Ordeal By Fire: An Avatar the Last Airbender GSRP

[DanBaque]

The fall of the storm happened remarkably swiftly by any standard. Within the day, the entirety of the Fire Islands had been freed from their threatened grave. Emissaries on airship, balloon, and frigate were prompt in arriving at the colonies, where their statements were treated with the utmost care. However, they arrived from both sides, provoking an increase in mutinous sentiment among the military and much confusion.

This would not save the imperialist faction, as Iroh and the White Lotus successfully kept a lid on sentiments for long enough that the remaining islands faced being overwhelmed on all fronts, and capitulated one by one. Immediately after, the efforts of reconstruction and reconstitution of the nation started, and just as fast found problems.

Certainly the homeland found much improvement as far as critical good supplies went, which cut down on issues caused by lack of food or coal. But there was a two-sided flow of refugees, as people fled war to the colonies; and at the same time colonials fled the upheaval there to their original homeland. As Zuko's court was to learn, the rest of the world had not survived these months untouched.

While nothing as terrible as their civil war had happened, thanks in particular to the efforts of the White Lotus and the Avatar, dissent and hatred had both risen. The Earth Kingdom's stability was much in question, due to attempts at clawing back authority from Ba Sing Se and the Earth King's own peculiar aspects. This was little compared to the crisis ongoing in the colonies, as those partial to the return to the kingdom were opposed in the streets by Fire nationalists and integrationists. This political issue had deeply penetrated the local military, which was much more sympathetic to nationalists and integrationists than the other factions.

To a not inconsiderable degree, all these troubles had been anticipated by the leaders of the White Lotus. Their planned solutions had, however, centred on the use of the Fire Nation's nearly untouched industry to repair and bring prosperity to the world. This idea was, of course, impossible now. Civil war had shattered much of the country, and left it ending its own large reconstruction. Other solutions would have to be looked for.

And unfortunately, this was not the only foreign matter that had to be solved. The Earth Kingdom's generals were hawkish. The Fire Nation had pledged some form of reparations. And trials were looked for. The other three nations were looking for justice, and it had to be delivered in some form.

What position the movers and shakers of the civil war would take would be decisive in all these regards.

 

[triumph8w]

OFFERING​

As he watched his granddaughter light a stick of incense, Juzo Ze cannot help the curl that comes to his lips.

Even with his return to the capital, interactions between them have been infrequent. His position as War Minister often kept him in the palace, discussing plans, attending meetings, writing orders, organizing, rerouting and finalizing. It left only rare moments away, such was the need. Inoku herself had surprised him. Joining the Sisters of Ragni was not exactly his definition of honorable service, but she was nevertheless giving back to the Fire Nation. That, he could abide by.

Juzo kept his hands clasped behind his back as his granddaughter, humming some nameless tune to herself, continued her work on the small shrine. It had been left gathering dust in one of the locked wings of the estate for years now, since the death of his son and Inoku's mother. He kept his teeth clenched, locking the words that wish to boil forth behind them.

It was an order handed down by the Firelord, but though his lips spoke the order, it was doubtlessly the Avatar's words.

The honored dead deserved veneration. Those who had served the Fire Nation faithfully, with courage and honor. Who had worked tirelessly for over a century to bring Sozins dream to fruition. They deserved to be respected in such a way. But the savages, the backwards lords and blind kings who had so long resisted? Who had so long kept the bloody fight going?

They were the ones the nation as a whole had been demanded to hold these…offerings for.

Juzo had not met the Avatar personally. Not yet. And in every way possible, the Avatar had thoroughly smashed the Fire Nations dreams for the world. Picked apart over the course of a year, then swept away when it seemed like they were on the verge of total victory.

Yet he had broken through the Great Storm. Through him, their fortunes had been reversed on Jimmu island. Earlier this day he had even overseen various meetings on the reintegration of the newly liberated territories. Food, medical supplies, what to do with the prisoners. Throughout the meeting, few could stop themselves from whispering at what the airbender had accomplished at Rangshao with such casual ease.

