The Heat that Drives the Light

Chapter 2

The sun is too bright. It got in my eyes, causing me to wake up and squint. Even though the curtains were shut the sun still managed to get in. I groaned, moving closer to the warm boy beside me.

"Not one for the sun?" He joked quietly.

"Not when it gets in my eyes." I whispered back, "Can't you get better curtains?"

He let out a small chuckle before shifting so that his shadow cast over me, finally getting the sun out of my eyes.

"Better?" He questioned.

"Much," I replied, and moved closer to his chest.

"I have to get up now." He whispered, "We have an important meeting."

"Ughhhhhhhhhhhh." I groaned, "Now we have to go to meetings for the next ten years!"

"C'mon "mara, put some clothes on so I can show you through some secret passage and get you back to your room without anyone realising."

I begrudgingly sat up and put on the shirt that was handed to me by Zuko. He was already dressed in a simple shirt and pants.

"Stay quiet, hopefully everyone is still mostly asleep." He said, taking my hand and leading me through the door pretending to be a wall.

The passageway was dark, and kinda cold. Zuko led me through a bunch of twists and turns before opening what appeared to be another wall and showing up in the hallway outside my room.

He gave me a quick kiss, enveloping me in warmth.

"I'll see you at today's meeting." He said.

"I pray this won't be some boring, lame, lesson about balance of the world." I sighed and turned into my room, hearing a small chuckle from behind me.

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Turns out it wasn't that boring, but in a much different way. Zuko's advisors were apparently... less than happy about his politics. I thought that one of them was going to faint when he suggested changing the fire nation school curriculum.

"But Firelord Zuko, it has worked so well so far and I see no problem-" he argued but Zuko stopped him.

"It's deeply flawed, Councilmember. It teaches that the fire nation is superior to all others and portrays my predecessors as gods," he explained in a cool tone, but I could tell he was growing somewhat frustrated.

"Is that not the truth my lord? What is the issue in having pride in your nation? We don't want to give children the wrong idea that they must be subservient to other nations," the man argued back.

"It's not pride, its hate," Zuko hissed at the man.

"I'm sorry that earth kingdom notions have wormed their way into your mind and-"

"Excuse me?" I cut in to the surprise of everyone (including Zuko), "are you forgetting that I am from the earth kingdom? You are all so caught up in your stupid little firenation lives to realize that there are other people in the world, Zuko made his decision and its final. Deal with it!!"

"She's right," Zuko said, looking away from me, "this discussion is over."

Groans of protest shot from the advisors, but I didn't stick around to hear them out. I was whisked out of the room by Zuko as he dragged me into the hallway by the arm. Once we were out of earshot of anyone important he spun around to look at me.