Zuko settled on a bench in the mess hall with Katara and Sokka at his side. The others all took their seats at the table or around the neighbouring ones. Mai and Toph had also joined them, along with Iroh and Hakoda. Shizue pursed her lips at the number of people, but Zuko pointed out they were all on this ship together and knew of his abilities as a healer. It was only fair they knew what else they were dealing with.

"Very well," she reluctantly agreed. "Then I trust none of you will repeat the information I am about to tell you. If heard by the wrong ears, you will be killed."

"Yeesh." Sokka pulled a face. "There's a cheerful beginning."

She gave him an unimpressed look. He held his hands up in an appeasing gesture and allowed her to explain how all the secrecy and the rules that fire healers lived by now were a necessity thanks to what happened with the Unnamed One.

"Shūrin," Zuko said.

"Yes." Her eyes flickered to him. "Shūrin. Long ago, she was known as a powerful and well-respected healer."

"Respected," Yuzo muttered. "She was a slave."

Katara's brow furrowed. "I thought she was a princess."

"She became one eventually, but she was born a peasant," Yuzo explained. "Rumours of her gift spread to the Fire Lord and he had her enslaved her when she was seven."

"Seven?" Katara looked sickened.

"That's right. She was just a child." Yuzo curled his fingers into his palms. "She was a child and they ripped her from her family and forced her into slavery all because she could heal."

Shizue eyed him closely. "You know a lot about her."

"I made it a point to learn all I could about the Unnamed One." His voice was low and bitter. "I wanted to know why Silencers killed my mother and forced me to join the tribe."

There was a sharp, painful silence. Katara reached across the table as if to take his hand, but he recoiled from her touch. Others, including Zuko, simply stared at him in sympathy. Many of them knew what it was like to lose a mother or loved one, though Zuko guessed he was lucky since his mum was still alive.

"Your mother's death should not have happened," Shizue said with a faint trace of awkwardness. Dealing with emotions wasn't her forte. "She must have resisted the Silencers. Whenever possible, the family is allowed to come with the child."

"Right," he said with a humourless laugh. "I guess it's her fault for resisting."

There was another pained silence.

Yuzo let out a breath and focussed on Katara. "Anyway, Shūrin didn't become a princess until she was fifteen. It's said the Crown Prince fell in love with her and took her as his wife, but it's far more likely she just forced him to marry her."

"Forced?" Iroh questioned. "How could a slave force a prince to marry her?"

"Through bending," Shizue said coolly. "She controlled him and many others by learning how to bend their energy, their very souls, to her will."

"What?"

Zuko wasn't even sure who joined him in the exclamation, but the cry was loud and seemed to rattle the mess hall.

"I always thought it kind of fitting," Yuzo murmured. "They made her a slave, so she enslaved them. You can't deny there's a bit of poetic justice in that."

"It was an evil power that should have never been used," Shizue said. "She controlled people like puppets and forced them to do terrible things at her whim. She was a monster."

Mai frowned. "Isn't that just like what the Dai Li did to the Joo Dees?"

"It's not the same." Shizue rubbed her arm as if trying chase off an itch. "The Dai Li brainwashed people, yes, but I had no sense of self when I was forced to follow their bidding. My mind went blank and I just forgot everything." Her tone hardened. "But a fire healer doesn't do that. The victim knows exactly what is happening. They're aware, they remember, they feel; their souls are just chained to the bender's will and all they can do is obey the commands they are given."

Knots tightened and twisted in Zuko's stomach, unsettling what was left of his breakfast. This was the power that had caused fire healers to be hunted and killed. The whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth.

"If Shūrin had not been so powerful, so determined, perhaps things would be different," Shizue said. "But she used her bending to take control of the Fire Nation. She wanted to punish the Fire Lord and his subjects."

"Because they enslaved her?" Aang asked.

Yuzo shook his head. "Not exactly. The medical knowledge we have now wasn't around back then. The Fire Nation hadn't been fully united under the Fire Lord either, so there was a lot of fighting going on. Fire healers were highly sought. They were also rare. Many of those born to lower class families were stolen and sold to the nobility as slaves. Most were also driven to their deaths before the age of twelve."

"So, she wanted to get revenge for the wrongs done to her kind," Hakoda concluded.

Shizue looked at them all grimly. "When people realised what was going on and rose up to stop Shūrin, she fought them like a demon from the old stories. Thousands were killed trying to bring her and her followers down."

