PART III: Forty-Eight

"He sent you?" Kamen laughed, his voice soft in the twilit darkness. "My, my... That's surprising."

Cara stared at the ex-guardsman, her pulse thundering in her ears. Kamen was leaning against a tree in the palace gardens, near the turtle-duck pond. She'd once found this place peaceful, a quiet haven in the stuffy and fast-paced palace.

Now every shadow in the garden seemed filled with dangers she couldn't even comprehend. Seeing him again was a punch to the chest, a knife made of fear that slid in between her ribs.

"What? No kiss? Didn't you miss me?" Kamen said. He was dressed like one of the palace gardeners. She had no idea why.

She found her tongue with difficulty, staring at the man who had humiliated her so thoroughly. Before her father had been attacked, she'd thought for sure the worst thing she'd ever have to endure was sitting in Kamen's disciplinary hearing, recounting what he had done to her, knowing that everyone was whispering about her, about them. He hadn't done much more than rip her dress, thanks to Suki, but she had seen his intent in his eyes.

If Suki hadn't intervened on her behalf, Kamen would have hurt her. She'd been humiliated, assaulted, her honor in jeopardy.

Only her father's insistence, his grip on shoulders like iron brands, had made her come out to this hidden spot, in the deepening shadows of twilight, to meet the man who had hurt her.

"Why are you here?" she asked, brows drawing up. "They... They escorted out of the palace. Out of the Caldera!"

But Kamen smirked a little. "Obviously, it didn't take."

"There is a lockdown in place. You... H-how did you get back in?"

"Oh, spoiled little Cara, don't worry your pretty head about the details. I'm here, that's all that matters. I've been waiting for your old man to wake up. He and I have a lot to discuss."

"Why does my father want to speak to you?" she said, stepping forward, and then stopping herself. Curiosity was eating her alive. She had tried to press her father after he'd given her orders to send a message to one of the gardeners, but the healers had swooped in, examining her father, attempting to put the air tubes back where he had ripped them out.

There had been no time to get answers, even if she thought her father might give them to her.

"Do as I say," he had managed, over healer Pikon's shoulder, his voice harsh, his face pale.

She had always obeyed her father. He didn't suffer disobedience. She'd once seen him beat her half-brother Rian with a cane when he'd dared to talk back to him.

She could still remember it, watching Rian cowering on the floor, with his hands over his head. Her father had screamed awful things to Rian. He'd called him things that had awoken Cara from nightmares more than once in the years since.

She hadn't known Rian existed for most of the life. He'd spent time a boarding school and come back into their lives after her mother had died. Rian was dangerous, unbalanced. She'd heard the servants talking about him, whispering.

Rian had been jealous of her, she knew. She thought it was because their father had sent him away for most of her life, but after seeing Rian watching her practicing her Firebending in the courtyard one day when she was ten, with his eyes filled with envy and rage, she realized it was more than that.

When she'd found out that she was a Firebender, like her mother had been, Guo had heaped praise on her, loudly telling all of his business associates that his bloodline was strong, that it was pure. He called her his miracle.

Her father wasn't a Firebender, and neither was his eldest child. It had taken her a long time to realize that Guo resented Rian for not being a Firebender, that he resented himself for not having the ability either. He had never said it, but his actions often spoke louder than words.

Rian was a bastard, born, as she later heard the story from listening to the servants when they thought her delicate ears couldn't hear them, onto some serving girl when Guo was building up his trading empire from the ground up. He had taken the child from the serving girl. He had sent Rian off to be trained, he'd said, but in truth Guo had been trying to hide his existence. He'd certainly managed it for most of Cara's life.

There weren't many in the Fire Nation who knew that Councilman Guo had had a bastard son. Her father was a good at keeping secrets. Either by holding them miserly close, or by making sure his secrets died with those who might spill them.

Cara had often wondered what had happened to Rian's mother, but she knew better than to ask.

She knew better than to ask about a lot of things.

Rian had not. and he'd finally confronted Guo, not long after he'd been kicked out of his boarding school. That had resulted in the beating that left Rian battered and bleeding on the floor.

She could still remember the way Rian had cried, a boy of barely fifteen, dangerous, jealous, petty...but just a boy who wanted his father's love and approval. She'd felt sorry for him, despite how much she had disliked him.

