Chapter 2: Revealed
"No one tells my wife about this," Zuko growled to his companions when he finally regained his faculties enough to speak. He did not know what was going on, but alarming Mai needlessly was out of the question. This girl probably had nothing whatsoever to do with his sister—and certainly nothing at all to do with the baby in the crazy doctor's story—and if Mai ever found out about her, she would panic for certain.
"Or mine," Sokka added, nodding emphatically. If Suki ever discovered that a person existed who was identical to the woman who had defeated and imprisoned her… Even though it was certainly just a coincidence, he reminded himself hastily.
"A secret among men," Aang summarized, an image of pregnant Katara having a conniption flashing momentarily across his vision. They all nodded assent.
The rest of the trip home was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that Zuko found himself looking up with dread every time a wagon approached them from behind, and looking down again with relief and irritation when it was someone other than the girl and the aging couple in the driver's seat.
"Did you get a good look at the woman?" He finally ventured to ask the others.
"She had light brown hair and brown eyes," Aang responded, "and she was way too old to be Azula, if you're thinking what I was thinking." Zuko shrugged. He had indeed wondered if the girl could have been his niece. He had gotten a good look at the man, and his dark, swarthy skin had looked nothing like the ivory complexion Azula—and her doppelganger—wore. Just because she didn't look like them, however, didn't mean they weren't her parents. It in no way suggested that her (evil, conniving, highly wanted for various crimes and completely insane) mother could be lurking around some corner, waiting to pounce.
He was being paranoid, and he knew it. He didn't even know if his sister's kids would look like her at all. It didn't help that he had three boys and no girls, so he had no clue what to expect from female offspring. Weren't girls supposed to look like their fathers while boys looked like their mothers? His sons had a general mix of traits from himself and Mai, with a sprinkling of features belonging to other members of the family; her father's nose, his mother's ears and so on.
The girl he had seen—if he had seen her correctly—was identical to how Azula had been in her late childhood or just beginning to mature. The way her hair fell, the shape of her face, the confident way she held up her head and kept her spine straight were all the same. The only feature that looked out of place was the eager smile on her face. Somehow the expression seemed off, though he had to admit to himself, he hadn't seen her, smiling or otherwise, in more than a decade. How was he to judge whether this girl's excited grin was too sincere?
-0-
Rue's heart was pounding with excitement like a bird fluttering in her chest as she helped unpack the goods from the wagon and set them up in the little open-fronted tent that served as their temporary store. Di'o, the cabbage-seller's assistant, had come jogging up to help her unpack while his boss chewed out some unfortunate soul who had breathed on his precious merchandise. The old man was mostly chair-bound, but he certainly had a lot of spirit left in him.
"So I see you weren't bluffing about coming this year," Di'o congratulated her, ruffling her hair and messing up her ponytail. She laughed, pushing his big hand away playfully. He had been born in Omashu, but he'd been traveling around assisting his uncle's business for the last four years as the old man's health began its decline. They'd met during his first year of work when he wintered in their village, and she had seen him every winter since then. She used to envy him dreadfully. He had traveled all over the world—granted, selling nothing more interesting than cabbages—while she had never been more than ten miles from her little farming village in the mountains.
-0-
The fact that Ty Lee was included in the wives' category needed no spoken agreement among the three returning travelers, as the ever-breezy acrobat caught them sneaking in with a "welcome back," and, "the Fire Sages are prophesying the nation's ruler-less doom as we speak."
The fact that Toph somehow qualified as a man also needed no explanation. After all, if she wasn't in on the secret, she'd know something was up and give them away. Better that she find out immediately than let the others know when she finally snooped out the answer. So it was that even though each of the three witnesses had promised himself to drop the issue, Sokka and Aang found themselves holed up with Toph around a fire in an unused room that night, throwing around ideas for who the girl might be, and what ought to be done about it.
By the time Zuko was done with all the important papers he had to sign and all the reports he had to catch up on from his absence—an awful lot of work, considering the nation had been peacefully running itself for more than a decade with very little government intervention—it was nearly midnight, and his sons were sleeping soundly. He leaned against the doorjamb of the twins' room, contemplating the way Daz's hand was stretched toward Ijon's on the bedside table, their fingers mere centimeters apart. Though the boys were both accomplished fire benders and precocious learners, it was moments like this that reminded their father that they were still only five.
