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Day Three
Storm
"There he is."
"He actually came…"
The murmuring in the grand hall quickly hushed as the tall, imposing form of Fire Lord Zuko swept past, black and crimson robes gliding atop the polished floor. They only began again when he was safely out of earshot, en route to take his oft empty spot at the large, ornate council table.
The Fire Lord was a sight scarcely seen these days—always walled up in his palace in the Fire Nation where he worked day and night to keep his country from scattering to the wind like the Northern Water Tribe and the city of Omashu before it. With men and women dropping like flies in great numbers across the globe, it was no great wonder why a man as important and influential as the Fire Lord was kept hidden away in his palace where the Creeping Decay had a far harder time reaching. Many of the more pessimistic folks had taken to whispering that he'd already succumbed to the disease as a reason for his absence from the public eye.
Today, he was proving his skeptics wrong as he nodded to the other world leaders gathered and took his place as naturally as if he'd never been truant. The fact that several of the seats were filled by new faces was an inevitability and one he was prepared for.
The eyes in the hall watched—some with curiosity and some with overt suspicion—his every move as he laid his documents on the table and proceeded to exchange polite greetings with several of the other leaders already assembled. Gossipmongers had been whispering for months how he'd been sweetening to a highly controversial alliance between the Fire Nation and the Southern Water Tribe to share resources in this trying time. Even if gossip was all it was, it was easy to see how the masses could take the rumor seriously when it was famously known that the Fire Lord and the newly instated Chief of the Southern Water Tribe had been comrades in the century-long war that had waged until just four years ago. However, the Fire Lord did not so much as glance in her direction and she made no motion to call his attention. Both wore faces gaunt with stress but controlled so as not to reveal any weakness. The men and women gathered at their table were the pillars of the new world and every man, woman, and child looked to them as beacons in the thick fog of turmoil and unease that had rolled over every corner of the globe.
Without the Avatar, the only entity left to safeguard the tentative harmony between the four nations and guide humanity through this crisis was the Council of Nations. The decisions they made in the coming days would spell either the salvation or doom of every person in the world.
The scribes readied their quills and when each council member was seated and ready, the first day of discussions began.
o0o
Zuko rubbed his weary eyes as he rolled up the scroll he'd been perusing and cast it onto an end table. The librarians would see that it was returned to its proper place. He stood with a small sigh from the cushioned library chair and headed for the door. He needed to get back to his room and get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be another long, stressful day at the council table and he'd be no good to anyone if he spent the whole day focusing on staying awake.
His trek through the halls of the Earth Palace brought him, not purely by coincidence, past the wing where the Water Tribe apartments were situated, and against his better judgement he paused there. It had been ages since he'd last had a chance to visit with Katara in person and being so close to her at the council table without actually getting to interact with her outside of merely agreeing or disagreeing with a point she made was killing him. With so few friends left in the world, his heart ached for friendly contact.
It was this need that drove his legs down the short, empty corridor to the door he knew she resided just behind. He even raised his hand to knock before his good sense abruptly returned and he dropped it. He shouldn't be here. Being found here would spell no end of trouble for the both of them. He inhaled deeply, exhaled, and turned to go.
He hadn't even taken a step when the door at his back opened with a soft click. He spun around and there she was, watching him with ocean eyes. She didn't look surprised to see him. She worried her bottom lip briefly, showing her deliberation, then opened the door wide and beckoned him inside.
Zuko spared a moment to glance around the corridor once more to make sure nobody was watching and then slipped inside silently as a ghost.
Katara closed the door behind him and when the latch was secured she turned to him and promptly wrapped her arms around his middle. "You shouldn't be here," she murmured into the thick material of his heavy regalia.
Zuko closed his eyes, wishing that by doing so he could cut away the never-ending cycle of tragedy that was their lives now, and returned her embrace. Her hair smelled of arctic ice beneath the sticky haze of Ba Sing Se perfumes. He focused on that familiar scent, allowing it to wash over him and bring him momentarily out of this place. She smelled of happier days spent with friends and a lump of sadness rose in his throat as his heart yearned for the return of those days. "I know. Sorry."
Katara gripped him more tightly and he felt her body tremble. In a voice thick with anguish she said, "I'm glad you're here." Her face turned downward so that the top of her head pressed into his chest and she repeated, "I'm glad you're here."
So, he hadn't been the only one being crushed by despair and loneliness. He held her to him and silently agreed. Often it felt to him like the two of them were the only ones left in the world. In a way, they were. Aang and Toph had been among the first taken by the virus that ravaged all four nations and Sokka had contracted the illness just as he'd been set to take over leadership of the Southern Water Tribe, leaving Katara to run the place in his stead. Suki was still healthy, but she'd bound herself to Sokka's bedside, leaving her second in command to join the council meetings on her behalf. Katara had expressed her fear that it was only a matter of time before the virus took her too in one of her many letters to him over the long winter.
