It was the second morning after Zuko had first woken when Qin arrived for a talk. Zuko looked up from his half-eaten and now-cold meal, and eyed him uncertainly.

"Fire Lord," said Qin, taking the cushion across the table from Zuko. "Doctor Kage tells me that you are feeling somewhat better today."

Zuko nodded warily.

"I'd imagine you want to know what's going on," said Qin.

"Yes," said Zuko. "Am I your prisoner?" He hadn't been able to get a straight answer out of the guards, servants, or doctors as to what was going on.

"You are my ward," said Qin. "I am taking control of the Fire Nation as Regent, and will rule in your stead for at least the next three years."

"What? I never agreed to that!" said Zuko.

"The War Council, the Civil Council, and the High Sage all have." He paused, and Zuko felt as if his blood was turning to ice. No one had stood up for him? No one at all? Didn't they understand that Qin would likely restart the war?

"We don't know what the Dai Li did to you before he was interrupted, or when and how the mindbending will come out. And ruling the Fire Nation was clearly too much for you even before that." Qin shook his head. "No one wants you to end up dead, or as mad as your sister."

"I'm not crazy," said Zuko.

"You will be cared for here while you recover, and receive remedial training in things you missed learning while you were banished."

"Absolutely not!" Zuko's voice rose as his hands balled into fists. "I don't accept you as my regent. I don't trust you!"

"You don't have a choice." Qin pointed a finger at him. "You have been mindbent, and every word coming out of your mouth right now could be part of an Earth Kingdom plot."

"Which is awfully convenient for you, isn't it?" Zuko demanded, fighting to stay in control of his voice.

Kage cleared his throat. "Regent, the Fire Lord is clearly agitated. I suggest you end this conversation for now. I'd rather not have to sedate him."

"Sedate me?" Zuko jumped to his feet, and took a step forward. "No!"

The world tilted, and the next thing he was really sure of, he was sitting on the floor slumped against Qin's chest, Dr. Kage leaning over him with a spoon. Zuko knocked the spoon flying, and scrambled away from Qin, to sit hunched in the corner of the room on his bed, his face flaming. "I don't need a sedative," he said loudly.

"Then you must not stand up without assistance," said Kage. "Your sense of balance is a mess. You will fall, and you could seriously hurt yourself."

"I'll be sensible," muttered Zuko. "Just don't drug me."

Qin stayed where he was now sitting on the floor. "I am not your father. I won't burn you, or kill you, or be cruel without dire need. All you have to do is rest and let me handle the things you can't right now. Look at yourself! You can't even stand without falling over. You were a mess even before the Dai li got at you. Now..." he shook his head.

Zuko looked away. Weak and useless, just like they had always said. Why had he ever thought he could run the Fire Nation? But someone had to, and Qin was going to get them right back into the war they had just escaped from.

Yet the more Zuko tried to protest, the less sane and capable he would look to any onlooker, and that doctor would drug him to keep him quiet. Qin had Zuko EXACTLY where he needed him, and there was nothing he could do about it. For now.

"Look, I know you don't like this," said Qin, "but you are unfit to rule. Put the needs of the Fire Nation before your pride."

"If I have to have a regent, I want my uncle," said Zuko, turning around. "You'll end up restarting the war!"

"Your uncle is currently advising the ruler of the Fire Nation's largest threat. This, this is why you can't have power right now. That Dai li agent would just love to have Iroh in charge of the Fire Nation so he can give away everything we've gained over the past hundred years!"

"Iroh's working to get at peace from the other side," said Zuko. "Someone has to do that."

"That's what he wants you to think. Zuko, you were only ever a pawn in General Iroh's scheme to get back at his brother. If he really loved you, he wouldn't have left you alone on a throne you aren't able to handle."

"You're lying," said Zuko, his voice shaking. It isn't like that, it isn't...

"Regent, I don't think this is helpful right now."

"Just rest," said Qin, standing up. "Listen to Doctor Kage, and try not to worry about any of this. It isn't your problem any more."

Zuko was sitting on his bed, trying to focus on the play-scroll they'd given him, and absently stroking a sleeping Fluffball when the door opened. He looked up to see a Fire Sage in the doorway. "Fire Lord," the Sage said, bowing, "you look much better than during my last visit."

Zuko nodded his head. He didn't remember the Sage's visit, so he probably did look a lot better.

"My name is Fire Sage Daiki. Has Admiral Qin spoken to you about the Regency?" asked the Fire Sage.

"Yes," said Zuko. "I don't want Qin as my regent. I want my uncle, or Hina, or Chan, or almost anyone but Qin."

Sage Daiki sat down near the table. "I'm afraid I can't help you much there, but I'll pass that on to High Sage Kenji. Why don't you want Qin to be regent?"

"I don't trust him not to get the Fire Nation into another war." Zuko hesitated. "And that would be really bad for the Fire Nation. We were losing when I called the whole thing off. Trying to continue would probably end with us in an even worse position, while getting a lot of people killed on both sides."

