Katara experienced the equivalent of what she assumed Aang's out of body spiritual journeys to be like as she stood in the Fire Lady's chambers.
Besides the minor problem of not being the ruler of the Fire Nation or the Fire Lord's wife, there was this presumption that she had begun to discern during the quarterly in-session summits. She meant to vocalize it once the pressing matters of disbandment and high spice levels threatening to martyr Water Tribe attendees were resolved: namely, that much of the palace operated on the belief that high level offices and any honored guests to the palace could only be firebenders.
It was probably a vestige of the war and Sozin-era nationalism. It irked her. No—it nearly turned her into a firebender.
Among the first to have assumed an ambassadorial position, she held the honor of being a foreign dignitary hosted in the Fire Nation's palace. Immediately, she had noticed that the guest rooms were not connected to the springs that serviced hot water, a problem rectified after Sokka (on prolonged brotherly visit before his nomination as future Chief) went a week without showering and caused no less than three complaints to reach Zuko's desk about the newest wet sock perfume permeating the premises.
Similarly, the candles in here, like those in Zuko's room, came unadorned. There were no matches nor sparking stones. Conclusion: who needed them when fire resided in your soul, or there was undoubtedly someone near by to toss a flame at wicks?
Thus was Katara's predicament.
The moon, through a gap in the thick curtains, illuminated the room just enough that she could navigate to the absurdly large bed in the middle. It did not, however, produce enough light to prevent her from ambling towards what looked like an opening to the bathroom without banging her toe against a poorly positioned floor table.
She grimaced and returned to the bedroom door in time to catch Milo's back disappearing around a corner. Tonight, four guards, white masks indicating that they were nonbenders, stood at each side of Zuko's room at the end of the hall. Shadows of havoc and the faint scent of mercury lingered.
"Milo!"
The attendant lurched and pivoted. "Lady Katara."
"Are you a firebender? I can't see a thing."
The long pause suggested he was very ill at the prospect of entering the Fire Lady's chambers. "I'll find someone," he said plainly and resumed his brisk walk only to renege at Zuko's sudden sulking appearance.
She hovered.
"Katara. Why are you still awake?" Zuko paused, nearing. "Is it the moon?"
Behind him, Milo coughed.
Katara waved an impatient hand, in no mood to educate the Fire Lord about the metaphors of womanly cycles nor tell his poor attendant that moon cycles also were also a double entendre for waterbending things. "Is anyone here a firebender?"
Zuko stalked past the guard's protests and entered the room with ease, performing a magnificent set of hand waves that sent dancing sparks alighting the candles.
He blinked at his steaming hand. "I haven't done that since Ba Sing Se."
The Fire Lady's chambers, despite having been unoccupied for the better part of a decade (as far as she knew, she didn't want to pursue the line of thinking about his girlfriend sleeping here), looked more hospitable than his. A variety of personal trinkets and jewelry sat in a marble tray atop a wide dresser; masks and artwork hung on the walls; and gorgeous orange spokes of hand-painted fire lilies added color to an otherwise cliché color scheme.
When she had met Zuko's mother, the woman struck her as the artistic sort, having made her modest home in the town of Hira'a homey with different illustrations and poetry littered about. A deal with the spirit had eradicated her memories, but the impulse inside her had remained the same, it seemed, if her home was an indication of it.
Similarly, it seemed Zuko's room held vestiges of Ozai.
It occurred to her that Zuko probably didn't like sleeping where his father used to. There was a macabre thought.
She studied a glass miniature of two dragons embracing to form the image of a heart. "Ba Sing Se as in during last year's summit or when you were Lee the tea server?"
"Tea. During my time in the Lower District, there was a girl..." he trailed off when she lifted a finger over he miniature's detailing. "That's from a popular Fire Nation play, Love Amongst Dragons."
The pulsating flames from the closest candle cast a beautiful but gothic shadow over the trinket. "Your mother loves plays?"
"Definitely not the Ember Island Players."
Yes. That was a disaster ranking somewhere between the foggy swamp fiasco and the bickering villages that almost got them eaten by giant killer bugs.
It was the site of her second kiss, too. She straightened and fiddled with her sleeve.
"Where are the firebender guards?"
Zuko stilled near the entrance, scowling as a Kyoshi warrior and Milo breathed down his back from where they stood planted outside the room. "They left their post when they had specific instructions not to. I want to vet all of them. Tomorrow we'll talk."
He turned to leave.
"Oh—when can I get my bags?"
"Really, Katara, we can talk tomorrow."
"My sleepwear is in there."
His golden eyes snapped to her.
He stared. She stared back.
"Don't women sleep—?" he stopped abruptly as his pale face reddened.
"They sleep, what?" She knew what he was trying to say. She saw plenty of Fire Nation women in Healer Joru's clinic. Under their clothes, instead of the sarashi wraps she was grew up with, women wore even shorter structured tops called bras.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "In their—well, Ty Lee said—"
She recalled being chastised for being a veritable bludgeon during meetings by this very man who was denser than lava. Her voice turned a tad shrill. "Ty Lee is Fire Nation. Women in the tundra aren't roaming qarmaqs in just their sarashi wraps in freezing temperatures!"
She ought to be nicer to the Fire Lord qua assassination attempt survivor.
The red escalated to astronomical proportions. "How was I supposed to know that? It's boiling outside!"
"I'm not sleeping here naked."
Mortification colored his elegant chokes.
Milo coughed and knocked against the door frame to interrupt a possible nation-wide fallout. "Fire Lord Zuko, your chambers have been swept and General Shen himself will guard tonight. May I suggest calling Ika to prepare the necessary items Lady Katara requires?"
