A/N: Sometimes I think about the fact that I'm (hopefully) going to be a lawyer someday, and I'm sitting here writing fanfiction for a show I first watched over a decade ago. Life is funny. Anyway, happy Friday, enjoy your new chapter.

Disclaimer: *copy and paste*

Iroh, cont.

Of all the ways I thought my wedding night would go, my bride throwing up on me was an unexpected low. I had predicted that we would pass an awkward night in my chamber before she moved into her own quarters the next morning, and we could assume a neutral coexistence. Her illness took me by surprise. What followed heralded challenging times to come.

A pool of perspiration was working its way from the small of Iroh's back to his shoulder blades. He diligently ignored it as he focused on maintaining his handstand form while the sun beat down on him. Though he was only wearing his lightweight training trousers, it was no surprise that his muscles were growing slick with sweat - he'd been practicing fire bombs for most of the afternoon before deciding to challenge himself to beat his personal record for a handstand.

Once he managed to correct the slight trembling in his legs, his mind wandered back to his responsibilities for the day. Flatter some nobles over an evening tea, attend another war meeting, check if his wife showed any sign of awakening from her third day of unconsciousness…

He wasn't sure what had come over Ursa at the wedding dinner. While he'd initially been content to ignore her and enjoy his wedding feast, a furrowed brow from the Fire Lord had made it clear he couldn't get away with that behavior during their very public first meal as husband and wife. Besides, Iroh hadn't been able to help feeling concerned about the fact that she wasn't eating the fine cuisine. Someone probably should have noticed she was feeling unwell earlier in the day, not that it would have postponed his father's wishes to see them married as soon as possible.

She really did have a lovely voice, even if it was part of her persona as a new princess. Talking to her actually hadn't been unpleasant, until the part where she'd started shaking and throwing up one of his most prized teas. Still, he did feel for her. No one deserved to end their wedding day by falling so ill, especially after she'd already been taken away from her home and her lover to marry him. Considering those circumstances, it was a shock the woman had conducted herself as well as she did.

If there was anything to be learned from this whole affair, it was that sea slug tentacles should not be part of the traditional wedding meal going forward. He really would have to see about banning that dish as Fire Lord.

"Your bride has awakened."

Iroh opened his eyes to see his father standing in the palace entryway, albeit upside down from his perspective. "Is that so?" It was a good challenge for his breath control to try and carry on the conversation while staying in his handstand.

Azulon stepped onto the sands of the training grounds and examined Iroh's form, nodding slightly before responding. "The physicians brought me the news. I thought you would like to accompany me to greet her."

It wasn't really a suggestion, but Iroh didn't mind. This was one of the longest handstands he'd managed even without the interruption. "Give me a few minutes to cool down and freshen up." He carefully maneuvered his feet to the ground to stand upright, blinking rapidly as the blood rushed out of his head. His body felt uncomfortably warm; he needed to keep working on mastering thermoregulation in heat as well as cold.

"My father used to punish me by forcing me into these blasted handstand holds, and you choose to do them as extra training." The aged Fire Lord shook his head with a sigh. "Every father hopes his son will surpass him and dreads the day it actually happens."

"Come on, mighty Fire Lord. I'm sure if you were still nineteen, you could make me look like a novice." Iroh playfully elbowed his father before grabbing a towel, pleased to see an answering smile on his face.

Ozai emerged from the palace entryway, dressed in his own training trousers. "Am I interrupting?"

"No, we were just leaving." Azulon's expression tightened again as he spoke to his younger son. "Make sure you focus on your lightning today. Iroh could generate lightning almost instantly when he was your age."

A shadow shifted across Ozai's face at the comparison, but he didn't speak. Now that a couple of days had passed since the wedding, Iroh felt bad about the childish argument they'd had before the ceremony. Ozai was tall enough to look Iroh in the eye, but he was still a boy. It was just hard to remember that when his sharp tongue was lashing out.

"You could try candle meditation," Iroh suggested as he wiped the sweat off his face and neck. "It helped me a lot when I was still learning how to separate the energies."

"Yeah, that definitely hadn't occurred to me." Ozai rolled his eyes, ignoring their father's disapproving glare as he walked off to warm up.

