Direction

posted April 21, 2010

Zuko borrowed the truck again the next morning, buckling Xumei carefully into the center and closing the passenger door with a grinding shriek of ungreased hinges. "I don't know how long we'll be staying here," he said carefully as the truck rumbled down the drive, "but I'm sure neither of you will have trouble keeping up." Xumei nodded solemnly but Zhang stared out the window and Zuko wished he could see his son's face. I'm sorry, he wanted to say, but forced his voice to stay positive. "What did you think of the school?"

They'd stopped at the school yesterday, between the department store and a tiny burger joint. The secretary had accepted the enrollment papers without question and told him to come back this morning for the placements. Zuko had nodded and breathed a quiet sigh of relief, even as Zhang remained silent.

"I liked the bear," Xumei said, and Zuko smiled. They'd taken a short tour and it had been difficult to coax Xumei from the library's giant stuffed bear.

"What about you, Zhang?"

Zhang shrugged. "It was fine."

"Just fine?"

"I liked my school better."

Zuko bit back a sigh. "I know." I'm sorry.

"Great job, Koko; now, who wants to read next?" Nearly every small hand shot up and Zuko almost smiled at the class's enthusiasm. He must have made some motion as the teacher looked up, smiling brilliantly as he leapt up from the floor. "You must be Xumei!"

Xumei nodded and held Zuko's hand tighter as the teacher knelt in front of them. "We're all very happy to meet you, Xumei. I'm Mister Aang." He held out his hand and Xumei took it. "We just started story time – do want to read, or listen?"

"Listen," she said shyly, but she returned Mister Aang's smile.

"Great!" He stood and nodded once at Zuko, polite dismissal in the gesture before he turned back to the children clustered on the floor. "Everyone, this is Xumei! She's part of our class now, so let's all make sure she feels welcome."

The students chorused a "hello" and several waved and Xumei's grip on Zuko's hand lightened. "Remember sweetie – the blue bus. Look for Zhang." She nodded and let go of his hand and sat beside two girls who waved eagerly. The teacher met Zuko's eyes and nodded towards the door and Zuko stepped into the hall.

"Hi, I'm Aang." He held out his hand and Zuko took it, surprised by the firm grip. "You're Xumei's father?"

"Zuko."

"Nice to meet you, Zuko. It looks like Xumei's settled in nicely, and I'll make sure it stays that way. Her papers mentioned a brother? Great! I'll make sure they find each other before the bus leaves." He glanced over his shoulder. "I've got to get back, but please let me know if you have any concerns!" He ducked back into the classroom before Zuko could respond.

That went… well, he thought, but it took him a long time to leave the school.

Katara sat at the kitchen table when he returned, staring moodily at a mug of cold coffee. A gun cleaning kit sat beside it and the smell of oil lingered in the air, but her Browning was nowhere in sight. She looked up after a moment. "Suki called for you – she says that if you plan on sticking around for a while, the police are hiring. She said she'd give you a reference if you needed one."

Zuko checked his surprise. "Thanks." She didn't respond and he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. Her brows were drawn together into a thoughtful scowl and at length Zuko moved to make more coffee. He soon sipped carefully, nodded, and on a whim sat opposite her, the scrape of the chair on the floor loud in the silence.

She finally sighed. "My sort-of-cousins called this morning, too – they heard I was back in town and wanted to know if I could work at the store again. No 'Hey Katara, nice to see you,' or 'Hey Katara, it's been a while, how are you?' Oh no, of course not. It's 'Katara – we're short-handed and need someone to run the cash register. Can you come tomorrow?'" She sipped her coffee, then frowned at it.

"I made a fresh pot."

"Thanks." She didn't move. "I hate that, you know? I left this town because I didn't want to run the cash register, or keep books for the company, or run a daycare. I know what the Family did isn't really 'right' – or at least legal – but I was good at it." She waved her hand. "I could make deals and make sure no one got hurt, and keep the other sort-of-cousins out of it." She smiled, then. "They're not very nice."

"I'm sure."

Her smile died. "I know, I know. You're a cop – I'm the bad guy. I just never felt like I was good at anything before. And my family – my real family, not the Family – hates it, and I know that, but… I just wanted to be good at something, really good at it. The Family gave me that."

Zuko finished his coffee slowly, set the mug down on the table before she met his eyes. "I have to say, I kind of resent you for making me leave that behind."

Zuko stared at her, anger warring with surprise, but the sudden embarrassment on her face made him hold his tongue. "I know, I know – it's nothing next to how much you must resent me."

To that, he had no answer.

Katara blinked sleep from her eyes, fumbled for her phone. "Hello?"

"There's a contract out for him and yours won't be far behind at this rate." She nodded as the line went dead, then stared at the ceiling until her heartbeat slowed to normal.

A package arrived one afternoon, followed by another the day after. Both were addressed in Iroh's fine hand but postmarked in different cities halfway across the country. I don't want to know, Zuko thought.

"I knew Uncle Iroh would know that Missus Purple would get lonely without me," Xumei said happily, hugging the stegosaurus to her. Zhang's reaction was more complex; the packages also held his trumpet, a favorite jersey, a "Get Well Soon" card signed by his class. He accepted each, then went up the stairs without comment.

Zuko watched him go. "Tell me if Missus Purple is still lonely or sad now that she's here," he told Xumei, and read the letter that had been tucked carefully into her fairy princess backpack. Iroh rambled on at length about the weather and the alignment of the stars and the new shortbread cookies at Madam Wu's tea shop, but Zuko knew how to read between the lines. Lay low, he thought, scanning it again. Your friend, too – the Family is searching.

A thump against the wall that evening startled Zuko and he dropped the magazine he'd been trying to read. "What was that?"

Katara looked up from across the room. "Probably just Sokka."

"Doing what?"

"Kidnapping Zhang."

"What?"

"I told Sokka that Zhang was feeling blue and Sokka said something about just needing some 'manly bonding time.'" She shrugged. "I think they're going to a monster truck rally."

"On a school night?"

"Relax. It sounds like his grades are fine."

"They are."

"So sit down."

Zuko sat. More thumps sounded against the wall, then a scrape, as if a ladder moved against it, then Sokka and Zhang sprinted across the lawn.

"He should have asked."

"Stop frowning. Sokka didn't ask because he knew you'd say no."

"Your brother abducted my son to go to a… monster truck rally."

"Yep. I think Bato did the same thing to Sokka when he was Zhang's age." Zuko must have frowned again, because Katara sighed and set her book aside. "Look, Zuko, there are some things a father just can't do."

Don't I know that, he thought bitterly.

Author's note: Since folks have been asking, I wrote out the first chapter of this in basically one sitting after starting to compose it on the elliptical one morning after thinking about it for… like six months. I thought it would be a one-shot. It didn't stay that way, and I wrote chapters two through seven basically over the course of two days, then started posting one a day while roughing out and then cleaning up the next three chapters. Then life got busy and I'm now writing them as I go and we'll see how long I can maintain the one-a-day schedule – but they're only about 1,200 words each. No big deal, right?