Katara beamed at the only competence nearby.
Zuko's pink face departed with less fanfare, and she muttered irritably to herself, tried to thank the girl woken up to help her profusely, and refused to think about who's clothes she was borrowing as she fell asleep soundly.
Ika was there when she woke. The dimpled girl leveled a smile that Katara suspected was permanent on her face, given the wrinkles around the corner of her lips and deep dimples despite her young age, and yanked the curtains open.
The noon sun bathed the room in a not unpleasant warmth. Groggy, Katara sat up. "Wazz happening?" She slurred. There was a nice dream that was quickly racing away from her. Her mother, throwing a snowball, hoisting her onto a sled, cooking sea prune stew together.
Her gut curled. There would be another woman staying in her home now.
"I would let you continue sleeping, Lady Katara, but they are requesting your presence."
She moved to rub the sleep in her eyes, the ache in her muscles summoning the memories of the previous day. She keeled over and Ika rushed to her side, her presence not unwelcome. Assassins, Lady Fa, something about Toph?
A headache pounded at her right temple. Water. She needed water.
"Why didn't anyone wake me earlier?" Katara rushed to the restroom, trying not to waste time to gush over the ornate marble and beautifully decorated, distinctly feminine wardrobe. And the Fire Lady's room.
Ika fluttered behind her. "You're from the Water Tribe. I didn't think it wise to wake you up before breakfast and the Avatar said to let you continue resting…"
Ika thought right, but if the attendant's tiny wrinkled nose was an indication to immediately engage in lady time care lest she be thought of an unhygienic peasant by yet another citizen of the Fire Nation, Katara lurched behind the opaque folding screen, shrugged out of blegh, Azula's underclothes, and redid her wraps. The smell of fighting and sleep sweat persisted. She grimaced.
"Any chance I can take a bath?"
"Of course, Lady Katara. But it will take time. I'm not a firebender and it will take twenty minutes to hoist water from the springs—"
"Nevermind, thank you." She resolved to figure out how to do it herself if there was to be a continued drought of firebenders. Cold water was superior anyway, jostling her from the last of exhaustion, and though freezing her insides provided a nice dose of reality.
Her father was getting married. Sokka was about to propose to Suki. She had an almost-murder mystery afoot.
Nearly done with pulling the water over freshly washed wraps, she inched for her trusty leggings. Ika rapped impatiently against the wall.
"Lady Katara, we're running late."
"Just a few minutes."
"We have to go now. The Avatar and the Fire Lord are waiting." Ika stuck her hand around the screen. From slender fingers dangled gorgeous peals of maroon and pastel fabric.
She swallowed. What was worse: wearing Azula's clothes to sleep or wandering the halls dressed in the former Fire Lady's dresses?
Her hesitation cost her. A thumb scarcely touched the fabric when Ika's entire body followed her hand and she floundered about, eyes closed, attempting to wrestle Katara into accepting the outfit. She failed to recall ever having the help of such a personable attendant and decided she would like it, if it didn't entail the awkward that followed. Unlike her fitted Ao Dai, the sleeves of this dress swooped into large arcs that reached her knees. She felt consumed by the fabric.
Fiddling with the hem as Ika led her through the Residential Wing, which was a rather nice trek on foot instead of on ice bridges from the outside, she studiously diverted her attention away from the scores of guards and servants. Whispers of conversations focused on danger in the palace and horror for the attempt on the Fire Lord's life.
Ika pushed her into a familiar antechamber, each corner cordoning a massive painting of a previous Fire Lord. Past this lay the offices. "It's only the inside layers. No one will recognize the dress."
That's not the only problem, Katara almost muttered, but again. Mystery. Intrigue. Suspiciously-absent firebenders. Higher-order concerns.
All was explained upon entrance into Zuko's office. He stood in front of his desk instead of his usual position behind it; Piandao, the two military officers, a scribe, Aang, and a Kyoshi warrior were scattered across an array of seating in a semi-circle, though Aang looked tempted to bolt on an air-scooter. General Shen dutifully kept his hands clasped behind his back. Lieutenant Lee, a newer addition to the military and in this meeting by virtue of having been on duty the night before, was less familiar with an upfront seat to Zuko's bristling.
The Fire Lord was one tone away from his voice to be considered at proper shouting levels; his pupils were dilated, hands gesturing furiously. Shades of how he used to pursue them across the world, shouting 'peasant' and 'little girl'. Only shades, however—he was far more refined, heaps kinder, and less prone to swift volatile outbursts. She recalled the memories in amusement.
The state of Zuko's appearance told her that he caught the least amount of sleep of everyone here. A twinge of worry gnawed at her as Lieutenant Lee jolted at her appearance and immediately moved to offer her his seat.
"Please continue," she shook her head.
Zuko's gaze turned to her slowly, having been too busy eviscerating his army's competency. As soon as it clicked on her, she felt her cheeks burn, and other pairs of eyes sought her out too.
She leaned against a bookcase. At Zuko's nod and Piandao's careful eyebrow raise, she enlightened the room to terse descriptions of the night's events and said nothing of the conversation between her, Zuko, Aang, and Piandao.
Learn, Healer Joru had berated her.
After that, they argued heavily. Ukano, once Healer Joru finished conducting a postmortem exam to determine the cause of death, would be cremated tomorrow. The assassin had been interrogated at least thrice to no avail, and Zuko and Aang were adamantly against the use of any fire torture to extract information from her. Katara was surprised at Zuko's objection because he did allow for other interrogation methods on Ozai loyalists throughout the years (and more in recent months). He was also the loudest supporter of Aang being one to murder his father. She was unable to linger over it as the conversation quickly transitioned to rooting out the mole among the firebenders.