Avatar Aang had seen to the salvation of the Fire Nation in its darkest hour.

And it galled Juzo.

The airbender was a mere child. A boy from a defunct culture, in a time when the world had moved on from the Avatar. It was ridiculous to think that he had accomplished what the combined armies of the Earth Kingdom, nor the Fire Army had.

Yet, here he was.

Juzo could still remember when the news of his arrival reached the capital. The look on the Firelords face, more drawn and haggard than it had been what seemed like years ago when he first sat the throne, sag with a blooming relief that spread through his whole body. Juzo had seen it spread throughout the rest of the room, a mix of bafflement and relief.

All Juzo could wonder if this was how Sozin felt. How those of the past ages did. Subject to the whims of the singularly most powerful person in the world-

Juzo blinked, torn from his thoughts as an unlit incense stick was held in front of him.

"If you grind those teeth any harder, smoke is sure to come from your nose." His granddaughter said cheerfully.

She was smiling at him, the rest of the batch gently smoking on the shrine in front of her.

Her uniform was clean, well made. He was sure she had done much to keep it that way. As had he. Using his status as War Minister for personal matters was below the stature of his office, but…it was surely better that she be kept from the fighting.

"C'mon, its the last one! Firelords orders, right?"

Such impertinence…

But she was smiling. Such a rare thing that had become, in recent years.

Juzo unclenched his teeth, and took the incense stick carefully from Inoku before approaching the shrine, and kneeling slowly in front of it with a grunt. His days of casually descending to his knees have long since been over, but lately he has increasingly felt its pressures.

Holding up a hand, the incense lit in a puff of smoke, and he gently placed it alongside the others.

And together, grandfather and grandfather watched the offering reach the honored dead.

 

[DanBaque]

PLAYER INFLUENCE POINTS

FREE PLAYERS
ZUKO - @Another Amoeba - Firelord
Ty Lee- @Lazer Raptor- 27
Lady Ursa- @Cetashwayo- 45
Colonel Sikai- @Laplace; 11
Combustion Man- @Glassware- 24
Kaizawa- @Thiccroy- 23
Tiger Shark- @Bandeirante- 19
Juzo Ze- @triumph8w- 41
Tadashi Kenji- @THatWhichWillBe- 22
Meng Taori- @Fancy Face- 29
Shikaku Surudoi- @jankmaster98- 15
Commander Lei Yamashita- @veteranMortal- 25
Shāngbā - @Gladsome- 19
Ouji Shinwoo- @Red Robyn- 14
Sheng Yang- @Zincvit- 13
Haga- @Synergy72- 15
Peng Liu - @Random Member- 20
Ozen Hanma - @Lord Necromancer- 10
Majeek- @AMTurtle- 15
Kogo Tsaagan- @Scrivener- 5
Ichizo Shimari- @CthuluWasRight- 10
Yoshiro Kaga - @ChineseDrone- 6
Sei Gou- @Theaxofwar- 9
Niho- @DeathslilHelper- 10
Cai Cuifeng- @natruska- 5
Aiyaza- @Carol- 4
Lai Lee- @AKuz- 10
Raku Kasai- @Always Watching- 15
Tohmino Yozu- @EternalLurker- 9
Okono Nori- @Weygand- 8
Ketaaq- @Etranger- 5
Aroye- @FantasticMsFox- 5
Hanako- @Potato Anarchy- 13

UNFREE PLAYERS
Major Cyo Krane- @averagename : 15
Ikanu Sho- @CobaltCloyster: 10
Zakura Sho- @BiopunkOtrera: 5

 

[DanBaque]

Epilogue Part 1: Colonies/Reparations

With occupation or regime change in the Fire Nation out of the picture, the colonies are the most public aspect of the Hundred Years War to much of the world. This is hardly out of personal desire- many an Earth Kingdom peasant would give up the colonies without a second thought if it would mean money for their bags and repairs to their houses- but as a result of internal events in the Fire Nation.

