Title:New Beginnings
Characters/Pairings: Zuko, Aang
Rating: K
Summary: There were a lot of changes to be made in the Fire Nation, and a lot of problems to be solved in the world. But even grumpy old Zuko found hope in the most innocuous of places: an ordinary textbook.
Disclaimer: I do not own nor earn any money from these characters or this setting.

A/N: This is a sequel of sorts to my other oneshot "Perception," but you don't have read that to understand this one. (Hence why it stands alone.)

New Beginnings

Zuko had never considered exactly how important his overthrow of Ozai was to the citizens of the Fire Nation.

It wasn't as if he had expected his crowning and subsequent years to be a cakewalk, and he knew his reign was going to be historic no matter what. Yet, absolutely everything had to change. The Nation's entire belief system had to be turned upside down. It was enough that he had to worry about a nearly decimated world, fanatical loyalists, and the Fire Nation's own collapsing economy. Did he really have time to worry about old murals that glorified Sozin and statues that depicted a soldier defeating an earthbender?

He didn't think so, but of course, everyone else did.

Zuko knew eliminating the intense propaganda in his country was important and deserved his attention, but he was feeling frustratingly spread thin at the moment.

And that spread-thin feeling was probably what prompted him to scream at the poor fellow who had been bothering him for the past three days straight.

"B-but, My Liege, in order to help reshape the future, w-we have to reshape how the children are taught. P-plus it's tradition to reprint textbooks when a new Fire Lord takes the throne," the man stuttered, cowering behind a thick book Zuko presumed was the standardized World Studies textbook. Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The man was right: it was an issue worth addressing. The misrepresentation of the other kingdoms in the world was completely atrocious.

Zuko had been raised on the belief that the Water Tribes were barbaric, the Air Nomads were power-hungry, and the Earth Kingdom was destined for failure without Fire Nation intervention. And he realized that keeping those textbooks would only ensure more problems later.

"I'm sorry; I'll get on that immediately," Zuko apologized. He nodded politely to the terrified educator, who then bowed again and quickly retreated. The Fire Lord sat on his throne deep in thought.

Zuko sighed again and placed a hand to his forehead. Why did he just make an impossible promise? How was he going to oversee the rewriting of a text while handling every other problem? How was he going to make sure the students were receiving accurate information? He was feeling the familiar spikes of frustration crawling up his spine again as he wondered how he was going to juggle finding writers.

Suddenly, like a lightning bolt, an idea struck him.

~xXx~

"Wow, Zuko, I feel kind of honored, but I don't know if I'm the right person for the job," Aang stated uncertainly, looking down at the letter again. The letter had summoned Aang to the Fire Nation, containing better news than normal. Aang felt genuine elation that his friend trusted him to carry out such an important task. It was a project he didn't mind devoting his rare free time to. They were on their way to lunch to explain the rest of the details of Zuko's plan, and to iron out any last minute wrinkles before the general meeting scheduled for the next day.

Zuko smiled breezily, undeterred. "Considering you're the last living member of the Air Nation, I think you're qualified. And considering I'm the leader of an entire country, and general overseer of this project, I think I'm qualified to deem you qualified. Besides, I have an old copy of the textbook, and can prove to you that anything you write cannot be much worse than what is already there."

"Not to sound rude at all, but isn't there a board to handle this sort of thing?" Aang asked. Remembering his adventures at a Fire Nation school, he secretly hoped Zuko had replaced that council of misinformed stuffy old farts.

"Normally, yes, but due to the war, a lot of nonbiased information about the other nations had been destroyed. I wanted to make sure the children were presented with the most factual information as possible, and what better way to get it than to have actual scholars from those kingdoms gather it?

"Also, don't worry too much about polishing your writings. I'm setting up a group to fix that, with me and each of you reading the final version to make sure it's perfect. And I'm reforming the Authority on Education to make sure the kids with access to education gets it relatively unfiltered. Letting our country shape the peoples' morals and ideals sounds like a recipe for disaster," Zuko answered.

Aang gave him a wide smile. "Honestly Zuko, I'm really excited you asked me to write the Air Nomad section in your textbooks. It gives me a great excuse to rush off to an Air Temple to do some research of my own every chance I get. I know I'll have to rebuild my nation somehow, and this sounds like a great start." Aang already could smell their delicious meal, but he could hardly concentrate on the food. Instead, the blank red walls of the corridor they walked down began to blur together as Aang began dreaming up different ways to rebuild the Air Nomads' legacy.

Watching his friend become overwhelmed with happiness, Zuko returned the smile with a gentle one of his own. "The world's really changing you know? And together, we'll have to usher in a new generation to reflect those changes," he added thoughtfully. It had such been a turbulent year, but Zuko was steadily finding hope everywhere he looked. Even in the unlikeliest, littlest, and most innocuous of places.

Such as a textbook.