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Oh, I thought I told you. I wasn't raised by humans. I was raised by faeries. Faeries can live for centuries if they wish.

That means we'll get to dance together again.

Why does no one want to learn about your culture back home?

uh
no
you left that part out...... :|

[ He's floored but at the same time... somehow not surprised... she was raised by some otherworldly magical spirits somehow. ]

tell me more about your faerie aunts
i had no experience with faeries until coming to this world

Edited 2021-06-24 23:03 (UTC)

as to the fire nation. its complicated.
i think i told you theres a war in my world. a global world war that has lasted a century. and left no place unscarred.
but the country i'm from is at fault for all of it.
the rest of the world hates us. and we're fed so much propaganda about how great our nation is that no one in the fire nation even knows the world hates us. we've been told for all these years that the war is our way of sharing our nation's greatness and wealth with the rest of the world. but it's just our way to seize more power at any cost, even the loss of our own soldiers....

the entire world lives in fear of our military
why would they want to learn to sing our songs and eat our cooking

Edited 2021-06-24 23:02 (UTC)

My apologies, I did not mean for it to be a secret. Well, there's Aunt Flora, Aunt Fauna, and Aunt Merryweather. To be honest, I had no experience either. I didn't know they were faeries until my 16th birthday. They just... were my aunts. I didn't know of their magic until then. But I suppose I should have noticed they never aged, they never had a bad season in the garden, they knew how to treat all the mystical creatures in the woods and all the non-mystical sort.

They are all very distinct women.

[When Aurora receives the second half, she tilted her head, taking it all in. She wondered if the neighboring kingdom was like that. She didn't think her aunts would let her return if it was.]

War... does leave a great wound across the minds and hearts of those who were not only attacked but those who are of the nation attacking. War was quite frequent in the countries surrounding my kingdom. In fact, there was... a very great war that lasted over a 100 years between two countries only... just ended where I'm from.

Is it still at war, your nation and the others?

thats incredible
but youre not a faerie......??
could you do any magic or have any powers before you came here??

[ Zuko's as relieved and reassured as he is worried and uneasy that no matter what world in what universe, or how sheltered someone is within that world, that the essential experience of war is universal. Unfortunate to bond over. ]

im sorry to hear your world had its own 100 year war too....
is there a revolution going on that ended it?
that's what's happening in mine
i was taken from my home the day a coup was launched against the fire nation to usurp the fire lord
so the war is ending very soon..... no more new wounds. but then comes the healing. that hurts too.

No, I am not a faerie. Just an ordinary girl.

I don't think I had any powers, certainly no magic. I spoke to animals and the singing you've heard would draw them to me, but no, no powers. Nothing nearly so impressive as bending the elements to my will.

Nothing quite like that, no. It was battle after battle, broken treaty after treaty.

It ended with a truce, nothing more than a promise. I hold out hope that all the countries can... at least for now, take a much-needed break and even attempt to grow and prosper in the unsteady peace.

I dare say, the war was so long, I'm not sure who even really cares who started it or why. I know only that everyone merely wishes to see peace prevail. [Aurora had always wondered why her aunts insisted on such history lessons. Why she, a peasant girl in the woods would need to know the wars involving the kingdoms that neighbored hers.

Now she knew why.]

youre very impressive

[ She wasn't contending that she's not, Zuko. Just throwing that out there, then. ]

the reason for our war was very clearcut
it's how to fix it moving forward that will be hard to say

Thank you for your compliment, Zuko, it is kind of you to give it.

Well, if I may? The nation in question, if they wish to make amends, can start by listening to the needs of those who have been hurt. There will likely be anger, but some will see past their anger to try and mend the wounds. I imagine some lands will need to be restored or outright returned, there may be people who need help with harvesting and need the resources to rebuild destroyed buildings and farmlands.

Start with shelter, water, and food. Those are everyone's basic needs, after all. Once those have been restored and a healthy surplus assured, the nation can continue forth.

that’s all very sound reasoning
thank you for that

[ Why thank you…? It’s not like she’s giving him personal advice — right? But he’s impressed by her thinking in these regards, and pushes on, curious to hear her thoughts now. ]

what do you think about occupied territories
the fire nation has several colonies in the earth kingdom. some have been there for decades. there are fire nation citizens who have never actually stepped foot in the fire nation. returning those lands seems right… but then where do we send the fire nation people who’ve called that village home all these years? our actual land is a small island nation, much smaller than the earth kingdom, and fairly far from most of the colonies.
the fire nation is the richest nation in the world, and we’ve spared no expense on our military, so reallocating those funds is no concern. surely the new fire lord would spend even more on efforts for peace.
but if he were to evict fire nation citizens en masse and bring hundreds, thousands of people home to a land they’ve never been to… it may start an insurrection. already he’s seizing the throne by force and is not smiled upon by his people. he will have many political enemies right off the bat. so every move to make peace with our previous enemies will also need to not make enemies of our own people.

I try.

[Those diplomacy lessons were more or less settling arguments between her aunts but goodness knows now she knows WHY her aunts insisted on certain things like that.]

I think that will have to be a case-by-case scenario for the new leader. Some of the other nations may see those who lived with them as their brethren, their neighbors. But others...

Speak to the leaders of the other nations to find a peaceful solution. Evicting... may need to happen, but it certainly does not need to be the first solution, but it may become the only correct one.

All I can really insist is that the new leader speak to everyone and listen to everyone.

i don't think the earth kingdom would welcome those in the fire nation colonies with open arms.... there is too much resentment toward the fire nation. maybe the returns to the homeland could happen in waves.. i don't know.
hopefully the new fire lord will have sound advisors who might know better. and like you say, of course the guidance of the earth kingdom and water tribe leaders.
i believe he will be open to listening.. it seems diplomacy will be a main focus of his.
the new leader is very different from the one before him
the present leader is cruel and unreasonable, ruthless in his pursuit for glory and power, even at the expense of his own people's wellbeing and our nation's integrity
it's been like that for a century, the same as with his father and his father before him
the present fire lord has only been fire lord for five years... but he needs to be dethroned before he destroys the earth kingdom.
they want to rule the world but at this rate there won't be a world to rule
only ashes

Allow people to surprise you, Zuko. You will not know if you do not ask. It would be much safer to do so than to continue speaking for the other nation. I believe they have had others speak for them long enough.

I wish the new leader the utmost fortune, changing a century of cruelty will not be an easy task. But if he is truly one for diplomacy and kindness, then he may be more openly embraced by the other nations than you think.

A desire such as that, it causes a thirst that can never be sated. They will drink and drink and drink from that goblet of power, but it will only make their thirst grow.

all of that's right.. thank you for your wise, hopeful words. my world needs all the hope it can get
regardless of being at some great cosmic risk like it is now..
even on the small scale, our world was still at risk.
i'd fight to save it here like i'd fight to save it there.

Then it is in some of the safest hands I know.

:)

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