Chapter 3: An Audience with the Fire Lord
It had been just over a week since Danny had arrived in the High Temple, and he had to admit he was enjoying it here. It had been a while since the Halfa had been able to simply relax like he had now. Since he had gained his ghost powers it was fight after fight with very little rest time to himself. Then there was the war that broke out when Dan and Pariah fused and rest became a dream of the past.
Sure after he died he had a bit more time to rest but there was something naturally unnerving about Clockwork's tower. The constant ticking of clocks and the rotating of gears felt like an out-of-body experience. The fact that it was in the ghost zone didn't make things easier. Danny naturally didn't like sleeping in the Ghost Zone. The amount of Ectoplasm in the air made it feel like a permanent energy overdose.
So now being back in a world similar to his earth without the need to work every day, to fight some villain of the week or even go to school felt like absolute bliss. Danny had been ghost-fighting almost every day for the past three years so a week of relaxing in a temple with a bunch of Fire Sages was fun.
Speaking of which, Danny had been placed under the care of Xiaomei, which made sense considering that he was still only a teenager and most of his time in the High Temple had been with the Dragon Priestess. The woman had been nice, taking the time to learn about him and not pressing for answers about the spirit world immediately. When she learned that Danny was illiterate, Xiaomei was more than willing to help Danny learn what he could.
As thanks Danny shared a bit of what he knew. Today he was describing the biological makeup of spirits, since that was something he knew extremely well, due to their similarity to ghosts.
"Ectoplasm?" Xiaomei tried the word on her tongue. Danny could see clearly that the word was beyond foreign to her. "You say this ectoplasm is what makes up the bodies of spirits and the energy they produce."
"Yes," Danny responded. "Although it's not that simple. You can't just describe humans as meat, same with spirits and ectoplasm. My parents researched this quite a bit. Ectoplasm is energy given life, power with a thought and one of the components that make up spirits."
"And you say Spirits possess cores instead of hearts that produce ectoplasm?" Xiaomei clarified.
"Yes, a spirit's core is similar enough to a human's heart," Danny responded.
Xiaomei put down her quill and took a breath causing Danny to smile apologetically.
"This is a lot to take in. We did not even know the extent of their biology. And to think what you have told me is simply a generalisation." Xiaomei said. "It is truly quite fascinating even if it isn't what we expected to learn."
Danny had quickly learned during his time here that he had a lot more medical and scientific knowledge than what was routinely available. It made sense as his world was far more advanced than the one which he found himself in now. The internet and the global spread of information made it easier for knowledge to be shared and improved upon. This world was so old school, that many people still believed certain spirits were responsible for the rain and other weather phenomena. At least they knew that the world was a sphere, it would have been embarrassing if they didn't know that much.
A lot of what he had shared involved the scientific side of ghosts and spirits and less of the spiritual side.
"Yeah sorry about that Ms Xiaomei," Danny responded with a nervous grin as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"No need to apologise Danny. We have learnt quite a bit from you regardless." Xiaomei spoke before she stood up. "I believe that is enough for today. We still have to meet with the Fire Lord today and we would not want to be late."
Danny groaned. After two days Minister Zhang had returned with what he had considered glorious news. Fire Lord Ozai wanted to meet Danny and see a demonstration of what he could do. Danny wasn't particularly ecstatic about that, and he didn't particularly hide it well. At least around Xiaomei, around every other Fire Sage, he acted like it was a great honour or whatever. In truth, Danny had no particular interest in meeting with the current ruler of the Fire Nation.
He had heard all about Ozai when he was with Clockwork, and then some with Xiaomei, and the picture he got was of a power-hungry jerk that could incinerate most people he didn't like. Apparently, under a month ago, the Fire Lord had exiled his son because he had publicly disagreed with him. That was all he had ever heard regarding that incident, but Danny had a feeling there was more to that story. Long story short, he wasn't particularly interested in meeting with the Fire Lord.