Her urge to roast the others' convenient absence during the assassin break-in was finally dislodged when General Shen jutted a chin to the only Kyoshi warrior in attendance.
"My patrol has secured the firebenders for questioning. What we don't understand is how the assassin was able to…bypass such an elite group of renown warriors."
She scoffed at the snide edge to his voice. "Like the military could have done any better."
The corner of Zuko's lips started to twitch, as though he was debating whether to find it funny or not.
General Shen narrowed his eyes. "Your valiant efforts are applauded, Lady Katara. However, these are military matters—"
"Efforts? She almost killed him." She noted at least two warning looks. She ignored them. "Your Fire Lord could have died and you think now is the appropriate time to berate the only people who risked their lives to save him? We should be focused on how to prevent this next time!"
"Katara's right," Aang added. She sent him a grateful smile. "Our focus is on protecting Zuko however we can and figuring out who did this."
General Shen's eyes sharped into thin seams, conceding little to even Aang. "Our army is concerned. The Fire Lord's new warriors' proved more capable than old security, but we question the employment of foreigners at a time such as now."
"'More capable?' Firebenders would've turned the whole floor into a melted war balloon." Ah. She understood. Of course, the only priority at a time like this was age-old nationalism. She opened her mouth to add as much, fully convinced at Zuko's equally affronted face, when he glowered.
"This is not about Fire Nation unemployment rates right now, General."
At that, she made a small noise resembling a komodo rhino Toph tried to get her to feed once. Unemployment rates? The man was positively bigoted!
Aang nodded sagely, his disdain octaves lighter than theirs. "Many Fire Nation nobles joined the Kyoshi Warriors too!" His youthful voice belied a tinge of annoyance.
"Ty Lee, please update us on the interrogation." Zuko continued. The Kyoshi Warrior, whom Katara just now recognized as the boisterous acrobat through the face paint, nodded in an excitement that rivaled Aang in the vicinity of egg pudding, and spoke in a flurry of run-on sentences. Knowledge of Ty Lee's life in recent months was limited to Mai's update that after another nasty argument with some of her sisters, the acrobat had taken a leave of absence to Ember Island for a few weeks.
Zuko and Aang must have called her back early to help them. Ty Lee was Fire Nation and a high-ranking Kyoshi warrior second only to Suki.
"From what we gathered, or not really we but like, the other girls, the failed assassin is a woman—super pretty by the way, just a little mean—and not from anywhere on the main island given her looks and slight accent, but she won't say anything else other than requesting that her father not be harmed."
"She must be from one of the colonies," Piandao concluded. "Mainland Fire Nation citizens are aware Fire Lord Zuko abolished generational punishment years ago, even the rural areas."
"Could be. Anyway, the other is the dude who broke into Ukano's cell. My sisters say he keeps looking at the wannabe assassin romantically so we're assuming he's a friendzoned best friend, boyfriend, or husband. Also won't say much."
Zuko nodded tightly. "Thank you Ty Lee."
The group continued to hammer out their next steps, and the quiet omission of seeking Toph's help meant that Piandao was wary of the military and possibly Ty Lee. Katara suppressed a shiver. How deep did the tentacles of betrayal reach?
Parallel to that line of thought, there was another unsettling realization rising up her throat.
There was a burst of pride for Aang, who's calming nature balanced Zuko's temper. Yet, they worked as a team; Zuko begrudgingly interpreting the General's statement charitably, Aang's point about the multicultural warrior force where Katara would have argued that the ethnic makeup didn't matter as much as fidelity, and finally the presence of Ty Lee herself, where she would have taken offense at needing the presence of a Fire Nation woman for the warrior force to be taken seriously.
They were playing politics.
She hated it. She was an ambassador, and a damn good one that won her multiple concessions for the Southern Water Tribe, but recent days created a lump in her throat. The abyss of self-beratement and incompetence was calling her to wallow in it.
At the end of the meeting and others left, when Zuko sighed and gave her a wary smile, and after Ty Lee hugged her close, she tried to quickly excuse herself.
The spirits sent Zuko's rasp to halt her.
"Katara."
She turned; her body was already angled towards the door.
Concerned amber orbs greeted her. In a smooth raking motion his eyes raked over her, the too-rich fabric and too-pastel colors, and she watched recognition dawn on him. The edges of his ears turned crimson. They matched his scar.
"Are you okay? Did you sleep well?"
She rubbed her wrist and made a noncommittal noise that should have sufficed.
Ty Lee bulldozed through the thick tension. "Ooh, I heard you were staying with Mai! You can stay with the warriors now. It'll be a sleepover! Zuko stopped coming to ours after he said I snored too loud."
The acrobat said her friend's name with nary a stutter. The woman's father had just been murdered.
"We were ten." He paused, tilting his head at the background chatter, courtesy of Aang and Piandao's exuberant disagreements over whether Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation daggers provided superior fruit-shucking skill. "No sleepover. Katara's helping me with…protection."
If he trusted Ty Lee then she did too, dubious acrobatics aside. Temporary bending block would have been useful to have on our side against Ozai. Instead it took a lion turtle. No offense, she added, should the spirits be listening.
Ty Lee slowed her prattling in startling proof that she too carried the ability to slow down. "Ooooh. You guys didn't tell the generals this! So is this super super secret stuff, or super super, maybe treasonous stuff?"
"Potentially both." Piandao joined them. The swordsman possessed an uncanny ability to hear across rooms. In her time knowing him he struck her as someone whose eyes and ears were always scoping for a possible strike, not unlike Iroh but less jovial. "We're going to request that Lady Toph help but we need more information before a letter is sent out. We don't want to put her in unnecessary danger."
