This chapter will contain descriptions of a seriously infected wound, the sickness that comes with an infected wound, and Zuko's thoughts about his past. And also me taking some liberties with the limitations of firebending and how chi works. Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 17- Truce
truce (noun): a temporary cessation of hostilities; a respite from a disagreeable state of affairs.
Uncle had been in the back room of the flower shop for hours. The sun was just coming up over the dunes, and Zuko was moments away from falling asleep leaning against one of the tables, arms crossed, a hard scowl set on his face, irritation twisting inside him that he couldn't be in on the conversation. "Members only," Uncle had said. Members of what? A club of riddle-talking old men obsessed with tea and Pai Sho? Zuko didn't get it. His eyes were just drooping closed when there's a small commotion outside the door and then two heavy pounds on it. The man who tended the front of the shop opens it, revealing a ragged looking person dressed in dark olive desert garb, who was audibly panting, who held up... a Pai Sho tile? Brow knitting, Zuko looks at the person a little closer as he's gestured hurriedly inside. With the first step the person takes, their wrapped scarf falls a little away from their face and Zuko's eyes go wide as he recognizes an all too familiar old burn scar slashing across their mouth and nose, paired with shaded, glassy amber eyes under the head wrapping.
Only one more step is managed before Tao's entire body goes limp at once and Zuko moves before he knows what he's doing, catching the other firebender in his arms and lowering him carefully to the ground. His throat tightens and his face scrunches at the utter stink that comes off of Tao's body, smelling of rot and sickness. Scanning him quickly, he spots what was probably the source of it. Dirty, bloody bandages wrapped Tao's left arm from wrist to elbow, his hand obviously swollen and a concerning shade of red-purple.
"Do you know this boy, Prince Zuko?" the attendant asks quietly, also looking with worry at Tao's arm. Zuko swallows thickly, nodding once.
"Yes. We've... encountered each other a few times. But he's usually with a group, and these are different clothes from when I saw him last about two weeks ago." he says, swallowing hard as he takes Tao's left hand and carefully unwraps it. He nearly vomits at the horrifying wound that's slowly revealed, especially as the bandage sticks to it and has to be a little more firmly pulled away, which tears blisters and scabs open, making the puss filled spiral of burns around Tao's arm weep and bleed again. "Spirits... what happened to him." he breathes quietly, nauseated.
"Help me lift him. We can take him to a side room and I'll see about cleaning this wound." the attendant says, moving to Tao's legs. Zuko doesn't argue, hearing how wet Tao's breathing was, and how shallow it was, taking him under the arms and picking him up. Tao was lighter than Zuko remembered him being, vividly remembering carrying the half drowned boy down into the prison hold of his ship what felt like an eternity ago after his men fished him out of the ocean in a storm. He was just as tall as Zuko, and while he wasn't as muscular, he was still fairly heavy. Sickness and however long he might have wandered the desert alone had made him lose a lot of weight.
They take Tao into a side room, where the attendant, Zuko really needed to ask his name, lights a few lamps to give some light, and opening a window as the room is quickly filled with the smell of Tao's rotting arm. A bucket of water and clean rags are quickly fetched, and the attendant, Changpu, Zuko found out his name was, kneels to start trying to clean Tao's wound. Zuko really takes this time to examine the other firebender. For all their encounters, Tao had always stood strong, even when he was afraid. He had only seen him flinch on a few occasions, mostly because of his own behaviors and attempts to intimidate him. But now... now he looked weak. Weaker than he had ever looked, even water logged and freezing. Even exhausted from an extended fight. Even sleeping beside a burned out campfire, only a few feet from the Avatar and the rest of their motley little group. He looked sick, half dead, and probably was. His lips were dry and chapped, split in several places. Even with the wrappings of desert clothing, his hands and face were severely sunburned. His eyes were sunken in their sockets, and there was sand crusted in his dark eyelashes and eyebrows and caked on his temples and forehead.
"Prince Zuko, could you be so kind as to get me some medicines out of the cabinet on the wall? Second door on the right, second shelf." Changpu asks, drawing Zuko out of his thoughts. His first instinct was to say no, that he could get it himself. But months of being severely humbled as a fugitive in the Earth Kingdom combined with a strange, alien sense of worry when he looked at Tao's prone form make him hold his tongue. Retrieving the proper small jars, he passes them to Changpu, who is quick to smear some on the strange spiral of burns on Tao's arm. Tao doesn't even react. He doesn't even wince or groan. He just lays there breathing wetly and shallowly, body not even strong enough to sweat through his obvious fever. There was no way he wasn't running a fever with how infected his arm was.
