Chapter Text
News of the old general's death was almost immediately overshadowed by the Avatar's arrival at the Palace, with the Dragon of the West in tow.
Messengers could interrupt war meetings without being challenged to an Agni Kai. This was as true in the Fire Lord's Palace as it was in the field of battle. Though, to General Shijuichi it was less an interruption than it was a way out.
"Shall we table this discussion for later, your Majesty?"
Fire Lord Zuko agreed by glaring at General Daichi with a final "You are not marching your troops through Gaoling." Before standing up and leaving the room.
Gaoling had not been mentioned yet. Neither had the troops under General Daichi's command. These facts were directly related.
"I wasn't going to suggest marching my troops through Gaoling." General Daichi was too old and too dignified to pout, so he didn't.
"And I'm the Dragon of the West," General Waido scoffed.
"I wasn't. I was only going to suggest we march them through safe terrain that also happens to be a populated area we have already conquered."
General Shijuichi rolled his eyes. "Beaten is not conquered, general Daichi." As well he should know, considering that the anonymous patch of Earth Kingdom land was just as Earth after the battle as it had been before. "And I am thankful that we were interrupted before you had the chance to insult the Fire Lord's intelligence that way. Are you normally this bold during war meetings?"
General Daichi was not cowed, but he did... hunch, a little bit.
"The current holder of Agni's flame is, admittedly, more lenient than his predecessor when it comes to disagreement."
Which explained the Generals. It did not, however, explain the Dragon of the West.
General Kuzon of Shijuichi wondered if Prince Iroh had chosen to betray the Fire Nation before the war meeting, or after.
He wouldn't begrudge the General a bit of treason if it was after.
But the Admiral of the North said that since the day they set sail, Prince Iroh was a more a hindrance to his nephew finding the Avatar than a help. And that, according to the Wanyi 's final crew, he seemed perfectly content to pretend he was on a retirement cruise and keep his nephew banished forever, even after they had actually found the Avatar. And the admiral of the East said that he'd never seen Prince Iroh lift a finger to help his nephew run and supply his ship. On the occasions when former Fire Lord Ozai ordered him to dock at the same port as the Wanyi, while the banished prince who would one day be Fire Lord Zuko was spending most of his shore leave haggling and arguing and shouting loud enough to be heard two towns over to get enough food and fuel to prevent a mutiny, the Dragon of the West could always be found spending his ample funds shopping for frivolities or going to teahouses or playing pai sho.
"Teahouses?" He had asked, incredulous.
"Not the fun kind." The Admiral of the Eastern fleet had said.
"Don't you call them Massage Parlors over in the colonies?" The Admiral of the Northern fleet had asked, like someone who wasn't sure yet if he needed to assign several sailors to latreen duty for the rest of their careers.
"Massage Parlors are an Earth Kingdom thing. We call them both in the colonies."
"I see," the Admiral of the Northern fleet had said, like a military commander who was about to purposely make several of his soldiers very, very miserable for the forseeable future. "If you'll excuse me, General, Admiral. I need to remind a few of my captains about the proper uses of military funds." He bowed to both of them, and walked-not-stormed out. The polar winds did not follow in his wake, though that was more due to lack of proximity than lack of desire.
General Shijuichi did not envy those sailors, but it was their own fault. The first and most important rule of pulling wool over the eyes of your superior officers was to do so in such a way that you won't get caught.
Speaking of pulling wool over eyes.
"I don't like what you're insinuating," General Kwang-su scowled. It would have been quite effective if General Shijuichi hadn't met Fire Lord Zuko and been on the recieving end of several of his weapons-grade glares.
"Then you'd find it more unpalatable if I stated it outright," General Kuzon of Shijuichi said. "But that doesn't make it less true. The Avatar, with the Dragon of the West in tow."
"I've known General Iroh for a long time, General Shijuichi," General Daichi said, "If he seems to be in league with the Avatar, then either the Avatar is not an enemy of the Fire Nation, or he is merely using the Avatar as a means to an end."
