The Search(Zutara)
Chapter 1 – A different kind of Journey
The meeting with the newly appointed ambassadors from the new formed country the "Republic of Nations" went by relatively quickly, trade routs, military and law enforcement training contracts and other international dealings were negotiated and agreed upon in less than 4 hours and this time it felt a lot fairer for the Fire Nation than the Harmony Restoration Movement. He was able to leave the meeting before sunset and was able to spend time some personal time doing some advance Training/sparing, take care of some minor domestic issues, he even had time to read his mail and once he took his seat the messenger- Hawk came in and Zuko took the letters from it and he looked at the Hawk who was just staring at him, and he jokingly spoke to it.
"it's is interesting that in the past 2 months of you being my messenger hawk to Katara you have never been late nor have you been early, you arrive precisely when you need to"
the Hawk just did what Zuko could only consider a chirp and looked out the window as if looking for a mole-mouse to snack on.
Zuko then open the container and found it had three letters, one from Sokka, one from Hakoda, and one considerably thicker from Katara. Zuko being the kind of guy who like to do the big things before the little things decided to read Katara's letter first.
Dearest Zuko
Mello my Beloved, I know you like to read from me, but I also know you like to finish larger objectives before any smaller ones, so I decided to write you a thicker letter than normal so don't mind if there is mindless banter on my family, the town, and other unnecessary news of people you probably never met.
Zuko let out a little chuckle at this intro and continued
Sokka is spending less and less time here, not just home but also in the southern water tribe as a whole. We would be lucky to have him here for more than three days, but this shouldn't be a surprise, he practically joined to the "Republic of Nation's" by hip, always trying to set up this new Constitutional Republic government type with all it's Checks and Balance, which is good but still it would be nice to at least spend more than an hour a day with him.
now Dad has received the news of use being boyfriend-girlfriend relatively well, considering the history of it all, but still just fill me in on what the general contents his letter to you (let me know if he threatened you at all, I'm curious). Still the thing that most of his thoughts are on is building the capital building of the Southern Water Tribe and there have been many interesting designs to say the least. The Air Acolytes lead by Tylee came to town yesterday, just so say hello and maybe find some new recruits; however, I think the all vegetarian has definitely turned off a lot of people who live in a culture that over 95% of their diet is some form of meat.
Aang is with Sokka and Morishita in some untamed area disgusting the founding of capital of their new republic, Aang mentioned something about a spot for "Air Temple Island" in his last letter to me. you got any news on that?
Toph's school has expanded considerably, now it has over two dozen students though I heard from her that the new Yasuaki school has over 500 students and they still plan to expand it to a capacity of 2000 students by the end of the year, (it's amazing how fast they are able to get projects like that done).
Zuko sighed and knew that he was going to have a meeting the council on cutting the red tape that has been holding back any real new development projects, but it will have to wait.
Well, I have been getting a lot more students to teach water bending to, I do have to say the boys here are a lot more willing to learn from a girl (er woman) than their northern counter parts, things have been getting really weird up there now that I think about it. Seriously the Ambassadors from there were all men and full of them selves and their "spiritual superiority", they were exhausting to speak with especially considering that I am dating you and though they don't say it out right I can tell the view it as some sort of Sin or Heresy.
Zuko then thought for a second and remembered that the ambassadors that visited him a week ago were also all men as well, he just didn't think about it and yea they were kind of stuck up as well.
Anyway, enough about me, what about you? I take it that your silence about your father indicates that he isn't saying anything useful. I not going to tell you to stop your interviews with him, just be careful though he is a very poisonous man. Just remember to take a break from him once in a while, for your sake more than anything.
Zuko smiled and felt that warmth, that feeling from reading the words from someone who genuinely loved him. It was odd the two of them were dating for just over 6 months now , but now he couldn't think of a life apart from her, he turned his attention back to Katara's letter
I have the feeling that you need someone else's help, maybe Iroh? Well, we can talk on that this weekend, when Iroh and I come over for that meeting you want with the two of us.
Love your dearest Katara
Zuko then folded up the letter and put it in his vest pocket over his heart then he read the letter from Sokka
Hello potential but yet to be brother-in-law Jerk-bender
Zuko couldn't help but roll his eyes at this new title Sokka had given him, no two letters from him had the same title name on it for him. honest;y he found it amusing in a strange way.
Ok political stuff first, Morishita is now the president elect of the Republic of nations, and we have established a general location for the capital of the Republic of Nations, now we are just deciding on the name, Aang want to name it after some monk from way back when, and Morishita wants to name it Harmonyburg, I think Republic City is a perfectly fine name, nothing overly complicated.
Zuko thought for a second, and thought to himself "did I just agree with Sokka of all people?"
