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“And that, young prince, is how great Fire Lord Suwon dealt the final blow to the evil, unrelenting lord Kuin from the Earth Kingdom!” The slightly raspy and intense voice of the royal tutor only added to the vibrant narrative he told the young boys gathered in front of the most famous paintings in Fire Nation history.
Instead of the young prince, however, it was his friend who leaped at the narration, enchanted by it all.
“Wow! And how was that fight?” The lanky, too tall for his age boy couldn’t contain his enthusiasm, desperate to know how the story ended.
The prince was more interested in his friend’s love for the tale than the tale itself and was content just watching.
Noticing this, the royal tutor made no mention and continued to tell the grand tale of just how amazing and heroic Fire Lord Suwon had been. A true credit to his nation and such.
After Roku left for the day to go train (more like flail at) firebending, the tutor stared at Sozin.
Knowing what was coming, he just asked, “What?”
“Prince Sozin, your friend is very interested in the history of our nation and your family.” The tutor refrained from saying ‘more than you’, as it was clear enough.
Sozin didn’t even flinch. He knew this was coming. As something always was. There was always some criticism, some imperfection that just screamed at everyone. He tried not to show the annoyance on his face.
“Roku loves history. Especially since his family didn’t really do anything worth remembering.” Sozin said evenly, without meaning it.
Never would he dare say this in front of Roku. Deep down, Sozin couldn’t care less what Roku’s family did or did not do. What mattered was that Roku was his very best friend. Born on the same day as him, it was like they were part of each other. More than brothers, more than family. Sozin knew Roku felt the same way.
But right now, he was Prince Sozin and he had a role to play. To Prince Sozin, family and nation were paramount.
The tutor smirked and nodded in approval. He wasn’t so sharp to notice how well Sozin could lie, even at such a young age.
It’s not like Sozin was disparaging Roku himself, either. He was just making sure Roku could stay close.
Anything to keep Roku visiting him even during lessons and training time.
“Hey Sozin, did you know the sages already know who the next avatar is?” Some girl from a high class family was asking them.
While intruding on their best friend's time.
“No, and I don’t care.” Sozin didn’t have time to interact with these annoying asskissers. He already had to do plenty of that at all dinners. The least he could have is some alone time with Roku.
His best friend, though, was always much too kind. Even with people who clearly didn’t deserve it.
“Who do you think it is, Ming?” Roku asked, more polite than actually curious. He was always awkward around girls, and types like Ming scared him.
She rolled his eyes at him as if he didn’t speak. Noticing there was just silence, she aimed at another question to get Sozin to answer. “I don’t know, but it’d have to be someone strong, brave and powerful! Like Prince Sozin.” She smiled and blushed a little.
Sozin was wondering how badly he’d be punished if he just pushed her into the fountain or something.
“That makes sense.” Roku nodded, “But since Sozin is a prince, I think being the avatar would be complicated.”
All thoughts of pushing girls into fountains (or burning them, just a little bit, to keep them away) lay utterly forgotten. Because of Roku.
It made sense?? It made sense to Roku that Sozin could be the avatar? Then… then that meant that Roku saw him as strong, brave, and powerful!
Of course, Sozin saw himself like that. Everyone did, really. He had to be all that and more too since he was the prince.
But knowing Roku saw him like that… it made him happier than any perfect score in training. He couldn’t help smiling widely and feeling warm all over.
Anger forgotten, he grabbed Roku’s hand and ran from the royal courtyard. Sozin decided: today, they would play pretend: Avatar and Fire Lord (as Sozin) and his very best friend and advisor (as Roku).
It soon became their favorite playtime.
His best friend had always been a complete klutz. Arms and legs too long for his size, he kept flailing and falling all the time. He was awkward and the few times he managed to have the confidence to say something, it usually came out wrong. Roku was silly and too naive for his own good.
