Vivisection

Chapter 10 – Get To Work

My new room belonged to Zuko's sister, the one who was in a mental asylum. Although maybe that was kind of understandable, now that I knew who she was related to.

It was a nice room, warm colours like everything else in the palace, a four-poster bed with curtains on the sides. The kind of bed all little girls dream of having. There was a window which looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time. I opened it this morning, breathing in fresh air and light. Obviously the window was east-facing, because the sun was coming right in.

If the room had had any personal belongings in it I might have felt bad about using it. As it was it was very impersonal, almost like a hotel room. Just a neatly made bed and an ensuite with a bath and toilet which were both very clean. I had looked in the toilet when I had first been given the room. I had been curious - nothing in this world seemed particularly high-tech and it seemed highly unlikely that it would be flushing. Instead, there was just a dark hole. I was on the top floor, so it obviously couldn't be a long drop. I had asked the maid who had shown me in and she had replied, blushing, that it led to a firepit. So the royal shit got incinerated. Ha ha.

I had also been informed that if I wanted a hot bath, I had to let one of the palace staff know so that the water could be heated and carried up to my room. This made me more than slightly uncomfortable. I didn't like other people doing things for me, especially when I could do said things perfectly well myself.

They had left Zuko's sister's clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Despite the fact that someone had obviously been airing them regularly, they smelt old, and I guessed they'd been there a while, which was more than a little creepy. I made a mental note to go out and buy myself more clothes tomorrow.

There was a knock at the door. 'Who is it?' I called out, wrapping myself in a red dressing gown.

'It's me, Qing.' The maid from yesterday walked in. 'I've been told to tell you the arrangements of your work.'

'Okay,' I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. 'I'm listening.'

'You must accompany Fire Lord Zuko wherever he wishes to go from sunrise until sunset, taking whatever armaments you need to defend him against potential assassination,' Qing recited. 'You will not let him out of your sight during this time. You will do this every day except on the days of new moon and full moon each month, during which you may do as you like, even leave the palace and its grounds if you wish. You will take your meals with the Fire Lord. You will attend him during all war meetings and councils, even if these fall on your rest days. You will be paid a wage of ten gold pieces per month. Any bodily damage which you suffer in protection of the Fire Lord will be treated by a healer whose services will be paid for by the royal treasury. In addition to this you will be given a compensation of fifty gold pieces. If you wish to take holidays or any leave of absence outside of your normal rest days you must notify the Fire Lord at least one month in advance. Do you have any questions?'

'Yeah, I got a question,' I said. 'Qing, how much do you get paid a month?'

She looked down. 'Um…I feel it is indelicate to say.'

I snorted. 'Just tell me.'

'I am paid a wage of three silver pieces per month, two of which I send home to my mother and sisters,' she murmured.

'You're my maid, right?' I asked. 'So you have to do what I tell you.'

Qing nodded. 'Yes, my lady Turunen.'

'Okay, then, here's an order. When I give you half my pay each month, you have to accept it.'

She blanched. 'But my lady…'

'No questions asked,' I reiterated. 'Give it to your family, share it up with the other maids if it makes you feel better. Give it to a charity, give it to a beggar. Just give it to someone who needs it, yeah?'

'Yes, my lady.'

'Believe me when I say I don't need that much money,' I said.

She smiled at me. 'Thank you, my lady.' She turned to leave the room.

That made me feel better. At least I was paying her now. I was still going to feel horribly guilty whenever I called for a bath and she lugged buckets of hot water up the stairs or whatever, but…

Oh crap. I was late for work. And Zuko would probably be pissed off.

I stood up, headed over the wardrobe and pulled out an outfit. It was a long, heavy dress with gold trim on it. I hope they're not all princess's clothes, I thought, as I shifted through the clothes. Eventually I found a pair of loose black pants, a red kimono top and a red hairclip. I hastily did my hair in an approximation of how all the Fire Nation women wore theirs, pulled on the clothes, and tugged on the boots I'd worn the day before.

Then I walked out my door and went to work.

'The Fire Lord is at breakfast, Lady Turunen,' the man at the door leading to the royal suite told me. 'Downstairs and just down the hall.'

I thanked him, at which he looked more than slightly surprised, and followed his directions. I hoped I would have time to eat something. I was hungry and my mouth felt furry after sleep.

I opened the door I came to and entered a big room with shiny red tiles on the floor. Zuko and Iroh were sitting at a small table, with tea and what looked like bread rolls and cold noodles. Zuko, damn him, looked like he was finished eating.

I walked over and bowed, as I had been told to do, but not without resentment.

'Good morning, Fire Lord,' I said through my teeth. 'And to you, General Iroh.' I made my tone friendlier here.

'Good morning, Nemi,' Iroh said cheerfully. He was sipping tea, which I was beginning to think was a regular thing with him. My stomach growled, and I thought longingly of coffee. 'Sit down. Have something to eat.'

'I couldn't. You two look like you're almost finished,' I replied.

'No, you must be hungry. I made jasmine tea this morning. Try it.' He poured me a cup and I sat down, as far away from Zuko as I could.

