Chapter Text
Agni leads Ozai through a maze of halls, Head Sage Hijiri keeping pace at the Fire Lord's side.
The capital's Fire temple is the oldest building in Caldera, and a mix of expansions and renovations have only added to the purposeful confusion of the temple's layout. The sages do more than pray to the spirits or serve Caldera's citizenry here. They also safeguard some of the nation's deepest secrets and most important cultural relics. Outsiders to the brotherhood are not welcome to freely wander the premises, and everything from long established customs to the defensive architecture are designed to ensure that end.
The next tug on Ozai's sunsense is high overhead, but there is no stairwell awaiting him after he and Hijiri turn the corner. Instead, a two-story room full of shelved scrolls hosts a small white dragon twined amongst the branches of one of its chandeliers, tall candles slowly bowing toward the King of Flames as they melt under the spirit's radiant heat.
Ozai stops outside the room and holds up a hand to signal Hijiri to a halt as well. He points at Agni perched near the ceiling. The Head Sage draws a sharp breath beside him, but Ozai ignores that in favor of listening in on the voices he can hear coming from within the room.
"-- must be something!" a man insists.
"And as I have already told you," a calmer but growing irritated voice replies, "what you suggest would have been treasonous. The sages of the time were thorough. You will find nothing to confirm your claim."
The second speaker is almost certainly a sage, then.
"Bah! I run a minister's household," the first voice says, "There are always more records of something than are remembered. It doesn't need to be direct to prove we are of Hinata's line."
Ozai can only assume that voice belongs to Yota.
"Father, please," a third voice that must be Tadashi says. He sounds younger than the other two but definitely full grown nonetheless. At least this rules out any lingering worry of a child being caught up in the pending confrontation. That's some comfort. Even after Daiki had called Tadashi a more thoughtful man than his father, some part of Ozai had still half-expected Yota's son to be a teenager. "It's not too late to go back to Master Daiki. He's always been kind to us."
"Daiki should have been the first to support you!" Yota snaps. "Instead, he dismissed your fire as inconsequential!"
"Father, the courtyard was full of new firebenders!"
"None who could claim royalty! None who saw the end of a sentence in exile! Kenzo's line produced no more than four heralds before Agni withdrew his presence from the nation entirely. It is clear the great spirit's patience with his line has run its course. This is a sign for all the nation, Tadashi! You shouldn't doubt yourself so!"
"I am no herald, either!" Tadashi objects, starting to sound desperate.
A snort. "Your boy can barely light a candle. He'll be dead in record time if he's foolish enough to issue an Agni Kai. He's right to be afraid," the sage dismisses, "More to the point, buzz around the temple is that the Fire Lord found Agni's favor this past week. He is Herald Ozai, now. That's five heralds for Kenzo's line, all more recent than any from your own."
That sounds like his cue. Ozai waves for Hijiri to follow as he begins to wander through tall shelving in search of the voices' source.
"Lies!" Yota says, "They must be! Why would Agni call for our line's return if another of Kenzo's line was found worthy? And there will be no Agni Kai. With solid proof, we can --"
Ozai clears his throat in a pointed manner as he rounds a shelf of scrolls and finally comes within sight of the three arguing men. The nameless sage and Yota both appear a bit older than Iroh, and Tadashi looks to be about the same age as the three junior sages Ozai left behind in the throne room of the palace.
"You!" Yota yells, though it seems more an exclamation of shock than anything. Ozai isn't even sure Yota recognizes him in any capacity beyond an unexpected interloper.
The gruff, heckling sage is quicker to regain his wits. "Herald," he greets, placing a less-than-subtle emphasis on Ozai's newly awarded title as he bows, "Head Sage, welcome."
Yota blinks, stunned. Behind him, Tadashi's face breaks into wonder before it just as quickly transforms into a mask of horror. The younger man takes a step forward, grasps a fistful of his father's sleeve, and falls to his knees in a kowtow. Yota makes a small sound of discomfort at suddenly being pulled halfway into a bow.
"Please forgive our transgressions, Fire Lord Ozai!" Tadashi begs, "My father suffers the effects of his age and is growing senile." Somehow, Ozai thinks that claim might be a bit of a stretch. He chooses not to dispute it just the same. "He meant no harm. I should have been stricter with him. The fault is mine. Please, accept my deepest apologies, Herald of Agni!"
"Tadashi! You --" Yota does not get far with his objection.
"Father, look at his eyes!" Tadashi hisses, "He is the herald. The time has come to yield. Now, bow!" He reinforces the last word with a short tug on the sleeve still caught in his clenched fist.
Ozai meets Yota's eyes and watches as the old man's dreams die, heartbreak and resignation slowly taking over the would-be usurper's face.
Yota folds himself into a kowtow beside his son with some difficulty. "My son is brave and kind," Yota says, voice unsteady under the weight of his emotions, "but he lies to protect his father. He argued against my plans from the first." Yota looks up with tears streaming down his weathered cheeks. "Please, Herald, spare my son. The fault is none but my own."
Tadashi makes a small noise as if he has just been stabbed, but he says nothing to refute his father's words.
Ozai's throat feels tight. This has gone better than his wildest hopes for defusing the situation, and he knows with certainty now that he was right to ask Agni to let him handle it. That knowledge does not ease the pain in his chest.
