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With the power of the comet waning, the day coming to a close, Zuko feels sleep calling to him. He rests on the steps to the palace and falls asleep.
-
When Zuko comes to again, he is in the royal infirmary.
Daylight is streaking in from the large windows, and a light drizzle of rain taps against the glass.
Katara sits next to him, and, on the other side on a sofa, do Sokka, Aang, Toph and Suki.
They did it…, he gets to think, before the others notice he’s awake.
“Zuko, hey, how’re you feeling?”, he hears Suki ask, and everyone starts to ogle at him like he’s an extinct animal (except Toph, of course).
He sighs, and slowly, carefully begins to sit up.
Surprisingly, instead of telling him to lie down as he expected, Katara helps him up. How strange. With how mangled he was, he expected her to order him to stay down.
Once he’s managed to change position, he tries out his voice.
His jaw cracks as he opens it: “I’ve felt better”, he stretches his neck and arms, popping loudly as they move again, “but since you’re here that means we won.”
“So really I’ve never felt better.”
He sees Aang jump up from where he sits: “Now we’re matching!”, he exclaims jovially, pointing to his back with his thumb as he walks towards him.
Zuko smiles a tired smile as he looks down at himself, the scar he saw in where ever the Spirits took him now bandaged.
“Your wound was already partly healed when I got to you.”, Katara explains, “I have no idea how that happened. It was like magic.”
He looks up: “It was the spirits.”, he states confidently, hoping to clear up her confusion, “After I got hit, they visited me and saved me They called it... severance? ...And then I woke back up to see you healing me.”
The group looks at him with big unblinking eyes, collective surprise more than evident. He gets it...
Eventually, as the shocked silence stretches on, Sokka cuts through it as he quips: “Looks like you’re not the only one who got some last minute aid by the Spirits for this whole thing, Aang!”
Yes, right. Aang. He was gone. What happened?
The kid simply smiles sheepishly and scratches his head.
Zuko looks at him questioningly: “What happened to you Aang? Last thing I know, you just vanished?”
Aang’s eyes jump around wildy, from one corner of the room to the next, again and again. It looks like he has no idea what to say.
Ultimately, his words spill out like water out of a burst pipe: “Well, … I met a giant lion turtle which made me reflect on pacifism and because I remained so steadfast to solve this problem without killing the Firelord it taught me how to bend energy which allowed me to take Ozai’s bending away after our battle.”
Aang looks like he knows that wasn’t really intelligible, but Zuko's got the gist. It's all Spirit--Stuff, after all.
He blinks and hums as if he got it, though.
He’s about to switch topics, but then something Aang said fully registers:
“Wait, Ozai’s alive?”, he asks incredulously.
Aang nods fervently, smiling proudly: “Yeah! I just took his bending away. He can’t hurt anyone anymore!”
Zuko shivers thinking about the notion of losing his bending, but at the same time he’s happy Aang could keep his vow of nonviolence. And really, that's more important to him than his father's bending.
“That’s ...great.”, he settles on, swallowing down the idea of eternal cold where his inner fire should be.
Toph perks up: “You really gave us a shock when Katara told us you took a lightning bolt, don‘t ever do that again!”, she punches his thigh from where she sits, and he reacts with feigning hurt.
“Not planning on it.”, he tells her, hoping to calm some nerves. He'd say it was the best option at the time, but something tells him that wouldn't go over well with them either.
He’d like to continue joking with his friends, but at that moment two people enter the room.
Zuko recognizes one of the them, a guard; He’s seen her a few times during his stay after Ba Sing Se.
A very small woman, dressed in the fine armor of the royal guard. Her stature doesn’t really spell ´warrior´, but Zuko heard she’s a master of the Katana.
Behind her is a man Zuko has only seen walk the halls from time to time, dressed in the attire of a court bureaucrat. He wears round black glasses and has shiny gold blond hair. The rare color is probably the only reason he remembers ever having seen the man.
“Prince Zuko, my name is Rukia. I am the vice-captain of the palace’s east wing security.”, the guard introduces herself.
She motions at the man behind her: “This is Tenri, he works in the west wing.” The man bows his head.
Looks like there won’t be much time until he has to ascend the throne. He kind of hoped he’d get to rest first, even though he knew it was unrealistic.
“We are here to discuss matters of succession.”, Rukia goes on, “If you are ready for it.”
