Wandering Firebender
Ninety Four: The Patient
Elio maintained a serious expression as he walked into the front office. He had never been here before; he had been trying to schedule a visit for months, but only now was he finally able to discreetly get away from the palace long enough to be here.
"Hi, how can I help you?" The woman at the front held desk asked. She was neatly dressed in formal white clothes with a pink bordering across the edges of the garment. She kept her hands in her lap and smiled politely, seeing that Elio was a man with more authority.
"Uh, I'm here to make a visit. I sent word that I was coming yesterday." He answered.
"Okay. Let me take a look..." She paused to open up a ledger in front of her, "May I have your name?"
"Chinen. Elio Chinen."
"Chinen...ah, here you are, Elio. And you're here to see..." She trailed off as her finger stopped over the name. Elio managed a polite smile and nodded.
"Is she available?"
"Sh...let me go back and make sure." She stood up and quickly shuffled through a door out of Elio's sight, leaving him standing there waiting awkwardly for an answer to his question.
Elio stared down at the open ledger, locating his name written down neatly. His name scanned across the name on the other side of the page. He took in a breath and went over the things he wanted to talk about on this visit.
He had an idea of how this visit was going to go, but truthfully he had to humbly acknowledge that he couldn't predict anything about the conversation he was about to have. He could only try his best to remember everything he wanted to say.
"Elio? A guard will escort you now." The woman peeked her head in through the door she had left through. Elio looked up and nodded.
"Oh okay. Thank you." He replied.
Right on cue, a door to his right opened up and a guard on the other side motioned for Elio to follow him. Elio followed the guard silently through the halls, passing by a few different patients' rooms. He could vaguely hear the sounds of muttering although he couldn't see anyone.
"Wait for a moment," The guard said to him as they stopped by one door in particular. He reached up to slide over a small hatch so he could peer inside of the room.
"Princess, you have a visitor." The guard announced.
"Oh?" A familiar voice chuckled wryly at this unexpected announcement.
The door was opened up and Elio made his way inside the room. The walls were padded around her with one window high up at the top of the wall – it was barred but it at least allowed some natural light to come in.
Then there was her: arms restrained in a straitjacket and only wearing red pants rather than her usual fancy clothing. Her long, dark hair fell freely and spread across her shoulders like twisted strands of blackened silk – more unkempt than he had ever seen it.
But even though she was in a vulnerable state, he still showed respect to the fact that he was in the presence of royalty...
"Elio...did you get a makeover?" She asked with a chuckle, flashing her trademark smooth smile. Elio scoffed at this.
"It's good to see you too, Azula." He said in reply.
"It's been how many months? Long time to wait to come and see me." She pointed out.
"I wanted to come sooner but my work keeps me busy for weeks at a time."
"I noticed the new uniform. I've never seen one like it before." She stated her observation aloud, looking him up and down now.
"Yeah, it's a special new design." He acknowledged.
"Hm, interesting. Well let's skip the pleasantries. What is it that you want?" Azula got right to the point now.
"I wanted to see how you were doing." He answered.
"Oh really? How do you think I would be doing stuck in a place like this for nearly a year?" She retorted with biting sarcasm.
"That's part of what I want to know too...there's not really a place to sit down here." He noticed as he looked around for a way to get comfortable.
"If I had a table I'd pull out a chair." She joked dryly.
"It's fine. I'll just..." Elio let out a faint grunt as he sat down on the floor in front of her. Azula noted this and chuckled once again.
"You seem to have aged about 10 years in a matter of months. Time has not been so kind to you, has it, Elio?" Azula asked with a faint laugh.
"Heh, not really." He admitted with a tired smile.
"I can't say I hate the beard though. It makes you look more mature." She commented.
"Thanks." He said, brushing at his jawline between two fingers.
"I don't know about that white line on your hair though – that's a bit overboard. Did you have that before?" Azula asked.
"The hair? Yeah, you didn't notice before?" He asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"I was a little busy trying not to get dragged back here at the time." She reminded him.
"Oh...yeah..." Elio trailed off awkwardly.
"Mhmm. Zuko hasn't completely fallen apart yet?" She asked.
"No obviously, but we've been extremely busy as I've said before." He answered.
