Child on the Dragon Throne (Part 3/?)
Title: Child on the Dragon Throne - Part III
Previous Parts: Teaser, Part One, Part Two.
Summary: Iroh does not take kindly to Ozai humiliating, maiming and banishing a nephew he cares for. Now, with Ozai dead and Iroh himself banished for committing an act of regicide, the newly crowned
Fire Lord Zuko does not know who he can trust.
Note: I made every attempt to write a fight scene... and decided not to inflict the results upon any readers who happen across it. I much prefer cultural and political ramifications of things, in any case. :P The way I wrote Iroh fighting didn't do him justice; I made him sound like an angry teakettle, mostly. In this entry, well, he at least gets another moniker to add to his list...
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The Agni Kai is a form of ritual combat, a way for politically powerful firebenders to work out their differences without dragging their followers into conflict. It was a throwback from the time when the Fire Nation consisted of a collection of small warring island-based city-states. The Agni Kai developed as a way to prevent expensive and devastating wars. Once the leaders had fought, the conflict was over.
However, even after the union of all of the warring states, generals and other high-ranking nobles and officials always maintained the little-evoked right to combat with the Fire Lord, as a way to challenge poorly-thought out plans of action ordered by an all-powerful ruler. It had become a check on power in a nation ruled by one man.
It had always been a way for honour to be lost or regained.
Rarely, if ever, is anyone actually killed during an Agni Kai.
Such a thing had not happened in centuries. Humiliation and perhaps even maiming were much more common results. To a nation that so respected honour, the prospect of tarnishing or losing one’s honour in combat was frequently considered a more severe punishment than death in any case.
Therefore, for a general to outright kill his brother - the Fire Lord - in an Agni Kai observed by hundreds was a complete and utter shock. It was believed by most observers, and the Fire Sages who had witnessed the challenge that had led up to the fight itself, that Iroh would simply attempt to change the mind of his brother through force where words had failed. There was nothing unsurprising about this assumption.
Never had anyone believed that Iroh would go so far as to commit an act of public regicide, no matter how furiously his inner fire burned.
Regicide is an act of treason, no matter the cause. If the person responsible cannot be safely arrested and executed (and Iroh had no intention of being captured), automatic banishment was the only logical course of action.
Iroh the Kin Slayer left the Fire Nation before the sun had even set.
Previous Parts: Teaser, Part One, Part Two.
Summary: Iroh does not take kindly to Ozai humiliating, maiming and banishing a nephew he cares for. Now, with Ozai dead and Iroh himself banished for committing an act of regicide, the newly crowned
Fire Lord Zuko does not know who he can trust.
Note: I made every attempt to write a fight scene... and decided not to inflict the results upon any readers who happen across it. I much prefer cultural and political ramifications of things, in any case. :P The way I wrote Iroh fighting didn't do him justice; I made him sound like an angry teakettle, mostly. In this entry, well, he at least gets another moniker to add to his list...
----
The Agni Kai is a form of ritual combat, a way for politically powerful firebenders to work out their differences without dragging their followers into conflict. It was a throwback from the time when the Fire Nation consisted of a collection of small warring island-based city-states. The Agni Kai developed as a way to prevent expensive and devastating wars. Once the leaders had fought, the conflict was over.
However, even after the union of all of the warring states, generals and other high-ranking nobles and officials always maintained the little-evoked right to combat with the Fire Lord, as a way to challenge poorly-thought out plans of action ordered by an all-powerful ruler. It had become a check on power in a nation ruled by one man.
It had always been a way for honour to be lost or regained.
Rarely, if ever, is anyone actually killed during an Agni Kai.
Such a thing had not happened in centuries. Humiliation and perhaps even maiming were much more common results. To a nation that so respected honour, the prospect of tarnishing or losing one’s honour in combat was frequently considered a more severe punishment than death in any case.
Therefore, for a general to outright kill his brother - the Fire Lord - in an Agni Kai observed by hundreds was a complete and utter shock. It was believed by most observers, and the Fire Sages who had witnessed the challenge that had led up to the fight itself, that Iroh would simply attempt to change the mind of his brother through force where words had failed. There was nothing unsurprising about this assumption.
Never had anyone believed that Iroh would go so far as to commit an act of public regicide, no matter how furiously his inner fire burned.
Regicide is an act of treason, no matter the cause. If the person responsible cannot be safely arrested and executed (and Iroh had no intention of being captured), automatic banishment was the only logical course of action.
Iroh the Kin Slayer left the Fire Nation before the sun had even set.