He was also the most noble, courageous and kind person Sozin had ever met. Roku was always fine with sharing; even when he wasn’t the richest noble around, he avoided fights when possible and had true humility. There was something in Roku that made him so different from everyone around him. He was almost never in agreement with any noble or firebender, even though he was both. No one was prouder of his nation than him — even Sozin — and yet Roku never acted as if he was above anyone.
Roku was everything Sozin wasn’t. And vice-versa.
For as much as Roku could (almost) never beat Sozin in training, he never held a grudge for it. He was always in high spirits and so, so kind. Always willing to help and lend an ear. He lacked the charisma, leadership, bending prowess and especially the ability to lie (well). All things Sozin exceeded at. And Roku was always happy to praise Sozin in every single detail.
Even though a prince was already born hearing praises left and right, none could ever compare to Roku’s honest praise that wanted nothing in return.
If Ta Min couldn’t see any of that in Roku, then she was mindlessly stupid and Roku should just move on and pick someone better. Someone who could see and admire him and respect him and train with him and be there for him the way he deserves. Someone like-
Sozin could never bring himself to finish that thought.
The biggest surprise of his life had happened on his birthday. When Roku was named the next Avatar.
(The second biggest surprise was when Sozin found out they had not killed the last airbender, and his body was not found.)
It seemed like a joke.
Roku, the big klutz, forever a bit lost Roku.
Roku, who needed a strong firm hand by his side, who needed Sozin there, always.
That Roku was the Avatar.
And that Roku would travel the world starting now and wouldn’t come back until he had mastered all four elements.
Sozin’s world came crashing down.
But he had to be strong. For Roku, for his family, for his nation. He had to be strong, charismatic and confident, as a leader should.
Roku, as the Avatar, made no sense. It seemed like a mistake. Or a prank. Surely the spirits had chosen someone else?
His best friend, Roku, was not made to travel across the world solving diplomatic issues or training nonstop. No, his Roku was supposed to stay right here. At home. With Sozin.
Always together.
But the world brought them apart.
From then on, Sozin hated the words ‘fate’ and ‘spirits’ more than ever. He avoided Air Nomads in particular, since they never stopped sprouting all that nonsense. And kept going on about how everyone is free to love who they please. Sozin wanted to burn them up so they would never speak again.
Being with who you love is always natural, no matter their social class, gender or history. So the monks said.
Being with someone of your same social class is the absolute minimum. For what is there to discuss with the rabble? So the Earth Kingdom royalty said.
Being with a person on your level is proof of your status. Your partner’s status, power, fighting (or, ideally, bending) prowess, family name, and capabilities were equal to your own. If you were a nobody, your partner was also one. So the Fire Nation said.
Being with a person of non-noble blood was unthinkable. Should their family have a single besmirch to their name, they were nothing. So his family said.
(Sozin never had time to meet or talk to those barbaric Water Tribes and, and let’s be honest, who cared about what they thought? He’d heard women were forbidden to learn bending there. How much they had to learn about the Fire Nation).
It was so much to digest and so much to think. But they all had a common ground — except those mindless Air Nomads, who lived with their head up in the clouds and had no contact with reality.
A prince such as himself, and a future Fire Lord, would need a partner on his level. A lady of the highest nobility and well-bred, with a history of talented fighters and strategists. Only the very best for the royal family.
It was all part of the life he always knew he would live. Sozin never expected anything different. He knew there was little point in dreaming impossible dreams.
What he never expected was not to have Roku by his side at all during all those years.
The perfect prince. The perfect leader.
Charismatic, strategic, smart, well-spoken, certain, and, if need-be, deadly.
The very ideal of the royal family.
Sozin would (and could not be) anything less so.
And his wife and future children must be the same.
All of them, perfect.
No flaws. No chinks in the armor.
The very image of perfection. Fittingly mirroring the perfection of their nation.
It’s been so many years since Roku returned, Sozin is a bit surprised at first to see his friend, who couldn’t even grow whiskers, sporting a full, long beard.
