A/N The idea for this chapter came to me , like so many of my ideas, while I was driving in my car to work listening to compleatly unrelated music. It was not part of my original outline but I thought, after the last chapter, that this was just what needed to happen. It would have been up sooner but last Thursday, instead of spending my evening working on this I was at a children's hospital with my four year old. He had a blood infection attacking his kidney's but I am happy to report that after a week stay, dialysis, blood transfusions and lots of sitting around while he slept, he is going home tomorrow and going to be fine! Answered prayers, no long term complications. SO, the last few days have been easier and I this got done. My amazing beta got it back to me this morning so here it is at last for you! I hope you enjoy! As always, let me know what you think!

Chapter 62

It had taken formal apologies to the handful of officers that had once been under her command to ingratiate Azula to the soldiers that had come to their side. Even still, there were confused and sometimes downright hostile stares as she walked among them. Then Sokka would catch up with her and throw an arm around her shoulders, or her brother would call her over for a public conversation and anyone staring suddenly had better things to do. Public interaction with Katara seemed to go the farthest ironically. That was how Azula found herself teaching her sister-in-law how to make the healing salves she'd learned during her time at the care home.

"So, your mother said this is good for burns? It smells awful!" Katara gagged and set the ground plant back on the bench between them. Azula laughed and added a pinch of the foul smelling stuff.

"Ya, it smells but it really cuts through the pain. Ok, add water slowly until it's a smooth paste." Azula held her bowl of mixed plants and ground herbs out as Katara bent a thin stream of water into it. It was mesmerizing to watch the water, swirling slower as it mixed with the herbs. "This is much easier than mixing it by hand."

Katara smiled at her before focusing again on what she was doing. "We make a good team I guess. Who would have thought?"

Certainly not Azula.

She had been more surprised than anyone to find that Katara was tolerable company. It wasn't as though Azula had interacted with the other woman outside of fights and taunts before she found them in Ba SIng Se, so she hadn't really known what she was like. Katara was not what she expected. Before Zuko had finally grown a pair and abandoned their father, he had said the waterbender was an annoying and uppity peasant. Azula had come to realize that indictment had been born from a combination of latent attraction and embarrassment at having been bested by her. While her new sister definitely had the occasional bout of temper, she wasn't what Azula would call "uppity." Somehow, despite all that she had suffered at the hands of the FIre Nation, Katara was kind and generous to both the people on the islands they passed through and the soldiers who joined them. Even though she could tell it was hard for her at first, Katara had made a dedicated effort to move past their shared history and get to know Azula as she was now. It may have been uncomfortable and forced at times, but Azula was smart enough to know not to waste the waterbender's goodwill.

Katara's face fell and Azula felt her gut twist. She looked on the verge of tears and that was something she was not equipped to deal with. Looking around quickly for someone else to handle her companions emotional upheaval, she found that they were alone. Thinking back to what her mother had said, she tried for a sympathetic smile and tentatively patted Katara on the shoulder.

"I guess our working together is kind of nice, but you don't need to cry about it."

Katara looked up at her with a confused frown.

"What? Oh, sorry." She pressed her hands to her face to wipe away the few tears that had escaped and laughed lightly. "I mean it is nice, but that's not why I was upset. It's just, well this salve, the herbalist work you have with your mother. I hope you know how precious that is." Her face was more vulnerable than Azula had ever seen it, her eyes sad and ernest. Azula's heart clenched at the raw emotion and she remembered that Katara and Sokka's mother had been killed by the Fire Nation years ago.

Before she could think of anything to say a commotion drew both their attention. Shouting came from the beach and a soldier ran past them to Zuko's tent. Katara was on her feet and headed for her husband, Azula right behind her. When they threw back the tent flap, they were nearly knocked over as Zuko and Iroh rushed out. Zuko grabbed Katara's hand and turned Azula toward the shore by the shoulder.

"There is a ship from the capital. One of the smaller ones built. Whoever it is must have been in a hurry. Come on."

oOoOoOoOoOo

By the time they reached the shore, a throng of villagers and soldiers had gathered to speculate about the new ship. Zuko and his uncle shouldered their way through a few people until their presence was noticed and the crowd parted for them. There were two long boats making their way in from the ship through the choppy water, and standing beside his uncle, wife and sister, Zuko counted ten men total. As the boats drew closer, he thought he could almost make out their uniforms. Azula, not suffering from a mildly damaged eye as he did, recognized them first.

