Chapter 48.6- And so the Dragons Danced

I scowled, pushing myself off from the boulder. I was leaning against. I’d recovered some of my energy at the very least, so it was enough to act as the spark for separating the positive and negative energies before smashing them back together in a lightning bolt that looked more like a stray lance of static. It did a good enough job of browning up the Avatar’s skin, however. We would keep both bodies away from the Fire Sage by all means. If the man got a look at them, then he had a good chance of blowing the whole ruse. Luckily, he was my grandfather’s man so if things went wrong, we still had that angle to play.

I went back to leaning against the boulder as Toji arranged both bodies atop stone tablets that Toph lifted from the ground. I went from leaning to sitting as I felt the weariness dig deeper.

“Get Long Feng first” I said, feeling sleep beginning to take me.

There was a snapping sound in front of my head and I could barely force my eyes open. They still felt so heavy.

“Here you go, Lord Natsu” Long Feng said, offering me a tea.

“What is this?”

“Specially brewed tea in a Dai Li recipe. It will restore your energy for a limited time, but you will crash even harder afterwards.” He said as I drank, not caring that the water was scalding hot. What was heat to a Son of Agni? I just needed the energy to get through the Generals.

“And what of the Generals?” I asked.

“Your Lieutenant, Toji, has gone to summon them here as you ordered” He said. I never ordered that, but I trusted Toji to act in my best interests so I said nothing and waited for the tea to take effect.

When it did, it felt like I had been slapped awake, and not a second too soon as I noticed the line of carriages making their way towards us. I stood up straight, waiting for them to arrive and disembark. Toph and Long Feng stood off to the side while Maki stood right at my side. It hurt me to send them away like that but if I was going to claim superiority to Zuko on the account that he cavorted with foreigners, saying so with two earthbenders at my side would stink to high heavens.

“My Generals, Welcome” I said, spreading out my arms.

“I wish it was better news that called for me to call you all here. But our Fire Lord has fallen in combat against the Avatar. While I was able to strike him down in time, it was too late to save our Fire Lord from his savagery” I said, and I watched their eyes flick to the bodies behind me.

“So what do we do now?” Sung asked. Oh bless you Sung. I knew he knew I was up to something. And I knew he would support me, if only because he knew that supporting me would favour him in turn.

“The Fire Lord is dead. Long Live the Firelord” I proclaimed and my hands produced green flames that I shot into the bodies behind me.