Fall of the White Lotus [Zutara/Taang]

2 | Magic

Music: Fire Nation, Two Steps From Hell

                    It promised to be a glorious autumn day in the Fire Nation Capital as Zuko headed for the Royal Spa after an early morning training session in the rising sun above Royal Caldera City, mentally readying himself for the day ahead. 

Directly after a quick breakfast, he would be having meetings with three parliamentary committees of the Fire Nation High Council. On matters of policy formulation and legislation, the High Council was the primary advisory body of the Fire Lord and his council of ministers. It consisted of representatives of the Fire Nation nobility, wealthy merchants, and scholars and was divided into various committees for specific subjects. Depending on the subjects at hand, Zuko attended every sitting with the minister responsible.

Today the committees for agriculture, foreign affairs, and public health were on the agenda. Zuko could feel a headache coming on as he studied his schedule, all the while evaporating the sweat from his body. Three of the most difficult committees crammed into one morning. Surely, he would be dead by the end of the day.

Agriculture always was a tough one. The members included wealthy landowners with conflicting interests, none of whom could ever agree on anything. And in the Foreign Affairs Council, the merchants would be sure to press their Fire Lord into tough negotiations with the Earth Kingdom for their lost trade privileges after the end of the Hundred Year War.

Public health was a subject Zuko himself had introduced after a visit to the small fishing village of Jang Hui in the eastern Fire Nation. He'd been wanting to visit the insignificant village since the horrible play Team Avatar had sat through on Ember Island, had mentioned Katara having masqueraded as their local spirit to help the inhabitants suffering from the pollution of their environment. After the play, Sokka had told him what had really happened and that the pollution had originated from the Fire Nation Army factory on the banks of the Jang Hui river. With the factory destroyed by Team Avatar, the villagers had cleaned up the pollution, and word had started spreading about the mysterious spirit helping and healing the inhabitants of Jang Hui. Zuko had wished he'd already been with Team Avatar at that time to witness it, as he'd tried to picture Katara as a benevolent Fire Nation spirit, compassionate and caring like she'd been in the Crystal Catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se.

By the time the Fire Lord's entourage had stepped onto the wooden platforms of the village, the sun was sparkling in the clear blue water, and the villagers had presented the Fire Lord with a fresh fish for his table. The story of the Painted Lady had made some of Zuko's councillors sneer at the simple villagers, but the visit had put an idea into Zuko's head. A week later, the High Council had been expanded with a new committee for public health, consisting of a few of the younger councillors and the Fire Lord.

The committee had taken to the task with fresh enthusiasm, showing immediate progress in their policy formulating. Last month, a group of healers from the Northern Water Tribe had visited the Fire Nation by request of the Fire Lord. Zuko himself had welcomed the healers from the Northern Water Tribe, all women except for one young man, and had told them the story of the Painted Lady who had inspired him to establish this committee. The eldest of the women, called Yugoda, had shaken her head at this. Judging from what the Fire Lord had told them, the spirit must have been a waterbending healing master, she had remarked with an amused smile, surprising Zuko with her perceptiveness.

The visit had been a success. The Water Tribe healers had even agreed to share their knowledge with their colleagues from the Fire Nation. It was something that hadn't been seen for over a hundred years, and Zuko was silently happy to see his country develop from the state of war it had been in for so long.