"Nephew?" he hears Uncle's voice call from the front room. It doesn't take long for Uncle to find him, seeming confused about why he was in this side room. "Good news. We're going- oh... oh dear." he trails off when his eyes land on Tao, something that looked like real, true worry and even sorrow coming across his bearded face. "Prince Zuko, what is going on?" he asks, looking back to Zuko as Changpu continues cleaning and treating Tao's arm.
"I don't know Uncle. He just showed up at the door and then collapsed. He had this in his hand though." Zuko says, picking the lotus tile up off the cot where it had fallen out of Tao's hand when he had been set down, showing it to Uncle. He takes it, examining it closely with a furrowed brow, letting out a low hum of thought.
"He got this in the Northern Water Tribe... how very interesting. Well, it is a good thing he had it, and that he knew enough to come to this place for help. Have there been any signs of his friends?" Uncle asks, casting a strange look to Zuko, who scowls and puffs, crossing his arms.
"No. Do you really think they'd let him stumble around in this condition? Especially with that Water Tribe girl who can heal." he knew their names. He knew all their names, the Avatar's especially since Tao in particular seemed intent on trying to force him to use it. To make him think of the Avatar as a person rather than a goal, as a way home. But he refused to use them. They were supposed to be enemies, and using their names would make them feel like they weren't.
Uncle nods, seeing the sense in that right away, placing the lotus tile down on the small table beside the cot so it wouldn't get lost, quietly examining Tao for a few long moments before he speaks again. "He's alone then... somehow he got separated from his friends. He appears to have been out in the desert for a long time, and after this horrifying injury too. Someone is watching over him, for him to have survived."
"What are we going to do about him?" Zuko asks, brow furrowed tightly, feeling conflicted. Really, they should leave him here. Uncle was only just feeling less pain in his shoulder, even after it had been extensively healed over a couple days by the waterbender girl. With how sick Tao obviously was, he would slow them down wherever they went next, and they weren't guaranteed supplies to continue to treat the wound. Taking him also ran the risk of running into the Avatar and their group. Usually the idea of that would excite Zuko, but in this case, he wasn't so sure. His thoughts had been conflicted since they had healed Uncle, showing such kindness to someone who had been their enemy for months. He could still vividly recall the wild look in Tao's eyes and the snarl in his voice as he had shaken him by the collar of his robes, refusing to let his stubbornness let Uncle die. It was the most assertive and aggressive he had seen the other firebender to date, and it made something in his chest do a flip every time his thoughts turned to it. Which was a strange feeling in itself. The kindness had continued beyond healing Uncle though. Tao had made sure he had food, had kept his friends from being too hostile. And then there was their conversation on the cliff side, that still haunted Zuko, even after two weeks.
"What if we didn't have to be?" Those words liked to run circles in his mind at night while Uncle snored. A question of friendship, of becoming a traitor to his country. A real traitor this time, not just one that his sister said he was.
"Why would you go back to a family that so obviously wants you dead?" Another haunting question, and one Zuko couldn't deny. Azula had tried to kill him twice now, and his father had banished him. He deserved it, he justified to himself. It was to teach him respect, how to properly behave as a prince. And Azula's treatment towards him really shouldn't be that surprising.
"I feel like I'm looking in a mirror when I look at you." a statement even Zuko couldn't deny. Often he felt the same. A boy his age, burned and rejected by his father, far from home, running from memories but chasing after a seemingly impossible goal at the same time. The Avatar, redemption, peace. Whatever it was, their similarities seemed to outweigh their differences.
Then there was the exhilaration of training alongside another firebender his age for the first time... well ever, actually. Usually his lessons were solitary, only Zuko and his tutor or Uncle, plus whoever he was sparring with. Even Father and Azula didn't bother coming to his firebending lessons after Mom had disappeared. They looked down on his dual dao lessons with Master Piandao, considering him shamefully weak for learning to fight with weapons, and taking it as evidence that his firebending was a brand of weakness.
