As the intense summer sun burned into his skin, a young man walked towards his current home with silent steps. Even for those who knew nothing of him it was easy to see that the man was deep in thought.
Fire Lord Zuko's meeting with his informant had been surprisingly successful. They had obviously been waiting anxiously to deliver good news. He didn't trust them, of course, and they had accordingly always only gotten to know him as Lee, a personal servant of Fire Lord Zuko. Luckily by now they were well accustomed to Zuko's secrecy and had not even attempted to gain any information concerning their Lord's wellbeing. As if he and his servant hadn't been gone for weeks now, they had simply been waiting for him as they did every time and had handed him the coded paper without any comment. His paranoia had sadly meant that he had had to spend the day in several different small hotels and bars. He didn't want to risk someone following him to the place he currently slept at. He had booked into several rooms, where he had worked for some time, before slipping out.
Luckily he had memorized his different decoding keys months ago, otherwise he would most likely have had a hard time to figure out the messages at all. As it was, he was quite satisfied with his people's work.
Sadly Katara's claim of having been unable to keep matters under control without his backing had been accurate. Although both the nobles and the commoners had come to like her, they were unwilling to accept her on the throne on her own. Some merely used it as excuse to destabilize a capable ruler, but many others truly could not accept her as primary ruler. Too proud were they of their nation to allow it being ruled completely by a foreigner. They wished her to remain the Fire Lady, but always only at the side of another ruler. Realizing that his time would be better spent solving the more immediate problems, he had quickly moved on to the other topics' the reports addressed. Many others too were not pressing at the moment, but in some time sensitive areas significant headway had been made.
They had successfully located several higher ranking members of the Black Lotus as well as some of the safe houses of the White Lotus. Now all he would need was information on the connecting members between the different organisations and events. His men had been able to find hints in the wreck of the boat he had been using previously, which hinted at an attack. According to the reports it looked like several larger boats had circled the small ship and forced it into the cliffs. In order to make sure no one could report the happenings, any men who had survived the crash had been shot with arrows. This could be proven by some of the bodies, which had been found. One of them was the body of his former doctor.
For a moment he had felt guilty for the man's death. He had taken care of Zuko reliably despite his rather unfriendly attitude and had – as far as the investigations had shown – not betrayed him in any way. The sailors too had been good men, who had proven to be surprisingly loyal. But instead of rewarding their services he had sent them to their deaths. He had known after all that they would most likely never reach their goal.
What had been truly fascinating however was that the crew had managed to badly damage one of the attacking vessels. It had been sunk quite a ways away from the original attack, probably to destroy evidence and to gain speed. Despite their efforts however, several planks had been found at shore. It had been possible to identify the boats using the production marks. Few men outside of those manufacturing the ships knew that ship parts often received marks to avoid confusion when building several ships at once. Every shipyard however had their own specific way of marking and many men never forgot the mark of a ship they had built. Accordingly, using the different planks, it had been possible to conclude which ship had been sunk.
Normally such efforts were not taken to identify sunken ships, since the locations were quite clear in most instances. Accordingly, the attackers had to have felt secure as long as they used Fire Nation issued boats. Perhaps even knowing the ships name would have been useless, but as luck would have it, the Saint had been captured by Earth Kingdom troops. According to the peace treaty, it should still be kept in storage at Chameleon Bay. In other words, whoever had instigated the attack had been influential enough in the Earth Kingdom to steal a ship from its army without any alarms being risen and had at the same time had enough connections in the Fire Nation to find sailors, who actually knew how to steer it. Considering that at least some fire benders were necessary to keep the machines running, the sailors could not have been merely well trained Earth Kingdom men.
Now there might be several large organisations in the world, which had the destruction of the Fire Lord as their ultimate goal, but very few of those had any connections to both Fire Nation nobles, peasants and high ranking officers in the Earth Kingdom.
The involvement of Fire Nation soldiers should have made instigation by the Black Lotus impossible, but…
No matter what though he had enough prove to force Earth King Kuei into allowing an investigation once the attempted coup failed. All he had to do was send an emergency letter in Katara's hand, demanding that he take certain people into custody immediately, and afterwards claim that his failure had made the prevention of the coup impossible. The chances of him arresting his own nobles, simply because a Fire Nation royal asked him to were close to zero after all and he would not have any means of refuting his statement.
Afterwards, afraid to further anger his supposed ally, he would have to allow at least some investigations on his soil.