Her father scared her, as much as she loved him. She had seen glimpses of a dark side of him far too many times to sleep easily.

Her father had come from nothing. He had never spoken much about his childhood, just that he had been an orphan, a bastard himself, with no family, no history to speak of. He had scrabbled and bled, working his way up, building a modest business that had exploded in the last years of the war, until he'd finally gained the power and prestige he had always wanted.

He'd married rich and gotten richer. He'd gained power, and then notoriety, until he'd finally been brought to Fire Lord Zuko's attention. Zuko had been looking for someone like Guo, someone who knew tradesmen and business, who could advise him as the Fire Nation moved into the future, as the Harmony Restoration Movement reshaped the world.

But it was all lies. And Cara knew it.

In public her father supported the end of the war, but in private...

In private, he was vicious. Especially when he thought his daughter couldn't hear him. She pretended she didn't know his real thoughts about Fire Lord Zuko. It was more than just his hatred of the Harmony Restoration Movement. Cara had grown up with her father's expectations on her. He had filled her head with tales of how she was destined to marry Prince Zuko, to become Fire Lady. Even after he'd been banished, her father had still told her that one day he would return, that she would marry him. He'd filled her head with tales of the prince.

Things hadn't worked out that way, despite Guo's position on his council. First he had been dating that girl, Mai, and then the rumors about Zuko and Suki had started.

Things in her household had always been tense. Her father's anger was subtle, his retaliation brutal and swift. Rian had left; she'd heard him arguing with their father about Zuko, about the Fire Nation. And a few weeks later...she had come to speak to Guo.

Two and a half years ago...

"I know you hate the sniveling little shit as much as I do," Lady Shura said, pacing the floor of her Guo's study. Cara could see her through the open door of the study, perched on the stairs, her knees drawn up. Her father had ordered her up to her room, but she hadn't gone. She'd been too curious about her father's late night visitors. She knew Lady Shura's four sons, mostly by reputation—which wasn't good—and she couldn't imagine why they would be there, here, in her father's home.

Lady Shura was a running joke in the palace, a woman most saw as nothing but a floozy. She'd married rich, some lord with a scandalous love life. Their marriage was not a happy one. That lord was dead now, drowned in his own bathtub. It was quite the scandal.

Why such a woman as Shura, rich though she was, was there to see her father, she had no idea.

"I don't hate him," her father said mildly from within the room. She could see shadows moving on in the shaft of light thrown by the fire crackling in the hearth. She thought one of them was her father, standing in front of the fireplace. "I think he is misguided. He's young. He doesn't understand the way of the world."

"He's a do-gooder. Just like my Iroh. And nothing like his father, thank the spirits."

"You think we're better off without Ozai?" Guo asked.

"Don't you? Ozai was power mad."

"And you aren't?"

"Pot, meet kettle," Shura said, her voice sizzling hot.

"You think I want power?"

"You have power, Guo. Don't be coy with me. I know everything. I know all about your little network of spies. I know you've blackmailed half of the capitol to get where you are today. I know you work with the worst scum of the Fire Nation, and the Earth Kingdom. Those that have stood in the way of your meteoric upward mobility have mysteriously disappeared. Under questionable circumstances. Oh, nothing that can be traced back to you. You have a spotless reputation to uphold, after all. The Fire Lord would never put a criminal on his Council."

Cara's blood ran cold at that, and she leaned forward, not wanting to miss a single word.

"You're one to talk about reputations and questionable circumstances, Shura. Especially after they found your sexual deviant of a husband in his bathtub. With his lover."

"That was a tragedy. I'm still in mourning."

"And spending his gold hand over fist."

"Mourning is expensive. I'm very distraught," Shura said in a flat voice, and then she let out a girlish giggle.

"Lord Li-Shang stood in your way. Don't think I don't know what you've been using all that gold for. I've known what you've been planning for a long time, Shura. And I know why you're here. The answer is no."

"We could do this together, Guo. I need you. You have the Fire Lord's confidence. I need a mole on the inside."

"You already have Osamu. Don't think I'm not aware that you've already bribed him into joining you. I know everything, Shura. My answer is still no."

Shura exploded, her shadow blocking out the light, her hair flying. "You've seen what he's done to our Nation! I know you hate it as much as I do!"

