"I believe we now have something we can work from," Ozai announces to the tired war council, causing a silent wave of relief to cross more than a few faces in the room.
It's been a long and tedious session, working towards a goal that many of the members are reluctant to support. The evening meal had come and gone about three hours ago, presented in the throne room without flourish. However, despite how long it has taken to accomplish, they have nearly completed the preliminary planning necessary for things to actually begin moving. There's a rough plan in place for the entire Eastern Continent, numerous alternative paths and actions have been proposed and weighed in the event that the preferred option in any given situation becomes untenable, and clear goals established with specifically prioritized sub-objectives that can be pursued or cut as the reality on the ground allows. It's good progress, all things considered.
"Generals Iroh, Kazuya Kai, and Masao, I am placing you in charge of the remaining details. Assign generals as you see fit, either from this council or from those already on the continent, to lead each theater, and finalize the initial orders and routing. Have your recommendations ready by our next meeting," the Fire Lord continues.
Iroh is one of the most successful generals of the last three decades, and he hadn't been exaggerating his ability to organize and move troops. Kazuya Kai has proven throughout the meeting to have an extensive knowledge of not just his home colony Yu Dao, but of the colonies in general and the surrounding terrain. The man is also more defensively minded than most of the other generals, which works well for retreat planning. Masao has a love for logistics of all kinds and has offered up a solid quarter of the proposed routes for this meeting single-handedly, along with complementary lists of the advantages and disadvantages he could see in his own strategies. There should be enough overlap in skill and desire for the three men to work together while their different perspectives and motivations should keep a balance between minimizing damage to the Earth Kingdoms, protecting their own, and getting the job done.
"As for the rest of you, I suggest taking tomorrow to attend to any pressing matters you have within the nation so that your attention can be properly focussed as we move forward. I know I've kept you late this evening, but I promise that the real work is just beginning," Ozai says, "Sages, thank you for your contributions. If more spirits come to your attention that are known to occupy the areas we will be moving troops through, or if you recall something else about the spirits you have already brought to our attention, have the relevant information ready for when we reconvene."
Sage Misha had been able to point out nearly two dozen minor spirits along the Eastern Continent's shoreline, some more likely to cause trouble than others. Sage Abedni had recalled a few older spirits that might well return to the mortal world, once Ozai had mentioned that more spirits than Agni would likely be making themselves known to man again. Sage Shadra had less to contribute directly, but the man has a well-honed skill in keeping Misha on topic and Abedni from shrinking into himself under the weight of the council's collective gaze. Ozai isn't sure if Shadra's abilities are specific to his two fellow sages through a longstanding friendship, or if the man has more broadly applicable leadership qualities. Either way, his inclusion has helped to smooth out the integration of the sages on the council.
"This meeting is complete." Ozai rises to his feet, generals and sages following his example before bowing. "The council is dismissed for the evening."
Weary councilmen begin to file out of the room to retire to their homes for the night.
Ozai turns and parts the flame wall to make his own exit but stops when he glimpses a slight figure reflected by the gold decorating the back wall. No one is standing in a position that could cast the reflection, and the detailed metalwork of the gold distorts the features beyond anything recognizable, but the dark skin and bright white clothes give Ozai a decent guess as to the reflection's identity.
"Tui?"
"Isn't that the Moon Spirit's name?" a voice asks from behind him.
Another two voices reply at the same time, "Yes." Meanwhile, a third responder launches into a longer, chattering answer.
"Nephew," the spirit sobs, "I need your help. Quickly. I will meet you outside."
Ozai doesn't think to question the request beyond the dread it sparks in him that the Moon Spirit is distressed and asking for help from him, rather than from more obvious sources of aid such as Agni or La. He spins and sprints for the open doors. "Move!" he roars, shoving confused generals out of his way.
"Ozai!" Iroh yells after him.
He ignores the call and runs. The closest exit to open air from the throne room is the main entrance to the palace.
He dodges servants in the halls with less grace than he would have in his old body. This one is larger and the muscles aren't trained to perform the seamless footwork he favors that would allow him to alter his path quickly without costing him much speed. To the servants' credit, four of them see him charging down the hall and catch on fast enough to get the heavy doors open before he reaches them.