"You don't sound very enthusiastic. I understand. The Fire Lord can be rather intimidating." Xiaomei said.
Danny decided not to comment. He had gone up against the Fright Knight, Pariah Dark, his own jerky evil older self and so many other evil ghosts that he wasn't scared of some politician. He had already dealt with one in the form of Vlad, might as well deal with another.
Leaving the temple was interesting as this had been the first time Danny got to leave the building. He had decided not to sneak out and explore, mostly because he enjoyed being able to sleep in for a change. So now he was truly seeing the first signs of this new world for the first time and wow was it something. The city they were in, Capital City, was in the middle of a giant dormant volcano. The architecture certainly looked like it was of Chinese origin, with a lot of reds, blacks and golds. Danny didn't have enough information to compare this to, but the city looked rich as if it were filled with only the richest and most important Fire Nation citizens.
The palace in the centre stood above everything else, except the High Temple. It didn't take too long for Danny and Xiaomei to reach the Palace especially as they were given transport and when they arrived Danny couldn't help but be reminded of his time meeting Vlad.
The Palace naturally was huge, a testament to the family that had carried the title of Fire Lord for the past several hundred or thousand years. In the main hall, there were paintings of several of the different Fire Lords. Across some of the portraits of the Fire Lords on the other side of the hallway, were portraits of Fire Nation Avatars across the generations. Danny was pleasantly surprised to see that there weren't only male Fire Lords who were being honoured in this place. His world could learn a thing or two from this one about progressive societies. Then again this particular society had been maintaining a war for 97 years.
Danny and Xiaomei were welcomed into the throne room where Fire Lord Ozai sat. Danny couldn't help but be unimpressed by the fact that the Fire Lord sat behind a literal wall of flames. He figured it was an intimidation tactic. Inside the room were several important-looking people, one of whom included Minister Zhang, who looked rather proud of himself.
Xiaomei was the first to bow and Danny followed after. Sam would be disappointed in Danny's decision to bow, but at the same time, Danny was typically more polite than her.
"It is an honour to be brought before Fire Lord Ozai," Xiaomei spoke first.
"I remember you, Lieutenant Xiaomei. You served under my brother for a time." Ozai spoke from behind the flames. "He gave you high praise and commended your skill as a firebender. I believed you would become a general with your talents. I was surprised to learn that you would put your talents towards becoming a Fire Sage."
"I found beauty in the spirits, and I possessed a desire to know more about their world. That path took me towards the Fire Sages, your majesty." Xiaomei answered.
"And in the time since you joined, you have risen in the ranks and become the Dragon Priestess. Incredible honestly. I believe you might be the youngest to ever hold a title." Ozai said. "Truly a testament to your skill and ability. I imagine that had you continued with your military career you would have succeeded where my brother failed."
There was silence for a brief moment. Only the flicking of the Fire Lord's wall of flames could be heard. Danny could tell immediately that the Fire Lord himself wasn't all that interested in the spiritual nature of the world, only the military strength of the Fire Nation. Xiaomei, in the time that he had known her, had spoken a lot about General Iroh, who Danny now assumed was the Fire Lord's brother. According to her, he was far more of a spiritual man. Danny was starting to see where some of these people might disagree on certain matters.
"You honour me with your praise," Xiaomei spoke.
If there was any anger, she hid it well.
Ozai's attention turned towards the one he was really interested in.
"You must be our traveller from the spirit world. Rise boy." Ozai said.
It took all of Danny's willpower not to bite back with a snappy retort. Instead, he stood and used the biggest power play he could without seeming too disrespectful. He made eye contact with the Fire Lord.
"Hi," Danny said with a small smile.
It wasn't much of an act of defiance, but it certainly got some of the others in the room to shift uncomfortably. There wasn't a rule against looking the Fire Lord in the eye, but most were too intimidated to ever attempt that, much less smile and greet in such an informal manner. But Danny wasn't most people, Danny was a 21st-century teenager and superhero who did the same to some of the most intimidating ghosts out there.
