#but like after lu ten died that shifted more into a zuko and iroh using eachother as a coping mechanism thing

[maaaxx]

📓for the ask game. Gimme all the juicy details on a fic you haven’t written yet <3

okay so like i have this one mutual that got me really into shipping Sokka and Azula, (@balsa-margarita , hey bestie <3). And I really want to do something with that, But I have no confidence whatsoever in writing Azulas pov. I do, however have full confidence in writing Sokka and his pov. I feel like I depict him better than any other canon character I write, so maybe I can work with that.

this specific idea is still very new and im still working through the specifics but like, you know those Zuko stories where something happens that throws the course of the story completely away from canon and Zuko's redemption arc coils around that event like a snake and like launches him into Sokka's arms and a lot of his redemption is deeply inbedded in Sokka too??? (Think 'The Art of Burning, Leaving it all behind/Risking it all, Blue I think is another one) I want something like that, but like Azula.

Maybe even without the shipping part of it, but I really want to do a fic where Azula gets an actual support system and has her 'redemption' revolve around that, whether that be the gaang, the water tribe, ty lee and mai or even maybe ursa or zuko if i feel like having the 'repairing relationships' thing a part of it.

i also really want a large portion of that story going into her relationship with zuko and what specifically went wrong there and how it can be fixed to where they act like normal siblings and not what you see in canon. Same with Ursa and Iroh.

[zuzuslastbraincell]

fun world-building facts about the eyeliner incident:

so the main canon divergence is that roku killed sozin, instead of just chilling in his cottage for ~50 years. he ended up leading a coalition force against him, in prep for civil war, although was able to bait him out to an erupting volcano and kill him at the age of 40 or 50 or so. roku then lived for another 100 years (hardly out of character for an avatar to do so).

roku went further, though, and after killing sozin, declared there would be no more fire lords in the avatar state. this split the fire nation into monarchists and anti-monarchists, essentially, and there was still a fair bit of civil unrest/war after sozin’s death because not everyone agreed.

a lot of monarchists ran off to the colonies after sozin was killed, to protect their assets, to protect their lives, as a place to hide out until the storm blew over (it did not blow over) and to regroup for a next assault (which did not succeed).

this was fine, until a second phase: roku wanted to give the radicals in his coalition a leading voice in the next government to be. a lot of people disagreed. in the colonies (many of which had officially been handed back to the earth kingdom), there were riots, lots of dissent, etc. amongst fire nationals.

when the north western earth kingdom became the site of resistance against radicals in the fire nation (as roku’s opposition to sozin was based on a coalition of liberal nobles and bureaucrats & emerging radical workers syndicates), a lot of monarchists & ultranationalists ended up emigrating with the initial wave of noble émigrés, and eventually, some of the more liberal nobles supporting roku turned against them as well. (this is also how roku’s youngest daughter, rina, who was married off to a sozin loyalist in a hostage situation organised by sozin, ends up in the earth kingdom - she and her husband defect, and initially support roku, but seeing the radicals that he is genuinely helping and supporting, they move to the earth kingdom). the reputation of this second wave depends on province - ex-soldiers are always hated, and the north west & regions in close proximity despise the fire nation, but the east & ba sing se has always been quite hospitable, & many have dual bases in ba sing se and the northwest. the ba sing se nobility, over time, mingle more and more with high profile fire nation émigrés who have property.

fire nationals in the earth kingdom are thus culturally different, usually, to fire nation citizens in the modern fire nation. more likely to be monarchists, more likely to hold sympathetic sentiment to azulon etc. (though most agree - publically - that sozin went too far, even if they think azulon should have his crown in private), and a lot of their styles of fashion, music, art, dance etc. is based on a lot of “antiquated” “old fashioned” fire nation traditions with some earth kingdom ideas mixed in. to fire nation residents, they just look at least 80 years out of date.

