The hotel alarm clock left me a bit disoriented upon waking. The excitement at the day's plans (which definitely had nothing to do with Zuko's close presence) instilled such anticipation that the fatigue disappeared. I ate breakfast in a hurry and Zuko picked me up at 8:30 sharp.
On the car ride, I sat closer to him. I was all too aware of the casual little touches and his wary smile when he offered me his arm to enter the building.
When we entered, Mr. Shyu and Ty Lee were already prepared and there were some trays of sandwiches on the table.
"How did you sleep?" My eyes widened at the hint in Ty Lee's voice, but she left no room for an answer. "We're ready to start the last presentation!"
She let in a group of three people, and Zuko's face looked hot enough to grill something on top. We avoided looking at each other, and the discreet Lord Shyu pretended not to notice anything as the team introduced themselves.
"We want to decontaminate the freshwater bodies closest to the old Fire Corp. factories." That got my attention, but I had to accept that they were the least prepared team we'd seen so far. They did not carry extra materials and their images were few. The biggest problem, however, was that it was a temporary initiative, not a business model as such.
The advantage was that they finished early, with an apology from Zuko telling them that it was not exactly what the company was looking for.
Ty Lee closed the door behind the dejected participants and returned to the table.
"So what's your final assessment for all projects?" Lord Shyu leaned back in his chair.
I got to my feet, a little stiff, and was about to pour more water, but Zuko stepped forward at the same time and our hands touched on the handle of the jug. Instead of withdrawing, I smiled at him.
Ty Lee cleared his throat, but before I had time to feel embarrassed, the door swung open to admit a middle-aged man with a few grays in his hair and an otherwise dark beard. Dressed in a brown suit, he carried several posters wrapped around one arm and the curve of his mouth exuded a gesture of superiority.
"Mr. Bujing?" Zuko asked in an incredulous voice. Beside us, Ty Lee also had an outraged face, it didn't seem like a good sign.
"Master Bujing, please." His wrinkles and already sharp cheekbones deepened. "I am here to present my idea for the company's money."
There was a moment of stunned silence, in which I turned to see Zuko in bewilderment. He looked as surprised as I was.
"The convocation explicitly forbade a board member or any first-degree relative from submitting a…" Lord Shyu began.
"And the board of directors considered it an injustice," Master Bujing interrupted. "Losing good ideas to the detriment of the South Pole due to such a limitation… here I have the signatures of a majority of the Fire Sages who accredit their agreement with my presence here, and with the project that I represent."
A bunch of paper sheets passed into Zuko's hands, who was not very good at masking his obvious dislike of the man and his allies.
Neither Ty Lee nor I had sat back and the newcomer wasted no time. He beckoned to someone else, and the assistant proceeded to spread out the posters as previous projects had done.
"Mr. Shyu, dear Mr. Azulon." There was a hint of mockery in the way he addressed Zuko with his father's last name and despite the distance, I felt the tension that settled in his gesture at being called that. "My proposal is of an elementary nature, evident, and I would dare to say that it was omitted by the previous participants."
He unrolled the last of the posters, which showed a plan of a building.
"This is a new airport for the South Pole," he announced with an unnatural smile. "The beginning of civilization for that land is connecting with the rest of the world."
The offense sounded so carefree that at first I couldn't believe what I heard. Zuko clenched his fists on the table and gave up all pretense of civility to fall into a gesture of open anger.
Master Bujing went on to speak of technical terms of building materials, architecture, and airplane models that seemed to make as little sense to me as they did to everyone else. But a very specific part of all that gibberish caught my eye.
"The lands that will be processed are those adjacent to the Ice Bay. It is ideal in terms of aviation. With a construction company that has experience in this sector, it is no longer necessary to make a tender to start the works."
Lord Shyu gave a choked exclamation. It seemed that Ty Lee was the only one not showing annoyance with the presenter. Except that the kind smile on her face looked like a mask.
"I hope there are no questions. As the Fire Sages's document says, I already have a majority of votes within the organization. You just need to formalize it," he finished with poorly concealed contempt.