"Don't pretend you're doing this for anything but revenge, Shura. Everyone knows you want the throne, that you want Iroh. He rejected you, and you lost your chance to be the Fire Lady. And Ozai... You tried there too, but Ozai was mad. You'd have better luck seducing our young Fire Lord and marrying him than seizing the throne. It will take years, if it works at all. You don't have the patience."

"You think not?"

"I think people underestimate you, as they have often underestimated me. You're smart, devious. But you're impatient. Impulsive. If something goes wrong, you'll start making mistakes, and then everything will fall down around your ears. Your greed will be your downfall. I have no intentions of allying myself with an impulsive fool. You will fail, Shura. Of that I have no doubt."

"A fool! I am no fool! I have a network of agents at my beck and call, I've built something out of nothing. Layers upon layers of subterfuge, just in case things turn south for me. They won't be able to trace any of this back to me, or my sons, until we've already seized the throne. I'm taking the army. I already have the Fire Lord's ex. She turned on him. She's working for me."

"If you trust her, then you are already lost, Shura."

"And what about your old friend Baz? Should I trust him?"

A hush fell over her father's study. Cara frowned. She had never heard of a man named Baz before, but she listened just the same, as her father took a breath.

"Baz is as trustworthy as anyone."

"And yet he told you about my plans. And it's not just him, is it? You've been watching me for a long time, Guo. Waiting for me to win, or to fail, I don't know. But I know all about your little spies. I know about your son. Rian."

Cara's eyes popped open and she heard her father take a measured breath. Her father hadn't mentioned Rian in six months, not since Rian had left their house in a rush, a week after he had had an argument with her father. She hadn't known what the argument was about. She had been glad to see him go.

"You have Rian?"

"Oh? The master of secrets and lies doesn't know what his own son has been up to? Oh, how the mighty have fallen..." Shura simpered.

"What have you done to my son?"

"You make it sound as if I kidnapped him. He joined me. He wants to be a loyal little soldier in my war. I've made him certain promises. Promises you can't keep."

"Like what?"

"He wants to kill Zuko. And... He certainly has an obsession for Princess Azula. He seems to think she's meant for him. Like it's his destiny to marry her. What delusions of grandeur have you been filling that boy's head with, Guo?"

Cara's hand went over her mouth. She knew exactly what Shura was talking about. Hadn't her father said the same things to her, about Zuko? Had he been doing the same thing to Rian?

"Rian is misguided. You're the one filling your son's heads with delusions, Shura. Telling them they'll be Fire Lord one day... You'll fail and your sons will die."

But Shura ignored his warning. She was pacing again, her shadow dancing across the floor.

"Is that why you don't want Zuko killed? Have you been deluding yourself, telling your children that they're going to marry into the royal family? Are you saving him for your sweet little Cara? Are you hoping he'll abandon that Earth Kingdom whore we all know he's fucking, and marry your precious little spoiled bitch of a daughter? Is that it?"

"You will want to watch your mouth in my home, Shura. Insult my daughter again and you won't have to worry about your plan failing."

The threat was cold and hard. Cara's fists tightened, as she heard chairs scraping on the floor. Guo was alone in the study with Shura and her eldest son, Lord Kang.

"Sit down, Kang. Mommy's talking to the nice man. He won't hurt me. You may have money, and power, Guo, but we both know you're still just that little boy from Rinchaka Falls, the one in the orphanage, whose slut of a money abandoned him. You're trash and you'll always be trash. And so will your children. Unless..."

Cara had never heard anyone speak like this to her father. She shook, afraid, the fear sinking into her bones. She knew she shouldn't be listening to this. If her father knew that she'd heard any of it, he would be livid, he may even punish her, like he'd punished Rian.

Or perhaps he'd have his guard, that Nobu, who scared her more than even Rian did, set her on fire the way he'd done Kubra. Kubra hadn't deserved it; he had been kind to her. She had used him, played with him, just the way her father had taught her. She hadn't even wanted him. She'd just wanted to prove that she could ensnare him, and he'd paid the price.

Kubra was long gone; he'd left with that man from the Earth Kingdom, the one her father had warned her to stay way from. She hadn't known his name. She'd been afraid to ask.

She knew better. There were so many things she was afraid to ask about, too many lies and secrets in her father's house.

Shame rolled through her, hard and hot, and she wrapped her arms around her legs, swallowing her fear as she listened to the conversation in the study. She wouldn't run, couldn't. She had to hear what would happen next.

