CHAPTER 17
Their glances met again, full of terror. Neither understood what was happening.
And when Azula felt another cough coming -just like the previous one-, her eyes went to Kiyi who was at the desk, thankfully way too focused on her reading to see anything. She hadn't noticed. She hadn't lifted her head to see the blood.
The Princess stood up without a second thought and before the next cough came, she rushed out the room.
She fell on her knees in the middle of the hallway when her own body forced her to arch forward. This one was more like vomit, more aggressive and in a bigger amount. And just like the previous one, there was no way she could have stopped it.
Her eyes filled with tears. Her heartbeat rose. Her hands shook uncontrollably. The blood, the confusion, everything was overwhelming her. She was afraid. Terrified.
"What's happening?" Sokka asked her, kneeling next to her. His voice was filled with horror. He was also lost and just as confused at what was happening. He didn't know what to do or how to help her.
Their eyes met and she just wished to cry. She didn't have any answers. She was shaking. Tears slipped down her face, unable to stop them. The blood was everywhere. Her hands. Her face. Her clothes.
Her brain didn't process what happened next.
"Fuck!" Sokka cursed, sliding his arm under her knees and the other one surrounding her back. He lifted her from the floor without trouble. "You're gonna be fine. I swear," he promised her, even if he wasn't sure of it himself. "Let's find Zuko." he said, rushing to where they had last seen him, not knowing what else to do.
His heart was beating against his chest. She had been fine one second and then at the next one, she was coughing blood. A lot. He took a glimpse at the girl in his arms. She was getting paler and paler.
If she didn't stop coughing, she might… No. It won't happen, he thought pushing those thoughts aside. He tightened his grip around her body, bringing her closer to him as if that would stop whatever was happening to Azula.
Another cough.
This one splashed him on his shirt and face, but he didn't care. That was the least of his problems. He only wanted to find a way to make her stop coughing blood.
"Zuko!" Sokka shouted as soon as he saw him on the training grounds.
He was still talking with Iroh when he suddenly, both of them paling at the scene before them.
Zuko felt a cold shiver down his spine when he saw his sister in Sokka's arm, covered in blood. The cup slipped from his hands, shattering against the ground.
They rushed to each other.
"What happened?!" his eyes quickly studied her sister. She was not hurt, so from where was all the blood coming? His question was answered when she sputtered blood at him.
Azula's eyes were almost closed. Her skin was of a ghostly shade and she couldn't focus on their words, she only heard murmurs around her, unable to understand them.
"She was fine one moment, and then she… I don't know what happened!" he squealed, worried. He could feel the shivers rushing through his body. "But it doesn't stop!... She keeps vomiting blood. And I don't know what to do!"
Zuko turned to the only man that could help him. "Uncle, y-you must know of something! W-What do we do?!" he asked, fearful of Azula's situation. A feeling of guilt invaded him. They had fought not even an hour ago and now; she was vomiting blood and possibly dying...
"Take her to her room. I know of something." said Iroh, rushing towards the kitchen without losing a beat.
"You heard him, c'mon." said Zuko, taking a last glance at his younger sister, growing paler and paler each second.
They rushed through the hallways avoiding the servants and ignoring some of their concerns when they noticed the blood. The rumor would probably spread quickly no doubt, but they would have time to explain that later. The only thing that mattered right now was helping Azula.
The Princess vomited three more times as they headed to her room.
Sokka noticed how her body was getting colder and colder with each passing second, which was a signal that she was losing too much blood. He had experienced the same thing in Lian Yu, and it had been a horrible experience.
By this moment, she already had her eyes closed and her breathing was getting shallow. Her chest was barely rising, and even behind the red color in her lips, he could see that they were turning blue by each passing second.
"I hope your uncle hurries," he muttered as they walked inside her room.
"He will. He has too." said Zuko with a tone mixed between worried and hopeful.
Sokka placed her on the bed carefully when he noticed another spasm coming. He approached her with a trash can, and she emptied her insides once more.
"Z-Z… uko…" she attempted to mutter. They could notice how much she was struggling to not close her eyes again. Blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, staining her teeth and lips.
"It's okay. It's okay. You are going to be fine." he assured her, kneeling next to her at the bed. He reached for her hand and suppressed himself from making a grimace when he noticed how cold her hands were. Not a good sign for a firebender. He tried to sound as calm as possible, but his nerves betrayed him.
"I-I... don't know… what… happened…" she tried to say between gasps. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and almost impossible to speak.
"We're going to find out, okay?" he said, trying to ease her. He pushed one of her bangs behind her ear. "Uncle is already…" another cough cut him mid-sentence.
The door opened and thankfully Iroh appeared holding an infusion.
"I'm right here," he said, heading towards her.
Zuko and Sokka looked at the old man, somewhat relieved.
Zuko moved aside and Iroh sat on the mattress next to the Princess. He helped his niece and her shaky hands to hold the cup. She didn't protest when he made it, drink it all, even though it tasted horrifying.
"Drink it all." said Iroh, making sure she drank the last bit.
They waited for a couple of seconds for more blood, but nothing happened.
Suddenly, the Princess's eyelids got even more heavy than before. She felt tired. Exhausted even. And when she least expected it, she fell into a deep dream.
"What happened?" Zuko asked in an alarmed tone, wondering if it was a good sign that she had fallen asleep so suddenly.
They saw her chest slowly rise and descend. She was still breathing.
"I gave her an infusion of something to help her sleep. The worst is over, but we are not done. She is going to be weak for a couple of days from the blood loss," said Iroh. "The infusion I gave her only stopped the blood, which worried me the most, but still…" he glanced towards Sokka whose eyes were glued on the Princess. "It's just a temporary solution. She will start vomiting again in a couple of hours, so I'm going to need to know exactly what happened so I can figure out a permanent solution." his eyes went to the water tribe boy.
