"Stay low and stay quiet."
Zuko whispered through the mist that clung to thin air. He and a dozen men in metal suits of red and gold crept across the wind whipped terra. In pairs or groups of three the elite guards clambered down beneath the surface of the bedrock with the wave of a scout. Zuko received a respectful bow from him as he ducked into the cool caverns. Ahead of him in the narrow path he could see orange lights dancing on the eroded walls. He strode forward until his hand met the shoulder of the first man casting a flame.
"Put that light out now," he demanded.
They fell into the pitch darkness. After a moment their eyes adjusted and they could make out the shadowed figures of their companions around them. Zuko nudged the nearest soldier and they began their advancement through the underground tunnels, one hand suspended in front of him level with his shoulders, the other clenched tightly around his dual swords. He strained his ears, trying to train them to listen like a komodo hound. Faint voices trailed along the slick tunnel towards them. Zuko followed it until he saw light flickering around a corner and could discern what the voices discussed in secret. The guards filed silently passed him and settled into formation.
"- thus far has failed. And you're getting sloppier," said one man gruffly.
"If we keep this up, we will all meet our demise."
"There are still enough of us left," said a familiar voice. "We just need one more opportunity. I know that we can succeed because we have honor on our side. Zuko was disowned and discredited. Even with the blood of the Fire Nation and Avatar Roku, the boy is a usurper."
"What can we do? He is well guarded and the tides of the common people have turned greatly since you've hid yourself away."
"The boy is popular. He has increased productivity and living standards exponentially. The Fire Nation is trading and communicating with the rest of the world like it never has before."
Zuko swelled with pride. In the five years since the war, the Fire Nation stepped up to help reconcile for their past. They blazed a new, less destructive trail to unity and harmony. He knew he must have achieved some true greatness if those plotting against him had to consider themselves. There was a shuffle of feet, a clatter, and a groan.
"The Fire Nation is greater than trade routes and peace treaties. The boy will turn our power into softness and mediocrity before our very eyes. I refuse to let one hundred years go to waste, not while Ozai lives. I will fight every day. Zuko will die, even if I have to kill him myself."
"Go! Go! Go!" burst one of the commanders.
The voices had condemned themselves with their words and now the guards jumped into action. There were shouts and plumes of orange flames from both sides. A guard checked Zuko's shoulder with his elbow as he hustled eagerly towards the fight, but the knock drew Zuko's eyes down another tunnel. Moving briskly away was a small white light. He called after it, but it did not falter. None of the others would chase after this mystery, so he did. He followed it around corners twisting through the labyrinth that years of crashing ocean waves and volcanic eruptions created.
He realized after a few moments that he could see more sharply. There was natural light somewhere nearby. He saw long hair whip around a corner not far ahead. He turned his head down and charged, calling for the figure to stop. As he turned the corner, sunlight slapped him across the face. His eyes were wide open facing the cliff-side cave. There was no one there. He closed the gap between himself and the edge of the cave. He looked down, seventy feet to the ocean throwing violent waves against the rocks. He looked up, a vertical climb of twenty feet.
He settled his breathing and scanned every crevice of the cave to no avail. Then he tried to make his way back to the others. He nursed a guiding flame in his hand, watching the tendrils flit up, and thinking about what he saw. He figured it must be a girl with hair the flowed long enough to betray her around a corner. He could not fathom where she had gone. A fire-bender and non-bender would have found no escape. An earth bender could have created and sealed a new tunnel without issue. A water bender could have brought the waves to them and softened their dive into the sea.
There were more than a few benders from other nations who found secret sanctuary in the Fire Nation during the war. Zuko removed the faceplate from his helmet and pinched his chin thoughtfully with his free hand. He had been a favorite to the other nations ever since the compromise of Yu Dao, so it was unlikely, but not impossible that anyone of them would be privy to the pro-Ozai meeting. If it was an enemy, why flee when Zuko offered himself as a clear shot. The flash of hair floated in the front of his thoughts as he clambered up and out of the caverns.
