Ozai's Vengeance

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Chapter 12

Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.

Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.

Notes: Thanks are due to all the lurkers out there who took the time to review last time. Thanks so much! And thanks are also due to all my usual reviewers, who make this whole process so much fun!

≅

Under the arena, Zuko was greeted by servers carrying steaming hot towels scented with orange blossoms, a fresh cup of tea, and his family: Iroh, Katara carrying Kurzu, Toph, and Ling. Iroh smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but the baby beat him to it: "Thu-Thu!"

The hairs on Zuko's scalp rose a little. He wrapped the towel around his neck. "What did he just say?"

Katara smiled. "I think he's trying to say Zu-Zu."

Zuko suppressed a shiver. "Is that so?"

"What a sweet coincidence, that was Azula's first word, too," Iroh said.

"Sweet. Yeah. That's what I was thinking, too," Toph said, folding her arms.

"Thu-Thu!" The child leaned out of Katara's embrace and lunged for Zuko. Zuko make a quick step forward to catch him, and the child's arms went around his neck. Carefully, he took the rest of him: the child's chubby legs moved restlessly against his chest.

"Your sister's first word was your name?" Ling asked.

Zuko nodded. He bounced Kurzu to establish a better grip. "Thu-Thu," Kurzu said, and butted his head under Zuko's chin like a clumsy pygmy puma. Something in Zuko cracked like an ostrich egg. Its warm, golden insides dribbled down within his heart. His arms tightened on the child. Zuko smiled and rested his chin over Kurzu's head. He frowned, pressed his lips to the child's forehead, and looked at Katara. "Does he feel warm to you?"

Katara's brows furrowed. "What, still? I thought…" She reached out to touch Kurzu's head, and Zuko leaned forward to give her better access. They stood together with the child between them. She made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. Breathing deeply, she uncorked her waterskin and gloved her hand in water. Blue light glowed briefly from her hand. A moment later, the child felt cooler.

"He must be teething," she said. "Babies get feverish when they're cutting new teeth."

"Lu Ten certainly did," Iroh said. He patted Katara's shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. He'll feel better after some breakfast. Making new teeth requires lots of energy." He began ushering them toward the dining hall.

Katara turned back and looked at Kurzu. "But I cooled him down just a little while ago," she said.

"Fevers cleanse the body," Iroh said, taking Katara's elbow. "Perhaps Kurzu just has a little bug."

"But yesterday he only spent time with me and Katara and his nanny," Zuko said. "Katara, is the na-"

"No," she said. "She isn't."

"Then how-"

"I don't know!"

Iroh turned with his arms folded. "Zuko. Children become sick for a variety of reasons. Often, it seems like a complete mystery. But the simplest answer is that they spend most of the day crawling on the floor picking up things they shouldn't and stuffing them in their mouths. You were no different. I once lost my finest pair of slippers to you."

Toph cackled. "Sparky chewed slippers?"

"Oh my, yes."

Ling giggled behind her hand. Katara smiled, but she was still gazing over her shoulder at Kurzu. The smile did not reach her eyes. Zuko bounced the child again. He prized Kurzu's mouth open with a finger. "Are you teething?"

Iroh raised his hands skyward. "Hopeless," he said. "I will order the cook to drizzle some common sense over your fruit this morning."

≅

Zuko had very little chance to eat his breakfast, however, between Tom-Tom's glares across the table, Kurzu's persistent squalling, and Katara's constant fussing. Zuko had barely got a clean shirt on before the child vomited the small amount of food he'd allowed them to feed him all over it. Then he shrieked and tried to twist away when Katara attempted to bend water over them both, which resulted in both Kurzu and Zuko covered in dirty water.

"It's just not your day, is it?" Tom-Tom asked, his delight evident.

"I wasn't the one who was beaten so soundly in the arena," Zuko said, mopping his face with a napkin.

Katara flicked his ear. "Don't be a bad winner," she said.

Iroh sighed happily. "I cannot wait for Lady Katara's brother and sister-in-law and their children to arrive."

