After a few days of sailing, the fleet returned to the Fire Nation. Ozai was the first to disembark, being eagerly greeted by the citizens who had heard news of his coronation. He enjoyed the reception he got and the uncertain expressions on the people's faces. They had no idea what life would be like with him in charge. Azula was the next to go down the ramp off the ship, walking slightly behind her father with just as much pride. Zuko was last and struggled to keep a frown off his face. It was so warm in the Fire Nation. He already missed the chill of the Southern Water Tribe. Servants came to retrieve the royal family's belongings, taking them to their chambers. While they did this, Ozai went to the throne room. Stepping in, it reminded him of a dream he often had. Truthfully, it was more of a nightmare. He would walk into the throne room and just as he was about to sit, his brother would appear with his army; however, this was reality.
Ozai walked up to the large throne in the center. To the right, there was a smaller one that had belonged to Lu Ten. The new Fire Lord could still recall how the prince looked in that seat. Maybe he would dispose of the useless item. The man could find someone to build a new throne tailored to Azula's liking. He wanted nothing of Iroh's to be in the royal palace…except his throne. That had to belong to formerly Iroh. Replacing it would weaken the effect. Whenever someone entered, Ozai wanted them to see him sitting where his brother once sat and know that he deserved it more than the older man ever could. Slowly, Ozai rested back on the seat, letting his fingers brush against the armrest. He had to do this to ensure that he truly was awake. Hearing someone, Ozai glanced up and saw a servant with a bowed head.
"You may enter," he said.
The man stepped forward, still bowing. "Your Highness, I have come to ask what orders you have for the others in the palace."
"Bring Admiral Li here."
Obliging the request, the servant left to find the man. Soon, the citizens returned, the servant bowing once more before being dismissed.
"How may I be of assistance, Your Majesty?" the admiral asked, head low.
"I want you to draft more soldiers."
The admiral felt his body tense, but he did not question the ruler's decision. "Is there a certain number you would like?"
"There is not. I just want more. We lacked enough soldiers to defeat both Water Tribes simultaneously. That's not an issue I want to experience twice, so our numbers need to increase. Draft any citizen above the age of sixteen who can pass the initial training given to recruits." Ozai paused. "The nobles are not exempt from this. You're dismissed."
The admiral left the room, bringing a hand to his head. Hidden from view, Zuko was watching. He had seen the soldier going to the throne room and guessed that it was in response to his father's request. What the boy heard disturbed him.
"He's sending more people to war," Zuko thought unhappily. "Our people won't all be able to handle that. He'll probably just put them on the front lines so that they can get killed while they distract a few people, then the better-trained soldiers can finish the battle. It won't matter to him as long as he still can get some new territories to be part of the Fire Nation."
Zuko began heading to his room, frowning at the fearful-looking servants who were whispering to one another. He did not need to hear them to know the topic of their conversation. There had to be something he could do.
"No one will listen to me," the boy thought, seeing a chef nervously working over a pot of food. "I don't have any say over the soldiers or the servants either really."
Suddenly, he saw Azula scolding a servant for not making a table as shiny as she expected. Zuko sighed at the sight.
"Well, she makes people listen to her," he mused. "The only people who listen to me are younger people like Sokka…"
The boy's eyes widened with an idea. This could be exactly what he did. The future of any nation relies on its younger generations. If this was the only population the boy could reach, it was a promising one and he already had some people in mind. Zuko began leaving the palace, but he was stopped by servants.
"Prince Zuko, can we be of assistance?"
He was taken off guard by them. In the tribe, the boy had gotten accustomed to leaving and returning without many eyes on him. Returning to the doting servants would require a small adjustment period. He would not be able to go off on his own anymore. If they were determined to be involved in what he was doing, the prince decided that it could be useful if they helped provide transportation. After giving them his desired location, Zuko was taken to the home of some nobles. The visitor was quickly noticed and two people approached him. Excitedly, Zuko was nearly tackled with a hug from Ty Lee.
"You're back!" she exclaimed happily. "That's a fun surprise!"
Next to them, Mai had a small smile on her face. "We thought you wouldn't be able to return for a while."
"I wouldn't have, but there was a revolt."
Ty Lee's mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh no! That's awful! Was anyone hurt?"
"Some people were from both sides, but it could have been worse." Zuko's expression turned serious. "My father is going to start ordering more people to be drafted into the military. I'm not sure if your parents will be part of this or not, but I wanted you to know in case it happened."
Mai's expression remained calm whereas Ty Lee gasped.
"Mom and Dad wouldn't do very well in war," the more energetic girl said, eyes welling up with tears. "They'd get killed."
"There are a lot of people who wouldn't be able to survive it," Zuko said, frowning in thought. "He's risking their lives for new land when we already have what we need."
"Maybe my uncle could suggest using some of his guards at the Boiling Rock," Mai offered. "They don't have much combat experience, but they would be better than civilians."
"That would be great if you could reach out to him," the boy said.
"What do we do in the meantime?" Ty Lee asked worriedly.
Zuko turned thoughtful. "Father wants to be feared, but he doesn't necessarily want to be hated by everyone. Maybe if enough people oppose the plan publicly, it'll get him to delay for a little while."
"Even if he does delay," Mai said, "he would probably just start his plans again before long."
"Probably, but this doesn't have to be a permanent fix."
Mai's expression became curious. "Did something else happen in the Southern Water Tribe before the revolt?"
Zuko gave a nod of his head. "Something that'll hopefully stop my father from conquering the world."