Ozai didn't react to the challenge, however, the flames in front of him lowered in intensity. Danny wasn't sure if that was good or bad but he took it as good.
"Minister Zhang tells me you were born in the Spirit World," Ozai stated.
"I was. I was part of a human civilization that lived among spirits deep in the spirit world." Danny answered.
"Tell me, boy, are your allegiances with these spirits who you lived with?"
Wow, the guy didn't waste time.
"If you are asking if I work for them then no. The spirits in Amity just lived with us. Some antagonised humans and others protected humans. I don't worship or work for them. I just lived with them." Danny answered.
"Oh. With whom do your loyalties lie then? The people of Amity?" Ozai asked.
"No one. My family died and our old ruler was removed from power. I left before I saw the election for our newest mayor." Danny said with a shrug.
"Election?" Ozai asked.
Danny placed his finger to his chin in thought. Democratic elections were something he was more than used to since the United States had been running them since Washington came into power. He never figured that this world, or specifically the Fire Nation didn't have them.
"Elections are a process we go through to choose who runs our city and who is part of our government. Everyone over the age of eighteen can vote for a new leader and a new leader is appointed every 4 years." Danny explained.
Danny noticed that the Fire Lord didn't look particularly happy about that system of government. Looked like he wanted to hold onto his power as long as possible. Vlad and Ozai would get along swimmingly… if they could agree to share power. Okay, maybe that was a stretch. They might not get along all that well after all.
"That reminds me, I heard that your community recently suffered a civil war," Ozai spoke. "Did you take part in it?"
"I did. Someone had to protect my friends and family." Danny said.
Ozai seemed to note that down before he asked his last question.
"I hear that you possess unique abilities. If you fought in a war for your family, I would like to see how you used them. A demonstration if you will." Ozai said.
This was what Danny had expected. The Fire Lord now wanted to see how useful Danny would be to him. Well, it was showtime.
Princess Azula was almost beside herself with joy. Since her brother had gone and gotten himself exiled it meant she was now recognised as the crown princess. Inheriting her father's throne was something she was eager to do.
It was no surprise that she dedicated herself more to her training. She was already a prodigy and master fire bender but she wasn't near as good as she wanted to be. And if she was to be Fire Lord one day then she would want to be a strong Fire Bender worthy of that title. For that reason, she found herself in the Arena in the palace. She had been training against some of the high-ranking soldiers, her instructors Lo and Li, sat in the audience watching and providing critiques and making sure her form was perfect.
Some of the matches she had lost, which was to be expected, she had challenged multiple soldiers of varying ranks to battle, however, there were more which she had won. She had been involved in these spars since the morning and was ready to continue, however, the sudden arrival of her father put a hold on those plans.
"Afternoon Father." Azula bowed as Ozai entered the room. "Have you come to witness my training?"
"Not this time Azula," Ozai said. "We have a guest who will give us a demonstration of his abilities."
Ozai looked towards her daughter's training partners and decided that they would be good test subjects to see what Danny could do so he instructed them to duel the boy in an informal and non-lethal Lei Tai. Technically the platform in the arena was elevated so this could count as that type of combat.
Azula, although disappointed that her training had been cut short, was curious to witness this demonstration that had her father in attendance. So she decided to take a seat in the audience, once she had changed.
She regarded the newcomer with curiosity. He certainly didn't look like a Fire Nation citizen. His skin tone was off and his eyes were blue. Azula had never met a waterbender but she had heard of their blue eyes so she assumed he was of Water Tribe origin. Why then might he be demonstrating his power here?
The boy, Danny, her father had called him, stood in the arena with a confident yet serious smile on his face. Across from him, his first opponent. The lieutenant who Azula was going to face off against. This may not have been an Agni Kai but the lieutenant had taken off his shirt and only wore his pants. Naturally, most firebenders did that when training or duelling another firebender as clothes were extremely susceptible to catching on fire. Naturally, there were options to protect the modesty of the female benders, and the younger ones as well. So it was incredibly odd to Azula that Danny didn't remove his shirt or switch into any special protective gear.