Katara snorted. Toph would sooner crush an entire wing of the palace with a triumphant fist than let herself get hit by an amateur metalbender of her own making.
Ty Lee snapped to attention, initially positioning her hands in the Fire Nation bow before pulling out her fan in their symbolic fashion. "I'm on it. Sorry, Katara. We'd love to still have you over. Oh! Maybe for a spa night after, um, Mai returns. We can dress up! I love that dress and color on you."
Trying to follow the acrobat's haphazard line of thinking was marginally easier than chasing a stray rhino. "Thank you. It's—Princess Ursa's."
Ty Lee lifted a single eyebrow. "Oooh, a gift?"
"No, it's—I'm staying in the Fire Lady's room."
The acrobat's other eyebrow lifted, her doe-eyes carrying enough surprise for Piandao too, who only glanced questioningly between her and Zuko's increasingly reddening face. Katara hastily added, "I'm just staying there for now."
A thoughtful look entered Piandao's eye. "That is a tactical advantage. Good thinking."
Ty Lee shrugged and smiled. "Well, it looks good on you Katara. Doesn't it, Fire Lord Zuko?"
"Oh—Er. Sure."
Baffled, Katara almost forgot her impulse to leave. The conversation fizzling to an end, she lifted her hands in a Fire Nation salute and bit back a laugh at Aang's wiggling bum. The boy was half outside the window, waving to Appa in his stack of hay near the palace's Eastern walls.
To her surprise, Zuko joined her. Right.
What worried her was that aside from a higher intensity of gossip and increased surveillance, little else seemed different today. Meaning repeated attempts on his life was…normal.
Ty Lee skipped away to change shifts with her sister, so the pair strolled from his office, across the ambassadorial and advisors' smaller officers, and pivoted to head in the direction of the throne room. Most palace workers, open curiosity on their faces, bowed to Zuko and nodded to her as they passed; the few she recognized extended unpracticed arms out to clasp her forearm in a Water Tribe salute.
"My day today is packed with meetings," he said tonelessly. "I'll ask Sulan to send you a copy of my schedule later."
"Sure."
Privately, Sokka and Aang called Zuko's Sulan Beard Lover. Katara called him the same when Sokka was not around to hear because the secretary's nickname was perfect; there was not a single memorable quality to the thin wisp of a man other than an unkempt floor length beard that too often made its way into his tea. At least her healing abilities would keep at bay potential diseases wrought from the organisms declaring purchase in wayward beards. She shuddered at having to accept scrolls held by his grimy fingers—Zuko insisted the man was competent and so dull that the infinitesimal chances of successfully being hired elsewhere ensured little to no chance of his betraying the Fire Lord.
Katara glanced to her left. It was only starting to dwell with severity Zuko's situation. His smile had dropped entirely, only twitching in polite greetings levied from passersby. The palace carpenter held his attention for a few seconds longer, however, and upon Katara's greeting the toothy man broke out into a large smile.
"Lady Katara! Many thanks for the saved conference table."
Despite her earlier turmoil, she giggled. "My pleasure."
Zuko was already a few paces ahead when she bid the carpenter a good afternoon and in a less-than-elegant jog caught up to him. He walked as though he was on an ascending incline, his chin jutting out but the rest of him stiff in a hard line. Footsteps brisk, determined and purposeful. Sometimes he sulked about when brooding or folded inwards when shy, but he always moved as though the embers in him could not be quelled. His robes fell to his ankles and the hem danced behind, slow to follow the rest of him.
"Zuko," said Katara, "Is Ty Lee heading the interrogation the best idea?" The acrobat would stop further metal-suffocation attempts should anyone risk nearing with metal on their persons, but somehow she had little confidence in Ty Lee's ability to threaten answers from people. Alternatively, maybe her strategy was to chat the assassin into confessing.
"I wouldn't know," Zuko ground out, "I'm at the mercy of my generals."
"But you're the Fire Lord. She tried to kill you."
"I don't—trust myself to handle the interrogation appropriately." He barreled out of the antechamber to cross the courtyard into the Main Wing.
Was that his worry? He had said to her declaration that his word was law: I'd rather it not be.
After all these years, you doubt yourself.
"Zuko." The outdoor heat sent her rolled her sleeves up. They promptly fell to her wrists.
Meanwhile, the Fire Lord continued his tumultuous march, unaware.
"Zuko!"
An errant servant squeaked and scarcely avoided upending the tray of dumplings he carried onto the Fire Lord's robe.
"Zu—" At her obnoxious, and frankly embarrassing, stomach grumble did Zuko skid to a stop on the third stair into the entrance to the Main Wing.
"You haven't eaten?" He rasped. She peered at him through her lashes.
"No—I can wait—but slow down. You almost steamrolled over the poor boy." She smiled apologetically at the servant. "So sorry. And please convey my thanks at the kitchen accommodating my taste." She turned dour at the boy's shaky bow and dart into the East Wing and returned her focus to the Zuko-shaped problem at hand. "We don't all have spindly legs."
That managed to rouse him from his distress. "Spindly—Toph's shorter and is faster than me."
"The ground moves for her. And I'm in a dress."
He tugged his red and gold collar, the expanse of his jaw turning red, though that could be attributed to the vicious sun heralding its revenge on innocents. She squinted.
"Are you okay?"
Tiny flames pirouetted on his fingertips. "I'm fine!" A long pause, followed by a surreptitious clearing of throat. "I'm fine."