Zuko barely restrained a groan. Things were stressful enough with one child around. He didn't need three -- no, it was four, three girls and a boy, he remembered now -- of Sokka's little monsters running rampant through his house. He imagined them tearing down the halls armed with miniature boomerangs and swords and fans, their faces alternating between Kyoshi warrior paint and toothy battle masks. He pictured them shredding the portraits of past Fire Lords. Dear sages, give me patience.

"Don't worry," Katara said, as though he'd spoken aloud. "They're older than you remember. Senzo's just a little younger than Tom-Tom."

Zuko frowned. "That's impossible. Tom-Tom is fourteen. Suki-"

"-had Senzo right after the war was finished, twelve years ago," Katara said. "He's almost the same age Toph was when you first met her."

Toph coughed. "Way to make us all feel old, Katara."

"Zuko is going to turn thirty this year," Iroh said. "Does that help?"

"Sparky's turning thirty? Wow. I'd better buy him an ear-horn. Can you hear me over there, Fire Lord Zuko? Do you need me talk a little LOUDER?"

In his lap, Kurzu squealed. Zuko glanced down at himself, covered in water and vomit. Then he looked across the table at Tom-Tom, whose mouth had fallen open. "Welcome to the privileged life of a Fire Lord," he said. He handed Kurzu over to Katara. "You take him. I have to get to work." He stood, stretched, and leaned down over Katara's shoulder to kiss the one clean spot on Kurzu's head. "Be good." He turned to Katara. He had the oddest urge to run his tongue along the delicate curve of her ear. "That goes for both of you," he said in an under-tone.

Across the table, Tom-Tom and Toph snorted in unison. Zuko smiled and straightened. "Lady Katara, will you please consider giving Tom-Tom a lesson this afternoon? I think he could use some experience sparring a waterbender."

"What a wonderful idea!" Iroh said, clapping his hands together dryly. "Your experiences with Lady Katara on the battlefield greatly increased your skill!"

"I taught him everything he knows," Katara said, patting Zuko's hand.

Zuko's lips twitched. He looked at Katara and nodded to Tom-Tom. "Be gentle. It's his first time."

"I'll try not to tie him to a tree."

Zuko arched an eyebrow at her and reached for Kurzu again. He felt the child's forehead with the backs of two fingers. "He's hot again." He rested his palm on the child's head. "See you at lunch."

≅

But Zuko had no time for lunch, or anything else. After hours spent reading expense reports from the Fire Navy, as well as a polite letter from the Earth Kingdom ministry of agriculture telling him that no, they were not interested in Fire Nation-manufactured farm equipment, one of his secretaries informed him that a team of provincial border guards from near Tetsushi had arrived. They had disturbing news.

"My Lord," the superior officer said upon rising from her bow. She was a tall, broad-shouldered woman named Yu-Ji. Neither she nor the other two officers in her company had bothered to tidy themselves; they wore travel uniforms still stiff with the dust of the road and their hair had gone stringy with sweat and oil. "We bring news of Tizo, the overseer."

Zuko leaned his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. "Yes?"

"My Lord, we have reason to believe he is back in Tetsushi."

He enlaced his fingers tightly. "There are wanted posters for this man all over this nation. Why have you not returned him to me?"

Yu-Ji swallowed. "My Lord, he is being held by the remaining survivors of Ozai's-" Yu-Ji faltered before correcting herself. She stood a little straighter. "Of the illness, My Lord. Some of them have returned to Tetsushi. We checked them through a border crossing last week. They had a man with them who met Tizo's description."

Zuko felt jaw go stiff. "And why did you not apprehend him?"

Yu-Ji took a deep breath. "His papers were good, my Lord. And it was clear that he needed medical attention. The man's likeness to Tizo was only passing, due to the damage to his face." Yu-Ji pointedly looked away from Zuko's left eye and continued. "The men coming through with him said they were taking him to an apothecary. We thought his appearance and behavior were a consequence of the illness." She cleared her throat. "We now believe that he was simply the victim of grievous injury."

