The Price of Peace
Interlude 22
Interlude Twenty-two
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Determined exhaustion seeped into Zuko’s resolve. He would reach Gaoling today, even if it killed him or his ostrich horse. He had started his journey with optimistic dread. Instead of the two or three days he had anticipated, it had taken him an entire week to reach Gaoling.
He was battered and bruised. Two of his mounts had gone lame and he had run into a couple of crazy farmers who had insisted that he was a bandit out to rob them. If they had only known the truth…
“Hello, I’m the Fire Lord. Don’t mind me. I’m just passing through. I’m on my way to Gaoling to collect my runaway wife. Why am I looking over my shoulder all the time?
“It’s actually a very funny story. My sister, who I thought was dead, is alive and well and out to kill me. Not only that, she’s out to kill everybody I know and love.”
His ostrich horse snorted in response.
“Oh yes,” Zuko continued. “Let’s not forget the most important part. My sister is the rightful heir to the throne. If she had stopped long enough to figure out that our beloved father had bequeathed the throne to her, she could have taken everything. Of course that would entail an Agni Kai.
“But that’s not all!
“Once I won, I’d have two years to produce an heir in order to keep the throne, and that leads me to the problem of my wife.”
The ostrich horse trotted along.
“Knowing Katara as I do, she will probably freeze a vital part of my anatomy to prevent such an event from ever taking place. Personally, I can’t believe I am even entertaining the thought of having children. I have no desire, whatsoever, to inflict the pain of that responsibility onto a defenseless child.”
He focused on the horizon, and kept his next thoughts silent. His dreams were a different matter entirely. In his dreams, he and Katara had a house filled with children. They all looked like their mother…dark skin, silk for hair, and the eyes so blue the sky would envy them.
Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Zuko spurred his mount forward and growled. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Katara hates me.”
He glanced over his shoulder, nightmares of his sister taunting even his waking moments. “Like it or not, she’s just going to have to put up with me until the threat to her life is resolved.”
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TBC
Author’s Note – I guess you all know what’s coming next, huh? The long awaited reunion. Yes, Zuko is going to be eating some massive crow. He’ll be lucky if all Katara does is freeze a certain part of his anatomy off. The next chapter is not written. I estimate that it’ll be up in a week, barring my unfortunate, untimely death. (Knocks on wood. Rubs lucky rabbit foot. Rubs the Buddha’s belly. Holds on to four-leaf clover.)
Oh yeah! By the way! I have a new story. (Hears moans and groans from the audience.) My creative muse is somewhat psychotic. In the process of writing Price of Peace, I ran into some writer’s block. Any of you who write know what a pain that can be.
I blame Azula and Qiang. In creating the antagonist for the story, I created characters that I actually started to like. I barely scratched the dynamics of their relationship in Price of Peace because I needed to keep them evil. My beta-reader, Moncapitan, has been begging for their story. He’s been begging to a story where Azula is redeemed.
So I started writing Azula and Qiang’s story. It is totally unrelated to Price of Peace. In fact, it features an entirely different story line. So if you like Azula and you want to see her taken down a notch or two, read my new story, “Prisoner of War.” If you like Zuko, you may want to avoid it because he is the villain in the story.
As always, thanks to all who read. Special thanks to all who review! Reviews are the oil that keep the cogs of inspiration turning.