SACRIFICES
Chapter 14: Put to the Test
Author's Note: a reminder to my readers that this story does not incorporate the events depicted in the post-canon comic series 'The Search', not even its flashbacks of pre-TV-series events; this story was not fully written but fully outlined, plotted from start to finish, and several chapters were posted before I or anyone in ATLA fandom ever saw those comics.
The first two months after Fire Lord Zuko's coronation had been a time of huge disturbance and upheaval; all over the Fire Nation, but particularly in the royal palace. There had been sweeping policy changes, foiled assassination attempts, and thorough loyalty checks of all the palace staff which had resulted in an alarming number of firings and hirings. Toph Bei Fong had been heavily involved in foiling assassination attempts and the loyalty checks… and had been solely responsible for still another huge disturbance, which took place not inside the palace but directly underneath it.
After one of the foiled assassins had entered the palace through a supposedly secret emergency tunnel exit, Toph had taken it upon herself to completely reroute the tunnel system below the palace, including the royal bunker down there that Fire Lord Ozai had hidden in on the Day of Black Sun. Any other would-be assassin who had gotten their hands on a map of the tunnel system layout, would now find it hopelessly outdated… and possibly find themselves falling into one of the many booby-traps Toph had laid for the unwary.
Before they left Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li agents had familiarized themselves with a three-dimensional model of the new layout below the palace, as best as Toph could recollect the work she'd done there. Confirming the layout and that it had not been compromised by revenge-minded earthbenders or nonbenders with shovels, was one of the first tasks they set for themselves upon arrival. And ever since then, three times a week, two of their number went down there on routine patrols, all the way down to the lava tubes.
Huong swore to Oma, only those crazy Fire Nation royals—present Fire Lord excepted; the kid couldn't help who his ancestors were—but only nuts like them would put their palace on top of a dormant volcano! Maybe the lava in those tubes way down there was behaving itself for now, but one of these centuries, the volcano will erupt, and take not just the palace but probably most of the capitol city with it.
But then, as Huong understood it, most of the entire Fire Nation was built on top of volcanoes in varying stages of dormancy; that's how all the islands in their country had been made, by volcanoes barfing up their innards as they grew. There were even spirit-tales of benders who could bend lava, as easily as Huong handled good solid earth, and who were directly responsible for making one of the smaller islands in the chain. But Huong had never heard of any living firebender or earthbender who could bend lava; that ability was lost, if it had ever existed in the first place.
It was possible, then, that the palace had been built on top of this volcano just because the Fire royals of centuries past didn't have any other decent place to put it. And it was possible that part of the reason Fire Lord Sozin had started the war of conquest wasn't because he was mad with ambition, but because he was sane enough to realize that the volcano would erupt one day, and he'd wanted a more stable location in the Earth Kingdom to build a new capitol on for his people…
Huong shoved those disturbing thoughts out of his head as his fellow squad member came up after finishing his rounds at the lowest levels, and he asked, "Anything to report?"
"Just that it's hotter than a demon's balls down there, same as last time," Guoliang grunted while mopping sweat off his face before putting his helmet back on. "Even hotter than the weather outside right now, and that's saying a helluva lot!"
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Yes, Summer had come to the Fire Nation, bringing with it the stifling heat Sokka remembered from the summer Team Avatar had spent traveling through the nation, prior to the Day of Black Sun. Though it didn't feel as bad this time as it had two years ago, probably because his body was more used to it now. Still, that afternoon as he and Zuko returned from a day trip to nearby Hokkano Island to oversee the startup of a new factory, when Zuko invited him to join him in the royal palanquin for the trip from the docks back up to the palace, he balked at getting back into the small curtained space. "I'll stay out here where there's a little breeze for cooling off, thanks."
The man who was well-known as the most powerful man in the Fire Nation and one of the greatest leaders in the world, pouted like a child and whined, "Aw, come on; you rode down with me this morning! I'll leave the curtains drawn…"
"It was cooler this morning, and besides, I missed my regular workout because we had to leave so early; I feel in need of some exercise. Why don't you just walk with me?" Noticing the alarmed looks on the faces of the palanquin bearers, he said to them hastily, "Not that you bearer guys aren't great at your jobs, but sometimes a man's just gotta stretch his legs a little, and see if they still work."
Zuko looked glum. "I'd love to, but if we meet one of my court nobles on the way up, riding in their own palanquins… Perceived status is a huge part of politics, Sokka. I can't ever appear lesser than them, not while on official business."
"Sucks to be the Fire Lord sometimes, huh?" Sokka said sympathetically. He really meant it; riding in a palanquin while everybody else walked had to feel isolating, and tough as Zuko was—and he had to be pretty damn tough, to be the Fire Lord and steer his whole country away from war—once he let his stern 'court face' drop, it was plain to see that he needed friends, family, some kind of companionship the way Sokka needed meat.
Since he'd already said he would walk instead, Sokka refused to change his mind and get in, but he compromised by walking directly alongside the palanquin so he and Zuko could chat easily about the factory they'd just left, which would build another of Sokka's devices for both local sale and export.
Sokka had to admit, he was seeing more of his invention ideas turn into reality here in the Fire Nation than he ever could have back home in the Water Tribe. He could do things with metal, paper and glass that just couldn't be done with bone or ivory, leather and ice. And with Zuko's agreement that half the profits from each invention that was successfully exported would go to the Southern Water Tribe's coffers, he was still doing right by his people even here in the Fire Nation.
"Fifty more people with long-term employment," Zuko said with satisfaction as they passed the halfway point between the docks and the palace. "And if the sales for these new plows really take off the way I think they will in the Earth Kingdom, the factory could expand to three times that si-hey!" he broke off with a shout as the palanquin suddenly lurched, tipping away from Sokka, amid sudden screams from the bearers.
Just that quickly, a peaceful walk turned into screaming chaos. Sokka looked wildly around him for the source of the trouble, as did Agent Renshu, Zuko's assigned Dai Li bodyguard today—and suddenly Renshu staggered back, an arrow ricocheting off his round helmet as the palanquin fell all the way over, with Zuko still flailing in his heavy official robes and the palanquin curtains, struggling to get out.
The arrow had come from above and to the right, the same side that the palanquin had toppled towards; he looked up—there! On that rooftop nearly a block away; an archer! An archer who was already letting another arrow fly at their party.
The guards roared as they flung spears and fireballs at the archer, but all their shots fell short; he was too far up and away, out of their range. Holding his boomerang, Sokka remembered all the training his father had given him in how to wield the weapon, all those years ago. Focus—don't just see the target, feel it in your sight, track the path your boomerang will make to meet it—and when you know right where it will go, throw.
He focused, and flung.
But in that bare second of focus before flinging, the damn archer had already sent another arrow at them, and had nocked yet another one to shoot. There was nothing more he could do for his boomerang once it was flung and arcing away; Sokka leaped over the toppled palanquin, noting as he did the two bearers down with arrows protruding from their skulls, even as Zuko finally kicked his way free of the wreckage.