"Your highness," said Admiral Yan with a bow. "Deepest apologizes, we did not realize you were left behind."
"I combed the tunnels for any other traces of treachery."
"I will have my men search every inch of this place, sir. The conspirators are here," he said, leading Zuko to the tree line where a handful of dirty nobles were bound to the trunk of a tree.
Among them was Mai's father. Where the others dropped their gazes to the ground, her father looked him straight in the eyes. When the war ended, Mai asked for her father's pardon and Zuko conceded, finding him a harmless position tending to the reconstruction of Earth Kingdom towns. However, it took no more than a month for him to show his true colors. When the first reports surfaced about a faction which sought to return Ozai to the throne, Zuko was livid to hear Mai's father was the ring-leader. Then, when Mai refused to speak to her father in Zuko's favor, it created the first of many wedges that separated them.
"How is Mai?" asked Zuko.
His face curled up in fury and confusion. "I'm sure you know better than I do, bastard king!"
He spit at him. It had barely splattered Zuko's chest plate before a couple of guards were upon him. He turned away from the prisoners and crossed the strip of forest between the road and rock. On the roa, a dragon-moose hitched to a plain grey carriage stamped its hoof. He opened the door and put a foot up on the step, when he felt a prickle on the back of his neck.
Nothing shifted in the trees as he examined the space between each trunk. He gazed up into the foliage but found no sign in the thin branches. So he ducked his head and set off back to the capitol in his carriage. His distraction accompanied him all the way back to his chamber as his dressers helped him out of his armor. Kyoshi warriors replaced Fire Nation guards at his door and their captain approached him with a friendly smile.
"You look troubled, Zuko? Was it Mai's father?" asked Suki.
"No," he said.
The rest of team Avatar was stretched thin across the globe, but Suki remained in the Fire Nation with the other Kyoshi warriors in Zuko's charge. They were his elite personal bodyguard. Suki was the most helpful of Zuko's company in the Fire Nation. However recently, Sokka insisted that she join him in Yu Dao to live and serve on the Unity Council, but she refused. Even when Zuko urged her to make a choice that made her happy, she chose to stay in the capitol. He could never discern why, but he was grateful for her company. She listened when he needed to talk and provided comfort when he needed to sit in silence.
"Right," said Suki, rapping her fans on her leg. "What was it, then?"
"I saw something odd," he mumbled. "But I'll explain later."
He could not put to words the light that lead him or the wisp of hair he thought he saw disappear of the cliffside. He turned back to the mirror hanging from the wall, tugging his hair free from the top knot. With alot of combing, it fell into its natural shag.
"Okey, there is still plenty of day left. I already tried talking to your mother," said Suki, cheerily. "You and your family should go out for a walk…"
Her expression lemoned as Zuko raised an eyebrow at her. She shook it off. "I don't know, something outside for a change."
"For now, I think I'll take a nap, but maybe later my mother, sister, and I can go for a walk."
His stoic sarcasm was not lost on Suki. She nudged him jokingly and left the chamber. The curtains were drawn and, with the darkness, sleep rushed in. Rest had not been easy to find when the leaders of Pro-Ozai had been at large, stirring dissension where Zuko was only trying to build trust. He had made great strides to that effect in the last five years, but some islands and territories were so damaged that Zuko could barely claim them as part of his kingdom. Find your own light.
Mountains rose from Zuko's sea of dreams. A streak of blue flashed past him on one side, then a powerful burst of red flew past his other. The ancient dragons Ran and Shaw twirled and danced in the valley. Suddenly, they turned to face Zuko, opened their mouths and drowned him in light.
Zuko sat bolt upright. There was a knocking at his door. A clamour came and the door opened. The bottom half of a green skirt fell into the room and Ty-Lee's face followed right behind.
