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Liya has worked in the palace for a long time. She has to say, these last few months have been the best few months of her career, without question. Fire Lord Zuko is nice and treats the staff like people, which is a first.
However, right now, at this very moment, she regrets ever deciding to actually like the new Fire Lord. Even more so, she wishes she pretended not to hear when he asked her to come help him with something.
“Will someone please tell me why Fire Lord Zuko’s hair is pink,” she says in exasperation.
The six kids in front of her all have varying expressions of oh, shit, or something like that. Except for the Avatar, who’s wearing a winning smile that Liya doesn’t buy for a second. Yeah, maybe he’s the Avatar and the most powerful bender in the world, but he’s also twelve.
Zuko looks ready to just let whichever assassin shows up in the middle of the night next do their job. His hair is hanging around his face, clearly unbrushed, and it’s a lovely shade of bright pink.
“I just took a nap,” he says. “I bet it was Sokka. He was-” Zuko pauses, looks at Liya. “He was… coming to check on me. Yeah. He slept in the other bed in my room.”
Liya isn’t an idiot. She takes care of the grounds. She knows that those two have made out in the gardens on several occasions. She humors him. “Yes, that makes sense,” she says dryly. “Well then, I guess you don't need my help solving the mystery anymore, do you, Fire Lord Zuko.”
“But it wasn’t me!” Sokka protests. “I mean, I applaud whoever did it, because I think it looks great.” He makes a heart with his hands. Zuko rolls his eyes but his ears flush red. “And while I totally would have done that, I actually didn’t this time.”
Liya raises an eyebrow. “You know, maybe I can get one of the guards to check this out,” she says. “Since it’s such an issue…”
The one in green, Toph, raises a hand. “I think I’m exempt from this trial since I’m blind,” she says brightly, waving a hand in front of her eyes, “but please don’t ask the guards to watch. I have like, several other ideas to annoy Sparky and if we’re in trouble I won’t get to do them.”
“And this is supposed to make me not want to get the guards?” Liya asks.
“I think it’ll be fine,” the oldest girl says. “I’m Suki, leader of the Kyoshi warriors? Most of us are guards here. I’ll figure it out.”
Liya nods slowly. “Well, Fire Lord Zuko,” she says, “I think you can get this under control, yes? I do have a job to do. I appreciate you asking me for help finding who did this to you, but considering the only options are your best friends, I can’t imagine it will be that hard.”
“You have no idea,” Zuko says under his breath, earning an indignant hey! from the waterbender girl, but he nods and bows to her, far lower than anyone of his status needs to bow. She returns it and heads off to the gardens.
She’s glad that the Fire Lord has friends to help him out while he’s leading a whole country on his own. He’s only seventeen. When Liya was seventeen, she certainly wasn’t mature enough to make the decisions that he makes on the daily.
But then he has days when he wakes up with pink hair, and none of his friends will ‘fess up. That seems about right for kids their age.
Liya walks out and can see the sunrise.
When Jaz sees them, it’s almost ten in the morning, and he’s supposed to be washing dishes in the kitchen. He thought, oh, I’ll take the long way there, enjoy the grounds, maybe even look at the gardens. But now he feels like he’s at a crime scene.
The Water Tribe Ambassador and one of the Kyoshi warriors are standing in the gardens. They are covered in different vegetables, including but not limited to carrot slices, beans, peas, and a healthy layer of dirt.
Jaz feels bad for Zander, the gardener. He’s spent forever taking care of that garden, and yet here are some teenagers, fucking stuff up again. Jaz hasn’t been here for too long, but he knows what it means to the guy.
“I’m gonna kill her,” the Water Tribe boy says, shaking tomato juice from his hands. “I am going to kill her, Suki, I’m not even kidding! I swear I wasn’t the one who did it, okay! Zuko didn’t need to make her attack us!”
The warrior, presumably Suki, pats his chest gently, squashing one of the peas into his clothes. “Don’t worry,” she says brightly, “we’ll get her back.”
“I didn’t even know earthbending applied to plants!” he says, and he sounds like he’s on the verge of tears.
Jaz is… a bit confused, to say the least, but he’s also a gossip by nature, so even though he could easily go through the door to the kitchens, he waits.
Suki sighs. “I think she more earthbended the dirt and shot the vegetables… yeah, it doesn’t matter. You want revenge, right Sokka?”
The ambassador, Sokka, nods solemnly.
“Well then,” Suki says, and her Kyoshi makeup makes her look quite fierce indeed, “then we’re going to get revenge on Toph and Zuko. They’ll all see.”