A guard saw the incoming arrow too, and must have figured out even before Sokka did that it was going to hit Zuko dead center; snarling something obscene, he deliberately jumped into its trajectory. He screamed as he caught it in his right bicep; Sokka thought he could hear the crack of bone breaking at the arrow's impact. But better his arm than Zuko's head or chest, Sokka concurred as he yanked his buddy to his feet, then with strength born of sheer adrenaline, heaved him bodily over the wreckage to the safe side of the palanquin—
Just as the last arrow hit.
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Katara was getting ready to change Roku's diaper when a servant pounded on the door to the nursery and jerked it open without waiting for a response. "Lady Katara, come quickly! There has been an attack on the Fire Lord's party; they're bringing up the worst wounded now!"
Suki bolted into the room after the page, her eyes wide with fear for Sokka and Zuko but her mouth set in a hard line of determination. "I've got Roku. Go!"
Katara handed Roku over to Suki, grabbed her waterskin and ran out the door after the guard. "Where are they?!"
"They're still coming up the hill from town; a guard was sent on ahead to tell you!" the page panted as he ran. Then he yelped as Katara whirled water out of a nearby vase and flung it down the hall in front of her, turning it into an ice slide; she leaped onto the slide and went whizzing down the hall, faster than an ostrich-horse at full gallop.
She skated outside and burst through the palace gates just as a badly damaged palanquin came thundering over the crest of the hill, its bearers running at full speed—half of the bearers being blood-spattered guards in uniform, instead of the usual servants—while more guards ran alongside. The string of blasphemous curses issuing from inside the palanquin told her the identity of at least one person in there; Zuko had acquired some really foul language from his three years at sea, but he only swore like that when he was both scared and furious, usually over feeling helpless…
She ran into the street to meet the palanquin and tore the curtains open even before the bearers had set it all the way down, to see Sokka stretched out face-down on the cushions while Zuko used his royal robes to apply an improvised pressure bandage to Sokka's bloody torso. He gave her one desperately pleading look before focusing on Sokka again, growling, "She's here! Don't you dare die on me now, you moron; that's an Agni-fucking order!"
"Hold us steady!" she ordered as she laid water-gloved hands on her brother, praying that she wasn't too late. Sokka was lying so still…
Ten minutes of frantic healing later, Katara had dealt with worst of the damage to Sokka's innards, mending the torn intestines and lacerated liver as she drew an arrowhead out of the wound. She thankfully hadn't sensed any taint or poison on the arrowhead, but he'd lost so much blood on the frantic ride back to the palace, his tan skin was pale beige. She'd actually blood-bent the freshest spilled blood back into him before closing the last vein up, but she could do nothing about the blood that had been spilled and begun to dry before she got there.
She finally looked up from her healing efforts to discover that they were still in the street in front of the palace gates; the palanquin was surrounded by a solid ring of guards standing with spears out and smoldering fists raised against any further attacks, while two of the Dai Li agents stood atop low walls they'd raised to shelter the palanquin, with piles of stone ammunition ready at their feet.
Zuko asked her tensely, "Is he stable? Can we move you now?" When she nodded, he told her to stay in the palanquin with Sokka while he stepped out, and then told the Dai Li to lower the walls and ordered the bearers, "Haul this thing with them in it into the palace and straight to the nursery; Lady Suki will want to see him."
"And what of you, milord?" a bearer timidly inquired.
Zuko rolled his eyes as he almost snarled, "The Fire Lord is going to damn well walk the next fifty feet!"
Flanked by guards, the bearers picked up the palanquin and bore it into the palace at a much more sedate pace than before, while Katara rode inside it with Sokka and Zuko walked alongside. "We'll set him up on the day bed in the nursery, so you and Suki can keep an eye on him as well as Roku," he told Katara, and she nodded gratefully; she'd been about to suggest that herself.
Uncle came running through the corridor, huffing and holding his robes up out of the way of his bare feet; his hair still wet from the bath he'd probably been in when he'd heard the news. "What happened?" he panted as he came alongside the palanquin, looking anxiously at Sokka's pale face.
"Another assassin," Zuko said grimly. "A Yu Yan archer, this time; so much for their clan's oath of loyalty!" he shook his head before continuing, "He was perched on a rooftop near the base of the hill, and his first shots took out two bearers and tumbled the palanquin with me trapped in it. Agent Renshu was knocked out too, and another arrow was meant for me but got intercepted by a guard. Sokka took the archer out with his boomerang, but not before he got off one last shot; Sokka shoved me out of its path—while forgetting he wasn't wearing armor!" he finished through gritted teeth.
When they reached the nursery and Suki saw the state Sokka was in, she went as pale as her traditional Kyoshi Warrior paint. But her hands were steady as she helped carry Sokka into the room and laid him on the day bed. Zuko had gone straight for Roku like iron to a magnet as soon as he'd stepped through the door; he paced, held the whimpering baby to his chest and scowled while Sokka was made comfortable on the bed, then finally burst out, "As soon as he's well enough to travel, you're all leaving on the fastest ship out of here! This was too damned close!"
Her face expressionless, Suki wordlessly gestured for Katara to take Roku from Zuko's arms. And as soon as the baby was clear, Suki took her folded fan from her sash and gave Zuko a sharp thwap upside the head with it. "Oww! What was that for?!" Zuko complained while rubbing behind his good ear.
"For forgetting why we're here, you royal moron," Suki growled, pointing the fan handle in his face. "Sokka did exactly what he and I both swore to do, back in Ba Sing Se! We're not just here as friends, we're here as bodyguards!"
"Suki is right, nephew," Iroh said gravely. "Do not dishonor their oaths or their abilities by sending them away when danger nears."
"B-but… you're not just bodyguards, you're my friends! My family!" Zuko clutched at his hair. "What will I do if I lose any of you?! How could I face Chief Hakoda, or Aang again?"
"Zuko, if… if the worst happened," Katara said haltingly while cradling Roku, "I'd expect you to tell our father that Sokka died bravely and as a hero of both nations. And… and bring him Sokka's parka and boots, so the tribe would have something to give back to the sea in the memorial service." It was hard to talk past the lump in her throat, but she managed. "On the other hand, if you died trying to save Sokka, or any of us, and left the Fire Nation without a leader and heading straight for war again… Dad would tell Aang to make a special trip to the Spirit World, just to find your ghost and give you a thorough ass-kicking!"
"And he'd do it, too," Suki said as she tucked her fan back into her sash. "Face it, Zuko; you're the only one of our generation who can sit on that throne and hold it until your son's old enough to take over. Until then, you are just not expendable, while we are. So no more talk of sending us away, okay? Let us do what we're trained to do, what we swore to do, while you keep the country on course."
Zuko slowly nodded, hanging his head… then actually looked down at his blood-stained robes for the first time, plucking at them with disgust before looking at Roku in dismay. "I got blood on the baby!"
"I think both of us did," Katara said ruefully, glancing down at the bloodstains on her own clothes. "Uncle, Suki, would you mind Roku while the rest of us clean up? Wait, you said other people were hit by the archer; did any of them survive?"