"Don't bother," Iroh whispered. He didn't want to watch Ozai be berated for no real reason again. "He's just being fourteen."

"You weren't like that," Azulon frowned. "No matter. Be quick - I want to see her before meeting with the trade minister."

As he dragged a damp cleaning cloth over his aching arms and shoulders, Iroh wondered about Ursa's condition. She'd been fully unconscious for two days after the wedding, which would surely leave a mark on her health. Hopefully her memory was intact; it would not be pleasant to explain the circumstances of their arranged marriage again.

He pulled on a simple day tunic and trousers, covered with his most basic outer robe. It didn't make sense to dress in his full crown prince attire while still heated from training. But he still took the time to carefully adjust his crown prince headpiece in his top knot: it was the one thing that only ever left his body for bathing and sleeping.

"The physicians say she's taking water and some broth, but still seems very weak," Azulon told him as they made their way to Ursa's chamber. "She has yet to speak or answer any question about how she's feeling beyond nodding or shaking her head."

Yuna, Iroh and Ozai's former nanny turned head servant, was waiting to greet them outside the princess's room. At least she was the one in charge of attending to Ursa; Iroh couldn't think of a more capable guide to palace life. She bowed to father and son before stepping inside. "The Fire Lord and the crown prince have arrived," she announced.

Ursa, Iroh immediately noticed, looked very pale. Her dark hair was spread out like a halo around her face as she lay back against the pillows, emphasizing the whiteness of her skin. A physician who'd been measuring her pulse immediately stepped back to bow to Azulon and Iroh. She stirred and looked at Iroh with half-open eyes. Something flinched inside him - there was a depth of sorrow in those eyes he hadn't seen before, not even on the carriage ride from Hira'a to the capital after she'd said goodbye to Ikem.

"Any change?" Azulon directed his question to the physician.

Ursa closed her eyes again as the man answered. There were no changes, but he hoped to be able to step away and prepare a herbal remedy with his colleagues that should strengthen her constitution. No, he still wasn't sure what caused the princess's ailment aside from wedding day stress, so all he could prescribe right now was rest and fluids.

"Go. Iroh is here to accompany her." The physician scurried out of the room, and Azulon laid a hand on Iroh's shoulder. "See what you can read in her energy pathways. I will step outside as well to let you concentrate."

Reading energy pathways was immensely challenging to anyone without a lifetime of practice, even to the royal physicians. Iroh had discovered he had some innate talent in the area thanks to his spiritual interests, but he was no expert. He also wasn't about to argue the point. "Yes, Father."

As Azulon left the room, Iroh took a seat in the chair that the physician had been occupying near the head of the bed. If he'd known he needed to read energy today, he wouldn't have pushed himself as hard in training earlier. He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease their aching as he willed his mind to find the heat traveling through Ursa's prone body.

A hand touched his knee, breaking his concentration. He looked down at Ursa, who was once again gazing at him with her sad golden eyes. Her bloodless lips moved inaudibly.

"What is it?" He leaned down, encouraging her to speak up.

She took a breath, an action that seemed to require a lot of effort on her part, and her lips moved again. "…pa…rents…"

"Your parents?"

She nodded.

"They were escorted back to Hira'a yesterday. The physicians weren't sure how long you would be unconscious, unfortunately." Even as Iroh explained, he felt guilty. It was the truth, as the palace couldn't host the magistrate and his wife indefinitely, but it still felt cruel that she hadn't been able to say goodbye after her wedding.

Ursa's expression crumpled as tears filled her eyes. She withdrew her hand from Iroh to cover her face and began to let out great, heaving sobs that wracked her slender frame.

He quickly stood to curl his hand around her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Princess, but I need you to try and stay calm." It was impossible for him to read her energy while she was like this. However, his words only had the opposite effect as she started to gasp out helplessly, clutching at her chest with her other hand. Blast it all, she was having trouble breathing. "Yuna, fetch me the incense!" he ordered.

Yuna, indispensable as she was, quickly appeared with a lump of sage incense that she offered to Iroh with a bow. Azulon watched from the doorway as Iroh took it into his free hand and ignited it with a low flame. He gently pried Ursa's hand away from her face, wincing at her feeble resistance, and held the incense to her nose.

