However, the next morning over breakfast, a servant brings the news that the delegates wish to continue the talks.
"We got them", Azula gloats while she and Katara hurry to the throne room. "The Earth King must have authorised them to accept my proposal; else they wouldn't be talking to me now. They've caved."
In the throne room, she lights the blue flames, and the delegates are led in.
"Fire Lord Azula", Elder Suljuq greets. "What a pleasure to see you again."
"Elder Suljuq. The pleasure is all mine. I trust the delegates have spent the last days in preparation for their return to the negotiating table?"
"Indeed. We have thoroughly discussed your ideas amongst ourselves and we are prepared to debate them further with you."
"And", General Lan-Hua adds, "I am pleased to announce that the Earth King has signalled His preliminary authorisation for us to discuss Your Highness's proposal."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"However", General Gai interjects, "there are some conditions."
"Really?", Azula drawls. "I'd be thrilled to hear them."
"His Majesty has generously decided to consider your proposal, but He conditions that the future of our land and the matter of reparations to our people be negotiated in one year, not two."
"That's easy enough."
"Furthermore, His Majesty requires that the Fire Nation withdraw its troops from our land to ensure your promise of our citizens' rights can be fulfilled, and that His representatives be able to bring guards when they inspect the situation of His people."
"Absolutely not", Azula protests. "You expect me to leave my people defenceless, allow the Earth King's soldiers in, and it's the treatment of your people you're worried about? I will not expose my people, my land, to annexation that easily."
"This is His Majesty's condition", General Lan-Hua supports his colleague. "Nobody but you is talking about annexation, Highness. His Majesty is simply concerned about His people. Even if your promise that His people will be treated fairly is sincere, even you cannot guarantee that every one of your soldiers will uphold it. A demilitarisation of the contested territories is the only solution."
"My soldiers", Azula slowly intones, "are loyal to their nation and their ruler: me. Any incidents that dishonour my word will be punished severely by me. If the Earth King trusts me enough to barter a treaty, he should trust me enough to ensure my promises are kept by my subjects. And if he wants to send soldiers to ensure his people are treated fairly, then so will I keep mine to protect my people from your people's revenge."
"I am sure we can arrive at a reasonable compromise", the Avatar interrupts. "Will you agree to remove as many of your soldiers as you can without jeopardising your people?"
Azula clenches her jaw.
"I will", she eventually says, "if I am satisfied we arrive at a number that really does guarantee the safety of my citizens. Remember, I have offered to lift any and all restrictions on earthbenders. They may easily be tempted to take revenge on my citizens, simply for living in the colonies. I will not sacrifice their safety for the Earth King's satisfaction."
"Very well", General Lan-Hua agrees. "We will settle on a specific number later."
"And we will likewise settle the nature of the Earth King's inspections", Azula counters. "Number of guards, frequency, permissions. I will not tolerate a backdoor for annexation."
"Of course not."
Sokka coughs. "So, where do we stand?"
"Sokka is right", the Avatar concurs. "We should summarise the state of our talks to make sure we're all on the same page."
"Certainly." Azula allows herself a little smile. "Zuko, would you do the honours?"
It's worth it just for the surprise on his face at being hit with this surprise task. But in his defence, Azula secretly admits, he composes himself rather quickly, even though he's visibly uncomfortable being thrust into the spotlight.
"Fine." He clears his throat and steps forward. "Right now, the proposals, uh, are as follows:
The Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribes agree to cease all military operations against each other, effective immediately upon signing of the treaty.
The, uhh, the Earth Kingdom will release all Fire Nation soldiers and citizens, and the Fire Nation will release as many Earth Kingdom prisoners, or all of them if the Earth Kingdom agrees to, uhh, to delay negotiation of the Fire Nation colonies' future by two, or now by one, year.
The Fire Nation will release half of its Water Tribe prisoners, with the other half contingent on the Earth Kingdom's agreement, like I said before… and the Fire Nation releases one hundred prisoners immediately and unconditionally as a sign of goodwill.