"Injury," Zuko said.

"We think the survivors had taken out their frustrations on him, my Lord. And we have reason to believe that they have returned him to Tetsushi to continue…punishing him."

Zuko nodded slowly. He rose from his desk, folded his hands behind his back, and stared at the map of the Fire Nation. As they had before had ever traveled there, his eyes drifted to the point on the map signifying the tiny town of Tetsushi. Then they took in the whole of the country: the mountains like scars across the land, the bays that looked like a dragon had taken bites from the earth. His country was such a strange place, so small and yet so vast, so concentrated but so diverse. "Why was I not informed of this development?"

Behind him, he heard Yu-Ji turn. "That is another problem, my Lord. We sent two dragon-hawks as soon as we let him through our crossing. We assumed you would want to know. But neither of the hawks returned. That is why we came here to tell you personally, and to request instructions." She took a deep breath. "My Lord, are you aware of any plots against you?"

Zuko thought of the cheers that Tom-Tom's comments had incited in the arena, and his guts went cold. He turned and regarded Yu-Ji and her two men. "Why would you assume a plot against me?"

She looked at the floor. "No specific reason, my Lord, only that if someone were plotting against you, they might be intercepting your communications."

Zuko nodded. "But only poor plotters would make the same mistake twice. If someone did intercept your dragon-hawks, they failed in their larger goal by drawing your attention to them."

"That's true, my Lord." Her face came up. "But, if it were practice… Or if someone wanted access to the royal dragon hawks to make their own messages appear as though they had come from the palace…"

Zuko's head tilted. "You have a very clever mind for a simple border guard, Yu-Ji."

She pursed her lips. "I also have a criminal record, my Lord. This is as high as I can rise within the ranks."

"I see." He resumed his seat at the desk. "You came to request instruction."

Yu-Ji turned to face him again. "Yes, my Lord. We have no desire to take on the remains of a dying village to save one murderer's life."

"Your desires are not my concern, officer," Zuko said. "I issued an order."

"Then I humbly ask that we may have re-enforcements," Yu-Ji said, casting her gaze toward the floor once again. "We will resolve this issue with a minimum of conflict if we have numbers on our side."

He rested his elbows on the desk. "Why should I give you more men if you're uncertain he's Tizo?"

"Even if he is not, it's possible that the villagers we saw are still victimizing him," Yu-Ji said. "Even if the man himself is not a criminal, what has befallen him is."

Zuko rose. "Thank you, Yu-Ji, for reminding me all over again why I love this country." He nodded the door. "Take some of the men I took with me to Tetsushi. They are familiar with the terrain and its people. They can best assist you."

He watched them leave. And then he collapsed into his chair, and covered his eyes with his hands.

≅

Katara was not at dinner. It irritated him; seeing her and not being able to touch her was still like catching one of Mai's needles in the heart but at least her voice still filled his house. And they had not truly fought since that one disastrous morning. If anything, they were more civil with one another now. Kurzu helped. He smiled, thinking of the child, and searched the dining hall again. Neither of them was there. He glanced at Tom-Tom, who was trying unsuccessfully to inconspicuously eat around his vegetables.

"How was your match with Lady Katara this afternoon?"

Tom-Tom picked up a piece of fish. "It never happened," he said. "She didn't come."

"Perhaps she was waiting for you to invite her," Iroh said.

"I did!"

"Easy there, buddy," Toph said. "I can feel your vibrations in my chair. Calm down."

"I invited her and she said no! She's too busy with that baby. Is it true that-"

"Too busy?" Zuko asked. "What do you mean, too busy? Kurzu has a nanny."

"Well I guess the nanny isn't good enough for the Avatar's waterbender."

"Don't call her that, Tom-Tom," Zuko said. "I won't tell you a second time. What did Katara say?"

"She said she was sorry, but that she had to monitor Kurzu." The boy shrugged his thin shoulders. "You know, in case something changed."

Zuko dropped his chopsticks as his voice rose. "In case what changed, Tom-Tom?"