Anyway, I had to fight off three guys (who were northern water tribe) who were hitting on Katara, it was for more their sake because we both know she would annihilate them while I would only rough them up a little. Dad would probably tan their hides.
Aang and Morishita were touring some Island for 3 hours. I think he plans to build a shrine or something there, I didn't really pay too mush attention. I hope you continue to make progress on finding information on your mother. oh, and apparently Morishita's wife is expecting again, I hope this child will live a long healthy life compared to little Han.
that's all I got to say about that, and yes Aang and I will be coming this weekend with Morishita and his family.
from Sokka of the southern "WATER TRIBE"
Zuko wasn't sure on how many times Sokka ended his letters to him in "Water Tribe", was this some sort of catchphrase in the Water tribes or was it a uniquely Sokka thing. He had no idea that if it was a good thing or bad thing that he is starting to distinguish one from the other. he guesses that this is a part of being in a relationship his sister.
"Now for Hakoda's letter"
he said to himself as he opened it, looking at it, he could see it was really short, barely a sentence long.
To Fire Lord Zuko
I am traveling up with my son and daughter to the Fire Nation, and I hope to be able to do a hunting trip with just you, no Sokka, and no Katara.
From Hakoda of the southern "WATER TRIBE"
Zuko sighed a little and mumbled to himself "Water tribe thing" and the Hawk squawked seemingly in agreement.
Zuko leaned back on his chair looking at his desk and thought for a few minutes. He decided to write a simple reply to each of them and loaded them into the canister and released the Messenger Hawk, afterwards he got up and went to his room to place the letter from Katara in special box of his under his bed, he got into some travel cloths then he headed out for a walk.
He walked to the Prison that Ozai was being held in, the guards recognized him immediately and cooperated with him without any questions. Zuko was brought to Ozai's cell and looking at him he couldn't help but pity him, even though he despised him. He has hardly moved from the same corner of the cage sense his last visit.
"you are going to be disappointed if you want me to tell you where your mother is"
Zuko just maintained the stern look on his face as he picked up the wooden stool from next to the door and sat on it and placed a small box next to himself.
"then you are going to be disappointed went you don't get this box of snacks then"
Ozai looked at him with a sour look and in a raspy voice said to him
"you honestly think you can bribe me like I'm some sort of animal!"
Zuko looked at him with firm yet vengeful eyes
"I have seen barn animals that live better than you, why are you so adamant in keeping her from returning to us"
Ozai smiled that poisonous smile that Zuko had become too familiar with
"do you honestly think that finding her is going to magically make us into a loving picture perfect family?"
Zuko frowned at him
"no I know I can't have that, you have done too good of a job of conspiring to murder grandpa Azulon, deposing uncle Iroh, burning then banishing me, and finally institutionalizing Azula to the point that she can't recognize up from down!"
Ozai raised an eye brow as if interested
"oh that is where you sent her, for a while I thought you sent her to the Boiling Rock"
Zuko glared at him
"she is safe from you, that is all that matters"
Ozai then had a sadistic smirk that would make Toph shudder (if she could see)
"you may have stopped my communication network but she will never be out of my reach"
Zuko talked to him in a dark tone
"if you continue to talk like that, I will personally take you to the Boiling Rock myself, and you will never see the light of DAY!"
to say the least Ozai listened to his son's threat, Ozai got up and looked at the small window.
"either way I am not giving up my greatest bargaining chip no matter what you threaten me with.
Unless you can provide me with something of equal or greater value, I will not reveal your mother's location"
Zuko got up and left the cell he turned around and destroyed the box of snacks with blast of fire and slammed the door shut. Ozai just smiled and laughed a little
"it looks like I hit the right nerve"
After returning to Caldera City Zuko it was late evening, and he could see the men and women leaving their jobs for the day. Zuko noticed one of his guards leaving the palace and out of curiosity he followed him, after shadowing him for probably 30 or so minutes they found them selves in a relatively impoverished part of town and Zuko still keeping out of sight saw the guard approach a small worn down house that probably only had 4 rooms at most, but anyway the was rushed by two children (a boy and a Girl) who rushed out to meet him knocked him to the ground as they hugged, tackled, and play attacked him with such joy.
The girl who looked to be 8 years old pulled his helmet off while the boy who was probably 10 was describing the day's activities, and the man looking at the both of them listening to every word his kids had to say, then a woman came out who looked very pregnant came out and the man got up approached her and kissed her on the lips. The two kids made gagging faces and noises while the parents just looked at the two of them with content smiles, the man just placed a hand on his wife's swollen abdomen and the two talked about their soon to be born child, but Zuko couldn't hear any of it clearly, but he could tell everyone in this little impoverished were truly happy. Zuko admits to himself, he is kind of jealous them despite their poverty, he even for a brief moment imagined this little family as his own, the man as Ozai, the two kids as himself and Azula, the woman as his mother, just seeing an image of his family that is actually happy. Reality came back and the family was back to their original selves, and they were walking into the house and Zuko then turned and left for the palace.