Oh well if the peasant got himself burnt that would hardly matter to her.
"Are you ready to begin?" Ozai spoke.
The lieutenant nodded. Danny grinned before his signature white rings appeared on his chest and travelled up his body turning him into his spirit form. Azula certainly hadn't been expecting that. And it seemed for the first time in her life, her father displayed a look of genuine surprise.
"Yeah, I'm ready." Danny's voice echoed as he grinned and cracked his knuckles.
"Begin!" Ozai said once he had regained his composure, and just like that all eyes were on Danny.
The Halfa had been considering what power he would show off, there were the obvious ones, invisibility, flight, intangibility and super strength but he decided against those. He wanted to be a bit flashy for this fight. That left him with a few other options. The first were ecto blasts. They were traditional, a must-have for any ghost and a great thing to show off, however, he was leaning more towards another power, one which had slowly become a close personal favourite of his. Ever since Frostbite had taught Danny how to use his ice, it became one of his favourite abilities. His ice core loved it when he used his ice and it was so versatile that he figured why not.
Danny shot into the air to avoid the first blast of fire that flew from the fist of the soldier. And the moment he dodged the first attack he knew he couldn't help himself.
"You call that hot? Here let me cool you down." Danny taunted as he flew in close with ice collecting within his palm.
Danny avoided another blast of flames before he appeared in front of the soldier and released the arctic energy, freezing him solid the moment the ice hit.
There was an air of surprise as the lieutenant was taken down quickly. That surprise quickly turned to uncertainty as many of the soldiers in the room turned to see what the Fire Lord would do or say. Seeing Danny turn into his spirit form had been a surprise in and of itself. However, what had possibly been more fighting was his ability with ice. It proved one thing to everyone, the boy was a waterbender. The soldiers weren't sure if they were supposed to arrest him or not.
Ozai at the same time was concerned as well however for different reasons. Now in his time training and the stories he had heard from his brother, he understood that certain water benders were skilled enough to pull water from the air. Some could even freeze the air if there was enough moisture in the air. Now the Fire Nation Capital was naturally a very humid climate and being so close to the sea ensured that there was always moisture in the air. However, in this room, where many Agni Kai duels were performed, there wasn't much moisture in the air. It meant the boy had produced the ice by himself much like a firebender produced their own fire. That was easily a cause for great concern.
"You are a waterbender?" Ozai asked, his eyes glowed dangerously.
"Nope." Danny while popping the p. "My power over ice isn't waterbending. The waterbenders here can use water, steam and ice, at least that's what I heard. When I gained my spirit form, I learned how to create and manipulate ice and only ice. So no water for me." Danny suddenly laughed. "What's with all the serious faces, is water the enemy of fire or something?"
When no one laughed alongside the Halfa he noticed the serious expressions on almost everyone. There were a few nervous expressions on a few faces as well. Xiaomei looked nervous as did Minister Zhang. Ozai stared at Danny with an unreadable expression.
"Sheesh, tough crowd," Danny muttered to himself.
"The people of the Water Tribe are the enemies of the Fire Nation," Ozai said.
Danny knew this of course but no one knew that he knew.
"Oh, would you guys prefer it if I used my fire?"
That got everyone's attention. Ozai now seemed curious and allowed the demonstration to continue and another soldier walked into the ring and got ready to fight.
Danny looked towards his opponent and got into his stance. Danny didn't have the power of fire. His ice core would never allow it. However, he did know how to give the illusion of having fire powers. His ecto blasts, although typically appearing as lasers, could be made to look like fire. He just had to destabilise the energy a bit when creating them and then they would naturally look like fire. He could also increase the heat of his ecto blasts as he was essentially firing exothermic ectoplasmic reactions from his hands. When destabilised it could appear corrosive enough that one could mistake it for the burning effect of fire and since the science portion of this world was nowhere near as advanced as his, no one would know the difference between the different burn types. Of course that didn't mean that Danny was aiming to burn or seriously injure his opponent, but he could make it look like he could if he really wanted to.