Gone were the days when the six of them had greeted each new day with hope in their hearts. Gone were two—soon to be three—of the friends Zuko cherished. He and Katara had agreed to try their best to live for Aang and Toph, but it was hard. It seemed more and more that there was no hope to be found anywhere these days.
Zuko pulled back causing Katara to raise her head and delicately touched her cheeks with the backs of his fingers. "How are you, Katara?" he asked earnestly. Their letters weren't enough. They never would be. He was going to take advantage of this rare opportunity to ask the questions he always avoided in their correspondences. Here, they could be honest and open with one another.
Katara had been the very picture of strength and composure during their day talks, but now she looked worn and stressed and like she was liable to crumble at the barest touch. The delicate skin beneath her eyes was bruised with fatigue and her complexion was far too pale. Spirits, she—they were too young to look like this.
Katara read the concern in his expression and managed a shadow of a smile. "I'm fine," she lied and both of them knew it wasn't him she was trying to deceive. "Sorry, Zuko. It's just really, really good to see you." She took a half-step back and brought a hand up to rub the wrinkled skin between her eyebrows. "It feels like ages since the last time we were able to meet in person, don't you think? How long has it been?"
Zuko smiled a humorless little smile of his own at her question. "A year and two months."
The last time they'd seen each other had been at a memorial service for Chief Arnook just before the fall of Omashu. After that, Zuko had been pressured to remain in the Fire Nation in order to limit exposure to the disease and he'd been unable to interact with any of his friends outside of sporadic messages which he had to fight his council to even have sent out. He'd only been allowed to attend the Council of Nations meeting this time because he'd put his royal foot down and refused to take no for an answer.
"That long…" Katara exhaled. "So much has happened that it feels like a decade. I don't know how you've been keeping it together all this time."
Zuko frowned. He knew Katara had been struggling to keep the Southern Water Tribe from falling apart. The fall of the Northern Water Tribe had hit the South hard and before he'd taken ill Sokka had written him many letters asking for advice. It had been Sokka's idea to propose that their nations work together to combat the illness. He believed that a marriage of Fire Nation medical science with Water Tribe healing could lead them to a cure. Unfortunately, word of his idea got out and Earth Kingdom leaders immediately began speaking out against the possibility of a union, loudly proclaiming that the Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe were conspiring against the Earth Kingdom and that they intended to turn a profit by selling their cure to Earth Kingdom citizens at hiked up prices. The public outcry at this was so intense that several world leaders had threatened to pull out of the Council of Nations if they even suspected that the proposal was still being discussed.
This had put Zuko, and now Katara, in a very tricky situation. Though untrue, the rumor had a set a precedent for people to believe that the Southern Water Tribe and Fire Nation may intend to conspire again. Many Earth Kingdom citizens had begun to lose faith in the Council, believing that the Fire Nation and Southern Water Tribe were only looking out for their own best interests. It was too much to deal with on top of everything else and Zuko could honestly say that he was past the point of caring.
"A mixture of experience and stubbornness," he answered, only half joking.
The two lapsed into a charged silence. Zuko knew what Katara wanted to say and she in turn knew what he wanted to say. The only thing stilling their tongues had been the council but looking at Katara's face, so pale and fatigued and full of sorrow, Zuko decided that enough was finally enough. "Katara," he broke the silence to address her directly. "Send a message to the Southern Water Tribe. Assemble your best healers and have them pack their things. I'm going to send a ship to bring them to the Fire Nation."
Katara's eyes widened and she pulled away. "Zuko, you can't," she protested. "The council—"
Zuko cut her off by taking a step forward and grasping her upper arms. "I don't care. The world's already gone to hell, so what's one more war?" Squeezing her arms tightly but gently he leaned in and placed his forehead near hers. "We're about to be all that's left, Katara. We need to find a cure. Send the message. I'll mobilize my navy. If we're lucky, we can transport your healers back to the Fire Nation without the Earth Kingdom noticing."
Katara grimaced and closed her eyes briefly. "You're going to make the world your enemy," she warned when she opened them again. "What if we can't find a cure? We'll have pitted the Earth Kingdom against us for nothing."
Giving her a determined look, Zuko released one of her arms to grab her hand and pressed it firmly to the spot on his chest where Azula's lightning scar still marked him with a starsplash of red. "I believe that you can do it."
Katara inhaled a shuddering breath and then exhaled. He saw resolve steel in her eyes. She was still so beautiful, he thought privately, even with the weight of tragedy crushing and wilting her. He would protect her. He had to. She was all he had left.
"Okay," she said finally. Her blue eyes rose to meet his and for the first time in a very long time Zuko saw that old spark of determination in them. "We'll do it. Together."
oO0Oo
It's hard to really say where the inspiration for this one came from. I suppose I just like seeing people come together under unfortunate circumstances. This is a pretty bleak post-war AU, though. Yikes.
