Steam Will Rise

5 Youth

"Isn't that the truth." Hakoda said and poured Iroh another cup of tea.

"For most of the meeting everything went fine and I was optimistic that the rest of the meeting would go on without incident, but that was foolish optimism on my part. When Haruya Anzai, the Minister of Education, asked Ozai to make the ideologies of Fire Lord Sozin and Azulon a compulsory part of the Fire Nation's history curriculum Zuko spoke out against the plan."

"Oh no. That can't have been good."

"My nephew loves his country dearly, but he was mortified at the thought of new generations being taught that our country was on the right side of history during the one hundred year war. Zuko was right you see, but it was not his place to speak out, and he didn't know then about his father's involvement in the neo-Azulon movement."

"So that's why he banished his only son? Unbelievable."

"Yes, but I'm afraid that is not the end of the story. After Zuko's outburst in the meeting, the Fire Lord became very angry with him. He said that Prince Zuko challenging the Minister of Education was an act of complete disrespect, and there was only one way to resolve this..." Iroh trailed off leaving Hakoda to draw his own conclusion.

Chief Hakoda shook his head."Don't tell me his father; his own father challenged his son to an agni kai?"

"That's right. Zuko declared that he was not afraid, but he misunderstood. He had spoken out against the minister's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's throne room it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected, so Zuko had to duel his own father."

"That is sick. I can't believe that Ozai is such a small minded petty little megalomaniac that he would burn and disfigure his son in an agni kai, and for what?"

"When Prince Zuko saw that it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. After the duel Ozai said that by refusing to fight Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment he was banished."

"Jail is too good for that subhuman pile of garbage." Hakoda said. "Any man that could do that to his own child isn't a man at all."

"I feel the same way, but in being banished it stopped Zuko from becoming like his father."

"I suppose so, but you had a lot to do with that too."

"Yes, but Zuko did the most changing on his own. I can assure you that he will treat your daughter with nothing but the utmost respect. My nephew appears rough around the edges but all that bravado belies one of the purest hearts the world has ever seen. Believe me when I say the two will be well matched. You won't find a better ally for the Southern Water tribe than The Fire Nation and you won't find a better husband for your daughter in all the world than my nephew."

***

"Lao Beifong? Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"He owns the Earthen Fire Refinery."

"Oh, well no wonder why he's so rich."

Zuko shot more fireballs into the sky and the ship gave out another bone rattling blast of it's horn.

Katara propelled the submersible towards the ship just as a dinghy was being lowered into the water. The two watercrafts met up and the crew from the Beifong's ship helped them on to the dinghy. The dinghy was raised back up to the ship.

"Prince Zuko, Princess Katara it's an honor to have you aboard the S.S.S Golden Gaoling. I'm Captain Li Na Beifong." Li Na was wearing Earth Kingdom fatigues. She was muscular and towered over both Zuko and Katara giving off quite the commanding presence.