Chapter Two: By the Black Ribbon

Firelord Zuko stood just outside a hefty door to the physician’s office.

His mother was in there.

His complicated mind was a twisted knot of unanswered questions.

Why did Azula yearn to burn her own mother?

Was Mother to be all right?

He did not know the answers. Lack of knowledge was one of his weaknesses as Firelord. Though calm and graceful under the pressure, he always made sure that he was in complete understanding of every little detail of the Fire Nation. His reason, he reflected, was of perfect sense. The bloody war that had existed for a hundred years had just ceased barely three years ago. The four, or rather, three nations were still heavily divided.

But Avatar Aang was completely on his side in all of this conflict. It was, after all, his duel with the Phoenix King that had symbolized the war’s conclusion.

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