Tom-Tom squirmed a little in his chair. "I don't know… She said something about bloodbending. I guess Kurzu isn't feeling any better."

"And I'm learning about this now?" Zuko pushed away from the table. "Does it ever occur to anyone that I am the Fire Lord, and that perhaps I should know what goes on in my own house?" He strode toward the door.

Iroh stood quickly. "Nephew, Tom-Tom didn't know…" He placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "He didn't know that you cared."

"Well then alert the palace messengers: Fire Lord Zuko cares about the people of his country." He pushed past the door, leaving stunned silence behind him.

≅

The nursery staff gave him a shared fearful glance as they watched him enter. Zuko hurried in and found Katara sitting alone on a small bed watching Kurzu. Only a single lamp was lit. Scrolls lay abandoned on the floor beside her. The child seemed to sleep, so Zuko made his footsteps so soundless that his appearance startled Katara: she jerked when his fingers landed on her shoulder.

"You scared me," she whispered.

"I'm sorry."

To his surprise, she reached up to hold his hand. Her voice came out thin and ragged: "His fever is worse."

Zuko moved to sit on the other side of the bed with one leg tucked under him. Their shoulders touched. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I could make him better."

"There's a palace phys-"

"I've seen the physician, Zuko. I've been talking his ear off all day. He's as mystified as I am." She lifted one hand and gestured at half-empty bottles and untouched food and cold teacups. "We've given Kurzu everything: the right infusions, the right poultices. His fever just keeps on climbing. The only thing that helps is if I cool him down a little with bloodbending. But that can't be good for his organs over the long term. Constantly switching body temperature is too much of a shock to a child's system. If he were older it wouldn't bother me, but he's still only a baby, and he's so small…" She placed one tentative hand on the child's foot. "He's so little, Zuko. I mean I knew that the Fire Nation was in trouble but even my orphans aren't this small, and the mothers that I do see aren't as thin as Su-Lin was...I had no idea things were this rough for you over here, I didn't know…" Her voice grew smaller and smaller.

"How would you have? You had your own concerns."

"I've been taking money from you, and you've been selling off your own things, and your people have been starving." She turned to him and he saw tears brimming in her eyes. "How can I forgive myself for that?"

He took a deep breath and reached for her hand. His fingers covered hers, barely touching. "There's nothing to forgive."

Katara closed her eyes and shook her head. "You impossible man." She took his hand and squeezed it. "How come our paths always cross when the whole world seems to be changing, huh? Can't we ever just have some normal time together?"

"The spirits ruled out normal lives for us a hundred years before we were even born, Katara." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb and tried to ignore the deliciously light feeling unfolding in his chest. "I have a question to ask."

She frowned and looked at their hands together. "What kind of question?"

"Not that kind." He looked at Kurzu. "Assuming he gets better, what would you do if I told you it wasn't safe here any longer?"

Her frown only deepened. "What do you mean?" Her hand pulled away. "Do you want me to leave? Because if you do, I understand, this can't be easy for you, I just-"

"That's not it." He looked at the map of the Fire Nation high above their heads before meeting her eyes. "I spoke with border guards this afternoon who suggested that someone might be intercepting my communications."

Her eyes widened. "But Sokka and Suki are on their way, they'll know they're coming-"

I hadn't even thought of that. The Fire Lord, the Bloodbender, her brother, a Kyoshi warrior, Toph, my uncle, all in the same house… If there's a plot… Dear sages, let me be wrong. "I can send out scouts," Zuko said. "They can come in safely. But after that, I want you to be prepared to leave."

"Leave? Are you crazy? We can't just leave you here!"

Beside them, Kurzu stirred. Katara clamped her lips shut, but her eyes bore into Zuko's. He stared back at her. "You're the one who has responsibilities outside of the Fire Nation," he said. "I don't think I have to remind you of that, since you were so eager to remember them before."

Her eyes flared. "Don't even start with me, Zuko-"

"I'll start with you whenever I feel like it. If I find out that there is a conspiracy against me, I will drag you out of this country myself."