The countryside and several cities had been shattered by civil war, and though famine had been avoided, poverty had certainly increased. Quite simply, the Fire Nation was in dire need of most everything it could use to pay reparations. Firelord Zuko, as such, had stopped particularly caring about reparations for the time being, and preferred to use it as part of carrot-and-stick negotiations.

Meanwhile, disciplined and determined rebels continued to fight on in the south of the nation, led by Sei Guo (one of Zakura's most important colonels), and they made their most important (and most popular) cause opposition to reparations in such a time of need. Furthermore, the court was divided when it cared. Some figures in the navy advocated for paying but a lesser amount. Some were willing to pay as much as necessary but wanted a delay. There was an important faction, led by General Surudoi, who wanted to pay reparations, and if necessary even more, in order to keep the colonies.

However, Surudoi, who held enough influence at court to have possibly changed many minds, was often preoccupied with his new commercial venture. Affordable liquours with military branding proved extremely popular, even more so than the 'Jasmine Dragon' tea; it also provided new employment, and became one of the signs of postwar reconstruction in the islands. This left War Minister Juzo Ze in control of public opinion. And General Ze had strong opinions. There were to be no reparations, not one coin given out to the barbarian, shambling, corpse of the Earth Kingdom.

In practice, the public position of the Fire Nation was much more moderate, and several seized Earth Kingdom treasures and cultural artifacts were returned with much pomp. But a no was still a no, and so debates were turned towards the matter of the colonies. These consumed much more attention within the Fire Nation, though the reason why requires one to return to the mention of the terrible effects of the civil war.

A flood of refugees, many political in nature, were leaving the home islands to the colonies. Under heavy pressure, and sympathetic to the case of migrants in any case, the Fire Navy around the colonies let them pass. This rapidly inflamed tensions, which had already been greatly stoked. The crisis in the colonies boiled over. A new war-front loomed over the continent.

It was really not as bad as all that, in truth. Many of the refugees were too busy looking for a better life to be radicalised into ethnic paramilitaries. More than that, many of them had been led or followed the Golden Dragon Fleet, the supposed last proponents of 'real anarchism', which had slipped through the line. These anarchists, though undeniably opposed to Fire Nation rule, were equally or more opposed to the chauvinism displayed by compatriots, and provided both muscle and firepower towards the defense of the vulnerable. But while the colonies were not in danger of a Fire Fountain City-esque situation, it was certainly perceived by the generals of the Royal Earth Army that the Firelord was his father's son (or uncle's nephew) and was cannily increasing the number of firebenders in the colonists to strengthen his position. They invaded.

The army on the border- among the toughest and most disciplined the kingdom could muster- advanced into the colonies in the tens of thousands. They attacked with earthbender tanks, distraction-causing mines, and even hot air balloons. They lasted three days of offensive, and were stopped less than twice those miles from the border. Onerous casualties and the furious resistance of a rested, radical, military stopped them. Only the personal arrival of Prince-General Iroh stopped a counteroffensive from being launched.

As a result of this, negotiations were not broken off, thanks to the presence of the Avatar. It would have the gravest consequences, however. Kuei had displayed his willingness to continue the war, even if his capabilities of doing so had been disproven. The Firelord and his court had no interest in a continuation, and were unwilling to continue to deploy large forces in the colonies. A solution had to be found, then.

It came from Minister Peng. Rather than divestment from one side or another, or even of both, a condominium could be established. The colonies would become their own nation, as many in the Fire Nation saw as the only option (the Lady Dowager among them), but not a real one. The 'Harmonious Union of Nations' would have no military save peacekeeping forces deployed by the four nations. Overarching government would also be limited to those, though local affairs would be managed locally. Equality of nations would be enshrined in law.

