Chapter Text
1.
”We expect your answer within the next two days”, the emissary finishes, and stands to leave.
His deep bow is done with the air of a chore and there’s a scowl on his face as he exits the tent, taking his two guards with him.
Hakoda just stares after them for a moment before burying his face in his hands. There’s a hand on his shoulder almost instantly.
”Koda”, Bato says. ”You cannot seriously consider…”
Hakoda turns to look at Bato, the hand sliding off his shoulder. The other man wears a frown on his face and concern in his eyes. Hakoda glances over at Gilak, where he’s postured in the corner of the tent. He meets Hakoda’s eyes with an appraising look, but other than that, his features remain blank. The chief turns back to Bato.
”You heard the emissary”, Hakoda says. ”You know this is not merely a suggestion or a token of goodwill.”
The emissary’s words ring through Hakoda’s mind. ” It would be in the Southern Water Tribe’s best interest…”, ”The Firelord will be most displeased if his offer is denied”, ” it would stabilize the relations between the nations ”. There has only been peace for a little over a year. Only a year versus almost a century’s worth of battle. The Southern Water Tribe has barely started to recover, his people only now starting to heal.
There is a hardened glint in Bato’s eyes at Hakoda’s words.
”So, what?” he says. ”You’re just going to offer one of your children up to the fire nation, sacrifice one of them to keep…”
”Of course not!”
Hakoda hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but he can’t help the anger that flares up within him at the mere suggestion that he’d be willing to send Sokka or Katara off to be a sacrificial koala lamb in a game of politics. Though it’s not even politics, Hakoda supposes. More like a thinly veiled threat dressed up as politics.
Bato, to his credit, backs down immediately. He sits down next to him at the table and reaches out a careful hand to rest on Hakoda’s forearm.
”Then what?” he asks. ”You’re right, I heard him loud and clear. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be retributions, should we deny this offer, and I know what that would mean for our tribe. But you also must realize that this is not only a peace offering, Hakoda. It’s yet another way for the fire nation to try and control us.”
”I know”, Hakoda replies.
He doesn’t claim to understand what made the fire nation decide to put down their arms and let peace be restored to the nations, he doubts anyone does, but he does realize that neither the fire lord’s nor the fire nation’s thirst for power and influence have diminished just because the war is over. The fire nation has made it abundantly clear that it does not intend to grant freedom to any of the colonies that has been laid under it during the war, and the leaders of the nation have not taken responsibility for any of the havoc that have been wrought upon the world.
There may not be an ongoing war anymore, but the fire nation still sees itself as reigning supreme over the other nations, and the other nations are too torn apart by the war, too weakened and scared of the consequences to challenge that notion. And this, forcing marriages between leaders or otherwise upstanding citizen’s of the other nations and fire nation nobility, seems to be yet another way to spread the reach of the fire nation’s control across the globe.
Hakoda has received messages from the northern water tribe, as well as several cities and settlements in the earth kingdom, of the same thing happening there, and some of the marriages have already been realized. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the same offer would be extended to the southern water tribe.
Had the southern water tribe been less devastated by the war, Hakoda might have refused. Had he been the chief of the northern water tribe, he might have been able to resist the forces he knows the fire nation will deploy if he says no. Tui and La, he’s tempted to say no even though he knows they will not stand a chance against yet another fire nation attack. They barely survived the last raid (and not all of them did, but Hakoda wills his mind away from Kya for the moment being), and their warriors are reduced to a handful of already war weary men and another handful of inexperienced teenagers who just had their childhoods handed back to them, not to mention that their only bender is his own 13-year old daughter.
Hakoda knows the city of Ba Sing Se and the city of Omashu had both refused the fire nation’s offer, but those were cities where the fire nation’s control had never reached, and so they were left untouched, although Hakoda had heard rumors of fire nation troops from the surrounding colonies creeping closer to Omashu every day, under the guise of protecting fire nation territory. The northern water tribe had accepted, and princess Yue was now betrothed to a fire nation nobleman, as far as Hakoda had heard. The smaller cities in the earth kingdom had all accepted too, except one, where the consequences had been dire, and the town was now under fire nation control where it previously hadn’t been.
Hakoda sighs.
”I have realized this would come to pass for some time now”, Hakoda says. ”I have turned it over and over in my head ever since I got the first messages of it happening in other places. I don’t see a way in which we can refuse that won’t leave us open to yet another fire nation attack.”