All nations agree to establish diplomatic relations and the Fire Nation agrees to, er, agrees to allow diplomats from the other nations access to its military to prove it is not preparing another war. The amount and rights of these diplomats haven't been decided yet.
The Earth Kingdom is potentially willing to delay a decision about the return of its land and reparations for its suffering by a year; in exchange, the Fire Nation will lift the ban on earthbending and grant all Earth Kingdom citizens full rights in the colonies— in the demilitarised colonies, and the Earth King will send representatives to convince himself of these rights."
Azula slowly claps. "Very good. We'll make a diplomat out of you yet."
Zuko's face reddens, and the bitterness of hearing all her concessions read out lout is lessened at least slightly by it.
"One more thing", Azula adds. "Naturally, I will limit this supervision of my military to one year as well. If we reach a mutually satisfactory decision in next year's renegotiations, then surely you will agree it won't be necessary anymore."
"We will take it under consideration", Elder Suljuq says after whispering briefly with his Earth Kingdom colleagues. "For now, we are are inclined to agree."
Azula shrugs. "Good enough."
For a moment, nobody says anything. Nobody seems to know what to say, least of all Azula. Eventually, it's the Avatar who breaks the silence.
"That's a lot of 'to be decided later'. At some point, we will have to make all those decisions."
"You're right, of course", Azula condesccendingly answers, even though her reluctance to make the decisions and put all those degrading compromises into practice must be obvious. "I suggest we postpone until tomorrow. I will consult my ministers to prepare for the details."
The Avatar slightly bows his head. "Agreed… Fire Lord Azula."
The rest of the day hardly seems enough time to prepare. Azula starts by summoning the Minister for Colonial Matters, then, when his knowledge proves more than limited, several former governors and generals with a service history abroad. After that, she studies all reports of uprisings and protests in the colonies, going back fifty years, and she's not even halfway done when Katara points out that the sun has long set and she really needs some sleep.
The next day, Azula apologetically postpones the meeting to spend hours supervising staff sorting through the rest of the reports until she's confident she has an overview of all resistance activity in the colonies. After lunch, she meets members of the war council one by one to assemble a list of all military units and installations graded by importance to the security of her nation, and after dinner, she ignores Katara's urgings to come to bed in favour of assembling a list of all scholars and living former diplomats of the Fire Nation.
She falls into bed early in the morning, exhausted beyond belief, but satisfied with her work.
On the day after, the negotiations finally begin to decide on specific compromises. Armed with the knowledge from her research and accompanied by advisors, ministers, and generals, Azula meets the delegates at the table to haggle about the number of remaining Fire Nation soldiers, the amount of guards the Earth King's inspectors will be allowed to bring, and everything else. Every guard the Earth Kingdom insists on is one too much for Azula; every soldier she insists on retaining unacceptable to them. Assurances are made about the obedience of Earth Kingdom citizens and rejected by Azula, just as her predictions about vengeful attacks from earthbenders are waved away by the Earth Kingdom generals. More than once, the negotiations pause for a day as hawks go back and forth between the palace and the Earth Kingdom.
On another front, Azula's generals argue confidentiality with the representatives of the Water Tribes and Zuko. If Sokka had his way, Katara thinks as she watches from afar, he would personally question every Fire Nation soldier, look through every room in every base to check for proof of a conspiracy. Meanwhile, the generals are insulted at the very idea of being inspected – not even accountable to, merely inspected – by a hostile force (Katara has to restrain one who almost lunges at Suljuq) and try to declare as many installations secret as possible.
It takes weeks. Several times, it almost seems as if the negotiations are one scream, one insult, one disagreement away from failure, and more than once, Azula has Katara forcefully eject an officer or minister who can't control their temper, can't help but snap at the delegates. More than one courtier is led away in chains after slipping up with an unkind word about what Azula has negotiated.
But slowly, the mess of undecided issues thins out. At the end of one particularly fruitful session, when the delegates are about to take their leave for the day, Azula holds them back.
