Every morning when Zuko woke up in his family´s house on the Ember Islands, it felt odd. He wasn´t there with his (back then) happy family, but with the Avatar and his friends. It was just strange, and even a little painful when he thought about the summers with his mother.
However, when he woke up from a night of unsettled sleep and strange dreams that morning, the memories weren´t the only painful thing. Zuko woke up by a sudden, burning feeling in his chest he couldn´t really explain. For a few seconds, all he could do was sitting on his bed trying to catch a breath. When he finally succeeded, the burning faded away a little, leaving his lungs with an odd, tickling sensation. What for Agni´s sake was that?, he thought confused, and tried not to panic when he felt his breaths as painful stabs in his throat and lungs. That would be a funny day since he and Aang had planned to do some sparring today. To be honest, Zuko didn´t feel like sparring at all. He rather felt like laying back again right now and getting back to sleep.
But when he looked outside the window, the sun was almost on the rise, meaning it wouldn´t be long until everyone was up and ready for the day. Therefore, he could as well get up already. Zuko swung his legs over the edge of the bed, regretting the movement as soon as his head started to spin. Shit., he thought. I had to become sick right now, haven´t I? Desperately ignoring the dizziness, he managed to stand up and got dressed. When he reached the bathroom, he looked at his face in the mirror and was immediately glad that the others were still asleep, as he was looking terrible. His eyes were red and underlined by dark shadows, which stood out against his skin, which was paler than usual. As a matter of fact, he looked like he was feeling. Come on Zuko, he told himself, this is a bad timing for feeling under the weather. Determinedly, he splashed his face with some ice-cold water.
When Katara came outside the house, she was positively surprised to see that there was already a small fire burning in the fireplace. Next to it sat Zuko, his back turned to her. As he was sitting there so peacefully, it was not easy for Katara to view him as the enemy he had been. No, he was one of them now. "Good morning!", she called over to him. Zuko, surprised by the sudden voice, jerked, then he turned around. "Morning.", he croaked with a raspy voice, cleared his throat, and repeated, this time more normally: "Morning." Katara got inside again to get the breakfast stuff, and Zuko prepared to act normal.
Even though he was a part of the group now, he still didn´t feel like opening up too much to his fellows – and admitting he didn´t feel well would definitely be too much. When he heard Katara coming outside again, he supressed a cough that was tickling in his throat and gave his best to ignore the pain in his limbs when he was getting up. For the next few minutes, he helped Katara making breakfast, and as soon as the smell of the sweet rice-porridge touched his nose, he suddenly realized how hungry he was, despite or maybe because of his sickness. When the rest of the group finally joined them and they started eating, he was happy to dig in.
Even though the food gave him some energy he truly had needed, the dizzy feeling in his head remained, just like the pain in his lungs and in his arms and legs. When he had to fight hard not to cough when his mouth was full of congee, he slowed his eating speed down.
"So, Sifu Hotman,", Aang turned to him, "are we going to spar today? I am so excited!" Zuko shook his head. He knew he had promised Aang that they would do some sparring, but he really didn´t feel like he was in the condition for this. "I had a better idea.", he explained. "Before we will spar, and we will do so, I am going to show you another technique." Even though Aang seemed to be a little disappointed, he managed to mask it and showed interest in the new technique.