"Those are palace guards! I don't know who, but those are their uniforms. What are they doing here?"

No one expected Ozai to send anyone to try and negotiate, and to arrive so openly made it unlikely that this was some kind of assination attempt. Zuko grew increasingly anxious as the waves tossed the men about until Katara, clearly impatient with their slow progress, sank into a bending stance beside him and calmed the sea, drawing them in quickly. If the newcomers were shocked by this, they did not show it as they disembarked. Now that they were closer, Zuko could see his sister had been right about their identity. Nine palace guards worked together to unload what everyone immediately realized were stretchers bearing two covered bodies as the tenth stumbled up the uneven sand to fall to his knees at Zuko's feet.

"Prince Zuko, my Lord, we are unendingly grateful to Agni that you live and that we were able to find you so quickly." Zuko's gut clenched when he saw the honest despair on the man's face as he knelt before him. Reaching out, he gripped the guard by his shoulders to hold him upright as he continued. "We have sailed without rest these last 48 hours, pushing our ship as hard as we could." By now the other men had carried their burdens up the beach and set them gently onto the sand, all nine of them collapsing to their knees as well. It was plain they were all exhausted from their journey.

"We bring ill news, my Lord. Three and a half days ago a servant was found murdered in the Fire Lord's private office, dead by his hand and left as a warning." Before Zuko could ask what he meant, the heavy red cloth was thrown back from the first body. Shocked murmurs filled the air as the young woman's burned flesh was exposed. 'Traitor' was burned in crude characters across her forehead and what looked like handprint burns marred what he could see of her neck.

"Ming!" Katara pushed past him and the kneeling soldiers to see the dead servant better, her hands shaking as they hovered helplessly over the lifeless body. "Oh Ming, you brave girl."

A heavy hand on his wrist brought his attention back to the man at his feet as Zuko tore his eyes from his wife. "Ming was sneaking information to someone outside the palace and Ozai found her out and killed her for it. I only know this because the servant who discovered her was a close friend and had evidently followed her once. Not twelve hours later," he paused and gestured for the other body to be uncovered "Fire Lady Lei finally succumbed to the hell that was her life and threw herself from her balcony. I.. I saw it happen myself."

Shock turned to outrage as the soldiers that had gathered saw the broken body of their former comrade. Blood had run down her chin, leaving dark stains along the top of her robes and dry smudges on her pale skin. Zuko thought of his own mother and wondered if this might have been her fate had she stayed. Her relationship with Ozai had always been contentions, even as a child he had seen that. The way he was rumoured to have treated this woman though, barely older than himself, was horrific. Katara had told him that some women suffered depression after they gave birth. If the Fire Lady had been experiencing that on top of her husbands extreme abuse it was no wonder she had chosen to end her own life.

Azula's angry shouting pulled him from his thoughts.

"Where is Sozin? Where is my half brother? Is he alive or has my father murdered him as well?"

The furious cacophony around them came to a head, threatening to grow out of control. Zuko put his hands in the air and called for silence. When that only half worked, he sank into a bending stance and sent a jet of flame into the air until everyone but Azula had quieted. His sister was undeterred and growing hysterical, trying to get closer to the man at Zuko's feet to better shout at him.

"Answer me! Why did you leave the baby with him? He's just a baby, and now his mother is dead! How could you leave him?"

Zuko held her back with one hand and half faced her as Katara gripped her by the shoulder, though his wife's face told him she also wanted to know Sozin's fate.

"Azula, calm down." His voice was firm but not unkind, and with a fierce glare she finally obeyed. Turning back to the guard, he did not have to wait long for his answer.

"Forgive me, my Lord. Fire Lord Ozai cared nothing for the maid's body, likely assuming she would be disposed of with the morning waste." The disgust was plain on his face as he shook himself and continued. "Lei, her body he had laid out in her rooms. When it became clear he had no intention of properly honoring her, we made plans to take her with us too, hoping to honor them both properly. It was not difficult to get the two of them from the palace, but the baby was moved to a small room connected to the Fire Lord's bedchambers. Although his nurse has no love for Ozai, she is terrified of him. I tried to convince her to take the child and flee with us but she refused. She feared Ozai would harm the child in his wrath were they caught, and with how possessive he has been of the boy after his mother's death it was likely."