Zuko nods, best to get this over with, he tells himself. Also his friends are here, so he won’t have to do this alone.
The man, Tenri steps forward.
He’s wringing his hands and tapping his foot. Even Zuko can see that the guy is nervous.
Tenri looks between all the people in the room and takes a deep breath: “There are some… complications regarding your ascension to the throne.”, he says, pausing, looking around for any reaction, sweat running down his brow.
When nothing happens, he continues: “You fought Princess Azula for your right to the throne, and won since she broke the rules of engagement.”
So far so good, Zuko thinks.
“However, due to your presumed death two years ago you were never restored into the line of succession. Your father had never given that order.”
“Therefore, you cannot become Firelord.”
The man’s hand still, now clenched tightly in front of him.
Sokka’s the first to speak, stating the obvious: “Then we’ll just restore his position, shouldn’t be too hard, right?”
Zuko looks from Sokka to the bureaucrat, making clear he’s waiting for an answer.
Tenri straightens himself: “Well... to reinstate your place, we’d need a reigning Fire Lord or the confirmation of a regent.”
Zuko sighs, he has no idea why they have to draw this out: “Who’s the regent then? Someone has to rule right now, right?”
He sees the clerk swallow hard: “Ozai has not named a regent once he left for the Earth Kingdom, --it seems he felt he was above that, apparently-- and traditionally if the Firelord has not assigned a regent, the position falls to the Fire Lady.”
“--But she is not here.”, Zuko cuts him off and he’s sure he can see the man flinch a bit.
Toph pipes up next: “If you can’t make Zuko Firelord, then just do it with Iroh!”
“Prince Iroh’s claim to throne was relinquished once he was convicted of treason. To restore his position we’d need--.“, he starts, only to be cut off by Zuko, again.
“A reigning Firelord, I get it. So no one is ruling right now? No Firelord, no Regent, right?”, he asks the bureaucrat.
The man nods, swallowing had again: “Yes, no one is ruling the Fire Nation.”
“Then who can?”, Katara questions, playing anxiously with her waterskin in her hands.
Tenri breathes in deep and his eyes widen as he forces out his next words: “Princess Azula is the only eligible candidate for the throne as of now.”
The room falls silent.
“That can’t be it. All this just for Azula to get back on the throne?”, Zuko asks, numb, mostly just for himself.
He can’t believe it’s come to this.
The bureaucrat adds on, obviously frustrated: “We’ve already checked everything, every loophole and every precedent. Nothing!”
“Maybe with an expert we’d be able to find something, but that will take time. Time I’m sure we don’t have.”
Everyone in the room is stunned into silence. The despair they all feel is obvious in their faces.
Sokka turns to the clerk, thoughtful look on his face: “Wait, you just said we’d need an expert. Who are you then?”
He taps on his leg impatiently, waiting for the man to explain himself.
Tenri’s eyes move wildly, from here to there to back here again.
Ultimately, he squares his shoulders, stating proudly while blushing: “I work in the department of ecological preservation.”
“And why are you the one to speak with us if you have no experience with this?”, Katara demands angrily, crossing her arms and a deeply displeased look on her face.
The guard speaks up, standing up for her colleague: “Tenri and I are the most high ranking members of our field of work in the palace as of now. Princess Azula has banished every other servant of the state.”
That makes sense. Fits the way Azula behaved when they met her on the day of the comet.
“And why did she not banish you?”, Toph questions, voice almost accusingly.
The guard, Rukia, almost looks startled at the question, but quickly regains her composure: “I was overseeing training in the barracks and therefore not in the palace during princess Azula’s regency.”
The clerk seems to choose his words carefully: “Preservation is… tragically underfunded.”
He looks very downtrodden at his own admission.
“Princess Azula has simply… not visited my department.”, he shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.
That also sounds like his sister. Makes sense.
Zuko sighs, agitating his wound by how deep he breathes: “Alright, so we need Azula to run this country?”
Rukia and Tenri nod solemnly.
Zuko rubs his face and lies back down on the bed.
He’s just going to get the last bit of nice sleep he can and then they’ll go and solve this mess.
-
After his stress nap following the revelation he has to let his sister rule the Fire Nation if he wants any chance at ending the war, he and his friends now sit in one of the palace’s meeting rooms to discuss their next move.
