko to call off the attacks. If Long Shot reports that the Fire Nation is standing down, maybe Jet will be reasonable."
She looks at him, jaw slack. "What, you think I can just march into a Fire Nation camp and start giving the Fire Lord orders? Because he let me go when he took Aang? You know that was just to make sure I couldn't help Aang escape!"
Sokka looks away. "No. He didn't take me either. If it were just that, I'd go myself." He glances back at his sister, then away again. "You're a woman, Katara. And you're beautiful."
"What are you-"
"You have, uh, girly powers."
She is flabbergasted, in a word. "I have girly powers."
Sokka fidgets. "Look, it's one thing to get into the camp. You can walk right up to it and splash a couple of soldiers and you're all set. The problem is convincing Zuko." He's deliberately not looking at her now; she can feel the tension. "Do you remember when you thought we should trust Jet, and I told you he was up to something? When he blew that first dam and destroyed an entire town?"
Katara studies her fingernails. Of course she remembers. How could she forget being so blinded by the charms of a boy her own age that she let him-helped him-flood the valley?
"I need you to manipulate Zuko the way Jet manipulated you."
"What makes you think I can do that?"
"I don't know," he admits. "We can't attack the camp. We can't attack the Fire Nation. We can't send someone to negotiate; he'd laugh in our faces. Killing him isn't going to do any good, and he'll fight back if you threaten him. And we both know Zuko never gives up. He'll never willingly surrender."
"It's desperate," she says.
"We're desperate," he says.
"Do you think Appa can make the trip?"
"He'll have to. Tell him it's our best chance to get Aang back."
They have more three days until the resistance starts smuggling unstable blasting jelly into the Fire Nation. Maybe two weeks until everything is in place for an attack. A month until Jet blows up an entire country, and it will take at least a week to fly to the Northern Air Temple. It's an impossible task, but Katara promised Aang that she'd come for him, and she doesn't break her promises. She doesn't abandon the people who need her.
"How long are you staying?"
"Just the rest of the afternoon. We sail for the Northern Air Temple at dusk."
Mai nods. "Are you ready?"
I asked if you were happy to be home, not your whole life story.
"Yeah. I'm ready."
She looks at him, face a perfect calm. "Come back soon."
"Mai?"
"Yes?"
"We're getting married on the summer solstice."
"I know, Zuko."
He walks to the window and looks out. There's smoke in the distance, another flaming building. "Is that what you want?"
"Of course."
I don't hate you.
Zuko looks over her head at the guard in the corner. "Could you give us a minute?"
The guard bows and steps outside.
"Mai, Is that what you want?"
"You're never home. What difference does it make."
Her comment bites. "That's not my choice."
"I'd rather be here than Omashu."
"Just tell me how you feel."
"It doesn't matter, Zuko. Our fathers have decided we'll be married. If you can't spend more than a few days at a time in the Fire Nation, you can't decide whether or not to get married."
Something bubbles up from his stomach and threatens to spill out of his throat, and red begins to cloud his vision. "Don't you ever feel anything? Why can't you just tell me what you want?"
"Don't try to start a fight, Zuko."
You brought me a shell?
He'd gone to Ember Island the first day he was home. The shell was dark and shone rainbow in the sunlight; he'd thought of her.
Why would I want that?
"Fine! See you on the solstice then. I won't bother you anymore." Shoulders straight and taut, he marches out of Mai's home, guard close behind, slamming the doors behind him.
Stop acting like a child.
A/N: Hi reviewers! Thanks for the early support. I appreciate it.