"Sokka, what happened?" Zuko asked calmly now that he knew that Azula was fine. At least, for now.
His blue eyes traveled from the Fire Lord to Iroh, and lastly to the Princess and back to Zuko.
He leaned on the wall, running a hand through his face and hair. "I don't know," he admitted dejectedly. "She was fine one moment and suddenly she..."
"Maybe it was something she ate? Drank?" Iroh inquired, hoping to refresh the young warrior's memory.
"No, we were…" his eyes widened when he remembered she had been the only one to drink the tea. He snapped his fingers. "That's it! The tea! It must've been the tea." he said, putting two and two together.
"What tea?"
"We were… we were playing Pai Sho and… she was mad at you for what happened so I… I proposed some tea and… we were playing and… That must be it! She's the only one that drank it!" he uttered to himself. How could he have been so dumb? Everything had been doubtful since the servant had delivered the tea. That must be it.
"Do you know what type of tea it was?" Iroh asked.
Sokka shook his head. "No. I… I…"
"The color, perhaps? Scent? Taste?" He was fishing for anything that could give him a lead would help him to identify the poison.
"N-No… But there's some left in her office." he said, remembering he had left everything back there.
"If I can identify exactly which tea it was, I can make a remedy for her," muttered Iroh. "Would you show me where it is?" he inquired at Sokka.
"Of course," Sokka said happy to help.
"Wait!" Zuko stopped him. "Sokka, buddy, I think you should go change first. If my mother, Katara, or anyone sees your clothes all stained in blood, it could cause a panic and that's something I don't want." he pointed out. Sokka looked like someone from a horror tale, all covered in blood.
The water tribe boy looked down at his shirt, he forgot the state he was in due to all the commotion. "Oh, right. I'll go change quickly."
"Please do."
Sokka rushed to his room in the same hallway. He would need a complete change of clothes as some drops had stained his pants which still were somehow salvageable or at least he hoped. But his shirt, being stained as it is, was another story entirely.
"There you are, Sokka," Katara called him, appearing in the hallway. "I've been looking for you…" her expression transformed into horror when she saw her brother's appearance. Her hands went to her mouth as she gasped. "What happened?!" she squealed.
"Don't panic!" he pleaded. "It's not mine!"
The bender let out a deep breath, relieved. "Wait, if it's not yours then, whose is it?"
"It's… It's Azula's." he muttered, looking at the carpet.
"What?!" she squeaked. Her eyes widening. It relieved her that her brother wasn't injured, but if the Princess was, it meant something bad had happened. "What happened?"
"I-I... We don't know yet," he said. "I was going to get changed to help Zuko and Iroh find out."
"B-But…" the amount of blood on him stunned her. It was a lot.
"Just, give me a second and I will try to explain it as best as I can." he asked, walking into his room to get changed.
He got a glimpse of his person in the mirror in the room. He looked like someone from a horror tale they used to tell at bonfires back in the tribe to scare little children.
Sokka changed into new clothes and placed the stained ones in the sink to soak. He knew that the fabric was most likely ruined, but he wanted to at least try to take the stain off.
He looked closely at his reflection. His face had plenty of tiny blood drops here and there. He washed his face and hands, trying to get rid of all the blood.
He couldn't get out of his head the expression of horror he had seen on the Princess after the first cough. The confusion, the fear that her eyes had showed. It had been an expression he never thought he would see on her. An expression that he knew he didn't wish to see again.
She could have died in my arms, he thought. Just like Yue.
He didn't know why he made that comparison when they were two totally different situations. Yue had sacrificed her life, willing to save the Moon Spirit. Azula had most likely been poisoned. Yue had died peacefully, without pain. While for Azula, it seemed to be an agony.
Maybe he had made the comparison because they were both Princesses. After all, that was the only similarity they shared, right?
Once he made sure he was as clean as he could be, he headed back towards the Princess' room to meet with Zuko and Iroh, closely followed by Katara.
"... I thought she was… that she was going to…" said Zuko, his eyes focused on his sibling. He and his uncle were keeping a conversation.
"I know, nephew," said Iroh. "But you are not giving her enough credit. Your sister is the most stubborn girl I have ever known. She is even more stubborn than you, and that's saying something. Do you seriously think she would dare to die like this? Without a fight?" he said, trying to comfort him.
"I know," Zuko muttered and sighed. "But… It was terrifying seeing her like that… The expression of horror, of fear on her face uncle. It was something I've seen before and hope to never see again on her." he rubbed his face with his hand.
Same, my friend, Sokka though.
"And also, seeing her like that after our fight just... made me feel like the worst human being." he admitted, not looking away from Azula.
"Don't be so harsh on yourself. You two still have a lot to learn from each other." said Iroh, patting Zuko on the shoulder.
"I suppose." he whispered.
"Hey," said Katara, softly. "I ran into Sokka outside and he told me that something happened."
"Hey," Zuko replied, barely audible.
"She just started coughing blood. Tons and tons of it," explained Sokka. "It seems like she was poisoned. At least, that what we believe right now."
"Here? In the Palace? Is that even possible?" she raised her eyebrows aghast.
"And that's not the worst," said Iroh. "If our suspicions are proved right, my niece wasn't only poisoned in the Palace. Whoever did it was attempting to kill her. Us firebenders, thanks to our inner fire, are resistant to most poisons. So, whoever did this, must have known that and gave her a lethal-enough dose. If a non-bender or a bender of another element was poisoned like this, it's more than likely that they would've been dead in a matter of seconds." he informed.
Sokka glanced towards Azula on the bed. For the third time, she had saved him. His lips had almost touched the tea when she had coughed the first time, making him leave the cup aside, sparing him from the poison.
"Do you want me to check her?" Katara offered Zuko. Perhaps she could find a way to help her, even if it most likely a futile attempt.
