Chapter Fifteen
The reports started as a trickle but soon became a torrent. Katara's poisoning was merely the opening salvo in a war against their faceless enemy. Days earlier, a military museum had been broken into and priceless relics were defaced, lewd messages scrawled on ancient armor and statues made to pose in provocative positions. Then, a monument to Fire Lord Azulon that faced the morning sun was turned so that he had his back to it. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the assassin was connected to these events, all of them mocking Zuko's rule.
Every night, he prowled the corridors of the Fire Palace, waiting and watching for the assassin to return but saw neither hide nor hair of him. Every day, Toph pressed her hands and feet to the ground and felt nothing out of the ordinary. Then, just when they started to relax a little, a portrait of Avatar Roku was hung upside down and Zuko tightened his fist again.
Then, the targets changed and became an outright attack on the Fire Nation.
Just that morning, an armory had been set on fire, a crack had been found in a dam, and a bomb had cleared the Fire Temple of monks, but had been stopped in time. Katara had no choice but to find the Fire Lord.
She'd never been in his chambers though they were only a stone's throw from her own and it didn't seem like he spent that much time there. She lifted her hand to knock but when no one answered, she slid the heavy doors open. The sound of doors sliding on the runners was enough to make the sprawled figure on the bed stir but not rise. It was dark as night in the room, the heavy velvet curtains pulled shut against the sunlight. There was a single lit brazier, but its flame was low. She could see enough to observe that Zuko hadn't even bothered to change out of his clothes, simply throwing himself on the bed and passing out. Even in slumber, his face was tight with tension. There were half moons under his eyes, his clothes were wrinkled, his jaw covered with stubble and his hair was loose, falling around his head in out of control strands that told Katara where Lu Zuo had inherited his.
Katara went to his side and she put a hand on his shoulder. Before she could even blink, her wrist was in a vise-like grip and a pair of thunderous amber eyes were directly in front of hers. She wanted to swallow, but the cold steel of his sword was pressed against her skin and she was afraid any sudden movements would end with her blood on his nice red sheets.
"Sorry, sorry," he said, letting her go and lowering his sword. "You startled me."
"No kidding," she said, wishing her voice hadn't squeaked. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but..."
"Something's happened," he said, rubbing a hand down his face. "Tell me on the way to the war room."
He stood, grabbed his swords and pulled his hair back with a red leather strip before they even got to the door. But before he could open them, Katara grabbed his sleeve.
"Fix yourself up," she said. "They can't see you like this. No one knows what you've been doing and if you show up looking like...well, looking like that, people will talk."
"I don't have time to call everybody in so I can get pretty for the generals," he said with a surliness that made her toes curl.
"Then, I'll help you."
He tried to shake her hand off but Katara held on to his sleeve.
"Zuko," she said warningly.
"Fine," he said, pulling the tie from his hair and gesturing to one corner of the room where red leather armor was arranged on a mannequin. "You can help me with my armor."
"Armor?"
"It's time for that, don't you think? So we don't waste anymore time, tell me everything you know."
He went behind the changing screen as she talked and she was glad she couldn't see his face; the banging and cursing on the other side of the screen was violent enough. In a fresh gray tunic and pants, he emerged. Katara held out the shoulder armor for him to slide his arms into and she secured it, observing that it sat perfectly across his shoulders. Together, they dressed him in the only uniform he'd known in the first half of his life. It gave Katara chills to see him in the armor, reminding her of a time that she was sure they would both rather not relive. For his part, Zuko didn't look any happier to be wearing it again. As he finished tying the leather apron around his hips, he looked up at her from behind his curtain of hair.
"This is what they wanted," he said. "War again. Fighting again."
"I know," she said quietly.
He held out the red leather strip for her to take and he sat down on a chair so she could reach him.
"All of it goes up," he said tonelessly.
Using her fingers to brush through the soft, silky strands, Katara pulled his hair back from his face, tying it into a tight topknot. She saw the golden flame on the bedside table and she picked it up, setting it where it belonged. She wasn't sure if he'd been aware of it, but he bowed his head when he received his crown, showing his respect for the position and it touched her. When her hands fell away from him, Zuko stood up, seeming to tower over her. Unable to find the right words, she reached over to the bed and picked up his scabbard, but he took it out of her hands before she could hand it to him.
