Chapter Twenty-Nine:

The Last Meeting


"And in my hour of darkness, she is standing there right in front of me. Speaking words of wisdom. Let it be." –The Beatles, Let It Be

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.


After I left the Center, it was with a new determination that I did not know I had. Though the events that had passed there would be with a certain regret and self-horror, I would move on. I have struggled and fought to find out who I am and what it is that I want. Everything I have gone through could not not have been for nothing!

I am not going to give that up.

Never.

The only place I had left to go was to the Royal Palace. This destination…this encounter, left me more shaken and anxious then any of the others had…


It only took several days to get there by boat. I knew the secret ways of the palace for I had learnt them as a child. It was with ease that I slipped in the Royal Palace without anyone being the wiser. Unusual feelings and recollections raced through my mind as I travelled its halls. It felt strange to be here once again. It was in a certain hallway that I turned onto, after having come from a discreet servant's entrance. It was there that I saw him

His back was faced to me, but I could recognize him from any angle. His ebony hair had grown back for it was now in a top-knot. He wore grander armor then I had seen him wear before and…someone was in the process of kissing him. When they pulled apart, it took me a moment to place the pale faced lady. Mai. I knew her. She was one of the two friends of Princess Azula. The quiet one. I had liked her as a child for she had left me alone in the yearly visits I had made. Something in the hollow in my chest screamed as I went back into the servant's passageway. He would come to his chamber eventually, so that is where I headed.


The room was dark. Silent.

I remembered the days when I had entered it on my visits to the Royal Palace. My…the prince was a young and innocent youth. For awhile he had tried to have me as a playmate. His playful smile…I shook myself away from the memories and returned to the task at hand. He would come eventually, for this was his bedroom after all.

Only minutes later the door opened, sending bright light from the hallway into the room. The outlined figure of my…the prince entered the room, casually lighting the room with his firebending. He halted halfway through the room. He knew someone was here. I slipped out from my hiding place and bowed low. My hands were trembling. I cannot convey how I felt when had entered the room. In the hallway before I had…

The strongest emotions I felt now were of mingled joy and grief. The hollow in my chest echoed with the beats of my desperate heart. He spoke first, a name that was no longer me stumbling from his lips in disbelief, "Nira?" I glanced up to see him coming towards me with quick strides. Suddenly I found myself held in his arms tightly as he said, "You're alive! I thought you had died!"

"Apparently I am hard to kill, Your Highness," I replied with a stiff humor. At that, he released me and took a step back to look down at me properly. I could tell he had been astonished by his reaction to me and to my attempted humor. The way he had his hair up in a top-knot complimented the sharp angles of his face. Right there I saw a glimpse of the prince I had known as a child. His eyes were shocked and pleased, even lighted with a distinct joy. He…he was happy to see that I was alive!

"What happened to you?"

"I was captured, Your Highness."

He took a step towards me and put two solid hands on my shoulders. His flaxen eyes looked directly at my own. "And you found your way back to me. You kept your oath."

I flinched at that. I had not kept my oath. I had broken it already and was going to do so again once more. He had surprised me by touching me at all. Something about him had changed, that much I could tell. Was it because he had killed the Avatar? There was something hardened about him before to hide his pain, but now…it was blatant, along with his confusion.

I took a step back at his words, unable to look at his face. Somehow I had not imagined this as a painful experience. "No, Your Highness," I corrected him carefully, "I have come to say goodbye."

When I looked back at him there was resentment and hurt? His golden eyes burned like his element. "So, you are betraying me just like uncle did," He intoned darkly.

I had heard about Lord Iroh with disbelief, but hearing it from his lips made it real to me. Lord Iroh loved His Highness like his own son. I wondered what the real story was, but it was no longer a concern of mine. I told myself that over and over in my head like a chant. "If that is how you choose to see it, Your Highness," I said rather tartly.

He turned his back to me and walked forward several steps. A guilty silence hung onto every second that passed. "Why did you return," He asked me, each word inflamed with silent fury, "If only to leave?" He turned his head back towards me.

I would not ever have told him part of what was that truth. Duty had called me to at least return to relieve myself from my oath, but it was more than that. It…it always had been. This was something I had not ever openly admitted to myself. I could not have afforded too. Yet he saw it there in my eyes and knew it at last. I turned my head away in shame, unable to confront those eyes. "How long have you felt this way?" He queried, but there was no trace of mockery.

I still did not look at his face. The floor below me was suddenly very interesting. "I…I realized it that night after you went after the Avatar, when he had been captured by Zhao," I answered him in a hushed tone. That had been months ago. Things have changed so much. I finally looked back up at him.

A small part of me still imagined of what we could have been, but it never could have been to begin with. That longing was at last crushed from what I saw in his face then. There was anger. Hurt. Even pity perhaps.

But nothing more than that.

Our relationship had always followed the rules. Maybe...we could have been friends, but nothing more. The cavity in my chest felt desperately empty like a cave.

"You've changed," He stated at last.

"As have you, Your Highness," I retorted.

His eyes narrowed but his next words were hard and smooth, "What happened to you?"

"I found who I am," I explained, "and…where I belong." Something ignited in his eyes at this, even making him turn back around to entirely face me. He was confused, even lost, I realized. What had happened to him? Part of me ached to take action to help him, but yet again this that was no longer my responsibility. "I am leaving the Fire Nation," I continued, "and am not coming back."

His beautiful face snarled. "You're a traitor." I had had nightmares of him saying those exact words. In person, it was more painful than those dreams. They could not even compare. I noticed his eyes taking note of my crippled hand. I did not have any wrappings on it. My right hand, deformed and useless. I ignored it and his eyes.

It took me much strength to say these next words. "Goodbye, Your Highness." I bowed and started to walk to the door.

Right when my left hand was on the door handle, he called out the name I no longer claimed. I looked back to his familiar pained face. "Don't leave me," He said in a quiet command. It was more of a…plea…The hollow in my chest was heavy and my throat tightened as if he were strangling me. I could not help him. He was on his own…he was no longer my charge. Those two singular words....

I had not called him that in my mind for months.

....My charge...

Once they had been a formality, a way to keep me from becoming too attached. Yet they had turned into something more for me. My charge. Strange that even now they held such meaning to me. That was probably the reason I had avoided thinking them for so long. "I am sorry, Your Highness," I responded, but the regret was plain in my words. He looked at me with disbelief. It quickly turned to a look of resentment. "I hope…" I did not need to finish the sentence. Had Narimi not said something so similar to me only days ago?

"You hope what?" He growled. The flames on the torches in the room began to become higher.

"That you find what it is you need to be happy," I stated simply, "For you to find what I have found."

The light flamed in the room as he yelled, "I hate you!" There was something in his eyes, in his face, I could not comprehend. He had everything he had wanted before: his crown, his father's favor…he even had someone. What was wrong with him?

I…my sister's observation to me about him had been correct. I was still…in love with him. He knew that now and his wrathful face saw it as I looked back at him. His last words had sliced at me; cutting at the hollow in my chest…I bowed my head. "Take care, Your Highness."

Then I left.

My feet had wanted to stay and other words had wanted to spring fourth. They would have been useless though. I knew that.

And…Enlai is waiting for me.


A/N: At last she meets Zuko one last time! Does he seem to out of character? This is before he's taken off to join Aang and the day of black sun, so he still has that hatred thing going on. I hope I got it alright. Thanks for reading and please review!