"And I'll come right back in and-"

Zuko reached over and covered her mouth with a thumb. His fingers went into her hair. "No," he said. "You won't."

Gently, she pried his palm away from her face and held it between her two hands. "This isn't a decision you get to make for me, Zuko."

"Katara, our families did not fight and bleed twelve years ago just so that you could risk dying on Fire Nation soil all over again. I already have enough to answer for when I see Aang in the Spirit World. I don't need your father's judgment on my head as well."

She hung her head. "Doesn't being so old-fashioned tire you out, sometimes?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but Kurzu squirmed and began to cry. Katara deflated. She reached for him, but Zuko moved faster. "I'll take him. You lie down." Zuko picked up Kurzu carefully -- he was disturbingly warm -- and reached for a cold compress. He sponged it across the child's forehead. "You see, I'm very modern."

Katara lay down on her side. "Oh yeah. You're a real trailblazer." She yawned. "You do know that Sokka does this kind of thing all the time, right? Sokka, who used to say that mending and laundry were women's work?"

"Sokka was always a quick learner." Zuko put the compress down in a bowl of water. He bounced Kurzu a little, who only cried louder. "Do you think he's hungry?"

"He should be. He hasn't kept anything down for hours." Katara rolled over and held her hand over a small covered bowl on a stand near the bed. Zuko watched a layer of frost develop over it. "There. I chilled that down a little while ago, but you can't be too careful." She curled into a little ball. "You should take that jacket off. Juice-vomit is the last thing you want all over it."

"Good idea." Zuko lay the child down and began unbuttoning his jacket. Behind him, he heard the soft whisper of doors sliding open. He turned and Iroh stood there with his hands in his sleeves.

"How is he?"

Zuko shook his head. He discarded his jacket. "Not good." He picked up Kurzu and held him on one arm while reaching for the bowl of juice with the other. The child buried his face in Zuko's neck and continued squalling. Iroh guided him to a chair away from the bed and sat down on a footstool nearby. "His fever just won't break," Zuko said as he sat. "Katara says it's getting worse."

Despite the darkness, Zuko saw his uncle's expression cloud over. "And the palace physician can do nothing?"

"No. Katara says they've tried everything."

Iroh reached over and felt Kurzu's forehead. He hissed and shook his head. "He's burning up."

"I know. The only thing that helps is bloodbending, but Katara doesn't want to keep shocking his system that way."

"And it doesn't get at the root cause of the illness," Iroh said. "Do you have any idea what could have done this? You were with him yesterday."

"We fed the turtleducks and I took him to the library. Then we went to the kitchen and down to the vault. I didn't let him touch anything he shouldn't. Then Katara and I had dinner with him, we played together for a while, and Katara took him to bed. That was all. He wasn't out of my sight for a minute." Zuko propped Kurzu up and uncovered the bowl of juice. He lifted it to the child's lips. Juice sloshed everywhere when Kurzu turned away from it. Sighing, Zuko put the bowl down. "What did I do wrong?"

"You held the bowl at too steep an angle."

Zuko gave his uncle a murderous look. Iroh sighed. "You've done nothing wrong, Zuko. Children become ill. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. Someday you will become a father and learn this for yourself." His head tilted. "If you haven't already, of course."

Zuko wiped Kurzu's chin and neck. The child began chewing the kerchief he'd used. That quieted him a little. "Things were going so well," he said. "On the ship, he was so good…" Zuko shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Katara's taking him to the orphanage soon."

Iroh hunched forward with his elbows on his knees. "That doesn't sound like the Zuko I know."

"I can't change her mind. I don't want to." Zuko ran a thumb over Kurzu's eyebrows. His little face was red with feverish, angry crying. He chewed the kerchief as though it had wronged him somehow. "Have you been receiving messages on time?"

Iroh shrugged. "There are the usual delays, of course, but…" His gaze sharpened. "Why do you ask?"

"I spoke with a border guard today who suggested that palace communications may be compromised."

