After he was instructed of the path through numerous turns and twists in the maze of hallways, Aang finally found the Fire Lord's study. It had been a while since he had set foot inside, but he was glad it was under much friendlier circumstances with the monarch.
He had received Zuko's letter when he, Sokka and Katara were in Ba Sing Se, training the Air Acolytes. He could feel the urgency as he read the short note that arrived by messenger hawk and he knew he had to come to the Fire Lord's aid at once.
Huffing out a deep breath, he entered the study. "Hello! Avatar here!" He grinned and strode in.
Zuko got up from his seat to greet his friend, relieved to have a strong ally in this seemingly otherworldly situation. "Aang!" They shared a firm handshake. "Thank you for being here, buddy."
"No problem!" Aang beamed then turned to the rest of the room, seeing three other people, yet only one face was familiar to him. He faced away suddenly and motioned for Zuko to come closer. "Uh, forgive me for asking, your Fieriness, but I thought you were with Chiyo? Are you and Mai back together?"
"What?! No!" Zuko, clearly flustered, almost shouted at the Avatar, but he managed to continue in a low voice so the others couldn't hear him. "Mai and I were done a long time ago! And she's with that guy over there, Kei Lo. Chiyo and I are together, well, we aren't together right now, but—"
Mai rolled her eyes, clearly hearing every single word. "Please, keep talking because things aren't awkward enough."
"Okay, okay, I get it…" Aang gave him two short parts on the shoulder before resuming his greetings to the others.
Zuko introduced Aang to Constable Sung, the lead investigator regarding the kidnapping. From there, Mai summarized all that has happened so far. "Last night, my little brother Tom-Tom was taken by a band of dark spirits." Her usual expressionless face was filled with worry for her brother.
Aang had heard of spirits that roamed outside the spirit world, but somehow, he couldn't believe that these spirits would actually be interested in a child, much less take one away. "You saw them?"
"I fought with them." There was a bit of hesitation before she continued. "They were the Kemurikage."
"Who?"
"Dark spirits who supposedly hunt the mountains just outside my home village. I recognized them from the stories my parents used to tell me."
Constable Sung gestured to the pinned map of the Fire Nation on the wall. A number of places have been highlighted, dotted across the land. "Several reports of dark spirits sightings came in from all over the Capital City and some outside it, though Tom-Tom was the only abductee—"
"GET OFF ME! My son's missing, and you're worried about palace protocol?!" Mai's father barged into the study, enraged beyond anything.
"My apologies, Fire Lord Zuko! We asked him to wait, but—"
"It's alright. He's the victim's father. He ought to be informed." Zuko dismissed the guard who bowed once and left the room.
Ukano was far from done with his tirade. "Mai! I should've known you'd be here! This is all your fault, daughter! If Tom-Tom were still with me, in our home, he would've been safe! I would've made sure of it!" His daughter, who had stood up upon his arrival, was silent, head bowed and looking at the ground with guilt-ridden eyes. "You may hate me, but you know I'm right."
Kei Lo stood by her. "Oh, come on! No house is safe from dark spirits!"
"You stay out of this, boy!"
"Please, everybody, calm down!" Aang placed himself between the former governor and Kei Lo, hoping to ease their rage. "All this arguing isn't going to help us find Tom-Tom! We need to put our heads together and figure out what to do next!"
The elder man's face crumpled further in anger. "I'll tell you what needs to happen next!" He pointed an accusing finger at Zuko and shouted. "Our Fire Lord needs to grow a spine! Everyone knows the spirit world begins to act up when the human world is weak!"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works—"
"Show that you are worthy, Zuko!" Ukano did not even bother hearing Aang's words as he got up to Zuko's face to make his demands. "Declare a curfew to keep your citizens safe! Then send out an elite task force to fight the dark spirits! Take down just one of them and we'll show the spirits that humans aren't to be trifled with!"