"But they did succeed in the end," Sokka said. "Right?"

Yuzo leaned forward on his elbows. "It's said she eventually drained the people she was bonded to dry while trying to maintain the strength to fight her enemies. Her power weakened and her body deteriorated at a rapid rate, a result of being put under too much strain for so long. Rather than let herself be captured and face defeat, she committed suicide." His voice softened. "She was only seventeen."

"So young," Iroh said in surprise.

"Young or not, she was merciless," Shizue said. "Her defeat came at a high cost for the Fire Nation."

Zuko let out a breath. "But then no one really did defeat her, did they? In the end, she defeated herself by overextending her abilities."

"True," Shizue admitted, "but that's also what people didn't like. A mere girl had caused so much death and destruction and no one had been able to stop her. She'd just weakened on her own. People didn't like that at all. They feared other fire healers would rise up—ones who wouldn't fall into the same trap."

"So all the fire healers were rounded up and killed," Iroh said in a heavy tone. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Shizue nodded.

Zuko frowned at his hands. He had to admit that he had not expected this. Shūrin had done horrible things from the sounds of it, but a part of him could almost sympathise with why she had chosen to fight back. She had been taken from her family as a child and enslaved, and there were many others like her. What would he have done in her position? Would he have accepted his lot in life? Or would he, like her, have found a way to fight back? To fight back for all fire healers?

Yuzo met his gaze from across the table. The words from their past conversation returned to his mind.

"Didn't you ever learn? History is written by the victors."

Zuko looked away. The others continued to talk about Shūrin and her brief reign. Aang asked why the Avatar at the time had not done anything to assist the Fire Nation. Shizue shrugged and said no one knew now. Perhaps the Avatar had only been an infant at the time. Perhaps it was just decided it was best not to interfere in a civil war. Either way, the world turned a blind eye to the resulting purge that happened. It was only a small group of fire healers who managed to escape. They found refuge on an island in the far southwest and began to build themselves up again in secret.

"As you can guess," she said, "maintaining secrecy is the tribe's most important rule. It's how we've survived for all these centuries. The Fire Lords even helped in a way; they were ashamed of what happened and wanted to forget. The problem is that sometimes those outside the tribe are born with the ability to wield the undying fire. That's where Silencers come in. I already told you we find those people and bring them back to the tribe."

"Right," Sokka said. "About that. How do you do it? I mean, do you just wander around until you find someone with pale gold eyes?"

"Not exactly."

"It's energy," Yuzo said quietly. "Everything is connected in some form. Energy is all around us. It lives within us and it binds us together."

Aang perked up a little. "Huu said something similar to me at the banyan grove in the swamp."

"That place is a powerful centre of spiritual energy," Shizue said with a nod. "The island where the tribe lives is much the same. Those with strong spiritual affinity can tap into the energy to get impressions, visions. It can give hints as to where fire healers are in the world."

"Wait, you mean someone could use that spirit mumbo jumbo to locate Zuko and Yuzo right now?" Sokka demanded.

"The visions aren't infallible. They just give an idea more than anything exact, and the healer has to have released a large amount of energy at least once to even register as an individual."

"Like a healing," Zuko said with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. He'd performed many drastic healings since that first time with Aang.

"Yes," she said, giving him a grim look. "You are at risk; however, the real threats are the ones who can sense energy signatures even when away from the island." Her gaze shifted to Yuzo in a questioning manner.

"I didn't inherit that gift from my father," he said flatly. "Only Shen did."

"Guy who likes to slit throats can sense other fire healers?" Sokka sat back and folded his arms across his chest. "Great. Just great."

Yuzo traced his finger along the cracks in the wooden table. "I don't think Shen would be able to find us here. Distance makes it difficult, and sensing energy is not an exact art. He told me once that fire healers just seemed to burn brighter, but bonds and powerful firebenders can make it confusing."

"Well, it can't be that good of an ability if he didn't realise you were still alive," Toph said bluntly. "He should have been able to sense you, especially since you said you healed yourself."

"I'm not sure why he didn't," Yuzo admitted. "I know how to mask my energy from his sight, but I can't do that when I heal. My guess is he just didn't think I'd make it either way."

Zuko looked at him curiously. "You can mask your energy?"

"I'll teach you," Yuzo said, answering the unasked question. "If you really are a natural, you should pick it up easily enough. It's just too bad we don't have someone who can sense energy to test yourself on."

"How did you learn?" Suki asked.

