Coming around I opened my eyes to a bright orange sky, blinking a few times until Katara moved into my line of vision with a relieved sigh. "You're awake, and your fever has died down." She then looked at me with sadness, seemingly hurt for my sake as she bit down on her lip. "Why didn't you tell us it had gotten so bad? Was it Zuko who broke your arm? I swear if he hurt you, I'm going to…"
"It wasn't Zuko." I interrupted before she could misunderstand, sitting up slowly as Aang hopped over to join us with Momo who launched himself at me and scuttled all over me before settling on my shoulder and rubbing his head against my face, earning a smile. "Hey Momo, I missed you too."
"So how did you break your arm?" Answering Aang's question, I told them that it had been when running away from an assassin that had come after me. "What?!"
"It was nothing new, though they usually went after Zuko. Since his coronation, there have been six total attempts on his life until now. We stopped them all in time, but a few were close. One of them targeted me to try and weaken him, send him into a state of grief so that he would be more vulnerable. That was just a few days before the incident with the mayor's daughter trying to kill Zuko." So I sat and told them everything that had happened leading up to Zuko's decision to pull back from the Harmony Restoration Movement, so that they would understand his process of thought.
"I didn't know Zuko was being targeted, or that it had gotten so bad. Why didn't you contact us? We would have come to help you Kayo."
"You guys moved around so much there was no way to track you fast enough. I thought I could help keep Zuko from deteriorating, but I failed. He's been visiting his father more often, I think to ask for his advice now, and he's become obsessed over protecting his people. He's afraid. He's afraid of failing, of disappointing everyone, of becoming his father. I did everything I could to try and save him from breaking, but I…I couldn't…I'm sorry…"
"There's nothing to be sorry for Kayo. Zuko did this to himself. You're not responsible for his state of mind, or keeping him from doing stupid things." Katara comforted as she hugged me, Aang joining in as well as we entered the outer ring of Ba Sing Se. I had leapt all the way here? "You're with us now and you're safe. You don't have to worry about anything anymore. Maybe you should stay with Iroh for a while, take some time to properly take care of yourself."
"I will, but only after we've reached a conclusion to Yu Dao's refusal to move. Personally I'd like it if they were allowed to stay, since we can't force our will on others when they want to stay in the homes that they've lived in all their lives, but I also understand that the Earth Kingdom no longer wants the presence of the Fire Nation in their territory." I sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose. "If only there were a way to just…make a new kingdom, where people could live together if they wanted."
"We'll find a solution, and we'll do it together. I promise." Aang assured me so I gave him a light squeeze of thanks before we all looked down to see we were approaching the upper ring so he leaped onto Appa's head. "Find yourself a nice hill, quiet hill to spend the night, okay buddy? I'll whistle for you tomorrow after our meeting with the Earth King." He instructed so Appa growled in response before Aang and Katara held onto his glider then looked back at me.
"I'll jump, you catch me." All set, the two of them took off first and I followed suit, waiting a couple of seconds to rub Appa's head before I leaped off the edge of the saddle, Momo squawking urgently as he followed me. I braced myself ready to land, watching as Aang once again caught me with air for the second time that day, allowing me to land as light as a feather. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"BY the way, weren't Sokka and Toph with us? Where'd they go?"
"Toph went back to her metal bending school and Sokka went with her. Apparently he couldn't stomach spending any more time with Aang and me giving him the oogies." Katara drawled with a roll of her eyes as I snorted.
"Oogies?" Trust Sokka to come up with something like that.
"We should find somewhere to spend the night." Aang said, looking up at the sky since it was getting pretty late. Although I'd been sleeping all day, I felt like I could still sleep for a week.
"I'm sure Iroh has a couple of spare rooms. Do you remember how to get to the teashop from here?" Katara asked and I nodded, knowing the way like the back of my hand so I pointed, beginning to tell her the way so we could all go when we were interrupted by a couple of giggling girls who were wearing these weird clothes with Aang's face on them. They introduced themselves as members of the Avatar Aang fan club, which made Katara and I both quirk an eyebrow as we folded our arms, not sure whether or not to take this seriously.
The first girl, Hei Won, talked a lot and put the word 'like' in almost every other word she said, and a great deal of her sentences ended with a question intonation, which bugged me slightly. I was not in the mood to deal with people. Especially strange people, because quite honestly I was so hurt, mad and upset, I felt like making a tidal wave and drowning something just to vent my feelings, though I held it back since turning into a murdering psychopath was generally frowned up. Though…these girls did tempt me. That's unfair, I'm sure they're very nice. Just not when I felt like crap.