Sokka grins, and he kisses Suki right on the mouth—wasn’t he dating the Fire Lord? whatever—and they start brushing the food off their clothes, making a right mess of everything.
Jaz decides this is the time to leave, and he goes into the kitchens. He’s seen enough. And frankly, he’s a little afraid for what else is going to happen.
“Oh, Jaz,” Cecily says when he walks in, “have you seen Fire Lord Zuko today?”
“...No?” he says, washing his hands. “Why? Is he alright? Oh Agni, we can’t lose another fucking Fire Lord. We just got this one.”
Cecily laughs. “No, he’s fine, he’s just…” she drops her voice. “His hair. It’s pink!”
She sounds delighted. Jaz thinks that things might make a bit more sense now.
“Pink,” he says flatly, and she nods excitedly. “You know, you’ll never guess what I just saw in the garden.”
“Oooh, do share.”
Jaz looks around at everyone to make sure they’re not listening, grabbing a dish to clean. “I think he got revenge. The boy he likes, and the boy’s girlfriend- what is the situation there? Are they all dating?”
Cecily shrugs. “I think the Fire Lord and the Water Tribe ambassador are a thing, but also the ambassador is dating the Kyoshi warrior. Who knows.”
Jaz nods. “Well, whatever the case, the ambassador and Kyoshi warrior were in the garden. Apparently, Fire Lord Zuko got the little earthbender to douse vegetables on them.”
“Oh, man,” Cecily says. “Zander’s going to be so upset about the garden.”
“I’m a bit more concerned about the fact that they both want revenge on the earthbender,” Jaz replies.
“Well then,” Cecily says with a smile, “today’s going to be exciting!”
And it’s not like she’s wrong.
Around one, Zina is feeding the turtleducks. She used to have to do it at night, hoping that no important person would catch her and banish her from the Fire Nation for being a decent fucking person, but she refused to let them go hungry. Now though, she does it in broad daylight.
Like, she should probably be doing her job right now. That’s important. But the turtleducks! And Fire Lord Zuko likes them too, so she won’t get in trouble from him, you know?
At the pond next to her, two kids are dangling their feet in the water and hanging out. One of them is in orange and is talking very loudly, loud enough that Zani can barely think, and the girl next to him in green isn’t much better, even if she doesn’t talk constantly like the other one does.
“And guess what Sokka said happened?” Orange says excitedly.
“What? What could have possibly made Sokka so upset?” Green replies, much less excitedly.
“Well, apparently he and Suki were in the gardens just minding their own business-”
“You sure they weren’t like, making out or something? Like they always do? That in itself is a crime, I think.”
“Oh, come on, they’re not that bad.”
Green splashes Orange. “Go on. Please tell this very exciting story.”
Orange laughs and splashes her back. “But anyway, they’re minding their own business, and suddenly the garden attacks them! Like, how could that have happened? Are there garden spirits in the Fire Nation?”
There’s a pause. Zani finds herself listening carefully, because the garden did what?
“Aang,” Green says, “I want you to think very carefully. How do you think the garden, made of earth, could have attacked them?”
There’s another pause.
“Toph, why,” Orange says, and he sounds tired- wait. Did she say Aang? Like, the Avatar?
Before Zani can process that, the turtleduck eating bread by her feet squawks loudly. She looks up and sees a fairly large wave forming from her pond. She has no idea how. She throws the rest of her bread into the water before backing away, sitting under the tree and just watching whatever the hell this is go down.
The wave grows taller and taller, growing oh so silently, and then it moves until it’s right behind the two kids- Agni, one of them is the Avatar and that means the girl in green has to be the master earthbender. Zani didn’t know they were that young! The play she watched made it look like Toph was a huge, burly man!
“Hey,” Avatar Aang says, “did the sun go behind a cloud or something? Why’s it dark all of a sudden?”
“Aang, who the fuck do you think I am,” Toph says, and then the wave crashes over their heads.
“That’s from the Water Tribe!” someone shouts from behind Zani, and she turns to see a boy in blue with his arms above his head in triumph standing on the path nearby.
The girl next to him, also in blue, laughs. “Sorry, Aang,” she calls. “I was only trying to get Toph for Sokka!”
“Yeah, sure!” the Avatar yells back, absolutely drenched. “You’re a master waterbender, Katara! You don’t make mistakes!”
“...Thanks!”
Zani, as quietly as she can, gets up and leaves the courtyards. Sorry turtleducks. She wants no part of this.