Approaching the gate of his current residence, a young voice called out to him. "Master?"
The boy who had accompanied him for the last of his trip had proven to be rather more reliable than he would have ever guessed. After leaving his original means of transportation he had been in desperate need of some assistance with the treatment of his wounds, but had been unwilling to allow anyone who might have alternate motives to get close to him. Since he merely needed additional hands, not any medical knowledge, he had decided to pick up one of the children begging in the darker parts of the port city.
Such boys rarely lived for more than what reached their mouths and the promise of regular feedings had been enough to gain several boys' interest. Most of them had refused the offer however, too afraid of what kind of services he might demand to take the risk. The one he had taken along in the end had been unlucky enough of having little choice. He had belonged to a gang of child pickpockets and when the gang's adult leader had heard of his offer to the begging children, the man had jumped at the chance. Of course he had demanded some compensation for losing his valuable worker, but some coins later the boy had been his.
In the beginning his constant presence had been annoying, but over time the child had relaxed some while learning what set his master off. He was a rather unobtrusive person and had been easily satisfied. Since he had no connections, he seemed to be the safest choice Zuko had had, at least until someone offered him money in return for betraying his current Master. He was sure it would only be at best a few days now. Soon his services would no longer be safe. Handing the small boy several papers, he ordered:
"Give this to the Lady and tell her that I'm doing all right."
For a moment the boy hesitated. Obviously Katara had been concerned about his bandages.
"Go on, I'll be fine for now."
The small, poorly dressed figure had almost disappeared, before being called back by one last question:
"What's your name boy?"
"Ko, Sir."
Zuko nodded and waved him away, satisfied with himself for the time being. At least now he would be able to tell Katara the boy's name, when she asked again.
Stepping through the rickety gate, Zuko was surprised to find his host's sister sitting outside on the porch. The afternoon sun was intense and the girl had no protection from it where she sat. The heat would certainly not be good for her weakened state!
"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you go back inside? It's a bit too hot to sit outside, isn't it?"
For a moment, Tsumori seemed to consider not answering, before smiling weakly. "I'd rather burn than listen to them shouting."
"Shouting?"
"My neighbour came home this morning, drunk as usual." She gently shook her shoulders. There was no need for further explanations.
"How long have you been out here?" He was surprised that the overprotective sister had left the girl with a drunk, though perhaps she had counted on the husband being gone for a while longer?
"Don't know, Sir. Few hours, maybe? Aint allowed to leave without my sis. She worries something might happen to me, dangerous city and what not; especially right now."
All of his reports as well as his own experience had shown the city to be quite safe during the day. Even a rather weak girl should have no reason to fear taking a stroll during the day or to drink something in one of the teahouses – not even during the current unease. She had mentioned something about a brother before…
"Because of your brother?"
For a moment he worried, he might have said the wrong thing as the girl looked around hectically, but several seconds later she nodded lightly.
Not wanting to get her into trouble with her sister he offered: "I can stay outside for a while, if you want? As long as I'm not inside, your sister shouldn't have any problem with you going into the flat, right?"
The girl turned an interesting shade of red so deep it seemed almost purple, while whipping her head from right to left as quickly as she could.
"Oh no, Sir! Couldn't do that! You're a guest after all!"
Zuko sat down next to her on the porch. "Have you at least had something to drink? I doubt your sister would want you getting yourself sick just to be polite."
The girls eyes widened comically, obviously astonished at the suggestion. "I can get sick from sitting outside?"
"Unless you are a practiced bender too much heat can dry you out and burn your skin."
"Oh, didn't know that. Sis said not to spend too much time outside, but I though she just didn't want me playing too much. Didn't think just sitting here could be bad. Not like I could go out before."
"I don't mind staying outside for a while, if you want to get a bit of a break?" He offered once more.
"Oh no, you might get sick too and then where would we be?"
So she didn't know that Zuko was a bender? Truthfully, he would prefer going inside. The morning outside had exhausted him and he would have to save as much energy as he possibly could for the coming few days. It might not be wise to tell the girl that he was a bender anyways.
Looking at him with a considering smile, the girl offered: "You know, it's still early. By the time Nayami gets home, I'll be in the kitchen to cook, so maybe, if we're real quiet, she won't ever know we were inside together?"
"I'm not sure…" He really shouldn't be getting the child into trouble. He was an adult after all!
"It's not like you will hurt me, right, Sir?"