Zuko walked into the front door of the Palace and made his way to his room, and he found a letter on the nightstand, he picked it up and saw it had came from the Hiringu Kanji Institution with a label [for Fire Lord Zuko's eyes only], he sighed a little as he opened it and lit a candle so he can read it.
Fire Lord Zuko
your sister Azula in the physical sense is doing well enough, but I do have major concerns. I've done some calculations on her eating/feeding habits and for the past week she had a caloric intake of less than 1000 calories a day, for point of reference a woman her age and build should have a caloric intake of 1600-1800 calories a day that is not including other nutrients like proteins, fats, minerals, ext., and for safety reasons we can only feed her food if its either a mush like congee, thin potage, or smoothies which isn't good for gut health in the long run.
However, there is some good news, or more like mixed news but I'll take what I can get, due to her mental state and especially emotional state, her fire bending seems to be incredibly weak, and unreliable, any and all attempts on her part to fire and even lightning bend anyone has been less than successful, even I was able intercept her attacks. I still am keeping that chi-blocker guard I hired last month to stay with her at all times outside of her cubical.
she is still very violent though, and attacks on our staff by her is a daily occurrence, especially biting, but she also will kick, punch, and scratch with her nails at any given opportunity.
That is why I have her concealed in a strait jacket, with a muzzle [hence the food we've been feeding her], her nails filed to their shortest possible length, and both legs and arms restrained tightly with straps on top of the jacket. Now we have acquired some leftover suits of armor thanks to your demilitarization policies, I won't let any nurse or bouncer attend her without them properly equipped.
Her mind is another story all together, she has psychotic episodes almost twice a day, she seems to have major reactions towards reflective objects, that is why I have all mirrors, reflective one-way windows are covered when ever we bring her in for visits.
She suffers from hallucinations from the understandable to the absurd,
last week she believed she was in Ba Sing Se showing her father her prize, and a couple of days ago she was under the impression of meeting some Air nomad monks, and other hallucinations are strange, like being on Ember Island with everyone in your family, you without the burns, Ozai still as the fire lord, Ursa, Azulon, and even Sozen who would probably be 170 by now (I'm not arguing, just reporting) but her most dangerous Hallucinations seem to involve anything reflective, Mirrors, still water, glass, one-way windows. All of them have the same characteristic of Azula seeing your mother in the reflective object, her mother tries to tell her that she loves her and always loves her, and Azula not believing her and lashing out at the reflective object usually destroying it, usually hurting herself in the process.
another portion of good news I can confidently report is she hasn't harmed or attempted to harm herself at any point.
I do hope your visit this weekend, may bring some enlightenment to her condition but I strongly advise that your visit with Azula personally be kept to a minimum.
Your willing servant Dr. Yana Yugi of the Hiringu Kanji Institution
Zuko folded the letter and put it in a small rectangular box and placed it next to the box with Katara's letters and he sat on the edge of his bed, he then opened the drawer of the night stand and pulled out a peace of paper labelled "leads to Mother"
but it was just blank other her name, the day she disappeared along with the reasons why, and that's it.
he sat there for probably 2 hours just thinking, he was then plotting an other interview, he needs to have a clear plan of attack, he is going to make him spill his guts about his mom's location.
he then grabbed a blank piece of paper and started to jot down notes but when ever he wrote something he scratched it out feeling it wasn't going to work, then he wrote something else and repeated the process.
after two more hours a thought of Katara's words came to his mind "Just remember to take a break from him" then his thought wondered onto something of something he read once "the true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different a result" he looked at the paper with all the scratched out words, and sighed with a smile on his lips.
"thank you Katara"
he then crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into a basket, and pulled the silk bed sheets over himself and tried to get some sleep but his mind had way too much on it to simply just "GO TO SLEEP".
This is the start of my take of a Zutara version of "the Search" story.
the names of some of the original characters either come from Ace attorney, and TMNT.
the name of the Institution that Azula is being treated in is Hiringu Kanji Institution.
Hiringu – is Japanese for "Healing", or "the Healing of" (depends on context)
Kanji – is Japanese for "Mind/Heart/Soul"
so the name of the institution/asylum roughly translated is "the Healing of Heart/mind/soul institution", I figured.
Note: some Ideas I got from "Orlissa" like the letter form Azula's doctor. Go check out her stories, they are pretty good.