Chem led them into the forest. As they left the courtyard, they were flanked by several armed guards, both men and women, clothed in simple black garments. They moved as a mass through the forest, and after a while, it wasn't just Zuko leaning on Katara, but she started to lean, too; her brief nap wasn't enough. Mercifully, Chem didn't try to keep up any conversation. He stayed beside them the whole time, watching them often from the corner of his eye. Zuko could feel him staring, and wanted to whisper to Katara, but Chem was too close. Anything they said, he would hear, and Zuko didn't trust him.
The path was relatively straightforward, and the moon was beginning its descent by the time they reached the camp. Zuko had no idea how long they'd been fighting or sitting in that stupid courtyard talking. When they entered the camp, it put everything they'd had when travelling during the war to shame. There were so many tents and so many people that it was hard to believe they'd gone unnoticed. In the middle was a huge fire, and more people were standing or sitting around it, eating and talking. Someone ran up to Chem.
"Sir, we saw the smoke and sent out another wave." The young woman kept tossing glances at Zuko and Katara, practically holding each other up. "We weren't sure you'd find them in time to—"
Chem held up a hand, stopping the young woman's whispering. "Oyun, prepare a tent for our guests."
Oyun looked them both up and down, crossed her arms, then sighed. "I don't think that's appropriate."
"For fuck's sake!" Zuko yelled, pulling away from Katara. "You've got to be shitting me. You're worried about what may or may not look appropriate when we're in middle of a forest?"
Oyun looked terrified and more than slightly offended. Several people pulled away from the camp to watch the spectacle.
"Apparently, you haven't heard of your Fire Lord's foul mouth," Katara said reproachfully, tugging Zuko's arm.
"Given the circumstances, Oyun, I'm sure it would be permissible," Chem said, placing a hand on Oyun's shoulder.
"Don't get upset," Katara said, looking at the woman and trying to smooth things over. "Inappropriate is six teenagers and a lemur sleeping in the cramped saddle of a sky bison."
Zuko smiled when people started looking to each other for explanation and shrugging their shoulders. "War joke," he explained.
Oyun was still grumbling about the whole thing and having been personally offended, but Zuko really wasn't in the mood for any of that. Did they really expect that he and Katara would be ok sleeping separately while injured and among people they didn't trust? Chem seemed to be the only one who really understood the situation from their point of view.
"Look, just get the tent ready, ok Oyun?" It was one of the men they'd seen at the inn. One of the me Atem clearly pointed out as tracking them. He walked forward with his hands up, palms out to show that he was unarmed and not a threat. Irritation was prevalent in his voice as he addressed Oyun.
"You were tracking us," Katara said, eyes narrowed and readying her water. "Zuko, we should just leave."
Zuko was torn. He really didn't want to stay there, but so long as Chem kept his pets under control, it looked like they would be fine. They could make it back to the inn to sleep before heading back to the capitol, but now that they knew who their trackers were working for, he didn't feel comfortable going back there. Not that it would really make a difference, because they already knew where the inn was. They were screwed either way.
"Leaving wouldn't do any good," Zuko mumbled, running his hands through his hair.
"My name is Long," said the man who'd fussed at Oyun. "We didn't want any harm to come to you."
Katara scoffed, but she put her water away. Zuko didn't miss the look Chem shot Long as he introduced himself, bowing to Zuko and Katara. Chem's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared, his hands snaking even further up his sleeves. He took a hesitant step forward, looked at Zuko, saw he was being watched, then remained still. There was tension between the two, or maybe just on Chem's part. Long looked to be ignoring Chem completely. Or that could have been the whole point.
"Will you see our healer?" Long asked hopefully, gesturing at their injuries.
"Not on your life." Katara was walking back into Zuko, pushing him away from the encampment. He put his hands on her shoulders.
There were a few moments of tense silence while everyone eyed everyone else, and then Oyun walked off to finally prepare that tent. Although, what preparations needed to be made and why they were just now preparing something if this had been the plan all along were beyond him. He was too tired to think. Chem stood closer to them, not saying a word. He kept his hands folded in his sleeves and a disdainful look on his face. Occasionally he wrinkled his nose in their direction as if their very presence offended him.