His demands made sense. Even Constable Sung was in agreement, but he strictly follows the Fire Lord's order and awaits the confirmation.
"Don't do it, Zuko!" Aang pleaded against Ukano. "A curfew would just make folks even more afraid! Besides, how's a task force supposed to fight spirits?! We need to figure out exactly what happened to Tom-Tom, then we'll know what to do next!"
"What the Avatar says makes sense." Mai agreed.
Zuko weighed their opinions. There was merit in Ukano's urgency, but Aang's method was more effective and reasonable. "Wise advice, Avatar—"
"I knew it! You're unworthy of the throne, Zuko! You're an impostor and a traitor!"
Ukano's shouts faded as the constable escorted him out of the study. But everyone could see the surprise on Zuko's face before he turned to Mai. "Mai… When the New Ozai Society attacked me and my family weeks ago… was your father a part of that?"
She was silent for a few seconds, then she shook her head. "N-not that I know of…"
Zuko dismissed his thoughts, blaming it on paranoia and stress. Mai had never lied to him, and he trusted that she wouldn't do so now. "I'm sorry. I just thought I recognized his voice."
Aang asked Mai to tell him more about the Kemurikage while they await nightfall to start their investigation.
"Any news of Lady Chiyo yet, Fire Lord Zuko?" It was Kei Lo who had asked him.
A bit surprised at the sudden question, he blinked a few times to register the situation before replying. "None… I haven't seen her since we got back from Hira'a. And I've had people look everywhere…" He trailed off as he spiralled back into his misery and pining for Chiyo.
Kei Lo sat next to him. "She'll turn up soon. There's been talk all around the Capital about her coming-of-age ceremony next month. For sure by then, she would return to be promoted from her apprenticeship."
"What if I tell you that I don't want her to go through with the ceremony?"
Kei Lo was speechless from this revelation. He knew what the apprentice meant to the former prince years before he had the chance to actually make their acquaintance. "I… I don't know what to say…"
"You and me both." Zuko leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. "And she's actually looking forward to this ceremony… but I can't just tell her that she shouldn't."
"Why shouldn't she?"
He did not know what made him open up to anyone, much less to his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend; but he found himself saying the truth as if he was unleashing the heavy burden on his chest. "Because I can't marry her if she becomes an entertainer."
"Oh…"
"And I can't tell her that because following the footsteps of the one before her was, is her biggest dream. If I ask her to give that up, she would hate me." Zuko stared unseeingly at the ceiling of his study, imagining Chiyo as she had turned her back on him that day.
He felt the raw pain of seeing her leave twist inside him like a white-hot knife.
That day, the pain was so unbearable that he had conceded his pride for her. Wanting nothing more than to rid himself of the image of her disappointed at him, he ran after her and even took her back to the place where he eventually had let her go.
Zuko regretted it, but what was the use of his regret now that she wasn't here?
"Have you asked her what she thought of it yet?"
"What?"
Kei Lo sighed and looked at Mai who was discussing matters of the Kemurikage to Aang. "One thing I learned the hard way was that I have to be honest to rightfully gain someone's trust. It took over a month but somehow, Mai trusts me more now than she did a month before today. Maybe you should tell Lady Chiyo what you know and what you think. Even if it means that either or both of you will get hurt."
"I don't want to hurt Chiyo…"
"I'm not saying that you'd want to. I'm just saying that it's inevitable; whether you tell her now, later, or not at all. But the decision on whether she stays by your side or not is still her choice. Given that she knows everything that she stands to gain, and everything that she has to lose."
Just as they suspected, they found answers in the temple of the Fire Sages. They went past Dragonbone Catacombs onto the sealed vault that was the era before Fire Lord Sozin, all the way back to the very first Fire Lord who united the Fire Islands.
They have learned of the history of the warlords that fought over the islands and how the Kemurikage came to be. As it turns out, they were spirits of deceased mothers whose children were taken away by the fierce warlord, Toz.