"Unless what?"

"Cara. I'll marry her to Kang when we win. She'll be Fire Lady."

"A bold proposition."

"I know you want her to be Fire Lady. Rian told me that's what you want for her. Your perfect little Firebender, queen of the Fire Nation you love so much...spitting out little Firebenders... What a lovely dream."

"We all want what's best for our children."

"Kang will be Fire Lord eventually, once the throne is mine. If she marries him, she'll be Fire Lady. I promise you that."

"Kang isn't a Firebender."

"He's of the Fire Nation...which is more than I can say for that slut of a bodyguard warming Zuko's bed. You'll be hard-pressed to pry them apart. No matter how pretty your precious pure Cara is. Zuko is as stubborn as the other men in his family. You already know that. You can try to steer him back toward the right path, as I know you've been trying, hoping he'll come around to remembering the Fire Nation is a force to be reckoned with, that we're better than the other nations, stronger, more powerful... But he has a good heart. He's not like us. He's weak. Too weak to hold onto the power he doesn't deserve. We deserve it. I deserve to sit on that throne. Iroh will be mine. Kang could be Cara's... Think about it."

"I still think you're a fool, Shura, but you're right about Zuko. He's weak, and I worry about his relationship with that Suki. There are rumors... I don't want to believe them."

"Who do you think started those rumors?" Shura said, amusement in her voice. "I'll destroy her. Just like I'll destroy anyone who stands in the way of my throne. That includes you. Join me, Guo."

"I've already given you my answer, Shura."

"Then you're the fool, not me. You have no idea what I have planned. You really don't want me as an enemy, Guo."

"Your threats are as hollow as your aspirations, Shura," Guo said, his voice low and harsh. "It's me you don't want as an enemy. That's why you came here tonight. You need me. And you threatened my son, my only son. Bastard though he is, he is mine."

"He joined me of his own accord. I'm giving him purpose, when all you gave him was indifference."

"Perhaps I have been too harsh on him, but he needs a strong hand. He's too much like me when I was young. I won't stop him from joining you, however. I won't even stop you from doing what you're doing. I know you'll fail, and I'll still be here, working behind the scenes."

"Like a spider."

"Yes, like a spider. I have webs that reach every inch of this nation, and beyond, Shura. You have plans? You have no idea what I have planned, how far I'm wiling to go to save my nation."

"Just how far?"

"You'll never know, Shura. No one will. That's the meaning of true power. I don't need a throne. I don't want it. The real power lies behind it, in the shadows. Pulling the strings, hoarding the secrets. I have secrets you couldn't even fathom, my Lady. It won't be you who saves this nation, it will be me."

"Don't discount me, Guo. I'm a demon when I'm angered. And I'm angry."

"You're nothing but smoke, Shura. That's all you are. Just smoke. Insubstantial. Impermanent. Poison."

Shura made an angry sound, and then let out a sigh. "I see that this was a waste of my time. You can go on and on about your secrets, but I'm willing to risk everything for what I want. You're too much of a coward. Pathetic. I'll see myself out. Come, Kang."

Cara bounced up from the step, sidling back upstairs. She put her back against the wall, peering down the stairs, hoping they wouldn't notice her. She couldn't walk away. Not after hearing all of that. She didn't understand half of what she'd heard, but it frightened her.

The light in the hallways brightened as the study doors were thrown wide. She saw Lady Shura marching toward the front door, her face alive with anger, her towering son walking behind her. Guo followed them into the entrance hall, his hands clasped behind his back.

"If something happens to Rian I will destroy you, Shura."

Cara swallowed, the threat as pointed as a knife. Her father meant that.

"Why would I harm him? He's one of my most loyal men, Guo. He has the balls you don't," she said, as Kang opened the door for her. She started to walk through, but stopped, turning back around to face her father. "You called me nothing but smoke, but what does that make you?"

"Me?" Guo said softly. "I am a phoenix. I've risen before, from nothing but ashes. And I will do it again. And again, and again. Trust me, Shura, I will survive this. Will you?"

"I suppose we'll see, won't we?" Shura said in a hard voice, and then swept out of the front door, Kang on her heels. Guo watched them go for a moment. Cara nearly came down the steps then, a million questions in her mouth, but she knew better. She stayed where she was, watching her father, feeling fear choking hr.