I did, however, have a question.
"What land did you say it will occupy?" I frowned. I still doubted that I had heard correctly. The other option was plainly absurd.
"I don't see how details are the concern of a person from the service." He wrinkled his nose, not deigning to answer me.
"How dare...?" Zuko started to stand up, but I silently asked him to let me continue by putting a hand on his arm.
"It doesn't matter if the question comes from the service, if you have the answer." I crossed my arms without giving an inch. He frowned, but responded after feeling pressure from the others.
"I thought it was clear. Like I said, Ice Bay." He went to a map and pointed to the exact point on the coast. "Government permits are already in process."
"And you must have an impressive engineering plan if you intend to put an airport in an area that spends at least a third of the year flooded." I thought of some of the buildings back home that were always under repair.
It was called "Ice Bay" for a reason. During spring and summer time, the whole place became a series of rapid rivers that connected the lake with the sea and where the rituals of ice dodging were held. And a set of buildings were built near there, that couldn't be used due to weakening in the structures. Sokka kept talking about it the entirety of the previous vacations, as well as railing against foreign construction companies and dubious deals with the city government.
"I don't aspire for you to understand the finer details of the planning." He narrowed his eyes. "I just need the signature of Mr. Azulon."
He dropped a thick sheaf of papers in front of Zuko, apparently for him to sign.
"Make it quick," he demanded. Contempt was still plain in his voice, but a quick glance at the papers betrayed a certain nervousness.
"Surely you'll spare a few minutes to explain this magnificent engineering strategy, since Miss Hannak brought it up," Mr. Shyu chimed in, as Zuko's teeth were too clenched to speak.
This time, the nervous hesitation was visible. He tried to mask it with a thicker coberture of contempt, and embarked on something that sounded suspiciously like a replay of what he had already said.
"We have the latest technology in concrete and strategically placed pillars are all that is needed for the building." His voice turned irate.
"As efficient as the materials may be, water erodes." Adrenaline began to flow through my veins; only certain social conventions seemed to keep his desire to physically attack me at bay. There was a lot of running water at the South Pole, that's why we avoided building in de-icing places.
Off to the side, Ty Lee had leaned over the papers and whispered something to Zuko.
"It's the fault of your primitive methods!" He almost shouted, spraying spit everywhere.
"Maintenance is so important that it's been included in the contract." Lord Shyu had approached the papers and was reading them as well. "So much so that there is already a 35-year concession to the construction company for repairs to the building. Didn't you mention that you owned one? I can't remember the name. I'm sure you can get us out of doubt."
Bujing opened his eyes with a terrified look and tried to retrieve the sheaf of papers, but Zuko already had it in his hand and pushed it out of reach.
"I see you even signed it for us, how considerate," Ty Lee approached. "We won't even have to prove the authenticity of the document. A few billions of yuan direct to your own company, for a building that was conceived as disposable…"
The man's face turned purple.
"The strategies that were used in my father's time are no longer those favored by this company. I hope it was perfectly clear." Zuko's voice was sharper than a sword.
"Now, Mr. Bujing, serve to retire. We must deliberate the candidate projects, among which is not yours," said Mr. Shyu with insulting courtesy.
He seemed about to explode with anger, but ended up withdrawing with one last look that spilled black bile. Seeing him disappear brought me deep satisfaction.
Ty Lee ran to an intercom by the phone and gave orders for Security to check that Bujing actually left the building.
"Did that really just happen?" Zuko dropped into the chair and threw up his arms. "Are we finally free of him? At last?"
"The audit has yet to be formalized and there will surely be retaliation from Zhao," Lord Shyu noted with some severity. Then he smiled."He won't dare to try anything now."
I made a mental note of everything I was hearing as Ty Lee took the sheaf of paper and put it inside a locked drawer.
"So, regarding what Mr. Bujing has declared about his construction company at the South Pole and everyone who signed…" Zuko left the sentence hanging in the air.
