Chapter Text
Life as the Fire Lord was nothing like Zuko had expected when he was a kid.
Granted, when he was a kid the idea of him being the Fire Lord had barely crossed his mind. The job was supposed to be Lu Ten’s. And after his cousin’s death, and his father’s usurpation of Iroh’s place as Crown Prince, the idea of his future as Fire Lord was still a struggle to imagine with his sister outshining him in every way.
But the reality was…being the Fire Lord was a lot of paperwork.
Paperwork, meetings, council sessions where a bunch of old men said a lot of nothings. Things Zuko could hardly imagine his father doing. Though his father had been a Fire Lord in the middle of a war. Zuko was a teenager trying to prove the Fire Nation truly was ending their part in the conflict.
Things had been hard for a few years, especially when he’d gone back to help the Avatar a few times when he probably should have been firing the War Council. Thankfully he had enough supporters that the dissenters had gone…not smoothly but without thirteen separate Agni Kais as he fired the men responsible for sending children to the front lines.
Now, instead of war and bloodshed, his councils discussed trade agreements and farming disputes. The Earth Kingdom had been…not generous, but whether through the Earth King’s own kindness or the Avatar’s persuasion (one of those options being far more likely than the other) the Fire Nation had been allowed to keep some of their settlements in the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation itself was a collection of islands, and now that the soldiers weren’t being shipped to all corners of the world, they needed places to stay and learn to live civilian lives.
He’d kept a small army, at the advice of his uncle. Enough to show they wouldn’t be knocked around by the rest of the world now that the main force behind their fight was gone. But they worked almost exclusively within the Fire Nation.
“Your Majesty?”
Zuko blinked, startled from his thoughts as he looked up at the confused looking advisor- Hai Jun, a young man who had served alongside Lu Ten before being discharged for his injuries that rendered him unable to fight.
The meeting- right.
“Forgive me,” Zuko said, hands twitching on his robes as he resisted the urge to scratch the back of his neck. “I needed a moment to think.”
“Of course,” the advisor said, relaxing minutely.
Even all these years after Ozai’s imprisonment, the people were still afraid of the title Fire Lord and all that came with it. Zuko had worked hard to show he was not the same man Fire Lord Ozai had been, but…old instincts died hard,
“The Avatar is still in that new city of his,” Chuan said, one of the few advisors that had managed to keep her position after Zuko’s crowning. “I expect he would also know what the rest of his old companions are up to.” She frowned. “Though sending invitations through him ought to be our final resort.”
Zuko nodded, releasing a near-silent sigh of relief as Chuan’s words reminded him of the conversation.
His birthday celebration.
It had been…an adjustment, after three years at sea searching for the Avatar and another few years of traveling with him and rebuilding the Fire Nation almost from the ground up as supporters of the war were dealt with. The councils had been…not forgiving but they’d been understanding, in the least.
In the past few years, he had been able to avoid grand celebrations because there was simply too much work to be done. But he had agreed (mostly willingly) that for his 21st birthday, a party reminiscent of the days of Sozin (before the Hundred Year War of course) with key political figures invited.
Among those figures, the Avatar and his old travelling companions, of whom Zuko had once been a part of.
“I believe Masters Sokka and Suki are in the South Pole this time of year,” Zuko said. “Master Katara is likely to be with the Avatar of course, and…I believe Master Toph opened an academy recently?” his gaze slid to Chuan, who nodded subtly. “There should be records pertaining as to the address available.”
Hai Jun bowed his head. “Thank you, Your Majesty. Are there-” he hesitated, avoiding Zuko’s gaze. “Is there anyone else you would like to extend personal invitation to?”
Zuko shook his head. “My Uncle is of course already here,” he explained.
Hai Jun seemed somewhat…disappointed? By Zuko’s response. But he nodded and wrote something on the scroll in front of him. “All invitations will be sent out by tomorrow evening.” he promised, a short pulse of fire drying the ink on his scroll before he rolled it up.
“Thank you,” Zuko said, smiling slightly. “Now, on to the next subject of discussion?”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Building a city was hard.
