Interlude
The steady pump of the mechanical bellows filled the quiet, chemical-scented air. Cara dozed on the bench, the book she'd been attempting to read slipping out of her lap and hitting the floor with a bang. The sound startled her awake and she lifted her head in confusion.
Her eyes went to the figure in the bed, where they usually drifted every few minutes when she was awake. Lord Guo was still in the bed, hooked to machines and glass jars full of liquid, and needles in his flesh.
She didn't know what most of it did, and just seeing all of those machines made her queasy. She'd been afraid to touch him at first as if she might pull something out and hurt him.
It was Ty Lee who had convinced her that she wouldn't hurt him, telling her that her father needed her. Cara smiled a little, thinking of the gentle way the Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors had taken her hand, reassuring her.
Her hand had tingled for hours afterward, remembering the soft feel of the girl's skin against hers. Just the memory made Cara's face heat up, her breath quickening with a bewildering rush. She'd kissed a dozen boys, but she had never felt like that before like she might come out of her skin at any moment if Ty Lee kept looking at her with that soft expression on her face.
She'd felt it the first time they'd met, at Suki's party after the incident with Kamen. Ty Lee had made her laugh when she'd escorted her back to her room. The party had been enjoyable and had helped to take Kamen off her mind, but it had been meeting Ty Lee that had stuck in her mind for days afterward, even after her father's attack.
She didn't know what to make of the feeling, but Ty Lee had promised she would stop back in later, after her shift, and Cara couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect.
Cara sighed, feeling restless all of a sudden. She picked her book up off of the floor and then stood, stretching to ease a cramp in her back. She'd been sleeping on the bench since her father had left the surgery, and her back was killing her.
Her stomach rumbled. She hadn't much appetite the last few days, sick with worry as she'd been. She knew she had to keep her strength up, though. Her father would worry himself sick if he knew she wasn't taking care of herself.
She put her book down and walked over to her father. She smoothed her hand down his duck white hair. His face was unshaven, and he looked tired and old for the first time in her life. He'd been old when she was born, a man in his late forties, but she hadn't really thought of him that way. He was always so strong. And overbearing.
He'd thought he would never have a daughter, let alone a Firebender. He called her his miracle child, and spoiled her rotten. He'd given her everything he could, always reminding her of where he had come from. He had been nothing once, a child of the street who had grown up in an orphanage in a tiny town in the mountains.
He used to tell her stories of the big waterfall that towered over the town, and how he and his best friend had played in the pool at the base of it, laughing in the spray and running wild through the forests surrounding the town. How he had always wanted to be more than an unloved child of the streets.
His best friend had joined the Fire Sages and moved away. He had eventually run away from that little town beneath the waterfall, taking odd jobs, and rising up slowly and steadily through society. He had profited from the war, as did most people at the time.
Her father had defied the odds, rising up from the streets to a position on the Fire Lord's council. He was a man of power.
And secrets.
Cara's soft smile dropped as she studied her father's face. There was so much Guo had never told her. There were dark secrets running through her family, secrets she was afraid to uncover. Her father only told her what he wanted her to know.
She had been fifteen when she'd first met her half-brother. Her father had never told her that she had a brother, a bastard born onto a serving girl. Her father had hidden that, afraid of what it might do to his reputation. He'd sent her brother away to an expensive school for her entire life.
Then one day he'd shown up on their doorstep, arrogant and dangerous, eager to please their father. He had embraced her, but she'd been wary of him, afraid of him in a way she hadn't felt before. Her spoiled little world wasn't as perfect as she'd thought growing up.
There were other things, things she still didn't understand about her father, or about her brother's death. Her father was angry; she had heard him shouting to someone from her bedroom a few months ago. She'd seen a man with black flames tattooed on his head lurking in the hallway, and shivers had raced across her skin.
Her father had secrets. Too many secrets, and now someone had tried to kill him. Had it been because of those secrets? What was her father involved in?
She was afraid for him. Afraid of him too, of what he was capable of in his anger.
Cara bent down and kissed his temple.
"Wake up, Father. I just need you to wake up. Please," she whispered. He didn't stir, however, the bellows pushing up and down in their never-ending rhythm. She sighed and turned away, unable to look at him any longer.
She got two steps before she felt icy, strong fingers clasp her wrist with a painful bite. And when she turned to the bed, she met a pair of bright yellow eyes.
"Father...? Father!" Cara breathed, crouching beside him, cupping his face. "You're awake! I've been so worried!"
Guo reached up, touching her face for a moment, a soft smile on his lips. Then he grasped the mask over his face and yanked it off.
"Father, don't! I..."
"Damn her..." Guo breathed, attempting to sit up, but Cara stopped him. Her eyes went to the door. She needed to get one of the healers, anyone...
"You need to lay back down. You're injured!" she said, but Guo grasped her shoulder, looking her eyes. There was a hard, wild to his eyes.
"How long?"
"What?"
"How long have I been here? Answer me, Cara!" he said, and shook her.
"A few days," she said. "Father, what's wrong?"
Guo gasped, breathing hard as he clutched at his injured shoulder. He lay back down, panting as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Father?"
"Everything, Cara. Everything is wrong," Guo said, and then grasped her fingers. "Do you trust me, my darling? You will do anything for me, no matter what I ask?"
Cara hesitated, fear running wild through her. She looked down at his hand, at the tubes and needles still in his skin. She looked up into his eyes.
"Of course, Father," she whispered.
"Then bring Kamen to me."
