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The Price of Peace	By : Looneyluna Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 19136 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Interlude Twenty-one

Staring at the metal bars of his prison, Qiang waited – for what he wasn’t certain. Part of him entertained the thought that Azula really did care for him and that she would come for him. The other part of him was a realist. His lover was long gone, either plotting revenge against her enemies or planning for her future.

He was a prisoner of war, a war no one was fighting any more. He shook his head in an effort to clear that thought.

He had spent his entire life fighting. It’s the only thing he had ever known. After the peace treaties had been signed, he had walked off and hadn’t looked back. The concept of peace was lost to him…until Azula. Her fire tempered his rage. Her ambitions made his seem like paltry daydreams.

Qiang closed his eyes and would have prayed, but he didn’t believe in anything other than his own strength. Even that had deserted him. The metal of his prison negated his bending abilities. Without his bending or a weapon, he was useless. This was not the ending he had envisioned for himself.

As he tried to relax, he pictured his home near the upper ring of Ba Sing Se and smiled. His son was safe. That’s what mattered most.

--

Azula paused at the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the twinge of jealousy as she faced Qiang’s wife. Her life was on survival mode while this woman lived the life of queen.

The older woman didn’t look happy to see her. Undoubtedly, she would try to keep her from her son.

“I knew this day would come,” Qiang’s wife said, her tone stiff and resigned as she stood on the top step of an ornate staircase.

Azula stepped onto the bottom step, but stopped as two armed guards blocked her way. “We can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way. Either way, I am leaving here with my son.”

The woman at the top of the stars hissed indignantly. “JianJun is not your son! You are a mere whore. I am Qiang’s wife! I am his mother!”

Keeping her temper in check, Azula stepped back. The journey to Ba Sing Se had been long and arduous. She should not have come here, but she had little choice. She could spend the rest of her days running or she could turn and fight. She needed proof of her line before she could confront the war council and demand the right of Agni Kai against Zuko.

“I need my son,” she announced between gritted teeth.

Lai Ke sneered at the Fire Nation princess’s mud covered boots and hem. “You cannot stand there and tell me you have developed maternal feelings for JianJun. I am his mother. He has known only me. Qiang was right to give him to me.”

“Yes,” Azula agreed quickly. “He was right to give you the child. But it is time for JianJun to face his destiny.”

“He is only four years old!” Lai Ke sputtered, climbing down a few of the steps.

Azula was all too familiar with the mantle of responsibility. Once her father had realized Zuko’s flaws, he had pinned all of his hopes and aspirations onto her. “And is destined to rule.”

Lai Ke scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. “You would drag an innocent child off to war! I won’t let you take him!”

“Fine,” Azula replied, seemingly capitulating. She stepped down, crouching like a tiger. “It looks like we are going to do this the hard way.”

--

TBC

A/N – And the soap opera continues. Hum, I wonder who should get amnesia. Just kidding!
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The Price of Peace