"I know exactly where to look." Ty Lee smiled with a murderous glint in his eyes. "I got this."
"Before that, we need to decide the winning project," Lord Shyu stopped her, because she looked like she was about to bolt outside the office.
Reluctantly, she returned to the table and sat down. The throbbing in my temples bode the start of a migraine, but I got over it and went over my notes from the day before. Ty Lee seemed in a hurry to leave, and her defense of the luxury hotel was less passionate than before. As the fishing project included a plan to transport the products with the boats, we decided that would be it. It seemed wonderful to me, because it would allow more traditional garments to be produced that might otherwise disappear, and perhaps more seafood that I missed so much would arrive in Chin City.
"Their budget was higher than what we have planned to finance. They will have to rearrange the plan to one less ship, or a smaller one." Zuko made some other adjustments.
"I'll give them the good news on Monday." Ty Lee pulled a small notebook from a pocket of his pink jacket and made a note before hurriedly leaving the office.
Lord Shyu was already getting to his feet as well.
"I feel a little bad about the projects that didn't win," I sighed. "They have good ideas too."
Besides that, they had traveled all the way to Caldera. The girl who presented the fur samples was obviously from the South Pole, like me. I especially regretted the "Sanctuary" project, that camp had a lot of sentimental meaning for me. My train of thought was lost when I noticed Zuko's gaze on me. So much so that I almost missed his next words.
"If the 'Sanctuary' group is willing to sell shares instead of accepting a loan, I'm sure we can push it forward. On a personal note, I'm interested." Both Katara and Mr. Shyu looked at me in surprise, but Katara's face lit up with a smile, and that was the reaction that mattered to me.
"Sounds like a good plan. I am interested in collaborating with the 'Ice Paradise' initiative. It seemed to me that Miss Ty Lee too, and with her as an ally, they'll gather a group of investors in no time." Mr. Shyu rearranged his suit.
Even if I hadn't been watching, Katara's gleam of happiness was impossible to ignore.
"Thank you!" She said goodbye to Lord Shyu, and once he was gone, she turned to me. "It's wonderful! Sure, it won't be right away, it will take a few years. But everything will get so much better at the South Pole! I'd say it turned out better than I expected."
"Absolutely," I replied. And I wasn't even talking about getting rid of Bujing, a faithful follower of my father and then my sister. I said it because she was there, talking to me as if she trusted me, as if she considered me a friend.
"As soon as I can go to the South Pole, I'm going to find that fur shop. I'd tell Gran Gran to go commission a parka for me, but I think it's best if they take my measurements directly… " She went on to list the positive aspects of the winning project, and then about all the projects that would eventually be active, even if they took longer. On one level of my mind, I was listening to her. In another, I was enraptured, watching the way her eyes sparkled with plans and ideas, the passion she poured into her words, and all the energy implicit in her voice and gestures.
I already had another reason for wanting to be with her. I could hardly imagine someone better able to help me repair all the damages of my family in the world. Even better, she was someone with whom I was absolutely, irrevocably, in love.
She had so much to offer me in a relationship. It remained to be seen if what I had was enough to convince her. Because she didn't seem especially attracted by money.
"Anyway, thanks for asking me to come here." Her eyes were shining.
"Thank you for coming." I had the urge to hug her, which scared me a bit because it wasn't one of my usual impulses. I tried to return to neutral ground. "The rest of the afternoon is free…"
She looked at me, not helping me finish the implied question.
"Would you like to know the city? At night we can go have dinner downtown. The restaurants there aren't as good as the one from yesterday, but they are worth it for the view" a bit like myself: quite mediocre with an attribute or two that might convince her to spend time with me.
"Don't you have much pending work?" She asked me with a half smile. "I don't want to take your time. Time is money and all that."
I laughed. I would gladly give all my time to her.