Zuko’s wound is nicely bandaged, and thanks to the spirits and Katara’s hard work, he can move around freely with just the help of a walking stick.
He had vice-captain Rukia take over the royal guard, and Tenri is running day to day affairs for now, while also trying to rehire all the staff his sister so thoughtfully had vacate the premises.
The country won’t collapse any time soon, but without a ruler they won’t be able to overturn the Firelord’s orders, which would include stopping the war.
Which is why they are now sitting here.
“Is there any way for us to have Azula cede the throne to you, even if it’s against her will?”, Sokka asks Zuko.
Sokka’s been visiting the royal library, reading every legal text about Fire Nation succession he could get his hands on.
Sadly, academic texts regarding inheritance in the Fire Nation are over 300 years old, which makes research for an outsider extremely difficult.
“No, I could challenge her in an Agni Kai again, but that wouldn’t solve the matter that I’d still be legally dead and barred from the line of succession.”
“And then I’d also have to win again, which I don’t think I could any time soon.”
The others all have their face scrunched up, all deep in thought.
Zuko’s pretty sure he doesn’t look much different.
He absentmindly plays with the walking stick in his lap, exploring the texture of the wood with his hands.
Suki speaks up: “What if we take away her bending? She’d have no way to fight against us. We could force her to confirm you are alive and then make her abdicate.”
Suki looks at him with bright eyes, waiting for his answer.
He shakes his head: “We aren’t taking away Azula’s bending. No way.”
Katara frowns: “Why not? Suki’s right, it would solve our problems.”
Zuko clutches the cane.
“Okay, first of, a non-bender can’t be Firelord, so we wouldn’t be able to get her on the throne in the first place, and second, we can’t take away Azula’s bending. It would destroy her. I won’t allow it.”
He knows his tone is harsh, but this is a line he won’t cross.
His father is one thing, he had more than one chance to change, but Azula is another.
Katara and Suki deflate, but they don’t fight back on his decision.
Toph slams her hand down on the table: “I got it! We just tear it all down!”, she exclaims.
“No one’s ruling right now, there’s no one to give orders. Sooner or later someone will step up to lead, and they’ll make something new. If we just don’t do anything, the people will find someone to do the job for them.”
Zuko knits his brows together, thinking.
A rebellion would get them around the matter of succession, but they’d have no influence of what happens after or who leads it.
He shakes his head: “We can’t know if whoever seizes power would have good intentions, and we don’t know if the people would follow. We might just exchange one war for another.”
“I don’t think we have much choice. We have to reason with Azula. Put her on the throne, and then…”
He shrugs, unsure about how his plan would continue.
“We convince her I should be Firelord and have her abdicate willingly.”
Everyone looks uncomfortable after his suggestion, and even Zuko is not sure if giving Azula power is better than letting a revolution happen.
Aang looks at him contemplatively: “Are you sure Azula can be reasoned with? She would never to listen what we had to say when she was hunting us.”
Zuko spins the walking stick in his hands, once, twice, thinking about what to say.
“Azula followed Ozai’s orders because she believed it to be the best and fastest way for her to rule the country, not because she always agreed with him. When she told me about the comet, she called father’s plan ´strategically unviable´.”
He swallows. This isn’t just about convincing his friends, this is about convincing himself.
“She’s pragmatic. If we can make her believe that me being Firelord would make her more powerful, she would abdicate.”, he reasons.
He looks up at the others, studying their thinking faces. Suki reaches over and holds his hand.
“Are you sure this could work? Can we even convince her?”, she asks him.
He nods: “Azula isn’t illogical. If we can provide her with an explanation, she will evaluate her options.”
His friends look less than enthused at his proposal, but the table stays quiet.
Even though he doesn’t like it either, his plan is sound.
-
He spends the rest of the day in the garden, sitting at the pond at the same spot he did when he came back after Ba Sing Se.
What does he tell Azula? How does he convince her? He was never very talented with words...
The turtleducks swim in circles much in the same way his thoughts do in his head.
The whole palace is nearly empty, the pond is really the only place more than two living beings coexist in the same space.
His sister was very throughout cleaning out the ranks.
She must have gone completely paranoid after he, Mai and Ty Lee left her. She wouldn’t let anyone get close enough to get into her way.
If he thinks about it, them changing sides must have been the first time she was faced with failure. Every other mission she completed in stride.
It’s hard for him to wrap his head around it, failure has become a constant in his life, and Azula has never had to deal with it.