Yuzo's knuckles flared a lighter shade as he clenched his hands. "Shen …"

"What? But he's the one who—"

"He was different back then," Yuzo said in a low voice, glaring at his fists. "He changed after he became a Silencer. Went … strange."

"I remember him when he was a child," Shizue said in a thoughtful tone. "He was very talented. I was surprised when I met him again and found out he had become a Silencer. Everyone had assumed he would join the sages."

"Well, he chose to follow in our father's footsteps."

No one knew what to say to that. It wasn't like they knew Yuzo well or his half-brother and father.

Shizue chose to break the silence by saying she had told them as much as she could about the Unnamed One and the tribe. Now, she hoped they would understand why it was better to keep a low profile and not experiment too much with fire healing. "No good can come of it," she said. "The Unnamed One became what she was because she didn't believe in limitations, but all power comes at a price. It's not always the wielder who pays it either."

Zuko frowned as the others slowly began to disperse. He thought about the girl who had corrupted her own body and pushed her abilities beyond the limit to fight for fire healers. A villain. A saviour. She could be either depending on how one wanted to interpret her actions. If she had won, would history have viewed her more kindly? Would the fire healers have still turned their backs on her and erased her name?

"What are you thinking?" Katara asked. She had not moved from her spot next to him on the bench.

He shrugged, not sure how to put his thoughts into words.

She rubbed his arm before letting her hand move down to rest on his. He flipped his hand palm-up without thinking so they were holding hands instead.

"At least you know the truth now," she said softly.

He met her eyes. "Only thanks to you. You managed to get them both talking."

"I did say I'd have your back."

"So you did."

There was a loud sound of a throat being cleared.

Katara quickly pulled her hand away. They both turned to find her brother staring at them with his eyebrows raised.

"Sokka, you ruined it," Toph complained from where she sat farther down the table. "They were just getting to the good bit."

Zuko blinked. "What? What do you mean the good bit?"

Sokka gave his sister a pitying look. "You know, I was going to tease you, but you've got your work cut out for you." He patted her on the shoulder. "Good luck with this one."

"Sokka!" she cried, going bright red.

Zuko glanced between them and then back to Toph, who just looked immensely amused. "What?" he repeated.

Yuzo's mouth twitched and he stood up and clapped Zuko on the back. "C'mon, let's go train. The sooner you master this, the better."

"Uh, right."

He followed Yuzo out of the mess hall, pleased to focus on something that didn't make him feel like an idiot missing out on some inner joke. Stupid Toph and Sokka.

oOo

Azula spotted him on the rooftop, a tiny figure glinting like a splash of red and black. "What are you doing up there, Dum-Dum?" she demanded, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun with her hand. "Do you want to get yourself hurt?"

Suddenly, one of the tiles shifted under his feet and he was plummeting backwards. Her heart lurched even as a cry escaped his lips and he grasped wildly at the air, trying to find purchase on something—anything to stop his fall—but it was too late. Down and down he went.

"Zuko!" she screamed.

There was a sickening crunch of a body hitting the ground. She screamed his name again and ran to where he had fallen, wet prickles in her eyes and her breath coming out in choked little gasps. He looked so broken, so wrong. Her big brother wasn't supposed to look like this.

"Zuzu!"

She fell on her knees, hands hovering over him in paralysed fear and uncertainty. What was she supposed to do? His leg was sticking out all funny and she was pretty sure arms weren't supposed to look like that, and, and—

His eyes suddenly opened and glowed pale gold. Her breath caught in her throat. She watched in amazement as his split lip began to close and the cuts and grazes followed suit. Heart thumping against her ribs, she touched the arm that wasn't all bent in a weird angle. The gentlest of warmth swept through her, like getting a hug from the sun.

"Zuzu?" She looked back at the soft light in his eyes. "Are you the one doing this?"

"Hurry! Prince Zuko is hurt!"

She quickly forced his eyelids closed to hide the glowing, then moved out of the way. Zuko was swept up by the guards and taken off to be treated. Azula watched the group pass out of view, her heart still thumping against her ribs.

What had her brother just done?

oOo

Azula woke with a start. She was face-down on something that creaked and tried to rattle the teeth out of their sockets with every bump. Some kind of wagon? It was too hard to think. There was an awful, bitter taste in her mouth and her head was pounding like drums were trapped inside her skull. Her arms had also been pulled behind her back and something cold and hard enclosed her hands. Her ankles had not fared any better. Shen and Hina must have cuffed her while she was out.

