The Girl and the Fire Lord

23 A New Plan - Zuko's POV

My head was pounding and I was getting more and more irritable with every passing minute. The long table in our conference room was lined with loud and outspoken advisors who had been arguing for hours about our newest endeavor - sending Aang to the Southern Air Temple to salvage as much as he could and make any restorations he needed to. The world was committed to helping the airbenders slowly build back their nation and so was I. The only problem? We hadn't heard from Aang since he'd left. The advisors yelled over each other. 

"We need to send troops out. The Earth Kingdom could be halting his progress!"

"The Avatar can handle himself. We need to worry about the mailing system and verify that it is still working properly."

"Our letters are being carried by the finest of the fire nation ambassadors!"

"Of course sir, but the problem could be internal."

"What a ridiculous assumption!"

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"STOP!" I yelled causing the flames in the torches to double inside and then go out. I held my fists tightly to stop any more of my frustration from becoming dangerous. My shoulders fell to a more relaxed position, and I collected my thoughts. 

"There are several answers I see to our problem here." I began. My advisors shifted their papers and waited for my commands. "I'll first address the sending troops idea. If Aang really is in danger, a group of our strong firebenders isn't going to be a lot of help. Most of the earth kingdom - even the poorer, more secluded towns - have heard about our peace treaties and do not want to stop our efforts."

"But sir, many of them are still bitter-"

"Yes, at me. I don't think the earth kingdom is a problem for Aang." The general looked unsettled, but he didn't say anything else. "Now about the second idea - the fire nation just not receiving the mail - that seems highly unlikely. We have the-"

"Firelord Zuko, they have no way of reaching the top of the temple! What if Aang isn't coming down to bring the letters?"

"Do not interrupt me. I will give you all plenty of time to speak, but when I'm speaking, you listen. I'm tired of you all talking over each other in these meetings, and I will not be included in that."

"My apologies, sir." 

"Apology accepted, thank you. Now as I was saying, we have the balloons to deliver and pick up mail." 

"So if everything is working properly and you don't think it's the earth kingdom, what do you think is the problem?"

"That's the problem - I don't know." I admitted.

"Could it be that Aang is sixteen and is simply forgetting to update us on recent developments?"

"No. I explicitly told him if we didn't hear from him once a week we'd worry."

"So we need to send out troops!"

"Not troops. If there's something out there too dangerous for Aang, it's too dangerous for our troops. I don't want anyone to get hurt." 

"So then we have no one to send!" 

The generals broke out into their arguing and squabbling again and I pushed down the nerves in my stomach. I had finally found a few shreds of happiness to hang onto amongst all of the pain. Still, I knew there was nothing else to do. I took a deep breath and raised my hand to quiet the discussion. Once all eyes were on me, I presented our plan.

"We will send me."