This semi-rosy picture was not greeted with much enthusiasm by the people of the colonies, but would grow on them as time went on. The primary reason for this was that, with armed forces in place cut down heavily, the citizens of each town could choose how they lived. In many cases, this meant de-facto segregation of areas, with some under fire control and others under earth. In more urban areas, however, intermixing produced more egalitarian and happy results.

Oddest of all was the city of Yu Dao, where localist and integrationist feeling had run very high. Overcome by idealism in response to the announcement of local rule, the government announced a new council system, to be chaired by an earthbender, a firebender, and a waterbender. They were then overcome by embarrassment as no waterbender could be found, until a captain of the local fishing fleet revealed himself as one. This was Ketaaq, the anarchist and outlaw that had co-captained the Golden Dragon Fleet with Okono, and his presence in the council would result in the declaration of a democratic city-state, of which Okono was voted first Mayor (which later events would trouble). Yu Dao would become a center of new technology, though the ultimate cause of this could not be proven.

Though the most radical example, good things were happening overall in the colonies. Much influenced by Avatar Aang, and with law-keeping needing to be cut down, there was a birth of freedom as never seen before. These remained primarily the positive freedoms: freedoms to, but they were more than many had ever imagined in their lives. After three years of peace, the once-colonies were well set for prosperity and pleasure.

Darker things lurked in the nation, however. As said, many of the refugees were too busy to be radicalised against earth kingdomers. Many, too, were broadly cosmopolitan in their outlook. Not all. Tens of thousands of Fire Nation subjects, when offered support to leave back home, took it. Others stayed and committed vile acts. And some of them had come from the Azulite cause, and remained stubbornly unreconstructed.

Aiyaza and Niho were two such. Aiyaza had stricken up the red flag and declared herself a pirate. She deployed Aroye's technology and her own parachute-mines to deadly results around the north coast of the Earth Kingdom, using friendly colonials as home bases. Niho supported her in this, but proved more dangerous. Landing in Cranefish Town after waterbending through two days and two nights, she and the remnants of the Smoke Service killed their way to top dogs of the criminal underground and set about refounding it.

Within the year, much of the city's underbelly was under her control. Within two years, the Blue Triad had established itself along the coast, and was making inroads into the more fiery rural areas. But despite the criminal, profit-seeking purpose of the organisation, Niho and most of her subordinates were pure supremacists, and so caused a crackdown. This came shortly after the declaration of Cranefish Town to be the capital of the HUN and its renaming to Xiong City (Bear or Ursa City).

Having heard of the rampant murders, body-traffic, and bigotry problems in the city, the great hero Toph Beifong came to investigate with her partner Detective Wang Fire (no relation). Arduous investigation proved all three to be being orchestrated by the same organisation with links to old azulites, and a series of nightttime raids captured most of the local triad.

Niho herself evaded this, and would come face to face with Toph by attempting her assassination. Sokka had foreseen this, however, and a duel for the ages ensued on the beach of Bear City. Fast as ever, Niho had regained her old paranoia in the last days, and had never lost her ruthlessness. Sokka's befuddlement was palpable at the repeated mention of redeeming Azula's failure, and Toph clapped her bloody body in an armor of steel after she broke her binds twice. Not all the triad had been captured, however, and Niho would escape her temporary confinement, retreating to the farms and hills.

With Sokka making a temporary home out of Ursa City to advise the HUN council, Toph established her first metalbending school in good company. She and the school made sure no triad returned to the city, and participated in the immense growth of modern infrastructure and housing that came with the status of capital. It was in these complexities that the future of the Harmonious Union could be seen: imperfect, certainly, but better than what had been before. Progress need not, as it had been for a century, be linked with war. It could come with peace and prosperity.