Bato squeezes his arm in reassurance, and Hakoda offers a tight smile.
”Some of our smaller tribes have chieftains with children that are of marrying age,” Gilak says, taking a step closer to the table where Hakoda and Bato are seated. ”They might be able to offer someone up.”
Hakoda winces at the phrasing. It reminds him too much of an animal being led to slaughter. He scrubs a hand across his face and sighs again.
”I have thought of that,” he confesses. ”But I can’t force any of our sister tribes to give up one of their own to the fire nation. I won’t.”
He feels Bato squeeze his arm again, and turns towards him.
”So, what are we going to do?” he asks, and by the worried look in his eyes Hakoda knows that Bato has guessed the answer already.
”We’re going to offer the fire nation my hand in marriage.”
Bato just blinks at him slowly, and Hakoda can see a muscle in his jaw tick.
”It’s the most reasonable thing to do,” Hakoda explains, before Bato has the chance to say anything, because he is sure that whatever Bato has to say it’s not going to be favorable. ”Since their main goal is gaining control over the other nations, whomever they send to marry me will obviously be sent here, so I would not have to leave the tribe. I’m also the chief of the biggest cove in the southern water tribe, and the head of the council of elders, which they will see as beneficial.”
”Hakoda,” Gilak interrupts. ”I mean no disrespect, since it seems like you have put a lot of thought into this, but do you really believe that it is in the tribes best interest to have you married to a member of the fire nation?”
Hakoda feels the weight of Bato’s hand on his arm, and the weight of his gaze upon his face, and it’s almost a relief to be able to turn away from his second in command to face Gilak instead.
”I don’t believe that any of this is in the tribe’s best interest,” he replies honestly. ”We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. But I do believe that the fire nation will not take a refusal in stride. And I will not force anyone else in this tribe to go through with it.”
Gilak looks like he is mulling Hakoda’s answer over, and he opens his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Bato.
”Gilak, could you give us some privacy, please,” he says.
There is an edge of steel to his voice, and Gilak picks up on it as well. He looks between the two of them, a small, sardonic smile on his lips as he inclines his head in a bow.
”Sure thing,” he says. ”I’m guessing you have things to discuss that I needn’t be privy to.”
He leaves.
Hakoda considers himself to be a warrior, someone who walks into to battle with his head held high, who faces danger straight on if it means doing the right thing. But right now, alone with a quietly seething Bato next to him, the reassuring hand on his arm turning more and more into a vice grip every moment, he has the sudden instinct to run away, tail between his legs, to cower in corner somewhere. He slowly turns around, so that he’s once again facing the other man.
Bato stands up in one swift motion, sending the chair he was sitting in clattering to the floor in the process.
”What the fuck, Koda!” he exclaims. ”How long ago did you decide to just marry yourself off to some fire nation noble and not fucking tell me?”
Hakoda winces.
”I really was hoping that the fire nation would consider us too inconsequential to extend this kind of offer to us,” he says.
Bato just looks at him and scoffs, then he starts pacing.
”You know what, this is just like you,” he says, or, mutters, more accurately. ”Just being all noble and giving yourself up for the greater good.”
”And that’s a…bad thing?” Hakoda asks.
Bato scoffs again, and slams his hands down on the table right in front of Hakoda. Hakoda is a fearless warrior and if the startles a bit he’s sure that Bato doesn’t notice. Then again, Bato doesn’t seem too concerned about whether or not Hakoda almost fell off his chair right now.
”Yes, it is!” Bato says. ”You can’t just go and throw yourself valiantly into every dangerous or fucked up situation that comes your way. Sooner or later, it will end badly.”
”I mean, we have already lived through war,” Hakoda says, even though he knows it’s meaningless to fight Bato on this, even though he knows Bato has a point. ”This is just a marriage.”
Bato drags a hand across his face and groans.
”Just a marriage,” he mutters, more tom himself than anyone else. ”Just a marriage. Yeah, it’s just a marriage to the enemy. Do you even know who you’ll be marrying? No, of course not,” Bato replies, before Hakoda has even had the chance to open his mouth to answer. ”Of course not, because you’re just that much of a stickler for punishment, aren’t you? You could be marrying the firelord himself, for all we know!”
Hakoda can’t help the small snort of laughter that escapes him, although he knows it won’t do him any favors in this situation.
”I hardly think he’ll consider me worthy,” he replies.
Bato groans again.