His failures made him who he is; they set him on his path to get here, and they forced him to take different approaches when it called for it.
Could they convince Azula her failure could make her stronger?
If he could only just... convince her that failure is normal. That it’s neccessary for learning. That her failure has freed her from father’s grip.
It’s what allowed him to choose the right path. His failure lead him away from the palace, away from father, and made it possible for him to open his own eyes.
The sun sets over the garden, and Zuko stands to go back inside the palace. It’s a bit of a hassle to get up with the cane, but he manages.
He’ll try to sleep, and then, in the morning, visit the prison.
-
Everyone comes along to visit Azula. Zuko tried to protest, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer, worried about whatever she might do when she sees him.
They walk down into the capital prison, single file, since the hallways are so tight, and reach the last corner to Azula’s cell.
Zuko halts.
“I want you to wait here. This is important. Azula will not take kindly to us all standing in front of her cell. She’ll think we came to gloat.”, he states, and at the looks of disagreement he gets he adds on, “I know Azula best. I need to do this by myself. It’s my responsibilty. Please.”
Everyone still looks displeased, but there are no protests.
Katara steps up: “If anything goes wrong, we’ll be right here.”, she says, and the others nod.
Toph gives him a little punch as he turns the corner.
Azula’s cell is spacious, bigger than Iroh’s during his stay, but she can’t make use of it.
She’s bound to a chair, leather straps securing her arms and legs. A muzzle is placed over her mouth. It's inhumane. They even have that?
Her eyes are wide, staring at him like he’s a rare bird or precious gem as he draws nearer. She's analysing every one of his movements, he realizes.
Immediately, he rips open the cell door and dashes for her.
He definitely has to talk to Rukia about who ordered for her to be restrained this way...
He diligently undoes the leather straps, and then carefully takes off the muzzle.
Azula stretches her jaw straight away, bones poping after going unused for a while.
He leaves the other bindings in place and steps back.
His sister continues to stretch, using her new freedom to wake up her muscles.
This goes on for quite some time, until she eventually leans back in the chair and faces Zuko.
“I don’t think this is some kind of prison break, so, why are you here?”, she asks nonchalantly, as if she is having this conversation in the throne room, and not a cell.
Zuko straightens himself, breathing in deep: “I came here to talk to you about who becomes Firelord.”, he starts with, trying to address the main issues at hand.
Azula cleans out dirt underneath her fingernails, not even looking at Zuko as she responds: “Oh, didn’t our little Agni Kai settle this matter? I thought you would be lazing around on the throne already...”
He can’t let himself get unsettled by her jabs, if she manages to fire him up she can make him say things he’ll regret.
So instead, he focuses on his breathing and his stance, and continues: “We need you to make me Firelord.”
That stops her short, she drops her hand and finally turns to face him.
“And why would I do that?”, she shrugs, “If I’m Firelord, I’m not just going to give it up to you. You’d have to come get it.”
Alright, all or nothing. This is where he has to get her to see his side.
He squares his shoulders: “Because you’re not ready.”
Azula stares at him like he just told her the sky is red.
“I was born for this, Zuko. Made to rule.”, her tone is serious, all the sarcasm has left her voice.
Zuko goes on: “You’re not ready because you don’t know failure. You don’t know what to do when things start going wrong. I do.”
She cocks her head to the side, mouth in a thin line: “You’re right. I don’t know failure.”, she says, “Because everything I did went the way it should. It is the others who failed me.”
Her voice is filled with malice, masking the pain underneath.
Zuko shakes his head: “That’s your first mistake. You don’t see your own failure.”, he steps forward and taps the cane on the ground, regurgitating uncle Iroh’s advice from his banishment, “The first step to learn from failure is to acknowledge what went wrong. You have to realize that we didn’t fail you, but rather see what became clear to us... What was right.”
“If you manage to learn from your failures, you can turn defeat into victory.”
He opens his arms wide: “Look at me. I know nothing but defeat and now stand on top. I can lead this country because everyone can stand against me and I’ll still be able to come out the other side.”
Zuko drops his arms again: “Please, I can teach you how to deal with failure, but let us rescue this country first.”
He rests both his hands on the walking stick and steels himself for Azula’s answer.
His sister stares at him, eyes searching, darting around. She remains still. Zuko knows what this means: She’s calculating, evaluating. Something he said must have come through.