"Ichiro should; he's the guard that intercepted an arrow. Caught him in the right arm, I think," Zuko said distractedly, while shucking off his bloody outer robe. "The remaining guards should be bringing him up for treatment soon, and Agent Renshu too; I think he was just knocked out, though he might have a concussion from it. But the two bearers, Hato and… and… dammit, I can't remember his name! But they were both shot in the head, murdered just to get to me…"
"I know his name will come to you later, nephew. And I'm sure you'll have kind words to say at their funerals. Which is far more than I could ever have said for your father or grandfather, who would never have bothered to find out their names. Now, go take a bath and get into fresh clothes," Iroh said firmly as he pointed to the door. "And send someone to go find Sokka's boomerang; no doubt the warrior will want it back as soon as possible."
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After making sure both Sokka and Roku were settled and in good hands, Katara also gave healing sessions to guardsman Ichiro and Agent Renshu. Ichiro's right humerus had been badly broken by the arrow he intercepted to save the Fire Lord, and he would be in a cast for weeks, but Renshu had just a minor concussion that took only one session to heal. "So I'm fit for duty now, honestly!" Renshu insisted to his concerned squad leader Huong.
"Prove it, then; turn this into a circle," Huong said while dropping a metal spear-tip into his hand. Renshu was one of the handful of Dai Li agents that Toph had been able to train to metalbend, though none of them had anything close to her skill with metal yet.
Renshu focused on the metal and grimaced, but he was eventually able to bend the spear-tip with his chi and fingers into a rough circle. Huong took it from him with an approving nod before barking, "So what are you doing in bed, slacker? Get back to your post!" The salute Renshu gave him in response was decidedly non-regulation, but they grinned at each other as Renshu got up and went back on duty.
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Even with Katara doing all she could to heal him, Sokka had lost so much blood that it took another day and a half for him to wake up from his injuries. In between standing guard and minding Roku, Suki and Katara took turns tending to the Water Tribe warrior, with Yukiko helping as well. They cleaned him up and carefully propped him up enough to dribble liquids into his mouth, stroking his throat to encourage swallowing; taking care that the liquids went into his stomach instead of his lungs.
In turns they fed Sokka miso soup, hippo-cow milk, pig-chicken broth... and another liquid, brought up from storage, which they privately decided to keep secret from him after he woke up. It was very nutritious, there was no doubt about that, and his condition almost visibly improved after feeding it to him, but they knew that if Sokka had been awake at the time he'd have completely freaked out.
In between feedings, Hoshi, the captain of the guard, brought in Sokka's boomerang and laid it almost reverently on the pillow next to his head. And the morning after Sokka finally woke up, Hoshi came back in to visit the patient and express his admiration for "An incredible feat; if not for the witnesses, I would never have believed anyone could throw accurately at that range, with a bent piece of metal! He was nearly eighty yards away, but you hit him right in the head!" he said with real admiration.
Sokka gave a faint but real smile of pride in his hard-earned skill. Suki, sitting by the bed with another bowl of soup for Sokka in her hands, asked, "Is the assassin alive for questioning as to who sent him?"
"Unfortunately, no; the blow knocked him off the roof, and he ended up a messy pile in the alley." Hoshi said to Sokka with some concern, "I was told you prefer to avoid killing if at all possible; it might help to think that the fall did him in, rather than your own actions."
Sokka poked gingerly at the bandages swathing his torso as he muttered, "Honestly, I'm okay with having done it myself. Considering he killed two guys in cold blood just to get a shot at Zuko…"
Katara said matter-of-factly from where she was rocking with Roku, "Actually, it's just Aang who won't kill even in self-defense. In the Southern Water Tribe, we learn early on that it's a kill-or-be-killed world; most of our food is hunted down, and dies fighting. We don't kill unless we have to, even to eat, but…"
"I caught my first fish when I was six years old, and killed my first arctic hen when I was only nine; a whole year earlier than most kids are allowed to go hunting." Sokka's voice was weak but the pride in it was unmistakable. "We just don't talk about that stuff around Aang much."
Hoshi nodded as he took in the information, then smiled. "Well, then, would you like to have the assassin's broken bow, as a trophy of sorts?"
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But before the bow was turned over to Sokka as a trophy, the leader of the Yu Yan clan formally requested permission to examine it, to find out which of his people had turned traitor. Since the archer had landed in the street head-first, the corpse's features were completely unrecognizable, but each Yu Yan archer made their own bow as part of their training, and put their individual marks into the carving. They also fletched their own arrows, with color and notch patterns in the fletching identifying the individual as well, but the arrows salvaged from the crime scene had plain white fletching without any identifying patterns.
But the Yu Yan clan leader Huangdi, after studying the bow under both Hoshi and Iroh's watchful eyes, was able to figure out who had tried to kill the Fire Lord. "I do not doubt that this was the bow you recovered from the assassin," he said with a frown, "but it lacks all our traditional clan markings; not even a—wait," as he peered more closely at the very tip of the bow stave, just past the nock for the bowstring, where Hoshi had already noted that tiny characters for 'perfection' had been carved into the wood. Then Huangdi drew back with a scowl as he proclaimed, "Vachir!"
"So it was a Yu Yan archer after all?" Hoshi asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"A former Yu Yan archer," Huangdi said as his scowl deepened and his grip tightened on the broken bow. "He was exiled from the clan over a decade ago! He was one of our finest, able to outshoot everyone in our generation, but he grew too arrogant, believing his perfect aim put himself above even the Yu Yan philosophy. And when his arrogance turned to cruelty… For his crimes, my father broke and burned his bow and all the arrows he had made, and cast him out of the clan."
"But his facial tattoo could not be removed, nor his skill at archery and at making a new bow for himself," Iroh put in while thoughtfully stroking his beard. "I recall his name now; Vachir was the archer member of Colonel Mongke's Rough Rhinos."
"Colonel Mongke? Isn't he wanted for war crimes?" Hoshi asked.
"Indeed he is; Fire Lord Zuko wrote the warrant for his arrest after hearing irrefutable testimony from some of his elite squad's many victims. Colonel Mongke prided himself on not only completely destroying any target he was given by the former Fire Lords, but raiding and razing any Earth Kingdom villages that happened to be along his path to the target. Not a very nice fellow, despite his wonderful singing voice… The Rough Rhinos were officially disbanded, but none of them have been seen since the initial weeks of upheaval following Fire Lord Zuko's coronation."
At the dinner table that evening—in an atmosphere much more quiet and somber than it had been recently, without Sokka's presence—conversation inevitably turned to the revelation of the assassin's identity and what it foretold. "Did Vachir hire himself out as a mercenary assassin, after the Rough Rhinos were disbanded? Or are more members of that squad going to come and try their luck against us now?" Katara asked grimly, while flicking a finger at her drink and making the juice in her cup rise up to become an orange-tinted ice dagger, spinning idly in midair.