Zuko jerks himself out of his thoughts when Uncle shifts his weight, stroking his beard as he thinks and looking over at his Pai Sho friend who had brought them here. "Do you think you can draw us up a third passport? His given name should be good enough. Tao. Sounds enough like an Earth Kingdom name to get by, and he isn't on any wanted posters." he asks, receiving a nod and the man turns and leaves in silence.
"Uncle?"
"We're going to Ba Sing Se. When young master Tao wakes and is strong enough to travel, he will come with us. Perhaps there he can find his friends."
"We don't even know if they're going to Ba Sing Se, and if they are, when they are." Zuko huffs in protest, really not sure about lugging an injured enemy along with them. Who knew when Tao's strength would return enough to travel. It was still a long way to Ba Sing Se, across hot, unforgiving lands, even skirting the bulk of the desert. In fact, Zuko would be shocked of Tao survived the night with how very pale he looked.
"If he cannot find his friends, he can always stay with us wherever we end up. It is only right that we repay the kindness that he and his friends showed us when I was injured with kindness now that he is in need of our help."
"This is the second time we'll have saved his life. I think it was more like he repaid us the last time."
"Perhaps so, but what other option do we have? If we leave him here, he could be stranded for potentially months. It isn't safe to travel the roads between here and Ba Sing Se alone. Especially injured." Uncle replies reasonably, and it makes anger flare inside Zuko. He hated how calm and collected Uncle could be in situations like this, and even more dire ones. Actually, it was more like he envied it. When Zuko just huffs and crosses his arms, turning to stare down at the prone teen on the cot, he can hear the smile in Uncle's voice when he speaks again. "I knew you would understand, nephew. For the time being, let us rest and eat. Hopefully Tao will wake soon so he can eat and drink something and take some medicine for his fever and infection."
oOo
Its near noon before Tao stirs, making Zuko jump a little in the chair he had posted up in. It wasn't that he was worried, it was just that he wanted to keep an eye on an enemy to make sure he didn't attack in some fever driven delirium. Yes, that was why. Rubbing his eyes, he looks over as the other teen shifts, his scarred face twisted in a deep grimace of pain, fingers on his newly bandaged arm twitching sporadically as he lets out a pitiful whimper of pain. He never opens his eyes, but Zuko hears and sees his breath speeding up, head rolling sluggishly from one side to the other, making the now warm cloth that had been placed on his forehead slide off. Zuko dips it in the bucket of cool water by the cot and tries to replace it, and as soon as the wet cloth touches his forehead, a pitiful, almost childlike whine pulls from between Tao's chapped lips. "Mom?" he rasps, voice barely able to create the word. It makes Zuko's heart seize, and he bites his lip to stop himself from saying something on reflex. "Mom it hurts... it hurts s-so... so much..." a heavy, fevered pant forces itself out of Tao's chest and mouth, a hard shudder raking through his body. "Why does... dad hurt me..." he whimpers, and Zuko couldn't help but feel like a voyeur, listening in on whatever personal fever dream was going on in the other's head.
He doesn't speak, dipping his fingers in the water and carefully rubbing it on Tao's face and neck in an effort to cool him down a little more. What he doesn't expect was for Tao to turn towards the touch of the water and his hand, like he was chasing the sensation. It makes his face feel strangely hot, but he doesn't stop lightly rubbing cool water against fevered, flushed skin. He does this until the pillow is half soaked, but it seemed to soothe the feverish boy in front of him, his breathing slowing and evening out as he sunk back into a deeper sleep. Cooling the wet cloth again, Zuko replaces it on Tao's forehead and sits back with a sigh, wondering what on earth he was doing. It was almost like he cared about Tao. But that couldn't be the case, could it? They were meant to be enemies. But then again, the number of personal, heartfelt conversations he had had with the boy didn't happen between enemies. Right?
Groaning, he pulls at his growing hair in frustration and scowls at Tao's limp body like it was his fault Zuko was feeling this way. Confused, conflicted, but also yearning for more connections than just Uncle. He loved Uncle, dearly. He was as much like a father to Zuko as he was like a son to Uncle. However, the relationship between family and friends were different. Zuko couldn't even really say he had ever had real friends. Azula's friends had been his friends, Mai and Ty Lee, and even then, he was convinced they only hung out with Azula because she had threatened them in some way, even at eight. Though, Mai had made his chest do that same flip it had when he thought about the confusing conundrum that was Tao and Zuko's experiences with him. They had even been starting to explore the possibility of a relationship right before Zuko had been banished. He wondered if anything would have ever come of that.