Zuko was about to say something, but Oyun came back and announced that their single tent was ready. Chem nodded and gestured for them to follow Oyun. When Katara started to follow, he pulled her back. That's how they walked prisoners to their cells: one guard in front, one in back.
"Please," Zuko said with false diplomacy. "After you."
Chem was startled at first but he recovered quickly. He started walking, but not before rolling his eyes.
"Don't worry," he said once Zuko and Katara were inside. "They won't murder you in your sleep. We need the both of you."
The moment he hit the pallet, Zuko was almost unconscious. He heard Chem's remark, but it didn't register to his foggy mind. Both Zuko and Katara promptly fell asleep and didn't wake until morning. What they really should have done was set up a watch, so that they could sleep in turns and be sure no one was trying to kill them, rather than take Chem's word.
/
Chem peeked into their tent after they'd been in there for an hour. While their sleeping arrangements might have been cramped on the back of the Avatar's bison, Chem doubted they slept curled against each other like that, her facing him, and his body covering hers as much as possible. Under very different circumstances, it would have been sweet, the way he was stroking her back.
With a different person it would have been sweet, but it just made him want to throw up. He'd seen her work with the sick and poor in Ba Sing Se while she was there for a treaty signing. She'd been charming and smiling, never condescending. She was everything he wasn't, and yet she'd still been sucked in. By what? Did she like the whole 'bad boy' thing? Did she actually believe that he'd changed?
For an odd moment, Chem felt a deep and nearly crippling pang for the boy. In his mind and from everything he'd heard and seen, there was such a huge disconnect between the boy he remembered as prince and the man that was before him as Fire Lord. He couldn't have been more than three years old, Chem remembered, which would have made Azula one. He remembered she couldn't quite stand yet, but the prince wanted to show her the turtleducks, so he walked her over, holding her hands, and she said her first word, Zuzu, as she took her first steps. Ursa had watched them with such extreme happiness; he couldn't ever remember seeing her happier. And the little prince carefully plucked a turtleduck from the waters and placed it in his sister's hands.
Someone was tapping him on the back, and he silently let the tent flap fall closed. Inara and Long were waiting for him. He followed them away from the tent of the sleeping lovers, and closer to the fire. There were still remnants of that tenderness he'd shown his sister in the way he held the ambassador.
"What you did, going up and introducing yourself like that, Long… Do you want to jeopardize this whole thing?" Chem watched the flames rather than look at them. He didn't want them to see the sadness that sat on top of the hate for lives destroyed by one man's ambition. Ozai had managed to cripple the entire royal family.
"It was late and they deserved a rest. You would have stayed at a stalemate the entire night, and everyone would have passed out from exhaustion," Long said dryly. He followed Chem's gaze into the fire. "How do you intend to buy passage into the Fire Nation?"
"Through the Lady Mother."
"And she will grant you this passage once she learns of your feelings toward her son?"
"She will be made to understand."
"How? You're going to lay out this argument of yours? That he's selling off the Fire Nation's assets and refuses aid to other countries and hasn't turned over all the colonies and keeps the princess drugged to suppress her firebending and make people think she's insane? And what proof would you give her?" Long argued, throwing his arms open wide.
Chem sighed and turned to Long and Inara. Why wouldn't they see that he was fighting for the same thing? They only had a difference of tactics; they preferred a faith based method where they just hoped that everyone they were dealing with would be honest. Chem had been there. He'd walked those halls and heard how they whispered; he'd heard their deals and their secrets and their plans, and three years was not going to change that, especially when the Fire Lord refused to hand over the main perpetrators.
"She will see for herself." The fire had gone out of him, but that was only because he was tired and that pang was still there, though it was fortunately giving way to an anger that would sustain him through his mission.
"Chem, please, this is the time that we need to make a move. If we don't do it now, who knows when we'll have another chance," Inara pleaded.
"Oh, I completely agree. I will make my move tomorrow. I will speak with Master Katara."
Inara pulled at her hair. "Your move, Chem, yes your move, but you won't even consider someone else's. We should be allying ourselves with them. We should have done this years ago, but you—"
Chem stood and turned his back to the pair. "You will continue trailing him in the Fire Nation. Report any changes, positive or negative, to me. I will decide how best to deal with them."
He didn't see Inara's reaction, and he didn't particularly care. Long started to speak, but Chem cut him off.