"Or have they been trying their luck already?" as Zuko's chopsticks began smoldering in his grip, until he noticed and set them aside with an annoyed grimace (to have them replaced by an attentive servant less than a second later.) "Three of the attempts last year, including the one that killed Shinin and broke Hoshi's leg, involved explosives; that could have been their explosives expert Yeh-Lu's work."
"Hrmm… doubtful, but still possible," Iroh said while thoughtfully stirring his soup. "I studied the guards' records of the incidents, and the traces of explosives that they found afterwards were not Yeh-Lu's favored compounds. However, he could have used different explosives in an effort to stay anonymous in case of failure, just as Vachir used unmarked arrows."
"But such speculation is pointless right now, and moreover, bad for our digestion," Iroh added while pointing his spoon in an admonishing way at his dining companions. "Let us turn to happier subjects! Katara, how has my grandson been behaving himself today? Is he any closer to rolling over on his own? I understand that's an important milestone…"
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At Sokka's request, Vachir's broken bow was finally mounted on a plaque and sent to the Southern Water Tribe, for Chief Hakoda to display in his home so the entire tribe would know of his son's accomplishment. The plaque was accompanied by three different letters:
First, an official letter from Fire Lord Zuko to Chief Hakoda, describing what had happened; praising both Sokka's heroism and his amazing skill with the boomerang. Second, a personal letter from Katara to her father and grandmother, with reassurances that Sokka was recovering just fine and would be back on his feet soon. And third, a quick note that Sokka scribbled out while propped up on pillows, saying he was okay and asking his dad to send some more blubbered seal jerky, because the palace kitchen was almost out.
The palace chef sincerely apologized for not realizing sooner that a crate of dried sea prunes had been mislabeled as containing blubbered seal jerky, and that they were almost out of the latter as a result. While waiting for the Southern Water Tribe to send another official shipment of supplies, Zuko did everything he could to keep his invalid friend supplied with his favorite treat; he sent messenger hawks to the port master of every harbor on every island in his nation, telling them that the palace would pay quadruple the usual price for that one specific import.
As word spread, merchant ships that had been planning to sell their international trade goods to the Earth Kingdom suddenly started combing over their inventories and even digging into their own food supplies, looking for blubbered seal jerky. And on the same day that the palace ran entirely out, the merchant ship Zaohua sailed into the main harbor on Capital Island with a message that one of their crewmen had what the Fire Lord wanted. The palace's head chef went down to the harbor personally to verify that they had blubbered seal jerky, paid for it with gold from his own pouch, and returned with both five pounds of jerky and a note for Sokka:
This was supposed to last me until I got to Ba Sing Se, but from what the cook here told me happened to you, I figure you deserve it more. A good kill, Sokka; your father will be proud. Tatum.
Aang returned to the palace from another peacekeeping tour of the colonies, at nearly the same time that the chef proudly served their still-recovering patient his snack of blubbered seal jerky. "Don't you even think about taking this for starting campfires!" Sokka scolded Aang, holding the jerky to his chest and stroking it possessively before taking his first bite.
Aang rolled his eyes and groaned, "It's been nearly three years since that day; aren't you ever going to let it go?"
Suki, sitting nearby, rolled her eyes as well. "Sokka, forget about wasted food? Not likely."
"Anyway, that's amazing, beating a Yu Yan archer with one boomerang throw!" Aang said cheerfully. "Too bad he fell off the roof afterwards."
"I know; without someone to question, we're left wondering exactly who was behind the attempt," Suki said darkly. "And how they'll strike next time. In the three months since we arrived here, this was the first outright attempt to kill Zuko, but I doubt it will be the last."
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By two weeks after the assassination attempt, Sokka had recovered enough to stand part of his guard shift outside the nursery, but he still tired far too quickly. So he'd made arrangements to stand just the first few hours of his shift and then spend the rest of the day in his quarters, resting while discussing invention ideas with the creative staff Zuko had assigned to him.
But one day after standing guard for three hours, he limped down to Zuko's office before retiring to his quarters. "Zuko, you're visiting your sister again tomorrow, aren't you?" he asked. And when Zuko nodded his confirmation, he said bluntly, "Good. When you go to see that psycho, take Suki with you."
"What? Why?" Zuko asked with a frown. "I told you, Azula is sedated enough to suppress what's left of her firebending; she's not a real threat to me or anyone anymore."
"And she's even more messed in the head than before, so she's kind-of pathetic now, yeah, you told us all that. But hearing about it isn't the same as seeing it, and I think Suki needs to see how far she's fallen. Because Suki had another nightmare last night," Sokka told him with a scowl, "about what that bitch did to her and her fellow Kyoshi Warriors when they were captured!"
Zuko gave a pained wince before lowering his gaze to the desk top. He did not ask for details of what Azula had done to her prisoners during the conquest of Ba Sing Se; he knew better. "All right, she can come along…"
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The next day, Suki went with Agent Phan and four regular guardsmen to accompany the Fire Lord on his monthly visit to the sanitarium that housed his sister Azula, who had once been known as the Lightning Princess—but now was called the Mad Princess, when the people of the Fire Nation spoke of her at all.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Suki asked Phan quietly just before they boarded the Fire Lord's private yacht, remembering how horribly seasick Phan had been while on their journey to the Fire Nation.
Phan nodded, the expression behind his thick glasses showing a combination of reluctance and determination. "If I'm to be any good at security for the ruler of an island nation, I've got to beat this condition, and the sooner the better. The palace doctor gave me these special acupressure wristbands," as he briefly held up his wrists to show her the metal bands encircling them, "gave me two different seasick remedies to take with breakfast, and then gave me a third one to take if the others don't work," as he patted his belt pouch. "I'm as ready for this as I'll ever get."
The trip by sea was uneventful, with Phan handling the journey with only mild queasiness. But Suki still kept a close eye on him, when she wasn't scanning their vicinity for approaching boats or floating hazards, and doing everything else she could think of to keep herself occupied; doing her best to keep too busy to think of who Zuko was going to visit that day. Too busy to think of that cruel smile, and all the agony that had come with it; the burns, the blood, the screams…
All too soon, they docked at the harbor just below the institute and were walking through its gates. Then it was Phan's turn to quietly ask Suki if she was up to this, and her face burned hot beneath her Kyoshi Warrior makeup. Before she could ask, Phan whispered hurriedly, "It's probably not noticeable to anyone else, but remember, Toph chose me for my earth-sensing sensitivity; I can feel your heart hammering like mad. You, ah, you have some history with the princess?"
"…Unfortunately," Suki finally growled, as Zuko looked in their direction with clear concern on his features. Then she stomped ahead of them both into the building, swearing to Kyoshi herself that she would not let her memories of what that vicious, fire-loving psychotic bitch had done to her and her battle-sisters while they were her captives, have any power at all over her now!
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Zuko wondered if this counted for Suki as a 'life-changing field trip', as Toph called it, and if it would ultimately turn out to be a good idea or a really, really bad one.