Giving his head a hard shake before he made any connections with those feelings and Tao, he focuses back on the teen in front of him, who's fingers were twitching in his sleep now, nearly silent groans and whimpers squeaking out of his throat, closed eyes scrunching and twitching along with his scarred mouth. Leaning a little closer, Zuko takes a closer stock of Tao's face, which had been cleaned up a little in the process of treating his arm and also stripping him down to just his pants to check for other wounds. He had a surprising amount of scars for someone who was probably only sixteen like Zuko was. There was the obvious burn, from the right cheekbone, and down across the nostril and then twisting the left side of Tao's mouth into an almost permanent grimace. His nose, splattered with a spray of freckles, was slightly off center, he had a small scar that looked newer on his left cheek by his temple, and then one splitting his left eyebrow. Then on his torso, he had a number of small scars, all differently shaped and oriented, and then the deep scar on his left shoulder that went to the center of his chest, the freshest of all besides the infected wound on his arm. The one he had still had stitches in when he had been rescued out of the ocean. Zuko couldn't help but marvel at this boy's ability to get himself severely wounded so frequently.
Tao continues to make small, quiet noises in his sleep for about another half hour before he gives a hard couple thrashes, letting out sounds that seemed to be some kind of hard protest before he gasps and his eyes snap open. They were still glassy with fever, and he didn't seem to see anything for a few moments before they sluggishly slide around in their sockets as he tries to take stock of his surroundings. When they land on Zuko, his brow furrows deeply in obvious confusion before he shuts his eyes and turns his head back to rest level, letting out a wheezing breath. "Still dreaming..." he mutters, voice dry and cracking. Zuko almost doesn't want to correct him, but he does.
"No, not dreaming." he states evenly, and Tao's eyes snap open as he sucks in a shocked breath, eyes cutting over to him and he actually seemed afraid for a moment. "I didn't capture you, if you're wondering. You and I being here at the same time is a coincidence."
Tao seems to have to gather the strength to speak for a few moments, and even the few words he does say seem forced and leave him a little breathless. "Where is... here?"
"Uh... some flower shop at the Misty Palms Oasis. Uncle knows some guys here." Zuko replies, sounding unsure, mostly because he was. He still didn't get the whole code talking and 'cryptic arts' bunk that Uncle had been talking about. But the answer seems to satisfy Tao, because he lets out a breezy breath, shutting his eyes for a moment.
Zuko almost thinks he had fallen back asleep, but he opens them again after a few moments, forcing himself to speak again. "I got separated from... from Aang and the others... hurt... I was... in the desert for a week." he rasps, fingers on his injured arm twitching, making him grimace deeply in pain. "I don't know where they are... where they're going next."
"Well... Uncle and I are going to Ba Sing Se to lay low. Uncle is having a passport made for you too. He said we'll take you with us when you're strong enough to travel." Zuko replies, deciding to just be honest. He could be huffy about dragging Tao along with them when the other teen wasn't half delirious with pain and fever again. "How did... that happen to your arm? It looks like a burn." he asks, absently reaching up and rubbing the edges of the burn on his own face out of reflex.
Tao lets out another heavy breath, trying to swallow a few times to wet his dry throat, but not having any spit to do so with. "Sandbenders attacked. My fire burns so hot... it was turning the sand to glass. They... tried to wrap their sand around my arm at the... the same time I flared fire along it. It... it turned to g-glass and... and burned into my arm."
Zuko felt absolutely sick. He vividly remembered to this day how it had felt when his father had burned his face. The literally blinding agony of it, every nerve in his body lighting up like his skin and muscle and then everything collapsing as his body gave out from the pain. Then even after the skin healed, finding out he was now half blind and half deaf in the burned eye and ear had been almost as hard of a blow as being banished. He was already considered weak by Father and Azula because of his pitiful firebending and his use of dual dao. Now he was damaged, permanently. Tao's facial burn wasn't as severe as Zuko's, but he didn't doubt it had hurt any less, and now he had this one on his arm that was half rotten from not getting good treatment. Changpu had worked on his arm for a long time, and at some point had even been using tweezers. It made sense now. He might have been digging fragments of glass out of swollen, infected tissue. Shuddering, swallowing hard so he didn't vomit in front of Tao, Zuko looks away, staring at the far wall.
