Chapter Text
Zuko hummed softly as he leaned back in his office chair. He twirled the pen he was writing with around in his fingers, staring down at the letter he was penning to King Kuei. A few days ago, a horrible earthquake had ripped through Ba Sing Se, devastating the entire city.
King Kuei requested any aid the Fire Nation could supply. Zuko had been writing letters to him to determine just how much the Earth Kingdom needed.
Earlier, Zuko had called a council meeting to determine how that number compared to what the Fire Nation could spare. The Fire Nation was experiencing the worst part of its monsoon season. Already, Ember Island had suffered two landslides, while large parts of Shuhon Island, including most of Fire Fountain City's downtown area, were flooded.
Zuko and his council had decided they could provide some first aid supplies to Ba Sing Se and some manpower to help clean up the wreckage left by the earthquake; he knew it would be considerably less than what the Earth King was hoping for. Zuko chewed the inside of his cheek as he considered how he could best break this to King Kuei as diplomatically as possible.
A horrible headache was just beginning to form at the base of Zuko’s skull when a frantic knock came at the door. Zuko snapped his head up but before he could say anything to his visitor the door swung open to reveal his sister standing on the other side.
“We have a problem,” Azula said before Zuko could admonish her for just walking into his office. Not that it would matter, Azula tended to do as she pleased no matter how much Zuko protested.
“We have a lot of problems,” Zuko pointed out as he placed his pen down. “Do you think you could look over this letter I’m writing to King Kuei? I feel like it sounds stupid…” Azula frowned as she shut the door behind her.
“Of course, it sounds stupid, you wrote it and you’re a dum-dum.” Azula reminded him as she took a seat across from him. Zuko remained unphased, insulting him came easier to Azula than breathing.
“Can you just look it over?” Zuko asked, pushing the letter towards her. “You’re my Second Hand, you would have to do it anyway.” Azula raised an eyebrow at this as she crossed one leg over the other.
“So then one might question why you’re even asking me to look over the letter in the first place instead of just giving it to me,” Zuko rolled his eyes at this. Sometimes he regretted asking his sister to take up the position as his Second Hand simply because it meant as his closest advisor he had to spend most of his time with her.
“Regardless, I’ll look over the letter later but as I said we have a problem,” Azula reiterated. “I just got a letter from Katara-”
“Katara? You mean Katara, my friend?” Zuko’s voice was filled with confusion as he gave his sister an astonished look. “You and Katara don't write letters to one another.” Azula took in a deep breath as she attempted to temper her growing annoyance.
“I am your chief advisor and she who picks up all your Fire Lording slack, Katara is the envoy between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation,” Azula stated, taking the same tone with Zuko that she would with her children when she was trying to explain something. “Of course, we write letters to one another-”
“-So you’re just lying now?” Zuko asked his tone completely unimpressed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“...Fine! I intercepted the letter from the courier who was going to deliver it to you,” Azula admitted, causing Zuko to scowl.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to read my letters!” Zuko demanded. “Especially the ones from my friends.”
“I was curious to see what you and the Avatar’s widow were talking about,” Azula said with a shrug, causing a real spike of anger to go through Zuko.
“Katara is more than Aang’s widow,” Zuko snapped. “How many times do we need to have that conversation?”
“Probably the same amount of times we need to have the conversation about me reading your mail,” Azula offered.
“Azula-”
“-You do know that while we’re bantering right now a real political crisis is unfolding between us and the Southern Water Tribe, right?” Azula asked. “Or are you uninterested in what Katara wrote to you?”
“Are you joking?” Zuko asked, feeling his headache grow at Azula’s words. He had the very distinct feeling that she wasn’t.
“Two nights ago an Empire-class Fire Navy ship was spotted on the shores of the Southern Water Tribe,” Azula explained, her tone becoming severe and her face dour as she continued on. “The Fire Navy ship destroyed all of the half-built ships in the harbor shortly thereafter and attempted to land on the shores to attack the village.”
“What?” Zuko asked, his eyes growing wide with panic. “Why? Why would a Fire Navy ship do something like that? Who gave that order?” He demanded, his anger growing now along with his worry.
