The Burning Truth-Harmony

Part 4~School

The bell rang as the students walked out of the school. Hachi frowned, looking across the schoolyard. He sighed, deciding he had to talk to someone to get the information he needed. "Excuse me, hi. I was- you see, I have a sister, but I can't see her?"

The girl Hachi was talking to laughed. "You need to relax. The teacher is probably just keeping them back. She'll be out soon once they believe they have control."

Hachi let out a breath. "Right. That makes sense."

"You really don't understand anything about school, do you?"

Hachi coughed awkwardly. "That's more my sister's thing."

"Then it sounds like she's going to do a lot better at this school than you." The girl smiled as Hachi chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that the teacher let me stay in her class to the end of the day."

"Oh, I thought she was going to kick you out when you didn't bow." The two laughed as the girl stood up straighter. "I'm Ta."

"Kuzon." The two shook hands when someone walked closer.

"Hey, Ta, you don't have to babysit the newbie." The guy was taller and more muscled as Hachi raised his head.

"Who are you?"

The boy huffed. "I'm Rekaim. That's my girlfriend. Don't forget it."

Hachi blinked, resisting the urge to laugh. "If I were you, I would be more concerned about your possessive behaviour causing you to accuse a gay man of getting too close to her."

Rekaim looked startled as Ta laughed, pulling her boyfriend along. "See you around, Kuzon."

Hachi waved when someone rushed over. "Oh man, you're not dead."

"Thank you?"

"I can't believe he didn't beat you up, not even a little."

"I guess my gay vibes scared him." The boy froze. "Oh wow, it works on you too."

The boy chuckled. "Wow, you're bold. I like that."

"I have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, me too, but I try to keep that on the down low. The teachers don't exactly like bi people. I'm Yirai."

"Kuzon. Or Slob. Whichever you prefer."

"Well, Kuzon, we were on our way to play hide and explode. You wanna come?"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Probably not."

"Well, that's better than most of the games I played with I- my sister, so that can't be that bad."

Yirai snorted, waiting for Hachi to follow him.

~~~

Isu laughed as she bounced along the corridor, happily talking to her classmates. "Oh- I forgot my brother."

On Ji laughed as she saw Isu's face twist. "Isn't he older than you? He'll be fine."

"You don't know my brother." Isu rushed out of the school, her worried expression easing as she spotted Hachi playing with other kids his age. "Huh, he made friends. I don't know how I feel about that."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"The only friend he had when we were kids was his pet bi-badgerfrog."

The class laughed as Isu hopped closer to her brother. "Hey.... brother. Ready to go home."

Hachi blinked. "Oh, yeah. Let's go... sister."

Isu snorted, waving to her classmates. "See you later."

"Bye, Ymeh."

Hachi gave Isu a look, whispering to her. "Ymeh?"

"Don't laugh at me. What was yours?"

"Kuzon." Isu gave Hachi a scathing look. "I hope neither of us have kids."

"Hachi, firstly, we're gay, and secondly, if we have kids, our partners are naming them."

~~~

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick." Katara appeared in the cave mouth, glaring at Isu and Hachi as they smiled nervously.

"I got invited to play with some kids after school," Hachi explained as Sokka stared at him.

"After what?"

Isu grinned, giving Hachi a look. "I just forgot he existed and was talking to my new friends."

"You're what?" Sokka shifted his gaze between the two as Isu grinned more.

"We enrolled in a Fire Nation school," she announced as Hachi took over.

"And we're going back tomorrow."

"Enrolled in what?!" Sokka gasped as he fell back in disbelief.

Isu looked over him, humming. "That went as well as expected."

~~~

"Listen, I'm trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea, but it sounds really terrible," Sokka announced as Toph nodded.

"Yeah, we got our outfits. What do you need to go to school for?"

Hachi sighed, leaning into Zuko's side. "Every minute I'm in that classroom, I'm learning new things about the Fire Nation. I already have a picture of Fire Lord Ozai." Hachi showed them the picture as Isu popped up.

"And here's one that I made out of noodles!" Hachi gave her a look, but it did not dampen her spirits.

"Even so, why do you need that? You have me and Uncle Iroh." Zuko gave Hachi a wounded look. "We have all the information we need."

"What about the secret river?" Hachi smiled softly as Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Of course, I know the secret passages in and out of my home. We don't need a school to teach us that."

Isu paused, sitting back down. "I don't know about Hachi, but it's not just that for me. There were a lot of people in that class, but they seemed broken. No one deserves that."

"You can't start a revolution in class, Isu," Iroh warned as she sighed.

"I know that, but if I can plant the ideas, maybe they will take control of their lives when they get the chance."

~~~

"Good morning, class," Kwan began, sitting down at her desk. "Recite the Fire Nation oath."

The class turned to face the large painting of Ozai. "My life I give to my country. With my hands, I fight for Fire Lord Ozai and our forefathers before him."

Isu did her best to keep up and under the radar when she knew none of these words.

"With my mind, I seek ways to better my country, and with my feet, may our March of Civilization continue."

Isu smiled, trying to follow, but she only got one word in.

"Since it's obviously hilarious to mock our national oath, we'll begin with a pop quiz on our great March of Civilization." Kwan glared at Isu as she gave her a sheepish grin. "Question one: What year did Fire Lord Sozin battle the Air Nation army?"

Isu frowned, throwing up her hand and waiting for her cue to speak. "Is that a trick question? The Air nomads didn't have a formal military. Sozin defeated them by ambush." The class stared at her as she blinked. "What?"

"Well, I don't know how you could possibly know more than our national history book. Unless you were there a hundred years ago."

Isu huffed. "Fine, I'll just write down my best guess."