 

[DanBaque]

Epilogue Part 1: War Trials

For a century, the Fire Nation had pillaged and slaughtered and chevauchee'd its way around the way. The enormities it had committed beggared belief. Now the rest of the world demanded, if not their pound of flesh, then a measure of justice. Of revenge. Of, at the end of the day, punishment. This demand came up against the institution of the state, which had hardly been purged of all those culpable of imperialism. Such a thing would have barely been possible in normal situations, and completely impossible in a civil war.

Now, after two years of hard fighting, Zuko had no inclination to punish the people who had served and in many cases died for him. As Firelord he considered, probably, also the practical implications of the matter. But at the end of the day, whatever the tone, whatever the specifics of the reply, it was always a stonewalling, a refusal to tear away at the mortar of his rule; no matter how thick and matted with blood it might be.

Azulites were another matter. Though his subjects held other views, Zuko's private thoughts were perhaps best expressed by Mai when she commented that, by having taken up arms against him, they were all guilty of treason beyond disproving. The punishment for treason was death. It is no surprise then that many of the hundreds of thousands who had taken the amnesty were trembling in their prisoner camps, terrified of what might happen. Of course, this was unlikely in the extreme, thanks to a man they would have never expected to need to thank- Avatar Aang.

Whatever else he might believe, Aang was very much in the negative as regards the capital punishment. He did not demand it be removed outright from the world, but he refused to play a part in its application. And it would hurt him very much if his bloodless intervention was followed by mass executions, whatever the method. As a friend of his, this played a very real part in Zuko's mindset.

Much of the court was initially unaware of this interplay, though they would learn. In any case, their positions varied remarkably little. Almost entirely (and selfishly), they believed that trials should be limited to the enemy side. They were willing to stab the surrendered enemy in the back if necessary. This view was the one that radicals clamored against, though in reality this selfishness was more a backdrop to the real disgust and anger the Zukoites felt at their enemy's atrocities in the Fire Nation.

The main dividing line was if trials should be limited to officers (the high command only, many suggested) or the entirety of the military. The latter position was championed by Kaizawa, he of the desert that had been Susong, who wanted trials for the soldiers and Agni Kais to decide the fates of the officers.

Zuko's personal feelings were to let practicalism and Aang's desires rule, punishing merely the highest ranks and worst offenders. Here, however, Kuei bucked the trend. He had accepted there would be no immediate reparations- though as reconstruction proceeded, his diplomats began to bang that drum again- and he had not annexed the colonies. He had accepted two unpopular compromises, one of which at least salvaged his ability to protect what he saw as his people. The Earth King was not willing to let the killers of ten generations retire peacefully. He wanted justice.

Public opinion in the Earth Kingdom solidly backed him in this. The people used their new Dai-Li-less freedoms to hold rallies demanding war trials. A split threatened the White Lotus, between peace or justice.

On the other hand, public opinion in the Fire Nation was more complex. The area Zuko's government had held for most of the civil war was solidly in favour of throwing the book, and hopefully a few rocks, at the Blues. The rest was trying to keep their heads down. And all of them preferred peace to anything likely to cause the outbreak of another war.

There was also a minority, very loud in the Rangshao region, that took the extreme option. They advocated for trials everywhere and of everyone, of going through the country with a fine-tooth comb and finding every criminal. This never had a chance of happening, but it turned opinions together with another set of events. The trials of those it could be agreed upon had been being carried out, and evidence was being piled up. In a radical decision that was no surprise to those who knew him, Zuko agreed to allow evidence brought in from the Earth Kingdom against them.

The evidence, testimonies, and general descriptions of horror trickled down to fire society. Newspapers that covered the trials covered those claims too. Town criers shouted out crimes for public eagerness, the grosser the better. A slow and very partial change in opinions spread across the Fire Nation, that perhaps there had been excesses in the war. That it was not only them who had suffered unjustly.

This was great luck for the exceptions. While trials and investigations went on, three figures who had been at the very top of Azulite decision-making were granted mercy. These were General Sikai, General Krane, and Ikanu Sho. While the first two had commanded vast amounts of military forces in some of the largest battles in the civil war, the last had instead worked as spymaster during the latter stage of the war, during Azula's 'final campaign' reforms.