"Honestly, it's less than it would seem. The company is organized so that many things work almost autonomously and the only indispensable obligation is to attend the monthly shareholders meeting…" There were many other small details, but I preferred not to mention that I deliberately took 10 days to be with her. "So if you want I can show you the Royal Gallery, they are exhibiting some classical paintings, or go to the Royal Square and see the statues…"
"If you can find a place that doesn't have 'royal' in the name, count me in." She stood up and took her bag, which was the same one she brought to the yacht. "Agreed?"
"Consider it done," I offered him my arm again. I didn't know if it was my imagination or she was actually walking closer to me.
My last relationship, that had been with Mai, ended before I took over the company. The fact that I was arm in arm with a woman (not counting what Ty Lee would say to all the employees) was enough to attract attention. It was a real good fortune not to have to visit Caldera often.
On the short walk between the office and the car, I racked my brain thinking of possibilities. The royal past of the Fire Nation was so ubiquitous that it was difficult to find a place that wasn't called "royal," and Katara's closeness didn't help my concentration.
I finally settled on the turtle-duck pond. It was possibly built by royalty, but at least it didn't say so in the name. On the way there, I continued the talk.
'The royal family of the country died out a few generations ago. My grandfather, among many other things, said that we were a lost branch of the royal family," I shrugged. It never seemed like more than our strict grandfather's family anecdote. "At some point he tried to prove that his father was the illegitimate son of the then Fire Lord."
"Wow! That means you're a prince." She covered her mouth with her hands, in feigned surprise. "And me, merely a peasant... excuse me, your majesty."
"He couldn't prove it, of course." I crossed my arms. "Or you would have to address me as Fire Lord Zuko ."
I laughed with her at the absurdity of that notion and the joyous atmosphere continued until we reached the iron fence of the park. At the kiosk I bought oatmeal to feed the turtle ducks and we took one of the cobbled paths to finally settle on a bench by the pond.
"Don't get too close at first, wait for them to feel confident." We drew the first handfuls of flakes, as I remembered nostalgically from my childhood. "My mother used to bring us here when we were children, behind the back of our father. He didn't like it, he said that it 'distracted us from our duties'."
She stirred on the bench.
"If it's not too out of place, what happened to your sister?" Her gaze said that she already sensed that it was not a good thing. The first turtle-ducks were already swimming directly in front of us.
"I don't mind telling you," and it was true. "But it isn't a pretty story, like all the family ones."
I looked at my hands. I had spent many sleepless nights thinking about what I could have done to make Azula suffer less. I never found good answers.
"Are you sure you want to know?"
Instead of answering, she leaned toward me with her chin resting on her hands, waiting. I smiled with some sadness.
"Azula is almost three years younger than me and she was a child prodigy."
With a heavy sigh, I followed the narration. She had entered Ba Sing Se University at age 14, started controlling the company at 18, two years after our father went to prison and the company was immersed in an ownership limbo.
They were bleak memories for me. She followed in our father's footsteps and in the early years, the entire board of directors adored her. They watched her gradually decline, down to her outright paranoia and aggressiveness from the last year. She had several openly corrupt deals, including one with the governor of Ba Sing Se, and she was afraid of being exposed. She fired almost all employees and brought in new ones, punished many on suspicion of treason, and even shareholders began to fear her. She fired Ty Lee, her longtime friend. I knew her, but we weren't close. Still, Ty Lee called me one night, terrified that she was afraid that Azula would do something irreparable.
"I came here, to the family home where Azula lived. The encounter ended with her nearly killing me" my vision was cloudy. "She was admitted to a sanatorium in Ba Sing Se. She doesn't appreciate my visits very much, but I visit anyway."
Katara hugged me. After a moment of surprise, I responded with gratitude.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked, I just brought up the bad memories." She separated from me but our arms were still in contact. "I can't even imagine…"
"Thanks for listening. My uncle says it is good to talk about the things that hurt us. It helps or something." I tried to be discreet by wiping a tear from my cheek.
"What happened is terrible. I wish you hadn't had to go through all that."
"Sometimes I think I deserve it," I confessed quietly. "After everything my father and grandfather did."