Had he ever been that innocent? That naïve? He hoped not. It truly was hot though and Tsumori seemed to almost hope for some company. It had to be boring on her own in this place all day long.
"All right, but only until you have to make dinner, all right?"
"Great!" Gripping Zuko's arm lightly she smiled up at him, not noticing how uncomfortable he felt with the girl so close to him. How could she seem so carefree, if she had grown up in a workhouse? From everything he had ever heard those places seemed worse than some prisons.
As they moved closer to the small apartment, they could hear screaming and loud crashes. No wonder no one had payed any attention to him and Katara last night. They had been downright tame in comparison.
"Our neighbours." Tsumori mumbled. The previously carefree grip of his arm turned more forceful and he could feel her shaking – so not quite as innocent as she had seemed before. Not that he blamed her. He had always been afraid when his parents had fought. Who knew how often she had been at the receiving end of an adult venting their anger at the small girl, when her sister wasn't home? Gently he moved her to his other side, so he could walk between her and the flat, where the noise came from.
Once they reached her apartment, she calmed some, even though the screaming could still be heard easily.
The girl truly had to have been thirsty as she immediately started making some tea. She probably hadn't eaten anything for lunch yet either he mused and suddenly felt bad for causing such an inconvenience.
"So how long have you been living here?"
"Not that long yet, but I really like it here. I only wish I could go outside a bit more. There are some other children around here, with whom I was hoping to play, but they always go outside to play and I'm not allowed."
"Because of your sickness?" Somehow though he doubted it was just that. After all she had said she was a lot better now.
"Not really, the doctor said I could at least go to the three hours of school the local shrine offers, but sister doesn't want me in school. She's worried someone might notice."
"What would be so bad about your brother finding you?"
For a moment the girl stared at him as if he was stupid, before shaking her head slowly. "Well I suppose there are worse things than dying."
Zuko coughed several times as he choked on his tea. "Dying? You mean your brother would kill you if he found you?" He really wanted to know who the girl's brother was, but he somehow doubted she would tell him even if he asked and he didn't want to startle her. Her generally cheerful presence felt nice after the many weeks of solitude.
Shaking slightly the girl nodded. "Obviously. But say, do you know how to write? Sister sounded like you were educated?"
"Sure." Maybe he should drop the topic for now. Moving into the other room he pulled out the small travel set, which he had bought during his travels. It wasn't good enough for any greater calligraphy, but he doubted the girl would notice one way or the other. "What do you want to write?"
"How about tree? I like trees!"
Chuckling quietly to himself, he began showing her how to hold the brush.
She was a surprisingly fast learner and only an hour later, she had memorized her first few sets of Kanji.
"What about my name? How do you spell Tsumori?"
"Well, that depends on what it means. Now most likely your mother chose Tsumori written like this." He said and drew a much more complex Kanji than any of those he had shown her previously. "It's the symbol for hope."
Tusmori nodded slowly. "Nayami said once that my name meant hope. She said my mother hoped for a better life for me, but I'm not sure if I believe that. I'm a bastard after all."
"Mothers are curious that way. Even if it shouldn't be possible for them to do anything, they still manage to protect their children."
"I sometimes dream that she is out there somewhere, watching over me secretly." Tsumori quietly admitted. "Or that she maybe has a sister."
Not sure what to say to that, Zuko tried to turn the atmosphere a bit lighter again. If she started crying he wouldn't know what to do! "Well, she gave you an older sister, didn't she?"
Somehow this didn't seem to cheer her up though. "Actually…" she admitted. "Actually, Nayami isn't my real sister. My mother dropped me off at the workhouse as a little baby and they took me under their wing. I mean Nayami is still like an older sister to me and I'm very grateful for her, but I think I'm a big burden as well. She should be getting married soon, but she can't even meet any men because of me. And who knows if I'll ever be able to take care of myself properly? My lungs will always be weak."
"I'm sure your sister is very happy to have you though!"
Nayami nodded. "She always says that I'm her sunshine, though we certainly get enough of that around here anyways, don't we?"
Zuko had to agree, they were in the capital of the Fire Nation after all, the country of the sun good.
"Can you show me how to write that?"
"What?"
"Sunshine!"
Even though she hadn't said it, Zuko could clearly hear the obvious she implied.
"Zuko."
Without even opening his eyes he knew that it was Katara. Slowly he got up and stretched his tired muscles.
"I didn't expect you to be asleep." His wife joked, surprised at his willingness to sleep when a virtual stranger was just one room away from him.