"And what end would that be?"
General Waido stood just a little bit straighter. "The Dragon of the West never abandons his people."
Unless it meant fighting his brother, apparently. He didn't even fight Fire Lord Ozai when they were openly on opposite sides of the war.
Fire Lord Zuko must have gotten his stance on fratricide from him. It would have been endearing, had they not been a Fire Lord's brother.
Prince Iroh, at least, was wise enough to delegate the task to someone who was willing to do the job.
So far, that was the only point in his favor.
(It was still one more than former Fire Lord Azula, who seemed perfectly content to inhabit the Fire Lord's rooms and set things on fire whenever she wanted to call on her brother. And who, apparently, had suggested burning the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground. It was unclear if Former Fire Lord Ozai had considered the colonies to be too Earth to spare from his plan, but General Kuzon of Shijuichi had seen too much to consider himself an optimist.)
General Kuzon of Shijuichi didn't say any of this. Instead, he said. "You know him better than I do, so I suppose I must trust in your judgment that he hasn't changed in three years."
"He's an old Dragon," General Kuang-su said, "he cannot change his nature so easy."
He had meant it as a reassurance. It wasn't.
He wouldn't begrudge Prince Iroh a bit of treason if it was after. Might even bring himself to forgive him if it was before, provided there was a good enough reason and an ounce of regret. If it was the third option, however...
The Dragon of the West brought his nephew into that war meeting, and proceeded to show exactly how much he cared for him ever since.
He wouldn't fight his brother, but his brother wasn't on the Dragon Throne anymore.
He would need to speak to Captain Izumi about this.
-
"Captain Izumi, may I speak with you a moment?
The Captain of His Majesty's Guard did not slow her pace for him.
"Make it quick. Prince Iroh has just woken up, I am escorting him to the Fire Temple."
"He's allowed to wander the Palace?"
"All the doors are open to him, By order of the Fire Lord."
"I see. What do you think of His Highness? Have you met him before?"
"The Royal Family's business is their own."
"Of course, my apologies. I'm simply worried that his months as a refugee on the continent and his princely expectations for the finer things in life may have... eroded his sense of personal property. Especially when it comes to ornate chairs."
Captain Izumi was on the other side of a doorway when he said that last part. She made a motion with her hands, and suddenly the door became very blocked without, technically, being closed at all.
"The Fire Lord does not seem to share your concerns." She said, from the other side of one of her guards. "If you have reasons to believe he should, you can bring them to him."
Until then, don't openly accuse Princes and Dragons of treason, she didn't say. He heard it, regardless.
"My apologies, Captain," he bowed. "I won't distract you further."
It seemed he would not get to speak to the Dragon of the West that morning.
That didn't mean he couldn't do other work, in any case.
-
"Your Majesty, may I have a word?"
"Uncle isn't going to dethrone me, General Shijuichi."
So captain Izumi told Fire Lord Zuko about their conversation. Interesting.
"I admit I don't have all the information, your Majesty. But that isn't what I came here to discuss."
His Majesty had gotten very good at working and listening at the same time.
"What is it?"
"It's about the continued skirmishes in some of the colonies. If I may, I would like to use my position as the only person in your court who is from the colonies to suggest a possible way to mitigate them."
Fire Lord Zuko looked up, like he suddenly remembered something important.
"The Avatar wants me to give away the colonies."
"What?"
"I won't do it," he assured quickly. "I just thought you should know. Since that's your home and you'll probably want to go back sometime and we're probably going to be trying peace talks again later today. So now you won't get caught off-guard when a member of his group suggests it."
"I... appreciate it, your Majesty. All of the colonies, really?"
"I know."
"Who do they think won the war?"
"I know!"
There is no solidarity quite like that of shared bafflement.
After General Shijuichi left, he found that he had entirely forgotten to give his advice.