Aika’s fairly confident in her skills as a diplomat. Of course, it’s been a very long time since the Northern Water Tribe has needed a diplomat to talk to anyone beyond their walls, but she’s good at it. She’ll be fine!
The Fire Nation palace is huge, and honestly quite terrifying. But all of the staff was very kind to her as she walked in, and no one seemed put off by the fact that she’s Water Tribe. That’s what she was most worried about, if she’s being honest. She knows that the new Fire Lord is at least trying to not be awful, and she can handle herself in a meeting, but she didn’t want general citizens to hate her.
But they don’t. In fact, she actually saw a girl in Water Tribe clothes talking to one of the guards on her way in, the guards with the fancy makeup. She waved at Aika on her way in, which was kind. Everyone so far has been kind.
Aika has a guard with her, of course, because she isn’t allowed to be on her own in what was enemy territory only a few months ago, but it’s just them sitting in the meeting room. The Fire Lord was supposed to be here at three sharp, and he’s a few minutes late.
When he finally walks in, Aika has to stifle a laugh.
Fire Lord Zuko is seventeen. He defeated his father and his sister for the throne. He called off every single battalion of Fire Nation soldiers across the world, and has been working on reparations for all the other nations and memorials for the places his country destroyed. He taught the Avatar how to firebend. Most people don’t do as many important things as he does in their entire lives.
And his hair is bright pink.
It’s in his traditional Fire Nation updo, and he has his crown in his hair, and his clothes are very professional, but his hair is pink. Aika coughs into her hand, trying not to laugh out loud at the person she’s supposed to be having a meeting with, and he sighs.
“I’m sorry,” he goes to say, but before he can get the words out, a gust of wind blows right into his face and blows his hair completely awry. Before he can do anything about it, his shaggy hair is around his face, his crown and hairtie on the floor.
“That’s for making Toph attack Sokka and Suki and then making Sokka get Katara to soak me and Toph with water!” someone declares from the rafters, and when Aika looks up, there’s a... child?
He jumps down, and oh. It’s Avatar Aang. He bows professionally to Aika. “Sorry to interrupt, Ms. Water Tribe,” he says, like it’s an actual title. “I’ll take my leave.” He bows to Fire Lord Zuko, too, who just stares at him without even bothering to look angry, and then walks out of the room. The doors close with a whoosh of air.
Aika can’t help it. She laughs.
“I’m sorry,” Fire Lord Zuko says, sounding resigned. “If you don’t mind, I might be a bit late to the meeting. I have… some issues to deal with. I can have one of the staff take you to the kitchens for tea.”
Aika smiles at him. “That would be lovely,” she says. “And, just to be sure, that was the Avatar, right?”
“Yeah,” Fire Lord Zuko says. “That was Aang.”
“Sounds like you’re having quite a day.”
Fire Lord Zuko picks up his crown from the floor. He’s grinning. “Yeah, you could say that,” he says.
The tea is wonderful.
Manno likes his job. Well, it isn’t really a job yet, he’s still in the trial period, but if he gets better at the whole thing, it will be, hopefully. Being a guard for the Fire Lord is difficult, sure, but he’s smart. He’s got a good eye. He’s talented.
Fire Lord Zuko’s been in his room for the last hour, since he got done with that meeting with the Water Tribe Ambassador. Manno’s pretty sure the warrior girl, Suki, is in there with him.
(There are rumors about if those two are dating. No one can quite figure out who is dating who between Fire Lord Zuko, Ambassador Sokka, and Suki. Manno doesn’t quite know himself, but he pretends like he does since he’s around the Fire Lord so much. He’s very clever.)
The job does get boring, though. Like, just standing outside Zuko's door all day? What’s actually going to happen if he goes to the gardens outside and says hi to Lani? He’s sure Lani’s into him, and like, who wouldn’t be, Manno’s incredible. And she’s pretty attractive, so he’s taking it slow, but he’s sure they’re going to be the new staff couple.
So, if he goes to talk to Lani, oh well, you know? Fire Lord Zuko is fine. He beat his own sister, the crazy one, so anyone who shows up is totally no match for him.
When he comes back, he peers into Zuko’s room, and… shit. He’s gone. Oh, no, he’s gone, and Manno’s supposed to be following him around everywhere to make sure he doesn’t get killed! If he gets killed, Manno’s totally going to get fired, and Lani will never talk to him again. Shit.
He runs around the palace trying to find the Fire Lord, this is so annoying, why is he a dumbass. No, no, Manno, don’t get down on yourself! You’re awesome! You just… slipped up. Yeah, that’s what happened!