"We actually have quite a bit to catch up on, don't we? Even when we were fighting in the Earth Kingdom we were so focused on the moment at hand that I have no idea what happened to you from the time in between you breaking out of prison 'til then, and then 'til now." She realized.
"You want to know what happened to me in all that time?" Elio asked, confused by the angle that Azula was getting at here.
"What can I say? It gets boring in here day in and day out. Tell me a story." She invited with another smile.
"Okay...so we're going back to the day of the eclipse, right?" He asked.
"I know that you and my uncle escaped prison. Where did you go? I assume you just stayed in hiding until the end of the war?" She guessed.
"No actually...after the escape I traveled to the North Pole and fought there against the siege." He answered.
"Really? So you went full blown traitor." She observed.
"Yeah, I guess so if you wanna call it that. I fought against my father while I was there...he was the general leading the siege along with Admiral Huang."
"You fought your father? Interesting...how did that go?" She asked, her tone shifting from playful curiosity to a more serious tone.
"About as horribly as it sounds. I was worried we would end up killing each other...but we didn't...but I was killed...for awhile."
"What do you mean by that...?" Azula asked, turning her head strangely.
"When the ships were retreating, I jumped in to fight against one ship that ignored the order. I ended up getting swarmed and...yeah, basically I stopped breathing." He said, his eyes staring downwards blankly as he relived the moments in his head.
"I'm surprised the peasant physicians were able to revive you." She commented.
"Actually, it was Cindra who saved me. She took me to the moon spirit and the moon spirit brought me back. That's where this white hair came from." He explained, brushing a hair back through the white part of his hair.
"The moon spirit? I always assumed the stories of the spirit world were just ghost stories and urban legends." She said, tilting her head from side to side.
"Yeah, I used to think the same thing. But I've seen quite a bit firsthand. I spoke face to face with the moon spirit when she healed me, so...can't deny that." Elio said.
"She, hm? Are you talking about Yue?" Azula asked now. This question took Elio by surprise. He wasn't expecting her of all people to know the names of anyone from the Northern Water Tribe.
"You've done your research." He acknowledged.
"I read the reports that Admiral Zhao sent back to my father when he was still alive. And the story of the princess giving her life to restore the moon wasn't exactly a well-kept secret." She explained.
"Yeah well...then yes, Yue was the one that I spoke with." He added a little extra clarification to his previous statement.
"Congratulations on your miraculous resuscitation then. What happened next?" Azula asked.
"After the war, I went back home. I was brought in to meet with Fire Lord Zuko and he assigned me as a special agent. So now I help handle Fire Nation foreign affairs, traveling around the world to speak with foreign leaders and help with relief efforts where I can." He summarized.
"That explains the fancy new uniform." Azula looked at his clothes again.
"Yeah, that's also what I meant when I said I'm busy for weeks at a time. I have to do a lot of traveling in the airships." Elio added.
"How interesting to do from runaway fugitive to traitor to special agent and captain of your very own airship. I'm surprised dear Zuzu trusts you so implicitly." Azula observed.
"Yeah...I can't say I don't disagree. But I'm happy to help however I can." Elio said.
"There you go again with that bleeding heart compassion. I see some things never change with you, do they?"
"That's not always a bad thing. Now we're caught up with me. What about you?" He decided to change the subject now.
"I haven't had any more successful escape attempts if that's what you're asking about." Azula said sarcastically.
"No, I'm talking about your progress with the doctors – your mental and spiritual health." Elio specified, establishing firm eye contact with Azula now.
"Tch, please, the doctors here don't care about me. I know they're just telling my brother what he wants to here so he can keep me here out of sight. He spent so long being the family embarrassment that I'm sure he's happy to change the narrative and push that role onto me now." Azula expressed a bitter resentment for her current position.
"If Zuko didn't care about what happened to you he would've just thrown you in prison with your dad instead of putting you here where you could get some help." Elio pointed out to her. She didn't seem to see it that way at all.
"Please, I don't need you echoing whatever sentiments he fed you." Azula disregarded it.
"Zuko doesn't know that I'm here. It's just me saying that." Elio revealed. This caught the princess by surprise.
