"-"It is time for you to go back to the lake to swim again, as you were born to do," said the farmer. He took the turtle-duckling back to the lake where he had found him, and set him with care on the water. "I feel good!" said the young bird, flapping his wings. "Why, I don't think-"
"Daddy?" Izumi interrupted, twisting a finger in one of her raven-black strands as she leaned against his side.
"Yes, my love?" Zuko muttered softly with a muffled yawn while running his fingers over her scalp and untangling her small hand from her long hair as he tried to lull the six year old to sleep, making a mental note to ask the hairdresser to take a few inches off until she kicked the habit.
"Why is everyone being so mean to him?"
"Because he looks different and they think that it's a bad thing," Zuko explained the story carefully as his daughter looked up at him with wonder in her golden eyes, "but in a little bit, they are gonna learn that they shouldn't have underestimated him just because he looks different."
"Is that why those bad people don't like you? Because you look different?"
Zuko swallowed; even though Izumi was only six, she was quick as a whip and smarter than he and Mai had been at her age; it was only logical that she would have heard the hushed conversations between himself, her mother and the royal guard about the uprising from the New Ozai Society.
"You should not be listening in on private conversations," he scolded lightly, his fingers drifting unconsciously to his scar and pressing down for a brief moment before he quickly came up with an explanation, "some people get angry because I do things differently than what they are used to and they take out that anger on me."
"That's not very nice."
"No, it's not," Zuko agreed, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her head, "but I promise that those people will never be able to hurt you or mommy because the guards and I will always protect you."
"Mommy doesn't need protection, she has sharp knives."
"That she does," he chuckled against her hair at the thought of Izumi seeing her mother wield her stilettos before asking, "ready to finish the book? We have to find out what happens to the ugly turtle duckling."
"He's not ugly, daddy. He's just different."
"My mistake, princess," he apologized before resuming his sentence, "-"I feel good!" said the young bird, flapping his wings. "Why, I don't think I ever felt as strong as I do right now!"
…
She drifted off before he finished the last page, giving him the chance to slowly maneuver her onto her pillows and tuck her in, pressing a kiss to her forehead before whispering, "good night, my turtle duckling," in her ear.
When he finally joined Mai in their chambers, she was propped against the headboard with what Zuko could only assume was a letter from her mother.
"New record, thirty seven minutes." She announced with a quick wink after taking a peek at the sundial from over the scroll.
"Oh, only thirty seven?" He chuckled as he pulled down the covers and climbed in beside her before rubbing his tired eyes, his mind now plagued by the uprising once again.
"You okay?"
"Long day, it took thirty seven minutes to get through The Ugly Turtle Duckling," Zuko groaned as he rested his head against his pillows, "the guards are worried about another attack, they want to deploy another division into the city."
"What do you want, mister Fire Lord?"
"I want to go to Ember Island, to take you and Izumi on a vacation," Zuko mused, thinking of his daughter building sandcastles and splashing in the waves before pushing them away, "but until we quell the New Ozai Society, we're needed here."
"As soon as all of this is over," Mai insisted, putting the scroll on her nightstand before rolling so she was next to his face, allowing her to pull him in for a warm, comforting kiss, "we'll go to Ember Island. Promise."
Zuko nodded, wrapping a hand around her hip, his voice dropping deeper to say "I love you, Fire Lady Mai," before pressing his lips against her for a longer, deeper kiss.
She pulled away after a few minutes to whisper in his ear, "and I love you, Fire Lord Zuko," before returning to his lips with a hand pressed firmly against his jawline to tip his lips into hers.
…
Izumi had always been an escape artist.
When she had learned to crawl, she would always try her hardest to scoot right past Zuko, Mai or her nanny with a giggle as she went; all of the adults looking after the princess, even Iroh as his old age started to catch up with him, were fast enough to catch her before she could crawl out of the room or hit her head.
Then she started walking which quickly turned into running.
Soon enough, it seemed to Zuko that at least once a week, his royal duties would be interrupted by the head of the royal guard opening the door and informing him that Izumi was missing or worse, in the infirmary.
No matter how many times he had arrived with his crown falling out of his hair from the panic, only to see her contently sitting on Mai's lap with a fresh bandage covering a small gash on her pale skin or a small washcloth being held to a bruise, the anxiety that coincided with his daughter would remain just as strong as it had the first time she had ever run off.
"I swear, if you ever teach her any of your scaling walls nonsense…" Mai warned after Izumi received a particularly bad gash on her knee that had needed two stitches.
"If she ever learns how to scale the walls, we are in big trouble." Zuko responded, holding his daughter close to his chest and rubbing her back as she slept against his collarbone.
