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English
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Published:
2020-02-21
Updated:
2020-02-26
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769
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3/?
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In the Court of the Fire Lord

Summary:

Fire Lord Azulon's one hundredth birthday has arrived, and guests from across the Four Nations have been invited. However, he delivers the young Avatar Aang a warning: there are those who wish to overthrow the Fire Lord and replace him, who desire war with the other nations. Can Aang and his newfound allies prevent a coup within the Fire Nation and an international incident?

Notes:

I'm not sure how exactly I came up with the idea for this AU, but the gist of it is "what if Roku arbitrated an agreement between Sozin and the Earth Kingdom and prevented war?" From that, I surmised that Roku would likely live a lot longer - after all, Roku died in canon from the poisonous fumes of a volcano, rather than from old age. So I decided to have Roku die in what in canon was 86 AG, with Aang being thirteen when this fic starts.

A few useful notes:

In this AU, in the equivalent of 46 AG, the Four Nations adopted a new dating system known as Universal Era. Thus, 0 AG is 46 BUE (Before Universal Era), Aang was born in 40 UE, and the current year (100 AG in canon) in the fic is 54 UE.

The Fire Nation colonies in this AU are actually jointly administered territories run by both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom as a condominium. The residents have dual Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom citizenship, and goods manufactured in the colonies have no tariffs when trade is conducted between them and the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom.

A generation exists between Sozin and Azulon that did not exist in canon - there was an intervening Fire Lord, Fire Lord Jingbu, who was born in 92 BUE (46 BG) and died in 26 UE (72 AG), aged 118. He was Sozin's son and Azulon's father.

Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter Text

The invitation went out to countless noble families across the world, as well as Avatar Aang.

'You are cordially invited to attend the party commemorating the one hundredth birthday of Fire Lord Azulon.'

The Air Nomad Avatar had learned of his status as the Avatar prematurely purely by chance - when he accidentally waterbended, the custom of waiting to inform the Avatar of their status until they were sixteen went out the window.

Upon arrival at the Royal Palace in Caldera City, Aang was struck by how crowded it was. People from all over the world had converged here to celebrate the centenary of a state leader. Aang could see all kinds of clothing in the throng of people.

When he arrived at the palace gates, he bowed to the guards and then stood tall. "I'm Avatar Aang. I was invited to the Fire Lord's party?"

The two guards seemed taken aback, but after a brief exchange of glances, the one on the left spoke up. "Apologies, Avatar. Right this way."

The guards stepped aside to let Aang pass.

Inside, a middle-aged man with a goatee and dark black hair waited for him. "Welcome, Avatar Aang. I am Prince Ozai. We've been expecting you," he smiled.

The Avatar felt uncomfortable around this prince for some reason. There was something off-putting about him. When he spoke, the monk felt chills run down his spine. There was no sincerity in his words.

Aang resisted the urge to shudder as Ozai escorted him to his room.

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"This place gives me the creeps," Sokka, Prince of the Southern Water Tribe, whispered as he and his sister walked through the halls of the Fire Nation Royal Palace.

"Sokka!" Katara hissed at him in disapproval.

"What? I don't really go for the dragon aesthetic," the prince explained, as they rounded a corner...

And Sokka collided with a raven-haired girl clothed in Fire Nation royal regalia.

"Excuse me?" the girl asked angrily.

"Sorry, Miss, uhh..." Sokka tried to apologize, but his difficulty doing so without a name was clear for all to see.

"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation," the girl introduced herself with a smirk.

"My apologies," the Water Tribe prince tried again. "I am Prince Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, and this is my sister, Princess Katara."

Azula raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I was aware that there would be Southern Water Tribe guests in attendance for Grandfather's birthday party, but..." Her expression turned to one of distate. "I was expecting them to be more courteous."

Katara looked at her in shock. "It was an accident. My brother didn't see you around the corner," she offered.

The Fire royal let out a laugh. "Relax, I'm teasing. I know it wasn't deliberate. I was just giving you a hard time."

"Oh." Katara looked a bit confused by this.

Azula gave them a dismissive wave. "Anyway, I apologize, but I have business to attend to. I'll try to come find you two again when I'm free."

With that, she strolled off down the hall.

Notes:

And thus Sokka, Katara, and Azula make their first appearances!

In an environment like this, free of a global war that has lasted a century, and with Ozai having less of a hold on her, Azula's just a fourteen-year-old firebending prodigy who likes teasing people.

Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation, wasn't having a good day. He sat at his desk, staring at a scroll on some firebending katas. This was a bit strange considering that the electric lighting wasn't in use, the boy instead opting to light the room with candles and lamps instead.

A knock on the door interrupted his reading.

"Come in," he said, turning to face the door.

It opened and his fiancee entered the room.

"Mai," he smiled, an expression that she reciprocated.

Then Mai glanced around the room. "What's with all the candles and lamps? Did you forget your room has electric lighting?" she teased.

The prince shook his head. "I find I am more comfortable with candles and lamps illuminating the room than when electricity does so. I like feeling the flames near me," he explained.

Mai just stared at him. "Is this a firebender a thing?"

"Yes."

She let out a groan. "Anyway, I was wanting to know why you've been holed up in your room all day."

Zuko's expression became worried. "I don't know why, but I get this horrible feeling that something bad is going to happen."

His fiancee frowned and grabbed him by the arm. "Relax. You're probably just nervous. There's a lot of people who've come here for your grandfather's birthday party from all over the world. Maybe you're just anxious about meeting a bunch of foreign diplomats."

Zuko seemed to relax at that. "You could be right."

"Come on, let's go for a walk. You probably need the exercise."

"Yeah, I think that might help."

Notes:

Yes, in this AU, we have the early stages of electric lighting! Turns out that without a war, collaboration between people from different nations results in technological innovation. Who'da thunk it?

Zuko and Mai have been betrothed since shortly after Mai's thirteenth birthday, and they're planned to marry soon after she turns sixteen, about eigjt months in the future from this chapter.