Ultimately, she stands up in a single, smooth motion, totally unbefitting of someone currently bound in chains.
“Alright, I accept. Let’s save this country.”, she says with a smile that shows too many teeth for Zuko’s comfort, but he immediately reaches for the metal binding her and melts the chain links.
“Neat trick.”, she comments, watching the molten iron drip onto the stone floor. He shrugs and moves to open the door.
“Come on. Let’s meet the others and set everything up for your regency.”
He motions for her to follow him out of the cell.
“Oh, I can’t wait to meet the Avatar again.”, she says, and follows behind.
-
Their ´reunion’ goes by as rocky as expected.
Everyone is on edge while Azula walks around freely, and Zuko overheard his friends planning to shadow her all hours of the day.
He knows it’s futile since they are going to make Azula the most powerful person in the country anyway, but he doesn’t stop them from doing what helps them stay calm.
If she does plan something, she won’t need to do it in secret soon anyway.
And really, it’s not like she is doing anything suspicious anyway. Mostly she just walks into council meetings and the library, maybe sometimes an empty courtyard to train, but that’s it.
Honestly, it’s almost scary how little she schemes. It's really not like her.
-
Azula’s coronation is a private affair.
The firesages repeat their phrases, Tenri, Rukia, and the rehired servants swear their fealty, and the hairpiece is set in her hair in the end.
It’s a quick ceremony, but it feels like an eternity. He can’t shake the feeling that something is about to go wrong.
In the end, Azula ascends unto the dais, and the curtain of flame lights up in electric blue as she sits down.
Zuko sees his friends flinch at the appereance of the flames, and they stare at the newly crowned Firelady with big eyes, tension keeping their body ramrod straight.
Tenri, as current head clerk, steps forward and bows: “Firelady Azula, daughter of Ozai and Ursa, brother to Zuko, what will be your first order?”, he requests, as is customary.
Zuko can’t see his sisters face behind the fire, and he holds his breath.
“I wish to reinstate my brother into the line of succession.”, she states.
Zuko breathes out, tension leaving his body. She held up her end of the deal.
Tenri moves to stand up, a smile painted on his face. He opens his mouth to respond as is tradition, but Azula interrupts him.
“And I wish for you to contact all generals in the field.”, she starts.
Zuko looks at his friends and everyone else in the throne room. This isn’t part of the plan.
He stares at the blue flames, trying to somehow see his sisters face.
She continues: “I want the generals to answer a single question, as fast as possible.”
A pregnant pause stretches on for what feels like an eternity.
“Ask them if they are willing to continue the war.”
The room stills completely, and Zuko sees Tenri stands as stiff as a board. He pushes up his glasses and looks from Azula to Zuko and back and forth.
Eventually, he stumbles out: "It- .... It will be done, Firelady.”, and marches out of the room.
Zuko steps forward, now standing where Tenri stood just moments before. He faces the fire of the throne unafraid.
“This isn’t what we discussed, Azula. Stop this.”, he tells her, voice steel.
The flames lick at the air obscuring his sister completely.
“Patience, brother. I did what you asked.”
And then she adds: “I told you, if you want the throne, you have to come get it. ...But for now, let me save this country.”
He grips the cane in his hand with a white knuckled grip. He can’t fight like this. Not yet, and not against Azula of all people.
He stays silent, as does most of the room, and thinks about his options.
But Azula’s voice cuts through the silence, breaking him out of his thoughts.
“You may advise me, Zuko. I believe you stated you had knowledge I don’t possess.”
His eyes jump from Azula’s form to his friends repeatedly, trying to gauge their opinions. They too, look between him and Azula over and over again with searching eyes.
He makes an impulsive decision. Really, the there is just one choice here.
“I accept.”, he says.
-
“This was a stupid idea and this is a stupid idea!”, Sokka exclaims as they all are settled in the conference room.
Zuko, his friends and Rukia and Tenri have retreated into one of the many small meeting rooms of the palace, huddling around a small table in fear of being caught and imprisoned for treason.
“We shouldn’t have done this in the first place!”, he raves, whisper shouting to not alert anyone else who might walk by in the hallway.
Before he can go on, Zuko holds up his hand: “To be fair, she did reinstate me. She kept that promise.”
Aang interjects: “Yes, but she also promised you to abdicate, right? So her promise isn’t really fulfilled yet.”
