Chapter 30: Zaheer's Mysterious Illness

Normal POV

Within a matter of minutes every member of the former Red Lotus stood in Zaheer and Femke's bedroom, looking at Zaheer, who was still unconscious while Ming Hua's Aunt Ti sat next to him and did her best to try and bring their friend and leader back.

"Will he be okay?" P'li asked after a while.

"I don't know. I can't seem to find the source of his illness." Aunt Ti said as she looked up at P'li. "Whether or not he will wake up is something only time will tell."

"That was clear as mud." Ghazan said, which made Ming Hua groan.

"Shut your jaw or I'll break it." Ming Hua snapped.

"Ming Hua." Queen Ammi said with a shocked look.

"She's always like that." Xai Bau smiled before he walked to Femke and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry femke. I'm sure he'll make it."

"How do you know so sure?" Femke asked as she looked up at the Red Lotus founder with tears in her eyes.

"He's strong. He has survived a lot of worse things." Xai Bau said as he sat down with Femke and smiled at Zaheer. "if anyone can survive this it's him."

"He's far too stubborn to die." Ghazan said.

"Do you know what the conditions were of his prison?" Aunt Ti asked.

"It was deep under the ground were he was being chained to the ground so he couldn't fly." Xai Bau said.

"Probably on prisoner's rations." Tziza added.

"Your typical prisoner treatment." Aunt Ti sighed disapprovingly. "No wonder he has gotten so ill."

"Combine that with the fact he refused to take rest in between and you have a recipe for disaster." Femke said as she looked down at Zaheer sadly. "the poor dear is probably exhausted."

"Maybe. We might need the help of the Wood Villages." Aunt Ti said with a stern look. "Just let's hope the legends are true."

"Why?" Femke asked, shocked by the idea of having to ask the Wood Villages for help. She knew they really existed.

"Because they're rumored to be very good at curing strange illnesses we can't yet." Aunt Ti smiled.

"They exist and I have a way to contact them." Femke smiled, after which Aunt Ti nodded and left the room, leaving the others in an awkward silence.

"So, what happened? How did he end up like this?" Bolin asked after a while.

"He spit up blood and fainted." P'li answered. It was clear that she was upset about this all just as much as Femke.

"Yikes." Bolin said.

"Spitting up blood is never a good sign." Ghazan commented as he looked at Femke standing in the hallway with her phone against her ear as she was giving someone on the other side the details of Zaheer's illness.

"Poor girl can't seem to catch a break." P'li said after she had watched Femke talk for a while. "And she has the scars to prove it."

"She chose for that scar. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make." Ming Hua replied.

"She did?" Bolin asked with a surprised look at Ming hua, who looked back at him.

"She did. Femke chose to ruin her arm in order to protect her best friend. I felt how she did so." Toph remarked as she came in along with Lin and Su.

"That is both awesome and painful." Bolin replied as Tenzin and his kids arrived as well as Bumi, Kya and Katara.

"What happened? Femke seems very upset." Katara asked as she looked back at Femke who was still at the phone, visibly crying now.

"Zaheer has fallen ill and the healer didn't know what was wrong with him." P'li replied, upset about this just as much as Femke was. Like any other friend, she cared a lot for Zaheer.

"I'm sure he'll get better. He has endured worse than this." Noatak assured her as he placed a hand on P'li's shoulder, quickly retracting it when he saw how she looked at him.

"Let's see…" Katara said as she sat down with Zaheer and placed a hand on his forehead and chest, before she closed her eyes.

"Mother, why would you help Zaheer? After all he has done to our people? To yourchildren andgrandchildren?" Tenzin asked, watching how Katara did whatever she could to find the source of the illness.

"He's still a human being, Tenzin." Katara said as she looked up at her youngest son. "Sometimes need to look past the crimes of the past."

"In the same way femke did. She managed to get through to Zaheer and all of us thanks to that." Xai bau smiled.