"Yes. I would really like that. Please," he said, a little more relieved. "And… would you mind staying for a little while? We have to go…"
"Of course." replied the waterbender, bending some water.
Iroh stood from the bed and headed towards Sokka.
"Come with me. I want you to show me that tea you were talking about." he said in a serious tone. A tone he hadn't heard often from the old man.
Sokka took them to the room they had been in before the entire incident. They found everything exactly where they had left it. Even Kiyi was still studying in the room.
"Oh, there you are," she said as soon as she saw Sokka. "Why did you two rush out like… Oh, hey Zuzu, Iroh." she greeted the two companions. They returned the greetings, and she returned to her studying, leaving them to do what they had come there for.
"We were playing Pai Sho over here," he pointed at the board, the pieces still scattered around. "And this is the tea we were drinki…" he went silent when he noticed that the teapot was empty. He was sure he had left it still full. "Kiyi!" he called the nine-year-old, worried sick.
"Huh?" she raised her eyes from her book.
"Did someone come and empty this teapot?" he inquired, showing her the vase in his hand.
"No," she denied. "Nobody came. But I took a few cups." she said.
"What?!" he asked, horrified.
"Yeah, a while ago. Almost right after you and Azu rushed out." she said, casually.
Sokka and Zuko shared a concerned glance.
"And how are you feeling?" her older brother asked.
"Sleepy," she replied with a yawn. "This text is so... boring." she huffed.
"Just sleepy?" he raised a brow. "Nothing else?"
She frowned. "Yeah, just that. Why?" she tilted her head, confused.
"N-No, reason," he said with a fake smile.
"Tsk… Azula was right, you are weird." she muttered under her breath before returning to her reading.
"It doesn't make sense," Zuko whispered at Sokka as low as he could to avoid Kiyi eavesdropping. "If she drank the same tea, she should be coughing… but she seems… fine." he said whilst looking at Kiyi and waiting for a reaction, a sign that she was poisoned too, but there was nothing… "Uncle, what do you think…"
Iroh had reached for one of the cups that still had liquid in it. He raised his nose and sniffed it.
Chamomile, he thought, identifying it really easily.
"If they drank the same tea, then why…?"
"It's not the tea." stated Iroh and heading towards Kyi. "Darling, can I see your cup?"
Kiyi nodded and showed him a silver cup.
"Different sets." he said, showing his companions the differences.
One was silver while the other one was green.
"Mommy brought me a drink this morning and when I finished it, I refilled it with the tea." informed Kiyi.
"Thank you, darling. We'll leave you to study in peace." said Iroh, motioning his nephew and his friend to follow him out. But he stopped when he took one last look at the Pai Sho board. "Which tiles were yours?" he asked Sokka.
The warrior blinked, wondering why that was relevant right now. "Humph… The white ones, Azula was using the black ones." he indicated.
Iroh smirked. "Interesting." he said, analyzing the game.
"Huh?"
"It's just… My niece's tiles. The arrangement is very peculiar." he muttered.
"I thought the same. It was an easy win." he said cockily. He would have easily beaten her.
"It was not an easy win," Iroh corrected him. "If you were going to win, it was probably because she wanted you to win." he said, heading out of the room.
"What?!" he squealed before trailing behind him and Zuko, taking one last look at the board.
"Uncle, what's happening? I don't understand. I thought it was the tea… but…" Zuko questioned his uncle, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown.
"It's not the tea, Zuko." he replied, leading them back to Azula's room.
"Then…?" Sokka insisted.
"I need to check something first." said Iroh, as they reached her room.
"Back so soon?" Katara asked when they entered the Princess' room. Her boyfriend and Toph had joined the waterbender, and she was just finishing filling them in when they had walked in.
"It's…"
"We heard some servants whispering about a bloody warrior and Princess and we assumed that it was you two." said Aang staring at Sokka worried sick.
"But no one could tell us something, so we came here, and we found Prissy like this," said the earthbender without her usual teasing tone. "What happened?" she asked, sitting on a chair close to the bed.
"I-I…" Zuko muttered, looking at his Uncle going through some drawers. "What are you looking for, uncle?" he asked.
"I… will tell you in a minute… Here it is." he said, taking a silver ring from one of the drawers.
Zuko frowned, not understanding his uncle's behavior or actions. "Why would you need a silver ring?"
"You will see in a bit," replied Iroh, rubbing the ring around the edge of the cup. "If my suspicions are right, the ring should be… changing color." he said, showing them how the silver was slowly discoloring.
All of them blinked, astonished and confused as to why it was changing color.
"Then that means it wasn't the tea, right? It was the cup that was poisoned?" Sokka inquired when another question appeared in his mind. "But how could they have possibly known cup she was going to drink from? It's impossible."
Iroh nodded. "Indeed, it is. But I believe the entire tableware they gave you had the poison. So, whoever would have drunk from it would have been poisoned." he stated reaching, that conclusion.
Then his mind remembered something. "Wait, now that I remember… the girl I asked for the tea, she asked me if it was the usual every morning," he recalled. "I said yes and when they brought the tea, there was even an extra cup… At first, I thought they had assumed that the tea was for the three of you, but if that's correct then…"
Zuko and Iroh shared a glance. "It means that they hoped to poison all of us," said Zuko in realization of what that implied. He placed a hand on his uncle's shoulder. "Do you remember what I told you in the letter about Mi Na?" Iroh nodded.
"Do you think this is related to that?" Aang intervened.
"I-I… maybe." uttered the Fire Lord.
"We don't know for sure, but we shouldn't discard the idea." said Sokka.
"What does your instinct say, Sokka?" asked Katara with slight mockery.