"How bad is it? I can't make... make m-my body move." Tao rasps, sounding like he was falling back asleep again.
Letting out a gusty sigh, Zuko crosses his arms tightly against his chest, heart pounding in his throat. "Its... pretty bad." he says, deciding on honesty. "Very infected. Swollen. It was cleaned, some medicine was put on it. I should... go get Changpu so he can give you some medicine to swallow. And water. You need water."
Tao doesn't reply, glassy eyes hooded and unfocused, and the only thing letting Zuko know he hadn't just up and died was his shallow, raspy and wet breathing. Getting up from his seat, he hurries into the front room, waving to Changpu, who stops what he was doing with some plants, hurrying over to tend to his impromptu patient. Zuko watches with a morbid sort of fascination as Changpu takes the back of Tao's head and holds a cup of a water and medicine mixture up to his chapped, sunburned lips. Tao struggles to swallow even the smallest sip of it, but after a few long, very long minutes he gets it all down. The effort was exhausting to him though, and as soon as Changpu lets go of his head and lets it settle on the pillow again, he's unconscious yet again. Which gives Changpu an opportunity to take the fresh bandages off his arm and clean it again. It would have to be cleaned and have more medicine applied to it several times a day for several days if there was any hope of Tao keeping his arm, let alone his life.
oOo
When the cool of night creeps in, Tao stirs again, but he doesn't wake. Zuko had found himself, once again watching over him, keeping the rag on his forehead cool, as well as the ones that had been laid on his chest and stomach to help further lower his temperature. Uncle hadn't said much to him in regards to this strange vigil he had assigned to himself, but Zuko had caught the almost smug smile on his face as he watched his nephew tend to this boy meant to be his enemy. Like he had just won a bet, or something equally as foolish. It was irritating, but Zuko couldn't bring himself to put much energy towards it, all of said energy instead directed at Tao.
The fever had taken control of Tao's dreams, making him twitch and whimper and let out wordless cries from time to time. Every so often, he'd hear him say 'mom,' or 'dad. 'Please,' or 'sorry,' or 'don't hurt me.' Or some combination of those, usually garbled and raspy or far too wet. He starts moving around a bit more after about half an hour of this, and the names of his friends start making their way into his half enunciated speaking, with increasing distress. Tao couldn't seem to move his injured arm beyond sporadic jerks and twitches, but his head and right arm were twisting side to side or jumping up or swinging, his legs jerking, heels pushing and kicking at the cot, his body moving like he thought he was in a fight. Zuko's eyes go wide when Tao swings his right arm and sporadic, weak yellow flames burst from his fingertips, getting up from his seat and going to find Uncle.
Uncle was in the front room of the shop, having some tea and talking quietly with his Pai Sho friend when Zuko finds him, and he must see the worry on his face, because he's on his feet before Zuko can speak. "He's firebending in his sleep. He's having some... fever dream." he explains, to which Uncle nods, hurrying his way into the back room, Zuko close behind him. He kneels beside the cot, gently placing his hand on Tao's forehead as his head thrashes and a cry full of raw fear rakes out of his dry throat at the touch, more weak flames popping from his right hand as his left simply twitches.
"Hush now. You are alright, Tao. You are safe." Uncle says gently, his voice a bare whisper, concern open in it as his other hand moves one of the cloths from Tao's chest and rests on it instead. Tao was panting, though he was still so dehydrated he could barely sweat through the fever. Uncle's expression twists with worry as he feels how hot Tao was running, and he looks over his shoulder at Zuko. "Prince Zuko, come kneel beside me. Move this cloth on his stomach and put your hands there." he instructs. Zuko hesitates, not sure what was about to happen, but he does as he's told, kneeling beside Uncle and puts both palms on Tao's stomach, feeling the hard muscles under his skin tensing with each breath. "Good... can you feel the heat inside him? Concentrate now. Remember, the stomach is the source of chi in the body. If you focus, you'll be able to feel it in others as well as yourself. His is like a burning furnace right now, and its burning him from the inside with this fever."