"It was Femke who taught me to look past someone's crimes.' Katara smiled.

"Right. Femke and you were friends eighty five years ago…" Tziza commented.

"Not from the start. Femke and I started out a little rocky." Katara smiled. "She proved to be right in the end. All people have a little spark of good in them. You sometimes just need to be brave to reach for it."

"Mom was pretty amazing." Toph smirked.

"Mom?"Lin asked as she looked at her mother, shocked.

"Yes, Femke is my biological mother. "Toph said as she turned to her daughter. "She had to give up on me because she wanted to save my life. That is how I ended up a Bei Fong."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lin asked, taken aback by this.

"I thought she wouldn't come back again, so I figured there was no need to mention it." Toph said with a shrug.

"A Wood Villages nurse is on the way as we speak." Femke suddenly called as she walked back into the room with her phone still in her hand, seeming like she had just cried. "We just need to sit tight and… what is going on here? " She asked, seeing everybody looked at her when she entered the room.

"I just told Lin I forgot to mention you were her mother because I thought you abandoned us." Toph said with a shrug.

"About time." Femke smirked while giving Toph a small shove, toppling over when Toph gave her a big punch back.

"You have one big family." Ghazan commented while leaning against the wall. "And that's not even counting the sixteen at once."

"You had sixteen kids at once?" Tarrlok asked with a gasp.

"It was a side effect of me being bitten by a werewolf right before it happened." Femke said with an indifferent shrug.

"Must have been painful." Pema remarked, watching Femke sitting down with Katara next to Zaheer.

"It was. It totally exhausted me but I came through thanks to my adoptive mom." Femke smiled.

"Will we meet them someday?" Ikki asked with a beaming face.

"Who knows. They all live spread across Earth do. I had to give them all up for adoption, thinking I was dying." Femke smiled as she stroke Ikki over her hair. "I know where they all live so maybe we can visit them all someday."

"That would be so cool, not just for us, but also for Toph. They haven't seen her in ages." Jinora smiled.

"All except one, I'm afraid." Femke said as she looked down sadly.

"Dylan didn't make it, did he?" Toph asked, eyes sad. Femke looked at her with tears in her eyes before she shook her head before she buried her face in her knees and burst out in sobbing.

"Who's Dylan?" Bolin asked.

"Her youngest son. He died because of lord Darkar. He used the innocent boy to lure Femke, along with my biological father Daniel, out of hiding before it was time." Toph said with a sad voice. "Killing my father in their first attempt to save Dylan."

"Few months later, right after I had to leave Toph behind in this dimension, Dylan died in my arms." Femke sobbed.

"You didn't stand a chance on your own." Katara soothed her as she wrapped her arms around her friend. "It's not your fault."

"You could have called us." Toph said, which made Femke look up at her with shock.

"And lose you as well?"Femke asked with a panicking voice. "Not in a million years!"

"You know how strong I am." Toph defended.

"I know. You will always be the greatest Earthbender." Femke said with a smile. "But this was Lord Darkar. A source of pure evil. He would have been able to overpower and I wouldn't have lived with myself if I had lost you as well."

"And in turn would mean no Bei Fong clan." Ghazan added.

"Femke…" Lin whispered.

"I never intended you two to get hurt. Not even at Laghima's peak when I thought that was the only way to save my friends. The people that had taught me so match." Femke smiled as she got tears in her eyes. "Even though I now know it was foolish of me to believe that chaos was the answer."

"You were being an idiot." Toph commented. "But in the end everyone learned a lesson about not being one." She smiled, pointing to the other Red Lotus members.

"We all learned and grew from our mistakes." Xai Bau said as he placed a hand on Femke's shoulder and looked at her smiling. "Without you none of that would have happened."

"Femke tends to do that." A new voice called from the door which made everybody look up, only to see someone in a cloak standing in the doorway. "She did it before."

"Najira?" Femke asked with a gasp as she got up.