In the midst of their brainstorming, a spirit appeared before Aang. A small wisp of smoke grew and spread to form a translucent figure cloaked in black. Beneath the hood, a painted wooden mask. The voice from behind the mask was not distorted at all as Mai and Kei Lo remembered.
"Greetings, Avatar."
"You… You're the Kemurikage— one of the original ones from long ago!"
"I am. For centuries, my sisters and I haunted the warlords of the Fire Islands for the crimes they have committed. We haunted them until the islands were united into a single nation. The first Fire Lord brought the warlords to justice and ushered in an era of prolonged peace. Our sadness receded. We never again set foot in the human world."
Aang thought he was missing something so he gathered his courage to ask. "I don't get it. Why return now? Why are you haunting people again?"
"I repeat, Avatar. From the time of the first Fire Lord, until this moment, we have not entered your world."
The answers they got raised more alarming questions as they left the Fire Sages Temple to go back to the Capital. If what that spirit said was true, then that means the spirits that had taken Tom-Tom were not the Kemurikage that had left the human world for good.
They might not even be spirits at all.
On their way back, they spotted a growing crowd from below, carrying blazing torches, marching and chanting out.
"A STRONG NATION IS A SAFE NATION! A STRONG NATION IS A SAFE NATION!"
Appa descended on an open space, Zuko and Aang jumped down immediately to face the crowd. They were surprised to see Constable Sung leading them, by his side was Ukano.
"Constable Sung! What is the meaning of all this?!"
Instead of the constable, it was Ukano who answered. "As I predicted! The spirit world has gotten completely out of control! Dark spirits have taken more children, including the constable's own son!"
That would explain the constable's downcast look as he gripped the torch and held his ground. "I was unable to find you, Fire Lord! We had to do something!"
Ukano stood smugly in front of the Fire Lord and the Avatar. "Since Zuko's refused to protect his nation, a group of volunteers has stepped up— the Safe Nation Society! And they are risking their own lives to keep us all safe!"
"But how did you get this many volunteers to assemble late into the night?"
Again, Ukano dismissed Aang's question. "In fact, not ten minutes ago, the Safe Nation Society saved a child by heroically fighting off a group of dark spirits!"
Aang had enough of his narrow-mindedness. "I hate to break it to you, but those probably weren't spirits at all! If they were, ordinary bending wouldn't match up to them!"
"Preposterous!" Ukano barked out. "I saw them with my own two eyes! Humans don't move like that—"
"You're hiding something…" Mai folded her arms over her chest. "I can tell by the way you're talking right now. What's your secret, father?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about…"
As father and daughter spoke, Fire Lord Zuko faced Constable Sung with a grave expression. "I am truly sorry about your son. We will find him, I promise you. But the curfew, all of this— was done without my authority! I will not be undermined!"
"Fire Lord, I—"
"Under further notice, you are suspended from your post."
Shock, anger, disappointment, and more, warred inside the constable's thoughts upon hearing the command given unto him. But instead of lashing out, he bowed his head humbly. "I'm sorry, Fire Lord Zuko."
"So am I." He sincerely replied and watched as Constable Sung walked away. "And you, Ukano, this society of yours will disband immediately or you will all face arrest!"
The crowd did disband, along with mumbled curses and grumbles of anger directed at the monarch, leaving Aang and Zuko in the middle of the deserted street.
He spoke out his thoughts after a long while that they stood there in silence. "What just happened with Constable Sung… Zuko, that was a bit harsh…"
"I hated to do it, but I had no choice." He had to admit to himself that he may have gone overboard by suspending Constable Sung for taking action without his authority. But lately, people have gone too far by questioning his leniency on matters regarding his authority as Fire Lord.
"I had no choice." He told himself over and over.
The sound of his footsteps echoed through the quiet hall as he walked back dejectedly to his room. The tension from today's events, in addition to the weeks of restlessness beforehand was enough to drive any sane person mad. He thought of the Kemurikage, the kidnapping of children in the Capital, and Chiyo—
"Psst, Zuzu!"
