Chapter 44.6- And so the Dragons Danced

“The past is in the past. There’s nothing we can do about that” Katara cut in smoothly, trying to channel the way her father spoke when he was dealing with the other men in the tribe.

“And so you understand why the war can not end tomorrow. If I make an order like that, lacking the proper backing and placement, there is no chance that I do not end up facing an uprising in days.” He said.

“No. No I don’t. You are the Fire Lord, Zuko. We made you the Fire Lord to do one simple thing, and if you can’t do that, then what use are you” She heard Aang suck in a breath beside her, and even Bato did the same. She could not back down now. They had given so much. Her father had lost his life fighting to end this war. Zuko had to do his duty. They’d all fought and bled for this.

“I was raised from being a child to be a Prince of the Fire Nation, and when my father took the throne, to be the next Fire Lord. One of the first lessons I learned was that the Fire Lord does not rule alone. You can see it as there being four major powers in the Fire Nation- The Fire Lord, the Fire Sages, The Nobility, and the Military. We need at least two of those on my side to give me the legitimacy I need to do something so controversial. The Nobility all own massive estates, with hundreds of staff and stakes in massive swathes of Farmland. Where they go, the people follow more often than not. Maybe if I hadn’t been banished. Maybe if my Uncle was on the throne instead of me. Maybe then we could do this without them. But ewe can’t. We need them.”

She wanted to scream and pull at her hair, punch him in his stupid face as he explained things down to her like she was slow. She just wanted this all to be over. She had had enough of the Fire Nation- and enough of this stupid war. It was changing both her and the people she loved in ways she was not comfortable with.

“So when will this meeting with the Nobility take place?” Bato, bless his soul, asked when he could see that she couldn’t bring herself to speak lest she say something irredeemable and doom this alliance before it even achieved anything.

“In two weeks. They must travel from their various manors and castles to make it here” He said.

“Fine. You have two weeks, Zuko” She finally said with a glare.

“In the meantime, I need to know which men flew this flag” She said, passing him the paper that contained her best drawing of the flag she’d seen on that day- the day they took her mother from her.