"So," Mai addressed him in a murmur as she slipped up behind him, quiet as a shadow, careful not to disturb their sleeping children, "where did you go?"
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her.
"Just the air temple," he replied in a low voice. "Aang had some Avatar business to attend to, and I was about to go berserk and rip all the hangings off of the throne-room walls if one more person asked me to draft one more law." He sighed softly. "Honestly, we need less laws and more common sense, not the other way around."
Mai chuckled and nodded in general agreement to both of his statements. She had seen him near his snapping-point; it was often her idea to run away together somewhere on an uber-important trip to some secret locale. She had also heard his theories on self-governance and seen the difficulty he had in trying to teach the old government dogs new tricks.
"Zonan's getting to the age where he'd really appreciate going on the 'men's camping trips,'" she reminded him, and he nodded thoughtfully. At nine, his eldest was just entering the stage of his maturity where he found it absolutely critical to be viewed as a young man and not a just a big kid. It really would be a good idea to start spiriting him away with them.
That girl couldn't have been too much older than Zonan, he thought distractedly as he and Mai settled into bed for the night. In anyone else's case, he would have considered that reason enough to alleviate suspicion. But Azula had only been fourteen when she took over the Fire Nation; only a young teen when she suggested their megalomaniac of a father literally burn their enemies to the ground.
-0-
Rue's throat was a little scratchy from calling out wares and talking to people all day, but some tea before bed soothed it wonderfully, preparing her voice for the next day. Her parents did most of the actual haggling, but she would make conversation with the customers and sometimes suggest additional products. Once in a while, they would even take her advice, on account of her pretty face, Di'o had said.
"It's my budding skills as a merchant!" she insisted heatedly when he said that, but he just laughed and mussed her hair more. She'd had to redo it three times, and she was considering just giving it up as a bad job and wearing it loose the next day.
-0-
Zuko's dreams were troubled, shifting between memories of his thrice-cursed sister and various scenes linked together which made little to no sense; all of which made him feel stressed and upset until he finally woke up and doused his head with cold water.
The morning brought relief. His nonsensical nightmares were chased away by the strong real-ness of the sunlight streaming through the window and Mai's warm arm slung across him. Breakfast found Aang and Sokka looking a bit on the tired side as well, though Toph appeared to have gotten plenty of beauty-rest. Either she didn't believe there was anything interesting going on—which would make sense, since a person who merely looked identical to someone else wouldn't really resonate with her—or she just had uncommonly strong nerves.
After breakfast he had more kingly duties to attend to, but by evening he had managed to finish them and figured it might be a good idea to take his family on a little walk before some other avalanche of papers buried him in his study for the next week. The brisk autumn weather made their muffled figures less conspicuous than they would have been otherwise, and allowed them to hide their faces from the unsuspecting populace. They often strolled through the town without any disguises, but if they wanted a chance to have family-time, it really was necessary to go cloaked and hooded.
The twins ran on ahead, laughing and chattering about which would win in a fight, a grasshopper or a cricket-bee. Zonan stayed between his parents, not speaking often, but listening intently to their conversation, as if to prove he was becoming a mature grown-up.
-0-
"They're good for the complexion," Rue explained to a young woman who was admiring one of her cantaloupes. "Eating lots of melon helps reduce dryness, you see. They taste delicious too!"
-0-
It wasn't a wise decision. Zuko felt the urge overtake his feet faster than his brain as he started down the market street, but by the time his mind had reminded him of why it was so unwise, he had no excuse to suddenly turn around and go back.
Perhaps she wouldn't be there. Perhaps she had been on her way out of the city. For that matter, maybe the whole thing was a figment of his imagination, brought on by that morning's foray into morbid thoughts.
Of course he wasn't that lucky.
He felt Mai stiffen beside him and instinctively cast his eyes around for the source of the disturbance.
