Chapter Text
"Gentlemen! I have told you this again and again! Building more factories will only bring profits in the short term! We need to invest in our education system so we can begin to move on from mass manufacturing."
"How do you propose we do that then? The majority of the children that'll attend these schools will not be capable of paying for their education."
"That is why we should make it free! We must continue advancing our technology! We've revolutionized agriculture and commercial manufacturing, we're moving on to metals and warfare! We need a pool of educated citizens to draw on!"
The men continued to bicker and argue. Sitting among them but waiting silently was Crown Prince Sozin.
His stoic face betrayed none of his inner thoughts. Inside the depths of his mind, a thought began to form, one so dastardly that he would be shamed from his position should he reveal it.
This is boring.
Sozin wasn't sure why there was so much pushback against free education when you consider the benefits that would come from it.
With the industrial and agricultural revolutions that had started nearly twenty years ago, a large demand for jobs had risen. Many of the Fire Nation citizens who had previously lived in poverty now lived more comfortable lives. They were free to pursue their interests and passions. These people contributed to the invention of a wide variety of commercial goods. Some of them had even educated themselves and acquired jobs in the highest sectors. The minister who was currently arguing for free education was one of them.
If the Fire Nation worked towards educating the masses, they could quicken the process tenfold. The Fire Nation would become the richest nation economically. If the research on military inventions such as the iron ship and armored tank succeeded, militarily as well.
While it wasn't evident now, Sozin could see the world changing if this new way of living spread to other nations.
His thoughts then wandered towards his friend who he hadn't seen in three years.
When Roku had left, Sozin felt a bit lonely. Sure he had plenty of other friends, but Roku was his best friend. It was like losing his other half when Roku left for the Air Temples.
"I believe it is time we adjourn this matter for now." The minister who had first spoken against free education said. "We shall resume this matter tomorrow." He was met with the support of most of the other ministers, a notable exception being the minister who had proposed the idea.
Sozin exited the meeting room in a calm and orderly fashion. The second he was out of sight, he hurried to his room. Upon entering, he went to his balcony which overlooked the garden and pond in the palace.
The turtle ducks were sleeping for the night but would come out to eat once morning came. The flowers were still in the dark, the moonlight casting its mysterious and ethereal glow on them.
Sozin stood there for a few minutes and relaxed his mind and body.
This day had been tough. Sozin had been studying hard on the workings of the Fire Nation and beyond. The meeting he attended today was just one of the many meetings that he went through over the past few weeks. His time on his balcony became more periodic with every day he spent studying.
It wouldn't be for naught. Every day he spent studying, every day he spent with those ceaselessly arguing lemurs, was his preparation to become Fire Lord. When he took up the mantle as Fire Lord, he would lead his nation into prosperity!
He sighed as he turned his mind away from those ambitious thoughts. He could have them when he was tuning out the arguing of the ministers, but having them now would only serve to tire him further.
He turned to go back inside before he heard something fall behind him.
He quickly turned back to the balcony to see what it was. An assassin? A baby sky bison?
He squinted his eyes as he looked at the bush on the left side. There was an entity on it that had a lighter shade compared to its surroundings. It was a person!
While Sozin could've called for the guards, he wanted to see what the person in the garden was and why he or she was there; he was bored and the thing didn't seem to be moving.
He thanked his firebending teachers as he climbed over his balcony and down to the garden, the physical training he had been put through was really handy when the situation called for it.
He slowly walked to the figure, conjuring a flame in his hand to prepare for a possible attack. As he got closer, however, he didn't see the figure move. He was close to the figure, close enough that he could see the features of the person. Their shade of skin was similar to that of the Fire Nation, their clothes were so dirtied they might as well be rags, their figure was similar to that of a ten-year-old, and their head was bald. Someone from the Western Air Temple perhaps?
He turned over the person to look at their face. What he found shocked him to his core.
The person's face was beautiful. Every feature of it was sculpted like the statues he saw that depicted the previous Fire Lords. Upon seeing this, he also saw a fuzz of...orange hair?
Was this the person's natural hair color? Sozin had never seen such an exotic color on a person before.
The person let out a light groan.
Sozin, snapping out of his observations, turned to the person's body. He could see many red stains on their clothing. He went to remove the clothing but hesitated, he wasn't sure what gender this person was as their shaved head and undeveloped body made it hard to tell, he quickly snapped out of it as the person was pale.
Carefully, pulling away the bloodied clothing, he saw many wounds on the person's body. The most concerning one were the gash on the left side which was bleeding profusely.
Sozin now realized that he had very little time. He quickly called for the guards to get a doctor and took off his shirt to wrap it around the wound. After picking the person up, he walked carefully as four guards rushed up to him, ready to serve him and the Fire Nation.
"This person needs immediate medical assistance," Sozin spoke, not giving the flabbergasted guards time to speak. "Call for the royal physician!"
The guards, who were wise enough to not question Sozin, went to fulfill his request. One of the guards stayed behind.
"I trained to become a doctor before I decided to enlist in the military." The guard said, helping Sozin carry the person inside. "We need to lay her on a flat surface, we can't agitate the wound."
"There's an unused table in that storage room." Sozin pointed with his head. "Bring it out, quickly!"
The guard, nodding as he raced in, hurried out with the table after a few seconds. He set it in the middle of the hallway and Sozin quickly set the person down. Their barely noticeable breathing had become slower.
"There are tablecloths in the storage room." The guard spoke. "We can use those to put on the wound."
At Sozin's nod, the guard raced to retrieve them.
The next few minutes consisted of the guard cleaning the person's wound. Sozin had offered to cauterize it but the guard refused. With the wound bleeding for as long as it did, cauterizing it would make a marginal difference. It would be better to clean the wound and pray that the physician arrived soon.
Their prayers were answered as hurried footsteps were heard from their ears. The physician quickly set down her medical supplies and began treating the person.
Sozin let out a breath he didn't realize he held. He sat down on the chair one of the guards had brought him and watched the physician begin applying stitches to the wound.
What an exhausting evening. Sozin thought as the physician said with relief that the person was going to make it.