Of course, he hides it well. By now, his masks in everyday life are always on. A necessity for any leader. He must always project strength and perfection. At every moment, at any time.
It is his duty as Fire Lord.
Not only that, but his build changed considerably. He was always taller than Sozin, but now he fully occupies his size. Roku grew in all senses.
This wasn’t his old friend, klutzy young Roku, greeting him.
This was Avatar Roku.
And he wasn’t the little, happy-go-lucky, and prone to ditching training prince either.
He was Fire Lord Sozin.
They would never again be able to play Fire Lord and Avatar.
But perhaps… they could work together in other ways.
After all, was that not fate’s plan? To have the Fire Lord and Avatar so close… was it not a message, perhaps? That this was the Fire Nation’s time?
Hearing Roku go on and on about the other nations, all the friends he made, and how much he learned got tiring very fast.
It was as if he wasn’t happy already being here, being finally home, of all places.
As if he wasn’t happy to finally be near Sozin.
They talked about their lives, yes, but Roku just had to mention some random guy he met in an Earth Kingdom little village in the middle of nowhere, or how incredible the sense of community in the Water Tribe was. It was always someone this, somewhere that. His special dear friend Gyatso, who taught him some special moves. Coming from those degenerates, Sozin didn’t even want to think about what Roku could’ve learned from him.
Why would Roku even want to learn moves from a fellow man to begin with? And why even do that in those mountains in the middle of nowhere when his home was here?
When Sozin was here-
It was like Roku completely forgot he was back in the Fire Nation, with how often he kept babbling about other places.
As if being right next to Sozin wasn’t enough, he had to keep remembering other random, less important people.
People who were not his best friend.
After days of this, in an effort to bring Roku back to reality (and his homeland), Sozin resorts to his last resort.
“Have you seen Ta Min yet?”
Sozin is happy to see some things never change as Roku blushes prettily, just like he did when they were kids.
But bile rises in his throat when he realizes he’ll never bring that reaction out of Roku.
“Hey, Sozin?”
“Remember that story about Suwon? And Kuin?”
“Yes, Roku.” Sozin replied offhandedly while checking the latest scrolls from scouts about the Earth Kingdom lands closest to their border. He noticed how Roku didn’t use titles for either of those men but he didn’t quite care.
Roku has been more often by Ta Min’s side than anywhere else since he came back. Thankfully that got him to shut up about visiting other lands — and worse, taking Sozin with him, as if the Fire Lord didn’t have enough word — but now he just won’t shut up about his would-be fiancée.
The same woman who didn’t give two shits about him when they were young.
At least Roku was permanently to stay in the Fire Nation at the very least.
And, for once, he had a topic about the Fire Nation on his mind. No, far, foreign land with unusual customs or whatever silly things he went on about. As if any place could be better than the Fire Nation.
He did remember the main story beats, at least. Sozin remembered how he was heroic and all that, but not quite the details of the fight. Almost all Fire Lords had a similar personal triumph story, and those were easy to mix up sometimes. Not that he could ever say that to anyone. Even Roku nowadays couldn’t be trusted with that. What if he just spilled to everyone how Sozin couldn’t remember Fire Nation history well enough? Worse, his own family’s history?
Not even Roku could know.
“Sozin…” Roku’s restrained and worried voice immediately brought Sozin back. “What if I told you that… it wasn’t like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Suwon wasn’t really a hero… he was the one who started the fight in the first place. He claimed the mountains Kuin’s family had for generations for the Fire Nation… it was the other way around.” Roku said quietly, as if it was a secret between just the two of them.
This was the first time Sozin did not appreciate being told something in confidence by Roku.
“Where did you hear that from?” He snarled, angry that this was even a topic of conversation to begin with.
“Well, when I was in the Earth Ki-”
“So you heard stories from them? How convenient that they would be the victim and we were the bad guys!” Sozin got up and raised his voice.
