Aang, Katara, and Sokka had arrived the day after. When he saw Appa descending into the palace courtyard, Zuko was relieved for all the wrong reasons. His mind acknowledged that Aang would be able to rescue a lot of people, Katara was a massively skilled healer who would be willing to help victims out in the city, and Sokka kept a cool head in emergencies nowadays.

But in his heart he just wanted them to save Toph.

Her students had carried her into the palace on their shoulders. He wished he could banish that image from his mind: her small body, ashy and pale, limp and lifeless. It haunted him every second of the day, made worse by the fact that he couldn't be at her side. He had responsibilities, and the healers claimed she needed calm and quiet, not the Firelord working beside her.

That didn't stop him from imagining what she would advise him, if she were conscious. That was how he ended up telling her students to raise roads out of the city, then reassigned half his standing army to rescue and construction work and shipped them out of the city. It was an elegant solution to two problems at once, and he wished he could share it with her.

He received word from his mother, his sister, and the prison warden that the family was safe. Azula stayed with Mai often, now that she was a more tolerable human being, and Mai's estate was out in the western mountains, where the shaking hadn't been so bad. After a string of breakups, they'd parted ways amicably, and she'd married some young nobleman Zuko didn't know very well. He knew he and Mai weren't a good match, but he had been jealous of her happiness for a long time, until...

He thought about Toph's lifeless body again and swallowed the pain and anxiety. After a lifetime of practice, he was pretty good at being a meaningless container for angst.

At least when Appa arrived he had friends around.

Aang was the first one to reach him, and he hugged him hard. They were like brothers, or at least what Zuko imagined normal brothers were like. Who did he have as a role model for brotherly love, anyway? His father and his uncle? Not helpful.

"We came as soon as we heard," Aang said. He was a grown man now, of course, but somehow Zuko always remembered him as the child he'd been when they first met. He still had the same sincere expression on his face, though the features had changed. "What can we do to help?"

"Katara needs to look at Toph," Zuko blurted. Twenty four years old, and he still couldn't make his tongue do his bidding.

"I knew it," said Sokka, jumping down from Appa's saddle. "Only Toph would be crazy enough to lift an entire city up five hundred feet." He reached up to help his sister down.

Katara was sliding from Appa's back, a long red and orange cloak around her shoulders. She'd taken to wearing air nomad clothing sometimes after she and Aang had married. "What happened to her?"

"She collapsed afterwards. That's all the healers know."

Katara didn't delay; she was already going to the medical wing, and the three men followed.

—-

Aang took Appa to help some of the smaller coastal villages, which had probably been lashed by both the quake and the wave afterwards. Sokka, who knew Toph's students well, took them out to build shelters in the outer neighborhoods of the capital.

Katara had plenty to do in the medical wing, and even Zuko knew that babysitting his worries was the most irritating part of her job. That didn't mean he could stop himself.

"She's still the same," Katara said gently.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Even to his own ears, Zuko's voice was almost unrecognizable; hushed, strained, thick with anxiety. It had been a bad three days.

"I couldn't detect anything big," she said hesitantly, "and neither could your healers. Aang thinks something went wrong with the flow of her chi, since she was pushing her limits."

When Toph was in motion, performing the harsh, powerful forms that were typical of earthbending, she seemed immovable. Now, it was obvious how delicate her body was. She looked small and fragile, her long black hair a tangled halo around a face that looked as though it were made of cold porcelain and not living flesh. Her chest rose and fell with the strength of a butterfly's wing, a tiny flutter of life, beautiful and fleeting.

"She's tough," Katara went on, following her friend's gaze. "She'll pull through this, Zuko."

"I know," he lied.

—-

He wasn't sleeping anymore.

Five days after the earthquake, he could feel the bags under his eyes and the constant pressure of fatigue weighing down his limbs. Honestly, he couldn't make himself care.

He went to see Toph in place of his daily firebending practice. He couldn't bend; it reminded him of the countless duels they'd fought in that very training field. That had probably been when he first fell in love with her.

She was the same each time he saw her. Once, he touched her cheek, and her flesh was cold and clammy.

The Firelord never cried, but on the fifth night, Zuko did. Alone in his room, he buried his face in his hands and let it out until he had no more tears left to cry, just a hollow feeling inside.

Afterwards, he went back to Toph, though it was near midnight. Katara pulled up a chair for him and poured him some water, as if he were visiting her home and not Toph's sickbed. Katara looked haggard, too, her hair loopies asymmetrical and her necklace askew, but Zuko knew he looked even worse. He hadn't bothered with a mirror in a while. Even on his better days, all they showed him was an ugly scar and a face that looked more like Ozai's every day.

"Zuko, be honest with me," Katara murmured, pressing the cup of water into his hands. "We're all worried for her, but you're obsessing. What's bothering you?"

The water was surprisingly soothing. Had he been remembering to eat and drink? Zuko wondered. His steward had probably tried to force him. He couldn't remember. "I asked her to stay longer. She could've been back at her school and safe right now."

"And, what, most of the people in your city would have died?"

He looked at the floor. Glared at it, really.

"No one can stop Toph from doing crazy things, anyway," Katara went on gently. "That's how she is. She knows the risks she takes. Do you think anyone could have stopped her?"

"No." He ran his fingers through his hair. A few hours of crying and raging had left it greasy and limp.

"Besides, you shouldn't give up. If she's held on this long, she's probably holding on for good. She's young and healthy. Her body just needs time to recover."

The last reserves of self-control he possessed were draining out of his body. He rested his eyes on the heels of his hands, rubbing them mercilessly. "She can't die," he muttered. "I love her too much."

"We all do." Katara put her hand on his shoulder.

"No," he said harshly, looking up with red-rimmed eyes. "I'm in love with her, Katara. I told her I loved her, and she said it was a bad idea. She said we'd both get hurt." He was rambling now, but he couldn't stop the flow of words anymore. "But she stayed anyway, just a little while longer, because I asked her to. I never thought she'd be the one who got hurt."

She stared at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. "You and Toph? Really?"

"Yeah. I know it seems odd, but we just...fit. I'm happiest when I'm with her." He sighed, running a hand through his hair again. "I don't know what she sees in me. Maybe nothing. A few days ago I was agonizing about how much I want to marry her, and exactly how hard she'd turn me down if I ever asked, but that doesn't matter anymore. I just want her to make it."

"I don't care what Aang and Sokka are going to say," Katara said softly. "I think that's really sweet. And you know, I'm pretty sure you're going to get a chance to ask her, so maybe you should make plans for that."

He thought about it. For the first time in days, he almost smiled. "Do you think there's even a chance she'd say yes?"

Katara shrugged. "There's only one way to find out."