Chapter 4

Part 2

This wasn't Fire Nation.

He was a month away from the capital.

At least a week from the nearest colony.

The soldiers were locally grown.

The sons and daughters of Earth Kingdom families who lived here before the province was taken.

Even the most highly-trained of them had never been to the capital.

So Iroza would play it safe.

Play nice.

He had made a good first impression.

Well... Eh.

Good enough.

Now he had to make that last as long as possible.

Feel out the limits of what he could do without rocking the boat too much.

Until he could cement himself as someone more powerful than a fourteen-year-old boy with a nice smile and a solid pedigree.

For that, he had no real choice but to wait and endure the feast.

Eat the food.

Smile and say the nice words.

Laugh at the right jokes.

Nod solemnly to their pleas or words of praise.

Why yes, he would take that into consideration.

He would make sure to write to his father and tell him all about their wonderful ideas.

Hours of that.

He sighed, trying to rub away the headache he felt coming on.

Why couldn't anything ever be simple?

Iroza was starting to get sick of all this extravagance.

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Like, really sick.

It was all just too much.

Candles and torches.

Gleaming chandeliers.

Carpets and curtains.

Tapestries, tablecloths, and scores of nobles dressed in what looked like tapestries and tablecloths.

And all of this was without taking into account all of the talking.

Oh, the talking.

There was so much of it.

Iroza was starting to worry his polite smile would become permanently etched onto his face, what with all of the smalltalk and reassurances he had to go through with all of these useless people.

Leeches, the lot of them.

Time and time again, like clockwork, he would get introduced to some weirdo with a name and title he wouldn't bother remembering.

He would nod at their greetings, graciously accept their words of praise, and listen while they went on about how loyal they were to the Fire Lord and his cause, how they would just be tickled pink at the opportunity to meet him someday, and oh it was just such an honor to be in the same room as Prince Iroza.

They could hardly contain their awe and excitement and Iroza literally wanted to die.

No wonder his father never toured Wan Bhing.

This sucked.

The day started to blur for him after a while.

Yes, the day.

Unlike feasts hosted by normal people, this feast had started only three hours after lunch and was set to go on well into the night.

So yes.

The day started to blur.

"Prince Iroza! Your grace, it is my humblest of honors to make your acquaintance!"

"Hail, Prince Iroza! Word of your achievements as a firebender has spread far from the capital. I hear you are well on your way to gaining ground on your sister, the Princess Azula."

Ha.

As if.

"I'm humbled and honored to meet you for the first time, my prince. May your father's rule be long and prosperous."

"Humble honors and honored humbles, Prince Iroza. I am a very important person in my local homeowner's association, and I believe I'm worthy of your time!"

At some point, he may have dozed off while someone talked at him.

Maybe more than once.

Several times, certainly.

Sleeping with his eyes open and not snoring or slouching was a valuable set of skills for someone of his station.

If someone took note of his vacant gaze, they would probably just assume he was unimpressed with their sales pitch and wander off to drown their sorrows in drink.

It was a win-win.

Not for the first time, Iroza was jealous of Zuko and his permanent vacation from responsibility.

Heck, even if his brother were here, he would probably get all snippy and demand that everyone stop bothering him, before retreating to a corner to sulk with his arms crossed.

The easy way out.

But nooo, Iroza was the good prince.

The non-rebellious one.

He was expected to say the princely words and smile the princely smile and be the bright-eyed and good-hearted supporter of all of his father's doings, while also presenting himself as being on the side of all of these worthless fucks.

Okay.

Maybe he was being a little snippy.

But only in his head.

Mostly.

Hours went by.

All of them sucked.

The food was pretty good, even considering this was the boonies.

Keep on flexing, Rama.

It'll definitely help achieve whatever you're looking to achieve.

Even once the conversation had slowed, and everyone was eating.

Even then, he felt a multitude of eyes on him as he ate.

Taking in his every move.

A less trained person would think they were just in awe.

Taking him in.

Gawking.

Admiring.

And sure, some of them probably were.

The younger nobles and the smaller children.

The ones who hadn't quite picked up on all the nuances of court etiquette.

Christ, he sounded pretentious.

Anyway, all that to say he had to take care even while eating.

Why?

Because no matter what he did, word would spread.

Because these hillbilly robber barons had nothing better to talk about, aside from the tiresome news of the war.

So what would they say?

Iroza ate a normal amount of food.

Iroza did not gorge himself on sweets.

Iroza had impeccable table manners.

It wasn't even paranoia.

He knew that this was how they operated.

Gossip and mindless chatter.

They loved that sort of thing, especially when it was about royalty.

Bunch of weirdos.

Finally, finally, Iroza was stirred from his stealth-brooding by General Rama, who swiftly drew all attention to himself.

Iroza let out a small sigh of relief.

This was exhausting.

"Thank you all for coming to our humble celebration!" he cried, gesturing to the assembled nobility with one hand and raising his glass with another. "A celebration in honor of Prince Iroza, here to tour our lovely city and assist in military matters on behalf of Fire Lord Ozai."

With that, he gestured to Iroza and bowed slightly.

The nobles all did likewise, raising their glasses and calling out his name.

Respectfully, not like the rabble outside.

Iroza nodded and raised his own glass.

"The honor is mine, General Rama."

He might have said something more to the nobles, but he was at his wit's end with all of this bullshit as it was.

"The Fire Lord has high hopes for his son, to send him to the great city of Wan Bhing. To see all that the Fire Nation rules. To see his people and look upon his mighty cities! To experience the war on Earth Kingdom firsthand. To teach and learn! To lead and triumph! And above all, to earn for himself the highest honor a bender can achieve. Mastery!"