The doors to the guest room where his mother, Noren and Kiyi were staying at was slightly ajar. Hearing his little sister's voice, he opened the door a bit wider and looked around the room.
On the bed, his mother slept soundly, her arms locked around the young girl protectively while the latter tried her best to squirm away from Ursa.
"Kiyi? Why are you still awake?"
The little girl fumed. "She's holding me too tight with her cold, cold hands! I'm suffocating!"
Zuko chuckled at his sister's complaints before helping her slowly off the bed. "Would you like to sleep in the other room?"
"Yes, please!"
The hallway was dark, so as to not have his sister tumble in the dark, Zuko hoisted her easily on his shoulders.
"Zuzu, when is Chichi coming to visit us?" Kiyi asked as she inspected her brother's crown, the first time she was seeing it up close. "I miss her…"
Zuko reached up and ruffled his sister's hair affectionately. "I miss her too, Kiyi. It's just that she has a lot of things to prepare for her birthday on her own."
"Oh…" She pouted and rested her chin over Zuko's head. "I don't know what to give her for her birthday…"
He laughed, feeling the day's tension slowly melt away with Kiyi's innocent remarks. "Just tell me what you want to give her and I'll buy it for you. She'll love it, no matter what."
"But Zuzu, that's your money! I want to give her something from me!" It was hard to believe that Kiyi was a five-year-old whenever she talked like that.
They reached another guest room and Zuko tucked his sister into the warm sheets. "You'll figure something out tomorrow. You should sleep for now." He kissed the top of her head. "Sleep tight."
Back in his own room, he let the warmth he reserved for Kiyi ebb away and he was left all alone and cold. Last he had felt his way was when he thought that Chiyo was dead.
Maybe Ukano was right.
Everything was spiraling out of control, and it was all his fault.
Because he was weak.
Because he was indecisive.
There was a soft knock on his door. He composed himself again for what seemed like the tenth time that day alone and opened it.
Suki, dressed in her Kyoshi Warrior uniform, bowed her head lightly. "We're going to start our midnight rounds an hour early, Zuko."
"Thank you for your service, Suki. And to the others as well."
She smiled and nodded reassuringly. "I know it's been a tough day, but we'll see this through. We've all gone through a lot of things and we all got past them. We will catch those spirits, whatever they're called, whatever they are."
She left after that and Zuko was alone again. He threw himself onto his bed and tried his best to drown his thoughts and get some sleep.
Of course, he failed.
"Maybe you should tell Lady Chiyo what you know and what you think. Even if it means that either or both of you will get hurt."
Kei Lo's advice popped up in his mind and he got back up from the bed, hurriedly searching for a parchment. Grabbing a fresh pot of ink, he started writing down his letter to Chiyo.
Chiyo,
I know you promised that you'll be fine, and that you'll come back soon. But you know me all too well. I am not a patient man. I miss you. I miss you every single day. And not a day has gone by that I don't wonder where you are and what you are doing. Are you thinking of me as much as I have been thinking of you?
Before I left you at your troupe, we fought for the first time. And I know I've said it before, but I still want to apologize. What you do with your own life is always your choice, not mine, not anybody's but yours alone.
But know this. My mother told me that once you become an entertainer, I will no longer be able to marry you. It is an irrevocable law that even I, the Fire Lord, have no power over.
Chiyo, I love you. I want to marry you. I want to have a family with you. I want you to stand by my side holding my hand until our hairs turn gray, and our skin wrinkled with old age. I want to take care of you every day, for the rest of our days.
Chiyo, if I am in your heart as much as you are in mine, I beg you to reconsider all this. I want you to know all of the options and the consequences before you choose.
And I could only hope that you would choose me. Us.
Impatient as I may be, I will always be waiting for you, love. I will wait for the day you come back and I get to see your beautiful smile once again.
Yours forever,
Zuko