It was the first time he ever did that with Roku. Sozin limited his fiery outbursts to ministers – and family – who stepped out of line. So they would learn who to obey.
His friend widened his eyes but held strong.
“I heard from them, yes.” Roku continued to speak with this new confidence he’d never had before, “And then I confirmed with my past lives.”
That shut Sozin up.
Roku kept going, his eyes narrowing a bit. “Of course, I wouldn’t just accept what they said. That’s why I talked with my past lives. To see what really happened.”
Sozin held his tongue on how that was still just as subjective.
“Avatar Yin, who lived in the same period, witnessed it all, Sozin. She stopped the fight before it went too far. But it was we who started it.”
Hah, typical airbender, always ending fights, never willing to hear either side. But Sozin couldn’t say this now. Old Roku would’ve understood.
But this new Roku was different. He was distant. Always judging. Always needing to have the final word, just because he was the avatar.
“What’s the point of this story, Roku? Get to the point.” Sozin didn’t want to sit down and waste any more time on this needless topic, but he also didn’t want to just up and leave. Especially not when it’s been too long since he saw Roku.
He just wishes they could be talking about something else. Something not annoying. Maybe they could just spend the whole day training. Escape both their obligations as they did long ago, when they were young. Just get out of court and be together for a whole day.
No fire lord or avatar. Just Sozin and Roku.
“…” Roku seemed to think deeply about what he would say next. He then sighed and just said, “Nothing, Sozin.”
So that was it. Sozin certainly wasn’t going to push to continue this conversation.
“Want to go train?”
…And escape and just be together the whole day, just us?
But Sozin couldn’t voice that.
Roku still looked as grim as he did before, so uncertain about something. But Sozin didn’t know what.
They couldn’t read each other well anymore.
And that scared Sozin more than anything.
“And to you, Sozin,” the regal, handsome, and confident Roku stood tall with a drink in hand while he smiled happily to the crowd around him. “To my very best friend. More than that, really. We, who were born on the same day. Sozin, you are a part of me. Thank you for always being by my side.” Roku smiles and means every single word.
Sozin needs to bite his tongue and smile his usual smile. The one fitting for a Fire Lord. After all, leaders of a country don’t cry during wedding speeches.
And they certainly don’t scream and rage or throw fire bolts when the groom kisses the bride as if she were everything he could ever want in the world.
As if Sozin would never be (has never been) enough for Roku.
The first decrees of a Fire Lord paint a picture of what their era will be like. Sozin wasted no time: he updated the school curriculum to include more tactical and updated views of the world and where the Fire Nation stood, he invested heavily in metals as this was the way forward, and he made sure to amplify the quantity of schools where talent could be found anywhere in Fire Nation territory (as long as they were of noble blood).
Learning and progress. The two main themes of his rule. His laws were slow and subtle across decades. It took many years for them to be fully administered across the whole territory.
Roku was none the wiser to most rules, what with him hopping around the world, never staying at home.
Following his ministers’ advice, he did not decrease the number of celebrations and holidays. But he’d made sure those would reflect great days and feats in Fire Nation history only. Joint festivals with the Earth Kingdom and where Air Nomads came to visit were strictly removed off the national calendar.
Entry to the Fire Nation lands became more restricted. To join their great land, one must prove oneself.
And, most importantly (to Sozin himself) was one of the final laws of his era. The last law enacted before the most famous one of all, the one that initiated the war with the Air Nomads. From henceforward, all manners of consorting outside of formal engagements were outlawed, and Agni Kais were encouraged to follow the rules. Same sex relationships were now crimes punishable by death. As busy as he was, Sozin made sure to oversee the law and its punishments accordingly.
Sozin thought he’d chosen the perfect timing. Roku’s wedding day was the ideal day to start their conquest together. The beginning of their own union, their own dream to be achieved together.
Sure, they had their wives and sons to continue their legacy. But it was their own bond, Fire Lord and Avatar, that was unbreakable. It was their partnership that would change the world.
