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"There is no rebellion," Zuko declared.
"Yes there is!" Aang exclaimed. "The Kyoshi Warriors — that village you set on fire —"
"They were never in any danger and you were trespassing. Once you left, which was the point of me setting things on fire in the first place, because that was the only thing you responded to honestly, the Kyoshi fireguard stepped in and quickly smothered those fires, which were surface fires on the thatch roofs only. The inside was never touched."
"But the Warriors…"
"The Kyoshi Warrior Village is a military training centre for non-bender martial artists and weaponry experts from all over the FNU territories."
"What? But they're dressed in green…"
"It would be pretty stupid to dress in red in the middle of woodlands. Green just camouflages better."
"You dress in red!"
"And I frequently set things on fire. See?"
"But. But. The Southern Water Tribe raids Fire Nation ships! Sokka and Katara said that's where their dad was!"
"Likely a tale, one told to naïve children. We have a long-standing supply arrangement with Southern Water. Their navigators are some of the best, their huntsmen are extremely adaptable, and their benders can both heal and manage currents, or even weather for the very best."
"...Katara told me their mom was killed by Fire Navy raiders. She was a waterbender!"
Zuko paused, and narrowed his eyes.
"When you see them again, be sure to ascertain this. Such an offense would be a treaty breach, and severely punished. Benders must not be harmed."
The child was frowning deeply.
"What about my people, then? Fire Nation murdered them all!"
"...Yes. A hundred years ago. Fire Lord Sozin was punished by the spirits for this. As were every single soldier and support who stepped foot in Air Temples, then and since. They are forbidden places, now. Maybe you'll be allowed by the spirits, but for everyone else… it's rather bad for one's health."
"Oh."
"Fire Lords Azulon and Ozai have kept the, well, the remaining balance in check, after that. No more exterminations."
"But you still. You must have hunted down every airbender afterwards! If there's none remaining…"
"Huh? No, there's airbenders. You've met one, actually. Ty Lee, remember? She's my sister's annoying 'friend'."
"... WHAT?! But why was she using knives then?"
"No, the other one. Mai is the one who uses knives. She's not annoying."
"She threw knives at me!"
Zuko leaned forward, interested.
"Did she use a set with bone handles and silver carvings and obsidian blades?"
"Uhh. Yeah? Obsidian is black glass, right? Except they didn't shatter."
"I should hope not. That would have been a poor courtship gift."
"......courtship? You're, you're engaged with her? Aren't you… a bit young? Master Gyazo always said courtships began at sixteen at least."
"I'm sixteen."
"Oh. Sorry. You look—"
"Just because Azula is a freaking giant perfect princess. Anyway, we started earlier, because royalty and being promised to each other for a long time and politics."
"Politics? You're marrying for politics?"
Zuko stared.
"I'm a prince. So yes."
Aang stared in turn.
"We don't— didn't really have royalty in the Air Temples. I always thought princes could do whatever they wanted! Like with Bumi. He always did what he wanted."
"King Bumi of Omashu?"
"Oh I guess he would be King now."
"He's a bit… eccentric."
"Wait, he's still alive? I need to go visit!"
"He'll be at the summit. Like your Southern Water friends' dad, if he is a Chief of the Tribes as you said."
Aang looked excited.
"The summit? Which summit? There's many mountains…"
"Mountains? What? Ugh." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, a summit is a meeting of leaders. There's one held every four years."
"Oh. What for?"
"Re-negotiating trade agreements, mostly. It used to be for diplomacy, before the FNU. Not much need now."
"Because the Fire Nation conquered everything!"
There he went again.
"No."
"But!"
"Because of the FNU. The Four-Nation Union. The Fire Armies are mostly a peacekeeping force nowadays. Well. And the occasional pacifying of criminal organisations."
"...aren't those synonyms?"
"Peacekeeping maintains the peace. Pacifying enforces it. Different approaches."
"That still sounds like the same thing."
"The Pacifiers generally put people in the ground."
"... they're earthbenders?"
"No. Well, some, but. No, what. Metaphorically!"
"They're metaphorically earthbenders?"
"THEY KILL PEOPLE OKAY"
Shocked look of realisation, there it was. And blessed, blessed silence. Maybe Zuko should have led with that.
"Wait" (Zuko suppressed a groan.) "There's still airbenders around? But you, well, Sozin—"
"Fire Lord Sozin," Zuko corrected automatically.
"Fine, Fire Lord Sozin, he murdered my people. All of them."
"...just the Air Nomads."
"Same thing!"
"Uh, no? There's always been clans of airbenders all over the place. Again, Ty Lee is from one. There's another somewhere around here, actually, if my intelligence was right. Used to be from Taku, but since the plague... I was looking for them as I thought you'd be there, but I guess not? What are you even doing here anyway?"
"Oh! My friends! Oh no oh no oh no"
The kid started running around nearby pools like a demented frog-squirrel.
"I'm a terrible friend oh no oh oh— oh!" He stopped and turned towards Zuko. "You can help me look for frogs!"
"Frogs? Do you mean frog-squirrels or frog-hamsters or frog-salamanders or frog-bats?"
"Oh. Uh. I don't know? Maybe frog-salamanders? Do you know if any of the others secrete slime?"
"...why do you need that for?"
"Oh! This old lady herbalist told me it would cure my friends' fever!" Aang frowned. "But she just said frogs…"
"So a random old woman just hanging around a dead city told you to find a mythical single-animal to cure your friends who probably only have Taku fever."
Zuko crouched down to get on the kid's level and said gravely: "Avatar Aang, I fear a spirit played a trick on you."
"...what's Taku fever?"
"It's why the city was abandoned. Some kind of parasite took up inside and everyone started having hallucinations and bad headaches. It fades after a few days if you get away from the city."
"I've never heard of that."
"Well, that only happened a few decades ago."
"Oh. But why aren't I sick?"
"Some kind of Avatar natural resistance, maybe? Anyway, good chat, but I gotta go. Get your friends away from this place, give them plenty of liquids, flush the toxins out. And here," Zuko holds out a delicately embossed and filigraned paper card. "Your invitation to the summit. Please be there! Your friends can come too, as guests of the Avatar."
"...... you've been chasing us all this time to give me an invitation?!?"
"Yeah. What did you think, that I wanted to capture you? Or hurt your friends or something? I'm the crown prince but even I couldn't step away unscathed from attacking the Avatar . That would be political suicide, even if you're just an annoying kid."
"But on Kyoshi…"
"I never attacked you directly. And I told you, you were trespassing."
"But Azula…"
"My sister is fucking insane but she should have been held back by her bodyguards slash friends."
"...yeah. Oh."
"That's my next stop, actually. Gotta get her back to the palace, the little menace."
"... she's kinda… taller than you?"
"Ugh!"
Zuko stomped off, leaving the Avatar holding the invitation. He hoped the kid went to the summit. It would be such a pain to have to find and drag him there diplomatically if he didn't show up. He sighed again, and hoped Pohuai Stronghold had decent tea. He could do with an Oolong right about now.