Someone was calling Zuko's name and shaking him. "What?" he croaked, blinking blearily up at Ryu's concerned face.
"Food," said the guard. "It's time to eat. You've been meditating for hours."
"Hours?" said Zuko blankly. He stood, then staggered against Ryu, who steadied him. His legs had gone to sleep, and where he could feel them, they hurt.
"Careful there. Maybe you should leave any more meditating until tomorrow."
Dinner was rice, lentils, and rehydrated vegetables, spiced to try and liven it up. Zuko found his mind wandering back to his meditations.
He'd been definitely getting strange flashes – heat, molten rock, yellow, orange, red, a terrible weight and depth of time. So maybe he was sensing the volcano spirit? But he didn't really understand it, and had no idea if the volcano spirit had heard him or not. Fire Lord and Officially-a-Fire-Sage or not, spirits had never been Zuko's strong suit.
There wasn't much to do after the meal, either. Denji and Ryu broke out a pack of cards, but Zuko found his eyes closing and didn't see much point in fighting it.
Hina was sitting in the living room of Chan's townhouse, sipping more tea. Jasmine, this time, and perfectly brewed. Taka and Chan the Younger were off talking about whatever teenagers talked about these days. They did that a lot, and just now that was very convenient for Hina.
"The weather has been fine lately," said Chan.
Hina looked at her old friend. "Indeed. Although it seems to have quite the case of flying bison and Avatars."
Chan grimaced. "And the Regent not only tried to drug and capture him, he failed. We're lucky the palace is still standing."
Hina nodded. So even Chan had had enough. About time.
Chan rubbed his forehead. "I don't think moderation and common sense are going to work. There's too much at stake for either Qin or the Avatar to back down. And I can't for the life of me think of a compromise that both would accept. Our Regent threatened the High Sage, and I've no idea where he's stashed the Fire Lord or what he's done to him."
"I am certain there are people looking; the Avatar's and Prince Iroh's 'White Lotus', as well as the Fire Nation's. We know the Fire Lord has been taken through the tunnels, but hasn't been found yet."
"The tunnels? Finding him may take a while, especially if they took him to some Harbor City basement. How can you be certain he'll be found before Qin does something drastic?"
"We can't, not for certain." There was no way to say the next part without self-incriminating if Chan decided to turn her in to Qin. But Chan's loyalty to the Fire Nation and the Crown was far stronger than to any one man. "But there's a critical new development. The Dai li agent – appears to have been working with, or more likely for, Qin. My source is willing to testify to this in front of the High Sage."
Chan stared blankly at Hina. "Qin what?" He paused. "Hina, you'd better be able to prove this."
"Will you stand against this abomination if I can?"
"Yes," said Chan.
Hina nodded. "The Fire Lord was drugged by Dr. Kage, who is a known associate of Qin's in this matter, the night before the Fire Lord was kidnapped. I can prove this. Qin knew about what happened in time to tip General Mung off, and had everything in place to make his play for power that same night. He's never given a satisfactory explanation for how he discovered the plot."
"But why?" demanded Chan. "That's high treason and sacrilege, and..."
"I think he must be running scared," said Hina. "I know the Fire Lord's agents found Ozai's files the night before Qin was kicked off the War Council. If there was something especially incriminating in there, well, many desperate acts have been done with less reason."
Chan buried his face in his hands and took a deep breath. "Qin probably destroyed the evidence against him as soon as he got into power. To think we handed him the keys to the entire Fire Nation." Chan raised his head, his face hardening. "If Qin knows we know about his involvement with the Dai Li, he might do anything. He has nothing left to lose."
"The Fire Lord's been sleeping or meditating all day," said Denji. "I know he's not exactly well right now, but is this normal?"
Ryu shrugged. "Maybe. All this rock overhead can't be doing him any good. We should probably wake him up to check. It's not far off supper."
"Go do it, then," said Denji.
"Why am I always the one?"
"He likes you," said Hikari.
"He's not that bad," said Ryu.
"I heard he bites," said Denji.
Ryu chuckled. The boy lay asleep near the wall, with his head pillowed on his arm. "Fire Lord, wake up. It's time for supper."
Zuko didn't move, so Ryu reached out and shook him. "Fire Lord, you need to wake up!" Zuko's head merely lolled to the side, eyes still closed.
"What's going on?" said Denji. "Isn't he waking up?"
"No," said Ryu.
"Agni," said Denji. "This is not good." He grabbed Zuko's wrist, checking his pulse, then his breathing. "Slow but regular," said Denji, frowning.
"We need a real doctor," said Hikari. "No offense, Denji."
"None taken," said Denji, shaking his head. "I don't want to be responsible for a sick Fire Lord!"
"We need to get Dr. Kage," said Hikari.
"You do it," said Denji. "He seems to trust Ryu somewhat."
"Okay," said Hikari. "It'll be a long walk down the mountain in the dark."
"Would you rather go through the tunnels?"
"Hardly." She stood. "I'll grab a ration bar and get going, then."
"Safe travels," said Ryu.
"Keep an eye on the Fire Lord, will you?" said Hikari.
"Of course."
It was dark in Qin's office when Mai followed Ty Lee and Sei inside. Finally. They'd had to delay entry twice because the light showed Qin still at work inside. It was a very good thing they'd been wearing servant's uniforms, or they'd have been caught long since.
Mai walked over to the nearest filing cabinet and opened it as quietly as she could, while Sei fiddled with spark rocks, trying to get a candle going. Mai missed Azula terribly for a moment – and Zuko, whose absence was why they were here.
Finally, the candle caught and Mai could see the papers she'd taken out. She scanned them, hoping for anything that might show where Zuko had been taken. Nothing... nothing...
There was a scuffling sound from across the room but Mai ignored it.
"Oh, is this Fluffball?" squeaked Ty Lee. "She's so cute!"
"Ssh!" hissed Mai without looking up. Ty Lee wasn't really that loud, but sound carried in the dead hours of the night. Still nothing on Zuko's location, but what was this? She set it aside and kept scanning.
Fluffball meowhooted, and something rattled.
"You poor thing," whispered Ty Lee. "You want out of that cage, don't you?"
"I'll deal with her," said Sei. "She knows me."
"I get to pet her too," said Ty Lee. The cage door squeaked, Fluffball meowhooted with excitement, and something tipped over with a crash as she rocketed out of the cage, flapping and squawking loudly.
"Quiet her!" ordered Mai. "She's going to get us caught!" She sped up her scanning of papers. This one might be useful – she set it aside. And another.
Thankfully, Sei had gotten Fluffball to quiet down.
There were footsteps. Mai stuffed the papers she'd picked out up her sleeve, and looked up to see the door opening. Regent Qin looked inside. His mouth opened... and Ty Lee was there. Qin sagged silently to the floor.
Ty Lee looked down. "Oops?" she said.
Mai allowed herself to sigh. Goodbye plausible deniability. "It seems we're kidnapping the Regent tonight."