Zuko

It had been about a week since we brought the Kushitoa girls to Capital City. Today would be the first day sitting down with them and questioning them on what they know. The more information we could glean from them, the better our chances were of getting to the bottom of this and shutting this down for good. It worried me that they were bringing in girls from the outside. It concerned me what else was being smuggled in.

Sam and I arrived at the shelter. I had insisted on coming along because I felt especially responsible for these girls. I also felt incredibly guilty they were left in a prison for over a week after I was attacked. Of course, Sam told me this was not my fault, but I still feel responsible. I dismounted the rhino and helped Sam down. She still felt wrong that I was helping her and not the other way around, after what happened to me. But she is my wife. And it's my job to take care of her. She took great care of me. It was the least I could do. Besides. I was getting around a lot better now.

"Zuko, I still think it's silly that you will be here. These girls don't speak our language."

"It doesn't matter, I want to be here. I want…I want them to know that not all men are bad." I said. She looked over at me and lovingly stroked my face. I loved it when she did that and it never got old.

We walked into the building and we saw Fu Sen and waved him down. He came up to us and bowed respectfully. "Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Samyah. Good to see you here again."

"Thank you, Fu Sen. We are here to speak with the girls. Have you gotten any information from them?" Sam asked.

"Not too much. You will be pleased to know that one of the girls actually speaks our language." I perked up at this. Thank Agni, I'll be able to understand at least one of them. "She seems to have become sort of a den mother to the other girls so she may know more than the others. Her name is Fatan and she is in the first room on the right."

"Thank you, Fu Sen." He was good at his job. He was patient with the girls and made sure they had everything they needed. He would also do what he could to protect their loved ones. IF they had any. Many of these girls were orphans and had nobody.

"One of them speaks our language? Well, that was convenient. Or dumb luck." Sam said. We held hands as we made our way to her room. We would speak to her first. Sam knocked on the door and I heard her approaching the door from the other side. She opened it and looked at Sam and I. We were dressed much less formally than we were the last time she saw us. I was in my every day clothes as was Sam. I didn't have my Fire Lord cape on - only my usual topknot and hairpiece. Sam also donned this hair arrangement. Her hair being curly though, I always looked a little messy in the topknot. I, of course, didn't mind. I love her hair.

"Fatan, may we talk to you if you don't mind?" Sam asked in their language.

"Yes, please, come in," she said, in our language so I would understand. I noticed she had a very thick accent. Sam didn't have an accent although some words she did pronounce differently. She had learned our language as part of her education as the crown princess of Kondai. Apparently our language is spoken in other countries on the outside too.

We walked in and there was a second chair in the room - all of the rooms had one chair. She saw us notice this. "Some of the other girls need to not be alone so they come in here. Fu Sen allowed me to have this so they would be able to sit with me. Is that ok?"

"Of course, it's ok. I told you, you are no longer anyone's property. You can do as you please. I'm sure you remember our Fire Lord, Zuko?" Sam said, gesturing to me.

"Yes, he was the one who broke us out of that hell hole." she looked at me. "I wasn't sure if I would ever see you again to properly thank you. The other girls are forever grateful as well. You could have ignored it or sent someone else, by which time they would have cleared us out of there. I can't tell you how many different houses we were in. You coming so quickly caught them off guard. I'm sorry you were injured though." she said, eyeing my cane.

"Think nothing of it. I'm glad I was able to help you and the other girls. Yours was the first house I broke up myself so I wasn't sure what I was doing. I'm so happy it worked out for you. Well…all things considered." I said.

"You will see as time goes on that Zuko is a kind and fair Fire Lord." Sam said.

"I was going to ask you about that actually, if you don't mind." she said bowing.

"Of course. What did you want to know?"

"Where…will we be going now?" she asked, nervously.

"Is there any place you DON'T want to go?" Sam asked.

"Well, I mean. I would love to go home but…I don't know that it would be safe."

"I can assure you, it is not. They will likely just recapture you." Sam said.

"Is there any place you DO want to live?" I asked. Fatan fidgeted with her hands. She knew what she wanted to say but was afraid to say it. "Go on. You won't upset us. I promise." I said.

"Well…the girls and I have been talking and…we don't know if it would be possible but…we would like to stay here, in the Fire Nation. We have seen the type of leaders this nation has and the people here are so welcoming and warm. But I understand if that isn't possible." she finished.

"If staying in the Fire Nation is what you want, than your wish is granted. We would be happy to have you all here as citizens. I will have Fu Sen get the paperwork ready to be processed. We can have you official Fire Nation citizens by the end of the week." I explained. At this declaration, Fatan looked happier than I had seen her yet.

"Oh, thank you, Fire Lord! It means everything to us! Thank you!" she exclaimed, bowing.

"Think nothing of it." I echoed my words from earlier. "We would be honored for you to be part of our people." I stopped and looked at Sam, urging her to take the reigns now.

"Would you mind answering a few questions that we have?"

"Of course not, Fire Lady. I'll tell you everything."

"You said you were in several houses. Were all of these houses in the Fire Nation?"

"No. We started out in a big city. I don't know what the name of it is but I'm sure I'll know it if I heard it." she said.

"Ba Sing Se?" Sam asked.

"No, that wasn't it."

"Omashu?"

"Not that either. It seemed more…futuristic than the rest of the Bending Nations."

"Republic City?" I chimed in.

"Yes! That's it! Republic City!"

"Was that where you went first?" Sam asked and she nodded. "How long were you there for?"