When the sparks showed no sign of abating and threatened to become the sun's accomplice in wringing her dry, she flicked a mist of water over him. It did the job and evaporated just as quickly. He blinked, wearing the look of a man deep in philosophical inquiry, and for the first time she thought: he does not wear every emotion on his face. He was—of oscillating tempers, but this face shored a heavy weight on his back, a mind dense in worry.
Under Agni's rays, the shadows carved further in his gaunt face.
"When was the last time you saw Healer Joru?" At his appalled twitch she amended, "or had a full night's rest?" Heavy footsteps and a shadow distinctly in the shape of a Kyoshi Warrior neared. She bit her lip. "Do…you want me to heal—?"
"I thought I was late," Ty Woo wheezed. Boasting a body type bulkier than Ty Lee, Ty Woo made a formidable guard. The woman was the only Kyoshi Warrior without a battle fan. Perhaps she thought it hindered her bare hands. Whenever Katara felt nervous that Ty Woo could simply haul her over her shoulder and dash away, she imagined the woman playing the harp in delicate waves.
Ty Lee's family deserved a scientific journal's worth of observations, she was sure.
"We are," groused Zuko.
"Waiting for me? Aw. Let's go then!"
Ty Woo grabby ways shuffled her close on Zuko's heels.
Katara thought post-assassination attempt palace life would be exciting.
She thought wrong.
Exciting was for the generals and professional interrogators. Exciting was for the attendant sneaking in bits of gossip about the nobles they served between meals. Exciting was the baby turtle-duck bobbing in the pond.
Any grand illusions she might have had as a child to be a Princess or a Queen died a glorious death after experiencing half a day next to Zuko. Attempted murder was not enough to stop the churn of, admittedly necessary, but dull proceedings that kept a nation running.
Part of her, not the gossip side but the eager-to-please side, was curious to observe first-hand the insider shenanigans of Fire Nation rule. Instead, she was exposed to a series of increasingly mind-numbing meetings. Her little tête-à-tête with General Shen was the second most titillating exchange to happen that day (the first was Ambassador Hoko almost slipping in Bosco's slobber before he bent it into a carafe Katara would gently remind him later was a ceremonial vase).
"Aren't you going to sit?" asked Ty Woo, the meeting under full-swing.
Do we trust all the Ty sisters? Katara crossed her arms. She would need to speak to Piandao and Zuko about this arrangement. And the clothes. She didn't want to soil Princess' Ursa's belongings in a mad dash over ice bridges.
"Um—I'm not on duty."
Ty Woo's face contorted in confusion but abandoned the line of questioning, thankfully, her sole response coming in the form of sharing a packet of gummies.
It was spicy. Oh for La's sake—
And such did Katara's Silent Disavowal Against Bureaucracy begin.
She met Councilor Yang's biting looks with a long glare, fought down a growl at Lady Fa's bout of rancorous giggles, and focused on Zuko's negotiations to resettle Fire Nation migrants returning from the Earth Kingdom. Next, she ensured nothing in his office could become sudden fodder for metalbending while he met with King Kuei, who offered him profuse apologies and the promise of dealing with the assassins once the Fire Nation was finished with them. She enjoyed Zuko's tearing of the Minister for Finance's proposal to raise taxes for the outer villages, and then, while he wrapped up a conversation with a noblewoman's regarding funding for an arts guild, engaged in a surprisingly joyful conversation with Ty Woo on the many types of stringed instruments in the Fire Nation. Most melodies in the Water Tribe were produced through voice or drum.
"Oh, and Ty Lum sends her thanks. She's feeling much better today."
Katara blanched. "I am so sorry. I had forgotten to ask—are her hands okay?" Ty Lum had been one of the warriors who fought with her last night.
"Minor bruises. Healer Joru growled at her all morning which means it wasn't serious."
She breathed in relief. She hoped that her new guard duty wouldn't keep her from helping Healer Joru. Mulling over their conversation, she acknowledged that she respected Fire Nation medicine more than she gave credit for it, though their methods remained squarely somewhere between medieval and pungent. As an exercise, the grumpy healer had once made her taste white dragon tea brewed with thyme meant to help women during their menses. She'd nearly given him an unsolicited shower for insulting the Fire Lord's uncle by calling slimy paste tea. She told Ty Woo this, and the two doubled over in laughter imagining Iroh's face at the ordeal.
Zuko ducked out of the lounge.
She wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh, Zuko. Are you done?" He didn't look more exhausted but that was possibly because the man couldn't possibly look any more tired.
He grimaced, gesturing to Milo's arrival. The attendant carried an armful of clean linens to change the seating for the next meeting.
"One more. The Ministry of Health."
Her ears perked up.
"Really? What for?" When she felt Ty Woo's long gaze on her, she coughed in an attempt to dislodge the discomfort that had slowly settled in her since she woke. "Unless it's—um, private."
He rubbed his eyes. When his hands fell they left a small smile in their wake. "Not at all. As a forewarning, you might find it hard to stay quiet," he teased.
She distantly noted but brushed aside Ty Woo's mouth turning into an 'O.' "I'll have you know that I bit my hand to stop laughing at Councilor Shena's proposal. A twenty-two percent sales tax on wheat? Wheat comes from the Easternmost part of Earth Kingdom! People would just switch to barley." During Team Avatar's stay outside Ba Sing Se, half of all the meals Katara cooked were barley with different permutations of random herbs found in the wilderness. To be frank, she often thanked the spirits no stomachs were harmed during her run as chef.
"A fact, if you recall, I did remind her nicely of," said Zuko.
"It would've been easier to simply say that windbags would have known better had they funded education efforts, tossed out the propagandic maps, and traveled beyond the comforts of their home."