It was…kind of nice too though, in a way Aang was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to be proud of. But Republic City was slowly coming together, and the Air Temple was almost done!
It wasn’t anything like the old Air Temples, carved from stone and ancient in ways Aang couldn’t hope to replicate.
But it was something new…for the future of airbending!
If it even had a future at all…
“Aang!” Katara called, breaking the avatar from his thoughts. “We got a letter!”
“An exciting letter or another one from the Earth King?” Aang called back. The Earth King had been trying to re-negotiate the land for the United Republic of Nations again and if Aang had to sit through another one of those meetings, he might just call upon the Avatar State and let Kyoshi handle the meeting for him.
“From Zuko!”
Aang paused, eyes widening. “Really?” he asked, putting down the bamboo mats and half-sprinting to the next room. Katara had a Fire Nation Messenger Hawk perched on her shoulder, and a letter open in her hands, grinning as she read through it.
“What’s he say?”
“It’s not from him from him,” Katara laughed, dancing away slightly as she pulled the letter out of his view. “But it’s an invitation to go see him!”
“Why’d he need to send us an invitation? We can go see him anytime”
“Well we could,” Katara said. “Or we could see him in three weeks on his birthday.”
Aang blinked. The monks hadn’t exactly celebrated birthdays, but most of the rest of the world did. They hadn’t really celebrated on their travels, but Katara, Sokka, and Suki usually held a small celebration for each of their birthdays now that the war was over. Toph preferred to hold fighting tournaments on the day instead, something about getting to do what she wanted for her birthday instead of some stuffy party. But Zuko…Aang couldn’t remember a time the Fire Nation boy had even mentioned his birthday.
“I thought Zuko didn’t celebrate his birthday?” Aang asked, brow furrowed. They certainly hadn’t gotten invitations in the last few years, maybe something had changed?
“Well he is this year,” Katara said with a broad grin. “And it says the others are invited too, My brother and Suki, and Toph!”
“It would be good to see everyone,” Aang nodded. It had been almost a year since he’d last seen Toph, and even though it had only been four months since they’d last met with Sokka and Suki, it had been four long months of city building and organizing and sooooo much paperwork.
“And we’ve only had the Council up and running for a few weeks, but this would be a great way to make sure they can run things without us.” he added, smiling up at his girlfriend.
“Then it’s perfect!” Katara agreed. “We have Appa too, so we can even spend a few more weeks making sure they have everything they’d need before we go. Can you go get some ink? They want a response to make sure we’re coming.”
“You got it!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Sokka sighed, resting his head onto his hand as he tilted his head to look over at his girlfriend. “I mean, it’s been what, two years since we all got together? It’d be nice to meet up without some major disaster happening.”
Suki sighed, crossing her arms. “It’s just- the boats from the North Pole will be arriving in the next couple of days. If we wanted to make it in time we’d need to leave as soon as they got here. Not exactly ideal.”
“My dad can handle the meetings.” Sokka protested. “Him and Bato have plenty of experience with stuff like this.”
“Meetings between elders of the Southern Tribe.” Suki argued. “Not people from the North. Remember when we were up there last year getting them to agree to send supplies and aid for the rebuilding? It was worse than dealing with the Earth King!”
“My dad can handle things.” Sokka insisted. “Look, we haven’t seen Zuko in what, two years now? And Toph hates the poles so it’s been almost as long since we’ve seen her. Sure we get to see Aang and Katara pretty regularly, but we haven’t gotten all of us in the same room since a little after everything happened in Cranefish Town.”
Suki sighed, turning to lean against the desk Sokka was writing on. “It’s not that I don’t want to see them, everything’s just so…precarious right now. What if we leave and it all falls apart?”
“Then…we did a really bad job of things and everyone’s just pretending for our sake?” Sokka joked half-heartedly.
Suki arched a brow, and Sokka sighed, looking back to the response he was writing. “Look, I get it. But...maybe this came at the perfect time. We need to know things will work without us, my dad’s been itching to help more, and hey, maybe you could pitch that idea about trade between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation. The invite said a lot of people were gonna be there. Someone’s gotta be in charge of that sort of thing.”
