Fire and Flame [Iroh II x OC]

Chapter 11: Truth revealed

Iroh's P.O.V

We were overwhelmed. The villagers were standing in front of us. No firebender, except us.

"Today, this island will belong to you again! No one has the right to decide over your lifes. No nation, no person. I want you all to fight with me against injustice and racism. The IAZO is the beginning! You don't have to tolerate racism anymore, stand up for your rights!
Who's gonna be my brother and joins me during this war?"

We heard the crowd cheer. Haku and I looked at her surprised, still not getting what was happening.
"Lady Saira, the reinforcement?", a middle aged man asked. "I'll explain everything to you in a minute. I want you to look for weapons and bring me your best fighters, even if it's a woman, Tadashi.", Saira said with her soft voice.

Tadashi nodded and Saira turned around:"I'm sorry, I didn't inform you before. And I'm sorry for stabbing you, Li. I didn't have any other choice. They have been watching us. And we're already suspicious. They were aware that you two didn't belong to this."

"Who are you?", Haku asked.

"I'm still Saira. But these rogues know me as Alia at the moment. This mission started approximately two years ago, when I was at the Fire Nation military with my father, as you know. We managed to jail these people but somehow they broke out of the Boiling Rock."

"Why didn't you tell us before?", I asked.

"Because I didn't know, how well you two and our fleet can act. And I was waiting for reinforcements of the Fire Nation but Fire Lord Zuko asked my father not to interfere. I hope you can forgive me and help me to win back this island."

Was this real or was she just pretending again? I looked over to Haku and he seemed to distrust her too.

"You said a lot of things when we were alone.", I continued.

"Yes, I did. But you had to believe me. You had to mistrust me. And you had to hate me", she looked over to Haku,"It worked. He started to hate me and you too."

"So you are not on the IAZO side?", Haku asked.

"No, I'm not. This racism has brought us a lot of trouble. And it's the United Forces' duty to bring justice in this world, just as Li said. I'm glad that everyone followed my orders, otherwise my plan wouldn't have worked."
"So what are we doing now?", I looked over to Saira.
"We will fight for independence. Ahana Island has been disadvantaged long enough. Didn't you ever wonder, why the Northern Watertribe doesn't help Ahana Island?", Saira asked, watching Haku and me carefully. We both shook our head.
"Well it's because Unalaq is completely against this island. They have been asking for independence for years but he always declined. You have to understand there are no bender here. All non-bender are sent here while all bender are taken to the capital. That's why it was so easy for IAZO to take over Ahana because they were bender and the capital was supporting them. It is kind of a genocide because the order was to execute anyone, who hasn't any bending ability."
"But you've brought a lot of people somewhere else.", I stated.
"Indeed. But if you've watched carefully, you would have notice that it were children."
"But you let them alone with rogues.", Haku wondered.
"Well, not really. They were spies of my father. Just like me. They are taking care of them, you don't have to worry."
Haku nodded in relief.
"I hope you are aware that the United Forces are neutral. We are not allowed to take sides."
"I'm very well aware of that, Li. It was also our mission to help the Northern Watertribe. But as you can see, they work with the enemy", Saira placed one hand on my shoulder and the other on Haku's,"They need us. They can't do it alone. And for now, we are not the United Forces. We are three firebender who want to help these people. The crew is in the fleet. There's only us and citizens of Ahana."
"We're not following the orders.", I stated.
"Well, it depends how you interpret it. It's our mission to capture rogues. And that can't be done in two days, if you understand what I mean.", Saira winked.
"You're not very well at following orders, huh?", I grinned.
"Well...let me say it different: I reinterpret my orders.", Saira smirked.

Saira's P.O.V

I was glad that I finally could tell Li and Haku the truth. It wasn't easy for me the past few days, hiding everything.
"Did you think of a strategy?", Haku asked.
"We're not allowed to bend fire a-"
"Why not?", Haku interrupted me.
"Because that would be fair. And it's their fight, not ours. We are just supporting them. We will use weapons, which are typically Northern Watertribe."
"But the Northern Watertribe is unfair too. They wanted to kill the people of Ahana! And they got support from IAZO!"
"That's true, Haku. But we are not like them.", Li interrupted. I was surprised to hear that from him. It was like he was reading my mind.
"I take everything back.", Haku suddenly said.
"Pardon?"
"You know...calling you a bitch and a traitor. That wasn't fair of me."
"It was, Haku. If I was at your place, I would have done the same. By the way, I wanted you to be mad at me. Otherwise the plan wouldn't have worked. It's time for us to head to the Northern Watertribe now. We need people there."
"We're citizens of the Fire Nation. Everyone can see that. How will you manage that?"
"It's easy. We are officially going as the United Forces. We don't need to hide.", Li explained. Seriously. What was wrong with this man? Since when did he know what I was going to say?
When we were about to get ready we heard a blast suddenly. As I ran outside, I could see the rogues were back.

"This time, it's your time to fight back! To fight for your rights and justice! Today we are going to beat IAZO! And if we die, they'll die with us!"