"On what air bison?"
"A sudden economic downturn of ships and war balloons? Someone notify Zhao."
Zuko breathed out a laugh. It was the first time he had done so all day.
As they waited for Milo to hurriedly usher in the servants carrying platters of tea and pastries, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Unlike Aang, who made the air dense to support him where needed, Zuko's stance favored his right leg. She'd noticed this over the years especially when he boarded and disembarked ships.
"Councilor Bengwa wants to remove the free clinics built post-war." He stopped a servant and took a handful of pastries from a plate, handing Katara and Ty Lum three each.
Hesitantly she bit into one, confirmed it consisted neither fire nor flake, and then proceeded to make a scandalized face. "That's—" she gulped, stomach purring in thanks "—that's going to hurt the rural villages!" The concept of paying for medical services had initially shocked her Water Tribe upbringing, remembering the times in the cities when she or Sokka had to scrape coins to buy medicine before she learned to harness her bending. The Fire Nation, though not as stratified socially as the Earth Kingdom, provided free medical care to certain classes of people. If those clinics disappeared, inhabitants in rural towns would be forced to trek dozens of miles into the city for affordable healthcare or pay the arbitrarily set fees by singular clinics exploiting a geographic monopoly.
"Yes, but the problem is funding." No surprise there. "Not enough healers want to move to those areas so the quality of care has decreased. Councilor Bengwa argues that maintaining them is a bigger harm than keeping them."
Katara finished the last of the delectable sugary pastry. Perhaps they could constitute half of her diet here. Whoever thought to add spice to desserts was an utter loon.
"The Water Tribes require trainees to serve the community and accept no trade offers until they become healers." Would it be rude to lick her fingers in front of everyone? Sugar was a veritable collector's item in these parts.
His thoughtful frown stopped her.
Yes—but this is not the Water Tribe.
"Or," she started slowly, "create a stipend? I helped Healer Joru do a survey last year. The cost of traveling to the city and workers' increased time off due to delayed care would easily outweigh whatever budget you have now."
When she turned her visual focus from sticky fingers to Zuko, she held back a lurch of surprise.
Zuko's eyes were glittering.
They went in and out of focus, and just as Milo exited and gestured for the Fire Lord to enter, he gave her a quick nod.
"That's a good idea. I'll mention it to her. Milo, can you bring the ladies an early dinner? No spice."
He disappeared behind the curtain. Ty Woo tossed her one of her pastries as Katara looked on, curious.
"Don't tell Ty Lee. Once I tried Earth Kingdom cuisine I could never go back. Scalding your insides is not a flavor profile."
Oh, no. She realized heartily she might actually adore the Ty family.
As the sky started tucked the sun into the horizon, Katara's blood sang. The Day of Excruciation was coming to a close; surely, this was where the men and women were to gather in the courtyards and train. Zuko, Fire Lord, Master Firebender, practicing with his swordsmaster would compensate for the hours sacrificed in servitude.
Preferably shirtless, spoke a traitorous voice, one that earned immediate banishment.
Alas, no such time came. Dinner was a quick affair in his office, plans for showing King Kuei's retinue the city put on hold until further notice. Instead, after the sun set, they all gathered in a watch tower, the emissary pointing to the landmarks to the oohs and aahs of the visitors. Katara caught up with Aang, chatted amicably with Ambassador Hoko ("That was a ceremonial vase" "they can buy a new one" "that defeats the purpose of ceremonial. Also, I challenge you to a spar" "I cannot spar a Lady"), and rejoined Ty Woo when Lady Fa cooed loudly at a decrepit temple in the distance. The infernal woman tried to sidle up to Zuko and Katara imagined wedging herself violently between them. Thankfully, King Kuei turned to his ambassador and asked her to check in on Bosco.
Zuko did his part of the host. He leaned against the parapet, all hems dutifully still in the early evening lack of wind, weight more on his right leg than left. His topknot was a thumb's width off-center. She remembered him running his hands through his hair yesterday, and the day before that tousled and sweaty. He spoke in his signature low-register voice that carried a perpetually raspy edge.
"Katara?"
Oh. They had been speaking about how Ty Lee learned to contort her body into a swan-bird configuration when she was seven.
"Sorry, it's—it's been a long day."
"Yeah. You should see him during solstice week. Imagine today but ten times worse."
"Without metalbending homicide, I hope."
Ty Woo shuddered. "Blegh. I can't believe it. Imagine wanting to kill someone just because...just because. Agni. Just why?"
Katara watched Zuko nod and answer one of King Kuei's questions. Sometimes, she wondered, had the conversation allowed, if she would have supported Zuko and Sokka's insistence that Aang kill Ozai and stop seeking another way out.
A darker Katara would have insisted Aang bloodbending. Or, hysterically, used it herself to fight Azula before she hurt Zuko.
There was a reason—a reason she hesitated. She saw Yon Rha, broken and cowardly, and found death to be too good for him. She saw Aang's innocent eyes and belief in the world's goodness and doubted, burdened by the sheer strength of his principles, that killing was ever the answer, even for a man like Ozai.
Aang never asked her if she agreed with the others and that Ozai needed to die. Sometimes, she also thought this was true beginning of the misalignment between her and Aang. Her field trip with Zuko to find her mother's killer told Aang, her best friend, the boy in the ice, the boy she saved and loved, that she hesitated. Despite her free choice in the end to spare a coward, Aang forever knew that Katara was capable of considering so utterly despicable to him.
Zuko was also wrong. She doubted herself, and like him, eventually made the right choices. It was one thing to put her faith in dependable, unshakable goodness; and another to put it in someone who tasted wrong and still chose right. His insistence that Ozai and Azula remain in prison left him vulnerable to their supporters.