"Wow! Did you guys hear that? They started a fan club for me!"
"Wonderful." Katara was not particularly impressed at Aang's enthusiasm, much less since a bunch of girls were cooing at her boyfriend. Introducing everyone, Aang started with himself, then Momo, then me, and then Katara who coughed expectantly, so Aang corrected himself by calling Katara his girlfriend. I had to admit, it was rather cute seeing this side of Katara.
"What an honour to meet the Avatar's first girlfriend." The quieter fan, Won Yee, addressed Katara with a bow which Katara answered naturally, at first not noticing the distinction of the word 'first'.
"Why thank you, I…wait, what do you mean 'first'?" Hon Yee merely giggled and smirked darkly at Katara, making her gulp and quickly steering Aang away. "Uh…Aang? We should get going. It's getting late and we need to find a place…"
"Oh my gosh! You guys are, like, looking for a place to stay? It would be so amazing if you, like, stayed at our clubhouse?" Yeah, that's going to get real irritating real fast. I need some of Iroh's tea to get myself out of this murderous mood. Aang was all for taking a look at the clubhouse and Katara went along with it, but I hung back and told them I'd be going to see Iroh and gave Katara the directions in case they changed their minds about where they stayed.
I left them too it, walking slowly to the teashop which looked exactly the same as when I'd last been here. It must be at least eight months now, I can hardly believe it. Did Iroh feel offended that we hadn't been able to visit in such a long time? I hope he's not mad, because I really need him right now, though that just made me feel guiltier, like I was only coming to him because I needed comfort and somewhere to stay. Shaking it off, I walked into the teahouse which was now empty after closing, Iroh pottering away cleaning up the cups whilst humming to himself. "I'm afraid we are closed, perhaps you could come back…Kayo?"
Standing there staring at him, seeing Iroh broke down all of my walls and I started crying, unable to express just how much agony I was in except to burst out into a horrible sob and rush towards Iroh. I buried my face into his apron as he quickly brought his arms around me, rubbing my back as I collapsed to my knees and he sought to comfort and try to understand what was going on. "Little Kayo, what is wrong? Please try and tell me, I do not know how to help you unless you tell me." But the tears just kept on coming, completely taking over so Iroh just knelt and held me to him, stroking my long hair which was completely loose from any arrangement, swaying slightly and began to sing 'Leaves from the Vine'.
I cried so much that eventually I was hoarse and had a sore throat, unable to cry anymore though it felt like I was still sobbing inwardly, nothing more than a broken and used husk of what I used to be. "Here, quench your thirst with some soothing tea. You have a fever and your arm…what happened? You have come here so broken and hurt, it is painful to see you in such a way little Kayo." Iroh said to me tenderly with all the love and affection of a father, using his own handkerchief that I'd embroidered for him on the first day of his teashop opening to dry my face.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to barge in like this, but I had to get away from him." I tried to explain, taking a few sips of tea and it seemingly rushed throughout my body to soothe all of my aches and pains, as if knew exactly where I hurt the most.
"From who?"
"Zuko." Iroh's eyes widened before he seemed to understand, lowering his head sadly as his hand rested over mine. "I'm sorry, Uncle Iroh, but I couldn't stay with him any longer. It was starting to hurt so much and I was losing him, I felt so useless and incapable, there was nothing I could do or say that would make him see reason, and then there were the assassins and the pressure…I couldn't handle it anymore." Biting down on my hand to try and keep myself from crying again, Iroh quickly jumped to remove it before I could leave teeth marks and rubbed it quickly to soothe the skin.
"You did the right thing, Kayo. When someone is set on destroying themselves, you must take a step back and protect yourself from being caught up in the self destructive path. You are safe here, and I shall take good care of you. My door has always been open to my favourite tea appreciator and Pai Sho opponent, and it always will be. Come, you need food and rest. I can tell you have not been eating and sleeping properly. Your body will hurt less once you have properly taken care of it." And just like that, Iroh spent a great of deal of time taking care of me, not letting me lift a single finger to help in order to shower me with all the care and affection he possessed.
I could tell that he was now worried about Zuko, but he did not ask me anything more about him and instead, focused entirely on me. It reminded me once more of just how important I was to Iroh just as much as his own nephew was. He treated me like one of his own, praising me for doing so well and for managing all on my own for so long, and apologising for not being there for me sooner. It was healing, being so cared for without reserve or restraint, and as I listened to Iroh's voice singing me all our favourite songs, I was sent off to sleep in calmness and comfort, knowing full well that he would still be there when I woke up in the morning, having watched over me the entire night to tend my fever and guard me as I slept.
