Avatar: The Red Dragon

Chapter 17: Prelude

Around the time Nanami departed for her journey, a secret meeting was taking place in the basement of a famous, high-class restaurant in the nobles' district of Capital Island. Seated at a round table, several men and women from the wealthiest families of the Fire Nation were debating. As usual, the main topic of the conversation was Fire Lord Zuko's way of ruling. For this group of extremists, Fire Lord Zuko's reforms in the nation were humiliating, depriving them of all the previous privileges that Fire Lord Ozai granted to nobles of their ranks.

"We have to do something. We can't stand here, and watch him while he strips us of all of our rights," a man exclaims, banging his fist on the table.

"What do you propose, Dao? You're our leader," a woman says, turning to Magistrate Dao, Saki's father.

"We can't start a rebellion without a valid reason," Dao declares mightily, sitting straight to affirm his position as a leader. "But then, I had an annoying incident a few weeks ago. The Royal Fire Academy is hiding a monster. We can use that."

"A monster?" the woman repeated.

"A cheeky brat that has some special firebending. It seems her fire can't be put out by water or something. I heard she nearly killed one of her classmates because she couldn't control her power. She is a threat for our children."

"How shall we proceed?" a man asked.

A sly smile drew on Dao's lips. He exposed his idea to his comrades, and by the end of the day, they had meticulously planned everything for the prelude of their revolt.

❁

"We're nearly home, Nanami," Tenzin announced, as he caught sight of the Royal Palace in the distance.

Oogi parked in front of the Red Dragon, making the district tremble when he landed on the cobblestoned avenue. The quake attracted everybody outside, wondering what caused this ruckus. Shuu and some customers came out from the teashop, ready to face any dangers.

"Nanami is back!" he yelled to his family, and rushed to hug his little sister who has been gone for a week. "How are you? Was everything alright?"

"Yeah! It was so fun!" Nanami told her brother excitedly.

She kept on narrating her adventure to him as they entered their home. The rest of her family was busy working, but they dropped everything on the spot to welcome the youngest back home. The regular customers also greeted Nanami, but one particular client caught her eye. He was sitting at a table alone, near the counter, looking her way. He smiled at her timidly, not daring to interrupt her reunion with her family.

"Iroh!"

The young prince stood up as she ran to him happily, a large smile on her face. Overjoyed to see him, Nanami hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Iroh didn't expect that, and blushed to the tip of his ears. He didn't know if he was supposed to hug her back or not, leaving his hands in mid-air.

After her excitement subsided, Nanami realized what she was doing, and pulled back from Iroh at once, her face burning up from embarrassment.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I... Hum," she stammered her words.

"That's okay," Iroh reassured her, smiling. "I'm glad to see you as well. How are you? Did you find all the answers you were looking for?"