He placed a hand under his chin and pondered for a moment. "I believe it's connected," he said, serious. Everyone's eyes were on him. "Let's just look at the facts first; the posters with the 'False Lineage', 'False Royals' thing. Then, the Rough Rhinos and the Dai Li in Yu Dao -we still have no clue how they found out we were making a stop there-. And now this," he continued. "If we look at them separately, it might seem that they don't have any relation but if you look at the details…"
"Be clear, Snoozles." Toph demanded, snarling and frowning, not understanding one bit.
He sighed. "I will but let me ask Zuko something."
"Me?" he tilted his head.
"During the last couple of years, some earthbenders moved to the Fire Nation, right?" he inquired, his mind rushing to connect the dots.
Zuko nodded. "Yes, I have allowed some earthbenders -maybe a dozen or two- to come to the Nation as either a temporary citizen or a permanent one to work in the mines. But what about that?"
"Well…" Sokka took a moment to arrange his ideas. "It's a theory… Just a theory, but what if there are some ex- Dai Li among people?"
Zuko was perplexed. He hadn't thought about that possibility. "I-It… it can't be… I mean, it could be but… but my men and King Kuei made background checks on all of them. We made sure that none of them held a record of being a soldier during the war to prevent any kind of conflict or misunderstanding."
"But nephew, what if someone got fake records?" Iroh suggested. "I mean, even we could get them during the war, remember?" he recalled how they had managed to make two full new identities back then, as Mushi and Lee. "I'm sure that anyone could get fake identities for the right price. Sokka's theory is not that far-fetched."
"Y-You're right. I suppose." Zuko muttered.
"What else, Captain Boomerang?" Toph asked.
"Well, if there are some Dai Li among those people, for some earthbender there would be no problem to place the posters and then vanish without your soldiers noticing. Toph, how would you do it?" they glanced at the earthbender.
Toph took a moment to reply. "Humph… I would probably earthbend hole in the ground, place them and then get back into the hole. That way nobody would know I was there." she uttered.
"Exactly."
"But wait," Katara interfered. "Let's say you're right. How does that connect with Yu Dao and today?"
"I'm still not too sure about it, but… If the Dai Li are indeed the ones behind that, they could have found a way to know that you were heading to Yu Dao and plan the attack. I mean, when you travel you mostly do it without the same amount of security, and let's face it, it did kind of took us by surprise." he said, glancing at Zuko.
"Also, Zuko you said it yourself, the Dai Li probably still have spies in Ba Sing Se," Aang interjected, Sokka widening his eyes at his words. "I would not be surprised if they…"
"That's it!" he squealed, making everyone stare at him. "It totally slipped my mind, but when I asked for the tea, I requested it from a young servant girl, but a guy brought it. I'm positive. She placed the poison in the cups and then asked the guy to bring it so she'd have a chance to escape!" he exclaimed, finally putting all the pieces he had together.
"Do you remember the guy's face?" Zuko asked, quickly.
"Yes."
"I'm going to request Kuei for his help and permission to look for that guy among his servants." the Fire Lord said in a resolute fashion.
"And who knows maybe, we can interrogate him." said the Avatar.
"If you are looking to interrogate someone and get the truth out of them, I'm your girl for the job." said Toph, standing up and pointing at herself with her thumb.
"We should go then."
"But wait," Zuko stopped them. He glanced towards his unconscious sibling. "Right now, I don't feel too confident to leave her alone like that." he muttered. He couldn't dare to leave her alone at the moment, not when she was so weak and practically defenseless. Just knowing that there was likely a spy in the Palace made his anxiety rise to the ceiling.
"Don't worry, Zuko," said Katara, giving him a warm smile. "Aang and I can stay with her."
"Thank you, guys." he said, returning the smile.
"Still, there is something that worries me," said the waterbender, giving one glimpse at the Princess. "When I checked her, I could tell that there was still poison in her system…"
"Oh right," Iroh intervened, standing up. "I'm going to get working on an antidote right now. Now that I know what the exact poison was, I should be able to do an antidote efficiently."
"Thank you, Uncle."
"Don't mention it. Now you guys should get going too." he said.
With the help of Toph's sensing ability, they were able to find King Kuei faster than expected. He was having a walk around the exterior of the Palace with his loyal friend, his bear Bosco. They rushed to find him as every second wasted was a second the spy could use to escape.
"Hey, everyone." he greeted them as soon as he saw them. Bosco roared, happily.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, King, but something happened," said Zuko with a little bow. "And we need your help."
Kuei looked at them with concern after Zuko's tone. "Of course. Anything. But what happened? Mind explaining?"
"The thing is," Zuko began. "There has been an attempt on my sister's life in the Palace."
The Earth King's eyes and mouth widened. "W-What? Why has nobody told me about this? What happened? Is she alright?"
"Thank you for your concern," he said. "She is… stable. But someone tried to poison her. And she… well, almost died."
"Oh gosh," he said, taking a hand to his head. "H-How could this happen?"
"We believe there is a spy on the Palace," muttered Sokka, glancing around, making sure they weren't being heard. "We also believe that it involves the Dai Li, after all, they were also responsible for the attack on Yu Dao."
"I-I don't believe it," he replied, aghast. "I can't believe that even after all these years, they still have people in here. I would have to ask my Generals to look at everyone's backgrounds again."
"Well, actually we are here because there is a favor Zuko needs to ask." said Toph.
Kuei nodded. "Of course, anything. Just ask. If I can help you with anything, just tell me."
Zuko smiled at the Earth King's willingness to help. "Sokka might have faced the spy and we would like to request your help and permission to allow us to gather all your staff so he can identify him."
"And thanks to Toph's special sensory ability we might be able to interrogate them and get the truth." said Sokka.
"Okay. Alright. Alright," said Kuei. "Let's do that. Give me half an hour to ask Head Court Lady Naru to gather them in the throne room."
"Perfect."
"Thank you for your help again, King," Zuko said earnestly.
"No problem. I'm happy I can help," he replied. "Anything else I can do for you? Would you like to have my Royal Physician take a look at Princess Azula?" he offered.