Closing his eyes, Zuko breathes deep and focuses, palms firm against Tao's stomach, searching for that energy source. It takes a few minutes of focus, and Uncle is quiet and patient with him as he concentrates, but eventually he does notice something. It was like holding his hands over a blazing campfire, heat raising up against his palms, licking at his skin and making it tingle like a fire that was just barely far enough away to not burn him. Opening his eyes, he nods, glancing at Uncle as the energy continues to lick at his palms. "I feel it." he says.
"Excellent. We need to draw some of this heat out of him, or its going to severely damage or even kill him. Now, remember my teachings to you some years ago of how to draw heat out of metal or coals? It will be the same principle here. Keep one hand on his stomach and keep focusing on his energy source and its heat, and then take your other hand and use it to pull the heat through your body's chi pathways and out the other side. I will tell you when to stop."
"Why don't you do this, Uncle? This seems... dangerous. Like I could do too much and cause just as much damage as a high fever." Zuko replies, brow furrowing hard, a lump forming in his chest. It was odd. He was genuinely worried about damaging Tao doing this. Uncle had taught him this technique shortly after he was banished. He had been terrified of fire for almost a full year. He couldn't even look at candles or he'd be transported back to that horrifying, agonizing moment of his father reaching out to him and burning his face. Uncle had thought of this as a remedy to his fear, teaching him to draw heat out of anything and giving him the confidence that he could put any fire out if he needed to. But he hadn't practiced it in a long time.
"You can do this Prince Zuko. I know you can. However, keep in mind that because you're pulling on another person's chi pathways, you may experience some of the things going on inside them. Memories or thoughts or emotions. Because chi travels through the entire body, its tied to one's core being. Try to focus only on releasing the heat inside him. I will tell you when to stop." Uncle replies calmly, and Zuko wished he shared his confidence.
Swallowing hard, Zuko takes a bracing breath to settle his emotions down, and takes one hand off Tao's heaving stomach, sliding his other one to be more centered. Directing his other hand towards the open window, he closes his eyes and reaches out, tugging on that heat and directing it obey him and follow his own chi pathways to exit the other side. He can feel the resistance alongside Tao's verbal cry of 'no, stop!' He wasn't sure if it was just the fever dream, or of Tao could feel the pull on his chi outside of his own bidding, but the shout nearly startles him out of his concentration. Setting his jaw, he pulls on it again, slowly wicking the heat burning inside Tao's body up and into his own palm and down his arm. It was burning hot, almost painful, and as it moves through his chi pathways, Zuko starts getting strange flashes of... something in his mind. First it was just a tickle of alien emotions, fear, anxiety, a feeling of being lost, unsure of one's purpose. He almost thinks his own emotions were being amplified by this experience, but as a flash of a dark shadow with amber eyes jolts through his mind, he understand what Uncle meant by experiencing the things happening inside Tao. He hears Uncle murmur something to Tao but can't understand it, but as he does, he sees a flash of Uncle's face, smiling behind a tea cup, which then morphs into the face of an unfamiliar woman with dark skin and hair and blue eyes. It wasn't Katara, she was too old and her face more angular.
A strange memory opens up in Zuko's mind, one that wasn't his own. It was one wrapped in pain as well as joy and love. The unfamiliar woman was standing in a courtyard that appeared, based on the architecture and foliage, to be in the Fire Nation, but instead of firebending as she moved through different kata in a training routine, water flowed around her in a smooth stream. The memory was at a low angle, like he was looking through the eyes of a small child, and he can feel the ghosts of movement on his own body as the memory turns and he sees small arms move through a similar kata to the woman, but instead yellow and orange flames are produced at the end of it. The woman's laugh was clear and soft like a gentle stream, reminding Zuko of his own mother for a moment. "Well done, my little sun." the woman praises, and Zuko can feel warmth in his own chest, like the praise was meant for him, instead of this memory of a clearly very young Tao.
"Prince Zuko, you must focus. Do not get lost in Tao's chi. You need to draw this heat out of him, or the fever may kill him." Uncle's voice cuts in firmly, pulling Zuko out of this memory.