He was very glad that his Fire Lord saw fit to warn him about the Avatar's plans for his home. If he had found out during the peace talks, he'd have been too rattled to be of any help.
Now, perhaps, he could.
-
Apparently he couldn't.
The first day of peace talks began with establishing what each side wanted out of the deal, and didn't move forward from there.
Fire lord Zuko wanted an end to the war with the current de facto borders maintained, and all Fire Nation prisioners of war. In exchange, he would return all of their prisioners of war, including any military leaders they may have (provided they agree not to restart the war. Obviously the fire nation prisioners of war would also agree not to restart the war, Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe, that's what being at peace means.), and any and all stolen water tribe artifacts. The waterbender had been very insistent on the return of those artifacts.
"Fine, " Fire Lord Zuko had said, upon confirmation that the Fire Nation was, in fact, in possession of a great deal of artifacts from the Southern Water Tribe. "I don't even know why we have your-" he caught himself before he said stupid. Was it odd to feel proud of a boy who was only a handful of years your junior and also your superior officer? "-artefacts. Who steals from a place they want to burn to the ground?"
Which was a good question, but rather undid any goodwill the percieved concession may have bought him.
It was the only concession that would happen that day.
The Avatar wanted all the colonies –General Shijuichi knew it was coming and he still wasn't prepared enough to see the Avatar propose that with a straight face– returned to the Earth Kingdom, and when General Shijuichi had interrupted to ask what that would mean for his men, he was told that every Fire National in the colonies would be forced to go back to the Fire Nation. Or, as the Avatar had put it, "they'd finally get to go home."
Never had such a fundamental misunderstanding been said with such a wistful smile.
By the time he could think of a rebuttal that could even begin to clear things up, the conversation had deteriorated in a different direction.
The Avatar also wanted a terms-free release of all their prisioners of war, the stolen water tribe artefacts, "and maybe the dismantling of the Fire Nation Military while you're at it. What?" the Water Tribe ambassador had added when his suggestion was met with incredulous stares from Fire Lord Zuko's side of the room. "Can't burn the world down if you don't have a military to burn the world down with, it's science!"
"I like that idea," the Avatar said, "do you think we can get the Earth Kingdom Generals to agree for their military to do that too?"
This was when General Kuzon of Shijuichi fully realized that the Avatar was twelve years old.
In exchange for all of that, the Avatar's group might give the Fire Nation some of their prisioners of war. If they could get the Earth Kingdom Generals to agree to it, and if they agreed not to restart the war, of course.
"I have the increasing suspicion," General Shijuichi whispered to the Admiral of the Northern Fleet, as the peace talks in the foreground grew increasingly bellicose, "that these peace talks are meant to distract us from something."
"You've heard of the Dai Li's assassination of the retired General too, I take it?"
If causing the rumor could be considered hearing it, then yes. He half-nodded, then half-truthed. "They haven't killed anyone else, it was probably just some personal grudge. I mean something more like the Day of Black Sun."
The Admiral eyed the Avatar Warily. "Could spirits be involved?"
"Let's rule that out for now. If the Earth Kingdom could weaponize spirits against us, they would have already."
"Not with the Avatar gone for a hundred years."
General Shijuichi shrugged. "I'm taking a closer look at the known troop movements this evening, once this is over."
"So what are you lovebirds talking about?" The Earthbender's voice cut through all the arguing and shouting, and made every last head in the room turn to them.
"The moon," General Shijuichi said. For some reason, that made the Water Tribe Ambassador angry.
The Earthbender... Grinned? Bared her teeth, more like. "That's a lie."
General Shijuichi rolled his eyes. "The sun, then. And the possibility of typhoons or earthquakes in the near future trying to blot it out."
The Earthbender cocked her head to the side a bit. "Huh. Truth. You really do a conspiracy-whisper during peace talks just to talk about the weather?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said. It wasn't an answer. It was also a lie.
The Dragon of the West, General Shijuichi noticed, had been completely silent for the entire meeting.