Suki laughed “Like the Fire Lord who’s birthday it is?”
Sokka grinned “Exactly!”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
“You’re out Ho Tun!” Toph called, a wide grin spread across her face.
Ho Tun, eloquently, groaned from his place on the floor.
The Metalbending Academy had grown since the days of only three students. Those three students were now helping teach the newer students.
The students Toph was currently showing off to. A four way fight between the four original metalbenders. And, naturally, Toph was still the best.
Penga and The Dark One had already been thrown out of the fight. Ho Tun had managed to hang on a bit longer, but Toph was the reigning champion and would happily dethrone anyone who tried challenging her.
“And that’s how epic metalbending can be!” Toph said, throwing her arms out wide and turning in the direction of the crowd. Her tremor sense wasn’t as good at catching the expressions people made, but the awed silence was a familiar sound. “Who’s ready to learn how to kick butt?”
The crowd roared with applause, and Toph’s grin widened. That’s right, just because she wasn’t in charge of some fancy new city or helping repair a wartorn tribe didn’t mean she’d lost her skill. She was Toph Beifong, the world’s best Earthbender!
Footsteps- approaching- just outside the training room- Qian Yu
“Master Toph?” Qian Yu’s voice called as the door slid open. “A letter arrived for you.”
Toph sighed, rolling her eyes. “Well, hand it here so I can read it then” she said, holding out her palm.
Qian Yu’s weight shifted, likely starting to do just that before she stopped. “Ah…”
“Who’s it from?” Toph asked, tilting her head slightly as she waved her other hand to where she assumed the other teachers were watching, signaling for them to start rounding up the students and heading to the practice rooms.
They must have been paying at least some attention because Pengu started to call for the students to split into three groups.
“It’s addressed from the Fire Nation.” Qian Yu replied softly, drawing closer to Toph. “I can…open it? And read it to you?”
“Well I would like to know what it says.” Toph snarked back. Crossing her arms, she heard the small r-i-i-i-i-i-p as Qian Yu opened the letter. As the students filed out, Qian Yu remained silent, presumably reading the document.
As the silence stretched on, Toph frowned, glaring at Qian Yu. “You gonna tell me what it says?”
“Ah!” Qian Yu yelped. “My apologies, I was just…surprised is all. This is an…invitation.”
Toph’s nose wrinkled. Invitations were for stuffy people and boring dinner parties. “If it’s from my parents, just throw it off the mountain.” She started to turn away, ready to go show off for the class a bit more before they started the first of the exercises she’d developed for learning to manipulate metal.
“It’s from the Fire Lord.” Truth.
Toph paused, eyes widening. She turned back around, frowning at the would-be archaeologist. “What’s Sparky sending me an invitation for?”
“His…21st Birthday Celebration.” Qian Yu replied, sounding somewhat shellshocked. Toph didn’t know why. It was hardly a secret that she and the new Fire Lord had been part of the Avatar’s companions. They’d even done a bit more traveling together after Ozai had been dealt with, before she’d decided to start her Metalbending Academy.
“Anything else?” she asked, crossing her arms again.
“It seems the Avatar and all of his companions have also been invited, along with a number of royal, noble, or otherwise politically important guests from all four nations.”
So a bunch of people that Toph didn’t care about, Twinkle-Toes, Snoozles, Sweetness, and Fan Girl.
“Anything else?” Toph asked, a small frown on her face as she considered.
“Ahhh” Qian Yu said, a brief moment of silence as she presumably read over the letter again. “It says you are invited to stay for two weeks? In the Fire Lord’s Palace, along with the Avatar and other companions.”
“Just Twinkletoes and everyone?” Toph asked quickly.
“That is…what it seems to imply?” Qian Yu replied. Truth.
A night of boring stuffy party, but two weeks of spending time with her old crew.
Toph grinned. “Think Sparky’ll let me show off metalbending during his party?” she asked, already walking toward her quarters. Before Qian Yu could respond, Toph waved a hand “Tell the others they’re in charge of lessons till I get back.”