When Manno finally checks the meeting room, he doesn’t expect to find Fire Lord Zuko. Happy surprise: he does! Unhappy surprise: that's not all he finds!
Inside the meeting room, standing on the long table, is Sokka, the Water Tribe ambassador. He’s holding… is that hairspray? And a lighter?
“I challenge you to an Agni Kai!” Sokka yells.
Fire Lord Zuko is standing on the ground on the other end of the table. Suki is beside him, looking utterly delighted. “Sokka,” he says, “I thought the point of this whole battle thing is that we’re supposed to be super sneaky and surprise each other.” Zuko sighs. “Also, you’re not a firebender.”
“Firebend this!” Sokka shouts, not deterred, and he sprays the hairspray and lights the lighter and holy shit that’s a lot of fire.
Fire Lord Zuko holds out his hands and does exactly what Sokka says: firebends the fire away. He sighs. “Suki,” he says, “I thought we were coming to prank Sokka. Not the other way around.”
Suki shrugs. “I must have got my wires crossed! Sorry!”
“It wasn’t Suki’s fault, can’t have been,” Sokka says, holding his lighter and hairspray at his sides. “Suki’s like, perfect.”
Suki smiles.
Zuko looks at Sokka. “Did you really say ‘firebend this’?”
Sokka smiles charmingly. “Yes?”
Manno decides that he doesn’t know what kind of flirting this is, but he wants no part of it. Zuko’s clearly fine. He was there to save the day if he needed to! Everyone did their jobs.
He walks away from the door, whistling casually, and literally seconds later there’s shouting, and more fire coming from the meeting room. He hears Suki say, “hey, aren’t you supposed to have a guard who stops you from this shit?”
Yeah, Manno’s totally fired.
Ino is a good cook. He knows he is. He’s been cooking for the Fire Lord and his family since he was a young man.
This new Fire Lord, though, he’s a little different. He comes to the kitchens himself to get tea or snacks late at night, when he really should be asleep. Ino respects him, and even cares for him.
Most of the staff cares for him. He’s a good leader, and he’s nice, and he gossips with them sometimes, so that's all they need to know.
And the rest of his friends care for him a great deal. Aang, the Avatar, follows Zuko around like a puppy, always so excited to see him. Katara visits with him on days when Ino thinks Zuko is more sad than usual. He goes around with Toph when he needs a break from all the politics he’s been trapped in. And of course, Sokka and Suki are almost attached to him by the hip.
They all come by, sometimes, Zuko's friends. To get snacks, or to get tea. Sometimes, to get snacks or tea for Zuko himself. They’re good friends.
Around six, earlier than his usual visits, Zuko makes his way into the kitchens. Lee has just arrived with more peppers, and Ino’s methodically slicing them. “Oh, hello,” he says brightly. “Nice to see you here, Fire Lord.”
Zuko nods and slides onto a stool on the other side of the table Ino’s working at. “Nice to see you,” he says.
Ino looks at him for a long moment.
Zuko rolls his eyes. “Someone dyed it while I was asleep last night. It should come out eventually. I am doing my best.”
“I’m sure you are, Fire Lord Zuko,” Ino says, and he pats Zuko’s shoulder. “I’m sure you are.”
That’s when they all jump out at him. Five different children, who all hid in different places of the kitchens. Ino didn’t even bother to ask why. One of them jumps out from under the very table Zuko’s sitting at- Ino thinks it's Aang, but they move so fast they're just a blur of color. They push him to the ground with an oomph.
“Guys,” Zuko says, wheezing, “what in the everloving fuck.”
“Language!” Katara says.
“Oh, don’t act like you have just as bad a potty mouth as he does, Sugar Queen,” Toph retorts. Katara glares at her.
“Didn’t we say we were going to bully him when we attacked,” Aang says brightly.
“Attacked?” Zuko asks, still buried under a pile of his friends, unable to properly breathe.
Suki shakes her head. “Legally, I can’t attack him now. I always forget how warm he is.”
“You’re legally unable to attack me because I’m warm and not because you’re one of my guards?” Zuko asks, sounding increasingly exhausted.
“Oh, just enjoy the cuddle session,” Sokka replies, and kisses him on the cheek.
Toph gags. “Disgusting.”
“You can’t even see it!” Sokka protests.
“Still disgusting.”
They are all there, the kids who saved the world and ended the war, laying on the floor of the Fire Nation palace’s kitchen. Without a care in the world.
Ino’s proud of them. He keeps making dinner, and hopes they never have to worry again.