This had not been a good day. Fire Prince Zuko, only half aware of his whereabouts and not at all of his horizontal position, drew a shallow breath, and immediately regretted it, coughing up the dust he had inhaled from the floor. Why am I on the ground? he thought between every rasp. His whole body was aching, and every bit of exposed skin speckled with splinters. Must remember, his ill thoughts rambled on, eradicate Earth Kingdom villages the standard way. Destroy walls by burning them down, not by getting shoved through them.
"Get up," said a familiar voice, slightly more firm than usual. He turned his head skyward, opened his dry eyes and saw a squat figure, topped with a grey beard and a face that had only gained more kindness with every new groove.
Things came back to him in a rush. The train tracks, which he had decided to follow on a whim. Then came a trail of mongoose lizard footprints, which converged with tufts of white fur, belonging to a very well-known bison. The destination was a long-abandoned town and this confused fight, which from the sound of shouting and commotion he deemed to still be ongoing.
Iroh helped him up, and the next thing he saw was Azula, backing out of a side street. General Iroh wasted no time shoving her with a belly whack, of all things. Master of strategy, Zuko thought, but he discovered the act to have put the princess in a much more comfortable position for them: right with her back against a wall.
More people joined, the Avatar among them, but in that moment Zuko had no eye for him. This was the end for Azula. Not in an honourable Agni Kai, but done in by superior numbers. Though with the mental state and apparent level of sleep deprivation in much of those numbers, it was more than fair for her, and he felt little regret.
"Well, look at this..." she said, smug and gleeful as ever. "Enemies and traitors, all working together." Zuko cast her his best attempt at a threatening glare, but her smile never wavered, even as she raised her hands and announced her surrender. No one believed it, of course. Azula always lies.
Yet, she waited the perfect amount of time. Perfect, as always. Just when the enemies and traitors began absorbing her remark; when more than a few of them had started casting short, hurried glances at each other to consider the unlikely companions they had ended up with… a blue jet pierced Iroh's chest.
He stumbled away and down. Zuko's vision clouded, and he responded on pure instinct. Next came a blur of wind, heat and tremors. Every element known to man was being hurled towards Azula, and one boomerang, making up in spirit what it lacked in destructive capabilities. That much energy could not exist in one place, and much like a komodo rhino family reunion, it spun out of control and a violent explosion resulted.
Zuko staggered back and then turned around, not minding the tar-black clouds or raining fire trying to hinder him from reaching his uncle. He was not conscious, and blood welled up from a charred mark, right on his massive chest. Zuko fell on his knees before him. He clenched his fists with all the rage and fire he had wanted to put into Azula, who was missing.
He heard footsteps, and yelled at the approaching enemies of the Fire Nation. His mind would not produce even one rational thought. Everything that had anything to do with Iroh's critical condition had to leave.
The man exhaled – a terrifyingly rasping sound. Perhaps his final breath. "Zuko, I can help!" he heard a girl say. The water girl; the one who had helpfully provided a pendent to trace the Avatar with. It was beyond unbelievable. What could this snow savage do for someone of noble blood? What would she do for a general of the army she hated, other than poison him? Destroy this enemy for good?
A word formed in his mouth. A command as much as a plea, for the girl and everyone to leave them. Leave him with the responsibility for the death, and the duty to carry the burden. Not her, not any ally of the Avatar was to lay a finger on Iroh's body. It was not their burden. Energy boiled in his gut and made its way to his arms, ready to punctuate his order with a display of flames.
But the fire left him as quickly as it had welled up. The shout came out as a whisper. And Zuko dropped his arms and head. It was no remotely deliberate action; it was inaction, because there were no good choices left. Iroh would be proud.
-0o0o0-
"Katara?" Aang whispered.
"He saved the Moon Spirit," she answered his unspoken question delicately, and took one hesitant step forward. Only after the ground underneath her sandal had not turned to lava she dared put some weight on it.
"Do not steal Yue's credit," Sokka scoffed, and snagged his boomerang out of the air, holding it in a threatening manner towards Zuko. At least, as threatening as it could be to aim the warped piece of metal at the Fire Prince. Which was not very.
"I don't quite know what your problem with these people is," Toph said, "but the old man can be trusted."
Aang eyed Katara, who had kept on walking towards the two fire masters, and was compelled to intervene. "Zuko, Katara can heal him," he said, "but first you must step away."
Zuko remained silent and immobile, and Aang's confidence in his peace-mending abilities dropped a notch. A pair of feuding villages was one thing, but now he had to make a deal with someone who had attacked and wounded all of them before, in order to save an innocent life.
He was further humbled when Toph, who was not the most expected diplomat of the group, promptly resolved the situation. With a grunt she pulled from the ground a boulder the size of Appa's head, and held it over the firebenders. "Try anything, and this drops," she said firmly. Finally, the back of Zuko's head showed a nod. The side of it was illuminated by a soft blue glow as Katara went to work.
-0o0o0-
The radiant water sizzled and vibrated around her fingers, giving a vaguely ticklish sensation, feeling much like a drum skin in use. Healing Iroh was draining more power than Katara felt comfortable with, but the wound was deep, and she had had only a few hours of sleep in the last three days.
"Almost done?" Zuko grunted. He had not lifted his eyes off the magic in process.
"I am drained, I..." She sighed. "I don't know. Give me a night's rest, and I will have him fixed up before you can say 'honour'."
He did not say a word, but tensed every muscle in his face, pointed his fist skywards, and in a fiery blast shattered the floating sandstone to pieces. Katara smiled, yet regretted the loss of shade.
"Listen, I do not want to be here!" He spat every word with the pathos of a stage performer. "And you do not want me here."
"Katara needs rest," Aang said from behind, still sounding suspicious. "And your uncle does too."
"And you'll cut our throats in our sleep."
"Talk about ungrateful," Katara muttered. She put the water back in her flask, not feeling confident to continue treatment. At least Iroh was breathing easier, and the bleeding had mostly stopped.
"We have no reason to believe you would not do the same to us," said Aang. "Based on our history, I mean."
Zuko breathed in. "I... do not intend to."
"Then let's call a truce!"
"Based on what trust?"
"I know!" Toph cheered. "I don't particularly care for any of you all. I'll be the referee."
"I guess she could bury us all under stones, and no one could attack each other in the night…" Sokka mumbled, intrigued by the problem.
"Eartherner. This man," Zuko said solemnly, gesturing at Iroh's still body, "is known as the Dragon of the West. He besieged Ba Sing Se, your capital, for over a year, and managed to breach the outer wall. I don't see how you can be a neutral party."
"He really did? That's totally amazing!" Toph yelled, sounding genuinely excited. Zuko stared in disbelief, and Aang shrugged.
"Put us in separate earth tents, enclosed on all sides," he said, before staring at the shards laying on the ground. "And use a little harder rock this time." Toph obliged with a devilish grin, and began raising a wall around Zuko and Iroh. The former did not seem overly happy with the idea, but when no smoke started floating up from within their enclosure, they deemed that the proposal had been accepted.
Katara grinned at Aang. "You brokered a truce with the Fire Prince. I'm impressed." He beamed back at her, though with a gesture at Toph to point out that she should share in the praise.
The squad moved to the other side of the town, and Toph dutifully erected a barrier around them as well. Before Katara dozed off, she heard Zuko shout something in the distance about his mattress still being with his ostrich horse. "Not part of the truce!" Toph cackled back maliciously.