"There's no fooling you." Najira smiled as she put down her hood, revealing a young woman with long brown hair in a braid and sparkling purple eyes.

"Not after all we have been through." Femke smiled as she gave her friend a hug. "How is Valtor?"

"Better. The nightmares stopped." Najira smiled as she sat down next to Zaheer and felt his forehead.

"That's good to hear." Femke smiled as she sat down with her friend and took Zaheer's hand in her own. "Will he be okay?"

"I'm not sure but you can help me. The rest has to leave the room." Najira said as she looked up at everyone.

"Why can she stay?" Ming Hua asked.

"Because she is his wife." Najira said, at which Femke turned very red.

"I hate to be a bummer, but we're not married yet." Femke said with a red face.

"I'm sorry. I heard you were married a few months ago so I thought it was to him." Najira said.

"No, that was with Grovyle the Thief." Femke smiled as she admitted this. "It didn't work out between us."

"How come?" Najira asked as she looked at her friend sadly before turning to Zaheer.

"He thought I had another in this dimension. Which wasn't true. He left before I could explain." Femke explained as she watched Najira examine Zaheer.

"You're not someone who does that."Najira remarked before she took Zaheer's temperature and opened his eyes to look at them as well. "Let's focus on Zaheer's disease. I can't seem to find any clear gauge on what he has." The brunette said with her pondering look on the unconscious Zaheer.

"Do you have a theory?" Femke asked.

"Maybe. I need to take a blood sample." Najira said. "Do you remember your lessons?"

"Yes." Femke smiled as she carefully rolled up one of Zaheer's sleeves and made an incision.

"Now for the extraction." Najira said as she caught some of the blood, after which Femke healed the incision with her waterbending. Najira did some quick tests on the blood sample to see what they could find, knowing they had to send it to the Wood Villages on Earth if they couldn't find anything.

"What do you think?" Femke asked after a moment as they looked at the results.

"An infection. He probably needs a blood transfusion." Najira analysed.

"Infection?" Femke gulped.

"It seems to be a fairly mild one that he picked up during his imprisonment." Najira said. "If he gets a blood transfer, he'll be fine."

"Can you test my blood? I'll do it if we have the same blood type." Femke said with a determined look. Najira nodded and took some of her friend's blood to test it.

"Let's see what we got." Najira said as she conjured up a machine for the analysis and transfusion."What do you know? It's a match. Ready for this?"

"Yes." femke said after which Najira connected Zaheer and Femke to the machine so the transfusion would be completed.

"In some cultures this would now make you married." Najira smirked teasingly as she oversaw the transfer, which made Femke blush deeply.

"But I'm not ready yet." Femke blushed. "Maybe later, but not now."

"Just kidding." Najira smirked as she turned off the machine.

"That should do it. You'll feel a bit woozy and faint for a few hours, so take it easy." Najira smiled as she put away her stuff.

"Thanks Najira. You're a lifesaver." Femke smiled as she gave her friend a hug.

"You're welcome. I'll always be there to help you if you need me." Najira smiled as she hugged back.

"Say 'Hi' to Valtor for me, okay?" Femke smiled, accepting an energy bar from her friend.

"I will. Make sure you get some rest, okay? You transfered a lot of blood." Najira smiled as she gave Femke's hair a ruffle before she headed out, letting the rest back in.

"What happened?" P'li asked as she walked to Femke with a worried look on her face, seeing the brunette was a lot paler then before.

"I gave some of my blood to zaheer to help him get better." Femke answered as she smiled at Zaheer, who was currently lying next to her with a slight blush on his face.

"What did he need it for?" Opal asked as she sat down next to Femke.

"He had an infection from when he was still imprisoned." Femke explained.

"Was his imprisonment that bad? Why did only he get ill and the rest of them didn't?" Bolin commented.

"We all had it bad. Yet we came out fine. What's his deal?" Ming Hua asked, a little annoyed.