"Thanks; come again," a high, feminine voice exclaimed from off to his left. He recognized it as certainly as if it were his own sister's… because it undeniably was.
"Zuko?" Mai whispered, but when he glanced at her and made eye-contact, her initial shock morphed into anger. She could see in his face that he knew.
"We saw her briefly on our way in yesterday," he confessed in a hurried whisper, squeezing her hand in an attempt to reassure her, but she pulled it away.
"I didn't want you to worry over nothing!" he exclaimed quietly, anticipating her demand before she had a chance to say the obligatory 'why didn't you tell me?'
"Over nothing?" she hissed angrily. "Have you forgotten everything? What she did to you, to me, to the world?" She glared balefully at the spot on his lower chest where an angry red scar lay beneath his cloak and robe.
"But this girl can't possibly be her," he argued, making placating gestures with his hands. "She's much too young! It's just a coincidence; a freak of nature! Forget about it, okay?"
"Well that was rude," groused the girl's voice, suddenly much nearer. With a rush of embarrassment, Zuko realized that not only had he raised his voice to nearly a shout, they had stopped to argue directly in front of the girl's food stall. "What do you need to go and insult me for? I'm not a freak of nature!"
The flummoxed Fire Lord tried to speak, but there really wasn't anything he could say to defend himself, short of telling her that she was his evil sister's not-so-evil twin.
"Sorry," he finally managed, slipping his fingers into Mai's hand and trying to surreptitiously extract her and the boys from the scene. People were starting to stare.
"We'll say whatever we like," Mai snapped, dropping Zuko's searching hand like hot coals and advancing a step forward.
The girl took a step back, half glaring, half frightened.
"What's going on?" demanded a boy's voice, and a youth of around thirteen strode up, stepping between the girl and Mai, looking at the latter with an air of sizing her up.
"Not sure," the girl replied with a nervous laugh. "The scary lady and the rude man just suddenly—"
"You're one to talk, Azula," Mai spat venomously, stepping forward aggressively again, but found her way blocked by the boy, who advanced and slid gracefully into a fighting stance, smoke rising from his fingertips. Zuko edged forward, ready to duck in front of his wife at a moment's notice, either to restrain or to protect her, he wasn't really certain.
"Di'o," the girl addressed the boy nervously, "maybe we should just go and get mom and dad…"
"It's fine, Rue," the boy, Di'o, replied evenly, never taking his eyes off Mai. "I'm sure they were just leaving."
"Rue," a deep man's voice called from behind the tent, "I need a hand!" Rue glanced in the direction of the sound.
"I'll be right there, dad!" she shouted back, looking nervously at Di'o's back as he stood shielding her. Zuko saw her gulp tensely.
"Daddy," Daz murmured, tugging on Zuko's cloak. "Mommy's being scary." The Fire Lord swept his son up into his arms, privately agreeing with him. Mai's dark temper had mellowed out since she grew out of her gothic stage, but on the rare occasions when she did get angry, it was usually best to just stay out of her way.
Daz snuggled into his father's protective embrace, and inadvertently brushed his hood aside. The dark brown material was as subject to gravity as any other piece of fabric, and before he could catch it, it was piled around his neck, exposing his pale, scarred face to everyone on the street.
The result was immediate. Bystanders shouted his name, bowing and waving their friends over. Di'o stiffened, his eyes widening, and then bowed, though he never took his eyes off of Mai. Rue made a small surprised squeak of horror and flopped over in a bow that couldn't have been comfortable on her spine.
"Oh my gosh," she exclaimed in a panic. "Sorry, I didn't know who you were!" All the color had drained out of her face, but then she quirked her head up to look at him, as if as an afterthought.
"You're still pretty rude though…" she remarked flatly, eyes narrowed in annoyance. Then with another frightened noise, she clamped both hands over her mouth.
"Get me out of here before I dig my own grave," she whispered hoarsely to Di'o, who slid back and took her hand. The two of them had dashed off down the street before anyone could call after them.
"Is something the matter, my lord?"
Zuko glanced over toward the market stall Rue had just vacated. A middle-aged woman with long light brown hair and crows' feet was wringing her hands in concern, her green eyes darting between the members of the royal family, who had all un-hooded by now for lack of any reason not to.