fire nation descendants in the earth kingdom are more likely to be involved with particular organised crime syndicates (the triads, as opposed to ones with other names). this is because after the war ended abruptly with sozin’s death, a lot ex-mercenaries and ex-soldiers stationed in the colonies/northwest began to find work/business through protection racketeering (in absence of organised govt. in the north-western earth kingdom). even in the modern day, the north west has problems with corruption, control, and is economically quite deprived despite having massive resources and that’s an after-effect of colonialism and attempts by the national government to ‘penalise’ the officials in that region for colluding with fire nation nationals/ex-colonists (very exasperating for genuine earth kingdom officials, and earth kingdom locals). roku did try and help the region but he’s generally disliked for lots of reasons & was trying to stop the fire nation from collapsing after supporting the radicals (a controversial decision!) and facing counter-revolutionary violence. i think roku felt like he neglected the fire nation for the earth kingdom in his youth and that’s why sozin was able to get as far as he did, so i think he made the very difficult decision to prioritise trying to sort out the fire nation. hence why yu dao is in a bit of a state. i imagine yu dao (republic city) is a big buzzing city but has those same problems with organised crime we see in lok.

the sozin dynasty, as azulon & his descendants are called, aren’t an exception to this involvement in organised crime. a lot of people were actually quite sympathetic to a young azulon after his father was killed at around the age of fifty or so, including fire nationals in the earth kingdom, but also the nobility in the earth kingdom, themselves staunch monarchists, who saw sozin as the problem and not the system of monarchy itself. all of this allowed azulon & his family to flee the caldera & manage to transfer a number of their assets with relative ease; they were never penniless, despite the sob story you might here.

azulon set up links with local businesses who were run by sympathisers, as well as organised crime syndicates, and through wise purchases, good advisors, & some savvy of his own, shifted from aristocracy to bourgeoisie with relative ease, & bought/negotiated their place at the negotiating table, to eventually come to be considered the lead stakeholder in those crime syndicates (with enough distance, though, as not to be suspicious). very much saved his name from being a laughing stock through his own ability there, but if you’d hear the story told, people who say that folks were deferential to him in part because of his lineage (sometimes, but not always true - the revolution had caused people to doubt).

regarding his sons, iroh had far more involved in organised crime and illegitimate business than ozai, who essentially looked after the more boring legitimate side of things (but took that role seriously and expanded it beyond being a simple front). iroh actually had a worse reputation up until azulon died, and was just considered a very competent but cut-throat political/business leader/general player with a lot of very very shady links that couldn’t quite be proven, but also like, was famously quite charming and well-liked in the high society ba sing se network. like, i want to be honest to show iroh here - he was bad! in the show, he was a war criminal! i mentioned he was a war profiteer (largely because ‘war criminal’ doesn’t make as much sense imo), and that was almost definitely regarding civil wars/coups that have been attempted in the fire nation & earth kingdom. this stopped when lu ten ended up being shot in the crossfire during a turf war and rather than pursuing a violent vendetta, iroh stepped out of the spotlight and let ozai take over the reigns more.

anyway, after zuko was burned for attempting to stand up to ozai, iroh basically faked his own death and completely ditched anything left of what he’d spent his life building in order to whisk zuko away and invent new identities for themselves in the fire nation (ironically) where they worked as tea shop workers (yes. li and mushi, still canon). i don’t think they live in the caldera, since cameras/photos mean it’s easier to be tracked, and zuko probably lives somewhere quiet-ish like ember island. zuko has a decent adolescence, considering, after he’s estranged. no “find the avatar” in this universe, for fairly obvious reasons.

i’m not an expert in organised crime by any means but hopefully this all makes sense. a lot of what azulon/iroh/ozai is doing, through the purchase of land, the control of business, the use of organised crime as an illicit form of govt. essentially is a form of colonisation, where the region is deprived due to fire nation business interests and in earth kingdom control in name only. corruption and close ties between ba sing se and fire nation émigrés mean that centralised govt is underfunding & turning a blind eye to it (which, in canon, ba sing se does, ‘no war in ba sing se’ etc.). most of the colonisation efforts are centred in the north-west, but azula is brought up in ba sing se given it’s far more reputable/prestigious, though she’s undoubtedly been to both places.