He halts. Did she promise that?
He drops his arm, and scrunches his face up in thought.
“She promised me to help save the Fire Nation. If I think about it she never said she would abdicate...”
He should have paid better attention. Stupid. Stupid.
His friends facepalm and groan. Tenri seizes the moment: “I’ve already made the move to make you a prince again. It should be done quickly, within a week.”
He stops, wringing his hands on the table.
“However, I have also sent out the hawks as Azula demanded. We will receive the generals’ answer after your title is returned. There will be a moment between you being eligible for the title of Firelord and the generals’ response we could seize to gain power.”
“Why did you sent out the hawks in the first place? Couldn’t you have just drawn this out?”, Katara says, arms crossed and face in a grimace.
The clerk pushes loose hair behind his ears: “The Firelady would notice, and I would lose my head. I’d want to avoid that outcome.”
He says the words with a sarcastic tone, but his eyes betray his anxiety. Zuko can't blame him.
Rukia speaks up: “The Firelady has made no move to dissolve previously formed committees under your advice. She has let things go as usual.”
So Azula has not tore down what they build up after the comet. Interesting.
“She wasn’t lying when she told you she wants your advice.”, Toph states.
“The flooring here is wood, but the foundation is made of stone. I can tell if someone lies pretty well by now.”, she shrugs, “But it’s Azula. She managed to fool me once before.”
Zuko rests his head on his arms, thinking hard.
Azula left his attempt at ruling without title alone. She isn’t doing anything important right now. She may or may not have been lying when she asked him for help.
What does it mean?
He groans and decides: “I’ll advise her.”, he says, “Watch her. And if something goes wrong, we act.”
“If nothing happens, we wait until I’m strong enough to settle this in an Agni Kai.”
The room is silent. He raise his eyebrows, expecting any objections.
Suki shrugs: “Looks like we don’t have any other options right now.”
Everyone else just nods.
They really don’t have any other option.
-
They get one of the dining chairs and set it next to the dais. It looks stupid, a random normal chair next to the throne ruling the biggest country of the world, but it works for Zuko.
He sits there, next to Azula, overseeing the everyday politics of the Fire Nation.
Strangely, Azula barely has anything to say. She seems to prefer to leave the decision making to him, only listening absentmindly to the various matters.
His friends, with the help of the royal guard, have extended their makeshift spy-operation. Every hour of the day, one of them follows his sister around wherever she goes.
And all of them come to the same conclusion: His sister does nothing.
Azula is perceptive enough to notice, and Zuko knows she must know, but she does nothing to stop them. To do anything. It's surreal.
She’s just... Waiting. Waiting for the hawks to return?
No matter. He’s almost at full- strength again. They’ll hold another Agni Kai if it becomes neccessary.
-
It’s a normal day as always.
Zuko waits on his dining chair for Azula to enter the throne room, light the curtain, sit down, and to begin their work. He’s always here before her, as are his friends and the advisors.
She’s always the last to enter the room.
That’s strange too. Ozai was always the first, on the throne before anyone else could enter the room.
Today, as always, she comes in last, exactly on the minute the meeting starts. She sits down, and just as the first advisor has already opened his mouth to start talking, Azula suddenly holds up her hand.
“Silence. I've had enough of this. I wish to speak with the head clerk.”, she demands, and the advisor --left with no other choice-- gulps and nods, rushing out of the room to get Tenri.
This is new. All this time she never did something like this.
He turns his face to speak with her privately: “What are you doing?”, he hisses.
His sister flashes him a wry smile from her spot on the dais.
“Wait and see.”, she simply tells him, refusing to say even one more word.
He wants to keep at it, get at least something out of her, but Tenri has already arrived at the meeting.
He bows: “You’ve asked for me, Firelady?”
Azula doesn’t shift next to him: “Is my brother reinstated into the line of succession yet?”
The clerk straightens, hands folded in front of him: “Prince Zuko is eligible for the throne once more, Firelady Azula. The records are corrected.”
“Good.”, his sister says, “When can I expect an answer from my generals?”, she demands next, voice cold yet satisfied.
What is she planning?
Tenri bows again: “By our best estimate we expect the hawks to arrive within the next few days. It it unlikely that our generals have not yet responded to your question.”
“Good.”, Azula repeats again, and suddenly the blue fire parting the room dies out. It's dark. She stands and faces Zuko.