"Thank you, but my uncle is already taking care of it." informed the Fire Lord.
"Alright. I will see you in a bit." he said, heading inside the Palace, followed by Bosco.
"I'm going to wait in Azula's room," said Zuko. "I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone right now. If you guys wish to go ahead…"
"Nah… I will go too." Sokka cut him. He also didn't feel calm about it. Actually, he hadn't felt calm in a while.
Toph shrugged. "I have nothing better to do so…"
Back in Azula's room, Katara had managed to clean the Princess' face and hands of all the dried blood.
"... I know she has done some horrible things, but…" said the waterbender. "Not even she deserves something like this… You know, sweety," Katara muttered, sitting next to him and reaching for his hand. "The other day, when she said that we all keep giving her judgemental and distrustful glances and she said we don't have the right to judge, I realized that she was right," she said, ashamed. "Personally, I think I have been too harsh with her," she sighed. "But at the same time, sometimes when I see her, I just remember that time she shot you with lightning and almost killed you. And, it kind of enrages me to see just how easy Sokka and Toph get along with her, after everything… like if nothing had happened."
"Oh sweety," said Aang, lovingly reaching for her cheek and caressing it. "I'm really proud of you. Because even if you feel all that, you pushed those feelings aside and are here willing to help her."
"Well, she has saved Sokka twice, thrice if I count this time, which was by accident," she said. "I know she is trying to change, but still…"
"It's a little hard to believe?" he completed, and she nodded. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. You gave Zuko a hard time when he did the same, remember?" Katara blushed. He chuckled at her reaction. "We shouldn't give her a hard time, you know? The monks taught me that we shouldn't bring out the past of a person who is trying to improve their future."
Katara grimaced. "After all this time, you never stop surprising me how wise you are." she said, before leaning in for a kiss.
"Please tell me you two weren't kissing, right now." Sokka's voice startled them when he opened the door.
Katara and Aang jumped apart, blushing. After all this time, kissing Katara in front of Sokka still made him blush.
"Leave them alone," Toph interjected, "You're just jealous because you can't do the same right now with sleeping Princess." she teased him.
"Seriously?!" he squealed. "You can't even stop with those jokes in moments like this?" he scolded the earthbender.
"Oh, shut up, Snoozles. It's exactly in moments like this that we need a few jokes." she refuted.
"Why are you back so soon?" Aang asked, prying.
"Kuei is going to gather his entire staff in half an hour," Zuko informed. "And I didn't feel like leaving her alone for so long."
His friends shared a glance. It was nice and heartwarming seeing Zuko take such a protective and worried older brother posture. They had seen him with Kiyi, but now seeing him doing the same with Azula, it was just… something words couldn't describe.
"No. He mustn't take long." said Katara.
"Sokka," the Fire Lord called him. "When you were injured in Lian Yu, how did the blood loss affect you afterwards?" he inquired, curious.
Sokka leaned on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Well, I can say that it was the most unpleasant thing in the world," he admitted. "I felt weak. I could barely eat by myself. I was dizzy all the time and had headaches. Whenever I attempted to stand up, I would get black spots in my vision. My pulse was agitated the first couple of days as if I had just run for kilometers."
"That sounds awful." Aang muttered with a grimace.
"It wasn't pretty. And I don't want to experience that ever again." he said right before the door opened and Iroh walked back into the room.
"Did you already talk with Kuei?" he asked his nephew.
"Yeah, he is gathering his entire staff in half an hour." Zuko informed me.
"Very good."
"Is that…?" the Fire Lord asked with a grin, noticing the black liquid in the cup.
Iroh nodded. "It is." he placed it on the nightstand next to the bed. He grabbed Azula's arm and shook her a little bit, trying to wake her up. "Azula. Azula," he called her. "Wake up. You need to drink your medicine." he said softly.
Azula groaned, weakly. He shook her again, and finally her eyelids opened.
Her eyes weighed a ton. She felt exhausted, like she hadn't slept for days. It took a lot of willpower to open her eyes, but when she finally did, she found herself being observed and surrounded by six pairs of eyes, staring at her fixedly.
"Am I dead?" she muttered weakly with her sore throat and dry mouth.
"No." Zuko replied almost with a smile at hearing his sibling's dry sense of humor even in the situation they were in.
"Are you sure?... I mean, for what other reason all you weirdos would be here around me looking at me like that?" said the Princess in a low voice. Her entire body ached.
"She's fine!" Sokka announced with a relieved smile.
"It wasn't that big of a deal." she replied, trying to pretend that she was fully calm. But the truth was that she was still terrified.
The water boy glanced at her, perplexed. "It wasn't that big of a deal? You coughed blood! A lot of it! And you know who should cough blood? Exactly nobody! Because blood is supposed to remain inside you. Not coughed out" he retorted, annoyed at the fact that she was acting like she hadn't been close to dying just a couple of hours ago.
"Tsk! Why are you overreacting?" she grunted.
"Over... Overreacting?" he squealed. "You little…"
"Sokka…" Katara chided him.
"Fine." he snarled. Just because she's weak, he thought.
"I made you the antidote." said Iroh.
"It wasn't the antidote the thing that tasted like shit?" she refuted.
Iroh reached for the cup and offered it to her. "That one was only to stop the vomiting. This one is the antidote."
Azula grimaced. "And from the color of this one, I can already tell it won't taste any better," she sighed, "Alright, alright." she said, pushing herself to sit on the bed. The room moved around her. She took her hands to her head and crossed her eyes to try and make the nausea go away.
"Are you okay?" the Fire Lord asked, worried.
"Yeah," she mumbled, removing the covers, attempting to stand up.
"W-What are you doing?" her brother inquired.
