Façades [A Zuko x OC Story]

39 - The Fire Lord's Coronation

"Thanks." She tucks a hair behind her ear. Sokka hobbles over to me with his crutch and falls into me, in something that could be considered a hug, "Good to see you too, Sokka."

He pulls himself off me and grins, "So are you going to be the Fire Lady or what?" He gets straight to the point.

"I'm not married to Zuko, so, no." Someone taps me on the shoulder, it is a Fire Sage, "So sorry to bother you, Fire Sage Li Mei. But we have special orders for you to perform the crowning."

"Orders from who?"

"The Lord himself."

"Well, I'm not a Fire Sage anymore."

"He thought you would say that so he told me to tell you 'once a Fire Sage, always a Fire sage."

"I'm going to kill that boy." I mutter under my breath and smile at the Fire Sage, "I suppose I cannot disobey direct orders from the future Fire Lord now can I?" I smile at my friends behind me and follow the man to change into the proper attire.

I slide into the classic red robes that I spent so much of my life in, "We really have come full circle, huh?" I look down at myself.

"You're needed now, Fire Sage Li Mei." I follow the same Fire Sage from before down the hallway leading to the courtyard and he opens the curtains for me. I walk down the last small hallway and the light from outdoors starts to shine on me. I bow to my fellow sages, one of them hands me the golden headpiece and I grip it tightly in my hands. I stand off to the side, waiting for Zuko and Aang.

Not much time has passed before the crowd begins to cheer and Zuko comes into my field of view, wearing the traditional Fire Lord clothing. He looks at me and smiles while I just try to maintain a serious expression.

"Please. The real hero is the Avatar." Zuko calms the crowd and moves out of the way for Aang to also walk out into the view of the crowd which cheers him on as well.

"Today this war is finally over!" Zuko declares, "I promised my uncle that I would restore the honour of the Fire Nation. And I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace." Zuko kneels down.

I step forward, still holding the headpiece with a strong grip. I lift my arms and place the golden piece in Zuko's hair, "All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" I chant.

The crowd cheers wildly and I smile at the faces of my friends in the front row.

-

Back in the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh's tea shop. A place I never thought I would be able to sit and be free of all my problems. Iroh plays his tsungi horn while Zuko passes out cups of tea.

"Zuko, stop moving! I'm trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together." Sokka complains from a table on the other side of the room.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Sokka." Katara looks down at her brother's painting and grimaces, "Wait, why did you give me Momo's ears?"

I walk over to the table Sokka is sitting at and get a good look at the painting for myself.

"Those are your hair loopies!" He defends.

"At least you don't look like a boar-q-pine! My hair is not that spiky!" Zuko grumbles. I reach up and ruffle his hair, "Now it is!"

I look at the painting and I spot myself, "Why do I look so sickly?"

"Prison changed you!" Sokka answers. My jaw drops and I look at my boyfriend, "Do I look sickly to you?"

"What? Um... No?"

"Wow, thanks." I groan.

"And why did you paint me firebending?" Suki asks Sokka.

"I thought it looked more exciting that way." Momo jumps onto the table and chitters at Sokka, "Oh, you think you can do a better job, Momo?"

I see Aang walk outside from the corner of my eye, "Hey, my belly's not that big anymore. I've really trimmed down." Iroh points at himself in the painting.

"Well, I think you all look perfect!" Toph says excitedly and I laugh at her joke. I notice Katara leaves the room as well and goes to join Aang.

I tug on Zuko's sleeve and point at the two teens outside, "How much do you want to bet they'll kiss?"

"That's my sister!" Sokka exclaims.

"I don't care if it's your grandmother! Do you think they'll kiss or not?"

"No." Sokka crosses his arms. I smirk, "How much are you willing to bet on that?"

"Five silver coins."

"Okay. I bet six silver coins that they will." I turn back around and creep my way over to the door to watch the two teens. They lean in closer and seal the deal. I celebrate silently and skip back over to Sokka gesturing for him to hand over the money. He reluctantly places the five coins in my hand.

I sit down next to Zuko and happily sip my tea, "Do you see this? Five silver coins to spend on whatever I want." I lean against him and he smiles down at me, "You're smiling." I point out.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, it's nothing... I've just really missed seeing you smile like this." I place my hand on his cheek and lean into a kiss, smiling against his lips.