"You know?" "Right. Yes." "You do?" "No."
Hey look what it is, guys, it's more Fire Nation Macbeth! Finally!
Title: Lord of Fire, Lord of Night (3/?)
Summary: A land torn by rebellion. A fearless general and his ambitious wife. A prophecy that will change everything. Sound familiar? Well... not quite. IN THIS CHAPTER: The Firelord is dead. The remnants of the royal party have to move fast and think quickly, before chaos and panic seize the nation. Again.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender / Shakespeare (well sort of)
Warnings: Um, the aftermath of murder? Arguments and supernatural shenanigans, but nothing gory.
Disclaimer: Completely unaffiliated with Avatar or anybody involved. Shakespeare's totally public domain though so HA.
(Previous chapters: One, Two)
Three - The Darkest Day
It’s the middle of the night, the dead hour when nothing moves unless it has to. Above the islands, black clouds advance across the sky, covering the moon, the stars. In the deepening shadows between the islands, two things are moving.
The royal flagship moves quicker than its usual stately pace, engines straining under all the steam the crew can give them. On the deck, the remnants of the royal party have the look of people who have just finished being extremely busy.
Princess Zulei, pale and still wrapped in a dressing gown, drifts over to join Masa and Goro. Masa immediately puts out an arm to support her- she leans against him, yawning behind her hand. “I’ve written the letter,” she says. “It’ll get to the palace before we do. Did the search turn up anything?”
“Nothing,” says Masa, giving her an unreadable look. “For all we can tell, the attackers we’re looking for might as well not exist.”
Goro looks out at where the ocean is, somewhere behind the blackness. “And do you still think it was wise to send Prince Yuji ahead of us?”
This time, he doesn’t look at Zulei at all. “Yes,” he says quietly. “I do.”
---
And ahead of the flagship, making even more speed, a smaller boat cuts through the dark water like a knife. The men operating it don’t look or speak like guards, but their eyes peer through the night to scan every coastline they pass.
In the middle of the little craft, Prince Yuji huddles under a blanket looking miserable. “I should have been there,” he says, periodically. “I could have done… something.”
“You could have gotten knocked out with everyone else, is what you could have done,” Chen Yu finally snaps. She’s draped in another blanket, hiding her uniform. “You could have gotten killed too. Now drop it.”
For several minutes, silence reigns. The little boat speeds on, sliding quietly around the curve of another island.
“I’m sorry,” Yuji says, finally.
Chen Yu sighs and sits down- carefully- next to him. “So am I,” she says.
He doesn’t say anything else, but after a while he leans his head against her shoulder. She tenses, briefly, but she doesn’t move.
And the boat keeps cutting its course through the night, toward the main island and the capital.
---
The sky is still dark when the little boat slips into the bay- it’s another hour or so until dawn. There are more people in plain dark cloaks, already waiting at the dock, to escort its two passengers by hidden ways up to the palace.
In the royal chamber, only a few torches burn. The flames around the dais are out and the room seems even darker without them. At a careful distance away, High General Bai stands with Prince Aizon and his wife, Bian, in a tight worried triangle.
They break off their hushed conversation when the guards admit two other people in the room. Yuji, still walking gingerly, immediately goes over to the group- Aizon takes his arm from around his wife to hug his brother. Yuji’s shoulders shake, but he makes no sound.
Chen Yu double-checks the other entrances before joining them. As soon as she draws near, she bows deeply to the high general. “I’m sorry,” she says, and her voice is quiet and trying not to break. “I failed.”
Bai folds and unfolds the paper in his hands without looking at it, leaving another crease. For a second he looks lost for something to say.
“We can’t think of that now,” he finally says. His expression is calm again, but there’s still something blank in his eyes. “We have too much else to do.”
“You’re right,” says Yuji, lifting his head and composing himself. But before he can say anything else, there’s movement at one of the lesser doors.
Everyone tenses, but the person who enters is the Great Sage. He glides purposefully across the floor to join them and turns to face the two princes. “The darkest day is beginning,” he says, without preamble. “You must seek safety. Your lives are in danger.”
