𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 | zuko

22: YU DAO

"Kori?!" said the mayor to his daughter.

"Someone had to do something!" she said stubbornly.

The mayor bowed to the ground, begging at Zuko's feet.  It seemed a little harsh. But then again, Zuko did almost get killed.

"My sincerest apologies for my daughter's rash behavior, Fire Lord! Have mercy!"

"I should have this whole place burned down!" yelled Zuko, still furious.  I put my hand on his shoulder for just a second, implicitly telling him to calm down.  

"Why bother?" interrupted Kori loudly.  "The Harmony Restoration movement will accomplish the same thing!"

"Hey!" I interrupted, pointing a finger at her.  "Why can't you understand the Harmony Restoration Movement is a movement to peace!"

"Peace?!" wondered Mayor Morishita.  Both Zuko and I turned to him. "Peace for whom?!   With all due respect, your majesties, my family has lived on this land for generations!  This city was built on our blood and sweat!  We have as much a right to be here as anyone else!"

"You're Fire Nation citizens!" said Zuko.  "You should live in the Fire Nation!"

"You're right, Fire Lord!  We are Fire Nation citizens!" continued the Mayor. "And I'll tell you this -- your father would never have let the Avatar and the Earth King bully him into something so obviously bad for his own nation's citizens!"

"My father...?" whispered Zuko, through clenched teeth.

"Zuko," I said, seeing his fist clenched at his side.  I reached for his hand, but he pulled away and sent a large fire blast toward Mayor Morishita, then took to a small point of fire sharp as a blade and held the mayor to a wall.

"I'M NOT MY FATHER!" he erupted.

"No, young man.  You're not.  Fire Lord Ozai had many faults, but he was never a coward.  He was never a traitor."

Zuko's breathing got heavy.  He stood ground, blad of fire ready to strike the Mayor.  But he stepped back, though still angry.  

"You'll regret saying that, old man! Guards, seize him!" he pointed.  The guards stepped forward, but immediately a wall of rock came between them and the mayor, making me jump of surprise and them take a step back.

"Where -- ?!" I said. Both Zuko and I turned around to find a woman wearing Earth Kindom robes.

"Fire Lord, please! Forgive my husband's foolishness, I've told him time and time again to control his tongue, but he never does!" said the earthbender woman.  

Zuko looked surprised.  As was I.  "You're Mayor Morishita's wife?!  An earthbender...?"

"Yes, I'm an earthbender," she said, taking a stance.  "As is our daughter." A spike came up from the ground and broke Kori's chains with a loud noise.  She then attracted her ball and chain to her with her earthbending, as the ball was made of rock.

"I may be an earthbender, but through my father's bloodline I and a Fire Nation citizen!  My father taught me to always be loyal to the Fire Nation, to my people," Kori said.  "Something you obviously never learned from your father."

I stared her down menacingly, and she stared back.

"Would your majesties be willing to say in Yu Dao for a few days?" asked the Mayor's wife, bowing.  "It would be an honor for us to show the Fire Lord our way of life."

I was going to correct her on her plural "majesties." 

"Well, actually, I'm not --"

"We'll stay," said Zuko.  "But only a few days."

Yu Dao was more than it came out to be.  There, both Earth Kingdom people and Fire Nation people lived in harmony with each other.  There were no fights in the streets between Earth people and Fire Nation People.  A hundred years ago, the Fire Nation Citizens that arrived, with the help of the Earth Kingdom people, built one of the greatest cities this world has.  Yu Dao makes the finest metalwork produced in the world using both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom expertise. Though it isn't perfect, the people in this city are much better off now than they were a hundred years ago.  

These people had created harmony for themselves in the colonies.  A peace that was already there, and that the Harmony Restoration Movement would destroy.  If we got rid of these colonies, we would be taking away the harmony that was already here.

That's why Zuko revoked his support of the Harmony Restoration Movement the next day.

We were lying on the king bed in a suite in Yu Dao's finest hotel late that same day, looking up at the ceiling.  

"I like this place," said Zuko fondly.

"I like it too.  I've never seen so many Earth Kingdom people and Fire Nation people interacting."

"It almost reminds me of us," he said.  "Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation."

"It does, doesn't it?" I said with a smile.  

"I'm sorry about this afternoon," he said.  "I was angry.  He said something about my father, and I just --"

"You don't have to be sorry, Zuko.  The Mayor shouldn't have said that."

We laid on the bed looking at the ceiling for a little more.  I didn't know what he was thinking about.  I wasn't really thinking about anything.  I sort of just zoned out until I turned to look out the window.  It was dark outside.

"I'm going to go to bed," I said, getting up to go to the other bedroom in the suite.

"You could sleep here," suggested Zuko, sitting up.

"Why?"

"Well... I mean... the people in this town don't seem to like me too much.  I'd just feel safer if you were with me, that's all."

I smiled at his awkwardness in asking. "Okay."

We were finally dressed and in bed, and the candles out.  I'd never slept in the same bed as Zuko before. It might seem crazy since we had been together for a year.  But no, the closest I had gotten was the room next to his. 

I liked it.  It did make me feel safe.  He had a warmth to him, and it was calming. I know I fell asleep quickly because he was there.  I liked being close to him, even if I was barely aware because I was sleeping.  I would definitely do this more often.

this is a clean story, don't you go thinking anything

I think zuko would be cuddly what about you

don't forget to vote!

molly