I drank the tea, which quickly cured me of my coffee craving. 'You're very good at tea-making,' I said after I'd swallowed. I picked up a bread roll and took a bite. It was sweeter than normal bread, but a lot more filling.

'Thank you. It's a hobby of mine,' he replied.

'So…Fire Lord. What are your plans for today?' I asked.

He looked up at me over his cup of tea, eyebrow raised. 'I didn't think you cared.'

'I don't. But I'm getting paid to spend the day doing whatever you do and making sure no one tries to kill you,' I retorted.

Iroh shook his head. 'It's a little too early for a battle of sarcasm. And as I'm sure you both know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.'

'If you must know, Miss Turunen,' Zuko said, with more than a touch of scathing in his voice, 'I was planning to spend the day at the Fire Temple.'

'Just so you know, I'm not religious.'

'Neither am I. Just visiting a friend who happens to be going there today.'

'Oh, you've got friends do you? Whoopee for you,' I replied.

'A woman with an attitude problem. How original,' he shot back.

Even though I knew that whenever men resorted to sexist insults, it meant they were just trying to get under your skin, I nearly hit him in the face.

'Zuko, that's enough,' Iroh interjected. 'Leave her alone.'

I smirked at him. 'Ha, bitch.'

'And Nemi, if you continue to rile him on purpose, I will have your wage docked,' Iroh told me sternly.

'What?!' I protested. 'I tried to start a perfectly civil conversation! He was the one who started with the insults!'

Now Zuko was smirking at me.

I decided it was time for a convenient change of subject. 'So how far is it to this Fire Temple?'

It was Iroh who answered. 'It's a walk of about an hour up a mountain. Zuko prefers not to take the palantine.'

'Will you be able to handle that, Miss Turunen?' Zuko asked with fake concern.

I stood up and snorted. 'Huh. I eat mountains for breakfast.'

I normally quite liked bush-bashing - or in this case jungle-bashing - but not when I was wearing a pair of boots my feet weren't used to.

In other words, oh God the blisters.

I discreetly slipped the boots off and carried them in my left hand, hoping a) Zuko hadn't noticed and b) he wouldn't pick on me about it.

'Are your feet hurting?' he asked sarcastically, ahead of me. 'Do you want me to carry you up the mountain?'

'Fuck you, Miss Daisy,' I replied promptly. 'I can walk.'

Zuko turned to look at me. 'The last time someone said the word fuck to me was two years ago.' His expression was thoughtful rather than reproachful.

'Not offending your delicate sensibilities, am I?' I snorted. He didn't say anything in reply, just turned back around and kept walking.

I really, really hoped there weren't any leeches around. I had this phobia of snaily-sluggy things. It wouldn't do to have a screaming panic attack in front of my new arsehole boss.

'People tiptoe around me, like I might break,' he said, and I realised he was responding to my earlier comment.

'Why's that?' I asked. He didn't answer. There it goes again, I thought. There's definitely something going on here that I don't know about.

I dismissed it. I couldn't very well ask him. If Iroh had seen fit not to tell me about whatever it was, Zuko sure as hell wouldn't be forthcoming.

'We're nearly at the temple, by the way,' he said.

I shrugged. 'I noticed.'

He turned again. 'How? You can't see it from here.'

'It's not hard to figure out that this is the slope of a volcano,' I said. 'You don't really get tropical forest randomly growing on a mountainside unless the soil's very fertile. Which volcanic soil is. And up here there's more basalt, which means we're getting near the top.'

He didn't say anything to that. The forest began to thin, and then we came into sight of the temple.

It had quite literally been built in the heart of the volcano. It was a red building with Asian-looking architecture, sitting directly on top of the opening to the volcano. Lava streamed out of circular tunnels in the base.

'This is amazing,' I said.

'It was built by firebenders,' Zuko said dismissively. 'It didn't take them long to do.'

With that he moved towards the stairs, and I did the same. Don't let him out of your sight, I thought, and scowled. Oh, what fun.

It was then that I glimpsed a dark shape hovering above the thick air and cloud cover. It looked like it had - impossible, surely? - six legs.

'What,' I asked, 'is that?' I pointed to it.

'Just the Avatar's bison,' Zuko replied, moving up the stairs. He opened the temple door and walked in.

But bison can't fly, I thought, and then remembered I was in a crazy dream-world where people could control elements. And not those on the periodic table, either. Somehow I knew that if I were to ask Zuko, he would have no idea what a periodic table was.

The inside of the temple was dimly lit and smoky due to the torches burning in brackets around the room. My eyes watered.

Several men in long red robes and conical headdresses which did up under the chin were praying in the room. 'Fire Lord,' one of them said, bowing. 'The Avatar is waiting for you upstairs.'

Zuko nodded and moved towards the spiral staircase the man had indicated. I sighed and followed.

As you can probably tell, the dialogue between Zuko and Lisana was really fun to write. Especially the 'Fuck you, Miss Daisy' part, for which I give credit to one of my Facebook friends.

So I guess I have to add that I don't own Ben's status comments.