Just finished watching the awesome Hueco Mundo arc of Bleach - only to be greeted by filler episodes.
How I hate filler. It is similar to pop music in that it fills me with irrational, incoherent rage.
Dawwwwww Ulquiorra is weirdly cute. He reminds me of L from Death Note.
Anyway…
Vivisection
Chapter 56 - On Second Thoughts
Iroh descended the stairs with a heavy heart.
He felt for Zuko, of course. He could understand that it was a difficult decision to make. He could even put himself in his nephew's shoes, if he tried hard enough.
If only Zuko could see the viewpoints of others so easily.
Part of Iroh wanted to take Zuko by the shoulders and shake him. It was painfully obvious that Lisana hadn't been the one to do those things to Princess Ursa. Logically, she was the only possible culprit. That man - a pirate he and his nephew had encountered during Zuko's exile, if Iroh recalled correctly - had turned up with a beaten and bruised Ursa, in front of the entire court and Zuko himself.
Logic and evidence said that Lisana had done it. But Iroh's sixth sense - which had always been accurate in the past - said not.
He was beginning to regret his offer now.
Iroh had been with Katara and Aang when the message was delivered. He had seen the black wax of the seal, seen the outline of the Aizen family crest, and his blood had run cold. At the looks of anxiety on their faces, Iroh had volunteered to deliver the news to Lisana.
As much as he pitied her, Iroh could do little to alter the course of Lisana's fate. He knew the danger of any attempt he could make to sway the Fire Lord's decision. It was possible - albeit unlikely - Zuko would listen to him if he argued Lisana's case strongly enough. But Iroh knew that the court would see it as an attempt on his part to claim power from Zuko, and the country would see it as more instability within the Fire Nation royal family. Agni knew he had no desire to incite some sort of revolution.
Things were heading that way already. Iroh knew about the lingering tension left in the Earth Kingdom as an aftermath of the war. As time had passed the rift between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation had gotten worse instead of better. If Zuko didn't watch his step, he was likely to spark a chain of events which would lead to another war with the Earth Kingdom, perhaps even a civil war within the Fire Nation.
At least his nephew had shown some sense with the decision to give Lisana a trial. That would appease the Earth Kingdom, for a time at least. There had been reams of correspondence from various Earth Kingdom political leaders, demanding the details of Lisana's sentence. Iroh knew that they saw this as more of an excuse to antagonise the Fire Nation than anything else, but it still gave him hope for Lisana.
He reached the door to the holding cells, and motioned for the firebender soldier standing guard to open it. The man bowed and obeyed, and Iroh entered the palace prison.
Alone, he moved down the row of cells, waving away the sentries who stepped forward to accompany him. When Iroh glimpsed long pale hair he stopped.
'Nemi?' he asked.
The girl in the cell turned around to face him. When she did her face brightened. 'General Iroh!'
She looked better than he'd expected. She'd lost a little weight, but it was hardly noticeable unless you were looking closely. Her hair and skin looked relatively clean. Iroh stepped closer and saw upon inspection that her fingernails had been subjected to a fierce regime of biting, some of them caked with dried blood. That worried him. The imprisonment had clearly taken its toll on her nerves, and the news he'd brought wasn't going to make that any better.
'How are you?' he asked her, playing for time.
Lisana attempted a smile. 'Okay, I suppose. I've definitely been better. You?'
Iroh sighed. 'I have also been better. Is the lightning burn healing?'
Lisana nodded. 'It's slow, but it's getting there.'
'It will scar,' Iroh said, then checked himself. He hadn't come here for a casual conversation with her, much as he wished that was the case.
As if she could sense what he was thinking, Lisana's half-hearted smile dropped. 'Has something happened?' Her voice came out in a whisper, and Iroh realised that she'd been trying desperately for the past few minutes to keep up the pretence that she was all right.
'Yes,' he replied heavily. 'Aang and Katara received a message from Captain Jilan Aizen's lieutenant on her behalf today.'
Lisana paled dramatically, but didn't speak.
Iroh breathed out heavily. 'The Captain and her squad were returning to the Fire Nation. Captain Aizen's lieutenant stated that she thought highly of you and was retreating her squad in order to testify in your defense.' He paused, simultaneously knowing he would have to say it and dreading it. 'However, her ship was caught in a storm. The majority of the squad suffered only minor injuries, but Captain Aizen herself sustained a head injury and has - passed away. Her squad lieutenant offers his condolences.'
All he heard next was a sharp intake of breath. Lisana had drawn her knees up to her chest, burying her face in them. When the sound of quiet sobbing emanated from her cell, Iroh wished profoundly that his hearing would disappear.
'Jilan…' she whispered. 'Oh my God. It's my fault.'
'No,' Iroh replied. 'It was never your fault.' He thought of his nephew then, and felt anger and frustration. If only Zuko could see his 'criminal' now.
'I am sorry for your loss,' he continued. 'Never blame yourself. That way lies ruin.' Iroh leant against the wall, feeling suddenly tired.
'If I hadn't asked Katara and Aang to write to her…'
'If Zuko hadn't been a fool and thrown you in prison without listening to anything you had to say, then Captain Aizen would still be alive.' Iroh cut her off, realizing that for perhaps the first time in his life, he wanted to backhand Zuko. The emotion surprised him.
'I will testify in defense of your character. I will not let him punish you,' he said fiercely.
'G-General Iroh?' Lisana looked up, eyes beginning to redden with crying. 'Do you really think he would kill me?'
Iroh paused, unsure for a moment of what to say. 'In terms of the current political situation, sentencing you to death would be…unwise,' he told her. 'It is unlikely he will make that decision.'
She didn't look reassured by that. To Agni with it, Iroh thought, and straightened. To Agni with the Fire Nation's political factions.
'I would hope my nephew is not stupid or cruel enough to sentence the woman he loves to death. But if he does, I will force his hand away. I will not let him do it. You have my promise.'
Lisana smiled weakly at that. 'I appreciate it, General Iroh.' As he turned to leave, she murmured something else, almost as if she were talking to herself.
'But he doesn't love me any more.'