“What?” says Aizon, frowning. “Saving your reverence, but what do you mean?”
“I do not bow to the authority of the Firelord,” the Great Sage says, fixing him with a piercing look, “but it is monstrous to kill him. Your lives are in danger. You must leave here.”
It’s Bai’s turn to frown. “We haven’t told anyone yet,” he says. “How can you know-” But he’s cut off by the princes and Chen Yu, all protesting at once.
“I can protect them-”
“-duty to my people-”
“-duty to our father-”
“He’s right,” says Bai, quietly, and they all fall silent and look back at him, stunned.
Aizon draws himself up. “High General, you can’t be suggesting that I should abandon the Fire Nation.”
“I’m not. I am saying that whoever-” he has to pause, to regain his calm again- “whoever killed your father has yet to be found, and they got past the guards once already. You are in danger.”
Bian hasn’t spoken this whole time, and she still doesn’t, but she puts a hand on Aizon’s arm. He looks at her- there’s clearly some unspoken communication passing between them, because after a few moments, he sighs.
“We’ll go to the Earth Kingdom,” he says. “Obviously, our own nation is still unstable. Maybe the Earth King will help us-”
“You can do that,” Yuji cuts in, “I’m going to find the Avatar.”
“Yuji, no one has seen Avatar Kyoshi in the last year.”
“Then you’ll find the new one before I do,” says Yuji, casting a sidelong glance at the Great Sage. “But I have to try. I have to do something, Aizon.”
Aizon considers again. He pinches the bridge of his nose, and for a moment he looks just like his father. “Just be careful,” he says finally. “We’re the future of the nation now.”
Yuji nods. “Well, no sense hanging around here,” he says, with false brightness. “We’d better move fast.” He embraces his brother again, bows to the others, and moves to leave.
“Wait, Prince Yuji.” Chen Yu runs to catch him at the door. She blinks at him for a moment, then extends a hand. “I’ll send some of my men with you,” she mutters, looking at the floor.
“Maybe just one or two,” he says. He clasps her forearm, his other hand briefly resting on her shoulder. “Have to travel light, you know.” Abruptly, he pulls her into a hug, then releases her and retreats.
Her face is bright red when she returns to the group, but she’s enough of a soldier to act like it isn’t. “You should probably hurry as well, Prince- er- Firelord.”
She starts to bow, but Aizon stops her. “I won’t claim that title yet,” he says. “Not until I return.” He looks between her and Bai, something indescribable in his expression. “Take care of our nation.”
With an arm around his wife, he exits. The Great Sage, his message delivered, drifts after them.
In the silence that follows, Chen Yu looks up at Bai. “We’ll find them,” she says, quietly enough that only he can hear her. “Whoever it was, we’ll find them.”
He inspects her, calculating, the sadness behind his eyes gradually giving way to something harder. “Yes,” he says, at last. “We will.”
---
And the night wears on. The few stars that are still visible slip quietly out of sight, toward dawn. A thin line grows on the horizon, and gradually, the sky turns from black to a gray just barely translucent enough to squint through. The islands stir and start to awake.
And the morning doesn’t come.
For half a moment, a sliver of sunlight struggles to break the horizon. Then it’s swallowed by the gray not-quite-light and everything is dark again.
The islands stir- but now it’s in fear.
---
“What do you mean, they’re gone?”
“Please speak more quietly, Princess Zulei,” says Chen Yu, scanning the corridor nervously. It looks empty, apart from their group, but that’s not a guarantee. “Things are already bad, the last thing we need’s a panic.”
Masa puts a hand on his wife’s shoulder, in an attempt to calm her. To Chen Yu he says, “You have no idea where they could have gone?”
“The princes left us very little useful information,” Bai says from the head of the group, stony calm as usual.
Zulei’s still pale with anger, but at least she lowers her voice. “So you’ve misplaced both heirs to the throne. Has the court always been this incompetent, or did you practice it while we were in exile?”
