Zuko looked at Denji in consternation. "There's no windows," he said. "How long will we be down here?"
"Maybe a couple of days," said Denji. "Long enough for things to calm down, and hopefully long enough for Qin to convince the Avatar to go away."
"That won't work," said Zuko. "The Gaang doesn't give up easily, and they hate Qin's policies. They'll push, and they'll keep pushing until they win or the situation explodes."
"I'm sure Qin has planned for that," said Denji. "All we have to do is wait. I'm a guard; I'm good at that."
Zuko winced. He'd stood enough watches back on the ship to know what Denji meant.
"Lots of games of 'I spy', wagering pennies, and stupid songs about green bottles," muttered Ryu. Zuko turned to stare at him. He'd somehow missed that part. But then, the soldiers on his ship would hardly have included him in such things, would they?
"I suppose you might not be, though, Fire Lord," said Denji. "Sorry. There's probably books or something somewhere..."
Zuko shook his head. "I'll live," he said, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, and sending a cloud of dust into the air. He sneezed.
Now what? Well, there were those carvings... he might as well learn more about this temple while he was stuck in it. Maybe this temple belonged to the volcano spirits Daiki had mentioned.
The guards began wiping the dust off everything. Despite their efforts, this led to more sneezing and coughing all around. Zuko considered helping them, then decided that if they were going to imprison him in this temple, they could clean it themselves.
The wall carvings were interesting. Complex, detailed, and covering most of the temple walls. A lot of them depicted rock formations, volcanic eruptions, and humans. There were also a few short inscriptions here and there. Names, maybe, or words spoken by a figure. Zuko recognized Huang, but wasn't so sure about the story. Zuko wished that Sage Daiki was here. He'd be willing to bet the Sage knew it
Zuko might be. His training had always been focused on the modern day, and on war and how to fight it. Lately, he felt like he hadn't been prepared for any aspect of his position other than fighting a war. Which was maddening... and also made him wonder if his father had been an incompetent leader as well as an evil one.
Let's see... there was a fishing village by the sea. The location looked like Harbor City, which would make sense. He could see the caldera wall, but where were the twin volcanoes Huang and Hong? He could vaguely remember his mother reading him and Azula a story about that, but the story he knew might not be the original. Sozin and Azulon had both tended to twist things to suit their politics.
Zuko followed the carvings slowly around the room. Much of the story was as he remembered – the Caldera had been quiet when humans had settled in the area, but then an eruption had threatened the growing village, and an early Sage had gone to the mountain to try to placate the twin spirits that ruled it. The ground shook, and the volcano was already starting to leak gases and lava. She – a female Sage? Yes, the carving definitely showed a female shape. - she pleaded with the spirits to spare the village, but the spirits refused.
The Sage had refused to leave, though the earth was now shaking worse than before, and she nearly fainted from the heat and toxic gases, and the ground on which she stood became surrounded by lava. Then the eruption had... stopped?
Zuko shuffled along the wall to get to the next part of the story. The others had just hauled a bunch of things in through the door and were setting up camp. Ryu hauled out a teapot, and Denji laughed. Zuko rolled his eyes at them, then turned back to the next section of wall.
There was a lot of gesturing in the next part that Zuko couldn't decipher without more context, but the spirits agreed to send their lava to either side of or under it through the tubes rather than through it. The depicted volcanoes were much shorter than the twin peaks Zuko knew, but it was definitely them.
Sage Daiki said that the volcano spirits were being neglected. Zuko turned to look at the others. Ryu was making tea.
Zuko looked back at the flame in the center of the temple. It was pretty, but it felt weird to his firebending. Zuko closed his eyes, and focused on the flame. It called to him, reminding him of the presence lamp in the Fire Temple, the one that was said to be kept burning by Agni himself without any human assistance.
His eyes snapped open. This temple might be abandoned by humans, but the volcano spirit clearly hadn't left. Sage Daiki was right - this was a keg of blasting jelly waiting for a spark. No wonder it felt lonely and desolate here.
And now a bunch of people were going to be camping in its temple without so much as a by-your-leave. Was Qin a complete fool?
Zuko walked over to where Denji was laying out bedding. "Guard Denji? This is a temple to the Volcano Spirit Huang. We can't just camp out here."
"It's abandoned," said Denji, looking up. "Look at all the dust. There's water here, light, fresh air, and this is where they know to come to find us when it is time to leave. We're not going anywhere."
"Just because the humans have abandoned it doesn't mean the spirit has... look at the flame." Zuko trailed off. What if he tried to talk to Huang? He needed to do that anyway as Fire Lord, and staying here ought to be a lot less offensive to Huang if the spirit could sense that the appropriate person was at least trying to talk to it.