"I would have given anything for my father to love me half so much as you love your son," Ozai confesses before he renders his judgement, "Yota, your line was spared for Fire Lord Hinata's sake, and hidden away to prevent bloodshed. I'll not revoke that mercy without cause. Go home, and avoid creating further troubles. Consider all your transgressions pardoned." Father and son alike sag in relief. Ozai adds, "Tadashi, I do not punish sons for their fathers' actions. As best I can tell, you have done nothing that would require anyone's forgiveness.
"You may all rise," Ozai finishes, including the sage he still doesn't know the name of in his last command.
The sage straightens, Yota reclaims his feet, but Tadashi remains on his knees with a look of trepidation painted across his face. "Your judgement is to uphold Agni's previous decree in full, Herald?" Tadashi asks.
"Yes." Why does he suddenly feel like he has forgotten something?
"Then --" Tadashi licks his lip in a nervous gesture, tone strained, "Then there is only one thing left to right." He cups his hands and calls forth a tiny guttering flame, offering it up to Ozai. "A herald should have the ability to, to temper inner flames. S-some of the family stories claim as much."
"Tadashi, no!" Yota yells, wide-eyed and distraught.
"It was a mistake, Father, an oversight! I've known from the beginning, and those people in the courtyard only confirmed it! Not even the Sun Spirit can keep track of everything that happens under his watch. Agni never meant to return our firebending. I was just one of many, overlooked because our line is insignificant in his sight. I, I cannot keep what is not mine to claim. It has already caused problems a-and I, I am unworthy."
Ozai feels cold.
Tadashi's inner flame is as pathetic as the flicking tongue of fire in his hands. His inner flame is utterly dwarfed by the bonfires of the two sages with them. It is barely more than the cool, long-banked coals of his father's inner flame. Any young heir to the royal line would be devastated to learn they possess an inner flame so weak. How cherished a gift must it be to a man who has always known that none in his family would ever firebend at all?
His stomach roils.
Tadashi is right. Upholding Agni's previous decree means smothering the man's fragile inner flame.
Ozai had only wished to prevent unnecessary bloodshed when he'd asked Agni to leave Yota and Tadashi in his keeping. He'd hoped a reminder of Agni's will for Hinata's line might be enough to restore the stability of the judgement. He hadn't expected -- didn't think far enough to realize -- that the removal of Agni's gift from a man who meant no harm might be required of him to do so.
He --
He can't!
"...That is a matter I must entrust to Agni's care," Ozai forces himself to say after a tense silence, looking up at the small dragon of fire still perched high above their heads, "This is not something I can judge fairly."
He'd thought he could, when he'd made his request to Agni on the lava field surrounding the palace.
He was wrong.
Agni takes wing, flying an unhurried loop of the room to shocked gasps before diving to alight on Ozai's right shoulder. The Sun Spirit tisks, and it takes Ozai a moment to realize that, despite Agni's nearby physical form, the sound originated from within his head rather than coming to him through his ears. Agni speaks to him alone with a voice no other can hear as he says, "The bindings hold, but you are distressed, child mine." The dragon presses against the back of his neck -- heat, and pressure, and the slide of carefully crafted scales -- as it travels from one shoulder to the other. "Peace. I am here. You do not walk alone."
And then Agni leaps to land neatly in Tadashi's cupped hands, devouring the offered fire. When Agni speaks this time, it is aloud for the room to hear, though the spirit's focus is fixed firmly on Tadashi.
"I know you, Tadashi of Ash," Agni intones in a flat voice, "You have lived a life of dedication. Regular offerings and sacrifices you have given me. Today, you recognize my chosen herald, yield to my judgement, and willfully relinquish a most precious gift. You keep nothing from me."
"Yes, Agni!" Tadashi squeaks, somewhere between awed and terrified as he returns the great spirit's stare.
There is a long pause as the unintentional staring match draws out, but then Agni chuckles, solemnity giving way to a cheery playfulness.
"I relent. You have earned a boon," the fire spirit announces, nuzzling one of the man's thumbs before hopping into his lap. Tadashi squeaks wordlessly and his hands hover uncertainly over the spirit, too afraid to touch. Ozai is familiar with the feeling. "Your line will no longer be that of Ash," Agni says, pressing two small, clawed hands against Tadashi's belly and over his weak inner flame. The inner flame grows steady and ever so slightly stronger under the Sun Spirit's will. "I restore you among my children. Tadashi of Second Fire shall have offspring with the same chance for my blessing as any other man born to me."
"O-oh," Tadashi breathes, going slack in shock as tears run down his face, "I, I --" The man covers his mouth as he sobs.
"Hm," Agni hums and then flies back to reclaim Ozai's right shoulder. "This outcome pleases me," Agni tells him, practically purring, "You will be an excellent herald." Agni's warmth briefly brushes the corner of his jaw before the Sun Spirit jumps from his shoulder and disappears in a shower of sparks as he is wont to do.
Yota stiffly kneels beside his son and holds Tadashi as the overwhelmed man cries, murmuring soft reassurances and praises to the new firebender. Agni is satisfied and back in a good mood. Ozai himself is nearly dizzy with relief that it all has turned out so well. If only all coups could be so absurdly easy to dissuade.
That just leaves one last matter to tend to here.
