Chapter Text
”From The Royal Fire Academy For Girls, Sifu Xī Mai reports…”
Zuko’s head shot up from where it rested on his palms. His movement was a sudden flame blowing out, and every being in that room failed to hide the fact that they noticed the slight widening of his eye and the sudden straightening of his spine.
It had been a long afternoon of meetings that started just as the sun reached its zenith and dragged on until the celestial body was bored to death and slowly sank out of sight.
The Fire Lord wished he, too, could do the same.
His boredom peaked when the minister of fisheries was in the middle of saying something along the lines of:
“And therefore, our reports have found that the recent increase in maritime aid to the Jang Hui local fishing population has doubled productivity and exports in the seafood…”
The monarch thought surely that enough seconds had passed for that Minister’s face and his scroll to mold into one nagging creature. So much so that the voice in the back of Zuko’s mind mimicked the same monotonous intonation as the speaker.
“Thus, concluding our preliminary report on the Fire Nation’s Maritime Exports, Your Majesty!”
CLAP
CLAP
CLAP
The Fire Lord’s head shot up quickly.
“Thank you for that report, Sikong Ling. I extend my gratitude on behalf of the nation.” He collected himself, trying to mask the fact that he had forgotten where and what was happening.
The minister bowed, and the next speaker shuffled to take his meeting notes.
The grand chamberlain cleared his throat.
“My Lord,” he started.
“May I present Situ Tiu and his reports?” A lanky old man bowed and unrolled a singular scroll. The sound of paper unrolling against timber floorboards filled the room. For ten seconds, they all waited until the twelve-foot-long roll of parchment revealed most of itself.
Zuko sighed. Every fiber of his being wanted to say no. Maybe if he were sneaky enough, he’d light a spark at the end of the paper and burn half of it down. Just enough to cut this meeting short and cut himself more slack.
Zuko would do that.
“May I begin, my lord?”
The Fire Lord would not, as he just nodded in response.
”As the minister of education, it is my sole duty to ensure the future of the Fire Nation remains as bright as the central flame we all share. AND BY THAT ACCOUNT I will individually report each significant institution starting with…”
The education minister, Situ Tiu, is an ancient man, so ancient that he had once been Uncle Iroh’s teacher. His voice had that signature ‘old man’ cadence effective at lulling anyone to sleep.
The minister tries to be subtle. He may have to crane his neck to look at the Fire Lord, whose throne was steps above the platform from where he stood. Years ago, he remembered how the mere flames emanating from Fire Lord Ozai’s throne could be felt from outside the room. At the time, he thought the old Fire Lord’s flames acted as the monarch’s eyes and ears, and he’d set everything ablaze to keep all his citizens on watch.
Fire Lord Zuko’s throne room, though still lit with flames, the minister did not feel like he was being watched closely with each flicker. The light from the fire illuminated most of the palace. Windows now replaced once closed-off walls, which was most likely why they required less flames in the room. The last rays of the setting sun shot in between large golden pillars, highlighting their intricate carvings at the base that reminded the minister of lotus petals. The detailing felt far too soft for a Fire Lord’s throne room, but he’d rather have that than worry about this life being blown into ashes.
And in the center of it all, the Fire Lord.
Situ Tiu was taken back to his beginnings as a school teacher. The Fire Lord is no longer the boy he was when he took the throne. But, right now, he looked more like the children who forgot they were in class, their brains already thinking about lunch.
And the school teacher in him knew he had to do something to get this man’s attention.
Scheming, he reached to the side tray an attendant held for a small envelope. Tilting his chin up before clearing his throat, Situ Tiu started:
”From The Royal Fire Academy For Girls, Sifu Xī Mai reports…”
The Fire Lord looked like he was woken up from a really deep slumber.
But while everyone had their eyes on the man on the throne, no one seemed to take notice of Situ Tiu. The minister went from old, wise, serious, and all-knowing to mouth-hanging in a way that wasn’t very wise, serious, or all-knowing, but still unmistakably old.
“Is there anything more to the matter, Minister?” The Fire Lord asks, breaking the thin ice in the air that had people holding their breath.
“It-it’s just that my Lo-“
The grand chamberlain cleared his throat, cutting the minister off before speaking: “Situ Tiu, would you like to skip your turn entirely?”
Situ Tiu suppressed an inhale; the question sounded more like a threat.
“I-uh was- I suppose this letter may-I-uh-”
”Since when do you stutter, Situ Tiu?”
The minister of education was taken aback by the grand chamberlain. The audacity of that man! His mouth quivered as his brain ran laps to find a response. He removed his spectacles, eyes scanning the characters repeatedly as if it would change anything.
“Grand Chamberlain!” The Fire Lord’s voice echoed in the now too quiet room; the sound of scribbling on parchment by the scribes halted.
“If the minister of education wishes to…” The scholars momentarily gave each other a sidelong glance as they heard the monarch's voice trail off.
“If the minister wishes to skip THIS part,”
“My Lord, with all due respect, it is tradition that if a minister DOES NOT PROPERLY COMPLY with the court’s reporting policies, then HIS WHOLE part is skipped and-” The Grand Chamberlain was cut off.
“THEN I SHALL READ IT!” said the education minister, hand flailing around the letter.
The Fire Lord blinked twice before leaning flat against the throne, as if surrendering to fate about how this moment should play out. He trusted Situ Tiu as the new education minister, who, sure, was unconventional, but was more open to new ideas...which may have irked his chamberlain.
Zuko watched as the old minister’s eyes bounced between him, the grand chamberlain, and the letter he held so tightly.
What could possibly be in it to make this old man so agitated?
His question was soon answered after Situ Tiu cleared his throat.
“Before I read this aloud.” His eyes scanned the room.
“I warn all of you that I am merely complying with the court’s report policies.”
Zuko opened his mouth, but his grand chamberlain beat him to it.
“Go on, we have a whole line of other sectors waiting for their turn,” he says, watching his hourglass lose sand on the top half and the long line of more ministers waiting their turn.
Situ Tiu sighed and read aloud:
”From The Royal Fire Academy For Girls, Sifu Xi Mai reports…To The Fire Lord,”
The sound of scholars and palace scribes writing on parchment filled the room once more. Situ Tiu gulped before reading aloud the next part.
“With Love,”
Suddenly, Zuko forgot he was in the middle of a government meeting.
There was a sound of what could only be a calligraphy brush being broken in half.
Possibly one younger scholar asked rather too loudly: “Huh?”
The minister of education covered his viewpoint with the letter. He did not want to know who broke their pen, who asked what, and most importantly, he did not want to look at their Fire Lord as he continued to read aloud:
Sifu Mai of the Xī Clan 曦 梅
Royal Fire Academy For Girls
Fire Lord’s Council
Fire Nation Royal Palace
Hari Bulkan
[AN:These are the three segments of page one]
To The Fire Lord With Love,
There were red flamingo flowers, their petals like open hearts bleeding life. Red carnations pooled at the bottom, deep like the blood dripping straight from the source. My instructor told me that a flamingo flower meant a tormented heart; the carnations were proof of that pain.
I never understood how Ikebanas were meant to breathe life when the cost of their existence are dead flowers stabbed on a Kenzan. Funny how the term means a ‘mountain sword ’. As someone who wields the weapon, I trust you know the feeling of being at the receiving end of a pointed blade.
Not very ‘breathing life ’, I suppose. How does life bloom from an arrangement that starts from pain and soon leads to death? But then I remember something. I have survived life long enough to think I knew what it means to be alive. But it was only when I was freed from your warmth that I realized something. The pain from being on the back burner of your mind was when I felt the most alive. “