She groaned and rolled onto her back, the metal cuffs digging into her spine. A fabric covering greeted her view—definitely a wagon. Somewhere outside, an owl-cat hooted. How much time had passed since Hina had forced that foul drink down her mouth?

"You're awake." Shen's face suddenly came into view. "How are you feeling?"

Azula narrowed her eyes. "You drugged me."

"It was easier that way." He lifted her into a sitting position and sat down opposite her. "Now, Princess, I think it's about time we have a little chat."

Her eyes darted to the left and right until she spotted Ty Lee slumped on her stomach not far from them. Ty Lee also had cuffs on her hands and ankles.

"Don't worry," Shen said, following the direction of her gaze. "Little Rainbow is just sleeping. She was a bit more sensitive to the drug."

"I wasn't worried."

Ty Lee was a traitor and a fool. There was no reason for Azula to worry about her. Still, Shen only smiled that bland, unnerving smile and rested his chin on his tented fingers.

"I'd like to get straight to the point," he said in a genial tone. "Someone healed you with firebending. I'd like to know who."

The dream flickered in her mind, reminding her of the warmth she had felt when she had touched her brother's arm. She'd been enfolded in the same warmth when Zuko had healed her arrow wounds in Ba Sing Se. Now she knew it was just what his energy felt like—soothing, comforting, able to chase away all chills and fears. The whole niceness of it put her on edge. It made her think of memories she would rather forget.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"That person has got themselves into some serious trouble. I just want to make sure no harm comes to them. Take them to a safe place."

Her eyebrow arched a fraction. "You must think I'm an idiot." She leaned forward, ignoring the sickening pounding in her head. "Let me tell you something, you bland-faced peasant. I have grown up in a palace where liars are more common than gold. I know you're not telling the truth."

A hint of amusement entered his eyes. "I see."

She stretched her legs out more, chains rattling as they scraped against wood. Wait them out, Father had always said. Wait them out and let them spill their truths to you. She didn't have to say anything. So long as she appeared relaxed, Shen would eventually tell her his plans.

"I wonder why that person left you all alone in prison."

Her breathing quickened a little. "What?"

"It just seems strange." He tapped his finger against his cheek. "If it were me, I'd be upset. That person clearly thinks you're worth nothing. Perhaps they even regret healing you."

Irritation licked at her skin. That he thought he could use her own tactics on her.

"Perhaps he does," she said with a smile to match his own. "I tried to kill him."

"Ah, it's a he."

She stared at him coolly. "The person who healed me is no friend of mine. Just tell me what you want."

"To find him. You could say he, uh, caught my attention."

A faint crease formed on her brow, but she smoothed it away a split-second later. "And how do you think I'm supposed to help you? Like you said, he left me in that prison. I have no idea where he is now."

"But you do." He pointed at her chest. "The bond you share with him will tell us everything."

Azula didn't want to show her ignorance by demanding what he was talking about, but her heart leapt a little all the same. This changed everything if what he said was true. Zuko had told her he was going to find their mother. If she could find him, she could find Mother.

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

Satisfaction glinted in Shen's eyes. "Just focus on him, focus on the energy link you have, and will yourself to know where he is."

She frowned and pictured her brother in her mind: taller than her, golden-eyed, scarred. A bitter swell of emotions stirred as she remembered how he had almost beaten her, how he had saved her. Her stupid, stupid brother.

"I can't feel any link," she muttered, glancing the other way. "Maybe you're wrong about this bond."

"That's not possible. You're just not trying."

"What?" she snarled.

Shen looked at her calmly. "You are not opening yourself to him. How can you expect to feel anything if you do not open yourself to the bond? You might as well try reach through rock without earthbending."

Her jaw tightened. "Fine."

She focussed harder, searching for the link she shared with her brother. It felt like scrabbling at pebbles for a trace of precious gems. Degrading. Pointless. All that was in her was the dark, twisted thing she kept trying to shove back in its cage. There was none of her brother's warmth.

"Remember, open yourself to him."

"I'm trying," she hissed.

Her whole body froze as if trapped in ice. She had never said those words in her life. Those words were for weaklings like Zuko who were always failing.

"Are you saying this is too difficult for you, Princess?"

She gritted her teeth. No. There just had to be something wrong. The bond wasn't really there, or Shen just hadn't given her proper instructions, or—

Shen sighed and shifted to his knees.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, inching back from his hand.