How could Roku not understand that?
Time spent in those lands had poisoned him, and Sozin only realized it much too late.
If only he’d stayed here. If only he could’ve trained here, at home, instead of going to the farthest reaches of the world and for what?
His home was here.
No nation was superior to theirs.
Roku couldn’t understand it (yet). But one day he would.
He sees his friend less and less as time passes. Roku is prone to traveling the world to see his old friends and is even more prone to spending time with his brats.
Sozin understands the need to teach the new generation all their skills and expertise. But surely hiring some tutors could help? He doesn’t understand why Fa Min and Roku insist on living on their little island with almost no hired help. As if spending all the time together with children was more worthwhile than living right here in court, at the height of luxury, with servants to do everything they need.
Those two always were bizarre. Roku’s time with the Water Tribe must have poisoned him even more.
At least, he still remembers to always visit Sozin on their birthday. It’s their own special day that they share. No one is allowed then. Not even their families or servants or disciples. Sozin makes it very clear that it is his free day each year, and should anyone get in the way, they had better be ready to suffer the consequences of displeasing their Fire Lord.
Dragons are the very essence of manliness. They’ve been drawn and written for centuries as the symbols of heroes, of unmatched power, and their fire is what shaped their country. There are legends that the royal family is descended from dragons, even.
Every heroic figure always had his own dragon. Every Fire Lord worth their name had their own famous animal companion who raged fire together with them.
The symbol of unlimited power. The fire that never disappears. The unbridled strength that brings the whole world down to its knees.
It’s only fitting that the strongest of men should be able to slay such beasts.
Only a true man can kill a dragon.
And so, Sozin kills the very first one while displaying its head to his highest officials and his son. Azulon must learn this, so what better way to teach him how to be a man?
That is the face of a true man and a true leader. The one who will lead their nation to greatness.
Only a dragon slayer could achieve such feat.
“In the name of our friendship, I will let you go today.” Roku’s words keep echoing in his head.
How dare he?!
Who did he think he was??
Did he truly believe an Avatar could stand against his Lord?
The audacity! The arrogance!
The traitorous snake that was Roku… now Sozin could see it all.
The one who left him, all alone in this deadly, poisonous court, to prove himself. The prince who lost his best friend, his advisor, his everything.
Only for Roku to go trotting all around the world, gathering friends and funny (he thinks) anecdotes of inferior cultures and traditions when the Fire Nation is his home.
As if the people who learned from inferior beings could ever be more interesting. What could compare to dragons, to begin with? Bisons were fat, heavy, and stupid looking. They could never fight in the air or do anything remotely close. Sozin had seen them flying before and it seemed like the universe’s joke to have something so useless fly on the same sky where majestic creatures lived. He couldn’t even be bothered to care about badgers, whom Roku mentioned seeing in a cave once. And the moon? Please… this must be a joke those peasants pulled on his best friend, and like a naive fool — still to this very day — Roku fell for it, hook and sinker.
How could Roku deem their company as worthwhile as those of his own peers? Of his own nation?
Sozin could see it all now, as age caught up to both of them and his limbs weren’t as nimble as before. Now that his fire wasn’t as strong, and his skin was covered in spots he remembered well from his grandparents, he knew his prime was long past.
And so was Roku’s.
His very best friend…
The most important person in the world.
The only one whose opinions truly mattered.
But that was the Roku in the past. The one who’d been his best friend. Who put Sozin above it all? Who loved stories of powerful firebenders who dominated their opponents in the fiercest of battles. He, who longed to have a dragon of his own and wreak a little havoc.
That had been Sozin’s Roku.
This person he’d become… Avatar Roku… was not him. This old, bitter man stood against him to the bitter end. Who denied all of his plans. Who called him insane and a warmonger. Who, in the moments when they could still talk years ago, asked him quietly what had happened.
‘What made you become like this?’