"In case you haven't noticed, Zuzu, I'm two seconds away from smelling like Komodo-Rhino meat that went bad. I want to change," she said. "Can you pass me the robe from the… from the thing… that thing…" she mumbled, pointing at her closet, forgetting the actual name of it. Her mind was still somewhat foggy.
Her brother walked up to her closet, pulled out her robe and gave it to her.
"What are you doing?" he questioned her when he noticed her attempt to stand up from the bed.
"Well, I don't know about you but I'm not comfortable with an exhibition," said Azula. "So, I'm going to the bathroom to get changed."
"I don't think you should make any kind of effort right now, you're still very weak." her brother advised her.
"Newsflash, Zuko, I don't care what you think," she said with venom. She was still mad at him. "Now, move aside." she ordered.
"Azula, I think Zuko's right…" Sokka intersected.
"You too?" she said, staring at him next to her. "I'm fine."
Sokka kneeled next to her bed, to look her directly in the eyes. "Look, nobody else here knows as well as I do how awful you must feel right now. You lost a lot of blood and you're probably really weak, and you will be for a couple of days. So, you should take it easy. Don't push yourself."
"I'm still strong enough to beat your ass." she refuted.
Sokka sighed. There was no way he could convince her to take it slow. "Fine. Then at least let me help you get to the bathroom." he offered, lending her a hand.
She stared at his eyes and then at his extended hand before slapping it away. "I can get there by myself." she grunted, using her arms to push herself off the bed.
She could feel her legs trembling already. She blinked a few times as the dark spots disappeared from her vision, but when she attempted to take the first step, the floor shook under her feet, making her fall to the ground.
Sokka caught her before she crashed against the hard floor.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked, worried. He had reached to get her, but Sokka had been closer and faster.
"I'm fine." she lied, just like before. Sokka slipped an arm under her legs and lifted her.
Nobody said another word as the warrior took her to the bathroom.
"Call me when you're done." said Sokka, closing the door behind him after leaving her on a chair to give her privacy to change.
It took her double the time that it would usually take her to change into new clothes. Her shaky hands and dizzy head made it hard for her to focus and didn't help to make the task easier. She washed off the dry flood that still stained her body and lastly, she burned the stained clothes in her hands.
The blood had stained almost every inch of it, and she was almost sure that the stain would remain no matter what. She stared at the flames that consumed the fabric.
Her head was pouting. From the dizziness, the weakness, from the thousand questions she had in her mind. From everything. The Princess also noticed the unstoppable shaking of her hands. It was a similar feeling to when she first found out she was afraid of blood.
She was a pathetic mess. Weak, dizzy, and shaky. And she hated it.
She hid her face in her hands while trying to repress the tears from coming out of her eyes. She couldn't cry, not right now. At least that would keep her pride intact.
"Everything okay?" Sokka asked after knocking on the door.
"Perfect." Azula lied, swallowing and taking a deep breath.
"In that case…" and without another word, Sokka scooped her in his arms again and brought her back to the room, leaving her carefully again on the mattress. For a second he believed he heard her mutter a soft "Thanks" but if she had done it, it had been almost inaudible.
"All done?" Iroh asked her. She nodded. "You need to drink all this and I'm warning you; It won't be nice." he told her, offering the cup.
Azula made a face of annoyance. "That's good to know… I suppose," she muttered, glancing at the black liquid with distrust. She reached for it with her shaky hands and taking a deep breath, she swallowed it all. "Ugh… That's horrible." she complained.
"Sokka, would you be so kind as to reach for the trash can?" Iroh asked, politely. The warrior did as he was told. "And that's not the worst yet Azula."
"What do you mean it's not…" is all she managed to say before a feeling of nausea made her stomach shrink and arch forward, making her empty all her insides under everyone's horrified glances as they noticed the color. Pitch black.
"What's happening?!" Zuko inquired, concerned. Why was she throwing up again? Why? "Why is she vomiting again?" Iroh raised a hand to make him stop. "Uncle, wasn't that supposed to be the antidote?" the Fire Lord questioned his uncle.
"And why is she throwing up black?" Sokka asked, just as horrified, glancing at the inside of the trash can. He was doing the only thing he could do right now for the Princess. He collected her hair up to keep it out of the way and was giving her little comforting pats on her back.
"Yeah, I don't think that's normal." said Aang with a concerned grimace.
"Why... do I keep…" Azula gasped, trying to ask when another shot of nausea made her bend and throw up.
"It's the antidote," Iroh began to explain. "To get the full poison out of your system, I needed to take out everything from your stomach to… Let's say, cleans it," he said. The Princess vomited again. This time not as violent as the first two times. "So, inducing the vomits was necessary."
"You could… have least… warned me…" she said, wiping her after the effort. "I think that was the last…" one last vomit. "... one. Ugh… that was horrible."
"Here," Iroh offered another glass, but this one didn't have any particular smell or taste. "It should help you relax and rest."
"I… might… do that." she muttered, snuggling into her bed. She wasn't in the mood to do anything else but to rest. She closed her eyes and before she could tell, she fell asleep again.
"Did you drug her again?" Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Iroh replied, offended. "I might have given her something to help her sleep. You know how stubborn she is. If we kept insisting that she needs to rest, she would have just ignored us and did the complete opposite just because she can and because… well, it's Azula."
"Fair point." muttered Toph.
"By the way, Zuko, your mother may suspect something," he said. "She saw me doing the infusion, and she even offered to help. She is a great herbalist and had extensive knowledge, so I couldn't say no… nevertheless, I didn't say a word about her poisoning."
Zuko sighed, relieved that he has one less thing he would have to worry about, explaining the whole situation to her mother. "It's relieving that she doesn't know. I don't want to worry her."
"Also, Kiyi doesn't know either," said Sokka. "Azula made sure of that by rushing out of the room before she could see something."
"Good."
"Guys, we should get going. Kuei must be waiting for us." said Toph.
