Chapter 20: The Past

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That morning, Sura watched the clouds rolling in carefully. She calculated that if Mai were forced to feed the animals again, she'd better start soon, so that she could get it done before the storm.

Sura made her way to one of the balconies overlooking the menagerie. She scanned the grounds for the shiny black hair in the two braids she'd insisted on. She caught sight of Mai trying to haul a huge cart full of meat to the cow hippo's cage. Sura decided it was time for a closer look.

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Lin was not paying any attention to the weather. She kept her head down, trying desperately to pull the cart uphill.

Why would anyone suspect her of the ability to pull heavy loads against the forces of gravity? It was stupid.

She couldn't stop, though. She would not allow herself to stop. It was her duty to keep pulling, and that was what she intended to do. Her duty. Her obligation. That which she must do as decreed by Fate.

Thinking of all the similar ways to describe duty was making her drowsy, but at least it gave her something to do.

As her mind wandered, she considered why she felt like she should have throttled the people who'd ordered her to do this, instead of listening to them.

She channeled her frustration into her task. The cart moved one inch. Pathetic. She frowned, her eyes narrowing. Everything had seemed so simple that morning. She'd requested help from Sura in dividing her hair into two parts and securing them. Sura had braided them, and though that hadn't felt right, Lin had kept silent. Keeping silent was the easy thing to do.

"Lin, what are you doing?" Sura looked worried.

Lin looked back at the cart of meat she was trying to haul up the incline. "I'm feeding the other prisoners," she drawled.

Sura's mouth twisted into a smirk for a moment before returning to the concerned frown. "You can't possibly do that yourself."

"Then why don't you help me?" Lin was half joking. But only half way.

Sura took hold of the straps around her friend's waist and shoulders and undid them. "It's not healthy for you to have these where they are." Sura bit back a comment about the straps putting pressure on Mai's baby, remembering just in time that Mai was brainwashed and had forgotten all about her baby.

Lin watched as Sura put the straps around her own waist. "But… you're putting them in the unhealthy place…"

"It's fine for me." Sura waved Lin away.

"But… how is that possible?"

"Don't ask, just pull." Sura began doing so, and Lin followed suit.

Together, the two women were able to get to the top of the hill.

"Ha! See, the power of teamwork triumphs!" Sura punched the air with her fists, doubling the gesture as a stretch for her back.

"Over whom?" Lin asked, looking around for an adversary.

"The powers of exhaustion and miscarriage!" Sura laughed.

"Miscarriage?" Lin was more confused than before.

"Never mind." Sura laughed again, releasing Lin from the straps. "Let's feed these monsters and get inside." She eyed the sky again. Maybe she could bend the water away from Lin's head to keep her dry…

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The clouds had darkened dangerously, and despite Sura's best efforts, they were still outside.

The first spear of lightning cut across the sky.

Lin saw it and froze in place.

When the sound of thunder cracked and boomed in Lin's ears, she broke out of her paralytic state and screamed, throwing herself to the ground.

Sura hadn't expected that. "Lin, what's wrong?"

"Lightning!" Lin's voice was trembling with her fear.

"It's all right. Lightning won't hurt you!" Sura tried to get Lin to stand up. Maybe if they were just inside…

"She's here! She's going to shoot me full of lightning for betraying her!"

"Who?" Sura was bending rain away from both of them.

"I don't know!" Lin moaned. "I don't remember who she is, but she hates me! I betrayed her because I stopped being afraid of her!"

More lightning. More rain. Sura was getting frustrated. "If you stopped being afraid of her, why are you afraid of her now?"

"Back then I had something to replace the fear." Lin sobbed. "Not anymore."

"What's the problem here?" a guard asked.

"Nothing, she's just afraid of the storm!" Sura laughed. "Come on Lin, let's get inside…"

"I'm not afraid of the weather!" Lin cried. "The— the princess is going to kill me!"

"No, she won't." Sura stroked Lin's hair, hoping to calm her down the way you would calm a child. "What was it that you replaced the fear with?"

"Love." Lin stopped crying. "But I can't remember what I was supposed to love that much."

"That sounds like her treatment is wearing off." The guard shook his head. "I'll have to report her." As the guard began to walk off, Sura turned her furious blue eyes on him. "No, you won't!" She froze the water on the ground around the man, and he slipped on the ice. Sura bent the water to push him into a supply closet and froze the door frame. "Come on, Lin. I'm going to take you away from the princess."

Lin rose with Sura and allowed herself to be led from the menagerie.

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Back in Lin's room, Sura let Lin drop onto her bed. "Now, breathe, Lin," she commanded gently. If commanding was the only way to get Lin to relax, then she'd have to do it. "The princess cannot get to you."

Lin looked at Sura, then shook her head. "You can't ever stop Azula. You don't know her."

"You remembered her name!" Sura grinned. "Your memories are coming back."

Lin blinked. "You're right!"

An idea came to Sura. "I command you to remember what your real name is."

Lin's eyes glazed over for a second. "Lin Qiang." She said these words in a monotone achievable only by actors and those who have been put in a trance.

"No, no, no!" Sura stamped her foot, making Lin jump. "Sorry, but you have to remember that you're Fire Lady Mai, married to Fire Lord Zuko, and mother of the Fire Lord's child!"

Lin stared blankly.

The door was thrown open by five guards, led by the disheveled one Sura had locked in the closet.

"Treatment time."

One of them laughed at Lin's expense as he and a couple others lifted her off the bed.

Sura glared at the guard who'd told on them, expecting him to punish her, too.

The guard just smiled smugly and left with the others.

This was just getting on Sura's last nerve. She would have to find extra excuses to cause "accidents" for that particular guard…

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Many thanks to our reviewers, who motivate me to actually try to get a chapter posted every week: gloomy maiko lover, imsunprincess54, Kimjuni2, silvereyes12, and TheGobe.