-
Progress continued to not happen until dinnertime arrived. Most of the Avatar's group was eating in the courtyard, including the Dragon of the West.
He was reminiscing with the other generals. Since any reminiscing on General Shijuichi's end would likely be considered treason, he opted for different conversation partners.
Partners, because the Avatar and the Waterbender were practically joined at the hip.
"Before you do anything that would end with me returning to my home in an urn, you should know that I'm unarmed, I'm not a firebender, and even if I were either I would have no hope of doing anything other than looking menacing before either or both of you resolved the incident permanently."
"What do you want." The waterbender was flexing her states of matter at him in much the same way as his sister would flex her muscles whenever he got particularly on her nerves. Just with less "I will wrestle you to the ground" and more "you'll be lucky if you only lose your hands."
He held his plate of food like the plate of food it was. Both of his hands were clearly occupied by something much more worthwhile than losing a fight. Not that he needed his hands, but she didn't know that. And it wouldn't help, anyway.
"Just to talk. I admit that I'm relatively new to this whole politicking thing, but from what I understand, the best negotiations happen over food."
"Talking's good!" The Avatar said, jumping out of his bending stance. "I like talking, I'd much prefer it to the... other thing. That you said. I'm Aang, by the way! And this is Katara. Oh, right, I know hiw much you guys like titles. This is Sifu Katara. Of the Southern Water Tribe."
The Waterbender –Master Katara– looked like she'd much prefer the other thing that he said, but there were too many witnesses around, and the stakes were too high. He'd never encountered members of the water tribe before, so he had to assume that the look on her face was aimed more towards the Fire Nation as a whole, plus or minus certain Dragons.
"General Kuzon of his Majesty's colonial divisions." He wasn't sure which bow was appropriate for this instance, so he decided on soldier-to-somebody-else's-commanding-officer. It wasn't in the official rules of etiquette, but soldiers had a habit of making their own. He grinned a little. "You want to give my home to the Earth King."
Avatar Aang looked sufficiently aghast. "No I don't! I just want to return the colonies back to the Earth Kingdom! Just the colonies. Not the Fire Nation. That way, everybody can go back to their homes and not have to worry about getting arrested for Earthbending or anything."
Which reminded him.
"Pardon me one moment. Your Majesty!" he moved to intercept Fire Lord Zuko as he was returning to his office with what could only generously be called a plate of food, provided one pretended that the plate was half its actual size. "I apologize for forgetting why I came to meet you this morning. I've drafted my proposal for improved colonial integration on this scroll. I hope you'll consider it."
"Thank you, General. I'll... look it over. When I have time."
"That's all I ask, your Majesty. Thank you."
General Shijuichi bowed, and his Fire Lord bowed back. When it was over, the Fire Lord returned to his office with one more thing on his plate than he expected, and a lot more food.
Master Katara's indignation was replaced by bafflement. "Did you just... swap plates with Zuko?"
"Look at how much food he gave himself." He showed them the plate the Fire Lord had served himself. "This is how he always serves himself, and he never goes back for seconds."
Master Katara scoffed. "So someone makes him food three times a day and he isn't grateful for it, what else is new?"
Cultural miscommunication. It happened between Colony Men and Proper Fire Nation Citizens too. At least, he hoped that's what this was.
"In the Fire Nation, how much food you eat has nothing to do with how grateful you are for it. Sometimes, you just don't have an appetite." The Fire Lord hadn't had an appetite for two months.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense," Avatar Aang scratched his chin in thought. "You live in a place where the food literally grows out of the ground, so don't need to worry about hunting or fishing as much as the Water Tribes do, and when you add the fact that your nobles and soldiers probably never go hungry because of the war..."
"Well the war's over now," he said quickly. "And thank Agni for that. But that doesn't give his Majesty the excuse to starve himself."
"What did you need to give him that was so important anyway?" Her tone was less accusatory, and more curious. Still a bit accusatory, though. Fair enough. He was the one who had started that conversation.