He hadn't made any mention to Suki of exactly why she was coming along this time; he was pretty sure that, coming from him, it would have sounded pitying or criticizing or something and she would not have appreciated it. He had a hunch that Sokka hadn't talked about the reason with her either, even though it had been his idea. But if she didn't know that they thought this would help her nightmares, was she thinking that Zuko was just being a stupid or insensitive jerk again for requesting she come along as security for the trip?
Then they were through the gates and Zuko shoved all his internal worries aside to focus on Dr. Jingshen as the institute's administrator came to greet him; today he looked a lot more worried than usual. The doctor said, "My sincere apologies, your Majesty, particularly since I realize that you're an extremely busy personage and that it costs a great deal for you to make time in your schedule for these visits. But I must inform you that it would be ill-advised for you to see her highness today; this is not a good day for her. In fact, it's possibly her worst day this entire month, and she's being quite uncooperative with the orderlies."
It wasn't the first time Zuko had heard that in the not-quite-two-years since Azula had been brought here after the Agni Kai; for the first few months of her confinement, almost every day had been a bad day for her. She'd been slowly getting better over the past year and a half, but he supposed that some—what was the term? Some backsliding once in a while was inevitable. Zuko started to nod to the doctor, but then glanced to the right at where Suki was standing, her face expressionless.
If Suki hadn't been here, he'd have accepted the doctor at his word and gone back home until next month. But instead, he turned back to the doctor and said firmly, "We will see her anyway." Better to get this over with now instead of waiting another month or two.
Surprise and indignation flashed across the doctor's face, but were swiftly replace by a professionally blank expression as he said only, "As you command, your Majesty." There was just enough emphasis on the title to make it plain that the doctor considered this to be a Very Bad Idea, and the only reason he was allowing it was because he knew the Fire Lord could have him executed for refusing to follow orders. (Not that Zuko would ever do that, but he couldn't say the same of his fath—Ozai, or of Fire Lord Azulon either.)
Instead of taking them straight to the sparsely furnished waiting room that Zuko usually met Azula in, this time the doctor led them down a different corridor, to another door marked 'Visiting Room'. But instead of going inside, he led them ten feet past that to another, unmarked door, and into the darkened room beyond it. One wall of the room was taken up by a large window, that looked into the visiting room instead of outside.
Jingshen said smoothly, "Your Majesty, I will of course follow your commands, but before you actually meet with her highness today, I offer you the opportunity to see her without her knowing it. This window appears as a mirror from the other side; we use this room for observing patient-visitor interactions when we have serious concerns that the visitor does not actually have the patient's best interest in mind. We can bring your sister in there, so you can see for yourself her current mental state before considering further interaction with her." The underlying message was clear: Here, see for yourself how smoked your sister's brains are today, and then go away and leave her alone, okay?
Ten minutes later a pair of orderlies brought his sister into the other room, and Zuko could easily see through the spying window that she was even more of a mess than usual. He had gotten used to seeing that once-perfectly-coiffed hair gone unkempt and stringy, those razor-sharp keen eyes looking glazed instead and a slump in her formerly ramrod-straight posture, but today her movements were spastic and jerky, fighting against the restraints keeping her hands down at her sides, and her expression… Yes, this was definitely one of her Bad Days.
The wall between the two rooms looked sturdy, but it must have been made paper-thin at a few strategic points, or they'd done something else even more clever with acoustical engineering. Sound from the other room was coming through quite clearly; Zuko could hear Azula shouting at the orderlies that had quietly but firmly pushed her into the room, "How dare you treat your Fire Lord in this fashion?! I shall have you all burned alive for this!"
They listened to her shout such royal threats for several seconds before Suki said abruptly, "I'm going in there."
Standing between them and the door, Dr. Jingshen gave Suki a sharp look as he asked, "And why, exactly, do you want to do that?"
Suki's expression was stern and implacable behind her war paint. "I'm going to face her."
Dr, Jingshen didn't budge from where he was blocking the door. "I believe I asked why you wanted to go in there; that was not an answer. With all due respect, Miss, Princess Azula is my patient, and I will not-"
"Doctor. And Suki," Zuko said firmly, before they could start arguing or worse. "I am the princess's older brother, her patron at this asylum and her sovereign ruler; I decide who is permitted to see her. And Suki, before you set foot in that room, I want your oath as a Kyoshi Warrior that you will do her no harm."
After a very brief pause, Suki said firmly, "I will give you my word as a Kyoshi Warrior that I will give her no lasting injury; no broken bones, no slashes or burns, not even any deep bruises. I will treat her, in every way, far better than she treated me and my battle-sisters."
At her last words Jingshen looked downright alarmed, but Zuko waved him to silence before he could utter a word. He and Suki locked stares for a few seconds before he relented with a sigh. "Just don't make me regret this, okay? Remember that, for all the horrible things she's done, she's still my little sister."
At his words, Suki relaxed a little as well, and gave him a wry not-quite-smile. "I haven't forgotten, Zuko. But… I need to do this."
"I know. All right," he said with another sigh and a dismissing gesture. Suki bowed to him, and then locked stares with the doctor until he finally gave way with a scowl and let her through the door.
As soon as she'd left the room, Dr. Jingshen rounded on him with barely-concealed outrage. "Your majesty, I must protest-"
"Save it," Zuko said shortly, his gaze fixed on the room beyond the spy window. "You don't know the whole story here, doctor. This is paying a debt… part of restoring balance. And I trust Suki at her word, far more than I ever trusted Azula at hers."
But despite his firm words, his stomach still churned acid as the door to the other room opened and Suki stepped inside. He could hear her through the glass telling the two surprised orderlies, "I am here with the Fire Lord's permission, gentlemen; give us privacy by waiting outside for the next five minutes."
The orderlies gave doubtful glances towards the mirror/spying window, but did as she commanded. As they left, Azula stared at Suki with her brow furrowed, as if she didn't recognize her… and then a manic light appeared in her eyes as she crowed, "My favorite prisoner! It must be time for your interroga-"
Suki struck, whip-fast. Jab-jab-jab at three different pressure points in less than a second, and then Azula was crumpling to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Zuko was silently impressed at how well she had learned the art of chi-blocking from Ty Lee, mastering techniques like that in less than a year.
Azula yelped in dismay as she fell heavily to the floor, and Suki made no attempt to catch her, instead taking one of her leather-reinforced gloves off. Then once she was down on her side, Suki shoved the fallen princess's shoulder with the toe of one shoe, hard enough to roll her face-up. "Hello, Azula." The name was hissed with contempt, made even more obvious by the lack of title or honorific.
"How dare y-mmmph!" Azula's as howl of outrage was cut off abruptly by Suki shoving the glove in her mouth to gag her.
"I think we've all had enough of your mouth," Suki said softly, dangerously. "Enough of all your insults, and your demands… and certainly enough of your insane ramblings that you're the Fire Lord. Because you're not the Fire Lord, Azula; you were never the Fire Lord. You were never meant to be the Fire Lord. And no one wants you on the throne."
"Mmrrmmrrmm!"