Her gasping sobs were interrupted with coughs and splutters as the pungent sage forced its way into her lungs. Soon enough, her breathing returned to a somewhat regular pattern, and she slumped back against the pillows. Iroh sighed and placed the still-smoking incense on the nightstand. Hopefully, it would help her find a dreamless sleep.

"Thank you, Yuna. You may go."

He sat again, too exhausted to care that Azulon was still gazing at him and Ursa from the doorway. He was going to read her energy pathways, and then he was going to cancel the rest of his plans and take a long bath.

The sage would have slowed her frantic energy to some extent, but as he focused inwards and allowed his vision to shift into the plane of heat and light, he was startled by just how lethargic her pathways were. At the very base of her spine, the flow was blocked almost entirely and only faintly burned red. Some old book with a list of chi symptoms tickled at the edge of his memory as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

"This isn't a natural illness," Iroh said softly as his vision flickered back to the flesh-and-blood world. He looked at his father. "I think she's been poisoned."

Azulon III, notated in the 3rd month of 168 AG

This is one of the most convoluted points in the story of Iroh and Ursa, which is admirable considering how early on in their marriage it occurred. The poisoning of Ursa on her wedding day is accepted to have happened by all parties. However, uncovering the who and how and why behind this incident proved to be a tenuous task. Solving this mystery became, in my opinion, the first challenge Iroh and Ursa truly overcame together, serving as a milestone in their marriage.

Iroh was gone by the time Ursa woke up again. Her head felt heavy, and the smell of sage was still unmistakably clinging to her clothes despite the dim candlelight of her room showing night had fallen. How many hours had it been?

When she first awoke from her coma to the news that it had been a few days since the wedding, she'd known deep down her parents were gone. Still, she had clung to a brief hope that maybe the royal family had kept them here for her final goodbye. Maybe Iroh, her now-husband, had given her that small courtesy after the semblance of kindness he'd shown her during the wedding dinner.

He hadn't, and that had shattered something within her. She was married, and sick, and her head hurt, and she just wanted her mom whom she was never going to see again. Whatever Iroh had done to put her to sleep in the midst of her crying fit couldn't soothe the dull ache in her chest. She wasn't sure anything ever would.

"Princess?" A figure emerged from the physician's chair at the corner of her vision. He was dressed in the manner of a court physician, but he was much younger than the ones who had been attending to her earlier. "Do you feel well enough to speak?"

She did, but she didn't want to. She shook her head slowly.

"I see. Well, my name is Korzu." He bowed. "Fire Lord Azulon has entrusted me with overseeing your recovery. I know I am young, but I assure you I have trained at the finest academies in the nation."

Korzu spoke formally but earnestly, and there was a glint of good humor in his eyes. She would have liked to befriend him if she'd met him in Hira'a. Here, she didn't know who to trust. At least she could expect to receive good treatment while she was ill; Azulon hadn't gotten the heirs he wanted from her yet.

"Would you like to summon anyone for your needs? Yuna? Your husband?"

Two head shakes.

"Very well. I took the liberty to order some porridge for your evening meal. I will go fetch it now."

Ursa waited until the man was gone to sit up in bed. Her head still felt stuffed with cotton, but otherwise, her body was more tired than anything. She stretched out both her arms in front of her, flexing her hands, and then reached over her head. A bolt of pain arced down her spine, making her gasp softly, but otherwise everything worked as it should. She suspected it was simply tight muscles from being bed bound.

Not that anyone in the palace had bothered asking about her background, but Ursa did know more than a few things about healing and botany. Acting wasn't exactly a lucrative career, after all, and she'd always imagined she would tend a medicinal greenhouse like her mother to truly make a living. Perhaps she wasn't trained enough to challenge a royal physician, but she certainly knew her own body better than him.

Flexing and stretching her legs in bed, Ursa focused through her haze to recall the events that had led up to her coma. She had felt sick to her stomach for most of the ceremony due to nerves, but once she'd started talking to Iroh, that feeling had actually eased. She'd only gotten truly ill at the start of the fourth course, which she hadn't even touched. The only things she'd eaten and drunk that evening were the pre-ceremonial tea, a bite of rice, and Iroh's sencha tea. Iroh had also eaten all those things, in addition to hearty helpings of all the other wedding food, and he wasn't sick at all.