"Sorry, Zuko," she grinned. "Suki, doesn't understand why you shouldn't interrupt someone sleeping in the afternoon."
Suki sighed, impatiently, so Zuko decided not to indulge Ty-Lee. "What's going on?"
"You're mother wants you to take tea with her," said Suki.
"You couldn't have made some kind of excuse?"
"I think you want to have some tea, Zuko," she continued, pronouncing each word deliberately. "Azula's there and her tea has a very peculiar flavor."
He set off through the palace with the Kyoshi warriors falling into stride around him. His younger sister had been lost for months after their emotional reunion with their mother four years ago. She finally turned up on the outskirts of the Si Wong Desert, dehydrated and delusional. Each day became a new struggle for Zuko and Ursa as they tried everything they could to aide in Azula's recovery. Not many, outside the royal family, and those Zuko trusted utmost, knew about this plight. In fact, only Suki knew about their newest trial, as it had been Sokka who shared it with her.
"How much has she had?" Zuko asked.
He put his hand on the door knob, took a deep breath and entered without looking to Suki for an answer. There were no flames burning along the front of the hall, which left the room cooler and more welcoming than Zuko had ever known it. A thick rug had been brought to rest in the center of the stone floor and two women with long, dark hair lounged upon it. On the steps which led to the throne sat a half dozen musicians, tuning their instrument between songs, which left Zuko's footfalls to fill the silence. One of the women jumped to her feet.
"Zu-zu," she bounded forward. He stopped in his tracks, preparing for impact. Azula threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. He could smell a hint of cactus juice through the aroma of her combed hair. "I am so glad you are here. Mother and I are trying to find all the lava rocks."
Her golden eyes were glassy and her palms warm as she pulled Zuko closer to the silver bowls filled with little stones and pebbles. She plopped back down and continued prodding the smooth, black volcanic rocks away from the rest. Zuko remained standing, watching his sister. Their mother brushed the long strands of Azula's hair out of her face, then she looked up at her son. She read the distaste on his furrowed brow and stood up.
"What's the matter, Zuko?"
"She's been given cactus juice again," he murmured. "That's the third time this week."
Ursa put an arm on his shoulder. "Yes, I know, but her mind is settled by the concoction. Nothing else we have tried has been nearly as effective. Don't you see that she feels better?"
"No," he said, turning away from her touch. "I see that she is addled. I see that we have given up trying to actually fix her. I do not want her to be treated with cactus juice any more. There must be a better way."
Azula lifted a red marble to the lights that flickered in the chandeliers above them. She rolled it carefully between her thumb and forefinger, then held it up to Zuko. He knelt at her side and offered his open hand where she placed the cold bead.
"It looks like fire," she said, dreamily. "I can bend fire, but it's not like that."
"What is yours like, Azula?" he questioned her.
She sifted through her collection and emerged with a jagged, blue rock. She gripped it tightly, slowly her fingers went white. Whatever draught she was given rendered her infantile. Even when she tried, all she managed to bend were lethal bolts of lightning. After a moment, Zuko felt two thick droplets fall onto his leg. He touched the dark spot and saw red. He gasped. Azula squeezed the rock until it cut into her skin.
"Azula?!" he said, forcing the object away.
She cackled wildly as Zuko soaked up the blood with a piece of his clothing. He tugged one of the belts from around his middle and started to bandage her up. Ursa watched sheepishly as her son tended to her daughter's self-inflicted wounds.
"Why did you do that?" he said.
"It's alright," she said, stifling her laughter. "It's alright, Zuko. I can't feel it. I can't feel anything."
He released her hand and she threw herself backward onto the rug, renewing her maniacal laughter so that it echoed around the hall, throwing the musicians out of beat. Zuko's anger rose and he clambered to his feet. He cast an accusatory look at his mother and left the hall without another word to either of them. He felt her struggle, for it had been his own. His uncle had been his savior in these hard times. Zuko didn't know if he was strong enough to save Azula.