Each case was different. General Krane had surrendered and obtained amnesty on his and his soldiers' part. He had been a very popular man, and his conduct during the war had been sterling, so he was in little trouble. Despite the offers of power, he chose instead to retire to a quiet training post, and to lead a veteran right's association. Fears within the court that he would act as a rallying point for Azulite resistance were assuaged when his popularity in that cohort collapsed like a rock after his marriage to an earthbender, ex-member of the Dai Li.

Sikai had committed real crimes in the war, and only staved off death thanks to the intervention of the Lady Dowager. He had aided her in 'spiritual matters' relating to the Princess Azula and had essentially organised the mass surrenders across the north of the island. Nonetheless, he was to be imprisoned in perpetuity, never to leave jail. This was found difficult at first, given his penchant for disappearing into thin air only to walk in to be reimprisoned later. After the great intervention and settling of the storm by the Avatar and Firelord, however, this stopped happening. Sikai instead spent his time in meditation and the publishing of air-friendly panegyrics, able to have his mind spend weeks at a time in the spirit world while his body remained limp and deathly.

The third, Ikanu Sho, was a very different matter. Krane's trial had found very little true accusations to work with (in the Fire Nation). Sikai had spent his trial poking fun at the concept of imperial absolutism and had never been deployed in the Earth Kingdom in the first place. Ikanu was not a military figure. She had been a con woman and street dancer, a late joiner to the cause of Azula, and now she was going to attempt another display.

It was, remarkably, not her fault at all. She had never committed any evil act, never participated in the destruction Azulite armies had waged. She had even bravely stood up to Azula and pushed her to be better. This was Ikanu's argument. The only criminality she was willing to admit to were those the Fire Warriors had committed, which were in fact none (other than the inherent treason and lese majeste of their existence). Though no particular evidence was found, the court martial laughed in her face, and her sentence was commuted to house arrest for the rest of her life by Lady Ursa's intervention. The Fire Warriors at least were able to get off scot-free.

This was not, however, the end of Ikanu Sho's story. Within a few months, she had burgled herself out, and had reestablished contact with Azulite partisans among more genteel spheres. A more unexpected hardliner could hardly exist. And indeed she was not. Ikanu convinced these members to provide her with ample funding that she promised would be used to organise another coup, then vanished into the night with the money.

Giving this money to the Fire Warriors, as had been her intention, proved more difficult however. They were under charge of the Royal Household, and therefore well-cared for. More than that, they were well protected, and as a known and recognisable outlaw Ikanu did not want to come into contact with Zuko's elite again. As such, she posed as a long lost great-aunt of the Fire Warrior she felt most certain would share the money out equitably with the rest, signed a will deeding all her money to her, and died. Then she ran off into the night again.

But this, again, was not the end of her story. Ikanu had escaped imprisonment, collaborated with traitors, and participated in the establishment of a 'New Ozai Society' that Minister of the Center Mai was forced to crush. A bounty had been put on her head. And Zuko had his own personal bounty hunter.

Ikanu was forced to run like the wind, using every inch of her substantial skills in intrigue to stay one step ahead of Combustion Man. The irrepressible not-quite-fire-sage had her in his sights as a threat to the Dragonlord, and was prepared to hunt as long and as far as necessary. Both figures travelled hundreds of leagues in their opposed mission. At one point, she thought she had lost him by founding a puppet show troupe in which worked a woman whose physical attributes were very similar to her own and who had recently suffered memory loss, but the Dragon Cult saw through this distraction.

The past spymaster of Azula was, in the end, extremely lucky to be caught in public. When Combustion Man clapped a hand on her shoulder in the middle of Sandu preparing to take a ship to the colonies, the adoring people of the city assumed he was arresting her, and accompanied him in many numbers to the town hall. These were no circumstances for an assassination, as he had planned, and so she was processed and returned to Caldera City in chains. There her new circumstances were to be much less luxurious, sentenced to jail rather than house arrest, and luck did not seem to favor her future.