“Brother, Prince Zuko, I challenge you to an Agni Kai for the right to rule. Tomorrow at sundown we will decide who shall rule from this throne.”
Her face is passive, a perfect mask. No emotion.
What is going on?
Zuko stares at her, trying to gauge at least a little bit of her motivation. He can see nothing.
He swallows.
Once more, what choice does he have?
“I accept.”
-
“Do I have to repeat myself? This was a stupid idea and this is a stupid idea!”, Sokka raves once more in the same meeting room.
They all sit here again, trying to figure out what to do now. Again.
Zuko sighs: “We knew it was going to come to this the second she took the throne. No need to kid ourselves. I’ll just have to fight her again.”
Katara slams her palm on the table: “Don’t disregard your life like that! Don’t you remember what happened last time?! You died!”
“What choice do I have?”, he shouts back, and Suki taps him on the arm to calm down.
He buries his head in his hands as he groans.
Rukia uses this moment: “This Agni Kai will settle this dispute. It is exactly what we needed.”, she states, and Tenri nods to signal his agreement.
“There’s really no other way?”, Aang asks innocently, but every Fire National shakes his head.
“No. It has to be this way.”, Zuko says, and the leans back in his chair.
Toph pipes up: “I can make Azula slip up. Pull at her feet. It’s an old trick some people used at my tournaments. No one would notice.”
Zuko shakes his head again: “If someone does figure it out, we’re back at square one. The duel would be void. It’s too risky.”
“But risking your life is not?”, Sokka asks, arms crossed, face displeased.
“As I said--”, he grits out, angry at their refusal to understand, “--It has to be this way. It’s neccessary. No way around it.”
He doesn't like the way the others look at him. It's makes this hurt more than it should.
“I’ll have to be there at sundown, no matter what you tell me.”
-
The last time he was in the Agni Kai arena he was 13 years old.
He stands at his assigned position, the shawl on his back. The stands are filled with all current staff members, but still just half full. His friends sit in the front row, anxiously watching.
Azula is behind him, he can see her if he just turns around. He waits for the signal for them to begin. To begin their fight to the death.
...Or maiming...
It’s agonizing. He has to take deep breaths to keep himself from shaking.
He doesn’t want to fight his sister again.
He doesn’t want to fight here again.
The gong sounds.
He turns.
There stands Azula, crown in her hair, and a manic smile on her face.
He moves into a combat stance --trying his best to be ready for whatever comes next-- in what must be a second but feels like an eternity.
But then--
His sister drops to her knees.
“I surrender.”
What?
Zuko drops his arms to his side, studying Azula quizzically, not believing what he seeing.
This can't be-- This is--
She doesn’t say another word. The room is deathly silent.
He steps forward, slowly, carefully, until he is right in front of her.
There’s no reaction. His sister keeps staring at the ground, kneeling. Surrendering.
Like he did...
“...I accept your surrender, Princess Azula.”, he says ultimately, and the words stumble out of his mouth unsurely. Like he can't believe he's saying them.
He offers her a hand to pull her up.
She takes it and stands, grinning a wolfish smile at him as she opens her mouth.
“Long live Firelord Zuko!”, she intones to the crowd as she does so, the smile from before still painted on her face.
The people cheer.
Under the cacophony of noises, he asks her: “Why did you do all this?”, his eyebrows knit together tightly.
There’s a glint of humor in her eyes.
“I turned defeat into victory. I had lost my power as heir, so I’m going to become powerful under you.”
She taps his chest: “I changed to the winning side. My ´failure´-“, she rolls her eyes at the word, “- allowed me to get on top.”
He blinks at her answer: “And the generals? And the Agni Kai? What was that about?”
Azula chuckles as she responds: “You don’t get it? In the next few days you’ll get a list of generals loyal to father, to the war. You’ll be able to clean the ranks without any effort.”
She gestures at the crowd around him: “And the Agni Kai showed everyone you’re not father. You don’t strike down the unarmed. They’ll know you’re different.”
Zuko doesn’t know what to say. He watches the people in the stand, his friends celebrating the true end of the war. It’s all over, and it couldn’t have gone better.
He hugs Azula.
She doesn’t reciprocate, her arms hesitantly touching his back.
“I can’t wait for you to teach me lightningbending.”
He feels Azula’s laughter through his arms.