The Origin of Roh-Shan

F: Burning Battleship

Suley laughed at Ara. "I should be mad that you sent the Avatar away, but without any Fire Nation citizens to save, I think my job is done, don't you? The residents of New Yelsu have that land to themselves, whether the Avatar is dead or alive. Whether I'm dead or alive."

Ara shook his head and stepped forward, not even listening. A different kind of fire raged in his eyes, while the wooden deck of the battleship caught fire around them. "I still don't understand why you snapped." He said.

"Why I what?" Suley spat blood from his mouth, his bloody left eyeball still hanging down his cheek.

"You were totally normal before Mom walked out. And you were still normal, albeit a bit more hardened, before Dad died. But after that... what happened?"

"I don't have time for this." Suley swept an arm down and raised the other high, sweeping dust and dirt together quickly to the point of combustion, to send black fire at Ara.

But Ara made the same motion and countered it. He stopped the dirt and dust with just as much strength, and after a minute or two of struggling, the resulting compressing force on the particles caused a minor explosion, knocking them both back.

They were on their feet again in seconds.

"GO AHEAD. Give me whatever scolding you're gonna give, insult me with whatever you want, it doesn't matter because my citizens are officially free. The New Yelsu Nation can finally thrive, without threats."

Ara thrust his pointed hand toward the ocean, where broken and burned ship pieces floated, few lifeboats bobbed, and hundreds of citizens still treaded on the water, not even wasting their energy crying for help anymore. "This is genocide, Suley. You took their lives away. You can't just pick and choose, that's not freedom."

"Don't fucking tell me what freedom is. You know nothing about leading a nation!"

Ara stepped fearlessly up to him and grabbed his collar, looking him in the eye. "I won't. I didn't really plan on having a conversation anyway." He moved his hand up to Suley's throat. "You better pray that she's alive, or I will wake you from your grave and kill you eight times over again. Understand?"

"Just to be clear, are we talking about the Avatar or--"

"OUR SISTER!"

Suley seemed drunk. He took his time. "You realize, by that logic, if she is alive, at some point you'll probably end up killing her eight times over, right?"

Ara snorted a frustrated laugh. "I don't get how you can see people so two-dimensionally. You know people are more than the single trait you associate them with, right?"

"Yes, of course I see it now. You're lazy and pissy. What a catch."

Ara felt heat rising behind him and brought his free hand down to stop whatever fire Suley was trying to stir up, but the orange flames reached his ankles and he realized it wasn't Suley. The fire had nearly engulfed the battleship by now, and the heat was starting to corner them.

And yet, when he let go of Suley's throat, Suley reached out for some remaining dust and dirt around their feet and started to swirl it.

Ara fought it right back. Giving Suley control over where the fire is aimed would mean death.

But they both already knew what conflicting fuelbending would do. And they did it anyway, struggling for a few more minutes, both of them too stubborn to let go.

Ara grit his teeth with effort. "By the way, having control over currency distribution does not make you an equal in your society, it makes you a bureaucrat. We know about your little money printing operation in the Stamping Press, and it's probably on fire as we speak."

Suley laughed, the veins in his neck straining. "That's cute. Thinking we kept all our money in the Stamping Press. But I'm sure your friends are having fun anyw--"

He was cut off by a massive blast, this time from half a mile inland. They both stopped bending and looked over in time to see the iconic Fire Lord's palace burst open in a bright yellow cloud, speckled by debris and rupturing the ground beneath it, dirt shooting into the air as if the earth itself were splashed water. It almost seemed like overkill, even for something as fortified as a palace.

Suley paled and his jaw dropped.

Ara took in his expression and smiled. "Let me guess, you kept the rest of the money in the... palace?"

But Suley took Ara's smug moment and whipped up the black fire, striking Ara with the heat and rocks, sending him tumbling back and landing in real fire.

~//~