Takes place in the same universe as "Banner" (http://attackfish.dreamwidth.org/46122.html) and "The Spinning Gates" (http://attackfish.dreamwidth.org/95749.html), so that means Avatar!Zuko.
Act of Providence
After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the Universe delivers you to me as an act of providence. -Ozai, book three, chapter twenty, "Into the Inferno"
"Admiral Zhao's dispatch, my lord," the soldier panted, dropping to his knees.
Ozai jerked his head up, sending water cascading out of the basin the servants were using to wash his hair. "You aren't going to live very long, soldier, if you don't learn not to barge in on people with the power to incinerate you where you stand!"
"But my lord," the soldier said, trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice from breaking, letting his head sink down until he was speaking into the carpet. "The commander has identified the Avatar."
"I don't care which of the Water brats that my son managed to pick up is the Avatar!" The Firelord's bathing robe slid down off one shoulder, and he yanked his hand away from the man polishing his nails to shove it back into place. "If you think that's important enough to interrupt, instead of leaving the dispatch with my secretary..." He trailed off menacingly.
The soldier swallowed. "But my lord, it's your son."
"What about him?" Ozai hissed. There was no reason for his traitorous little spawn to not be sailing home as fast as his obsolete wreck of a warship would take him unless Iroh had managed to get his hooks in, filling his head with treason for two and a half years. He never should have let his brother go with him.
The soldier lifted his head slightly, so the words would come out clearly. "The Avatar is Prince Zuko."
Ozai's face froze as his mind whirred. "Is he sure?"
"The admiral himself saw the prince airbending, my lord, there is no doubt."
Ozai tried to picture his weak, talentless son as the great spirit of the world. Suddenly the reason his son hadn't returned home with his prize was obvious. He could see it, the boy terrified that the imprisonment they had planned for the Avatar before would fall on his head, afraid that his countrymen would lock him away to safeguard the conquest.
Ozai didn't know why the boy should be afraid when he had to know how useful he would be, but then Zuko had never had vision.
His lips curled up as he shooed the soldier away. he had a letter to write, and a weakling son to reassure. Zuko was coming home.
The Avatar was his own loyal son. If that wasn't the universe smiling down on the Fire Nation's conquest, then nothing was.
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branchandroot
Metaphorical genies and Acts of Providence
Date: 2012-04-10 01:01 am (UTC)After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the Universe delivers you to me as an act of providence.
-Ozai, book three, chapter twenty, "Into the Inferno"
"Admiral Zhao's dispatch, my lord," the soldier panted, dropping to his knees.
Ozai jerked his head up, sending water cascading out of the basin the servants were using to wash his hair. "You aren't going to live very long, soldier, if you don't learn not to barge in on people with the power to incinerate you where you stand!"
"But my lord," the soldier said, trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice from breaking, letting his head sink down until he was speaking into the carpet. "The commander has identified the Avatar."
"I don't care which of the Water brats that my son managed to pick up is the Avatar!" The Firelord's bathing robe slid down off one shoulder, and he yanked his hand away from the man polishing his nails to shove it back into place. "If you think that's important enough to interrupt, instead of leaving the dispatch with my secretary..." He trailed off menacingly.
The soldier swallowed. "But my lord, it's your son."
"What about him?" Ozai hissed. There was no reason for his traitorous little spawn to not be sailing home as fast as his obsolete wreck of a warship would take him unless Iroh had managed to get his hooks in, filling his head with treason for two and a half years. He never should have let his brother go with him.
The soldier lifted his head slightly, so the words would come out clearly. "The Avatar is Prince Zuko."
Ozai's face froze as his mind whirred. "Is he sure?"
"The admiral himself saw the prince airbending, my lord, there is no doubt."
Ozai tried to picture his weak, talentless son as the great spirit of the world. Suddenly the reason his son hadn't returned home with his prize was obvious. He could see it, the boy terrified that the imprisonment they had planned for the Avatar before would fall on his head, afraid that his countrymen would lock him away to safeguard the conquest.
Ozai didn't know why the boy should be afraid when he had to know how useful he would be, but then Zuko had never had vision.
His lips curled up as he shooed the soldier away. he had a letter to write, and a weakling son to reassure. Zuko was coming home.
The Avatar was his own loyal son. If that wasn't the universe smiling down on the Fire Nation's conquest, then nothing was.