"I was up almost all day long, so I thought you might not appreciate it if I didn't catch at least a few more hours."
"I certainly wouldn't!" She mock scolded quietly. "What were you doing all day long? I thought you were planning on sleeping."
"Well, in the morning I was talking to some people who might know a bit about what was going on and I wrote those letters for you to sign and send. Did you get them out?"
Katara nodded and handed a candle to Zuko to light. "I did and I also got all the preparations done for my big speech tomorrow. The army is informed and from what the servants said just before I left, things are starting to stir up. I'm worried though that things might go crazy faster than we expected. But that doesn't answer what you were doing during the afternoon." She sent a stern look towards her husband, but couldn't keep it up, when he grinned sheepishly.
"Well, I might have spent some time with a certain younger sister."
Katara gasped. Had Tsumori told him? No, that couldn't be. Nayami hadn't been any more nervous than yesterday. In fact she had seemed rather calmer than before.
Startled by Kataras obvious surprise, Zuko considered his wife more closely. Had he done something wrong?
"She was sitting outside in the heat when I came home. Her neighbours were fighting and she was afraid of staying with them. Can't blame her with the way they were shouting, so she spent the afternoon in here. She was very interested in learning how to write. I know Nayami didn't want her close to me, but I thought there couldn't be any harm in it."
"Nayami can be a bit overcautious." The waterbender admitted.
"You can say that again, though there seems to be some reason for it. Seems she is the illegitimate daughter of some noble. Some brother of hers supposedly wants her dead. She didn't say so, but I'm guessing that brother might be worried about the purity of his family line. Complete nonsense if you ask me, but there are some old fashioned families who don't take well to bastard children."
"Really? So it is common to kill your siblings, simply because they have a different mother?" Katara had always put Nayami's fear down to her general fear of the Fire Lord.
Uneasy at her interest in such a dark chapter in his country's history, Zuko nodded. "Sure. My father used to kill all of the children his concubines gave birth to. Supposedly he was afraid of rivalries for the throne, though that's rather unlikely. As long as they weren't benders, it wasn't like they had any hope of gaining the throne. In fact as long as the noble or royal doesn't acknowledge the child it doesn't matter whether the child is his or not. The only really important thing when it comes to successors is in the end whether they were recognized by their family members or not. The only exception is if there is no heir."
"What if there is no heir?" Katara seemed unusually nervous.
"There is always an heir. It might be some far removed cousin or something, but there is very rarely an instance of a family truly having no heir at all. But if for once there were no one at all then it would depend on who the family was and what rules they followed. The family codex is normally written down and kept at the royal archives, at least if the family is important enough. In most families the ability to bend is essential for a possible heir. Many, like the royal family, don't accept anyone as head of the family, who can't bend. Very few don't accept heirs without the family's blood flowing through their veins. In the end most family codes would rather accept the end of the family line than an heir who does not fulfil all conditions. In those circumstances the former head of the family has to announce to whom the assets of the family will go to and the family will simply cease to exist. In this cases though all of the family's privileges will be lost as well."
"So simply put, unless she were a bender or her family would acknowledge her, she will never have any chance of being the heir?"
"Yes. Bending ability comes even before blood. In most noble families being a none bender is the same as being a cripple. I mean even though you are my designated heir, just the question of your blood is making it hard for you to solidify your claim. Now imagine you didn't have Ursa's and my support and couldn't bend at all. You are a foreigner, but at least you aren't crippled. That's how many nobles think. No one would consider a none bender, who hasn't even been acknowledged, like Tsumori. They would rather let the family line end."
"So Nayami's fear of her brother interfering is rather slim?"
Zuko really didn't understand why Katara was so interested in the girl's family politics. "Most likely, even if her father announced her heir, she would never have any chance of actually receiving anything as long as her brother or someone else is still alive."
"Oh, her father is dead. Her brother is the head of the family."
"Then he would be the only one who could make her into a member of the family at all."
It was obvious that his wife found the matter rather strange and he had to admit that she was right in some ways. But perhaps she was only pretending to play confused in hopes of showing him how difficult it would be for her to keep any power without a child? "As crowned Fire Lady though, your situation is a bit different."
Katara nodded quickly and moved towards him. Whispering into her ear she gently said: "I think Nayami is listening in. I was only asking because I thought she might need to hear this."
