72 Schemes

Waking up to the crackling sound of fire and wood, while slowly perceiving a sweet scent of what seemed to be an aromatic tea, Zuko slowly opened his eyes to reveal hollow, hopeless yellow irises;

"Still having nightmares?" Asked Iroh, still working on his tea.

"… Yeah…" Answered Zuko, softly.

"The healing of the spirit, just like the healing of the body, cannot be rushed. Everything has its time to heal." Said the old wise General as he poured some tea and gently handed it to Zuko. "But, that does not mean that we are helpless while waiting." He concluded by offering a smile.

"… Yeah…" Zuko nodded with a blank look while slowly drinking his tea.

Iroh wanted to talk, but he couldn't think of anything that could bring Zuko back to his fiery, determined spirit. He could only sigh and shake his head while standing up.

"My cooking skills might not be as grand and renowned as my tea making skills, but I shall double my effort." He said while doing a muscle stance "In the meanwhile, you can meditate if you wish." Iroh nodded and quickly left their cavernous home.

Zuko's eyes were guided towards the crackling fire, but not even the brightness and warmth of a flame could bring light to his hollow eyes.

It had been a harsh week for the duo, they had been living in a cave since the incident in the refugee camp, luckily, they had resources to survive. Madara would never let Uncle Iroh and Zuko suffer any more than they already had in life.

As the sun set on the horizon, Iroh made his way back from the nearest village, which was quite far away, with enough bags of food to last them a few days without any worry.

As he walked near the cave, he saw his nephew sitting on the shore of a small river. In one hand he had his twin swords, while in the other he carried what looked like tattered black robes with red clouds, even after so long… these two were two of his three most valuable remaining treasures.

Iroh approached slowly as to not startle his beloved nephew, only to see him staring at his own reflection in the water.

The banished Prince obviously heard the sound of steps behind him, but he didn't move a muscle, he was so lost in his thoughts that even if the most amateurish assassin in the world tried to kill him right now, it would be an easy task.

The old uncle simply sat beside his nephew, and accompanied him in his silence;

As the sun hid further between the mountain peaks on the horizon, Zuko finally started talking;

"… I … I had dreams… dreams about how things were before…. Before all this…. Before my … banishment…"

Iroh kept silent but made sure that his presence and comfort could be felt by his nephew.

"… My …f…father…. Never liked me…. Did he?"

"Zuko that's not-" Iroh tried to talk but Zuko raised his hand;

"I remember…" he said while looking up "Ever since Azula's brilliance and talent was shown for the first time… Father…. Decided to give up on me…."

Iroh could only close his eyes and clench his fists

"I remember that I got… so… so frustrated… so… sad… that I started thinking… that if I somehow… started behaving like Azula… father would… like me like he liked … her..."

A hint of a smile appeared on his lips;

"It is one of the fondest memories I have… The day that I tried to show… Mother… how Azula used to feed the turtle ducks that used to live in the palace's pond…. I tossed fist sized pieces of bread at one of them… just like I saw Azula doing many times… Mother disliked it… she chastised me…"

Iroh kept quiet, simply staring at his own reflection, alongside his nephew's in the river.

"You were on the front lines back then… It was before you sent me this dagger as a gift…"

Zuko said as he pulled his third treasure from his robes and placed it between him and his uncle.

"She said… "Never forget who you are" to me…"

Closing his eyes, the Prince clenched his fist.

"Until this day …. I still don't know… who I am…" He stared, for a moment, at each side of his face in the reflection "Am I the banished, criminal Zuko… or am I …the proud crown Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and Ursa?"

For several minutes, only neutral sounds could be heard from the Prince/uncle duo.

"You know, Prince Zuko." Said Iroh, with his eyes seemingly glued to their reflections "The day that you came to me… asking to learn how to wield a weapon… I took it upon myself to decide which weapon would be most fitting for you, for days I thought it over and ended up deciding on the twin swords… do you know why?"

Zuko shook his head as Iroh grabbed his swords and unsheathed them. "In your first lesson you were taught that although they look like two separate swords, they actually are not… they are simply two sides of a single weapon… you can't have one without the other, otherwise it would be incomplete."

The Prince stared at the swords, as each blade reflected one side of his face, on one blade he saw his handsome side, while on the other blade he saw his burnt eye.

"The things that you've seen, and the experiences that you've had are what molded you into who and what you are right now, you can't remove the bad and only keep the good. Otherwise, you would be as incomplete as this sword without its pair." 

Iroh stared into his nephew's eyes as he sheathed the swords again "And who you are is not for anyone to decide, but you. Not me, not Azula and not even your father, you are you, Zuko."

"… I… I don't understand…" Said a frustrated Zuko.

Offering an understanding smile, Iroh patted his shoulder "There's no hurry, life is long and you will have plenty of time to find out. I can't tell you where the journey will end, but I can tell you that you will not be traveling alone."

"Uncle…I… " tears started flowing down Zuko's cheeks as Iroh simply hugged him.

"It's fine, everything will be fine, we will go through this together… only, mind the ramblings, and the requests of an old man to stop at a few tea shops in the middle…"

Zuko couldn't help but chuckle at that

"Yes… we shall visit plenty…" Said the Prince with a little bit of light back in his eyes.