"You guys were three years in a deep coma, which got your body plenty of rest and the IV made it so you got enough nourishment." Femke explained. "P'li lost her memories but was within the Wood Villages as well all.

"Which prevented us from getting ill." Ghazan said before Femke raised her arm, seeing to her great delight that Zaheer was moving.

"He's waking up!"Femke called when she saw Zaheer sat up, groaning.

"What happened?" The airbender asked with a dazed look as he looked around, seeing everybody was standing around him and looking at him worriedly while Femke sat next to him and looking pale.

"You passed out after spitting up blood." Femke said as she sat closer and hugged him. "You have a slight infection."

"Femke saved you by blood transfer. You gave us quite the scare." Ghazan said. "And coming from us, that's saying something."

"You did that for me?" Zaheer asked as he looked at Femke with a mixture of shock and gratitude.

"No need to be so surprised." Femke teased. "I wasn't going to let you die that easily."

"Easily?"Ghazan asked jokingly.

"Yeah, I still have to get back at him for lying to me three times in a row." Femke smirked as she gave her boyfriend a playful shove. "Also, I'm not letting you die if I can help it. Murdering is something I'm very much against."

"Unless it's someone you don't like." Tonraq challenged.

"I grew out of that. Promise." Femke defended.

"She is speaking the truth. She grew. We all did. " Zaheer said.

"Femke, something I always wanted to know; would you have stood up to Zaheer earlier on if you know how he was?" Lin asked.

"Yes. Murdering people is not the Fairy way." femke said as she looked at her granddaughter firmly. "Whatever you might think of me, I wouldn't have let P'li harm you. I would have rather died myself then letting that happen."

"Femke… " Lin whispered while Su walked over to her and hugged her.

"You're my granddaughters. My girls. You think I'd be able to live with myself if I let anything happen to either of you?" Femke asked with tears in her eyes.

"If you'd do so, I would be the one to suddenly find killing alright." Toph said with a smirk but Femke knew she was serious.

"I'd be so dead." Femke smirked as she looked at Floxy and the elves coming in with some flowers.

"We got these for you." Yucca smiled as she handed the flowers to Zaheer. "Get well soon."

"Next time just say so when you're feeling ill." P'li said sternly.

"I thought it wasn't that serious at first." Zaheer said, letting Femke sit down next to him and wrap her arm around him as he spoke.

"Well, it was." Femke said. "You should take it easy for a while."

"We could always get Najira back if things go South." Ghazan added.

"He'll be fine." Ming said.

"And without the white lotus hunting us down any more things will go even faster." Noatak said, at which tarrlok nodded.

"As long as we don't get any surprise missions, we can just let you take it easy for a while." Tarrlok agreed.

"Or another mystery to solve." Ghazan smirked.

"You're more than welcome to stay." Queen Ammi smiled.

Zaheer's POV

And so it happened. I had to stay in bed and get enough rest as well as plenty of food to regain my strength.

If I knew parts of my life were like this I would have stayed home

Those were my thoughts as I woke up and Femke asked me how i felt. She was kind and caring and they all wanted what was best for me but I hate being coddled.

Even if it's Femke who is coddling me, she should know better. I'm not going to die

I thought as I accepted the food Femke had brought me and then we ate in silence because she knew telling me what she did whenever I was asleep was only going to make me want get out of bed more. I ate in silence, smiling as I saw femke had managed to get me some books so I had something to do when I was awake, which was less than I had hoped.

"How is Ming adapting to royal life?" I asked when I was done eating.

"She hates it. But due to her mother's kindness she is getting the hang of it." Femke answered. "She isn't pressured to do anything she doesn't want."

"That's great to hear. Looks like her mother understands it's not going to work like that." I replied as I opened one of the books on the first pages to see what it was about.

"Noatak started to airbend a few days ago." She brought up with a smile on her face.

"That's great. Wish i had been there to see it." I smiled. I wish I had been there to see how Noatak started to airbend.