"Is that so...? You don't trust Zuzu as much as he trusts you, do you?" She asked curiously, changing her angle now.
"I just didn't need to ask for his permission to come here." Elio countered.
"It's nice to have some authority to wave around, isn't it?" Azula asked with an ironic chuckle.
"You keep changing the subject. Why don't you tell me right now what would make your stay here better? What do you need to do better?" He asked directly.
"You clearly have no idea what it's like to be here, Elio." Azula immediately brushed his questions aside.
"Tell me then." Elio invited her to speak openly. She rolled her eyes at this.
She had another sarcastic remark on the tip of her tongue, but before she could speak, another voice interrupted her, speaking softly but firmly in an instructional, faintly irritated tone.
"Azula, why don't you listen to what he's telling you? Don't you want to get better?" The voice asked her.
"Urgh..." Azula shut her eyes tight and shook her head.
"Azula? What do you need?" Elio asked again.
"Speak from your heart, Azula. What do you want?" The voice urged her further.
"Shut up..." Azula growled under her breath.
"What?" Elio asked, not hearing.
"I said shut up!" Azula barked, turning back and yelling over her shoulder at the wall. Elio at first thought that this was directed at him, but when he saw that she wasn't even looking at him, he realized that something else was going on.
"Who are you talking to?" Elio asked.
"You don't hear her?! She's right there!" Azula shouted again, looking at him now. He was observing that she was still somewhat aware of her actions despite them seeming erratic.
"There's no one but us, Azula. Whatever it is...you're the only one getting it" Elio said, adjusting himself so that he could scoot over and sit next to her. "Is it the same thing that you saw back in the Earth Kingdom?" He asked.
"I..." Azula let out a small gasp, surprised at Elio for drawing closer to her again. She looked away and didn't answer for a few moments, "I...I'm seeing and hearing my mother." She finally admitted in a whisper.
"Your mother?"
"Yes..."
"I see...what does she tell you?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter what she tells me. It's all lies. I don't want to listen to her! She doesn't care about me. She doesn't love me." Azula said bitterly, shutting her eyes again and pressing her back against the wall.
Elio wasn't sure how to respond to that. He now had some further insight into what had been tormenting Azula this entire time and he was now seeing that it ran a lot deeper than what he was equipped to handle. He couldn't help her but it frustrated him to see her refusing to help herself.
The conversation had come to an abrupt halt because of Azula's sudden outburst. Now curled up in a ball with her head down between her legs, she wasn't in any condition to continue just yet. So instead, Elio decided to show his concern without words.
Elio slid a little closer to Azula until his shoulder tapped against hers. Realizing that he had closed the distance between them, Azula froze for a few moments before deciding to lean against him a little more. Her long strands of hair draped across his arm as she laid her head onto his shoulder now.
"...you are aware that you gain absolutely nothing by trying to sympathize with me, right?" She pointed out in a quiet voice. Elio let out a scoff.
"This isn't about self-interest, princess."
"Then what is it?" Azula inquired.
"I just don't want you thinking that you've been forgotten about in here. You have people who want to see you get better." Elio said.
"Is that why you're the only one who's come to see me since I was put here?" Azula asked under her breath with a sad bitterness that she was no longer trying to hide.
"Well...I can't speak for the others, but I'm here now." He said.
"...is it because we kissed?" She asked, looking up at him. Elio looked away immediately to hide his embarrassment.
"N-No...if I didn't care about you, our kisses wouldn't just completely change that around." He answered.
"Oh...? Then what it is that you're thinking about? Why do you want me to get out of here?" She inquired now.
"I...mm...I guess I just want to see you do better than you were before."
"What does that mean?" She pressed the subject more.
"Well...I've been doing a lot of work lately. I've had some missions where I thought to myself, 'Azula would know how to handle this'." He admitted.
"Hm, I must cross your mind a lot then." Azula commented more lightheartedly, nudging him with her shoulder. When he realized what the princess was getting at, he smirked and rolled his eyes with a little shake of his head.
"Not like that. I just like to think that we would work well together...y'know, if you were ever willing to let me show you...how things are now." He said.
"Travel with you to kiss the feet of other nations?" Azula threw in a little jab.
"That's not what we do, trust me." Elio said.