Suki lifted her hair away from one ear, pretending to listen attentively. "What's that? Oh, you want to know what I'm doing here? I'm surprised you don't know already, but I suppose word travels slowly in these insane asylums. I'm here as a friend and bodyguard for Zuko, the real Fire Lord."
"Zrgmm-mmrrm!"
"Oh, what's that?" as Suki cocked her head and pretended to listen again. "You want to know why you're lying helpless on the floor?" She slowly shook her head, her expression filled with fake pity. "And here I thought you were clever… obviously, that impression was wrong. Since you're so slow on the uptake, Azula, here's a little hint," as she drew her fan from her sash, flipped it open—and then pressed the sharp metal edge against Azula's throat.
In the other room, Dr. Jingshen lunged for the door, but Zuko was prepared for that. He had already alerted his guardsmen with a few gestures in the silent language that was used by all the imperial guard, and now all he had to do was point at the target; they immediately grabbed and restrained the doctor, and held a hand over his mouth to muffle his shouts for the orderlies. "I trust Suki," Zuko said firmly-trying to convince himself as well as the doctor. He sent up a silent, Please, Agni…
Suki pressed a bit harder, and a single bright bead of blood welled up from the fan's edge. "It would be so, so easy to kill you, Azula," she murmured while her captive stared up at her, silent and wide-eyed with fear…
"But I won't," as she flipped the fan up and away from that pale throat, folded it shut and tucked it away again. "Because your brother Zuko asked me not to. And I value my friendship with Zuko, far more than I would ever value you." And with that, she stepped away from the supine princess and headed for the door.
But just before leaving, she turned back with a cheerful, "Almost forgot!" Then she yanked her glove out of Azula's mouth, turning her over in the next instant so she was face-down on the floor. Azula immediately began shouting again, but the floor made her muffled words unintelligible, and Suki just grinned at the noise as she strode out the door.
Zuko had gestured for the guards to let go of Jingshen right after Suki put her fan away; the doctor had glared at both Suki and him but had not shouted for the orderlies to intervene. Now he said icily, "I feel obliged to inform you, Fire Lord, that this encounter probably set back your sister's recovery by at full year or more."
"You told me yourself when she was brought here, that cases like hers sometimes took years to fully recover anyway," Zuko said wearily, telling himself that he refused to feel guilty about what Suki had done. It had been part of restoring balance, for at least one person; in facing her former tormentor, Suki had hopefully restored her equilibrium and would be able to sleep without nightmares from now on.
Then Agent Phan spoke up, looking just a little too wide-eyed and innocent. "If I may ask a question, your majesty: isn't her current insanity all that's keeping Princess Azula alive right now? She did personally assault the Earth King, after all; that crime is normally punishable by death by slow torture. But didn't you argue with the Earth Kingdom government that her trial would have to wait at least until she was sane enough to fully understand the charges?"
Dr. Jingshen gave first Phan and then Zuko sharp looks, but didn't say anything after that; he just firmly escorted them all to the institute's front door once more.
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As they left the institute, Phan sidled close enough to Warrior Suki to whisper, "Well done!" And he meant it, too; after what Azula had ordered the old Dai Li to do to the University of Ba Sing Se during the Fire Nation's occupation—all that knowledge and lives lost, when the library had been razed to the ground and all the astronomy and geography professors executed-there wasn't a student or surviving professor there who wouldn't have done a lot worse to the princess if given the opportunity, no matter what state she was in now.
"Thanks", Suki whispered back with a wry smile, as she used the free glove to wipe the traces of blood from her fan, before tucking both fan and glove into her sash.
Phan discreetly gestured to the glove as he asked, "Ever going to wear that again?"
Suki shook her head. "I'm going to send it to Kyoshi Island as is, with a note saying whose blood is on it and what it was used for. If I tell my battle-sisters how the confrontation went, maybe that will help some of them sleep better at night, as well."
The yacht trip back to the capitol went well; Phan was pleased to discover that he wasn't nauseous at all this time. Hoshi discreetly asked him how he was handling the trip, and when Phan told him, he grinned and teased, "Ready for some sailing lessons now?"
"That… might be pushing it," Phan admitted.
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Lady Suki's actions back at the insane asylum didn't sit well with Hoshi; it had been basically kicking someone already down. But Princess Azula had called Suki "her favorite prisoner" when she'd recognized her, and from what she'd said to the Fire Lord before going in there—and the very fact that the Fire Lord had allowed it at all—the imprisonment must have been a pretty bad experience, one way or another.
Hoshi didn't really know much about what the princess had been like before her brain went smoky. He'd been hired onto the imperial guard only a week after she'd left for a mission in the Earth Kingdom, and the first time he'd seen her in anything but portraits had been when she'd returned with her brother in triumph after conquering Ba Sing Se. After they'd returned, he'd been assigned as a bodyguard for then-prince Zuko (which had been a helluva lot harder than either he or his partner Shinin had thought it would be; Hoshi was damn near willing to swear by Agni's flame that the teen could turn into smoke and flow through a crack when he wanted to!) After Prince Zuko had deserted the palace to join the Avatar, Hoshi and Shinin had been demoted to gate guard duty until the royals' Agni Kai for the throne and the end of the war.
But even though he'd only seen the princess a few times before she'd soaked her coal and then lost the Agni Kai, he'd heard enough gossip from the servants and other guards to know that she could be meaner than a rat-viper to anyone she didn't like. And that was among the palace staff and guards, her own countrymen; she would probably have treated any Earth Kingdom prisoners a lot worse.
So Lady Suki might have had a reason for being so vicious to the princess earlier… though having a reason for treating someone badly did not automatically make it okay; reasons were not always justifications. But it had been made clear at the start that Lady Suki, Lord Sokka and Lady Katara didn't answer to him, only to the Fire Lord himself, so Hoshi kept his peace on the journey back.
The wind and weather on the trip back home were in their favor; they made it back to the harbor of the capitol in good time, and found the Fire Lord's palanquin and bearers waiting for them. But while walking uphill towards the palace, only three blocks away from the harbor, a small fireball came whizzing past the procession only five feet in front of them! So they were back to frequent assassination attempts; Hoshi had known those few months of peace were too good to last…
But even as he ordered the procession to move double-time and get the Fire Lord to safety, Hoshi looked to the left to see where the fireball had come from, and saw—a couple of kids! Poor kids from the looks of their clothing, not even wearing shoes, and the bigger one was holding something in his hands—a Baozhu Candle, one of the fireworks they sold to nonbenders and weak benders for festivals. Ashes, was it just some stupid kids' prank?!
The kids were already dropping the firework and running way, while bawling, "We're sorry!" "Don't kill us!" Hoshi swore under his breath before ordering the procession to keep going, get the Fire Lord home, while he went to have a stern talk with the kids' parents. "Assuming they have any," he muttered while gesturing for the Dai Li agent to come with him.
Lady Suki came with them as well, which Hoshi hadn't intended. But it wasn't like he could stop her, and she might prove useful when it came to talking to the kids' family. He nodded to her, but addressed Agent Phan, "Can you use your earthbending to track those kids?"