Zuko felt Azula stiffen beside him and growl something he couldn't make out. Though he kept it better hidden, Zuko was as angry as his sister. Of course their father would cling to the baby now, keeping him close as the world closed in on him. His son was nearly all he had left. No matter what happened, at least he had his preferred heir. A quick glance at his wife showed she was just as disgusted as the rest of them. Her tear filled blue eyes reminded him of his own child and he was briefly overcome with the desire to see her again.

Blinking hard against the sudden burning in his eyes, Zuko knew exactly what he needed to do.

"There is nothing to forgive. I am certain you would have been found out had you tried to take the child. I am also confident my father will not harm Sozin. He needs him, he is his heir. It is likely that he believes that, even if he were to fall, his supporters would continue to oppose my claim in favor of their dead Fire Lord's presumed heir." He turned to Azula. "Don't worry Azula, I will do everything I can to ensure his safety when we reach the capital. Trust that he is as important to me as he is to you." She eyed him speculatively for a moment before relenting with a tight nod.

Next he turned to an officer that had joined them on the beach. "Ming has a brother on one of the ships that joined us from the colonies. Find him." The officer nodded and turned, running back towards their camp. After he had gone, Zuko leaned down and hauled the man before him to his feet, nodding at the others to stand as well. "You have done your nation a great service, risking your lives to bring these women to us to be properly honored." Raising his voice so everyone could hear, he walked around until he stood between both stretchers. "And honor them we will. One, the Fire Lady, the other a servant, both suffering at the hands of a mad tyrant and ultimately giving their lives for their nation. Both as Fire Lady and soldier, Lei honored her family and her people and will be remembered as the brave and patriotic warrier, the talented bender that she was. Ming gave her life working to further our cause in the palace in order to protect the country she loved from a war my father hopes will never end. She died a hero."

Although the mood was one of simmering anger and sadness, Zuko could see approval in the faces around him. Katara slid her hand into his and for a moment, he felt like a Fire Lord. For the first time since he'd left the Fire Nation to find the Avatar, he truly believed he could do it. He could lead these people.

Nodding at the weary guards, he instructed several of the nearby soldiers to carry the bodies to the islands small temple. They would build pyres and send them to the Spirit world tonight.

oOoOoOoOo

If you had asked Yulin only a day ago what he thought of Prince Zuko, he wouldn't have been sure what to say. His unit had been stationed on one of the eastern islands and his commanders had immediately sworn their fire and their men to the prince when his mixed forces had landed. Yulin had worried it was premature. Prince Zuko came with foreign soldiers and a Water Tribe bride at his side, surely he wasn't someone they should follow. Were his commanders not proud Fire Nation soldiers? Was Fire Lord Ozai so bad?

Then Fire Lady Lei had been killed. Although Yulin hadn't personally known her before she'd married Ozai, like so many others he had felt a kinship with her as a soldier and a patriot. He had been stunned by Prince Zuko's reaction, the genuine anger on the face of his waterbending wife and the pure fury from his formerly crazed sister had been more surprising still. He had followed with the rest of the crowd as they made their way through the village to its modest temple and helped to erect the pyres.

Master Katara had evidently met the servant, Ming at some point. She had gone into the temple to help dress their bodies, arranging their white robes and long dark hair herself according to the female soldiers that had been present. Hearing, and seeing, how this forigen women could have so much compassion for his people endeared her to him. Yulin knew such stories would win over any detractors she was likely to have as Fire Lady.

Ming's brother had been found and Prince Zuko and General Iroh had delivered the news themselves. The man had naturally been heartbroken but had known for some time what his sister had been risking and was proud of her.

A handful of soldiers who had served with Lei laid the bodies atop the pyres and paid their final respects. Prince Zuko and his wife, a man Yulin knew to be her brother, General Iroh, Princess Azula and the Earth Kingdom girl Toph knelt together, all dressed in modest white robes, borrowed from no doubt honored villagers. A fire sage spoke words befitting a hero's funeral but Yulin was too focused on the prince and his entourage to listen.

If anyone could have asked Yulin at that moment what he thought of them, he would have said he was impressed by those former enemies that could show so much respect to a Fire Nation soldier turned Fire Lady and a palace servant. He would have said he was amazed at how changed Princess Azula was from the power obsessed maniac she was before her rumored death and how devoted she seemed to her people now. He would have said how happy he was that the future Fire Lady had so much genuine love for a people not her own, and how for the first time in his life he could imagine a peaceful and prosperous future for his beloved country that did not include war.

He would have said that he would gladly give his life to see Prince Zuko lead the Fire Nation into that future as Fire Lord.