Zuko shook his head. "I don't know which noble family she is involved with. It wouldn't be good to give her a false feeling of security." Raising his voice a bit he continued. "There are many families who kill bastards simply because they consider them a disgrace."
Katara couldn't resist giving her husband a slap on the back of his head. "You can be such an idiot sometimes!"
While he was still rubbing the back of his head, she cuddled closer to him. "Do you think we will make it?"
Noticing the sudden mood change, Zuko nodded. "Definitely. This isn't our first rodeo after all. Until today, haven't we always managed somehow?"
"I just worry if things aren't a bit too calm. What if we overlooked something big?"
"Things are a great deal less calm than they may seem, but every piece of information I have received today suggested that our assumptions are correct."
"But"
She was afraid. His proud, strong, fierce wife was afraid. "Trust me, love."
"I do, well at least most of the time. Still, the thought of losing you, of having to marry someone else." Her body shook though he wasn't sure if it was out of fear or disgust. "It was hard enough marrying a stranger, when I knew nothing of marriage and love, but now?"
"You won't have to."
"What makes you so sure? If you die I will be remarried even before your body cools. I once told you that I was grateful for you being yourself and I meant it. At this point, even if that someone where just as kind, I cannot bear the thought of another sleeping next to me.
Zuko stared at her. "It's not like I'm exactly what people would call a good husband. Look at what I have made you endure. I'm sure another…"
"Don't." She seemed mad. "I'll say this only one last time and after that I will not hear of it again: You are a kind man, my love."
"I'm planning to kill a man tomorrow, who will have no chance of protecting himself or have you forgotten?"
"Judge a man not by how he treats those of power and bearing, but by how he treats those who can give him nothing. You are about to have one of the most stressful days in your whole life and you are injured, but you spend your afternoon playing with a child because she seems lonely. You might wreck rooms on a regular basis and yet none of your servants can rightfully complain of you ever hurting them. You are a kind man. You are the man I want as the father of my children. The man I want to grow old with."
"I can't promise you that I'll grow old with you, but I won't leave you tomorrow. I promise."
"How can I believe that? I just got you back! You are still hurt, still weakened!" Katara felt close to tears, the stress of not just the last few weeks getting to her more and more.
"But I won't leave you tomorrow. This is what I do, Katara. This is my specialty." His eyes seemed to glow in the dim lightning. "I might be terrible at handling people during daily business, but I'm good at driving the fear of Agni into them. They want a Fire Lord in every aspect and I can give them that."
For a moment she remembered the man whom she had thrown out of her rooms some days ago. Even sitting down with an arm around her, Zuko held more presence, more force than he ever would. All his spoken threats would never come close to the force Zuko's hidden promises held. She had forgotten at some point. He had shown her so much of his softer side, she had forgotten the other one even though it should be impossible. Now though power seemed to be his middle name as he shifted again, allowing his right hand to trail light lines on her arms.
Reducing the already small distance between them, he whispered into her ear: "I am the Fire Lord." The kiss which followed was just as demanding as his tone had been, just as electrifying as his touch.
As he moved her to sit between his legs, he began sending fiery kisses down her neck. His hands pulled her hips closer, before they began to draw loose figures onto the outer sides of her legs. "Don't think I'll be willing to share what's mine any time soon, wife."
The low rumble of his chest made her toes curl, making her want to get closer. Her previously well-arranged Kimono was bunched up to her hip, when she moved her legs to his sides in an attempt to gain better access to his warmth.
The loose Gi he wore allowed her easy access to his chest and she was just about to reach the area of his back which wasn't covered in bandages, when he gently but firmly moved her away from him.
"What?"
She had been too excited, too engaged in the moment to properly process what was happening, even as her husband closed his Gi once more and moved her back to sit next to him. Had she done something wrong?
"Not tonight, love," he whispered.
He was hurt, she told herself, and tomorrow would be a long day. Another time, she told herself, but somehow the reassurances seemed like a drop of water on a hot stone.
Had she done something wrong?
Hi,
Well it's been a while, but at least it's a long one, right?
I decided to go with the Japanese writing system since all of the names are in Japanese as well and I am sort of channelling the Japanese culture all over the place for this story. Most likely the Chinese writing system would be closer to the original… sorry about that (they are the same signs (mostly), but used and pronounced differently and well in modern Japan there are also two additional writing systems, but since this would be old Japan only Kanjis would be used by the higher classes…)
I'd love to hear what you all think! Greetings
Yorushike
Ko from the Kanji Ko of Kodomo, child