"He is still the son of Ozai, and has been under the care of General Iroh since he was thirteen. Bo told me about how he fought. Breath of Fire, lightning, these are not the tools of peace."
"General Iroh's changed, Chem. The Lady Mother Ursa herself asked him to watch after her son. She knew he could be trusted. And in case you missed this point," Long said sarcastically, "those weren't peace negotiations in there. That was fight or die."
Long's footsteps receded, and Chem sighed, making his way to his own tent, but not before hearing Inara say that everything ended on this night. It had been a long road, and there were still many miles to travel before they reached the end. But the end was in sight. He could almost see it. He could almost taste a liberated Fire Nation.
/
In the morning, Zuko was thoroughly pissed at himself for not insisting on a watch. Even though he was usually a light sleeper, Zuko wasn't sure he would have heard anything if someone had decided to sneak into their tent and kill them in their sleep. He was therefore pleasantly surprised and thoroughly relieved to find that they were both alive and unbound, and more or less in the same positions they'd been in when they collapsed the night before.
He remained still for a while longer, Katara stirring at his side, and listened to the sounds of the camp. It was noisy, and people kept stopping in front of their tent to whisper.
"You think the rumors are true?"
"At first I had my doubts, but then they insisted on sleeping in the same tent together. And did you see the way she manhandled him in there? I mean, man, I'd be afraid to look at him the wrong way, but she's all, bam! with the waterbending."
"I know what would be on my mind if I was in a tent with her." There were obscene grunting noises, followed by laughing.
A third voice joined the conversation. "You know they totally did it." Laughter. "I bet she's a screamer."
"I bet she tops," the first voice took up. "Oh man, to have those lovely round tits—"
The conversation abruptly stopped, and then Chem asked if they didn't have something better to do.
During the conversation, Katara had woken up and pulled herself away from Zuko. She was running her fingers through her hair, yawning quietly as she listened. Zuko had intended to wake up in a much better mood. It was something of a pet project of his: wake up and not be pissed. So much for that.
Chem knocked on the support pole of the tent, and when Katara told him he could, he entered. Zuko noticed that Chem paused with the tent flap open so that the three young men standing outside could see that both Zuko and Katara were awake, had heard them, and were now glaring death at them. They still had all their weapons, and Katara was reaching for her waterskins, flexing the fingers of one hand into a bloodbending posture. Quickly, they scattered.
"I train my men better than that," Chem said, sitting with a little difficulty on the ground. "You may disregard everything they have said. It would appear they have forgotten you are their…Fire Lord."
"See to it that they are reminded," Zuko said, using the same tone he did when he held council. The one that said punishment would be handed out swiftly and forcefully. "What do you intend to do with us now?"
"There is breakfast and a stream nearby. I can get you fresh clothes if you would like." Chem's words were clipped.
"That would be nice," Katara said.
Chem was quiet a moment, moving his mouth from side to side as if he were chewing his cheek. "I am sure the Lady Mother Ursa would want you to know…that she has not ignored your efforts to find her. It has long been her wish to return to her children, but…" Chem paused and looked at a point beyond them. "It has not been easy for her to trust."
"I have my suspicions, but did she say why Ozai was pursuing her?"
Chem shook his head, but there was a flickering in his eyes that Zuko didn't like. "I doubt she will tell even you. There are things she does not speak of, and there are things I dare not ask."
"If we come to her, will she see us?" Katara asked.
"Yes," Chem said, as if he didn't believe it. "But you will have to work for it."
"Oh, is that the way we're playing it?" Zuko asked, his arms crossed. That bastard had some nerve.
"I have said before I am not her only friend. She was not at the prison yesterday. Perhaps she is with her other friends." Chem shoved his hands in his sleeves and tried to look down on them. "They will not always understand Lily of the Valley, they will not be as kind to you as I have been."
"So how did you find out she was here?" Zuko asked.
Chem was asking to be hurt. Very badly. Zuko took some deep breaths. There was always one person or another standing in his path like this, obstinately refusing to budge in any direction. They all expected compromise of Zuko, and dammit, he was tire of compromising. He looked away from Chem. No matter what he did, Chem was watching and judging and deeming him not worthy. That should be his mother's decision. He refused to believe that Ursa had become so paranoid that she didn't even trust her son's word. Chem clearly had contact with her after she was banished, and Zuko wanted that rooted out of him, at all costs.