"Right! I almost forgot," said Zuko. "Aang, Katara… Would you mind staying a little while more? I will be back in a couple of hours." he asked for the favour to the couple.
"Sure, go ahead. Don't make Kuei wait," said Aang. "And make sure to let us know everything."
When Zuko, Toph, and Sokka walked into the throne room, they found it really crowded.
The servants were formed in lines for areas. All the kitchen staff used the same uniform on one line. The common areas in another one. The maids on another one, and so on.
In the middle of the room, there were King Kuei and next to him Head Court Lady Naru, who was holding a long scroll and was shouting names and marking them.
"Kanon?" the old woman shouted and raised her view, glancing among the servants.
"Here." a male replied, raising a hand. Once Naru saw him, she marked his name on the list.
"Nima?" she yelled and did the same, looking through the servant's faces.
"Here." a woman with round cheeks who was slightly overweight answered.
"Head Court Lady is just going through the staff, so make sure everyone is here," King Kuei explained to them once they were standing by his side. "She should be over in a second."
And as he said so, once Naru marked down the last name, she turned towards them. "Well, Nima is the last one," she said, rolling back the scroll. "Everyone is here but Seiko. And it's really weird because she is a young, very responsible girl. She is very punctual. Has anyone seen Seiko?" she asked at the servants.
Nobody replied directly, but a few of them whispered between themselves. One hand in the back was raised.
"Yes, Kura?"
"W-Well…" a young girl spoke. "Seiko was supposed to help with the laundry, but she never came back after I asked her to get some softener for our King's clothes."
The Head Court Lady seemed conflicted. "When was that Kura?" she asked with a frown.
"In the morning, before mid-day." answered the servant after giving it a little thought.
"Thank you, Kura."
"What do you guys think? Should we suspect her?" Toph muttered to her friends.
"I say let's not rush and jump to conclusions," said Zuko. "Sokka, why don't go to the servants and corroborate that it's the same girl you asked for tea this morning?"
Sokka nodded. "I will," he muttered and proceeded to look at the servants. He studied them one by one. He looked closely at their faces, hoping to recognize one between the servants. But he didn't. He shook his head in denial, walking towards his friends. "No, she is not here. It must be her." he said.
"Sure?" Zuko asked.
He shrugged. "I suppose. I mean, what's the other reason she wouldn't be…" then he remembered something. "Wait, Head Court Lady Naru."
Toph and Zuko raised an eyebrow, both intrigued.
"Yes?" the old woman stared at him with curiosity.
"This morning Seiko was supposed to bring us tea, but she didn't," Sokka recalled. "Instead, a man in his thirties did. But I didn't see him here right now. Are you sure all the servants are here? Are you completely sure?" he asked. Something didn't fit.
"Yes," she affirmed. "I went through the list and everyone was here except Seiko. Can you describe this man?"
"This tall," he said, raising his hand almost to his height as he described him. "And had dark brown hair, very muscular. Does that remind you of one servant in particular by any chance?"
"Sokka, what are…?"
Naru frowned and placed a hand under her chin as she made a memory of all the men with that description in the Palace. "Mmmm… By any chance, do you remember something else? Like the color of his clothes, if his voice was deep or…"
"Well…" he snapped his finger, remembering something very particular about his aspect. "He had a scar on the cheek."
Naru's frown got deeper. "I'm sorry boy, but we don't have any servant with that description." she said.
Sokka blinked, astonished and bewildered. "B-But I saw him. This morning. H-He is the one that brought us the tea and…" he recalled their conversation. "When I asked him about the girl, Seiko, he said that she had been sent to attend some other matters and that was why he was bringing the tea."
The old woman tilted her head. "You must be confused, boy. I know all my staff and I know for certain that no one matches your description."
"Sokka, are you sure about this?" the Fire Lord asked.
"Yes. Yes, I'm sure!" he affirmed with urgency. "And… I'm starting to believe that the girl Seiko is not the spy but…"
"Wait, Sokka, if what you are saying is right, then… they must have trapped the girl somewhere so she wouldn't intervene." said Zuko, beginning to connect the dots too.
"They must have her held somewhere," Toph intervened. "And if we find her, maybe we could ask her what exactly happened."
"In that case, I will order my entire staff to suspend whatever activities they were doing and focus on looking for Seiko. I will even send someone to look for her at the Catacombs." said Kuei with determination. He gave a little nod to the woman next to him.
"Very well. In that case." said the Head Court Lady, turning towards the rest of the servants. "From this moment till further notice; all your activities and duties are suspended. Right now, you all must focus on one task in particular and that is finding Seiko." the servants murmured between them.
Then the Earth King stepped in. "Make sure to look in every possible place. Do not leave a rock unturned or a spot without checking. Finding Seiko right now is our priority." he commanded with his hands at his back and standing tall. "As soon as you find her or her whereabouts, please come back to inform us immediately."
"You are dismissed," said Naru, commanding. "Let's go. Come on!" she encouraged them to leave the throne room and begin their search for the missing girl.
"Now, what?" Toph asked, impatiently.
"Now, we wait," said Zuko, before addressing Kuei and the old woman. "Thank you again for your help. I'm really thankful with both of you for trying to help resolve this matter."
"Don't worry, Fire Lord," replied Kuei with a little smile. "It's my pleasure and it's the least I can do. Your sister, Princess Azula, was poisoned under my roof and I can't help but feel a little guilty."
Naru lowered her head, shaking it dejectedly. "I still can't believe it," she muttered. "I'm supposed to be in charge of this Place, and I couldn't stop one of our guests from being poisoned under my nose." she lamented. Kuei gave her a little supportive squeeze on the shoulder.
"It wasn't your fault, Head Court Lady, we couldn't have ever known." said Zuko.
"How is she, by the way?" asked Kuei.