"The Fire Lord has no need for weapons besides his element," he said. "Let's go."
When they reached the war room, Zuko flung the doors open. All the talking in the room stopped and there had been quite a bit of it. Ten generals in full armor sat around a map of the Fire Nation, already flagged with the events that had transpired. Three of them were standing up, having been in the middle of what looked like a very heated argument. At the head of the map sat Azula, looking as if she were watching a very amusing play, but even her smile faded when she saw him. Iroh sat to her left and sadness fluttered across his face at the sight of his nephew. He glanced at Katara, greeting her with a nod.
"Good morning, Fire Lord," he said.
"I want this enemy of the Fire Nation brought in as soon as possible," Zuko snapped.
Instead of going up on the dais, he stalked to where Azula sat and with one look, had her standing up and going to his right. Katara wasn't sure where she should be but Zuko beckoned to her with one hand, gesturing for her to stand on his right. Katara and Azula eyed each other, but said nothing.
"General Showa," Zuko prompted. "Tell me what's being done to protect the armories."
In precise military language that Katara had trouble following but was second nature to Zuko, the generals briefed the Fire Lord. One by one, they outlined their plans, and Katara witnessed first-hand the way Zuko could rearrange the pieces to protect the whole. All it took was a change to this plan or a few changes to that, and armories became impenetrable, temples came under guard, and civilians kept safe. He had a larger vision of the Fire Nation that only came with careful thought and observation, with tireless study and an unwavering sense of responsibility.
When the generals argued with one another, Katara could sense rather than pinpoint an undercurrent of tension as they jostled for power. She glanced at Zuko, saw the irritation pass across his face and he shot a line of fire on the ground, down the center of the map.
"We've gone over the defenses," he said. "Now, I want an offensive plan."
"We hunt for this...degenerate," Azula said eagerly. "A small team with the right skills can travel with more ease than a troop and track where this thing has come from and will go to next."
"That's just what I was thinking," Zuko said. "Put a team together."
Katara wanted to nudge him with her foot for putting Azula in charge of something as important as this when she was a perfectly good suspect herself, but Zuko beat her to the punch.
"Azula, your team will keep close to the palace and go backwards so we can find where the enemy has come from. You've already started work on that so it will save time to have you continue it but with a wider purview. Uncle, I want you to put together two small teams of at most three men. I want them out searching by sunset today: one team starting from the museum, one from the garrison and another from the dam. Have them fan out and track this bastard. I want the best, Uncle."
"It's done," Iroh said solemnly.
Zuko turned his gaze to the people gathered around him, his focus going from one to the next.
"You fail me, you fail us all," he said menacingly. "Dismissed."
They stood, bowed, and filed out the door. Azula turned to her brother, made a fist with her right hand and covered it with her left. She bowed but somehow made the move a mocking one.
"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, Zuzu," she said with a smirk.
"Think what you want, Azula. Just get the job done."
She left, slamming the door shut behind her. Iroh turned to his nephew, brushed a hand on the shoulder armor.
"It suits you," he said sadly.
"It was made from the best material by the best leathersmith," Zuko said stiffly.
"You know what I meant," Iroh said gently.
Katara put a hand on Zuko's other shoulder. "You should get some rest," she said.
"Are you kidding? My lands are being attacked and you want me to take a nap? If I'm killed in my sleep, I'd deserve it."
He stood, shrugging them both aside.
"I've got work to do and so do you, Uncle. Katara, you're the only person I trust to stay with Maiko and Lu Zuo. Please..."
"I'll stay with them," she said.
In long, quick strides, Zuko left them, his armor hissing with his movements. Katara held out a hand for Iroh to take, pulling the older man to his feet.
"We're fighting against someone, or a group, that's smarter and faster than we are," Iroh said.
"I know," Katara said. "So we have to get smarter and faster."
"He's not going to be able to take much more," Iroh said in a quieter voice. "And I can't watch him, not when he's given me something so important to do."
Katara nodded and smiled grimly. "Well, then I guess it's up to me to keep him steady."