So it didn't come as too much of a surprise to have his meeting with the head of education interrupted by Tao opening the door and addressing him, "Fire Lord, we have an urgent situation involving the princess," even if it sent his heart pounding erratically in his chest.
"We will have to continue this meeting at a later time, minister Huong."
"Your family comes first, Fire Lord." The man nodded in understanding, giving Zuko the permission to stand from his chair and follow Tao outside before demanding an explanation.
"No one can locate the princess. We are currently searching extensively but she slipped away after the Fire Lady left for Shuhon Island and before the nanny arrived."
Izumi was known to run, desperate to explore her surroundings; but this time, the Fire Nation was crawling with the uprising of loyalists that were gearing up for an inevitable attack against him and against his family.
"Do a sweep from top to bottom," Zuko immediately launched into action, "no stone unturned. No one comes in, no one goes out. If someone is trying to take her, we could still cut them off. I want every single member of staff questioned about the princess and if they even begin to act suspicious, let me know. And get some eyes on the Fire Lady. She'll tell you she can protect herself and I believe that wholeheartedly, but get an exact location. Inform her of the situation as soon as possible and make sure she gets updates as they come."
"Yes, sir." Tao nodded before walking away to delegate and serve, leaving Zuko alone in the hall with a pounding heart and a racing mind.
'Azula always said that there were passages in the walls,' he remembered, examining the wall to see if any of the stones looked like it could be some sort of hidden switch, hoping that Azula hadn't lied for once.
"Come on…" he muttered, running his hands over the individual rocks with just enough pressure in his fingertips that a fake one would give way under his weight.
The adrenaline inside of him was pleading to start his own search, to give up on this theory, that Azula always lies, but he pushed it down and used his small reserve of patience to continue running his hand over the wall.
That's when he felt the small rock, no bigger than a pebble, give way under his touch; he pressed it harder until he heard a 'click' as it stayed pressed down in the wall, frozen in place as a chunk of the wall slid inwards to reveal an opening with a staircase descending deep underground.
He wished for a moment that Toph was there to sense if there was any point to descend into the darkness, but Zuko knew that he was alone in this; he lit his palm ablaze and slowly made his way down the stone steps.
Zuko was a runner, just like his daughter; he too had spent most of his adolescence letting his impulses guide him, using his agility and speed to get his way with the fire inside of him as a crutch.
But with a situation as precarious as this, where Izumi's life could be in grave danger, he forced himself to be as quiet and slow as possible as he made his way down the stone steps, hoping that he hadn't just found a completely empty room under the palace.
When he neared the bottom of the steps, he had the urge to call out for his daughter, but if a member of the New Ozai Society had indeed been the one to snatch her when no one was looking, it would alert them as well.
So he snuffed the small flame out and listened for any sign of life with his back to the wall; at first, he didn't hear anything aside from a few creaks.
He must have been standing there for five minutes and losing hope as every second ticked by, but as he started to turn on his heel, that was when a voice echoed in his ears.
"When my daddy finds you, he's going to kick your butt."
'Izumi.'
She wasn't crying or screaming, she wasn't in any obvious pain by the sound of her voice. If anything, she sounded annoyed by the entire situation while refusing to show her captor any signs of fear, just like he and Mai had taught her.
For a brief moment, Zuko's heart swelled with pride before he took a breath and launched his attack, fire blazing from his fist, breezing right past the man's face just enough for him to feel the blistering heat.
"That was a warning shot. The next one won't miss." Zuko held his hand out, alight with flames dancing in between his fingers and kept it fixed on the man even as his daughter called out to him.
"Daddy!"
He turned; she was bound tightly with harsh rope in the wooden chair, her feet tied to the legs and her arms restrained behind her. He couldn't see any injuries, but aside from the flames in his hand illuminating a small portion of the room, there wasn't a single light source. "Are you hurt?"
"I-I'm okay."
Zuko ignored the stutter in her voice for now, returning his vision to the man who had tied up his daughter, his baby girl, the same way that one would restrain a grown adult and saw red as he aimed his flame-filled palm at him once again.
The man fell to his knees, his face pressed to the floor, and started to beg. "I apologize, Fire Lord Zuko. I was hired to do this, I never would wish harm on the royal family. I have a family of my own, I was only trying to provide for my children."
Zuko kept one hand trained on the man as he walked behind the chair that Izumi was tied to and started to burn through the rope; he knew that anyone in his position wouldn't hesitate to blast the man and no one would not blame him afterwards if he did so.