"Well it's good to see you've gained a little more pride since I last saw you," Azula said with a sideways smile before sitting up, pushing herself off of Elio. "You've given me some things that I'll need to think about."
"Think about as in consider?" He asked, looking over at her.
"Don't sound so hopeful, Elio, it comes across as desperate," She teased. "But if you come by again, perhaps I can tell you more. But for now, I must ask you to leave." She requested.
"Oh? I see," Elio nodded and stood up. "Well, I suppose that's the best I can ask for, for right now." He commented aloud.
"There you go getting your hopes up again," She teased once more. "I look forward to your return, Elio, but let's be clear about one thing: I do not intend to roll over at anyone's request."
"Still stubborn as ever, huh?" Elio asked, looking back at her.
"Give me something to look forward to." Azula said snidely.
"Hm...alright. I hope you have something better to share with me when you see me again." Elio commented on his way out.
"Only one way to find out." Azula said with a smile as Elio exited the room. The guard shut the door behind him...
In Elio's eyes, nothing major came out of that conversation, but he did feel like some progress had been made. He wasn't planning on bringing up what had transpired with Azula to anyone. However, the next day, Zuko called Elio to speak privately.
It was an unusual time of day for Zuko to be summoning Elio – some of the other members of his crew had already retired to their rooms at this point. Still, Elio came as soon as he was called upon. He was surprised when he was brought to Zuko's personal bedroom.
When he stepped inside, Zuko was standing by the door waiting for him with his arms folded in front of him. Elio gave him a nod of acknowledgment and waited for the door to close before speaking.
"You asked to see me?" Elio asked, standing up straight.
"I did. I would usually call during the day but it isn't an official matter. I just want to talk privately." Zuko explained briefly.
"Okay...? What's on your mind?" Elio asked.
"Did you go to see my sister in the asylum today?" Zuko questioned now. Elio's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting the information to reach him so soon if it would at all.
"Yeah, I did like...around noon." He confirmed.
"Why didn't you inform me that you were going?" Zuko asked.
"I didn't see the need to." Elio answered hesitantly. He knew how bad that sounded as it was coming out.
"You didn't see the need to." Zuko repeated, clearly irritated with that response.
"I didn't go for any formal reason. I wanted to see how she was doing and try to reason with her on a personal level." Elio explained his approach.
"You don't do that with Azula. She always lies; always looking for an angle." Zuko said.
"I can't speak on your history with her. I just know that I was able to get her to speak about things that she was not comfortable telling the doctors about." He brought up as a response.
"What is your relationship to Azula, Elio? I need to understand that first." Zuko redirected the conversation. Elio let out a sigh and shook his head.
"It's complicated. I can't explain it in exact terms."
"Don't be stupid, Elio. Azula's not someone you want to mess with." Zuko said firmly.
"It isn't like that, I promise you. I'm trying to help her get better." Elio said defensively.
"Well right now I need you here helping me. We have a lot of work that needs to be done and I don't want you distracted by this." He continued.
"You don't think that, with some proper rehabilitation, Azula could be a useful ally to have?" Elio brought up.
"If she could follow direction or actually cared about doing the right thing, sure. But until I see something that can convince me that's what she wants without outside interference there's nothing I will do. And you need to leave her alone.
"She needs to heal for the right reasons. That's not something you can guide along." Zuko said definitively.
"So you want me to just leave her alone in there?" Elio asked.
"Yes," Zuko responded right away. "Look, I'm not saying you can't see her but she is not your mission, Elio. You need to refocus yourself." He clarified.
"Alright alright fine. I'll ease up on it." Elio agreed.
"Good. And don't think you'll be getting away with that excuse again – especially when it comes to my family." Zuko added.
"Yes sir. I understand. Is there anything else?" Elio asked.
"No. You can go now." Zuko nodded.
"Alright. See ya in the morning then." Elio nodded in return and left the room, letting Zuko close the door behind him.
It was a silent walk back to his bedroom. He was trying to understand where Zuko was coming from with the orders that he was giving, but he couldn't help but sense some residual malice in his attitude towards his sister. Still, he seemed like he was trying to be balanced.
Elio knew he would have to tread carefully going forward...