"That girl," he addressed the woman, ignoring the way Mai was fuming at his side, "what can you tell me about her?"
"Well," the woman replied, perplexed, "she's my daughter; she's eleven, her name's Rue An-Din… What do you want to know?" Zuko wasn't Toph, but something in the woman's manner and speech seemed false to him. That wasn't good; it certainly didn't support the "it's just a coincidence" story of which he was trying to convince Mai.
The woman's husband walked up and stood beside her; a big, solid man with intelligent grey eyes and black hair. He bowed respectfully and then folded his arms over his chest.
"Sire," he addressed Zuko, and then nodded to Mai and the kids. "Can I help you with something?"
"No," the Fire Lord replied, his eyes taking in the matching swarthy complexions of both parents at a glance. "We were just out for a walk. Please excuse us."
Mai had picked up Ijon and had him in her arms much the same way a child clings to a teddy bear when upset. It seemed to be working though; when she felt the touch of her husband's hand on her arm, she yielded to the pressure and headed back towards the palace. Zonan trotted along between his angry mother and concerned father on the way home, and he was then delegated by the former to take his brothers and play in the garden.
"They looked nothing like her," Mai sighed, sinking onto a couch and covering her eyes with her hand. "Those two can't be her parents. Compared to them, she's another being altogether."
Zuko could only nod, dropping into a chair. He couldn't deny it any more, though what the real explanation was, he couldn't even guess.
"We thought maybe," he ventured after a long silence, "that girl could have been Azula's daughter." Mai shook her head.
"She's identical," the Fire Lady protested, gesturing with her hands as though laying a piece of evidence down in the air. "Zo and the twins are a mix between us, and look at Suki and Sonayana. Sonya takes after her mom if anyone does, and even they don't look that much alike. No, I don't think that explains it."
"What then?" Zuko prodded, catching the look of understanding and dread in Mai's light hazel eyes.
"You remember when she disappeared," she began hesitantly, "that insane story the doctor told? The one about the baby?"
"The one that we all agreed was completely impossible?" Zuko reminded her, raising an eyebrow. She nodded.
"That'd be the one," she affirmed, pointedly ignoring his reminder. They stared each other down for a moment. "You could ask Aang if it was possible," she suggested. "After all, if by some chance it was, it'd certainly have involved spirits."
Zuko jerked his head noncommittally, but his wife knew him well enough to know that he was agreeing.
"Rue An-Din," Mai murmured. "If she did turn out to be Azula…"
"I know," Zuko growled tiredly. "What a tangled mess this is turning out to be."
Mai was about to speak when she suddenly stood, holding up her hand for silence. Zuko's eyes flashed toward the door, and with horror, he realized he could hear retreating footsteps.
"Uh-oh," he hissed, and wrenched open the door, but the eavesdropper was long gone.
-0-
Rue slept badly that night after she and Di'o finally got up the courage to return, and she had told the story in all its minute details to her agitated parents. By the time Di'o was convinced that she was okay and his uncle had stopped trying to make her feel better with free cabbage, she was about ready to sleep for a week.
Unfortunately, she couldn't get her mind to stop running at full speed, and she tossed and turned until past midnight.
Rolling onto her side and squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to focus on some small insignificant thing with little success; the number of cobs of corn she had sold that day couldn't keep her interest, and lunch with Di'o had been uneventful.
Sighing, she opened her eyes, and found herself staring at a man with a black mask over his face.
He was kneeling beside her bedroll, reaching a hand out to cover her mouth…
A/N: Di'o is pronounced like the letters "d" and "o;" "Dee-oh." Zonan shouldn't be hard to say; it's Zoh-non. The twins are "Doz" (like "dot" but with "z" instead of "t") and Ee-yon.
If any Mai fans are wondering what Zuko's damage was when he was considering throwing himself between her and Di'o, it was because Di'o was a fire bender. She's perfectly capable of defending herself from non-benders, and she's usually able to bring down benders as well, but he wasn't taking any chances with her current distracted state.