Epilogue 3: Second Conflict of Loves
The breeze blew warm and gentle through the thin curtains of his palace chamber. He could not call it a room. It was more like a gilded cage and he wanted out. Zuko plotted as he breathes in meditation with Mai soaking up the comfort of the quiet space and company. He pictured the bald sifu who taught him so much about both the assassin's craft and being Silver Circle. He knew he had much still to learn. He discreetly fondled the silver bracelet that Mu-Tan had given him when he swore his vows. The words, Qin Maru, were engraved upon it.
"Where did you get that?" asked Mai in her barely interested deep voice.
He tugged his sleeve down to cover it. "It was a gift."
"For winning at the competitions? I was there, you know. I watched. You were very good. I didn't know you knew Earth Kingdom martial arts." She returned to resting her cheek against the back of his shoulder.
Zuko was sure she was digging for information for Azula. He ignored her question. "When you are in exile and among the enemy, you pay attention and learn and blend in."
"Uh-hunh." It was noncommittal. Mai didn't really want to know the story behind it all.
Zuko returned to his plotting in the silence of his meditation, waiting for Mai to leave for her own room. He worried sometimes if she would one night choose not to leave. He banished that thought from his mind as something to be dealt with later if it ever happens. Mai did finally leave. He figured she was bored. When did I get so patient? My uncle would be amazed. I should thank both him and Mu-Tan for this.
He resolved to thank Mu-Tan for much more if he managed to find him this evening. Remembering his lessons, Zuko removed his clothes and dressed in his dark green sleeping clothes, pulling black socks over the bottoms of his pants. He mixed the soot from the fire place with a bit of oil and rubbed it over every bit of exposed skin, his wrists and hands, his neck and ears, and his face. He peered out the window and climbed carefully onto the ledge. Four floors was a long drop. Stretching as far as he could, he reached the 3 floor Fire Nation Banner that hung down the palace wall. Gripping it firmly, he climbed down and dropped the final story. Looking back up to his window, his uncle's words from long ago echoed back in his mind. You never think things through! He hadn't considered how he was going to get back into his room. Too late now. He crouched suddenly as the scheduled Dai Li patrol walked by. Zuko was just another shadow in the bushes.
He crept around the palace perimeter waiting for the Dai Li to provide him with an opening to dash across the courtyard. He stood, ready to run, muscles tense like a pigmy panther. He never made it. A stranger's foot caught him between his, off-balancing him. He was spun and pinned face first to the wall. A stone glove shackled each hand firmly, preventing him from firebending. Stone rose from the garden he stood in and locked around his feet. An icy blade pressed warningly against his throat. He closed his eyes. It was over. The Dai Li had him. He wondered what he would say to his younger sister and what lecture and punishment she would meet out on him. He prayed it was a hired assassin to kill him instead. He prayed the blade with slide and spill his blood. He prayed the ghostly hands of a red-haired beauty would pull him through the wall and save him.
"Whose side are you on?" demanded an almost familiar whisper.
Zuko's mind raced. He knew he hadn't much time before the next Dai Li Patrol. This was not Dai Li. He chose his words carefully. "Qin Maru."
The blade vanished in a quick flick of the wrist. The stones released Zuko from his rudimentary shackles. He turned to face his captor uncertain whether he wanted to hit him and hug him. Mu-Tan pressed Zuko's back against the wall. "What in the nine hells are you doing out here then? If you are trying to see her, don't. Don't you dare put her in that kind of danger."
"Is she… how is she?" Zuko almost pleaded.
Mu-Tan relaxed. "She is doing well, walking some on her own now. The baby is starting to show." Zuko's legs went to jelly and he lost the ability to stand. Mu-tan caught him and eased him to sitting. "Zuko. She's ok. So is Ty-Min. Travahar is ready, but there are too many Fire Nation here. We need information. We need assistance."
"You need my uncle," Zuko want to say something else. I need my uncle.
"I can't get him out," confessed Mu-Tan. "I need to know something else. Did you kill the avatar?"
Zuko was hurt by the doubt in Mu-Tan's voice. He understood though. He had hunted the avatar for so long; it was in his chakra rites. He had still held contempt for the avatar in the end. But, "no… I didn't."
"Then it was Azula." Mu-Tan spoke with finality.
Zuko tried to clarify, "She took him down."
Mu-Tan caught the hint, "so you think he lives?" Dared he hope?
"Katara is with him." Zuko was sure the avatar lived. He hoped he did. The avatar was the only one now who could stop this war, he understood this now. "I'll do what I can from here. But I am watched… a lot."
Mu-Tan dragged Zuko back along the palace perimeter as they avoiding the patrolling Dai Li. There the two warriors parted, below Zuko's room. Mu-Tan had made small notches in the wall up to Zuko's room. Zuko wanted to just run away. He wanted to escape back into exile and be with Faelin. He knew his destiny though. It was not to be with her, not yet. With great resignation, he climbed back into his room.