as for what’s happening in the fire nation, i feel like aesthetically it’s a little different - ba sing se is ancient buildings with sky trains, lots of urban sprawl & a very wide and endless city, whereas i imagine the caldera is a very tall city due to limited space available, more skyscrapers in the fire nation due to limits in islands. also, the fire nation has sea trains and submarine trains/tunnels, because. politically? haven’t quite decided but they’re some flavour of anarchist-communist (was reluctant to use that word in the fic itself because people have all kinds of interpretations of it, often very negative knee-jerk responses to it, but essentially: community-owned services and businesses and spaces instead of privately-owned ones, with egalitarian principles enshrined into the culture & identity now) over there if i’m honest, with lots of democratic councils. obviously i don’t think it’ll be perfect and i imagine ‘the national question’ is something that comes up a lot, with some difficulties between national & regional identity (imo the fire nation is very diverse, we see the sun warriors and then the sages who help korra in s2 are from different groups/cultures than the militaristic one that rose to prominence in the 100 year war and i hc a lot of that regional diversity was steamrolled for sozin’s imperialist project).

ANYWAY

there’s a reason i made this post on my main last week:

this is getting very long but hopefully this is some insight into what i’ve been thinking about when i made this AU

[jaxsteamblog]

Who dies first?

For weeks, Katara had felt the weakening of his heart. They didn’t discuss it, since Zuko knew the lines of her face so well and had known before even she had realized it. They were both so old, they had even begun to recognize the age of their children. This reality was, of course, inevitable.

Izumi was no longer Fire Lord. Iroh II had ascended the throne years ago and Takara was the Crown Prince, going on adventures with his cousin Yi. 

And so many had already died.

While Zuko went to rest one afternoon, Katara sat in the sitting room of the palace. Azula’s son Dante - Katara’s great-grandson - served her coffee in small, delicate cups. She tried to remember how things were before, when her own children brought her tea. They did not have electric lights back then, or air conditioning or television sets. The electric cars didn’t run so fast and not everything had come with a screen. Katara could go in the kitchen now, where very few servants - no, employees - worked, and she could press a hand to a cool screen. It would read her hand print and serve her favorite dessert without any words spoken. 

It was convenient, sure, but she missed talking to people. 

“Mother.” Katara roused, noting that she had drifted in her thoughts.

“Kya.” Katara said with a desperate warmth. She loved her children so much, and she panicked at seeing their age. Izumi bent down and kissed Katara’s cheek.

“Hello grandmother.” Dante said and lightly hugged Izumi’s thin frame.

“Go and check on the dragons boy. I’ve been waiting for Kyrek to hatch for days now.” Izumi said brusquely and waved Dante away. Dante, ever the long suffering teen, rolled his eyes but darted away. Izumi huffed and sat down, still holding onto the head of her cane.

“He looks so much like his father.” Katara remarked and Izumi made a noise.

“Unfortunate really. But at least Azula settled on the Firebender in the end.” She said.

“There’s nothing wrong with other Benders Kya.” Katara said.

“Other Benders are not the descendants of Avatar Roku and heirs to the Fire Nation throne.” Izumi quipped. Katara laughed but shook her head, drinking some of her coffee. 

They settled into a silence that was only achieved in age. They were both just breathing in the same moment and that was enough.

“Will father wake up today?” Izumi asked suddenly and Katara sighed as she set down her cup.

“I think so. But I don’t know when he won’t.” She said. Izumi, ever stoic, nodded.

“You can go, you know. We’ll all be fine.” She said and Katara patted her daughter’s lap. 

“I know. But your father and I.” Katara stopped and looked around the room. She didn’t even recognize the palace anymore. 

“You’re named after my mother.” Katara said.

“I know.”

“But you’re nothing like her.” Katara added and Izumi laughed.

“I know mother.” She replied. “And Azula is nothing like her namesake, nor Iroh his.”

“So what if we don’t come back?” Katara posited. 

“What do you mean?” Izumi asked.

“I always thought that one day I would come back, and your father and I would have more time. But perhaps only the Avatar comes back, and the rest of us simply fade away.” Katara said. “We love you children, but your father and I just want another day together.”

Izumi was stunned into silence and Katara picked up her coffee again.

“Grandfather is in the spirit world.” Izumi said.

“Zuko has never been able to do that. I could go there, I think, but not your father.” Katara said. “And I won’t go there without him.”

“Mother, I.” Izumi cut herself off and sighed. “I know I am not a warm person.” Katara didn’t respond, but busied herself with her coffee.

