"Zuko! I've been looking all over for you"

Zuko was never particularly good at hide-and-go seek, whether he was hiding or seeking. Though usually it was seeking, since his the former generally didn't last long and the latter, well... that depended on which forbidden nook or abandoned cranny his sister decided to hide in. And that, in the moment, is what kept him from scaling the palace walls in that spot that nobody bothered to guard anymore. Disappearing off into the night. Even if he truly wanted to hide away, he would be found, eventually. At times, it was a tempting prospect. No more responsibility hanging over his head, no more trying to live up to impossible expectations. No more being pitied and looked down upon. Sometimes, Zuko swore to himself he would. And yet he also knew he would not go, even if it were possible. As a harsh of a place it could be sometimes, the only people who cared for him in the world were right here. His duty was here. There was no leaving.

His mother knelt down before him, looking at him with that same old sweet expression of hers. Her golden eyes shined even in the evening light, clearly unaware of the events that had sent her son uncharacteristically wandering. "Where have you been?" she asked, looking him over and straightening him out with a few quick hands on his sleeves and around his waist, fixing imperfections Zuko didn't see or understand.

The boy let out a sigh of relief. Every worst-case scenario, every conscious nightmare he had envisioned over the afternoon was washed away. His sister had kept to her word - Mother still loved him, still looked at him with the same fondness she always did. Zuko finally stopped looking at the ground, scanning her face one more time for any signs of disappointment, happy to find nothing. "I was just... I was just exploring. Yeah." he answered finally, turning his head as if to hide from the shame his lie of omission brought him.

A well-manicured hand ruffled the hairs on his head. "Well, that's enough exploring for today." she said, more amused with Zuko's expression than anything else. "It's time for dinner. Your father and sister are probably already waiting."

Zuko swallowed.

"Um, I'm not hungry." he said quickly, perhaps too quickly. No matter how well she could keep secrets, he was not going to sit across the table from Azula. He wasn't going to endure her teasing, as she slowly and slowly would bury Zuko alive. 'Oh Daddy, did I tell you what Zu-zu and I got up to today? We had lots of fun playing pretend.' Lie by lie she'd cause his heart to sink further into his stomach like a rock, getting him to play along until he couldn't take it anymore. It was a game of rat-chicken. How long could he stand to have his embarrassment slowly revealed until he stormed out, unwilling to hear anymore? It was what she always did when she found out something new she could use. Azula loved to play with her food. To her it was harmless fun. 'I didn't actually say anything, dum-dum. Your secret's safe with me.', he could hear her say.

"But-"

"...My stomach hurts!" he blurted out, insistent.

Zuko felt another hand, this time on his cheek. He didn't like to admit it sometimes, but his mother knew him better than most. Not only could she just tell when he was stubbornly deceptive, as any adult could, but she had a certain intuition about him. The kind that any mother would. "Did Azula say something to you?" she asked after a long pause, waiting for her son to look her in her eyes again.

Zuko, you're just as pathetic as a girl as you are a firebender.

He looked away again, unable to say the truth. "No." he answered, unable to confess as to what was bothering him. Unable to even say directly that something even was bothering him, or his sister would surely make good on her nature.

And if she wouldn't?

How could Zuko explain? 'Mom, Azula said I'm bad at being a girl and made me cry'. That wouldn't make any sense. None at all. It would be impossible to make her understand why such simple words drove him to tears when he didn't really understand himself. And even if somehow he could, then the hands that comforted him would surely withdraw once she knew what was upsetting him. What he had done.

"Zuko" A pause. "Look at me" she asked, waiting for a second time for him to get over whatever shame and fear locked his eyes to the ground. "You can tell me anything. Whatever it is I'll always be there for you." she affirmed, pulling him into an embrace and providing warmth that the evening air could not. "Are you sure your sister didn't take away your appetite?"

"Yes"

All of the sudden Zuko could feel himself being lifted off the ground and into his mother's arms. "Alright now" she said in that ever-calming voice of hers. "Let's go ahead and tuck you in. I'll tell your Father that you're ill."

He hadn't been carried through his home like this since he was little. As alone as he felt, not being able to confide in his own mother, the familiar feeling of being settled in for bedtime brought the Prince some comfort. She knew there was something he wasn't saying. He knew that she knew. And yet Zuko didn't have the heart to care. Whatever happened he could deal with it in the morning.

With a kiss on the forehead Ursa left her son wrapped tightly in silk.

The Fire Prince hadn't been sleeping long before he heard the door again. Firelight spilled in from the hallway making his eyes sting, and along with it a shadow he could not see. Groggily, he lifted his head to see whatever the commotion was, hoping it was his mother returning to check on him.

Lethargic as a half-asleep Zuko was, he didn't stay groggy for long.

"What do you want."

The girl at the door rolled her eyes. "More like what do you want, dum-dum?" she asked, less of a question and more of a pointed accusation (though of what Zuko didn't know, or at least was too sleepy to imagine)

"What?"

"Mom came by tonight. She seemed rather convinced I had been a bad girl tormenting my big brother today. Care to explain, zu-zu?"

Can't this wait until tomorrow?, Zuko idly wondered, not knowing what possessed his sister to barge in at such an hour asking about something that very well could have waited until at least the morning. Or maybe that would be too easy. The boy thought idly.

"I didn't say anything" he said honestly, having tried to avoid this exact scenario only a few hours previous.

Golden eyes burned away the skin on his forehead.

"Really. I didn't. Go ahead and tell if you don't believe me" said Zuko brashly, dropping his head back on the pillow and hoping she'd just go away and do whatever it is she was going to do later.

"That isn't what I want, you know"

Silence. Zuko didn't believe her.

Azula rolled her eyes even though her brother was no longer looking at them. "Really. I'm looking out for you, you know. If people knew what you did they would think you're wrong." another pause. "But I'm sure you already knew that. What maybe you don't know is that it wouldn't just hurt you if people knew. It would cast doubt on all of us. Father has his own problems, what with being a second son behind fuddy-duddy uncle."

Then why in Agni's name are you here, he thought to himself - silently as to not give more fuel to his sister's rants.

"We're on the same side here. Get mommy on a leash, would you? It's rude to slander the very person trying to help you." she said harshly, simply. "We wouldn't want her to find out our little secret, would we?"