And Sozin is baffled. He didn’t become anything. He is as true and pure to his own self and goals as he’d always been. He is the same princely young man who puts his nation first before anything. The nation comes before even he himself.
It’s Roku that has changed. He’s become this travesty of his old self. How could he become such a puny, weak avatar? Especially when the Fire Nation had created such grand, powerful, and unstoppable forces. Sozin knew well enough that, should Roku desire it, he could pummel nations to the ground.
Roku, however, wanted for nothing except spending time with his friends and family. He, who had all the power in the world, a god alive… wished for nothing more.
He shared no dreams with Sozin.
They, who always envisioned the future of their great nation. And now Roku stood against him.
He didn’t understand. Could never understand.
His trips to inferior lands poisoned him. Not even Sozin could bring him back to his true self. The Roku who loved his nation and its people foremost.
The comet would soon be upon them.
It would be such perfect timing… the very moment it would hit, with their current army, the strike in the mountains would be precise. Deadly.
As if the universe itself was telling Sozin how perfectly all the pieces fit. In his very own lifetime, while he was still strong and lucid, such a comet to arrive.
The unlimited power it would bring… all his dreams would come true in a matter of minutes.
But Roku…
No, the Avatar was in his way.
His enemy and an obstacle every step of the way.
If only he were not around…
Then Sozin would have all he ever wanted. Everything a Fire Lord and his people deserved.
Perhaps it was a moment of weakness. It was definitely some type of weakness for Sozin, after all those years, that he was not prone to sentimentality.
But the smoke rising from the sky and the roaring volcano coming from Roku’s island made him move before he could think.
Sozin, the strategist, rushed to his dragon — who was forbidden from being hunted, as he was the Fire Lord’s own mount — and leaped into the sky, desperate to save Roku.
Until he finally found Roku, he could not think.
The relief he felt at seeing his old friend’s face was something Sozin would never forget. As were his next actions.
Young, stupid teenager prince Sozin who dreamed of the future and foolishly believed would have Roku always by his side without fault came rushing in to save his friend.
But old, wise Fire Lord Sozin who knew what the world was truly like soon resurfaced.
Roku was no longer his Roku.
More appropriately, he had never been his Roku.
He’d been the world’s Roku. Ta Min’s Roku. His children’s Roku.
But never Sozin’s Roku.
Only at this moment, covered in smoke and breathing in what felt like molten lava, did Sozin finally understand.
He’d always been alone.
It had never been Sozin and Roku. That was just his foolish, deluded fantasy.
The reality was that he was the prince (now Fire Lord) of the Fire Nation. He had always been alone. And will always be.
Roku was not his best friend. He was a traitor.
A disappointment.
The world was better off without a failure of an Avatar who couldn’t even keep his nation’s best interests at heart.
The world was better off without an Avatar, really.
And it absolutely did not people like the Air Nomads to share their inferior, confusing and obscenely wrong customs. The world did not need that.
Sozin did not need any of that.
That’s what he tells himself every time he wakes up in a sweat, surrounded by eyes in the dark looking at him, seeing him. Judging him. Those eyes, he can handle. He did that throughout his whole life.
It is Roku’s final moments that he cannot stand. Those eyes, who showered him with admiration and warmth, now turned to disbelief. The wrath in Roku’s eyes is something Sozin, his best friend, will never forget.
(or forgive himself.)
The betrayal in those eyes that once only held love.
But a Fire Lord must stand strong for his nation. Sozin will fulfill his legacy before his time is over. He will be remembered as the best leader in his nation’s history. The one who brought progress forward. The one who turned all nations into one.
No Avatar had ever done that.
But Fire Lord Sozin would achieve success where none had before.
History will forget Roku and any other Avatars. They were inconsequential. But they will not forget Fire Lord Sozin.
He will make sure of that.
(It is already enough that Sozin will never be able to forget Roku. The world doesn’t need the Avatar anymore. Roku’s memory is his and his alone).