How could she not believe in him?
"I lost you again Katara."
"I'm so sorry."
Ty Woo eyed her carefully. "Nice dress. Ty Lee's choice?"
Not in a mood to explain the pink when she seldom wore red, she hummed in agreement. The sleeves were not too bad if all one did was stand incredibly still. How did Princess Ursa move about and raise two children in like this?
"When does he finish today?"
"I'd have to ask his secretary. All I know is I'm off shift in an hour." Ty Woo giggled when Katara suppressed a yawn. "It's not so bad. It's fun when he goes out—well, there won't be much of that right now. Hmm." The warrior brightened. "You'll get to see him spar. That's a lot of fun."
"When does he train?"
Ty Woo tapped her chin. "Every morning after dawn, every third day in the afternoon plus every Friday except the last Friday of the month. Unless he's on a trip, then there's three separate schedules depending on its length."
She watched Zuko purse his lips. That meant King Kuei was either talking about Bosco or had mentioned Long Feng. "Did he seem…a little off to you today?"
"Oh. He's been like that for a while."
That meaning stress? Or anxious? There was a Sokka-sounding voice in her head reminding her to be careful of reading into things, but the same Sokka-sounding voice also told her to follow her instincts. Toph's cackle at her habit of getting in people's business (which, by the way, who was the one who'd warned them all to not breach Hama's privacy and break into that room? Yes, me!) also echoed in the distance.
She cared. She wanted people she cared about to be okay.
They gathered in the private lounge in the Residential Wing again. The same tea, not the same ungodly hour. Ty Lee's addition, and subsequent chatter, would have kept them awake regardless.
"We tried everything. The only thing was she fessed up to was confirming she's from a colony after General Shen threatened to keep food and water away for twenty-four hours. The guy is her boyfriend."
"Twenty-four means she is not in the hitman trade," mused Piandao.
Aang poked his eyes to keep them open. "There's a market for that?"
"Yes," said Piandao the same time Zuko nodded, "Yeah."
"How would you—oh. Sparky Sparky Boom Man."
Ty Lee threaded her right arm around her left in a manner only a boneless human could do. "Who?"
"Long story," Katara sipped her tea. It was too hot.
"Also," Ty Lee, arms still knotted, petted her braid down, "Lieutenant Lee's overseeing all Earth Kingdom ships that docked here this week and did some math thing. He said there was one ship that went unaccounted for yesterday and a hawk from a General in Hira'a said it docked there earlier today."
The room froze. Hira'a was the town Zuko's mother and half-sister resided in. Ugly panic colonized Katara's gut.
Zuko shot to his feet, the heat emanating from his demeanor hotter than the fresh tea. "I'm going."
"Fire Lord Zuko! We can't be rash." said Piandao in his wise tone, an edge of threat to it.
"That's my mother. You saw what they did here; she's a firebender but they are defenseless."
"And what of your palace and nation? If you are harmed, do you understand that the throne lives and dies with you, and can plunge the rest of the world into—"
"Of course I know that!" shouted Zuko. A spark caught a fold of the curtains and Katara vanquished it before it did any damage. "When have I not known that! I'm not the Avatar and my entire life is—for my nation—I am at the mercy of the entire world."
"Fire Lord Zuko. I implore you to call your uncle."
"I am not a child. He doesn't deserve—and I—and no need for you to take his place either."
Piandao stood, looking mighty disappointed. Wearing the look of a man who regretted his words as he said them, Zuko's jaw loosened.
"Master Piandao, I apologize. I haven't—I don't—"
"I understand," said Piandao tightly.
Zuko's hands pulsated in a gentle ochre but his voice cooled. "Ty Lee. Half the Kyoshi Warriors depart for Hira'a tonight, including you. If you see anyone suspicious, use your chi blocking and keep them for questioning. General Shen is to send a missive ceasing all Earth Kingdom ships from docking at their port from until tomorrow evening."
The acrobat squeaked. "But—you, and the palace—"
"My mother." Zuko grasped a cup of tea and drank it in one motion. He set the cup down, his pink softening the descent, but Katara still heard a crack of porcelain and winced. "I'll have Katara with me. Thank you, Ty Lee."
The statement created a riot of flares in her heart. Adrenaline of a possible fight, she assumed.
"Zuko, it'll be okay," said Aang softly.
Zuko gave him a stiff nod and exited. Unwilling to suffocate in the silence, and heart palpitating, Katara bowed to the abandoned occupants.
"I'll see if I can help."
She caught him in the hall perpendicular to the one leading to his chambers. The five-pronged crown teetered from his topknot. His pupils were blown and his slender fingers splayed at his sides. He only ever had his hands fully unfurled when they began to light; his usual state was to have them semi-curled, not into fearsome fists but fingers retracted enough that his fingernails were hidden.
"Zuko. Zuko! If you ignore me this time—" Great, Toph was better at the business of threatening, "I'll keep asking you if you're okay. On repeat, like a sparrowkeet."
He stumbled and quickly recovered.
"Wait." Katara plied his hands with water, and unwilling to waste more—would her new job require carrying a second waterskin to aid the steaming man, for La's sake—resorted to grabbing his hands.
Startled by the sudden cool or the movement itself, he stopped.
When she moved to untangle them, he slipped his fingers in the gaps between hers. If he folded them, their hands would be entirely intertwined.
She willed him to cool and instead found herself catching fire. The sensation fogged her mind and it was Zuko's furrowing brow that returned her to their words, instead of the meeting of appendages hovering between their chests.
