4, craving

"How can you be so sure?"

The Avatar glared at him. Or tried to curse Zuko with his eyes, Zuko wasn't sure.

Zuko threw his hands up with frustration. "Yes, I know I have asked the question a dozen times before but you still haven't been able to convince me how you can be so certain that a girl you met briefly five years ago is the woman that you saw in your half-deluded state a few days ago."

Unexpectedly, Aang smirked. "I didn't see her briefly."

It took Zuko a moment to process that. Then he instinctively threw his hand over his eyes in horror. "Oh my goodness! Spare me the details!"

Aang's smirk widened and he blushed at the same time. "Take my word for it, it's her. And it's not just that. I knew her. Here." Zuko lowered his hand to watch Aang tap his heart.

"What do you want me to do? I've tried summoning her and her old grandmother and they've declined. Would you like me to trump up charges against them to get them arrested and dragged here by force?"

"Not them. Just her."

Zuko stared and Aang stared back unflinchingly. Zuko realized with a thrill of horror that the Avatar was perfectly serious.

"I could do that," the Fire Lord managed to say between clenched teeth. "I could place transparently fake charges on the women who brought the Avatar back from the brink of death. Then I could sit down and wait for the people to tear me to pieces."

Aang had gone back to cursing him with his eyes. "Isn't it nice that you're only concerned about public opinion when it doesn't affect what you want?"

"How dare-"

"I won't ask if I could do this myself and you know that! I can't leave the Palace. I can barely walk across my own room!"

"Aang…"

"You owe me. I've never asked for anything before now."

Every bit of commiseration Zuko felt had flown out of his body with a big whoosh at the 'you owe me' part. "Which part of saving your life did my debt not cover?"

"You want to keep score? How many times have I had to save your miserable hide?" Aang snapped.

Zuko felt the hot air building up beneath his ribs. A few years ago, he would have given it free rein, let his temper take its most natural course. A few years ago, he had had to stop doing that because he learnt the hard way that the Avatar could and would literally burn his own rage from him.

He turned away from the sick bed so that he was staring out at the gardens and not Aang's annoying face. He breathed shallowly, tamping down the hot rush of air until it had calmed to a tepid draught.

Just to be safe though, he kept his back to the other man. "Take a moment to think this through. Your" – just in time he bit down on the first word choice 'infatuation' and the next one 'obsession' – "Water tribe girl did not seem happy to see you. She won't be happier if she's brought here against her will."

"She healed me. She did – we did –"

"Yes, you said so. You also said you weren't fully conscious until the next evening. How much of what you remember that night was fact or just the product of your fantasies?"

"What? You think I imagined…"

"I think that for as long as I've known you, you've been all about this girl. And now, you think you've found her – "

"I don't think, Zuko!"

"– and you will have her by any means necessary. But what about her? How does she feel about you? Because regardless of her saving your life and whatever else may or may not have happened between you that night, a woman doesn't show she cares for a man by leaving him half-naked on the floor, squirming like a worm in pain!"

It was a testimony to the Avatar's hard-won control that the only thing Zuko felt was a sharp gust of wind forcing its way out of the windows. They barely even rattled.

He turned around.

The smirk had long gone. Even the arrow on his forehead seemed to droop.

Zuko struggled with his pity. And failed. He gave a loud sigh. "I can," he said slowly, grudgingly, "assign spies to watch her and the old woman. They will not interfere with them but they'll keep track of them, and influence events so that it will be impossible for them to leave the Nation."

He wasn't sure but he thought Aang smiled a little at the 'influence'.

"And when you're fully recovered, she'll still be here for you to decide on the course of action to take."

Aang pretended to consider this for a moment. "I guess I'll have to make do with that," he said at last.

Zuko guessed that was as close to a 'thank you' that he'd get from Aang. With a half-mocking bow, he said, "It's my pleasure to serve the Avatar. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

He was halfway out the door, when Aang's voice stopped him.

"I have a chance, don't I? With her, I mean."

Zuko couldn't help smiling. "Of course, you do, you're the Avatar." He was only half-joking.

Aang frowned. "That's not such a good thing, these days. People outside the Fire Nation don't always understand why I did the things I did."

"Most people see reason after a while."

"She will, won't she? I mean, it's not like she'd have any personal reason to dislike me, will she?" Aang's voice was anxious.

(Red snow. Igloos turned black with smoke. An old woman's dying screams. )

Zuko looked away so Aang could not see the way his smile vanished (like smoke). "Why ever should she?"