Several of the guards startle as he bursts over the threshold at full tilt. One swears.
"Ashes!"
Agni has already set for the day, and his secondary sun had dispersed just after the noonday mark, leaving the world darker for his absence. Instead, the sky is host to the rising full moon and its backdrop of stars. Tui's ethereal staircase stretches from the glowing heavenly sphere and all the way to the ground, coming to an end just steps outside of the palace doors.
Waiting for him at the base of the stairs stands the spirit herself, tears streaming thick and fast down a fourteen-year-old Katara's face with too-bright eyes and white hair. That the Moon Spirit has chosen to wear the form of one of his friends is more than a bit disconcerting, not least because he doesn't know if it signifies anything or is pure happenstance.
"Nephew!" Tui cries, holding out a hand.
The Fire Lord twists his sprint eastward to meet the Moon Spirit. Ozai reaches to grasp the spirit's outstretched hand and, as soon as Tui catches hold of him, she pulls him onto the first few steps of colored light with a strength he failed to anticipate.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Behind him, startled guards shout for a second time.
"Soot!"
"Cinders!"
"Fire Lord!"
He glances back in an instinctive wariness after regaining his footing. Guards swearing loudly rather than under their breaths in a grumble is too-often a precursor to trouble fast coming his way and he wouldn't have expected another round of yelling past the initial disturbance.
"They can't see us," Tui says, recapturing his attention, "I've pulled you into a space between the mortal and spirit worlds. It will allow us to travel faster." True to the Moon Spirit's word, the world blurs as it speeds by them. Above them, Tui's primary physical form becomes their only anchor point to the mortal world, still and deceptively serene even as the spirit weeps openly in front of him.
He is so far outside of his depth.
"Tui, what's happening?" he asks, carefully folding the spirit's hands between his own, "What's wrong?"
Tui's bottom lip wobbles and the spirit sobs again. "I forgot about her!"
Ozai feels his heart freeze in his chest. "Katara?" he asks, praying that he's wrong and the spirit's visage has been a false clue.
Tui shakes her head, moonbeam-white hair flowing in fitful waves from the motion, and Ozai almost sags in relief. "No," the spirit corrects, "Hama."
Ozai frowns. "Who?"
"The old compact kept me from acting, and then it was a matter already dealt with," Tui explains as the world begins to slow, "I forgot that it would not be so now. I am sorry, Nephew."
"I still don't know what's going on."
"You will soon." Tui gently extracts her hands and wipes her face clear of shed tears. A steadying breath, and then, "We have arrived."
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Iroh releases a quiet sigh of relief as the meeting ends. It has been many hours of simmering tensions and barely maintained civility as conflicting visions for the nation's future had clashed, but none of the bickering had grown hostile to the point that order became impossible to restore and their various contributions had begun to form a cohesive plan of action as the evening had worn on. All the same, there is something to be said for allowing hot heads and tempers time to cool. He only hopes that two days will be enough for those on the war council. Thankfully, Kazuya Kai and Masao tend to be level-headed individuals and Iroh expects that tomorrow's work will progress smoother than this meeting has.
Which leaves him with one last nagging concern from this evening's prolonged war meeting, sparked within the first moments of its birth, much to his chagrin.
Ozai had once more seated himself at the head of the table, rather than making use of the throne and wall of fire to keep himself separate from his audience. Iroh needs to speak with Ozai about that, particularly if his brother and Agni are set on making him responsible for executing a regent's duties whenever Ozai is unavailable to lead the nation.
"Tui?"
Iroh glances back to find Ozai standing just over the threshold of the flame curtain, the white fire still parted behind him.
"Isn't that the Moon Spirit's name?" Kazuya Kai asks.
It is, but Iroh is more concerned with his brother's unexplained pause than his fellow general's confusion.
The present sages answer for him, in any case.
"Yes," Shadra and Abedni say over each other, one patiently curious and the other warily waiting.