"Avatar Aang", she begins, stilted and clearly (to Katara) uncomfortable. "I wonder if I could ask you and your friends to stay behind for a moment?"
"If there's something else to discuss", Gai begins, "I think we should all be here to hear it."
"I assure you, it has nothing to do with our negotiations", Azula insists. "I'm sure if the Avatar disagrees with me after hearing what I have to say, he will be happy to tell you about it."
"Alright", Aang nods. "I'll hear what you have to say." He turns to the generals. "I'll let you know."
The other delegates bow and leave, and Azula prepares herself to ask the second-hardest question of her life.
"You'll remember that during our first meetings, I hinted at certain… domestic security issues", she begins.
A lot of words to say 'I was almost killed', Katara thinks behind her. But she knows what Azula is about to ask, has suggested it to Azula herself, and she can't help but feel proud that Azula is actually going through with it.
"I remember", Aang confirms.
Katara can see the curiosity radiating from Sokka and the others.
"I've gone to great pains to ensure my safety", Azula continues, "and the loyalty of my troops. But, despite my best efforts, there are without doubt still some traitors I've failed to bring to justice."
Here it comes.
"As much as I resent it, I would like to ask for your help in identifying these traitors."
"Right." Sokka snorts. "How does it go? 'The enemy of my enemy'?"
"Oh, please", Azula rolls her eyes. "I assure you, you would find these elements no friendlier than I do. It's my willingness to make peace they take issue with. It's not like they're just foaming at the mouth to join the Commander Sokka fan club."
"That aside", Zuko interjects, "why do you think we can help you?"
"You can't", Azula simply says. "But she can."
There's no need to clarify. The group's heads turn as they look at Toph.
"You can tell when people lie, can't you?"
"That's right. Even you." Toph grins. "You've been slacking off since the last time."
Azula's face burns red, but she restrains her anger.
"Then you're just the kind of person I could use."
"What do you imagine?", Aang asks, at the same time that Sokka protests, "Toph isn't for rent!"
"I need you to be my ey— my ears", Azula explains, addressing Toph directly and ignoring the others. "Nobody in this palace is above suspicion. I need to know what they talk about, what they think of me, if they mean what they say. The lords, the officers, every common guard, anyone could be working against me." She turns to the others again. "I can't make peace when there could be a knife in my back any day."
And I can't trust anyone with my safety once Katara is gone.
"I don't know…", Zuko cautions. "The palace isn't exactly safe for her."
"No offence, Gloomy, but I can handle myself", Toph insists. To Azula, she continues:
"Shake down a bunch of firebenders? Sounds like fun. But I have a condition: I do what I want, alright? I can go where I want, I can listen to whoever I want. And if any of them start shit, I can't guarantee for anything. Deal?"
"Deal", Azula agrees, and Toph's face splits into a wide grin.
"Awesome! No offence, but listening to your uniformed clowns scream around all day was just starting to get a little old. And frankly, bitching about numbers isn't exactly thrilling either. So if I'm not needed here anymore, I'll start right away."
"Sure", Sokka agrees. "Let us know if you need any help."
"Thank you", Azula performs the slightest hint of a bow.
"We're glad to be of help", Aang replies, and Katara can all but hear the unspoken 'you owe us' Sokka so badly wants to add.
"I'll let the guards know right away that you're not to be disturbed", Azula promises. "To avoid any incidents."
Almost there, she thinks, on the way to Captain Meiyo's office. We're almost there. Just a few more days and we'll have a treaty. And I'll have a safe palace again.
She tries not to think about the fact that it's also just a few more days until she has to let Katara go.
A/N: There's a bunch of companion one-shots lined up, starting with chapter 46. These are gonna go out April 1 (same days as ch. 46), 3, 5, then ch. 47 on April 8, then more one-shots on April 10 and 12, and then chapter 48, the last, on April 15. These will not be posted to FFN because frankly, I'm sick of the commission spam bots on here. So the next updates to FFN will be on April 1, 8, and 15.