"Do not say that!" She turned to look at me angrily. "It wasn't your fault at all, you cannot bear that guilt. Neither you nor your sister are responsible for what they did. You both got hurt."
She was sitting to my left, with my scar perfectly visible to her.
"The important thing is that you are different," she whispered to me, and a raw feeling awakened in my chest that prevented me from answering anything. Was I really different? I had an immense desire to believe her.
We were silent for a few minutes. In a relative silence, because turtleducks were not distinguished for their stealth and silent disposition. I remembered that I had something else to say to her.
"This… I haven't thanked you yet. So thank you very much, for your help with Bujing's presentation. With a fraud charge like that, there is no way he will retain his power on the board of directors. That leaves me a majority by a small margin…" I doubted my ability to put into words the immense relief that Bujing's freezing of influence represented.
"You would've noticed the trap without my help." She smiled at me. "You were pretty wary against him."
Maybe, but that wouldn't make me thank her any less.
"He's one of the oldest shareholders in the company, one of those closest to my sister," I began to explain tentatively. "The younger ones sometimes disagree with how I run the company, but they are not as aggressive as him, or Zhao."
"What are those 'Fire Sages'? He mentioned them a lot." She frowned in sincere bewilderment. "They have the name of a religious sect."
"My grandfather was the king of drama." I rolled my eyes. "That's how he named the board of directors, just to flatter them. His vision was to have 'the greatest company in the world'. My father interpreted it as 'the company that has the tallest building in every major city in the world' and that is how there are so many subsidiaries of the company."
The flattering of the board of directors worked its magic. They all aligned themselves with his wishes and continued to do business with dubious methods. There were few industries in which there was not at least one participant who belonged to the Fire Corp.
It began to get dark, which meant that the park's closing time was approaching. We dumped what was left of the oatmeal over the water and walked back to the door, where the car was already waiting.
"Time for dinner?" She nodded enthusiastically and I asked the driver to take us downtown, to the Royal Square, where the government buildings stood tall around the place, as well as several restaurants and cafes.
As I had already mentioned, they did not stand out for the food but for the view. We ended up choosing one located on a terrace. The waiter led us to a table that had a view of the entire expanse of the square.
The quality of the food wasn't the biggest difference between the dinner we shared on the yacht and this one. It was Katara. Now she was relaxed and smiling and I was dying to hold her hand on the table. My courage was not that high yet.
The empty plates were taken away and we were left with our cups of tea. The medium quality of the content made me frown, and my discontent deepened as I found myself becoming more and more like my uncle.
She leaned back in her chair, taking small sips from her cup. It seemed like a good time to ask… I held my hands together in front of me; I wasn't sure they trembled, but that way it wouldn't show if they did.
"Since Mr. Tong offered you the whole week off, I was wondering if you wanted to go back to Chin City soon, or…" I swallowed. "… Or if you wanted to stay a few more days."
"It's true that I haven't been able to tour Caldera." There was a reaction on her part. I hoped it was good. "Though I don't want you to keep paying for my lodging, it doesn't seem fair to me."
Oh, if only she knew that that was the last of my worries.
"It's not a bother…" I stopped when I saw her gesture darken a bit. It wasn't the right angle. "Have you ever been to Ba Sing Se?"
She was surprised by the suddenness of the question.
"No, it's one of the places I want to go to one day." That had turned out better than I expected. I spoke again before I had time to get more nervous.
"So if Caldera doesn't catch your eye, maybe you could take the days off… if you want to visit Ba Sing Se. I-I can offer you a place in my house and I have some days off myself in which we can go to see the city. It's where the first Jasmine Dragon tea shop is, there are guided visits to the walls…" I tried to make the offer as attractive as I could "…and I don't know if you would be interested in visiting the university campus. The buildings are very old too."
"I thought your house was here in Caldera." Did that mean she wanted me to invite her to stay at my house to continue in Caldera? I put that thought aside for later.
"There is my family's house, but I avoid going there as much as possible. I try not to be in Caldera much." I didn't look at her as I gave my explanation. "So I thought it was better to go to Ba Sing Se… if you want."