Well, would he have eaten all the same things she ate? Ursa compared their meals as she rotated her shoulders and upper back. He had eaten the rice off her plate without any ill effects, so it couldn't be that. Presumably, the sencha tea and the pre-ceremonial tea would have been brewed in the same pot for the couple. The sencha tea was apparently from Iroh's prized personal collection, and it was hard to believe that the palace would stock any subpar tea leaves for the crown prince's wedding, so she could safely assume there was nothing wrong with the leaves themselves.

But on the way from the kitchen to Ursa…she leaned back into the pillows with a sigh, content her body would recover, before returning to her train of thought. Iroh and she had consumed their tea from separate cups, brought to them by separate maids. It was possible that after the tea had been brewed, something could have been added to Ursa's cup specifically to make her ill. And Ursa wasn't familiar enough with either beverage to notice if something was wrong with them. Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall the taste of the teas she'd drunk.

It was possible she was just being paranoid. Fire Lord Azulon was a menacing man, and he had hand-picked her as a wife for his son because of her bloodline. Who would dare to poison a princess under Fire Lord Azulon's protection so publicly on her wedding night? Someone very important, someone high-ranking enough to feel like they could challenge Azulon and Iroh; or a traitor in the palace trying to sabotage the royal family's attempts to grow its power through her.

"Princess," Korzu greeted as he returned to her room. He carried a bed tray table with her porridge delicately balanced on top. "Are you ready to eat?"

If her suspicions were correct, that she'd fallen ill because of someone in the palace tampering with her food, it wasn't wise for her to eat. At the same time, she wasn't sure how to address her suspicions with this stranger without sounding like she was accusing someone in her new home.

Korzu's gentle smile was starting to strain as he watched her think. "Princess?" He asked again, an edge of anxiety in his voice.

She bit her lip, struggling to come to a decision. Fire Lord Azulon had placed this physician in charge of her well being, and she couldn't think of anything she could do that would supersede that order. But maybe there was one other person who'd shown concern for her health that could do something.

"I….would like my…husband. Please."

Korzu serving as Ursa's personal physician was the only thing that put Iroh at ease as he mulled over the poisoning, chewing his dinner without tasting any of it for once. It had been a very public show of a precise amount of aggression: intentionally not enough to kill her, but enough to make it clear that she could have been killed. There was no way to formally investigate the attack without admitting the Fire Lord and crown prince had been bested, openly marking themselves as vulnerable, so they had to plot in private. His pride smarted at the blow.

Azulon had initially raised an eyebrow at Iroh's suggestion that Korzu take the lead on treating Ursa. Even though Korzu was not technically a royal physician, Iroh couldn't think of any physician he trusted more. He and Korzu had met as boys in school and quickly bonded over a mutual love of pai sho, music, and candid discussion. Even though their lives had diverged as Iroh became the crown prince and Korzu pursued his lofty goal of healing the less fortunate, Iroh had made it a point to stay in touch with his friend over the years. Now, Korzu had thankfully responded to his call for help.

Still, interrupting the royal family's dinner was not the best look for a young physician.

"I'm terribly sorry, my lord, noble princes," he panted. Despite his training at several elite schools, he had always been awkward about proper etiquette, which was only exacerbated under stress. "She- the princess is awake, and she wants to see you. Iroh. Crown Prince Iroh. I apologize."

Iroh glanced at his father at the head of the table, who briefly nodded his assent. Dinner could wait until the Avatar's granddaughter was confirmed to be alright.

"I don't know what I did," Korzu babbled as he accompanied Iroh back to Ursa's chamber. Being most comfortable as a physician for the people, he became very anxious when he had to return to his noble roots. "I asked when she woke up if she wanted to see you, and she said no, and then I brought her dinner and she suddenly asked- maybe she hates the dinner, I was just trying to be mindful-"

"You have to calm down," Iroh hushed his friend, whose voice was rapidly rising. "Ursa is a modest woman, and she is not easily offended. Maybe she wants to ask her husband for something she was too embarrassed to ask of a physician."

