restoringhonor | two ➢ voice

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two ➢ voice

[Filtered from Sveta & Howie]

Before I came here, the Avatar - my friend - was faced with the problem of wanting a nonviolent solution to a violent conflict. He was raised to believe that all life was sacred, and wanted to find another way to stop it, even though ending the threat permanently would restore peace and end a war that had.

I thought he was being naive. That violence was the only way to stop what was happening. But he found a solution that didn't end in murder while still eliminating the threat.

Obviously I don't know Howie or Sveta as well as I know my friend. But maybe that can work here, too.

... Does anyone need any assistance with what's going on?

[Private to Iroh]

Are you alright?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With words and blades and anything else I could use.

I mean, against who? Were you part of an army or a resistance movement? How were your people being threatened?

Against the King who stole from us, orphaned us, and broke the back of our land with his wars and his demands. Against his men, who turned us from shelter and left us to die - when they didn't simply kill us themselves. Against the noblemen who cheated us and cast us from our homes to the streets - and then from the streets to the wild, to fend for ourselves against monsters while the soldiers laughed.

The army exists to gather gold and glory for the King, not to serve the people. We must serve ourselves or die.

I'm sorry. [ALL THE SLIGHTLY MISPLACED GUILT.]

[DOES IT STILL SOUND FAMILIAR, ZUKO.]

Remember it the next time you believe the best of a Warden because of the Admiral's whim.

[YOU SOUND LIKE JET.]

Just because you might be fighting for the right cause doesn't mean you're doing it the right way.

[SO VERY SIMILAR, EXCEPT JET WEARS PANTS.]

More nonviolence? I didn't have the time to sit and talk while my brothers and sisters starved to death. Men who live by the sword listen to nothing else.

[DO YOU HAVE HOOK SWORDS AND SOME STRAW TO CHEW ON. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.]

You need to lead people by example. Violence can solve problems, but it's not the only solution, and if you think it is, all it does is create more hatred.

[SHE DID LIVE ON A FARM SO STRAW IS A MAYBE.]

You need to lead people however you must to keep them alive to fight on. There's no point in peace when it's gained because you're all dead and your enemies have won.

[THIS IS TOO PERFECT.]

But that can be accomplished in so many ways. Killing everyone who gets in your way doesn't make you any better than the people you're fighting against.

I have no interest in senseless killing.

But you do kill people who serve your king. Who oppose you.

They turned their swords against us long before we began to fight back.

They hurt you. They hurt your family. I understand that. But killing them just makes them feel justified in hurting your people further.

And if I do not kill them... they kill us anyway.

No, I don't think much of your strategy. Better to die fighting and give others courage to do the same than to die starving...and leave others to do that.

That's only a temporary solution. What are you going to do to actually better your world?

I'm dead.

If you'd survived.

I'd have shown the world that a country doesn't need a King. That the people can rule themselves and do it well and fairly - and that humans can work in peace with races the King wanted to cast as only our enemies.

It takes war to bring down an unwilling, unjust King. I would have brought it to him.

How can they do it well and fairly, and really bring peace, if you're encouraging them to use the same methods used against them?

I never encouraged anyone to starve the soldiers or steal everything they owned and drive them to desperation, then refuse them all aid.

But there is no such thing as a war without death.

No. But that doesn't mean you can't fight with honor and justice.

Honor is a luxury for the noble and the rich.

I have never wanted anything more or less than justice for my people.

That's not true. Honor isn't something you're just handed because of your social status. It's something you need to fight for, and earn.

[She laughs cynically.]

Given the chance between honor and victory, knowing that defeat would mean children starved to death, women mauled and eaten by monsters, men cut down by their own king's men... what would you choose?

And don't tell me both. There's no time to fight for anything but life.

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