Daiki nodded. "I'll pass that along, but the Fire Sages don't really have much power over worldly affairs. Has he mistreated you in any way?"

Zuko hesitated. "The servants have orders to sedate me if I cause trouble. And they don't tell me anything important."

Daiki frowned. "I'll ask him about that. There's probably medical reasons for it, but... I can see why you don't like it."

"Why are you here?" asked Zuko. "What's been happening while I've been stuck here?"

"I'm under orders to check up on you, and make sure you're being treated well," said Daiki. "I'm also here because I'm going to be training you in the ways of the Fire Sages and the religious aspects of the Fire Lord's duties. I understand that, due to your banishment, you've had almost no training in this area?"

"Oh," said Zuko, looking with some embarrassment at Sage Daiki. Daiki was somewhat younger than the High Sage, and wearing a friendly smile. "I, err..." said Zuko, "didn't learn very much before my banishment because Father didn't think it was important. I'm guessing he missed a lot out?"

Daiki looked pained. "You do know that as Fire Lord, you are legally a Fire Sage?"

"Yes," said Zuko. He felt alarmed suddenly. "Are there things I should have been doing that I haven't been, since I was crowned? I've been so busy with the politics – but I certainly don't want to neglect Agni or offend him." Memories of a giant glowing fish grabbing Zhao and pulling him under came to mind, but he pushed them aside.

"Nothing critical. There are some things that should have happened at the Equinox that didn't, but you were still uncrowned and in bed with lightning injuries, so High Sage Kenji stood in for you. No one expected anything else. Your father was the one to blame for running off to go conquer the world instead of performing his religious duties at home like a proper Fire Lord."

Zuko blinked. That was an... interesting way of looking at his father's behavior.

"So you haven't done anything wrong, but there are things you need to learn before the South Solstice, when you'll be expected to be a critical participant in certain ceremonies pertaining to Agni and La. There are also long-neglected ceremonies related to the local volcano spirits, that should be revived."

Zuko nodded, though he wondered exactly how long-neglected the volcano-related ceremonies were. He couldn't remember anything of the sort. "That makes sense." It did make sense, as well as giving him something to do so he didn't go mad from endlessly going over the few pieces of information he'd been able to get his jailors to give him. He couldn't even pace properly without Mira scurrying over to scold him for walking unaided and try to get him to sit down.

Daiki relaxed visibly, as if he'd been expecting Zuko to put up a fuss. "I guess we should begin at the beginning, then..."

They soon realized that Zuko knew a lot more than he really should. Uncle had actually taught him a lot about the Spirits in general and how to deal with them, on the excuse that the Avatar was the bridge to the Spirit World and that they would likely run into spirits in the course of their search. This had proved true, but looking back, perhaps his uncle had had an additional motive for the lessons. Daiki was delighted by this, though he became more serious when the subject of the Wrath of La came up.

"You mean my father never apologized to La for Zhao's murder of Tui?" Zuko was horrified, and slightly surprised the Fire Nation hadn't had major areas inundated by tsunamis or giant typhoons... although Shu Jing had, and Crescent Island. At least the latter had been uninhabited by then.

"I think La may have assuaged the worst of his rage and grief by sinking the Western Fleet, including its commander."

"The giant fish-spirit that was both La and the Avatar disappeared into the sea after it grabbed Zhao," said Zuko, "and everything calmed down."

Daiki paused. "We never heard a proper account of what happened to him," he said. "Did you see this?"

"I was a few feet away, having just defeated Zhao," said Zuko. He'd never be able to forget. "La grabbed him off the ice in a sort of giant fin-hand. I reached out, but he wouldn't take my hand, and the fish-Spirit just grabbed him and they vanished down into the water and disappeared. The giant fish vanished, and everything went calm, but I saw the ships in pieces and my people..." his voice shook a little as he trailed off. He swallowed. "I'm still not sure why La didn't take me, too. Later, Uncle and I, we were on the raft, and there were bodies, and flotsam, and..."

Daiki shook his head. "That is horrible." He looked at Zuko with some concern. "You fought Zhao?"

Zuko nodded. "Yes. He had tried to kill me, he stole my crew and got them all killed, and he'd just done something to the moon that I didn't understand until later."

"I think La let you live because you had just pinned down his enemy for him to take vengeance on," said Daiki. "Actually, that may be one reason why the storm season has not been worse. La isn't angry with you personally. You still need to make a formal apology to Tui and La on behalf of the Fire Nation on the next solstice when the walls to the Spirit World thin, but this could have been so much worse."

"You mean La and Yue," said Zuko, frowning. "Tui's dead."

"Ah, yes. Do you know exactly what happened there, too?"

"Yue had been blessed by Tui when she was born, and when Zhao killed Tui's mortal form, Yue became the new moon spirit." He frowned. "I really don't understand how that works."

Daiki winced. "I don't either. I'm not sure anyone mortal does – it's not supposed to be necessary!"