While the three children were speaking, in the Northern Water Tribe, Aang was continuing his session with Master Pakku. The Avatar was a fast learner, but he disliked that Katara was not a fellow pupil. Not too far from where they were training, Sokka was writing down different strategies he was considering. When Aang was done, he went over to the older boy.
"What did you come up with?"
"We need to attack during the night," he said. "Just like what we did last time. I don't get why that isn't already happening. It's like they're waiting for the soldiers to show up during the day when their firebending is the strongest. I'm going to ask the chief about this tomorrow. He's been busy all day fending off more soldiers who tried to get through the walls."
"What are we going to do now then?"
"Check on Katara's progress."
The pair went off to find the girl who was also finishing up her lesson. She looked bored when they saw her but smiled at the sight of the familiar faces.
"Learn how to reattach an arm?" Sokka asked.
Katara lifted an eyebrow at him. "Um, no, but I learned how to fix really bad gashes and burns. It seems like that's the most that can be done."
"Too bad. I guess we'll just have to try to hold onto our limbs."
The waterbender shook her head at her brother. "Healing has actually been a lot easier than I expected. We moved through the lessons quickly and I think Yagoda's shown me everything she knows."
"Does this mean that you're done with the sessions?" Aang asked.
"It seems like it."
"Good!" Sokka said happily. "Then, we can have you start learning combat waterbending."
Not quite understanding how this was the conclusion the boy drew, the two benders followed him down to where Pakku held his class. The man was still there, going over some lesson plans for the next day. When he saw Katara, he frowned.
"My answer is the same," he stated.
Sokka had a grin on his face. "That's just because you haven't considered everything yet."
"I haven't, have I?" the master said, a note of irritation in his voice.
"Nope. Because if you had, you'd know that the Water Tribe is the only nation that feels this way about who gets to fight. The Fire Nation has more access to soldiers and benders because they don't focus their training on boys only. The princess of the nation even knows how to bend lightning."
This caused Pakku's eyes to widen slightly. Sokka saw that he was starting to get to him and continued.
"I get that girls seem pretty frail," Sokka said, receiving a small frown from his sister, "but the facts are that the three of us don't have the option of trying to play it safe. The world is in danger. The Fire Nation has already gotten rid of a nation before. They were going to enslave everyone in the Southern Water Tribe. Now that we've had a revolt, I doubt they're going to be as 'merciful' with everyone here. They're going for the kill and it's only going to keep spreading around the world until everyone and everything is either Fire Nation or burned to ashes. So, if we want to have any chance of avoiding that, we're going to need Aang to learn the other three elements and be able to defeat the Fire Lord; and he's going to need us at our best so that he doesn't have to do it alone since the Fire Lord can stand behind a military who's still out doing his dirty work for him."
Pakku appeared troubled and after a few moments said, "You three are just children."
"That just means we need every advantage we could have even more."
The man frowned at Sokka. This boy was bold for talking in such a manner to him. He was a waterbending master and a member of the council in the Northern Water Tribe. He hardly was expected to answer to the chief, let alone a child. Still, Pakku had seen the soldiers and how the only requirement to joining their ranks was to have a certain skill set. This allowed them to have greater numbers. The Fire Nation could have attacks day after day because they had enough people, sending in different troops each time. Those in the tribe would become tired. Pakku had already seen how Arnook's movements were starting to get slower than they were during the first attack. How much more could the chief and warriors take before they were exhausted and became sloppy in their technique? Even Pakku's pupils were mere adolescents, the eldest being fifteen. At this rate, they would lose too many people and the same women they wanted to protect would be at the mercy of their enemies. Traditions had worked well enough in the past, but in the present, many things were changing. The man would have been a fool to deny that. Begrudgingly, he let out a sigh.
"I will also train you, Katara. Come here tomorrow and you'll learn with the others."
The younger waterbender smiled brightly. "Thank you!"
Pakku did not say anything as he left to go home. When he was gone, Katara happily hugged her brother.
"Thanks, Sokka!" she exclaimed.
The boy grinned proudly. "I told you that I'd handle it."
"Yeah, that was great!" Aang complimented excitedly. He hopped over to Katara. "It's going to be so much fun training with you!"
"It's going to be fun training with you too!"
The Avatar happily began telling Katara what they had done so far in the class. They did this for most of the day while Sokka continued working on his plans. By the next morning, the children were with the master. Pakku saw that Katara was a fast learner as well which made it less upsetting to have to train her. The following few mornings had productive lessons for both students and like before, Sokka half-watched as he worked. Seeing the two of them train was nice since it gave him hope that their mission would be successful, but it also made him miss his friend. He had no training partner anymore like they did.
"I wonder how things are going in the Fire Nation," he wondered.
Not wanting to sadly observe the pupils anymore, Sokka decided to go and find Chief Arnook. For once, it seemed like they had a day without anyone attacking. He could no longer hear anything from outside the walls, so the man should have been doing his rounds in the tribe to keep everyone safe. Sokka began searching and stopped when he found him. Several soldiers were with the bloodied chief, one holding a fire blade to his neck. Other warriors behind them had stood down, fearful of what would have happened to their leader otherwise. Quickly, Sokka's eyes moved to search for Yue. If they had her father, she would also be in danger. He spotted her just as the commotion caught her attention. With horror on her face, the girl looked uncertain on what to do. Sokka hurried over to her and took her hand, leading her back to where Katara and Aang were training. The girl could see the concern on her brother's face.
"They just got the chief," Sokka said, voice taut. "The Northern Water Tribe is about to be Fire Nation territory."