Honestly, he wasn't sure why she wanted to see him. Between her slipping into a coma at their wedding dinner and having a breathing attack when he visited her earlier, he hadn't exactly been a healing presence. But he was confident she didn't have any complaints about Korzu, considering her humble origins and his friend's kindness.

"Give us privacy," he told the guards diligently positioned outside Ursa's chamber. He'd quietly doubled her guard since his afternoon visit. "Korzu, stand away for a bit. I'll summon you when we're done."

Korzu nodded while mumbling a prayer to Agni under his breath. Rolling his eyes fondly, Iroh straightened his back and double-checked his headpiece before walking into the room.

"Princess?"

Ursa was not in bed as he'd last left her, but standing somewhat shakily by her window. She gasped and clutched at the curtains to steady herself.

"What are you doing?" He rushed over to her, noticing that her face had gone pale again. "Korzu said your condition hasn't improved - you should be resting."

"He didn't…really…check." Ursa said haltingly before taking a deep breath. "I feel better…can move more…was just testing."

"You'll make yourself worse." There was no real admonishment in his words. He imagined chivalrous Korzu would have been too nervous to properly examine Ursa right away, and he respected the tenacity she was showing now. But he still held out his hand to her. "Please, lie down."

Her mouth set itself in a stubborn line, but she begrudgingly took his hand and wobbled her way to the bed.

Iroh seated himself in the physician's chair, watching her get her breath back as she settled into her previous position, lying against the pillows. He supposed she was technically in better shape if she was able to move around and speak, but she clearly wasn't fully healed. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Oh…" Ursa's eyes drifted up to the ceiling. "It's silly…maybe."

"You're quite ill," Iroh said diplomatically. "Even if it is silly, it's understandable considering your condition."

She glanced at him with wary, red-rimmed eyes. It occurred to him that she was in no condition to act right now, not with the blockage he'd seen in her energy earlier. What he was seeing of her today was assuredly the most authentic version of Ursa: alone, vulnerable, and clearly anxious, but still with a sharp wit about her and an innate sense of pride and independence. It was admirable, and it was a bit intimidating. Like it or not, he was responsible for this young woman now.

"My illness….isn't natural."

Well, Iroh knew that, but how on Earth had she? Before he could school his expression, she read his face.

"You….already know?" she whispered.

He never had been good at hiding his thoughts. "We found out when I was visiting you this afternoon."

"Physician…didn't say." Her head flopped back.

"Korzu doesn't know. As far as he and anyone beside my father and I are concerned, he's only here as an old friend of mine because I'm especially worried about my new wife's health."

"He's…your friend?"

Iroh nodded. "I asked him to be here because I trust him more than any other physician in the country."

"Oh…" Ursa glanced over at the lukewarm dish of porridge on her nightstand. "So that…probably…isn't poison."

"No. You have a taste-tester now, and Korzu is personally delivering all your meals. If the food is how you became ill, it's not going to happen again." He was surprised at the genuine reassurance he heard in his voice. Outside of his own pride, he really did want her to feel safe in the palace. It was the least he could give her after what she'd been through.

Ursa nodded, but she was still frowning slightly.

"Is there something else?" Unable to contain his curiosity, he added. "How did you know you were poisoned?"

She shrugged. "It's…my body."

He didn't quite believe that was the whole explanation, but he also wasn't going to pressure her into being more vulnerable right now.

"I didn't…eat much," she added. "You ate…my rice... But…the teas…"

He'd also been considering what she'd eaten that night. "So all you had was the rice, the sencha, and the pre-ceremonial tea?"

She nodded her confirmation slowly. Iroh filed the information away in his mind for later consideration. "I promise, once I know how this happened, you will too, and whoever did it will be punished." He hesitated, then reached out and laid his hand next to hers on the mattress. It was his best effort at a gesture of reassurance for his new wife.

Her hand inched just a bit closer to his in response. "Thank you."

Iroh, cont.

At the time I made that promise to Ursa, the first of many in our marriage, I did have every intention of keeping it. I thought it would allow us to put the tumultuous beginning of our relationship in the past and proceed into a harmonious coexistence.

Alas, it was also the first of many promises I failed to keep.

A/N: It's the Fire Nation baby, it's the land of slow burns ahahaha get it?

~Bobbi