It's doing me good but I feel like a prisoner again

I thought bitterly while femke wrapped a arm around me

"I know you hate being cooped up inside but this is only temporarily. Until you're feeling better." Femke said with a sad look while placing a hand on my arm. "I wouldn't know what I would do with myself if I would have to lose you as well."

"Femke?" I whispered, realizing all this must have brought back the trauma of what had happened with Daniel and Dylan.

It's understandable. They were her son and fiancé. She loved them

I thought as I wrapped both arms around her, reassuring her she wasn't going to lose me. I loved her too much to make her suffer that horror again.

"You're not losing me." I whispered in her ear "It's you and me, from now until the day we die."

"I hope so too, Zaheer. I love you more than I can ever say." Femke smiled as she cuddled into me.

"I love you more." I grinned as I leaned over her and looked her in the eyes.

"That's impossible" Femke smirked as she moved her face a little more towards me.

"I know." I smirked as I bent closer.

"Are you done?" Ming Hua's voice called from behind me as the both of us looked up, Femke blushing.

"Can't we have some alone time?" I said with a small smile, which made Femke giggle a little.

"Not now. There's a letter for you." Tziza said as she handed Femke a letter with a black ribbon around it. "It's from former Firelord Zuko."

"He's still alive?" Femke said with widened eyes. "How many members of the old gaang are still alive?"

"Just read what the message says." Ming Hua said with an annoyed look on her face.

"Hopefully not another mystery to solve." Ghazan commented.

"He has his own people for that." Tziza answered as she flipped her hair from her face.

"He's very likely angry for having done bad things… " Femke sadly said.

"Not really one to talk, is he?" I tried to comfort her. She just sighed as she opened the letter and started to read it.

Hello Femke,

How have you been? I am quite well, despite my old age but that is not what I sent this message for.

I need your help with an important matter that has to be handled with discretion.

Could you and your friends come over to the royal palace as quickly as possible?

Please send Hawkie the Second back with a reply.

I hope I get to see you again soon

Your old friend

Zuko

Ps: I've heard some rumors that you have joined the Red Lotus in their quest to destabilize the world. Can you confirm or preferably deny this?

"No scolding. That's a relief." Femke sighed before she picked up a pencil, paper and started to write a return message.

"Probably because he doesn't know." Ghazan commented.

"He's suspicious, though." Ming Hua added while I leaned in to see what Femke was writing.

Hey there ZuZu

Glad to finally hear you're still among the living. I have wondered about this for quite some time.

I can confirm that I joined the Red Lotus but that is a rather long story. I prefer to tell you in person. However, that can't be any time soon.

Zaheer has fallen ill and I want to stay by his side. I really hope what you need me for can wait

Love, Femke

Ps: What about your sister, Azula? Is she still alive as well?

"Zuzu? Really?" I asked when she finished the letter and put it in the small bottle on the hawk's back.

"I call him that just to tease him." Femke answered with a smirk on her face as she walked the hawk to the window. "I'm sure he doesn't mind."

"Let's hope so." Ghazan said as the hawk flew away into the distance.

"Good luck, Hawkie the Second!"Femke called after him before she closed the window before she walked back to the bed and sat down next to me again.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." I said as I placed a hand on her knee. "What can we do outside without you going in a fit about me getting even more ill."

"Not much, I'm afraid." Femke replied as she rubbed the back of her head, smiling sheepishly.

"Well, I refuse to stay put any longer. It has been too long already." I said as I moved the blankets back and put my feet on the ground. I managed to stand up before my legs started to shake and I fell back with my head in Femke's lap, who looked at me worriedly.

"Guess your body also wants you to stay down." She said as she helped me lie back down and tucked me in.

"My feet don't work properly because I had to stay down for such a long time." I replied with a stern look, feeling my body started to get tired again. It didn't let me get up.

"Get some rest, you just need to regain your strength." Femke said as I complied and soon fell asleep.

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And with that I end chapter thirty. This is going fast!

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