"Zuko," the harpy pitch sounded like Katara at thirteen and she inwardly cringed, "Whoever these people are, they're trying to rile you up and it's working. I know you're upset."
"I'm not upset."
Katara focused the entirety of her gentle water-based hold to turn to ice. Every time the sheen across her skin tried to solidify, his warring embers sent her melting. It was a little dance of wills: freezing, melting, freezing, melting, and then all that was left was a lukewarm puddle.
"Aren't you?"
"Listen to me. You saw me for half the day, Katara. It doesn't begin to get at—everything I have to do—and if I don't outgrow the shadow of my father's rule—"
"No, you listen. You're not the only one affected. Ty Lum needs another day to recover. Aang's lived with his destiny since he was a child. It's not all on you."
He deflated, running a hand through his hair. "You're right."
She put herself in his shoes. Ty Woo had informed her that Mai was almost in Omashu. Mai's father's funeral pyre was being prepared for tomorrow morning.
She softened. "Is it Mai?"
He closed his eyes. "I'm not sure it's appropriate to discuss that with you."
She looked down and let go of his hands. His and hers—all had returned to normal temperature. "Alright." What would be appropriate here? An offer to accompany him to the funeral? Though she supposed she would have been in attendance anyway, but the sentiment mattered.
He spoke ahead of her rolling tidal wave of thoughts. "We were—weren't—when she left. I kept secrets from her. She's…she told me a while back that she felt suffocated, and that she was meant to do more than wait to be my wife."
"But...you wanted to go with her."
"She's my best friend." His voice went hoarse. "Azula arrested her for helping me. She's the longest-standing noble of the court. The Fire Nation should have offered her better than a dead father."
Then, Katara tried to put herself in Mai's shoes. The stone-faced woman's reaction to her prying questions made her burn in shame. Imagine, a snobbish court that a beloved worked, unswaying and diligent, to change in a manner commensurate to his people's willingness to accept, waiting for there to be space for her.
Her heart tightened. Throwing all caution to the wind, stay uncaring! Live your dreams! These were slogans of people not burdened with the fate to change the world.
"I don't know what to do, Katara."
His mother was a closely-guarded weakness. Few at the palace knew they had found her at all. Close friends celebrated when Zuko, Aang, and Katara had returned from their search successful, and any dampened feelings Zuko had about not having his family back in the palace was quickly put aside because his mother was safe where Ozai could never hurt her again.
Zuko lived for years thinking his mother died because of him. The Fire Prince who's mother left, and the Fire Lord who worried he couldn't protect her. Katara watched all of this flicker over his face and saw in him her own mother.
"I know," she said quietly. "I don't know how you can stand it."
He started walking again. Knowing the wing's general layout now, she stepped into place beside him instead of behind him as he made sharp cuts with his hands to light the candles on metal sconces against the walls. A Kyoshi warrior and three guards at the entrance of his room bowed. Zuko nodded in greeting and continued for the Fire Lady's chambers.
After you, he motioned. She pushed the door open and he quickly lit the room too, before she caught sight of a sparking stone on the dresser.
He lingered and she hovered; how did a waterbender-turned-guard go about divesting herself from his presence? She tried to remember if at the end of her shift Ty Woo said anything to Zuko or slinked away for Ty Lee took her place. Likely the latter. Fire Lords didn't have time to concern themselves with such things.
Fire Lords who were not Zuko. Just as Zuko's hand lifted to close to door behind him, he spun and lifted a hand to the back of his neck.
"Also—you looked good. Today."
She furrowed her brows. Had he worried over that all day? In that brain carrying dozens of to do items at any given time?
"Thank you." She flushed. She wouldn't admit that she considered snipping the sleeves in half no less than three times. Besides that, the dress was a gorgeous ensemble. "I felt bad."
"Don't be. You met my mother. She would be happy someone is using them."
"Alright. Um, about my stuff from Mai's..."
He pointed. "Milo said they were left in the bathroom earlier. I apologize, I wasn't thinking today."
"We know."
He grumbled. Too soon? Nonetheless, he gave her a hesitant smile. "The schedule is in there too."
Yes, Beard Lover's groundbreaking work of one meter scrolls detailing exact coordinates of the Fire Lord's location in thirty-minute intervals. A sudden notion threatened to make her swim to the Northern Water Tribe, almost.
"Are you getting up at dawn?" Please say no, please say no.
"Yes." He laughed back a smirk on his way out and she suffered a dozen small deaths inside.
Hasty in her efforts to fall asleep, she missed a black shadow in a blue mask pass blur outside.
Toph
There was an attack yesterday. Two metalbenders, one female and one male, entered the palace with the help of an insider. They refuse to speak. We request your prompt arrival, courtesy of our blimp that will arrive in one full day's time. If you are currently short of two metalbenders, please return a letter with the hawk (feed him first) detailing any information that may be of us.
It is also imperative that Uncle doesn't hear about this.
Fire Lord Zuko
"Who normally pens your letters?" asked Katara. Her stomach felt it befitting to impress Ty Lee in its sudden love for circus shenanigans. That, or it was the fact she had been awake for two hours and it wasn't even noon. After the funeral, she was going to her office and napping. Piandao can take over. What does he do when he's not swordfighting...or painting...or helping Zuko...she began to nod off. A twittering bird cajoled her to resume her duties.
Zuko frowned at the map on his desk. "For official business, Sulan."
It was not surprising that his slender fingers gave way to elegant, if slanted, penmanship. Katara held the letter to the morning sun bathing his office.
"Hm. Toph is blind."
He sweared.
Toph (and her assistant who reads her letters, and the court presumes will keep the following in confidence).