Bai stops walking. He turns, fixing Zulei with a stare like a knife. “That was unnecessary, Princess. We are all in a complicated and painful position. Remember that, and do not make it worse.”
For a second, there’s a shocked silence. Bai turns again, without waiting for the silence to break, and continues down the hall. Another second, and the rest remember to follow him.
He doesn’t speak again until they reach the royal chamber, with the doors securely shut behind them. “I am taking personal command of the investigation,” he says, as if there had been no interim in the conversation. “But in the meantime, with the… situation as it stands-” he glances at the empty dais- “we need a candidate for the crown.”
“We have a candidate,” Goro points out. “Two, in fact. Princess Zulei is a daughter of the royal house, and General Masa has the favor of the dragons.”
Masa tries not to stare at him.
“There are your candidates, High General,” Goro continues, but now everyone is turning to look at Masa.
“What dragons?” says Bai, not quite disbelieving.
He’s looking at Masa, but Goro answers. “The day the rebellion ended, we were met by three dragons,” he says. “They knew our names. They told Masa he would be reconciled, and that he would be Firelord- it must have been a prophecy.”
Bai frowns. “I know you are not inclined to superstition-”
“What’s that in your hand, General?” says Chen Yu, cutting in.
Masa looks down at his hand. He’s holding the ember again, rolling it between his fingers, and somehow this isn’t surprising anymore. “It’s- I got it from the dragons,” he admits. He’s rapidly starting to wish he were somewhere else.
“You never showed me that,” Goro says. He holds out a hand. “May I see?”
For half a second, Masa hesitates. But everyone is looking at him. Carefully, he drops the ember into Goro’s hand.
Goro hisses and drops it. “It’s hot!” he exclaims, staring in amazement between the ember, on the floor, and Masa. “How did-“
“Enough,” says Bai, holding up his hands. “I think we can all recognize a sign when we see one.” He waves one of the guards over. “Go and tell the Great Sage we request an audience.”
---
It’s an hour after what should have been dawn, and outside the palace there’s a crowd forming. It isn’t a mob, not yet, but one push in the wrong direction would be enough.
They’re scared. Some of them are angry. Some of them are saying the Firelord is dead, and some of them are saying it’s the whole royal family. Some are saying that the spirits are angry with the Fire Nation and that this is their punishment. And meanwhile, the sun stays resolutely below the horizon.
It would only take one push, one direction or the other. The crowd seethes toward the palace gates.
The first few people, at the head of the crowd, are met by General Masa coming the other way. He’s flanked by Princess Zulei and Admiral Goro, and behind them a small squad of the royal guard. The crowd falls back a few steps, uncertain.
“Listen to me,” Masa shouts. He pitches his voice like he’s on a battlefield. It carries. “You’re all afraid, and I don’t blame you. I can see as well as you can.” He spares a glance at the sky, still dark as night.
“I regret what I have to tell you all,” he says. “Firelord Yan Zi is dead. His sons are missing. Until they are found, Princess Zulei and myself have been elected to serve in his place.”
It’s enough of a push, and in the wrong direction. The crowd stirs. One man launches himself forward, with a cry of “Traitors!”
Something flashes in the man’s hand as he flies toward them. Masa spins to meet him. An arc of blue fire follows the arc of his hand, knocking the man back.
As quickly as it began, the angry murmur in the crowd stops. For the second time today, everyone is staring at Masa. A few people drop to their knees.
“What just happened?” Masa says, quietly enough that only Zulei and Goro can hear him.
“You’re firebending during an eclipse,” says Goro. He sounds almost as stunned as the crowd looks. “Think about how that looks.”
Masa stares out at the crowd. It stares back. It’s holding its breath, and he has to speak before it remembers to exhale.
He holds up a hand with the ember in it, wreathed in blue fire. “Believe me when I say I did not wish for this,” he says. “We cannot disobey the will of the spirits. It is an honor to serve my nation, although I accept it with sorrow. I am the Firelord.”