Misha, Agni bless him, dives headlong into a rambling explanation of the spirit. "Tui is the Moon Spirit and closely tied to Agni as a reflector of the Sun Spirit's guiding light through many of the hours during which Agni is not visible in the sky himself. Tui is also responsible for the ocean's tides and helps..."
Iroh ignores the young sage's exuberance and keeps his gaze locked firmly on the Fire Lord's back.
A second later, Ozai twists and breaks into a run across the floor, heading for the guest entrance to the throne room rather than one designed for the Fire Lord. The spirit-touched glow of the man's eyes has become a blaze, more closely resembling twin suns than candle flames, and fear seizes Iroh. What games are the spirits playing with his family now?
"Move!" the Fire Lord orders, leaping over a corner of the low table. He pushes aside the generals that are too stunned and slow to clear his path from the room in time.
"...is said that Tui's blessing is the pull half of waterbend-- Oh!" Sage Misha cuts off his own chatter to stabilize a teetering General Haruto, and Sage Abedni likewise catches a gobsmacked General Bujing before he can hit the ground.
"Ozai!" Whether he is unheard or unheeded, Iroh cannot say, but his brother does not slow at his yell.
There is only shocked stillness in the moment immediately following the Fire Lord's abrupt departure.
Then Sage Shadra chases after their fleeing monarch, slipping past frozen generals and through the open doors.
And then they are all running, because something is obviously happening, but they do not know what and only one man has the answers.
The palace halls have never seemed so long as they do today and muscles he has been neglecting take little time to begin making their displeasure known over his sudden return to physical activity. He is one of the last to make it out of the palace's front doors and onto the forecourt, coming to a halt at the top of the stairs that descend to the wide road connecting the palace with the rest of Caldera. Below and ahead of him, a congregation of guards, generals, and sages surround a lone guard cautiously waving a hand through seemingly empty air.
Iroh does not see Ozai anywhere.
Sage Abedni spots him in short order, ducking away from his brother sages near the heart of the crowd and making his way to Iroh's side. "General," the sage says once he has reached the top of the short set of stairs, voice pitched soft to avoid drawing more attention. Or it might be an attempt not to upset him. Iroh cannot begin to guess what he looks like at the moment. "The Fire Lord has been taken -- or, not 'taken,' exactly," the sage rambles hurriedly, "the guards report that he ran towards the moon and reached out -- but he vanished between one breath and the next. Either way, signs point to the Moon Spirit's involvement, though we are unsure why --"
Iroh's knees give out and Abedni yelps as he attempts to catch his second falling general of the day. The sage, kind young man that he is to have made the attempt, does not quite succeed and they both end up on the ground, though the landing is softer for Iroh than it would have been otherwise.
"Gone," Iroh hears himself say, unable to tease apart the storm of emotions ravaging his beaten heart, "You're saying he's gone."
He and Ozai have never been close, but with all the changes of late... Some piece of him had hoped...
Ah. How foolish of him. He should have known better than to grow attached to a man so clearly marked for the spirits. Their whims will always come before Iroh's needs. Worse, he realizes, it is already too late to withdraw. The shredded remains of his heart cry out to rebuild what little survives of his family and cling with a heretofore unknown tenacity to the idea that he may yet reclaim the younger brother he had previously forsaken.
A bark of bitter laughter escapes him, drawing unwanted attention as the first tears fall from his eyes.
Iroh forces himself to his feet, stubbornly ignoring the weakness in his legs as he descends the stairs and strides through the crowd that parts for him as he approaches. "This is where my brother vanished?" he asks of Shadra upon reaching the center of the ring.
"Yes, General."
The young sage doesn't hide his concern. Either that, or he is simply unskilled at doing so. At another time, Iroh may have cared to discern which of the possibilities meets with reality. Right now, he does not. Iroh nods, takes one more step into the void at the core of those gathered, and folds himself into a seiza facing the moon that stole away his brother.
There are no guarantees when it comes to spirits -- They are governed by rules all their own beyond any mortal's comprehension. -- but there have been times when men taken have also been returned. Tui is most often depicted as having a gentle and generous nature, and perhaps Ozai's status as Agni's Herald will afford him some protection. There is a chance, at any rate.
And so, Iroh settles in and waits.