”You’re insufferable, you know that?” he says. ”Did you even stop to consider how this would affect anyone else? Or were you too swept up in giving yourself up to keep the tribe safe?”
Hakoda can feel something soften within him at Bato’s words. Of course Bato would come at it in a roundabout way, way too proud and self-sacrificing to ask Hakoda outright if he’d ever considered how this decision would affect him.
”I have,” he says, reaching out to put his hand over Bato’s, where it’s resting at the table. ”I’ve thought about it a lot. And this hurts me just as much as it hurts you, but I can’t put my own happiness above the safety of our tribe, of our family, Bato.”
Bato sighs and turns his hand over so he can hold Hakoda’s hand properly.
”I know,” he says. ”I know. Spirits, you’re so fucking noble and it’s one of the things I love about you, but in situations like these it gets really fucking annoying, you know that?”
Hakoda smiles up at Bato, and brings his hand to his lips to place a kiss on his knuckles.
”I know,” he says. ”I’m sorry.”
Bato pulls on Hakoda’s hand until he gets up from his chair to stand in front of him. The smile he gives him is tinted with sadness, and he brings his hand up to rest on Hakoda’s cheek.
”Koda,” he says, almost whispers.
Hakoda steps closer, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Bato’s.
”I mean, if you can figure out another way, I’d love to hear it,” Hakoda says. ”This is not something I’m particularly looking forward to, either.”
Bato huffs out a laugh, breath ghosting across Hakoda’s lips as he does.
”I’ll try my best,” he says.
Bato closes the remaining distance between them and presses a kiss to Hakoda’s lips. Hakoda wonders if he will still get to this later, after it’s all done. He hopes so, but he also knows that he might not, which gives him all the more reason to savor it while it lasts. He’s lucky enough that he even got a second chance at love, after Kya passed away, and now he might lose it for the greater good. It doesn’t seem fair, but then again, war rarely is.
He withdraws slightly, reaching a hand up to tangle in Bato’s hair.
”I love you,” he says. ”You know that, right?”
Bato rolls his eyes at him.
”Of course I know that, Koda,” he says. ”I know you, and I know why you’re doing this. It doesn’t mean that I don’t get to be sad about it, though.”
Hakoda feels a surge of affection for the man in front of him. He counts himself lucky, again, that he’s got Bato, that Bato stands by his side, that he always has, and that he knows Hakoda in ways no one else does.
”What would I do without you?” Hakoda asks, because he’s a bit of a sap and will always wear his heart on his sleeve.
”Probably more things like this,” Bato replies. ”Speaking if which: when will you tell your children?”
”Dad’s marrying you off to some water tribe peasant.”
Zuko’s head jerks up to see Azula at his doorstep, leaning against the doorframe while inspecting her nails in an obvious attempt to come off as unbothered. Or maybe she genuinely doesn’t care. Zuko can rarely tell.
He puts down his book and sits up on his bed, giving his sister his full attention, knowing very well that she won’t leave until she’s done taunting him.
”What do you mean?” he says, not really registering the words that have come out of Azula’s mouth until now. Azula is always taunting him about something. Usually it’s inconsequential, her dangling something over his head because she can, because she’s the favorite, because she’s perfect and Zuko’s not.
”I heard him talk about it with one of his advisors,” she says. ”Apparently emissary Liang is there negotiating the terms as we speak.”
”You’re lying,” he says, narrowing his good eye at her.
Azula lies as often as she speaks the truth, to get her way or to come out on top or to get a rise out of someone (most often Zuko). He usually doesn’t call her out on it, because it’s no use, but this time what she’s telling him sends chills down his spine. It reminds him too much of the time she told him that his grandfather wanted him dead, but he quickly clamps down on that train of thought, dispelling it from his mind.
”Nope,” Azula says, and she pushes away from the door post and steps into Zuko’s room, sliding up to his desk, ruffling around the papers strewn about it, that air of boredom still in place.
Zuko’s mind is spinning.
”Why…” he starts.
Azula looks up at him and smiles, wide and sharp.
”Isn’t it obvious?” she says. ”He wants you out of the way. You’re the oldest, so you’re next in line for the throne. But we both know dear old dad would never hand over the crown to you. You’re useless. But if he carts you off to the south pole as some kind of peace offering, then that won’t be a problem anymore.”