But, he had begged on the floor of this very palace for forgiveness as a child and was met with a permanent reminder in the form of flaming fingers.
No matter how much he wanted this man to pay for putting a hand on Izumi, he couldn't bring himself to do so, not when bringing him down, along with the rest of the New Ozai Society, was much more important.
"Darling," he addressed Izumi as soon as the last of her binds were burned away, "I want you to go upstairs and don't stop until you find Tao. Tell him everything and send him down here with the other guards. Do you understand?"
"Yes, daddy." She nodded before sprinting up the stairs, allowing Zuko to keep his full attention on the man on his hands and knees at his feet.
"I will spare your life, as the princess was unharmed by your foolish actions," Zuko informed him, "the royal guard is on their way and you will be thoroughly questioned about your involvement with the New Ozai Society. Your testimony will likely result in a lighter sentence for your crimes of conspiracy and being an accessory."
"Of course, of course, Fire Lord-"
"And if you so much as look at my guards the wrong way," Zuko allowed his flames to shine brighter, illuminating the fear and regret in the man's face, "I will not hesitate to go back on my word."
The man didn't get a chance to speak before the royal guard stormed the abandoned wine cellar and took him away, leaving Zuko in the darkness as the adrenaline ebbed away and the reality of what he had just threatened hit him.
'I almost killed a man. I threatened his life.' When he came to this realization and felt zero sympathy, however, an even more worrying thought hit him directly in the chest, 'what if this is how it starts? What if this is the beginning of another abusive tyrant as a Fire Lord?'
It wasn't like Ozai had been terrible to him as a small child on Ember Island, that he started putting unrealistic expectations on Azula that he knew Zuko would never be able to fulfill when they were babies; there was a time before he was only able to look at his mom with hatred in his eyes and before he treated his uncle like anything other than an obstacle.
At some point, there had been a tipping point for Ozai and as Zuko stood that tiny stone cellar, he couldn't help but wonder if that assassin for hire would be his own tipping point.
"Sir?" Tao's voice was the same level of calm that it always was as he stood firmly in every word he spoke, "perhaps we should get you to the infirmary."
"I can't," Zuko shook his head, "Izumi-"
"Is already there, I had Ming take her in case he was lying, and the Fire Lady is on her way back from Shuhon Island" Tao cut him off, "but with all due respect, Fire Lord, you're not looking so well."
And with that, knowing that his family were going to be okay, he relented and allowed Tao to loop his arm within his to support his shaking legs on the stone steps.
…
"I can't leave for a day without you two getting into trouble," Mai's deadpan voice hit Zuko's ears, instantly filling him with relief as he held Izumi in his arms while she turned her attention to the physician, "how bad is it?"
Zuko chose to focus on Izumi's deep, content breathing as she slept on his lap; she had mild rope burns on his wrists and ankles and a couple of scrapes on her knees from tripping on the stone stairs, but she was alive.
He rushed past Tao despite his shaking legs and all but slammed the door open; within seconds, Izumi was grabbing onto him tightly, tears in her eyes from the sting of the antiseptic on her knees.
"Please don't leave me." She begged against his robes, her chest falling and rising rapidly with quick, panicked breaths as tears dampened his chest.
Zuko held her as tightly as possible without hurting her, gently rubbing her back and assured her, "I am never letting you out of my sight again, Izumi."
Her soft snores were echoing in his ears and her chest was rising and falling evenly which was all that was keeping Zuko from joining Tao in the questioning of the would-be assassin, demanding to know why they had gone after the princess instead of him.
"How is she?" Mai whispered as she sat next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder and massaging it for a few, brief moments before letting it fall to the side.
"Mild rope burn, a couple of scrapes," he ran a hand through her hair with a sigh, "she was a bit frantic when I got here, but she's taking this a lot better than I am."
"This is not your fault, Zuko, you know that," she insisted while transferring Izumi into her arms, allowing Zuko to rest his head on her right shoulder, "this comes with the territory of being royalty. You've done everything you can to prevent this kind of thing with the new watch towers and hiring more guards."
"I know." Zuko pulled in a deep breath as he continued to lay against Mai's shoulder.
The two of them sat in the silence of the infirmary for a few minutes, the only sound being their breathing and Izumi's soft snores, before Mai finally spoke again with her fingers gently working Izumi's hair into a braid.
"I think it might be a good time to take that vacation to Ember Island," she stopped to meet his golden eyes with her light gray ones, "we could all use it."
Despite everything running through his mind, he couldn't stop himself from offering his wife a small smile as he quickly pressed a kiss to her soft lips before saying, "I think you're right."