"The same way I have always found her. The same way, I suppose, you found out. Hard work. I said we didn't get here soon enough to save her from some suffering."
The suffering again. Zuko stood and began pacing.
"Look, you're leading us on and then treating us like idiots," Katara said, jabbing a finger in Chem's direction. "You need to back off."
"Perhaps it would be best if my Lord and Master Lady Katara had something to eat." Chem bowed, but not quite apologizing.
"Why did she ignore everything I've said?"
"Perhaps because she does not trust..." Chem looked to visibly swallow his words. "Perhaps she did not trust that the words came from the man she knows to be her son."
Zuko and Katara shared a confused look. Chem sighed, then shook his head, looking very much put-upon.
"Ozai did not achieve greatness on his own. Much of his success is owed to the Fire Lady Queen Mother Ursa, and far too many people understood this for it to go unnoticed. At the time of his death, Azulon was old, yes, but he was still strong. A sudden heart attack isn't unheard of at his age, but the circumstances aroused suspicion. It was Ozai, second son who had begun to greatly annoy his father, who succeeded him, and without his wife, who'd been instrumental in everything. Her disappearance did not go unnoticed. People began to talk, and not politely."
"But wasn't conquest what they wanted?" Katara asked.
Chem looked at the ground in front of him. "War is a complicated thing. The way former Fire Lord Azulon and former Crown Prince General Iroh waged war wasn't the same as the way Ozai did it. So many people began to lose their loved ones. Husbands, daughters, sons, wives, people they were close to. Though no one would openly say it, there was a large anti-war sentiment growing from the middle and lower classes."
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to stave off any potential headaches. "That makes sense. The nobility hardly ever sent their children to war—especially the nobility from the capitol—and remained untouched by it. That would be why I have so much support from the middle and lower classes. Work to end the war, and their families can come home."
There were days when that support was all that kept him going. The nobility was such a small part of their nation's population, and their contribution was minimal compared to those who made up the middle and lower classes. These people were ignored for so long, but they were the ones who made the nation work. Zuko had done as much as he could to redistribute the wealth and tax load, which had won him a large amount of popularity, which in turn meant they were more trusting of his judgment. It helped that he refused to be cooped up in the palace all the time. It wasn't unusual for people to see him wandering the market or visiting the various shops while he worked, and so to the people of his nation, he was an actual person, which was nice.
"And that would be why some of the soldiers turned on their comrades during the fight," Katara added, looking to Zuko, not Chem.
"Exactly. Even in the Fire Nation, there were those ready for an end to the fighting. But in the early years, they blamed the Lady Mother Ursa for putting Ozai on the throne in the first place. Anger often needs a place to go."
"And some still blame her," Zuko said, voicing Chem's implication and coming to sit down again. "Fuckin Agni, she probably thought some of it was a trap."
"An astute guess, your majesty. In some circles, the Lady Mother's name is treated like a dirty word."
Zuko hid his face in his hands, and Katara started rubbing circles on his back. All this because Ozai was too much of a coward to do his own dirty work. Ozai had skated by on so many things, narrowly missing punishment or pain that was more than due him. Others kept taking the fall, but Zuko was done with that.
"Ozai deserves to be punished," he said aloud.
"You can't."
Zuko turned to Katara surprised. "What do you mean I can't? I could give you a list that would stretch from here to the capitol of all the things he's done that warrants him being executed for crimes, not only against the Fire Nation, but the entire world."
Katara was biting her lip, refusing to meet either his gaze or Chem's. "Aang. He made a public decree… Remember? If you execute Ozai now, you would be breaking the Avatar's Peace."
Zuko stood, blowing steam from his nose, and walked out of the tent before he said something bad. He stalked through the camp, and people got out of his way quickly. It didn't matter where he was going; he just needed to get away from all those people. Again, Ozai caught a lucky break because this Avatar happened to be a pacifist fifteen year old who still refused to listen to his past lives and understand that "we have to sacrifice" meant him, too. Apparently, Azula wasn't the only one born lucky.
/
Chem waited until the Fire Lord exited the tent and was a good ways away. He watched for signs that the waterbender was going to follow, but she stayed still for a while. Her mouth was moving and he realized she was counting. An old trick, then, for controlling his anger. Let the others doubt his plan; this was proof he was on the right track. When she stood to follow him, Chem lightly touched her on the arm.
