Where There Is Smoke, There Is Fire [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic]

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So, do we know where they are currently holed up?" Sokka's voice moved over the room, and one of the General's pointed to an area on the map that their scouts had identified.

"Our scouts have reported a bunker-like set-up past this small crop of mountains here. It seems to be their headquarters. They see more and more activity, so we think they moved there a few weeks before the siege started."

Zuko was seated at the head of the table for this war room meeting, and he had Sokka and Suki on his left and right, respectively. Suki had been in charge of his personal safety, and the Kyoshi warriors had been instrumental in helping him train new guards for the city and the palace. Until Sokka had arrived a few months ago, he and Suki had been leading the war room meetings to discuss the 'Fire Nation Supremacists'. They were a radical group that had popped up in the last year. They were mainly causing trouble in the local areas that they were in, but they were slowly starting to spread out over more of the country.

They recently attacked a supply line from the coast that sent fresh fish and other seafood directly to the Capital. They had left a note with the destroyed shipment, claiming responsibility for the attack, so their threat level had been raised. From their reports, most of the people that made up the group were ex-military types who were unhappy with the equal status that the Fire Nation had been pushing for themselves since the end of the war. Notably, they were unhappy with Zuko's personal mission to make up for the hundred years of chaos and destruction that his country had spread. Some of them probably couldn't deal with being at peace, as there would be no use for them, and they would become archaic and lose their purpose in the world. They still felt that as the most industrialised nation, they should be in charge, and the rest of the world was inferior to them.

Of course, this was a ridiculous ideology, and Sokka had been sent by the Water Tribe to assist in the efforts. Since he was going to become Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, it was a great way of increasing diplomatic relations. It would not be a problem since they were such good friends.

Toph was coming over in a couple of weeks with Aang and Katara, who were coming to help since things were heating up. Toph had opened a metal bending school, and business was booming, but unfortunately, that meant he hadn't seen her in a long time. Aang's reopening of the Air Temples kept him and Katara busy. It had been around 5 months since he last saw them. His Uncle was also planning a trip to help open a branch of the Jasmine Dragon tea shop right here in the Capital. It meant that he would stay for a while, making Zuko very happy.

He focused on the reports his General gave and then called an end to the meeting after setting the next two-day meeting date. The General would come back with new reports of how the protection was going, and they would decide if further action was needed. Before this and the siege, Zuko wanted to avoid conflict. If they were going to practice their supremacy beliefs on their own, no problem. Since they had hurt merchants in their attack on the supply line, they had to be dealt with now that they weren't keeping to themselves. Hence the siege began, but now they found out that they had moved their main base, which explained why they didn't seem to care too much about the siege. There weren't as many numbers as they had expected, but now they knew why.

The General's and Admiral's waited for him to leave. First, Sokka and Suki trailed behind him. They all headed back to Zuko's room as they had agreed to hang out after the meeting. Suki was going to update him on the guards' training, so they figured they might have dinner and a few drinks together to relax.

His steward was there, straightening up and had brought him his freshly laundered clothes. He changed out of his formal robes into something more comfortable and took his hair out before he joined his friends at the table. The steward offered to bring them refreshments, and they accepted with polite thank yous.