After the war

Advice comes from unexpected places

The next morning while Zuko was honing his combustion bending he felt as though he was being watched. This odd feeling had been following him for two days. Every time he was practicing his bending in the garden he felt a pair of eyes boring into him.

Though that was nothing compared to the dread at the task that lay ahead of him.

That evening Zuko's hands shook as he took his peace offering: a tray of tea, to the source of his advice.

"I need your advice" he spoke as he set the tray on the floor and kneeled behind it.

"Address me properly and you'll receive it"

"And what is the proper way to address you?" Zuko narrowed his eyes. He had expected resistance.

"As your father" the word father sent a horrific chill down Zuko's spine.

"You lost your right to that title a long time ago" Zuko sneered as he crossed his legs and picked up his tea. "Now, talk" the Firelord locked eyes with Ozai.

"Thank you for the tea, Zuko, but I will not be helping you today" Ozai lowered his eyelids slightly as he glared at the Firelord.

"Well, I tried the easy way, now I'll try the hard way" Zuko said in a low voice as he placed his cup of tea on the floor.

He stood up and grabbed the chair that was in the far corner of the room, he pulled it towards the cell and sat it in front of the bars. He sat on the chair and rested one leg on top of the other, looking down on the prisoner sat before him.

"Oh, and what is the hard way?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes at a small spot on the floor next to Ozai, he hoped and prayed to every spirit and deity he could think of that this worked. He smiled as a tiny explosion set off near the prisoner's foot.

"Your combustion bending has improved drastically" There was something in Ozai's voice. Was it... pride?

"How do you know what my combustion bending was like?"

"Because out of my window I can see the turtle duck pond, where you've been practicing, I was moved to this cell a few days ago, and for two days I've been watching you improve"

"Well, good to know you've been watching me, now, back to the hard way" Zuko narrowed his eyes and glared menacingly at Ozai as he spoke.

"Like it or not, you are my father and you will advise me, because that is what good fathers do, though you wouldn't know much about that would you?" Zuko summoned lightning to his left index and middle finger and rested it on the arm of the chair, pointed at Ozai.

"For our whole childhoods you used me and Azula as your pawns, as soon as we weren't useful to your sick game you cast us aside! And now look at where Azula is! Alone, in a mental asylum, that I had to put her in to save her psyche that had been twisted up by you! Now tell me those are the actions of a good father"

"I tried to teach both of you respect and loyalty... clearly you learned nothing, now get out!"

"These are bold words coming from a man with no bending" Zuko slowly rose from the chair, lightning in hand, and walked to the bars of the cell.

"Now talk, or I'll fry you in your cell!" The firebender snarled as he hovered the crackling lightning near the metal bars. "You could do with a few scars of your own"

"You know all about scars don't you, foolish boy! Where was your whore mother then? She couldn't have protected you forever"

Ozai certainly had a lot more to say but he was cut off by Zuko gripping him by the neck and pulling him up to the bars. There were mere inches between their faces, Zuko's narrowed eyes were blazing with the fury of one hundred suns as he glared at the man who had dared to insult his mother.

"Say one more word about my scar or my mother again, I dare you!" Zuko snarled as he tightened his grip. He revelled in the feeling of pleasure he got as he watched Ozai struggle for air and claw at his hand. The firebender decided to release his captee and threw the ex Firelord down onto the floor.

"Now, talk!" Zuko hissed as he resumed his position on the chair. He had tea in one hand, and lightning in the other.

"You impudent boy"

Zuko cut the prisoner off by reaching forward to the bars with crackling electricity surging forward from his fingers.

"Don't think I won't hesitate to hurt you"

The two men stared each other down and the only sound that filled the room was the sound of the lightning crackling and buzzing on Zuko's fingertips.

"Fine. What do you need advice about?" Ozai sat up and picked up his tea.

"I have found a partner, and for whatever reason we can't produce an heir, should I stay with them or is there another solution?" Zuko asked as he sipped his tea, not breaking eye contact with the prisoner.

"Do you love her?"

Zuko was taken aback at this question. A chill snaked down his spine as the thoughts of being with a woman instead of Sokka crept back into his head. He shook it off and pushed the thought out of his mind. Nothing was keeping him from being with the man he loved, it was, afterall, why he was here gaining advice from the man who had mentally and physically scarred him. Compassionate and personal questions weren't something he had expected.

"W-well, yes"

"Well, there you go, you are the Firelord now Zuko, if something isn't good for your people then you make it good for them. Find an orphaned child, take him on as your ward and raise him as your heir" Ozai said this as though it were the most normal thing in the world as he sipped his tea.

"But... that's so... simple!" Zuko exclaimed in pure shock. "This problem has been haunting me for days and all this time that was the solution!" The Firelord shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in his fervour to stand up. He paced back and forth around the room, wringing his hands.

"That's always been the way with most people, they're faced with a problem and they focus so intensely on it that they come up with an overly complicated solution and don't see the simple one staring them in the face until after the fact"

Zuko stopped pacing and, using his foot, he righted his chair and sank back down into it. He picked up his tea cup and took a sip, the taste of the jasmine tea stilling his racing mind. He had done exactly that, overthought the problem and, as a result, considered ending his relationship with Sokka, when all along all he needed to do was take on a ward.

"You look like him, you know, all you're missing is the red hair"

Zuko looked up from hanging his head.

"W-what? Who?"

"Firelord Zuko"

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