Chapter 8: Zuko

"Oh, what an honor! What brings you to see me today, dear brother?" Azula's hateful tone still manages to jar him a bit. But when he looks past it, he can see the fear in her eyes. It's hidden away behind a wall of rage, but it's very definitely there.

"You're going to go somewhere to get help." He states. A guard steps up behind him and unlocks the cell.

"I don't need your help, brother. I don't need any help! What I need is to see Father. I have some things that I wish to discuss with him." She sounds exasperated.

Zuko feels his heart tighten again. Does she even realize what's happened to her? Does she really think she's alright? Or is she just terrified of the idea of getting help? A million other possiblities go through his mind. He can't help but feel bad for his sister. He feels guilty all over again for missing the obvious before. He'd known she was off that day, but he hadn't realized that it wasn't temporary.

"You can't do this to me! Unhand me!" She shouts at the guard. She manages to burn his wrist through the heat of her hands, but she's unable to shoot flame now.

"Try that again, I'll return your burns double." Zuko keeps his tone steady, but makes it clear that he isn't joking.

"You wouldn't. You don't have it in you." Azula smirks. She burns the guard again, and Zuko follows through on his threat, grabbing her arms and heating his hands enough to leave some minor burns.

"I don't? You aren't in control now, Azula. You can't firebend. You know you can't. I don't want to hurt you. So, please just come quietly. I promise everything will be ok." He says gently. He takes her from the guard and proceeds out of the room and down the hall. A group of about fifteen guards surrounds them.

Azula continues to struggle and Zuko has to hold her by the elbows to avoid burns. He is more balanced than she is and every time she manages to slip from his grasp, he evades her feet kicking up or trying to trip him, dodges any fists or little sparks that she throws, then smoothly reaches and turns her back around so that she's facing the direction that they are moving and holding her elbows again. It's an almost continual dance, but he has no concern that she'll get through fifteen guards in her present state, so he holds her somewhat loosely.

"Let go of me! I bet you wouldn't be so confident if you didn't have your guards! Face me like a Fire Lord, and not like a coward, brother." She shouts.

"Your insults don't work anymore." He says softly.

When they get to where they are going, Zuko looks at the place where he's going to leave his sister: A big, imposing building, and when they enter, they turn down a hall at the direction of a doctor, to find a very small room. It is padded along the floor, walls, and ceiling. There is no window, only a single oil lamp in the middle of the ceiling with no ignition tools visible, no bed, no table, nothing. The padding is soft though: Sewn cloth segments stuffed with feathers and fur.

Azula screams and lashes out more fiercely than before, but Zuko simply pushes her inside, steps back, and closes the door.

"We'll take care of her, my lord. She'll receive utmost treatment and be our top priority." The doctor promises. Another screech pierces the air.

"Are they all like this?" Zuko asks, speaking around the lump in his throat.

"Some of them. Everybody seems to have different problems here. Sadly, we are still learning about illnesses of the mind. It's a fairly new kind of medicine." The doctor explains.

"So my sister is an experiment to you?!" His voice rises a bit more than he intends.

"Not without a purpose. Please understand, Fire Lord Zuko, that we do care about our patients. We've founded this institution on the belief that no human is ever truly a monster. We've set out to heal whoever we can, however we can." The doctor's voice is calm, and not at all clinical. He sounds like he really means what he says. "But this is still new medicine. We don't know what works and what doesn't. Certain herbs seem to help some, talking out their feelings seems to help others. Everyone is different. It's never a straightforward approach."

"Tell me what you're going to do to her. And how can you keep her from hurting herself?" He crosses his arms in a nononsense way.

"Firstly, she can't burn her cell down. We've made sure to fireproof everything that she, or other Firebending patients come into contact with. Secondly, she will receive medicine on a daily basis that should help to calm her, make her more likely to open up and process her feelings with one of our nurses. We'll assign her a companion, who will be a nurse and will take care of things like feeding her, escourting her to appointments, being a confidante, when she feels ready for one. We may not know much about mind sickness yet, but this isn't our first attempt. She may not even be our worst case, but that remains to be seen. We'll do everything that we can."

Zuko bids the doctor good day and makes his way outside. He feels his eyes mist over on the way back to the palace.

Am I doing the right thing leaving her there? Maybe I should take her with me after all. Maybe if she sees Mother alive... She must be terrified right now. That room was an improvement over the cell, but I should have asked if they had anything bigger. I wonder if they'll give her anything to do there. What did I just do?

((page break))

"Nephew? Are you alright?" Iroh asks as they load the last of Zuko's supplies onto the ship.

Zuko hears his Uncle, but it's the hand on his shoulder that snaps him out of his trance.

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine. Just thinking about Azula. The doctors seem like they really want to help, but it didn't really sound like they knew what they were doing. I almost want to go back and get her. Take her with me." He looks over at some shouting men, as they try to capture a young rhino that's gotten loose and was running away from the ship, upsetting his mother and the rest of the herd.

"You did the right thing." Iroh pulls his nephew in for a side hug. "Taking her with you would have been unwise. She may not be right in the head, but I've been hearing that she is still thinking of ways to get out and break your father out. I don't know how much is true, and I don't know the guards very well, but they say that sometimes when she talks to herself, she speaks of ideas being bad or that an idea won't work, or something. If you take her along, you'd be taking an enormous risk. You can't find a lost treasure if there is always a snake leading you off the trail and into the bushes."

"I know. But it just feels wrong to leave her there." He gazes out at the ocean as his mind replays the fear he'd glimpsed in his sister's eyes.

"I'll check up on her frequently, even visit her when they allow it. I'll write to you and keep you updated. I'll let you know if you need to come back."

"Thank you, Uncle." Zuko turns and gives him a full hug.

The young rhino has been rounded up and loaded and the captain calls down for the last merchants and passengers to board.

"Have a good trip. Say hello to your mother for me when you find her!" Iroh calls as he waves.

"I will!" Zuko waves back until his Uncle disappears from view. He heads below deck to his cabin.