"I can, but… we're not going to arrest them or anything, are we?" Phan asked, looking troubled even as they set out after the kids into the city slums. "Even the bigger kid didn't look to be more than eight years old."
"If they have a mom or dad who actually gives a handful of ashes about them, I'll leave the punishment up to the parents. If not, then… maybe a couple weeks of polishing armor for the local city guard station," Hoshi mused out loud as they moved at a fast jog. Hard work was good for character, and he'd have a word with the station captain about making sure the kids were treated fairly during their punishment, maybe given a decent meal each time they showed up for their chore.
The kids were fast, Hoshi would give them that, and the way they zigged and zagged through the slums said they had some experience in losing pursuers. But their own running feet and frantic heartbeats were giving them away, to the Dai Li agent's freaky talent for listening through his feet. They tracked the kids for over five blocks, and eventually right up to the doorway of a four-story tenement hall, one with boarded-up windows on the first floor. "They went in there, but that's all I can tell you; wooden floors," Phan panted while pushing his glasses back up on his nose as they came to a stop in front of the door.
"Looks like we'll be knocking on doors," Hoshi said with a shrug as he led the way inside.
To speed things up, Hoshi had Phan and Lady Suki knock on the doors on one side of the first floor, while he knocked on the other side. But no one answered the first few doors they knocked on, even though he could smell the scorched rice and vegetables from somebody burning their lunch. And then suddenly the hairs on the back of Hoshi's neck were standing up; that instinct he'd honed over the last year of assassination attempts…
"It's a trap! Get out!" he snapped at Phan and Lady Suki, even as he turned and started running for the—oh fuck, when had somebody closed that door to the street?! And now everything was spinning, what—"Gas!" he croaked before covering his mouth and nose, while stumbling down the hallway to the door that seemed further and further away. That strong cooking smell had been to disguise the odor of the gas!
The world grayed out and turned black, and Hoshi's second-to-last thought was an apology to his lord, for failing in his duties. His very last thought was an apology to Mushu, his pet bearded cat; now Mushu would never get that treat of smoked leopard-shark fin that Hoshi had bought for him yesterday…
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Her head hurt so much, and her mouth felt like something had crawled inside and died there six weeks ago… Suki groaned as she thought to herself that she would never, ever touch Master Pakku's ice-whiskey ever again; that stuff should be banned by international treaty.
"Ahhh, young lady, so good of you to join us," someone said smoothly. And not a voice she was familiar with, but then she hadn't really gotten to know everybody in the Southern Water Tribe… wait a minute. She wasn't down at the South Pole anymore, she and Sokka had gone to the Fire Nation to safeguard Zuko and his baby! She forced her eyes open and lifted her head, even as she became aware that she couldn't move the rest of her body—shit, she was tied down, tied to a chair, a prisoner again!
Memory came back in a rush as she quickly assessed her surroundings. Hoshi and Phan were both in the room with her, also tied to chairs facing her, and Hoshi had some kind of metal mask over the lower half of his face. Metal mittens over his hands, too; if he tried to firebend, he'd only end up melting the metal, burning himself. Phan's hands were just tied with rope, but there were so many twists of rope securing them to the chair that she could only see the tips of his fingers. Their legs were probably tied like hers, too, to the point of being completely unable to do more than wiggle her toes.
The room they were in was small, with wooden walls and ceiling, one closed door and one window, and from where she was sitting she saw nothing through the window but sky; they might be at the top of the tenement hall they'd gone into, since it had been the tallest building on the block, or maybe somewhere else entirely. But there was no doubt that the man standing in front of her was their captor: male, slender build, balding, likely mid-forties, nondescript brown clothing… and an anticipatory smile on his face that made her blood run cold. She'd never seen this man before in her life, but she'd seen that smile before…
"I was planning for just a Dai Li agent and an imperial guardsman or two to arrive, but I'm more than willing to accommodate an unexpected guest. And now that you're all awake, we can begin," the man said pleasantly. "You're here because I'm quite curious about all the changes that have occurred inside the palace since the last time I was there."
Hoshi's voice was muffled behind the mask, but she could still hear him snarl, "Go fuck yourself with a flaming spear, Hizem!"
The man now named Hizem turned to Hoshi with a raised eyebrow. "My, such language, private… oh, my mistake, I see you're the captain of the guard now. My congratulations on your promotion."
"You two know each other?" Suki found herself asking.
"Mostly by reputation," Hoshi growled, his voice thick with disgust. "Hizem was Fire Lord Ozai's favorite torturer."
"The proper title is Chief Interrogator," Hizem corrected him. "A position that I was rather upset to lose with the old regime, you see; not just because it paid well, but because I happened to be very good at it."
Oh Kyoshi, give me strength… Suki fought to keep her voice rock-steady as she commented, "Then I suppose Azula was one of your pupils?"
"Oh, I never formally tutored the princess, but both she and her father would occasionally come to my workroom to see my projects," Hizem said with what seemed like, spirits help them all, a genuinely fond smile. "And she was always a quick study at everything… But now, to return to the reason you're all here. I understand there have been many changes to not just the routines of the palace staff and guards, but the internal architecture and layout as well. My current employer has many questions about the palace as it is now, and you are going to answer them."
Now Phan spoke up, but his voice was so faint, barely a hoarse whisper: "Get smothered."
Hizem blinked at him in mild surprise. "Something wrong with your throat, young man? Don't tell me you've lost your voice just from being so far away from any source of earth; I've interrogated enough earthbenders to know better." As he spoke, he went over to a corner of the room and pulled out a tray on a wheeled stand, rolling it over to in front of Suki. The tray was covered with an assortment of instruments, including a few that she'd seen before—Kyoshi please give her strength!
But even facing that tray of horrors, Suki was proud of the way she kept her voice steady as she said, "Since you're being so open about your identity and intentions, it's obvious that you have no intention of letting us leave this improvised torture chamber alive. So satisfy my curiosity before you kill me: who is your current employer?" If even one of them could escape alive…
Hizem tsked and wagged his finger at her like she was a child who was thinking of being naughty. "Now, that's not how it works, my dear; in this room, I ask the questions and get the answers. I was kind enough to respond to your question about the princess earlier, because it pleased me to do so, but that's as far as it goes," as he stooped to look at the hand that Suki had left bare after using her glove on Azula.
He seized her fingers and bent them back, not quite far enough to break the joints but far enough that it hurt like hells. He closely examined her fingernails and the scars around and under them, and then gave a pleased smile. "So that's why you mentioned the princess; you've been a project of hers! She used the bamboo slivers, I see. As I said, she was always a quick study… And this burn scar on the palm; why I do believe that's her dainty thumbprint! How like her to sign her work that way."
Peering over his metal mask at her, Hoshi's eyes were wide with shock and horrified sympathy, as were Phan's behind his glasses. Suki glared hard at them, trying to say with her eyes that now was not the time to be soft about anything!
Hizem stood up again, bringing his hands together with that same pleasant and utterly chilling smile. "Well, then! The princess may have learned from me everything she knew… but I can assure you, she didn't learn everything I know. It will be quite interesting, to see what other scars she left on your body, and to see how your prior experiences affect your reactions to what I have planned now."