….

"How is our development towards Yu Dao?" Asked a calm Madara while reading reports of the fall of Omashu and the appearance of Azula with her girl squad.

"Yu Dao has been tough Mr. Uchiha, being the oldest colony, it has a good foundation which proves to be troublesome to exploit, they seem very self-sufficient with no weaknesses for us to take advantage of." Said Nari while sitting on the other side of the desk.

"And what about this place?" he pointed towards a small, almost imperceptible colony marked on the map;

"Earthen Fire Refinery?" Nari asked with her raised eyebrows "That's just a small industrial site, Mr. Uchiha. Honestly people there are not that happy considering the toxicity of the place, the natives there were originally from Yu Dao, but left due to their economical situation… Yu Dao didn't want 'street rats dirtying their ideal city'. Over the last ten years that town has been used as an … 'independent industrial colony." The older woman said, already with all information needed recorded in her memory.

"Independent?" Madara couldn't help but raise his own eyebrow "Who gave them the balls to call themselves 'Independent Industrial Colony'? Don't they know how angry the Fire Nation would be if they heard that?"

"Not really, you see… the Refinery is where autonomous inventors usually go to have a big break. According to our information the Fire Nation lets the residents be free to pursue their aspirations, and when one of them comes up with an impressive creation… the Fire Nation offers them sponsorship and takes them to the capital, completely claiming ownership of said creation while still funding the successful subject forward."

"Sounds too expensive to keep running like that just for one or two decent inventors to pop up every year or two" Madara said with a frown.

"I thought that too, so we did a deeper inspection… It seems that…. Lao Beifong also invests in this place." Nari narrowed her eyes as, ex-boss or not, she was fully loyal to Madara. "It seems that your airship was also built there, no wonder Lao Beifong could get his hands on it, he was one of the investors in the first place."

"Ohoooo the plot thickens, huh? Lao Beifong siding with both the Fire Nation AND the Earth Kingdom… sounds very interesting, doesn't it?"

With a nod, Nari said her own opinion "The Beifong family is one of the oldest recorded noble families, they have scrolls pre-dating the era of Avatar Szeto. He was a very politically inclined Avatar and had many deals with the Beifongs from back then. It seems that the Fire Nation were in dire straits back then and Szeto used his influence to get a good deal with the Earth Kingdom nobles."

"How Ironic."

"Indeed, Szeto's and Beifong's deals made the Fire Nation strong again, and also seem to be the source of the current Beifong fortune. It seems that old ties remain and the Fire Nation still has a line of contact with the Beifongs, even if it's just for pure business's sake."

Narrowing his eyes looking at the records presented by Nari, Madara spoke "I want a slice of that pie, Yu Dao and the Refinery are the key points for our future, I want the natives of the colonies to want us... no… to DEMAND us to be their ruler… before the war ends."

"Mr. Uchiha… may I ask why? I know you are a driven man, you've built everything from nothing, but even till this day… your Oasis Project remains dry, void of any profit… Are you sure you want to risk getting into the sights of the Fire Nation even more than before due to these two little colonies?"

"Two Little Colonies? Nari you are a smart woman, the smartest that I know… but sometimes you underestimate things… Tell me, what do you think will happen when the War ends and Zuko takes the crown of the Fire Lord?"

Nari narrowed her eyes in deep thought, a fool would say "peace" but it's not that easy, "peace" doesn't happen just because the new head of the state has a different approach, there's a hundred years of war looming behind them, every single living person today was born during that war… they won't just 'forget about it and live in peace'.

"I think a short time of peace will come, six months... maybe less…" said Nari deep in thought "Then… on an international scale, the colonies will become the new battleground for an aftermath war… the Earth Kingdom will want their lands back, the Fire Nation will probably agree… but the people... people whose fathers and grandfathers were born in those colonies, who have a deep rooted sense of belonging… they won't accept… they will fight back… and then a second war might start, on a smaller scale, yes, but a second war nonetheless."

"Zuko and… who cares about his name, the Earth King, will probably have to fight. The firecracker is proud of his people, and won't let them hang when he sees that they really love their home, he would relinquish his rights to the colonies, but the Earth King and his bunch of nobles would try to take over and push the Fire Nation loyalists away anyway…" Madara said with a tone of certainty "And then… there's the Avatar…"

A deep silence spread for a few seconds;

"The Avatar will get involved, it's his self-given job to do so. But…. That tattooed kid… he will side with the people, no doubts about that. He will try the best way he can think of to make a deal, and I put my money on the Avatar allowing these colonies to achieve independence, not subjected to the Earth Kingdom OR the Fire Nation…"

"A 5th Nation…" Said Nari softly. "And do you think that, even if that comes to pass, the Avatar would allow you to rule over it?"

Madara started chuckling, and then burst into a strong laugh that had a very evil feeling to it.

"Allow me? NO! He would never… but what if he doesn't have the choice? What would the dear pacifist Avatar do when he sees every single person within the colonies, clamoring and calling for me by name to be their ruler?"

Madara's grin was fully evil.

"HE will have no choice; HIS opinions will bear no weight. The people decide their ruler, and if the Avatar goes against the people… how long until their people decide that they don't want or need an Avatar anymore?"