"Helping you."

Before she could react, he pressed his thumb to her forehead and placed his other hand over her heart. A rush of fire—intense yet steady like the sacred flames of pyres—swept through her and closed around the points where he touched. Every muscle tensed. She found she couldn't move, couldn't even blink.

"Your energy is ugly like a rotting peach," he murmured. "A hateful, obsessive soul. We can use that. Such emotions are powerful if channelled in the right way."

Her breathing sharpened as the flames seemed to intensify.

"Now focus on the one bonded to you," he ordered. "Remember, this person left you behind. They left you in prison, and you didn't like that, did you?"

Rage slithered through her veins, cold and vicious like a snake. That's right. Zuko had put the lives of peasants and soldiers before her. He had denied her the chance to find their mother. He had acted as if he had a right to punish her.

But she could find him now.

"Open yourself to him."

She once again pictured him in her mind. Oddly, he appeared as he had in the throne room when he'd healed her, when he'd told her that he'd done so because she was his sister. It was such a Zuko thing to do. Her stupid, stupid brother. Her stupid brother who made her feel too many things.

"Open yourself to him."

Her mouth twisted. The urge to resist was strong. It had always been better to shove him out, to crush him down, to pluck him from her side like the thorn in her flesh that he was. But she couldn't keep doing that. Not if she wanted to find Mother. Not if she wanted to make him pay for calling her his sister and then leaving her behind as if she was worth nothing to him.

You won't escape me, Brother!

The inner scream seemed to join with Shen's flames and slice through all the dark tangles that she only now realised had been chaining her down. Now the image she had crafted of Zuko stood with his hand outstretched, a single thread of pale gold dangling from his fingers.

"Take it," Shen encouraged.

Her heart pounded as she reached out with her mind, or maybe it was her spirit, and picked up the other end of the thread. Fire and warmth filled her—her brother's soothing signature. Suddenly, images were flashing before her: a ship, the ocean, a map and a finger pointing southwest. She saw it all through Zuko's eyes, but each image hit her like dizzying rocks. It was disorientating.

A gasp escaped her lips and the link was severed. She panted and looked up at Shen. He smiled and removed his hands.

"Well?" he said. "Where is he?"

Azula struggled for breath. "What was that?" she demanded. "How did I see those things?"

"Your spiritual affinity is pathetic, so it's no wonder you can't understand how an energy bond works. Lucky for you, I happen to be rather gifted in that department." Shen looked at her coolly. "Now what did you see?"

"He's sailing on a ship and heading southwest."

"That's it?"

She raised her chin, not liking his tone. "All I saw was a ship, the ocean and a map. What else am I supposed to get from that?"

He looked at her like she was a pet that had made a poor attempt at a trick. "Well, I guess it was your first try. I'm sure you'll do better next time." He walked to the front side of the wagon and knocked on the wood. "Hina, get us to the boat. We'll be going by ocean from here."

Azula blinked as Shen sat down and dismissed her entirely. Her whole body radiated with offence and rage—she was a princess and he had just inferred her skills weren't good enough—but she had also gathered enough about him to know there was no point saying anything. Shen and Hina did not care if she was Fire Nation royalty. They did not care if they offended her. In fact, it seemed all they cared about was finding Zuko.

Her eyes narrowed on the bland-faced man. No, this one could not be trusted, but she would play along all the same to find her brother and mother. She'd find a way to turn the tables on him yet.

I know a lot of people are fans of the whole protective brother trope, but I honestly don't see Sokka behaving that way with Katara. He left her well alone with Haru, Jet and Aang in canon (which is a big deal since he didn't like Jet at all). I do think he'd tease her mercilessly (and Zuko if the boy wasn't so oblivious), but he wouldn't be a real jerk about it. He certainly wouldn't be all "back off from my sister" with Zuko. (The guy is his friend, after all, and Zuko is a pretty trustworthy, respectful guy.) So, yeah, Sokka picks up on the fact they're having a moment and thinks it will be funny to interrupt, but there's no sexist, over-protectiveness going on here.

In any case, we finally learn about the Unnamed One and why fire healers became so hated/feared. I'd like to say that just being able to control a person probably wouldn't have led to such an extreme outcome (though people would have hated on the ability big time, just as they do with the Dai Li brainwashing and bloodbenders); however, as Shizue says, control combined with the inhuman strength granted through energy bonds was considered too dangerous. Sucks for all the fire healers who got dragged into the mess.