All through this, the boundaries of the trials were expanding. High-ranking Blues were charged with terrible acts, such as General Zakura's ruthlessness with rebels that crossed the line into sadism. Lesser 'imperialist' officers were even being arrested for, to their surprise, crimes committed not within the Fire Nation; though penalties were inevitably lesser. But there was one figure left, one highly polarising and once-powerful figure that saw no trial and was judged directly and by dictat from the highest throne in the land: Azula.

In the purest of terms, Azula had not personally killed or ordered the killings of civilians. She was guilty of negligence and a lack of command, in themselves disturbing to the average officer. It was in these ways that the majority of the death at her hands had come about. Many in the Fire Nation hated her. Many were still loyal to her. This mattered not. Azula was a princess royal, sister of the Firelord, and could not be treated like the common rabble. She could not even be treated as a member of the high command. She was above them, beyond them. But not beyond her Firelord.

Zuko established three of the many castles and manors owned by the imperial house as to be dedicated to the care and imprisonment of his sister. One of them was to be in Ember Island, at his mother's desire, in order to be best able to aid her in her recovery. For little after the settling of the storm, Azula awoke. She woke confused and nameless, without a smidge of memory or of bending.

While during the immediate period afterwards her mother and Ty Lee both provided much-needed care, this only gave more substance to Zuko's other decree regarding her. Azula was to be stripped from the line of succession, and so too all descendants that she might have. She would never be Firelord. It seemed that so long as Zuko and his (very probable) future wife Mai had no children, Iroh would be heir. This was quite undesirable to the Earth Kingdom, not to mention to that he himself was not much willing and aged and heirless.

But another decree came soon after. It would be followed by limited explanations, for it was quite a private and difficult matter. When Ursa had been banished eight years past, after the death of Prince Lu Ten, she had been banished one month pregnant. Ozai had exiled his child unknowingly. It had been Ursa's greatest trial and greatest happiness in her despair. It had delayed her return to the Fire Nation. It had been the worst torture while she had been imprisoned in the asylum.

That she had spent years in an asylum was not common knowledge at all. That she had spent those years right next to, yet away from, her daughter was completely unknown. Little Kiyi, Princess of the Fire Nation, had been half raised by a local orphanage, only allowed to see her mother when the asylum wardens deemed her sufficiently "well-behaved". Perhaps it had prolonged her stay there. Perhaps it had left her a little mad. Certainly the Fire Nation was shocked to hear that their Firelord had a second sister, and that she was his heir from now on.

She had remained unseen during the civil war, a secret kept to the utmost few. Kiyi had acted as the daughter of a servant of the Imperial Palace, and they had only been a true family between closed doors. Zuko and Ursa had hidden her from the entirety of their government, save for Mai and Ty Lee. But they had not been able to keep her secret from her sister.

The Lady Dowager had hallucinations of her first daughter. At first they were only knives in her heart. After her compact with the Kemikurage, however, they became more. They became real. Ursa had taken risks to be able to protect her children. She had made deals she did not understand the terms of with beings she did not the abilities of. This had allowed her to appear to save Zuko from the Blue Spirit, to save Azula from assassins, and to appear to her children from afar.

But it also allowed her children to do the same. Azula had dreamt often of a little sister as a child. Of playing with her in the Imperial Palace, in a life without the demands of perfection. She had not known- she could have never assumed- that this was real. In her dreams, she took on the form of her mother's hallucinations and played with Kiyi for real, until another member of her family found her. The spiritual links ebbed with the storm, and these dreams ended. But now they had each other in truth. Bereft of her memories, though they slowly returned, and finding unconditional love, the family had started again.

Spoiler: Zuko's heir

​