“Kya made so many decisions over her short life that were hard. But she met every difficulty with a spine of steel. You’ve been pushed over out of a desire to make people happy, but Kya made every choice that made life better for herself and her family. I think I am more like her than anyone wants to admit.” Izumi finished.

“Well-” Katara started, sounding affronted.

“If either you or father had any ounce of devious ambition, you would have married much earlier than you did.” Izumi interjected and Katara grunted her acceptance. 

“Azula is vainglorious and insecure, and Iroh is about fame and family. By the time we get to the next Zuko, he’ll probably be moody and overly righteous. You’re not even dead yet and Takara is full of confidence and sass.” Izumi continued.

“So you think we come back?” Katara asked.

“Don’t be absurd. This just proves that personality is inherited and neither of you will ever really be gone in the first place.” Izumi retorted and Katara chuckled. 

“But it will never be Zuko and me again.” She said wistfully. Izumi turned a little in her seat and the two women actually looked at each other. 

“Mama, if I know anything, it’s that you and Papa will be together forever.” She said and Katara’s eyes started to water. 

“I love you Kya.” Katara murmured.

“I love you mama.” Izumi said.

Over the past week, they had seen everyone. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, even Korra had stopped by. Perhaps the universe was telling them it was time, and they had all had a sweet farewell with promises to see each other again. So as Katara left the sitting room, she kissed her daughter and told her she would be down later for dinner.

Katara walked down the hall and nodded to the strangers she passed. The government was being handled more and more by the congress and so there were never any ministers hanging around the palace. Servants were long gone and the palace staff changed almost every season. Everyone carried passes with embedded chips, verifying identities and allowing privileged access. People talking to earpieces had to halt suddenly, bowing in respect as they finally caught sight of the old Fire Lady. The respect she garnered was less about her power - which was nonexistent - and more about her status as a relic. 

She missed Iroh; she missed Rin, and Sokka. 

Katara staggered in the hall and braced herself against the wall. A guard stepped out of the shadows, speaking urgently into an earpiece while coming to her.

“Are you alright ma’am?” They asked, gently holding her elbow. Katara looked at them and was almost shocked to see a bare face and not an iron mask. She felt their spirit, and was more shocked to know that they were an Airbender. 

How had things changed so much?

“I’m fine. But would you escort me to my room?” She asked. The guard smiled and nodded.

“Code Blue resolved. Escorting Painted Lady to her room.” They said into their earpiece and then offered their arm. When the guards started to integrate technology into their protocol, Lu Ten had suggested the code name and Katara had found it amusing. Now it seemed like a sad satire, as she tried to imagine herself back in the paint and dress. 

Katara made it to her room without another incident and she closed the door firmly behind her. Zuko was still asleep on their bed and she slowly moved toward it. Their bed had been lowered years ago and Katara easily slid herself up and onto the mattress. As she did, Zuko shifted and rolled over, opening his eyes.

“Hello my love.” He whispered as Katara laid down facing him.

“Did I wake you?” She asked.

“Yes, but you’re always worth the waking.” He said. Katara smiled and leaned in to kiss him. 

“Izumi says we can go now.” She said when they parted and Zuko put a hand to her cheek.

“Well, now that we have her permission...” He quipped and Katara laughed. 

“I think we’ll be okay Zuko.” She said. “I think everything will be okay.”

“I know we will.” He replied and they kissed again. “As long as we’re together.”

“Mmm. You’re warm.”

“All the better for napping.”

“A nap does sound good.”

“Come here.”

“I love you Zuko.”

“I love you Katara.”

The siblings had not been in the same place at the same time in a very, very long time. Izumi had gotten into a fight with the Fire Sages when they attempted to cremate both bodies and Iroh had only managed to pull her off after she had hit the head sage with her cane a good number of times. 

Then Lu Ten and Izumi had fought over what to actually do. The Water Tribes - all four of them - buried their dead, either at sea or under cairns. As the former Fire Lady however, Katara was given the right to be cremated. Lu Ten wanted to take her to the South Pole, while Izumi demanded that their parents be cremated together. 

Kozin and Riza stood back, watching as their older siblings started throwing things at each other.

“Mom can’t come back unless she goes to Sedna!” Lu Ten shouted. 

“Their bodies have to stay together!” Izumi shouted back. “I can’t split them up!” Izumi collapsed, sobbing, and Lu Ten rushed to her, cradling her as she wept. 