The crowd exhales. Behind him, he hopes Zulei has the sense not to smile.
(Chapter Four)
Title: Lord of Fire, Lord of Night (3/?)
Summary: A land torn by rebellion. A fearless general and his ambitious wife. A prophecy that will change everything. Sound familiar? Well... not quite. IN THIS CHAPTER: The Firelord is dead. The remnants of the royal party have to move fast and think quickly, before chaos and panic seize the nation. Again.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender / Shakespeare (well sort of)
Warnings: Um, the aftermath of murder? Arguments and supernatural shenanigans, but nothing gory.
Disclaimer: Completely unaffiliated with Avatar or anybody involved. Shakespeare's totally public domain though so HA.
(Previous chapters: One, Two)
Three - The Darkest Day
It’s the middle of the night, the dead hour when nothing moves unless it has to. Above the islands, black clouds advance across the sky, covering the moon, the stars. In the deepening shadows between the islands, two things are moving.
The royal flagship moves quicker than its usual stately pace, engines straining under all the steam the crew can give them. On the deck, the remnants of the royal party have the look of people who have just finished being extremely busy.
Princess Zulei, pale and still wrapped in a dressing gown, drifts over to join Masa and Goro. Masa immediately puts out an arm to support her- she leans against him, yawning behind her hand. “I’ve written the letter,” she says. “It’ll get to the palace before we do. Did the search turn up anything?”
“Nothing,” says Masa, giving her an unreadable look. “For all we can tell, the attackers we’re looking for might as well not exist.”
Goro looks out at where the ocean is, somewhere behind the blackness. “And do you still think it was wise to send Prince Yuji ahead of us?”
This time, he doesn’t look at Zulei at all. “Yes,” he says quietly. “I do.”
---
And ahead of the flagship, making even more speed, a smaller boat cuts through the dark water like a knife. The men operating it don’t look or speak like guards, but their eyes peer through the night to scan every coastline they pass.
In the middle of the little craft, Prince Yuji huddles under a blanket looking miserable. “I should have been there,” he says, periodically. “I could have done… something.”
“You could have gotten knocked out with everyone else, is what you could have done,” Chen Yu finally snaps. She’s draped in another blanket, hiding her uniform. “You could have gotten killed too. Now drop it.”
For several minutes, silence reigns. The little boat speeds on, sliding quietly around the curve of another island.
“I’m sorry,” Yuji says, finally.
Chen Yu sighs and sits down- carefully- next to him. “So am I,” she says.
He doesn’t say anything else, but after a while he leans his head against her shoulder. She tenses, briefly, but she doesn’t move.
And the boat keeps cutting its course through the night, toward the main island and the capital.
---
The sky is still dark when the little boat slips into the bay- it’s another hour or so until dawn. There are more people in plain dark cloaks, already waiting at the dock, to escort its two passengers by hidden ways up to the palace.
In the royal chamber, only a few torches burn. The flames around the dais are out and the room seems even darker without them. At a careful distance away, High General Bai stands with Prince Aizon and his wife, Bian, in a tight worried triangle.
They break off their hushed conversation when the guards admit two other people in the room. Yuji, still walking gingerly, immediately goes over to the group- Aizon takes his arm from around his wife to hug his brother. Yuji’s shoulders shake, but he makes no sound.
Chen Yu double-checks the other entrances before joining them. As soon as she draws near, she bows deeply to the high general. “I’m sorry,” she says, and her voice is quiet and trying not to break. “I failed.”
Bai folds and unfolds the paper in his hands without looking at it, leaving another crease. For a second he looks lost for something to say.
“We can’t think of that now,” he finally says. His expression is calm again, but there’s still something blank in his eyes. “We have too much else to do.”
“You’re right,” says Yuji, lifting his head and composing himself. But before he can say anything else, there’s movement at one of the lesser doors.
Everyone tenses, but the person who enters is the Great Sage. He glides purposefully across the floor to join them and turns to face the two princes. “The darkest day is beginning,” he says, without preamble. “You must seek safety. Your lives are in danger.”