Then Phan spoke up, in that same barely-audible whisper. "No, please! Don't hurt my darling anymore! She's been through too much already…"
His darling?! Suki opened her mouth to tell him off, and then realized that it must have been a clue for her and Hoshi to pick up on; the Dai Li agent had some sort of plan in mind. But what could Phan do? He was tied hand and foot, and even if he wasn't, there was no earth anywhere that she could see for him to use; not even a ceramic statue in the room's décor.
"Oh, you have some objection to my starting with your girlfriend?" Hizem said, turning to Phan with a smile. "I could be persuaded otherwise, with enough information…" The bastard had probably figured to start on her just because she was female, and thought it would be harder for the big tough men to watch her being tortured than to endure the torture themselves (Suki knew just how hard that was, after helplessly witnessing what Azula had done to poor Mikiko—no, now was notthe time to remember that!)
Because she knew it was expected of her, Suki shouted, "Phan, no! Don't tell him anything!"
Phan whispered something else while miserably hanging his head, so softly she could barely hear him at all, but the gist of it was that nothing was worth her being hurt again.
"You'll have to speak up, young man," Hizem said as he leaned in close to Phan and put a finger under his chin, tipping his head up to see his face. "I can hardly understand a word you're-"
Then Phan's glasses abruptly fractured outwards from the center, into tiny shards. Suki just had time to recall that glass is made from superheated sand—earth—when Phan hissed, "Peekaboo!" as the shards flung themselves outwards, straight at Hizem's face.
The interrogator screamed and staggered backwards, his face sliced to ribbons; his eyeballs ruptured and viscous fluid running down his face with the blood. Suki stared in horror as the torturer staggered back two more steps—
And when he got between Hoshi and the window, the guardsman lurched in his chair, throwing himself hard sideways, chair and all. He succeeded in tipping over, impacting on Hizem hard enough to throw him up against the window-
And through it, shattering the glass as he fell. Hizem's scream lasted another second before it was abruptly cut off by a distant thud.
"…Kyoshi's boots," Suki finally breathed, her eyes wide. "That was…spirits, Phan, how'd you come up with that trick?!"
"I was raised in Omashu," Phan said as he blinked owlishly in Suki's general direction, through the now empty frames of his glasses. "King Bumi never declared an heir after his son died, so after he started bending with just his face, my father made all us kids practice for years until we could do it too, in hopes that he'd pick one of us as his heir. And now you know why I always have at least two extra pairs of glasses in my quarters… But it's a real last-ditch effort, and now I'm not only tied up, I'm basically blind. I don't suppose either of you can wiggle free of your ropes now, or something?"
"Nope; still tied up tight," Suki reported ruefully after she got over the shock of learning that some people could use their faces to bend elements—even Avatar Kyoshi hadn't been able to do that!—and after a few moments of fruitless struggle. "Can't get enough leverage to break the chair, either."
"And leaning at a 45-degree angle doesn't help, take it from me," Hoshi said wryly from where he was still tipped sideways against the wall. "But at least there's no torturer anymore; I call that at least a partial win. And if we're still in the city, sooner or later somebody's going to notice the body in the street and call the city guard. Maybe sooner, if they hear us calling for help." Whereupon he began shouting at the broken window, "Help! Call the guardsmen! Help!" But after a few seconds he stopped and slumped. "My voice doesn't carry worth ashes with this damn mask on, does it?"
"I don't think our voices will carry either, given how far we are from the window. But maybe there's still a way," Suki said hopefully. "There are still a few shards of glass left in the window frame; Phan, can you use them to cut our ropes?"
"Bending with just my face is hard enough even when I can see what I'm doing! But what the hell, can't hurt to try it," Phan muttered as he turned to stare at the window.
Over a minute passed without anything happening; then Phan scowled and closed his eyes, took a deep breath… and a few seconds later the shards left hanging in the window frame began rattling, ever-so-slightly. Then Phan began twitching an eyebrow, over and over… and the biggest shard rattled harder and soon broke free of the frame, to begin slowly drifting across the room.
Phan opened his eyes when the glass shard arrived right in front of him. He began grimacing, his eyebrows waggling while his lips, cheeks and jaw moved this way and that; the resulting expressions he made looked utterly silly, but Suki didn't dare laugh or even breathe too loud, afraid of breaking his concentration as he directed the shard down at the ropes binding his right hand. He started with the nearest loop of rope on his wrist, and the shard moved up and down as the tip slowly started sawing through the rope.
Then Phan flinched, and swore softly as the shard dropped to the floor and shattered even further. Suki noticed with dismay the blood welling up under the frayed rope, and Hoshi commented from where he was leaning, "I take it that it did hurt to try it."
"Eat dust and—uh, sorry, didn't mean that; I'm just frustrated. Just got nicked, is all," Phan muttered as he closed his eyes again, and soon a smaller shard of glass was rising up from the floor. This time he started sawing at the ropes over his fingertips, probably figuring that the sooner even a few fingers were freed, the sooner he could start earthbending faster and more accurately.
Several minutes passed, and more blood was spilled, from the glass shard nicking his fingers as he sawed. But though he cursed under his breath each time and his forehead was starting to sweat, Phan never let the shard drop and kept sawing away. Then he gave a fierce grin, and Suki couldn't help giving out a soft cheer, when he finally cut through the first loop.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but Phan had just finished sawing through the fifth loop of rope and almost had his fingers free when they heard someone hammering on a door somewhere far below them, and a voice faintly echoing upwards: "City Guard! Open up; this is official Guard business!"
The shard paused in its work while Phan shouted back, still staring at his hand, "Just give me five more minutes!"
After a few seconds, Hoshi's shoulders began shaking. Then he couldn't hold it in any longer, and Suki started laughing too; not as much from the humor of the situation as from sheer relief that they had survived and were about to be rescued.
Phan finally looked up and let the shard drop again with a wry smile as he said, "Well, I would have gotten us free, but I guess we can let the city guards do their job."
"You did take care of the torturer for us, and that alerted the guards to come and find us; you really did most of the work," Suki said soothingly as they heard feet pounding up the stairs. "I'm sure everyone at the palace will agree, and so will Toph after I write to her."
Phan brightened at the prospect of receiving congratulations from the head of the New Dai Li, just before the door burst open and three guardsmen burst in, swords drawn and fists smoldering. Still tipped over sideways against the wall, Hoshi said in a ridiculously cheerful voice, "Hey, guys! You missed all the excitement earlier. Don't suppose you searched the corpse on your way up here, for the key to this damn mask and manacles?"
The guards had not, but after the three of them were identified and Hoshi explained what had happened, one of the guards was quick to leave and come back with the key while the other two cut them free of their ropes. And after they'd all been freed and were walking and flexing, restoring their circulation after being tied up for so long, Hoshi sidled over to Suki and said hesitantly, "Uh, Lady Suki? Back at the asylum… Nice work."
.
To be continued