She was afraid of what she'd just heard, of what it meant. Of what Lady Shura might do. And most of all, she was afraid of her father.

After a few moments, a shadow Cara hadn't noticed separated itself from the space beside the study doors, and walked forward, into the light. Cara's hand went over her mouth, as her father's guard, Nobu, looking up the stairs, and straight at her.

Their eyes met, and then Cara jumped back against the wall, her heart hammering hard in her chest. She'd been so intent on the conversation she hadn't noticed him standing there. Nobu had that way about him; he could move like a ghost, from shadow to shadow, without anyone noticing.

He had seen her on the stairs. He knew that she had heard everything.

He would tell her father.

What would Guo do to her? Would he punish her like he had Rian, beating her until her face was bloody, her body so bruised she couldn't move?

She couldn't move now, couldn't back up a step. All she could do was stand there, watching as Nobu turned away from her and marched over to her father.

"She doesn't know you're working for me," her father said, surprising her. "She threw Rian in my face, but she suspects I sent him to her. She doesn't know about you, however. I'd like to keep it that way."

"She's aware that we're acquainted, however. I suggested that you two meet tonight. I'm watching her closely. And I'm watching over Rian, as you ordered."

"Do you think she knows about the warehouse?"

"No. We're hiding in plain sight. She has no idea we've already infiltrated the army she's building. You played her perfectly tonight."

"What about the Fire Sages?"

"Luzhuo may be a problem down the road," Nobu's voice trailed off. "That man wants power as much as Shura does. Baz can handle him. For now."

"So many wheels turning, Nobu. So many strings... And my enemies are everywhere. I'm doing this all for her, you know. For Cara. All I want is to put her on the throne. She'll marry Zuko, and he'll become the Fire Lord he was meant to be, I swear. Even if I have to use my dying breath to do it."

Nobu turned around and smiled in her direction. It was a smug smile. He knew that she was still listening. Her father's back was turned, he was staring out into the courtyard. He still didn't know that she had heard everything.

But Nobu knew.

Cara turned and ran on light feet back to her bedroom. She felt sweat roll down her back. She wanted to forget everything she'd heard. She didn't understand half of it. She crawled beneath her bed and curled up in a ball, hiding from the demons within her own household.

She knew one thing, as she lay there, trembling, panicked; she wouldn't let her father die. If he needed her to marry Zuko, then she would. She would be the perfect daughter. She wouldn't question him. She wouldn't ask him why Lady Shura had been in their house, or what her father had planned.

She would be the perfect daughter. She would obey.

Because if she didn't...what might her father do to her?

"Why does my father want to speak to you?" Cara demanded again, but Kamen just pulled a twisted grin, and pushed away from the tree he'd been leaning against.

"That's between me and your father, but I think things are little too hot right now. I hear they arrested Seneschal Suki and put her in the healing ward. It's all over the palace. She's knocked up. Might even lose the little brat. Almost makes me feel bad. Almost."

Cara's stomach dropped to her toes. She had passed a cadre of guards in the hallway of the healing ward, but she hadn't stopped to ask why they were there. She'd been too preoccupied with the thought of seeing Kamen again.

"She's... She's pregnant? Why did they arrest her?"

"For murdering Lady Lian, of course. Where have you been, Cara?" Kamen said, and then smirked. "Tell your father everything is in place, and the job is done, as planned. I'm sure he's heard about it by now anyway. You just tell him we're prepared for his next move. We've been waiting on his orders. I also got a messenger hawk from our friend in Ba Sing Se. Everything is ready. Can you remember that?"

She wanted to ask what he meant. She wanted to run and not look back. She wanted to go to someone—Suki perhaps, or, as her heart gave a hard jerk, maybe Ty Lee. Ty Lee would listen. Ty Lee would understand. She'd help her make sense of what was happening.

"What did you do?"

Kamen leaned in and whispered, "Why don't you ask your daddy what I've been doing, Cara? Why don't you ask him about that day in the garden?"

She jerked away from him, fear rising up. "What?"

But Kamen just smirked at her, knowingly.

"Run along, Cara. I'll be in touch. Just tell daddy dearest we're ready when he's back on his feet. We have the bitch right where want her," Kamen said, putting his hands in his pockets and strolling away from her, whistling softly, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

Cara watched him go. Her heart was slamming in her chest.

"Father...what have you done?"