"Lady Katara, if I may speak with you for a moment…"
The girl turned to him, but she kept looking at the tent flap. No, she would prefer that he didn't talk to her just right now, but that meant it was precisely the time to talk to her. He gestured to the spot across from him.
"Let's not insult each other's intelligence, hm? You are in love with the Fire Lord."
"I don't see why my personal life is any of your concern."
"I would ask a favor of your personal life." She was glaring at him, but those meant nothing. They were glares from children meant for children. He'd seen worse and with real malice behind them. "Would you consider marrying your Fire Lord to ensure his right to rule his country?"
"What?" It came out as a rather loud bark, and she nearly fell over trying to get away. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"Oh, but it does. Perhaps because they know you to be good friends with the Fire Lord, people do not talk in your presence. Other nations will force their spies on him. I worked in a general store in Ba Sing Se for a time. The nobility who came there were quite enamored with the idea of sending their daughters to control the Fire Nation."
"Zuko would never fall for that," she said, but she was hooked. Her words lacked some conviction.
"And how would he guard himself against this? He may divorce one, but there will be others. Once the Earth Kingdom does this, what will stop the North?"
She was tugging at her hair, thinking over the proposition. Chem was surprised at how little it took her to get on his side, or to at least consider it. Perhaps they had heard others talking about it.
"So he may divorce the first, but how long will his council let this go on? And without an heir? Wouldn't it be better to have you whisper in his ear than anyone else?"
"Whisper in his ear? Zuko doesn't need anyone to—"
"Doesn't he?" Chem raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "How much do you know about the way he rules his nation?"
"I don't expect him to share details with me." She huffed and put her hands on her hips. "It wouldn't be right. I'm not a part of the governing body, and there are some things I don't have a right to know."
"You speak of rights, Lady Katara," Chem said slowly. It would be wrong to gloat over this, but he would do it. He would tell her, and he would gloat and he would be satisfied. "Are you aware that the Fire Nation continually refuses to give monetary aid to various Earth Kingdom cities that are in desperate need? They cannot receive money in a timely manner from their own crown because of the mess King Kuei's reign has become. The South needs their money for continued reconstruction. The North is too busy protecting its own to look elsewhere just yet."
"The Fire Nation doesn't have as much money as everyone thinks."
"And how do you know that? Have you seen the books?"
She stopped pulling on her hair, and her hands slowly fell to her lap. She looked at him for a long while, but finally looked away.
"If my lady were to look at the books," Chem pressed, "she would see that the Fire Nation is still in possession of several Earth Kingdom colonies. How do I know? I've spent some time on them, and the people wish their own government to be returned to them."
"Zuko would never do that," she said quietly.
"They send requests for talks about reversing the treaties forced under Fire Lord Azulon, and the only response they get is that there is trouble locating these treaties. Of course, the colonies do not have their own copies; that would be giving them some power, and Fire Lord Azulon was too smart for that."
"Zuko wouldn't… It would be his council. They would be the ones doing this."
It was clear that she'd never heard these things before, and Chem wondered if she was ignoring them because of her feelings for the Fire Lord, or if she genuinely had no idea. He studied her and the emotions floating across her face. Anger, pain, hurt, betrayal, disbelief, strong conviction. He pitied the girl. It was like watching the Lady Mother being destroyed all over again. He'd hated the position she'd been put in, having to spy on Ozai, and now here he was, forcing another young girl into the same thing. At least she would have the courtesy of going into it knowing completely the monster she was marrying.
"Well, then, it would also seem he needs saving from his own nation. Perhaps my lady could play the hero and save us all from the destruction they would bring."
A/N: Yeah, this was a long one, ~4500. Let me know if this is too long. If not, I'll know I can push chapter length in pt2: Finding My Way Home. I try to keep the chapters at about 2500, but double the length would give me the chance to expand some things. Comments on length are greatly appreciated. *Sigh* Shit just got complicated for Katara :( It's one of those moments where, even though it comes from the mouth of a maniac, it sounds plausible enough given the people you know to make you question. I've been there. Not a nice feeling. Also, some major pieces just fell into place. Boom goes the dynamite.