Lord and Lady
Day 5 @zutaramonth : Li and Lo tell Katara about the past Fire Ladies - or the lack of them in order to prepare her for her wedding and coronation! That, however, does not deter her, and gains their respect.
Please read the short speech of Lo and Li as continuous, so they are finishing one another’s sentences as they do in the series!
AO3 | FF -Worldcrawler
“There is a curse on Fire Ladies,”
“Indeed we have not had one for decades.” Came Lo and Li’s voices. Or was it Li and Lo?
After taking up the position of Fire Lord, Zuko had been forced to seek their advice on various matters of tradition. He considered them a two-headed snake, full of poison, and hated having them around. But nobody else knew the Fire Nation traditions or the Fire Nation history as they did, and Zuko needed to appease traditionalists as well as futurists at his public events.
Now he had found himself seeking their advice once more, but unfortunately he’d had to introduce them to Katara. Their marriage was approaching, and simultaneously her coronation. ‘When a Fire Lord marries, Prince Zuko, he is sharing all his responsibilities with his spouse, for the two must rule as equals always’.
Of course this didn’t sit well with the general populous, who thought of it as giving away half the Nation to the Water Tribes. That’s why he needed to present Katara to his people as following Fire Nation traditions. And the only ones who knew how to pull that off were, annoyingly, Li and Lo. Aside from their experience, they had a flare for the dramatic and had been the master minds of rallying the people to Ozai’s - or any - cause. Zuko needed to put that genius to good use, even though he knew they had played no small part in driving his sister completely insane.
“What curse?” said Katara, brows furrowing in worry.
“There is no curse! Don’t listen to them!” bit out a disgruntled Zuko. The outburst did not change the twins’ expression or posture at all. The perfect picture of humble servants.
“But you just told me to listen to them!” protested Katara. “What curse?” she asked again, turning to the two women.
“Fire Princess Azula,”
“Was challenged and lost the throne to her brother,”
“Fire Lord Zuko.”
“Fire Lord Ozai,”
“Banished Fire Princess Ursa,
“Before taking the crown.”
“And Fire Prince Iroh,”
“Would have ruled alone,”
“Since Fire Princess Otsa,”
“Died in childbirth,”
“Had his father not passed the crown,”
“To his brother.”
“Fire Lord Azulon,”
“Lost Fire Princess Zela in sickness,”
“After Fire Prince Ozai was born,
“Before becoming Fire Lord.”
“Fire Lord Sozin,”
“Ah that is a tale,”
“It is time to be truthful sister!”
“Yes yes. Fire Lord Sozin had a Fire Lady,”
“Fire Lady Mira,”
“Arranged,”
“Of course,”
“Ascended to the throne with him,”
“But upon the passing of the comet,”
“She took her own life.”
“And so you see,”
“There are no Fire Ladies our people remember,”
“And the power,”
“Since the start of the war,”
“Has always been the Fire Lord’s,”
“Alone.”
The two quietened when they had told their tale.
“So no Fire Lady has ruled alongside her husband since the start of the war?” asked Katara, glancing at Zuko.
“You would be,”
“The first.”
“The others are gone,”
“In Agni Kais,”
“Or banishment”
“Childbirth,”
“Sickness,”
“Or by their own hand.”
Katara was silent for a long time, thinking through this information. Zuko was balling and unballing his fists, silently praying to Agni that she wouldn’t leave him.
“I will break the curse,” she said finally, “I am a Master Healer, no wound or sickness will take me, a Master Waterbender so no assassin will best me, I cannot be banished without starting another war, nor challenged now the Sages have declared the marriage lawful, and I will not sit by and allow my husband to drive me to suicide.”
Lo and Li simultaneously bowed their heads.
“You are brave, Master Katara,”
“You must be prepared for your role.”
“We will train you,”
“You will be stronger,”
“You will be better,”
“You will occupy the people’s minds,”
“And kidnap their hearts,”
“So that you and Fire Lord Zuko,”
“May break the curse,”
“And the Fire Nation may have,”
“Once more,”
“A Lord and Lady.”