Aang, Suki and Toph were sitting in the hallway and waited for Sokka and Katara to come out of Zuko´s room. When Katara stepped out and closed the door quietly, Aang jumped up. "How is he?", he asked anxiously. Katara sighed. "I managed to get his fever down a little bit, but I´m not sure how long it will be like that." She looked at her friends seriously. "I think we need a proper healer. Someone who could identify the illness and really do something against it." "But who?", Toph asked. "I don't know if you remember, but we´re in the fire nation. Whoever recognizes one of us will probably try to kill us." "Well,", Aang interrupted her, "then we have to find a healer outside of the fire nation." The others looked at him in surprise. "Are you thinking of anyone in particular?", Suki asked. "No offense, but most people out there don´t know that Zuko is our ally and hate him. Who would agree to treat him?" Aang hesitated. "Katara, do you remember when you and Sokka were sick after that storm when we were traveling to the north pole?", he finally asked. Katara nodded, and he continued. "Back then, I went to that herbal institute for help. There was this old lady who… was kind of crazy, but she really knew what to do. And she didn´t ask any questions. I think she might be discreet." The others looked at Aang with doubtful expressions, when suddenly the sounds of loud, barking coughing could be heard through the bedroom door. "Holy shit, that doesn´t sound good.", Toph remarked. A surprised yelp from Sokka came from inside, and Katara jumped to the door and opened it, running inside. "What´s wrong, Sokka?", she asked alarmed, but stopped dead when she saw it: When the coughs escaped Zuko´s mouth, they came as small bursts of hot fire, each one searing the boy´s throat and lips painfully. The firebender was clenching his chest, his face twisted with pain. Katara shot forwards and bent some water out of the cup next to the bed into Zuko´s mouth, where it extinguished the next flame, leaving him panting and groaning in pain. "Oh no.", Suki suddenly said. "I think I know what´s wrong with him. And I just hope that I am wrong."
The others looked curiously at Suki, who stared at Zuko in horror. "I fear… I fear he might have Ember fever.", she said reluctantly. Aang frowned. "What? What´s Ember fever?" "It´s a rare disease where people suffer from unbelievable high fever and cough up fire. It´s… really rare, therefore there is no known medicine for it. I´ve heard about it a few years ago." "Is it infectious?" asked Katara, who had her hands on Zuko´s throat trying to heal the burns. "Not for you.", a raspy voice came from Zuko. He lifted his head a little and tried to push himself in an upright position. He coughed once, exhaling a dark cloud of smoke. "I …learned about that… sometime." He panted and hold back another cough. "It´s a… firebender´s disease… so you will not…" When he doubled up, his hacking made hot flames coming from between his lips. Desperately, he tried to cough in a direction away from his friends to prevent them from getting burned. Katara sent a splash of water to the bedsheets that had caught fire. She put her hand carefully on the coughing boy´s forehead and pulled it back immediately; his fever had spiked to a very hot temperature. They could do nothing but waiting for the attack to stop, which took nearly two minutes, leaving Zuko nearly crying in pain. "We have to get to the healer of that herbal institute.", Katara stated when she tried to heal his sore throat. Her friends nodded. "I´m getting Appa ready.", said Aang. "You others pack some food and blankets, it will be a long way."