Zuko grips his sheets tightly. It makes sense. His father will never see him fit to take the throne, had branded him as less than both metaphorically and physically years ago. Zuko had often wondered why his father had kept him around, why he hadn’t banished him or just killed him, right there and then. He had nurtured a small hope that it meant his father actually cared about him after all. But it seems his dad had just kept him around until he found some other use for him.
He feels sick to his stomach, but he’s determined not to let Azula know that it’s affecting him. He doesn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
”Is that all?” he asks.
Azula is stil smiling.
”He’s giving you away to the most useless tribe, too,” she says. ”If it were the northern tribe, or one of the earth cities, at least we could get something out of it. But no, he’s dumping you in the middle of nowhere, with people so inconsequential it’s hard to see why he’d bother at all. He should just do them all a service and wipe them out entirely.”
It strikes Zuko that this is yet another way to punish him. For being weak and imperfect and insubordinate. He wonders if it will ever stop, if he will ever stop paying for not being able to live up to the standards his father has set for him. He has tried so hard over the years, worked himself to the bone to master fire bending and sword fighting, to learn war tactics and never going against anything his father says, ever again, but it still isn’t enough. It will never be enough. Zuko is the shame of his father and now his father has found yet another way to strip him of his honor.
He keeps his face a careful mask of indifference as he turns to face his sister.
”You can leave now.”
But Azula isn’t done. She leans against his desk and taps a manicured fingernail to her chain, looking up in mock-contemplation.
”I wonder who you’ll marry,” she says. ”I’ve heard that water tribe women are pretty, at least, but not very bright. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.” When she looks at Zuko again, her eyes are sharp as razors. ”Or maybe you won’t get a wife at all. Maybe dad’s marrying you to a man.”
Zuko’s stomach sinks.He knows it’s just Azula trying to get a rise out of him, trying to get him to take the bait. But he still feels panic wrap its steel claws across his chest, squeezing hard. There’s no way Azula knows, no way she could have figured it out, and yet…
”I said, get out!”
He stands up, his hands suddenly ablaze without him really thinking about it, and he sends a blast her way. She dodges it easily, giggling gleefully as she does.
”Careful now, Zuko. If you’re going to become the wife of some water tribe savage, you’d better start acting more lady-like.”
”Get out!” he yells again, sending even more fire her way and this time she doesn’t even bother jumping out of the way, she just disperses it with a sweep of her hand, looking almost bored.
”Fine,” she says. ”I just wanted to warn you.”
And with that, she’s gone, slamming the door behind her.
Zuko just stares after her for a moment, chest heaving, before sinking down on his bed again.
This is worse than banishment, he thinks. If he were banished, he’d at least have some sort of freedom. Instead his father chooses to give him away to some backwards tribe, far away from home, like he is just a pai sho-piece that father can play at will, something to be discarded when he can no longer be useful. But then again, who is he trying to fool? He was never useful, not in his father’s eyes and not in his own. Zuko has clung to the hope that he will be able to somehow prove himself, regain his honor, but he realizes now that he never will. He sealed his fate the moment he spoke up against his father in that war room, and nothing he does will ever atone for that.
He briefly considers running away, but quickly discards that idea. Ozai would find him, and when he did, whatever happened to Zuko afterwards would probably be worse than being sent off to the south pole. Zuko has never been to the south pole, has never left the fire nation, and only rarely been outside the capital. He supposes it must be cold.
He falls back onto the bed and curls in on himself. Married. Zuko has never even kissed anyone. His chest feels too tight again. Arranged marriages are common in the fire nation, and Zuko never expected to get to choose who he’d marry anyway. When the time was right his father would have chosen a suitable bride for him. He thought it might be Azula’s friend, Mai, for a while. Her family is of noble descent, and hungry for power. They would have been well suited. And Zuko likes Mai well enough, he thought they might have made it work, even though they hadn’t chosen it for themselves. But that’s not going to happen now.
He can’t help but wonder who it will be. Azula had said that thing about it maybe being a man to insult him, to rub salt in the wound, Zuko knows this. It’s forbidden in the fire nation, relations between people of the same gender, but his uncle has told him that it’s not the same in other parts of the world. Regardless, Zuko doesn’t want this. Doesn’t want to be shipped away halfway across the world, onto some cold wasteland inhabited by backwards people who all probably hate the fire nation. He closes his eyes. Will he ever be able to come home again? He can feel a lump forming in his throat, pressure building behind his eyes, but he will not cry. Crying is for babies, and Zuko is a man. He’s about to get married, for fuck’s sake.
He cries anyway.