"Recovering," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "My uncle was able to identify the poison, and he made an effective cure for it. Her vomits stopped and right now, she is resting. Aang and Katara are with her as we speak. She'll be very weak for a couple of days because of the blood loss."
"I see," he muttered. "Would you like to suspend the meeting for the next couple of days as the Princess recovers?" he offered.
Zuko hadn't thought about the meeting. They hadn't crossed his mind for a second that day. He could barely think of something else that wasn't Azula or finding out who had tried to deliberately poison her. The meetings lasted generally all day, and everyone he trusted was in that room with him. He didn't feel like leaving his sibling alone for so long.
"I would really appreciate that," he said with a weak smile. "Also, my mother and Kiyi, they don't know about all this... mess. And I would like to keep it that way if it's possible. I don't wish to alarm them. And I think it would be better if the information about Azula's state would remain confidential... just in case."
The King nodded in agreement. It was better to keep the Princess state in secret, unless they wished to indulge in another attempt against her life. "Alright. I will make sure to let everyone else know about the change of schedule. And don't worry about anything. I will take care of it."
"Thank you."
"Zuko," Sokka called him. "I think that while the servants look for Seiko, we should…"
A piercing scream cut him.
It came from the hallway, right outside the throne room.
Everyone rushed out of the room and followed the fuss in the hallway.
There, they found a young servant with brown hair shaking uncontrollably on the floor, hiding her face on a male servant's chest. He was holding her tight and murmuring calming things to her ear as she sobbed.
"What happened?" the head of the servants was the first one to ask. She kneeled next to the shaky girl. "Urumi," she said, softly. "What happened?"
"I don't know." muttered the man that was holding her. He was also confused by her reaction. "Urumi," he called her, warmly. "Urumi, please tell us what is it?"
Urumi sobbed and turned slowly towards Naru. Her eyes reflected fear. It took her a minute to calm herself as much as she could to try to talk. "L-Look… a-at the service…" she swallowed. "A-at the service's closet." she pointed with her trembling finger under the door.
The servants that were around gasped when they noticed.
"I-Is that…?" Kuei mumbled, horrified.
A liquid was dripping under the door. The air in the entire hallway became as cold as the Poles. A shiver of terror rushed down Sokka's back when he noticed the color of the liquid. He knew exactly what it was. It was the same bright color that had ruined his clothes.
The metallic smell filled his nostrils. There was no doubt. It was the same smell. The smell he had sniffed all morning.
Blood.
"Shit." Toph muttered for herself. Sokka assumed she had used her bending to sense what was on the other side of the door.
"Oh, my spirits!" the Head Court Lady exclaimed, covering her mouth, just as stunned as everyone.
The servants around muttered between them.
"All of you! Out of here! Now!" she commanded them with impiety. "Didn't you hear? Out!" she yelled to a few of them that didn't move.
All the servants exited the hallway except for Urumi and the man she was holding on to.
"I-I…" Urumi said between sobs. "I saw... the dripping... and I attempted to clean it… but when I…" tears fell down her face. "When I tried to open the door… I saw… Oh, spirits!" she whimpered, not being able to say anything else.
"Lady Naru, if you would allow me, I'm going to take Urumi to the physician," said the man, caressing her hair. "Maybe they can give her something to calm her."
"Yes, yes, do that," agreed Naru. "And can you ask the first Guard you cross with to block this hallway? I wish to avoid any curious eyes."
"As you wish, Head Court Lady Naru," said the servant with a little bow, leaving with Urumi.
Once they were the only ones in the room, Sokka turned towards the earthbender.
"What did you feel, Toph? What's on the other side?" he asked, impatience.
The earthbender was pale. "I-It's just… It's…" she sighed, trying to process what she had felt. "If what I sensed is what I think it is… I can understand why the girl was so terrified. It's… horrible."
"Should we… open it?" asked Zuko.
"Just know," said Toph. "That you are not going to like what's in there."
The Fire Lord and Sokka shared a concerned look at Toph's words. It wasn't normal for her to say those kinds of things or act like that.
Zuko stood next to the door, and Sokka held the lock to open it. The Fire Lord lit a dagger flame in his right hand and nodded towards Sokka. He turned the knob to open the closet, but the knob was stuck. It didn't turn.
"It's stuck," said Sokka, struggling to open the door. "Maybe something it's blocking it from the inside." he said, tightening his grip around the knob.
"Let me try." said Zuko, trying to twist the knob either side. His attempts were also useless. "Can we break it?" he asked the Earth King. After all, it was his home and they needed permission.
"Go ahead." he said with an approving nod, also very intrigued to find out what was behind that door.
Sokka took a step back and Zuko hit the doorknob with a powerful kick. The doorknob fell to the ground on the scarlet liquid. And the door opened a couple of centimeters.
Sokka barely touched the door to push it open when something fell from the inside towards them. Both boys jumped aside to avoid being crushed under it.
Naru took her hands to her mouth to repress her scream of horror. Her knees failed and the Earth King had to catch her when she fainted.
"Naru! Naru!" he called her worried. "Oh, my spirits! I can't believe it." he muttered, horrified at what he was seeing when he checked that the old woman was still breathing, and she had only passed out.
"I said you weren't going to like it." said Toph, gloomy and barely audible.
"Is that…"
"Yes." Kuei confirmed, not daring to look in that direction.
"Oh, my spirits!" Sokka muttered, not believing what his eyes were seeing. Cold sweat rushed down his spine.
The Fire Lord had frozen in place and paled.
By Zuko and Sokka's feet, over the pool of blood, inert and still with an expression of horror on her face and with her throat slit from side to side, lay the young servant Seiko.
N/A:
Hi there! Sorry for the long wait but here it is finally and happy Valentine's Day everyone.
btw, the poisoning fact is canon from the kyoshi's novels. Firebenders can hardly get poisoned unless it is by an expert on the matter or in extremely high amounts.