"Well, I was taken…I guess I don't know when. It feels like a few months ago. Maybe six months ago? I think I've been here, in the Fire Nation, for…about a month?" she said. I looked surprised she had no concept of time.

"It isn't uncommon, Zuko. Many times they can't even look outside, so it's easy to lose track." Sam explained to me when she saw my confusion. That made sense.

"The last house you were in, how long were you there for?"

"Oh, that is the only house I was put in, in the Fire Nation. So a good month."

"Do you know how profitable this house was?"

"Well, I don't know exactly but when…they would come…" she said and trailed off. Sam reached over and placed her hand on Fatan's arm.

"Take your time. We know this is hard for you." She looked at Sam and smiled.

"Thanks. It is hard to talk about." she stopped talking and looked out the window. Then her face scrunched up and she started to cry. "I…I can't believe I was so stupid."

"You couldn't have known, Fatan." I said.

"I really thought he liked me. He was so kind and gentle with me. We were going to go to one of the big cities in the Koya Desert. When we got there he lead me upstairs where there were half a dozen other girls and men walking around. I asked what was happening and my…he slapped me in the face and then he…" she trailed off. Sam and I both knew what she meant. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not, Fatan. These people are good at manipulation. They know how to get in your head. They make a living off of it." Sam said.

"But I SHOULD have known. I never trust anyone. And when I finally did trust someone…" she said. "Well, that's how I ended up here." she dropped her head in shame. My heart ached for her. She had nothing to be ashamed of. But I could also understand why she would. Even though it wasn't rational. I always did after Jakar had his way with me. And I felt very dirty after the Ozai supporters gang-raped me. "Anyway, from what I could see they would charge anywhere from a couple of copper pieces for one of us to the most I saw was 100 gold coins." I felt sick. I wasn't sure which was worse. Them selling them for next to nothing or them making a mint off of their pain and suffering. "Here we would…serve about 10 men a day which was a relief after Republic City." she mused.

"What? How many did you serve there?" Sam asked. I knew for certain, I did not want to know. She closed her eyes and tears seeped through. She shifted her weight in the chair, uncomfortably.

"Around…forty."

"FORTY!" I exclaimed, despite myself, "I hope you mean total!"

"No, sir. Forty each. It was exhausting. And painful. Many of them wanted to hurt us in…different ways. Hitting us, bending us backwards, fisting us. I was relieved when we left there." she said all of this without looking at me. I thought I was going to vomit.

"Do you know who the leader is?"

"No, but I did catch a glimpse of him once. I really couldn't describe him. He was so…normal. I think I would recognize him though. We weren't supposed to see him. But he saw us, I know that. I'm not sure how. Hiding I guess. Just like the coward he is. I don't even know his name. All I know is, he is very rich and very powerful."

"If I showed you sketches of all of the people who we killed getting Zuko out, do you think you could recognize some of them?"

"100%, yes. I will never forget." she said.

"Can you think of anything else that may be useful to us?"

"No, nothing. I'm really sorry but…do you mind if I rest?" I could tell she was emotionally exhausted, not physically. I looked at Sam and nodded my head.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for your time. And if you think of anything please tell us. No matter how insignificant it may seem. Every little bit helps." Sam said. At that, we got up and interviewed the others. They didn't speak my language like Fatan did but Sam said they didn't have anything to say. They were too afraid to. Finally, when we were finished, we headed back to the rhinos.

"So what do you think of Fatan?" I asked Sam.

"I think there is more that she isn't telling us." she said.

"You think so?"

"Yes, she was holding back."

"Why would she do that?"

"Well, if the pimp is still alive, probably afraid of revenge."

"Sam. Forty men?!"

"Yes, that surprised me too. That's disgusting. Those poor girls. Whenever I feel sorry for myself after what happened with Prince Jakar or the Ozai supporters, I think of these girls."

We arrived at the rhinos and I helped Sam up and then climbed on myself. Like always, I stretched my arms on either side of Sam. She leaned back against me and laid her head on my chest. She reached her hand behind my neck and nuzzled in for the ride home.

When we arrived, Izumi was in the throne room waiting for us and Geshna was with her. She had made herself comfortable on my throne. My thoughts flew back to Ozai. Had I done that…well…I would have paid for it dearly. Of course, he also made Azula and I address him as "Fire Lord" and not "Dad" or "Father" if he was on the throne. And we had to bow to him. Well, I did at least. I never could do that to my Izumi. She would never know a relationship like that with her father. I promised myself that the day we found out we were pregnant.

"Mom, Daddy! Where were you? You weren't there to greet me!" she said.

"We had some important things to attend to. I'm sorry we missed you." Sam said. Izumi descended the stairs and hugged us both.

"Do we have time to play?" We did but the truth was, I was exhausted and sore. I'm not sure how, but Sam knew.

"Not today, sweetie. Your dad is hurting badly today." Sam turned to Geshna, "you are relieved for the day, Geshna. Thank you for staying with her."

"Always a pleasure, Fire Lady." she said, bowing. With that, she walked out.

Izumi's face lit up and she looked at me, "Well, if we can't play, can you read to me, Daddy?!" she asked, excited. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I could do that.

"We will see, Turtleduck. Will you let me rest for a while?" she looked disappointed and pouted her lip.

"Yes, Daddy. I will play with my toys." she said, sulking and walked off.

"Well, Fire Lord, let's get you into bed and resting. I'm exhausted too. What do you say we eat and then go to bed early?"

"Sounds like the perfect evening to me."