"It's something I've been working on for a while." He smiled in that way his sister said made his green eyes almost glow "It's a proposal to legalize Earthbending in the colonies."
Then the Avatar's Earthbender almost gave the bearer of Agni's flame an eyeful of the place Agni's light refuses to go, and important political conversations were quite suddenly impossible to be had.
-
Later that evening, the Dragon of the West found him.
"Greetings, General! I don't believe I have had the honor of meeting you."
"The honor is all mine, Prince Iroh."
"General will be quite fine, General."
"I would sooner claim myself Agni's equal than put myself on the same pedestal as you, your Highness. In any case, I was under the impression that you were retired."
"Sometimes, a man must put on a coat that he cast off long ago, if it means keeping others warm."
"It's a difficult coat to wear if you want to keep others warm."
"You sound as if you speak from experience."
"I do what I can. But I'm sorry to say that your higness' recent traveling companions want to make that task more difficult for me."
"Is that so? They are very bright children. Though, I suppose, too young to be tasked with the heavy burden of making peace."
"Far be it from me to assume age has any bearing on these sorts of things! They're idealistic, to be sure, and definitely patriotic, but any comparison one can make to His Majesty can only be a positive one."
" Really? There are some here who'd disagree with that sentiment."
"Then they are no friend of mine. It has been an honor and a pleasure serving under him, your highness. I hope he continues to reign with wisdom and grace for many decades to come."
"Ah, it makes an old man's heart smile to hear you say those words."
"That surprises me, I admit, given who arrived with you. Or did you arrive with them?"
"It was more that we arrived with each other. It just happens that a flying bison was the quickest transport available to me. You don't approve?"
"It's not my place to approve or dissaprove, your highness, though I admit I don't understand. I was told that your association with Avatar Aang means that he is not the enemy of the Fire Nation, but having met him and heard his demands for peace, I can't convince myself that is true. Since you've known him for longer, I can only hope that you'll enlighten me."
"The Avatar's role is to maintain balance in the world, General. The Fire Nation has upset that balance, quite severely might I add. Returning the colonies to the Earth Kingdom would be a step towards restoring that balance. I assure you, the Fire Nation itself would remain untouched. Avatar Aang would be most displeased if he found the balance tipping in the other direction."
Which was not at all what he had seen in the peace talks, unless the boy who decimated the Northern fleet for killing the Moon Spirit was unfamiliar with the concept of vengeance.
"With all due respect, your Highness, returning the colonies to the Earth Kingdom would start a civil war."
"You seem quite certain of this."
"I doubt your traveling companions would believe me, but the vast majority of the soldiers under my command have never seen the fire nation proper in their lives. What should I do if they refuse to leave? They would hardly pledge themselves to the Earth King."
"You don't seem so weak a commander that you would need to worry about such trivial things as your men not following orders."
He had made a mistake, then, in mentioning that possibility.
"I came into my position less than two months ago, your Highness, so I'm largely untested in that capacity."
"Still, reputation preceeds a man in a way that actions do not."
A threat, and an order. He had definitely made a mistake, then. He bowed.
"I am His Majesty's loyal servant, your Highness. I will see that it doesn't come to that."
"But, I admit, I am surprised that you'd think it would be a problem at all. I was under the impression that the colonial divisions were a rather... temporary affair, although I never did agree with that particular strategy."
"As I said before, your Highness, I do what I can. Though from what I understand, his Majesty also disagreed with that strategy, and if he was the same then as he is now, likely did so rather vehemently."
"And one of my many regrets is that he was without support. It's a mistake I have since tried never to repeat. Though it seems I have failed in that respect as well. I've decided to visit his chambers this fine evening to see if he's willing to give an old man a third chance. If he isn't resting, of course."
"I'm not familiar with his evening schedule, but I wish you well, your Highness."
"General."
The Dragon of the West bowed, General-to-General. General Shijuicji bowed, General-to-Prince, and they both went their separate ways.