The next morning, we ventured to the city of Yu Dao, just as Zuko said. I opted to travel without the wheelchair, regardless of Zuko and Bao's protests. I couldn't regain strength if i became so dependent on it, and I simply hated the hassle of trying get around in the chair.

The city was a colony in the Earth Kingdom, shared between Fire Nation citizens and those of the Earth Kingdom. The girl, I'd learned, was named Kori. She was the daughter of the mayor, and she was quite the character. Even as the advisor to the Fire Lord, I'd little understanding of the Harmony Restoration movement. According to Kori, it would keep the Nations separate in order to prevent another war, which would mean extracting people from Colonies like this.

"This is my home," she growled, staring down at her cuffed wrists. "We deserve to be here just as much as anyone else."

"Saki," Zuko said from behind me. I looked back and caught his frown. He was in business mode, and Business Mode Zuko was not easy to reason with. I stopped walking alongside the girl, who was being escorted by guards, and joined Zuko behind her. She was shoved forward at her father's feet. The mayor looked up from his daughter and stuttered at the sight of the Fire Lord.

"You must be Mayor Morishita," I said. "Your daughter—"

Zuko cut me off. "Your daughter snuck into my home and tried to kill me!" His fists and teeth were clenched.

The mayor gawked at his daughter, who displayed no remorse. "Someone had to do something!" She snarled.

Her father fell to his knees and bowed at Zuko's feet. He sniveled and begged for mercy, begged for forgiveness for his daughter's rash behavior. I looked at Zuko, and I was met with a cold glare. Something was changing in him, and I didn't like it. It deeply worried me.

"I should have this whole place burned down!" Zuko growled.

"Why bother?" Kori retorted, now in his face. "The Harmony Restoration movement will accomplish the same thing without you having to lift a finger!"

"Why can't you Colonials get it through your thick skulls?!" Zuko asked, growing more and more frustrated. "The Harmony Restoration movement is a means to peace!"

The mayor stuttered, "P-Peace?" He rose to his feet and looked the Fire Lord in the eye. "Peace for whom? With all due respect, Your Majesty, my family has lived on this land for generations! This city was built on our blood and sweat! We have as much right to be here as anyone else!"

"You're Fire Nation citizens!" Zuko persisted. "You should live in the Fire Nation!" A lump formed in my throat at this statement. Did Zuko really believe that we should stay in the land we originated? Did he realise exactly what that would mean?

"You're right, Fire Lord. We are Fire Nation citizens! And I'll tell you this: you're father would never have let the Avatar and the Earth King bully him into something so obviously bad for his own nation's citizens!"

Mayor Morishita had gone too far, and I think he knew that. I wondered if he had even cared. Zuko's eyes narrowed. "My father?"

I finally spoke up again. "Zuko, no." But it made no difference to him. Zuko sent a blast of flames between him and the mayor, then shoved the man against a wall with his forearm against his throat.

"I am not my father!" He screamed.

"Zuko, stop!" I commanded. I grabbed him by the arm and jerked him backwards. I stood in between the two, keeping my hands on Zuko's chest to hold him back. His eyes were wild as he glared at the mayor. I kept my voice low as I said, "That's enough."

"No, young man, you're not," the mayor coughed out. "Fire Lord Ozai had many faults, but he was never a coward. He was never a traitor."

This time, it was I who took action. Bending water from a barrel nearby, I froze it over Mayor Morishita's mouth. "That's enough out of you," I said over my shoulder in a warning, finalising tone. "Keep your daughter out of trouble. If we have any more problems, Fire Lord Zuko will be the least of your worries."

Zuko snarled to his guards, "Seize him!"

Just as the guards stepped forward, but were stopped by a sudden wall erecting in their path. I looked past Zuko to find an older woman, still in am earthbending stance. "Fire Lord, please," the woman said. "Please forgive my husband's foolishness. I've told him time and time again to control his tongue, but he never does!"

"You're Mayor Morishita's wife?" Zuko asked in astonishment. "An earthbender...?"

"Yes, I'm an earthbender," she said with a nod. "As is our daughter." On cue, a sharp pillar shot up from the ground and pierced through Kori's shackles. Kori earthbent to snatch her weapons from a guard, saying, "I may be an earthbender, but through my father's bloodline I am a Fire Nation citizen! My father taught me to always be loyal to the Fire Nation — to my people." She glowered at Zuko. "Something you obviously never learned from your father."

Just as I did to Mayor Morishita, I waterbent and froze it over her mouth. "Spirits, you really are your father's daughter," I said in irritation. "You don't know how to shut up."

"Would Your Majesty be willing to stay in Yu Dao for a few days?" The woman offered. "It would be an honor for us to show the Fire Lord our way of life." She looked at me and gave a gentle smile. "Besides, I believe it is unhealthy for your friend to be traveling so much in her current state."

"Thank you," I said softly and smiled back.

As we traveled through the city of Yu Dao, Zuko hadn't said a word. I didn't blame him, though. He couldn't do a thing without being compared to his father or being being expected to become his father. To break the silence, I said, "The mayor had a point." When I received a shocked and angry glare, I added, "Hear me out. After doing some thinking, this Harmony Restoration movement doesn't sound like a good idea."

"It's bringing peace, Saki!"

"By separating the Nations!" I shot back. "In case you've forgotten over all these years, I'm not from the Fire Nation! If we had kept the Nations separate, then my parents would have never met. I would have never been born." My hand gravitated towards my betrothal necklace. "I wouldn't be married... or be having this baby. More importantly, you and I would have never met!"

He opened his mouth to argue, then closed again as he thought this over.

"These people," I frowned, "are just like me. They can't say they belong to one place or the other because they belong to both. Taking them out of their home is unfair, Zuko."

"I didn't think about that," he admitted.

"I know," I said, "because you've never had to." I sighed. I'd never talked about this with him. We had always been focused on catching the Avatar, or restoring his honor, or defeating his father to end the war.

After another long silence, he said, "I've come to a decision. I'm retracting from the Harmony Restoration movement."