"Yes," Iroh said, putting a hand on her back and guiding her out the door. "The first way you can do that is make sure his children are taken care of."
"The second?"
"Carry some of his burdens. You already have been when he's out at night, but now you have to do it alongside him. Make him rest, make him stop and think."
"Basically, I'll be playing your role from now on."
Iroh smiled sagely. "Exactly."
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Sokka was in the nursery when Katara entered. Lu Zuo was doing his best to pull Sokka's hair out of his head, while Maiko was practicing her characters at a nearby table. Katara was glad for the maids when she saw the black ink stains on the princess' clothes and on the straw mats around her. All three looked up when Katara came in, the children with gleeful smiles, but her brother with a more somber expression.
"I heard," Sokka said by way of greeting. "The whole palace is talking about it. Everyone's starting to worry about Zuko's ability to keep control since it's pretty clear by the way everyone's running around that no one has any idea who's responsible for this."
"I'm not surprised," Katara said tiredly, picking up Lu Zuo. "Zuko's sent me in here to stand guard, but I think I should be out there, making sure he doesn't set on fire anyone who looks at him the wrong way. In his state of mind, that could be everybody."
"You know him pretty well," Sokka said carefully.
"You spend that much time with a person, you tend to get to know them better. Even Zuko. Don't read into it, Sokka," Katara warned, reading her brother's face accurately. "I'm just trying to make it work. I'm not so sure if he was ever really bad, but he's definitely not now. He's only trying to keep this place from falling down around our ears."
"You're pretty invested in all this."
"I'm going to be Fire Lady. I don't want to end up with cinders for a kingdom."
Sokka leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms.
"Katara, I'm really glad you've settled in nicely here in the Fire Nation, but I'm also a little worried that you've settled in nicely in the Fire Nation."
"I'm just trying to make it work, Sokka," she repeated, untangling Lu Zuo's hands from her hair with one hand and keeping him from squirming away from her with that other. "For me to do that, I have to be invested and I have to be involved. I have to care or else it won't work."
Sokka was looking at her as if he could see right through her. He knew her too well and Katara wanted to hide from his eyes.
"The kids are cute, Katara, but they can't replace what could be yours," he said gently.
"Replace what?" she said. "Sitting at my desk in Dad's house, reading trade reports and building projects? I know I left a hole in Dad's staff when I left, but there are others there who could do the job just as well as I could. But here, I can make a difference and I think I am. Zuko needs me."
"No, you definitely are," Sokka said, taking Lu Zuo from her. "I'm sure Aang would be proud of you for stepping up the way you have, but I think he'd be with me in wondering if your eyes are as wide open as you say they are."
"What else do you think is happening here?" Katara asked suspiciously as she settled down next to Maiko and guided her hand through a character she was having trouble with--appropriately enough, it was 'life'. "Do you think Zuko has had Iroh put something in my tea and now I'm under a spell? Or maybe drugged? Stop talking in circles and spit it out."
Sokka sat down across from them and he leaned across the table, forcing her to meet his narrowed blue eyes.
"I've seen you give yourself to a cause; I've flown with you and the Avatar for nearly two years, for crying out loud. I've seen you make sacrifices and I've seen you fight for the people that you love. I know you, Katara and I know these are the things you do when you care, but everyone has their limits.
"I can honestly say I've forgiven them for what happened to Mom and for what happened to us here, but I haven't forgotten and that makes me put up walls. You...you've broken those walls down. You've managed to put that past aside. I've only been here two weeks, but I've watched you with Zuko and Iroh, and these kids. You've given them more of yourself than I've seen since...well since we were on Appa, flying around the world with Aang. Here, with the Fire Lord and his family, you're beyond trying to make this work."
Katara held his gaze and when she couldn't anymore, she looked down at the boy who clung onto Sokka's blue jerkin, then at the little girl she'd put a protective arm around. She thought of the man she'd helped into battledress, whose side she'd stood by silently, like a guard. Sokka read her thoughts on her face and he put a hand over the one she'd laid on the table.
"Stop fooling yourself, Katara. You're beyond trying to make this work," he said firmly.
"Yeah..." she said vaguely. "Yeah, Sokka. I know."