“What?” says Aizon, frowning. “Saving your reverence, but what do you mean?”
“I do not bow to the authority of the Firelord,” the Great Sage says, fixing him with a piercing look, “but it is monstrous to kill him. Your lives are in danger. You must leave here.”
It’s Bai’s turn to frown. “We haven’t told anyone yet,” he says. “How can you know-” But he’s cut off by the princes and Chen Yu, all protesting at once.
“I can protect them-”
“-duty to my people-”
“-duty to our father-”
“He’s right,” says Bai, quietly, and they all fall silent and look back at him, stunned.
Aizon draws himself up. “High General, you can’t be suggesting that I should abandon the Fire Nation.”
“I’m not. I am saying that whoever-” he has to pause, to regain his calm again- “whoever killed your father has yet to be found, and they got past the guards once already. You are in danger.”
Bian hasn’t spoken this whole time, and she still doesn’t, but she puts a hand on Aizon’s arm. He looks at her- there’s clearly some unspoken communication passing between them, because after a few moments, he sighs.
“We’ll go to the Earth Kingdom,” he says. “Obviously, our own nation is still unstable. Maybe the Earth King will help us-”
“You can do that,” Yuji cuts in, “I’m going to find the Avatar.”
“Yuji, no one has seen Avatar Kyoshi in the last year.”
“Then you’ll find the new one before I do,” says Yuji, casting a sidelong glance at the Great Sage. “But I have to try. I have to do something, Aizon.”
Aizon considers again. He pinches the bridge of his nose, and for a moment he looks just like his father. “Just be careful,” he says finally. “We’re the future of the nation now.”
Yuji nods. “Well, no sense hanging around here,” he says, with false brightness. “We’d better move fast.” He embraces his brother again, bows to the others, and moves to leave.
“Wait, Prince Yuji.” Chen Yu runs to catch him at the door. She blinks at him for a moment, then extends a hand. “I’ll send some of my men with you,” she mutters, looking at the floor.
“Maybe just one or two,” he says. He clasps her forearm, his other hand briefly resting on her shoulder. “Have to travel light, you know.” Abruptly, he pulls her into a hug, then releases her and retreats.
Her face is bright red when she returns to the group, but she’s enough of a soldier to act like it isn’t. “You should probably hurry as well, Prince- er- Firelord.”
She starts to bow, but Aizon stops her. “I won’t claim that title yet,” he says. “Not until I return.” He looks between her and Bai, something indescribable in his expression. “Take care of our nation.”
With an arm around his wife, he exits. The Great Sage, his message delivered, drifts after them.
In the silence that follows, Chen Yu looks up at Bai. “We’ll find them,” she says, quietly enough that only he can hear her. “Whoever it was, we’ll find them.”
He inspects her, calculating, the sadness behind his eyes gradually giving way to something harder. “Yes,” he says, at last. “We will.”
---
And the night wears on. The few stars that are still visible slip quietly out of sight, toward dawn. A thin line grows on the horizon, and gradually, the sky turns from black to a gray just barely translucent enough to squint through. The islands stir and start to awake.
And the morning doesn’t come.
For half a moment, a sliver of sunlight struggles to break the horizon. Then it’s swallowed by the gray not-quite-light and everything is dark again.
The islands stir- but now it’s in fear.
---
“What do you mean, they’re gone?”
“Please speak more quietly, Princess Zulei,” says Chen Yu, scanning the corridor nervously. It looks empty, apart from their group, but that’s not a guarantee. “Things are already bad, the last thing we need’s a panic.”
Masa puts a hand on his wife’s shoulder, in an attempt to calm her. To Chen Yu he says, “You have no idea where they could have gone?”
“The princes left us very little useful information,” Bai says from the head of the group, stony calm as usual.
Zulei’s still pale with anger, but at least she lowers her voice. “So you’ve misplaced both heirs to the throne. Has the court always been this incompetent, or did you practice it while we were in exile?”