The moment the fight began, Azula kept her eyes on the older boy. From his control over ice in the previous fight, he had certainly proved himself to be capable and the fact that he could change his form as well as fly certainly meant he was different. But his claims of being able to use Fire and Ice? That was impossible, and shouldn't be possible unless he was the Avatar. Azula didn't believe it. He was just a waterbending peasant with a few tricks who was trying not to get executed. At least that was what she thought.
Flames, bright green flames came to life in his hands and roared hungrily for battle. Azula immediately felt threatened by them. She had been training extensively to gain her blue flames. And although she had them now, they weren't perfect. They always started red before becoming blue. Now she stared at an outsider who had gained flames of another colour with ease and indifference.
Azula watched as Danny flew into the air, avoiding flames and sending his own. It seemed all of that was just for show. Azula could see that he wasn't particularly fighting seriously. His green flames were flying only for the sake of appeasing his audience but they weren't targeted for real powerful strikes that would defeat his opponent. And if Azula noticed it, then there was no doubt that her father had as well.
The fight ended soon after when Danny got close and was able to overpower the lieutenant into surrendering. It seemed the boy was also incredibly strong.
"That was quite the display," Ozai said. "You are a powerful bender who can use two bending styles. Amazing what one can pick up living in the spirit world."
"Thanks, I try my best," Danny responded with a grin.
The Fire Lord looked contemplative as he considered his actions. The boy was powerful and could be a useful tool to him. But the boy was also a wild card. He had no allegiances save for friends and family, and in this new environment he had neither, that was a boon and a curse. If he wanted to use the boy, he would have to be kept in an environment where he could be monitored and swayed to his side. Now Ozai didn't particularly care for the spiritual nature of the world however he would be remiss to ignore the information the boy could share. Keeping him with the Fire Sages was certainly an option but he didn't want to run the risk of the boy being worshipped by the Sages for his connection to the Spirit World.
Ozai smiled as an idea occurred to him. If he wanted to keep the boy close then there was one idea that could work. It was a risk but if the risk paid off then he would have a powerful soldier that would answer directly to him. And after all, his firstborn had recently been exiled, meaning he only had one heir. If anything happened to her then he would have none. Although he could just as easily remarry, children like Azula didn't come around all that often.
"I have made my decision. You are a guest from the Spirit World, one who can give us great insight into the nature of spirits, and you are also a powerful bender. I would like to offer you a position," Ozai began drawing all the attention towards him. "I would like for you to continue to assist the Fire Sages and Dragon Priestess in sharing what you know about the Spirit World, and lastly as Princess Azula is my only heir, I would like for you to act in the capacity of her personal guard. For a warrior of your background, it should be easy. And for your services, you will be allowed to live and work here in the Royal Palace… alongside the Dragon Priestess Xiaomei."
It's safe to say no one in the room had expected Ozai to say those words, especially not Danny nor Azula.
CyberActors15: Woo three chapters down. Danny has finally met the Fire Lord and has shown off a little bit of what he can do. Now we can get into the real interesting stuff in this story. The interactions between Danny and Azula. If some of the characters felt a little OOC there, I apologise, but I didn't want to spend too much time slowly getting to the interesting interactions, so I might have sped up the pacing a bit so that we could get to the good stuff. This chapter was also late so I apologise about that, to compensate the next chapter will be out in seven days instead of 10. You can expect it on the 13 of Feb 2024. But yeah if you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a review also check out my Linktree for more of my story content. (linktr dot ee /CyberActors15) If you didn't like it, feel free to leave a review and tell me why. Feedback is always appreciated, and Criticism only makes me a better writer. Until next time, peace!