Iroh closed his eyes and hung his head. "We have had twelve years of good fortune. I suppose it was too much to ask for more."

"If there is a plot, I have to get Katara and her family out of here."

Iroh shook his head. His thin, white hair drifted from side to side. For the first time, Zuko noticed the sunspots on his bald head. It made him feel old suddenly -- was he really turning thirty this year? Hadn't Ozai already married and brought him into the world by the time he was thirty? "They won't go," Iroh was saying. "You know them. Toph will dig in her heels and refuse to leave, and Sokka won't let her stay alone with us. And Katara…" Iroh shook his head again. "Oh, nephew, you really know how to get yourself into trouble."

Zuko eyed Katara. She seemed to be asleep. Her breath sucked a strand of hair toward her mouth, then away, and back again. "She'll leave for the child. She has to."

Iroh moved so that he caught Zuko's eye. "Love is very strange, nephew. It makes us do wonderful, terrible things."

"This isn't about love. This is about getting them out of here before everything falls apart." Zuko settled Kurzu a little higher and reached for the juice again. "How do I hold this?"

"Well, first you get the kerchief out of his mouth. There we go. And here, just hold your elbow like so…" Iroh adjusted Zuko's posture. It felt like those times he had corrected his form during firebending lessons, only somehow more embarrassing. The old man held his elbow with one hand and the child's chin with the other. Kurzu began drinking greedily and he offered a glowing smile. "That's much better."

"Thanks." Zuko frowned. "How do I know if he's had enough?"

"He'll let you know. Don't worry." Iroh stood. "He'll need to be changed. Do you want me to stay?"

"No. That I know how to do."

Iroh's bushy eyebrows lifted. "You do?"

"Katara taught me on the ship. She had to. He slept in the bed with us, you know." Zuko frowned. "Why are you looking at me that way?"

Iroh blinked. "I just never imagined…" He smiled ruefully. "What about when you returned?"

Zuko thought of Katara, himself, and Kurzu in the bathtub and felt his good ear go hot. "We looked after him. That's all you need to know."

"I didn't know it was like that, nephew."

"Like what?

"A family," Iroh said. "I misjudged you."

Just then Kurzu started spitting up, so Zuko had to move quickly. He threw the kerchief over one shoulder and shifted the child so that he rested there. He stood and began bouncing on his toes the way he'd seen Katara do. Iroh's eyes burned little holes in his shoulders. "Stop staring at me, Uncle."

"I'm not staring. I'm savoring this moment."

"Spare me." Zuko continued bouncing. He watched Iroh smile brightly before turning to leave. "And don't get any ideas!"

"Perish the thought," Iroh said, and left the room.

Zuko rested his face against Kurzu's hot one. He bounced his way to the bowl of water and squeezed out the compress with one hand. "Please excuse my uncle. He's cursed with a pernicious case of optimism."

"Thu-Thu," Kurzu said miserably, and coughed up some juice.

≅

Far away, someone shouted. Zuko was aware of a deep and abiding pain between his neck and left shoulder. Without opening his eyes, he tried to discern what might have caused it. Then the smell got to him: sour juice and baby shit. His stomach lurched and his eyes opened. He lay on his left side on a bed meant for two children at most. Katara lay on the other side. Their bodies formed two walls that penned in Kurzu. Their shins pressed together. Katara blinked awake. She smiled weakly. He did the same. He looked down at Kurzu. She pressed her hand to the child's forehead. Zuko watched a smile unfurl across her face. A sigh drained out of him. Thank the sages. His limbs went heavy with relief. Katara reached over and rubbed his arm. Somewhere, something pounded down the hall. It sounded like a huge animal.

"What's that noise?" she whispered.

Zuko's blood chilled. Could those plotting against him have moved so quickly? He moved to cover her and Kurzu. As he did, the doors slammed open and a dark, bearded man carrying a sword burst into the room. He pointed. "I knew it!" he shouted. "The rumors are true!"

Katara's palm met her forehead. She sat up. "Hi, Sokka."