"It's been used this way earlier, that's why there are stores," added Ryu. "Don't worry about it, Fire Lord. If the spirits were going to put up a fuss, they'd have done it decades ago. We aren't using the spirit-flame to heat the tea. The spirit won't notice or care we're here."
Well, if Zuko couldn't stop them taking stupid risks... he sat down on the formerly-dusty floor and began meditating on the flame.
Aang set the bison down outside Caldera's rim, on the lower slope of the eastern volcano, and slid off. Katara was right, there were darts on Appa's legs. The first one Aang tried was just stuck in the fur. The same with the second.
"All's clear," said Toph. "No one's close or trying to get that way."
"Good," said Iroh. "I can't see anyone, either. How's Appa?"
"This one's actually hit skin," said Katara, drawing it out.
Appa bellowed.
"Easy there," said Aang, moving to Appa's head and rubbing it. "I know it hurts, but you're going to be fine. You'll see. Katara's really good at this." Appa blinked at him.
Katara bit her lip, concentrating.
Aang and Sei found a couple more darts, but none of them showed signs of having pierced the skin either, and Appa seemed fine. Bison fur was awesome. "What now?" asked Aang.
"We should be able to drop Sei off when we pick up the Fire Sage," said Iroh. "Can Appa fly safely?" he asked Katara.
"He should be able to, but we don't want to find out mid-air if I'm wrong. Maybe we could stay here a bit, if no one's come yet? Toph?"
"My feet are on the job, Sweetness. There's no one yet. When someone comes, I'll let you know." Toph paused. "If we'd let the doctor come, we'd probably have a better idea of how this will affect Appa. I think he wanted to come with us.
The royal physician was drinking his tea rather quickly, and his eyes kept darting around the room.
Hina finished her own cup more slowly. "What brings you here, Dr. Chimon?"
"I'd like to speak to you privately on a medical matter," said Chimon.
Chimon shouldn't be nervous about that. Hina's curiousity rose higher. She gestured, and the tea server bowed and left. She cocked an eyebrow at Chimon and waited.
"I have information," said Chimon, and swallowed. "What do you know about the night the Fire Lord was taken by the Dai li?"
Aha. "What everyone on the Council knows. As for what I suspect... why don't you tell me what you know?"
Chimon began with a rush: "The Fire Lord was drugged with karedis and derin before he was kidnapped."
Hina froze. Drugged? Why and by whom? Did the doctor have evidence that could lead back to Qin? This could be the break they needed...
"The drugs were given to me by Dr. Kage, supposedly to help with the medical issues the Fire Lord was experiencing. Dr. Kage is an old classmate of mine from the academy, and war trauma is his specialty, so I trusted him and gave them to the Fire Lord." Dr. Chimon's face worked. "I played right into Qin's hands. I think Qin planned the entire thing, and that Kage is working for him. I took the cup and tested the dregs from the medicinal tea. Qin can't know I did this, or I'd be dead by now. I will testify to this in the Fire Temple before the High Sage, if you can get me there."
Yes, they could hardly ask either Qin or Zuko to adjudicate this. "Is that why you tried to get on the bison with the Avatar?" asked Hina.
"You heard about that?" said Chimon, then shook his head. "I don't know why I'm even surprised. We can't leave Zuko in Qin's hands. The Regent and Dr. Kage have betrayed their oaths to the crown, and Kage has betrayed his medical oaths as well. Given his skills and his actions so far, I fear Kage might be intentionally harming Zuko on Qin's orders."
"But you don't know where he is." It wasn't a question. "What is karedis?"
"A muscle relaxant and sedative. Depression and general weakness are common side effects, while dizziness is a less common one. Aftereffects or continued administration of karedis fit some of the Fire Lord's symptoms. I don't know where he is. Kage has cut me out of his care, and I haven't seen him in days."
"Well, I am glad you came to me, though I wish you'd done so sooner."
"I didn't know of the drugs at first – it took a couple of days to do the testing required. And... I wasn't sure whom to tell."
Hina nodded. "Are you being watched?"
"How would I know? I'm a doctor, not a spy!"
"As part of the court, knowing such things is part of the game," said Hina bluntly. "To play without knowing how... learn or leave, Doctor. Or you won't survive long. You may have just compromised both of us by coming here. Can you back up your cover story?"
"I have a new medication that may help with your leg," said Chimon.
"And do you?" said Hina.
Chimon reached into his medical bag and pulled out a small bottle.
"Good." Hina smiled. "There may be hope for you yet, Doctor."