Bai stops walking. He turns, fixing Zulei with a stare like a knife. “That was unnecessary, Princess. We are all in a complicated and painful position. Remember that, and do not make it worse.”
For a second, there’s a shocked silence. Bai turns again, without waiting for the silence to break, and continues down the hall. Another second, and the rest remember to follow him.
He doesn’t speak again until they reach the royal chamber, with the doors securely shut behind them. “I am taking personal command of the investigation,” he says, as if there had been no interim in the conversation. “But in the meantime, with the… situation as it stands-” he glances at the empty dais- “we need a candidate for the crown.”
“We have a candidate,” Goro points out. “Two, in fact. Princess Zulei is a daughter of the royal house, and General Masa has the favor of the dragons.”
Masa tries not to stare at him.
“There are your candidates, High General,” Goro continues, but now everyone is turning to look at Masa.
“What dragons?” says Bai, not quite disbelieving.
He’s looking at Masa, but Goro answers. “The day the rebellion ended, we were met by three dragons,” he says. “They knew our names. They told Masa he would be reconciled, and that he would be Firelord- it must have been a prophecy.”
Bai frowns. “I know you are not inclined to superstition-”
“What’s that in your hand, General?” says Chen Yu, cutting in.
Masa looks down at his hand. He’s holding the ember again, rolling it between his fingers, and somehow this isn’t surprising anymore. “It’s- I got it from the dragons,” he admits. He’s rapidly starting to wish he were somewhere else.
“You never showed me that,” Goro says. He holds out a hand. “May I see?”
For half a second, Masa hesitates. But everyone is looking at him. Carefully, he drops the ember into Goro’s hand.
Goro hisses and drops it. “It’s hot!” he exclaims, staring in amazement between the ember, on the floor, and Masa. “How did-“
“Enough,” says Bai, holding up his hands. “I think we can all recognize a sign when we see one.” He waves one of the guards over. “Go and tell the Great Sage we request an audience.”
---
It’s an hour after what should have been dawn, and outside the palace there’s a crowd forming. It isn’t a mob, not yet, but one push in the wrong direction would be enough.
They’re scared. Some of them are angry. Some of them are saying the Firelord is dead, and some of them are saying it’s the whole royal family. Some are saying that the spirits are angry with the Fire Nation and that this is their punishment. And meanwhile, the sun stays resolutely below the horizon.
It would only take one push, one direction or the other. The crowd seethes toward the palace gates.
The first few people, at the head of the crowd, are met by General Masa coming the other way. He’s flanked by Princess Zulei and Admiral Goro, and behind them a small squad of the royal guard. The crowd falls back a few steps, uncertain.
“Listen to me,” Masa shouts. He pitches his voice like he’s on a battlefield. It carries. “You’re all afraid, and I don’t blame you. I can see as well as you can.” He spares a glance at the sky, still dark as night.
“I regret what I have to tell you all,” he says. “Firelord Yan Zi is dead. His sons are missing. Until they are found, Princess Zulei and myself have been elected to serve in his place.”
It’s enough of a push, and in the wrong direction. The crowd stirs. One man launches himself forward, with a cry of “Traitors!”
Something flashes in the man’s hand as he flies toward them. Masa spins to meet him. An arc of blue fire follows the arc of his hand, knocking the man back.
As quickly as it began, the angry murmur in the crowd stops. For the second time today, everyone is staring at Masa. A few people drop to their knees.
“What just happened?” Masa says, quietly enough that only Zulei and Goro can hear him.
“You’re firebending during an eclipse,” says Goro. He sounds almost as stunned as the crowd looks. “Think about how that looks.”
Masa stares out at the crowd. It stares back. It’s holding its breath, and he has to speak before it remembers to exhale.
He holds up a hand with the ember in it, wreathed in blue fire. “Believe me when I say I did not wish for this,” he says. “We cannot disobey the will of the spirits. It is an honor to serve my nation, although I accept it with sorrow. I am the Firelord.”
The crowd exhales. Behind him, he hopes Zulei has the sense not to smile.
(Chapter Four)