She looked at me with wide eyes and there was a silence that seemed eternal. I made an effort to hold her gaze as honestly as I could.
I ruined everything, that was asking too much, too soon, oh no...
"I'd love to visit Ba Sing Se." She had blushed in a charming way, "but…"
I ruined it, definitely, everything is ruined...
I sighed and tried not to flinch from the impending hit of rejection.
The silence lengthened again, which decided me to accelerate the disaster.
"Don't worry…" I started to say, but she started talking at the same time as me.
"There's a problem."
"Which one?" I asked immediately. If it was in my power to fix it, whatever it was...
She said a couple of incoherent syllables, until she shook her head nervously. It took her several more moments to speak.
"I don't have enough luggage for an extended visit," she finished without looking at me.
"Don't worry about it." Surely I had a stupidly big smile that I was unable to hide. "We can buy anything you need there."
"Are you accompanying me?" She said it in a mocking tone, as if it were absurd.
"Of course, if you'll allow me," I answered without hesitation. I was sure that going with her would be very different from the one time I went shopping with Mai.
She was speechless and a warm feeling bloomed in my chest.
"If that was the only problem, I'll buy the tickets right away" for the first available flight, before the luck streak was over.
I paid for dinner, ignoring his insistence to cooperate, and we went back to the car. She stayed at the hotel again, but since we had a driver, I didn't come down to drop her off.
This was the complete opposite of everything in my life so far. From something good, something even better grew.
I told the driver to take me to the airport and after buying the tickets, I asked him to leave the car for me to go back to the company building. Upon arrival, the guard ushered me into the parking lot.
I put on the parking brake and cut the engine. Afterward, the excitement and happiness that had built up from the day before and until she accepted my invitation came out in the form of a wordless scream that I tried to drown behind my hands.
"I don't understand why, but thanks," I said in the silence of the car.
Exhausted, I reclined the seat. I would just close my eyes for a moment and then go back up to the office...
"An unagi, you say?" I asked the girl whose notebook I was holding at the time.
"Yes, yes, unagi, please!" She applauded happily. It was a strange creature to inspire such enthusiasm in a 6 year old girl.
"Coming right away." I took the pencil and began to sketch the animal as best I could remember. I hadn't drawn animals since that book that asked for illustrations of the aquatic fauna of the Southern Seas.
On one of my trips to the market, I had mentioned my situation to the fruit vendor, who in turn had told his brother, who told a friend who told another friend who had a souvenir and magazines shop at the airport. He had offered me a job to tend his store in the afternoons and part of the nights. Those payments greatly alleviated my situation, which was becoming desperate as I waited for a positive response to my job applications more in line with my abilities.
I finished the drawing and showed it to the girl.
"It's just how I imagined it." She was delighted and her mother, sitting in the waiting room across the street, seemed much calmer. "Is it ready? Can you put a hat on it?"
"What kind of hat?" I smiled at her and continued working on her drawing. "My father used to tell me a story about unagis, do you want to hear it?"
Her huge attentive eyes were the best audience I had ever had in my life. But finally the girl left to board her flight, which left shortly before midnight. I had known her for 20 minutes, but I missed her anyway. That must be what it was like to have a daughter.
The next flight with potential clients wouldn't arrive until at least two hours later. In the late hours of the night, surrounded by the cold, hollow silence of an empty airport, I pulled out my notebook and the letters that I didn't have time to open before having to go to the store.
One envelope was the first rent bill, another was just an offer from the bank. I didn't want to know anything about banks and I disposed of it right away. The third envelope was something different and I opened it, my guts a bit churning… I had already had my first rejected application.
I unfolded the sheet and quickly scanned the contents. My shout of joy echoed too clearly in the empty room, startling the cafeteria manager across the hall.
I had a job as a professor at the University of Omashu.
A / N: I don't know why this chapter was so difficult to write. It was a necessary transition, though… Thank you all for reading! And as always, special thanks to rahidas04 for her editing :D