[That's a lot to think over and process, so he slowly starts to cover it.]
A lot of it's confusing and complicated. Zuko admitted that it was a mistake after he took it back. It had something to do with his dad being in prison, and he said he was trying to use me as an... escape hatch, instead of just as a safety net. I guess maybe we were both thinking about what we knew about Roku and Sozin. Sozin caused so much pain after Roku let him live. I was afraid if I messed up... more tragedies like the one Sozin caused would happen again. And it'd be even worse because it was Zuko. I guess... Zuko wouldn't want to live on with himself if he was like that. Energy bending would stop him, but if he became like Ozai... he'd still be a monster on the inside.
But at the same time... I didn't think it would happen, back then. I had faith in Zuko, and I thought nothing would really come of the promise. [He pauses and looks at Sokka.] You all had faith in my judgement.
And... yeah, the war thing was kind of connected to that. We didn't see him at all over the course of the year, and he was kind of being secretive. Right before I came here for the first time, he tried to break off the Harmony Restoration Movement. He wanted the oldest Fire Nation colonies to remain, because of how long they'd been there, and how much they'd lived together with the Earth Kingdom people. It was still imperfect, though. The Fire Nation people had a social advantage, and... Zuko tried to attack us, but he also wanted to set up a peace talk after he calmed down. Everything was just really confusing. And then it was the Earth King of all people who tried to turn it into a war. He didn't want to be stepped on anymore.
[Action]
A lot of it's confusing and complicated. Zuko admitted that it was a mistake after he took it back. It had something to do with his dad being in prison, and he said he was trying to use me as an... escape hatch, instead of just as a safety net. I guess maybe we were both thinking about what we knew about Roku and Sozin. Sozin caused so much pain after Roku let him live. I was afraid if I messed up... more tragedies like the one Sozin caused would happen again. And it'd be even worse because it was Zuko. I guess... Zuko wouldn't want to live on with himself if he was like that. Energy bending would stop him, but if he became like Ozai... he'd still be a monster on the inside.
But at the same time... I didn't think it would happen, back then. I had faith in Zuko, and I thought nothing would really come of the promise. [He pauses and looks at Sokka.] You all had faith in my judgement.
And... yeah, the war thing was kind of connected to that. We didn't see him at all over the course of the year, and he was kind of being secretive. Right before I came here for the first time, he tried to break off the Harmony Restoration Movement. He wanted the oldest Fire Nation colonies to remain, because of how long they'd been there, and how much they'd lived together with the Earth Kingdom people. It was still imperfect, though. The Fire Nation people had a social advantage, and... Zuko tried to attack us, but he also wanted to set up a peace talk after he calmed down. Everything was just really confusing. And then it was the Earth King of all people who tried to turn it into a war. He didn't want to be stepped on anymore.