Taking a bracing breath, Zuko murmurs an apology and continues to pull on the heat rolling in Tao's chi, coaxing it through his own body and out the other side. It wasn't easy. Pulling heat out of a smoldering coal was one thing. Coal didn't fight back and resist, but Tao's chi was, rebelling against Zuko's influence in his attempt to cool him off. Tao's thrashing and talking in his fevered sleep increases as Zuko concentrates, and Uncle does his best to keep him still and soothe him as Zuko finally gets the burning hot chi to his other arm and releases it out of his fingertips. It comes out as shimmering hot air, and even directing it out the open window, the temperature of the room immediately increases. Holding his concentration for so long was taxing, and he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up.
Thankfully, he doesn't have to for more than about a minute, though that minute seems to go on for an eternity. "Alright, that is enough Prince Zuko. He is at a much safer temperature now." Uncle says, and Zuko retracts his hands quickly, opening his eyes. He can feel the extension of the chi connection between them as he removes his hand, almost like Tao's chi was pulling back against him, trying to pull his hand back, accompanied by a small, almost sad whimper from the now much more still teen. Zuko swears he sees a small spark pop for a moment between his own fingertip and the skin of Tao's stomach. Not daring to give that any further thought, he dips the cloths in cool water again, resting them back on Tao's stomach and chest, and then the third on his forehead as Uncle watches. "Did you... see something as you were focusing?" he asks gently.
Zuko huffs, not sure how to answer, expression scrunched in confusion. "I think... I saw his mother? But she was a waterbender. I thought mixing of nations was illegal?" he asks.
"It is now, yes. But it wasn't one hundred years ago before the war. Remember, Tao is not from this time. He was frozen alongside the Avatar. A great many things were different back in those days." Uncle replies.
"I also saw your face, when you spoke to him I guess. When he thinks of you he thinks of your smile and tea." Zuko says, and he can see Uncle looked surprised for a moment before he chuckles fondly. "And... something else. A black shadow, with amber eyes, glaring down, alongside a feeling of great fear and anxiety." pausing, Zuko swallows hard, fighting a shudder going through his own body. "I think it may have been his father? I don't know. It was all so confusing. And his chi burns. It was still burning when you told me to stop."
"Well, there are a couple theories to that. The first is that because Tao's firebending always burns so hot with the blue flames, that his chi has adapted to also burn hotter. The second is that it was simply a foreign energy entering your body, which is a sensation you are not accustomed to."
"How did you even think up this idea? The pulling the heat out of his body?"
"It is similar to how a waterbender heals others. They use their water and their own chi to knit wounds together. Firebenders are able to pull heat out of objects. Fire Lord Sozin even did this technique to cool a volcano. Put the two together, and you have a way to manage a fever. I had to do this to you, shortly after your injury. You also got a bad infection, and were unconscious and feverish for a long time. The fever nearly killed you, and I had to do this technique to bring it down." Uncle explains, and Zuko feels a bolt of shock go through him. He didn't remember much of the first couple weeks after the burn and his banishment. He knew that he had been put on his ship almost immediately, but after that everything became spotty until he had woken up, already in Earth Kingdom waters, with Uncle fretting over him, in tears of relief that he had finally woken up.
Sighing, raking a hand through his hair, Zuko looks at Tao's much quieter, prone form on the bed and then back at Uncle. "Will he be alright now?" he asks.
Uncle lets out a pensive hum, folding his hands inside his sleeves as his brow knits together. "I do hope so. We will have to monitor him and make sure his fever does not reach unreasonable levels again."
"I'll keep watching him. For a couple more hours anyway."
"Very good. I will come relieve you at midnight. We both need rest for the journey ahead." Uncle replies, smiling at Zuko and giving him an affectionate pat on the arm before taking his leave. Zuko sits back down in his chair, looking at Tao, wondering how and why they always found themselves shoved together in the same scenarios. It had been different when Zuko had been chasing him and his friends all over the west coast of the Earth Kingdom. But now, he didn't have the means to do that. He and Uncle were doing good surviving, but somehow their paths kept crossing. As a firm believer in destiny, Zuko wondered if his destiny somehow involved Tao and the Avatar beyond simply taking the Avatar back to his father and always being in opposition to Tao because of that. If destiny had something else in mind, which was a dangerous thought for him to have.