“We don't know before the sailors on the ship could get to shore, Katara sank the battleship along with the smaller vessels it had deployed to get the sailors to shore, killing the entire crew,” Azula explained. “Luckily no one in the Southern Water Tribe was hurt and the only damage they sustained was to those half-built ships.”
“Thank Agni that Katara was there to stop the attack,” Zuko said, feeling only a slice of relief that the only casualties were on the side of their rogue ship. However, the feeling of comfort was short-lived. “And why exactly didn’t you lead with this when you came into my office? We’ve been wasting time!”
“Correction, you've been wasting time, I tried to tell you we had a problem,” Azula said with a roll of her eyes. “More importantly, on top of the Southern Water Tribes’ anger about this unprovoked attack, how do you think the Northern Water Tribe is going to feel that we attacked her sister tribe and sunk all the ships in their budding navy? The budding navy that the Northern Water Tribe spent a considerable amount of money helping them get off the ground?”
“Have you heard anything from Chief Arnook?” Zuko asked.
“No, he hasn't sent me a letter since this incident took place,” Azula said gravely.
“It only happened two nights ago, they might just be getting this news as well,” Zuko said. “You’ll have to write to him immediately and explain to him in detail that no one on our side gave that order, I’ll write Katara.”
“That would be a good idea, unfortunately we don't know if someone gave that order or not,” Azula pointed out. Zuko flinched at her suggestion.
“What? Of course we know that I didn’t sanction an attack on the Southern Water Tribe’s village or their ships!” Azula scoffed at this.
“Of course, you didn’t,” she snipped. “But just because you didn’t give the order doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t.”
“No one else outside of me can give an order to an attack of that magnitude!” Zuko said hotly. “So if I didn’t then no one did!”
“So then the captain of this ship acted on his own accord?” Azula asked, Zuko opened his mouth to answer but then paused. He had a distinct feeling that her question was setting him up.
“I...don't see why he would,” he finally said, when it became clear she wasn't going to go speak further without an answer first.
“You don't seem so sure about that,” Azula said, her voice dripping with arrogance as she prepared to make her point. “I do suppose, however, with that line of thinking if this captain decided to attack the Southern Water Tribe on his own orders that it's not outside the realm of reason that someone higher in the chain of command could have done the same without consulting you first.”
“Why would someone do that?” Zuko demanded, feeling himself growing more and more upset with the way Azula was speaking to him. He hated when she spoke down to him like that, more so when she had a point.
“I don't know why the captain of this ship launched a random attack. It’s just as baffling as someone giving him the order to do so,” Azula said. “Either way we can’t, in good faith, say that no one in the Fire Navy gave the order-”
“-Because you care so much about good faith,” Zuko snorted.
“No, but you do and since I’m your Second Hand and not my own, I would advise you if you want to take the route of honesty then you should tell Katara that you don't know why this ship attacked or if any of our officers gave the order or not,” Azula spoke slowly, just so that Zuko didn’t miss a word she said.
“Tell her in no uncertain words that it was neither you nor I who gave the order and that we’re opening an immediate investigation into why this happened, I’ll tell the same to Chief Arnook.” Zuko nodded, feeling his shoulders sag a little.
“Yes, that seems like the best course of action.” The admission tasted bitter on Zuko’s tongue, it was hard to give Azula any credit after she pissed him off. Still, there was a reason she was his chief advisor. It was a moment like this, he was reminded as to why he kept her around. “We should also call an emergency council meeting to let everyone else know this has happened.”
“Agreed, I’ll do that as soon as I finish writing to Chief Arnook,” Azula pushed herself up to her feet as she spoke. “We’ll also need to speak to the Admiral First Class and the other navy leaders.”
“Right and we’ll have to appoint someone to lead the investigation,” Zuko sighed heavily. He hated to think it but he wished he could rewind the clock to when landslides, flooding, and earthquakes were his biggest problems to deal with. “Will that be you?”
“Perhaps, we’ll decide during our meeting,” Azula said with a nod of her head. “Though I know a few names who I don't want leading it.” Zuko nodded, he had a feeling he knew who some of those names were. “And of course after all of this, I’ll read your stupid letter.” She added, and despite himself, Zuko couldn’t help but laugh.