Single-dipped koan: if you can't handle me at my worst...

~~Miscommunication~~

"You have nothing to fear, Fire Lord Zuko."

"I am not afraid!" Zuko protested, his lips curling in a snarl. Flames flickered around his fingertips. He could take this nothing-man, this insolent guard from relative prestige to a pile of ashes in a second, if he wanted to. But then he remembered his new friends' desolate faces and a blind girl with charred red feet, and the Fire Lord released his breath. He conceded to the poor guard, "Apologies. I got away from myself."

"Not a problem, my lord," the guard said with relief, bowing deeply. To his apparent surprise, Zuko bowed back, albeit only slightly.

"No, it is. You do not deserve to be intimidated for speaking the truth," Zuko said. For some reason, he heard the last line in Iroh's lilting voice even as he spoke it. "Keep that in mind, and tell me the truth when I ask my next question."

"Yes, my lord."

"How is my sister?"

Silence reigned for a slow moment. Evening danced in sunlit dust clouds around three pairs of feet – the guard's in heavy metal alloy boots; Zuko's in flat shoes made of fine black silk and adorned with golden embroidered dragons; and the final pair, belonging to Mai, in low geta sandals.

"She is…you will see." It was not encouraging.

Zuko glanced aside, doubt covering his features. "Maybe I should speak to her healers first."

"Maybe," Mai butted in, voice dry with resentment, "you should listen."

"I can explain," the guard sighed. "She had horrible screaming fits for months. It sounded like a fight between a dragon and a mountain. We had her in a bare stone room because she incinerated anything flammable we put in there with her. We had to chain her to the wall to stop her from burning herself, but she can breathe fire from her mouth!" He shuddered. "I've never seen anything like it. I still have nightmares."

"Sounds safe," remarked Mai.

"She's not chained anymore, is she?" Zuko inquired, biting back his empathy. It was for her own good, he reminded himself. "She wrote me a letter."

"No, see, here's the miracle!" the guard exclaimed. "It was too inhumane, the way we had to restrain her. I've heard rumors about her - war crimes, murder, general dastardliness – but you can't abuse a tiger-shark just for being a tiger-shark. Ya know?"

"We know," Mai drawled.

"So we were thinking euthanasia – "

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Zuko burst in crossly, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. "As her legal guardian -"

The guard looked surprised. "My higher-ups and I sent you a long report, detailing the options and conditions."

"I never received it," the Fire Lord muttered. Mai covered the bottom half of her face with a cream-colored fan. Zuko shot her a sidelong glance, but conceded, "I guess that's a matter for another time."

The guard shot an alarmed glance at the lady, but continued, "In any case, we arrived at an alternate solution. One of our healers was in contact with a brilliant man from the Northern Water Tribe who is able to imbibe medicinal herbs with greater healing power using traditional waterbending techniques. He visited the prisoner and devised a special formula that he believes can help her. This was all in the report."

Mai coughed politely.

"Maybe we can get this waterbender sage guy to brew up something to soothe your throat," quipped Zuko venomously.

"Well…" The guard was clearly distressed at losing his footing in the conversation. "It seems to be working. We have been able to unchain her. You will see," he repeated.

See what, exactly? Zuko wondered with dread.

~close~

...then you shouldn't wake me up before eight.