“Mama and Papa have to stay together!” Izumi cried. Everyone was quiet, awkwardly trying not to look at each other while Izumi’s wails filled the room. Finally Undine, Riza’s daughter, stood from her seat and cleared her throat.

“Okay so, I have kind of a gross idea.” She said.

Izumi looked hollow as they all sat on the jet flying to the South Pole. The box in her lap could have been filled with helium for how tightly she was holding onto it. 

The funeral at the Fire Nation had been massive. Kiyi’s descendants had shown up and stood with the family during the cremation. Korra, Lu Ten, Kozin, Iroh, and Azula did the actual ceremony, keeping the Fire Sages confined to the dais for the rest of the rite. 

The nation entered a month of mourning and the flags in Republic City were lowered to half mast. Black drapes were put over the windows of the Fire Nation and Water Tribe embassies and the South Pole museum was open to the public with free admission for the month. Hira’a set a large bonfire and fireworks went screaming into the night sky almost every day.

Before all of that, however, the family had another rite to attend. Undine had flown back to the South Pole immediately after the cremation and started prepping. When the rest of the family landed in Haida, it was packed with people. 

All of the high ranking people from the Swamp Tribe and the Island Tribe had made it, and the Chief of the North had brought a long a dozen other families. It was a tense political time, since Undine’s daughter was a Firebender and ineligible for the chiefdom, and the North Pole had been suffering a low birth rate for decades. Power had been shifting to the Swamp Tribe since the fracturing of the Earth Kingdom and no one had ever wanted to say anything publicly. 

Now, with the Matriarch of the United Tribes dead, all of the leaders recognized it was the time to address things. 

Izumi didn’t care about any of it. She had rejected this part of her life a long time ago. But the Water Tribe would never let go of her.

Lu Ten held onto her as they stepped down out of the jet and the gathered crowd started to cheer. The prodigal daughter had returned, and she had come to honor the Great Mother herself. 

It was ambiguous if they meant Sedna or Katara in that moment.

The large family of Zuko and Katara were given a clear path to the sleighs. The electric motors were silent and Izumi wondered when they had stopped using polar bear dogs to pull them. She was getting far too old for all of these improvements. 

It took five sleighs to seat all of the family. They were massive vehicles but they slid over the ice and snow with ease. The blades hovered under the sleighs themselves, using magnets to disperse the weight so there was no fear of cracking even the summer ice. Still, Izumi clutched the box like it was liable to fly away. 

It took two hours for everyone to situate themselves at the coast. Korra, Izumi, Riza, and Undine took over for this portion. Korra, Riza, and Undine brought up a pillar of freezing ocean water. The water shifted as they pulled it up and a dragon formed. The crowd gasped in awe, but as Izumi saw the shocked faces of the Benders, she knew this had not been planned. Izumi’s eyes narrowed as she eyed the dragon.

She remembered all too well the last time they had met. 

“Aivilayoq.” Izumi muttered darkly, but the water dragon didn’t respond. Without another word, Izumi walked forward and held out the box in her hands. The dragon lowered its jaw and Izumi placed the box inside the swirling maw. 

“This is for Sedna.” Izumi said loudly. “My parents are being returned to her.” 

The water dragon snapped its jaws shut and swirled over itself, diving back into the ocean. 

It had been a gross idea, and Izumi didn’t want it discussed. While her parents’ hearts had been burned together, their bladders had been surgically removed beforehand and dried. The Polar Tribes believed the bladders held the spirit and that they must be returned to Sedna in order for the spirit to return. 

Now, as was the macabre custom, there was a large festival. Everyone got stinking drunk at the feast and stories were told about the great heroes, including their children. 

As Izumi looked around the room, she was startled to see how right she had been when she had spoken to her mother. Sokka’s face was reflected in fragments among various people. Toph’s laugh was heard from the throat of an over eager Metalbender. Iroh had Zuko’s angular features while Undine had Katara’s round face. Seven people in the hall were Firebenders because of Zuko. A Kyoshi Warrior was part of the royal family. The Avatar herself looked more like Izumi’s grandmother than Izumi did as her namesake. 

Katara and Zuko would indeed live forever.