Chapter Text
“I can’t believe we wasted all that time,” Mai complained, brushing dirt from her dark robes as she cast about for anymore of her weapons she’d thrown during the fight.
“It does seem strange the avatar wasn’t here,” Ty Lee mused, tapping her cheek as she looked around. “I mean, isn’t he always with that big flying bison thing?”
“Hmm, yes,” Azula agreed, eyeing the crumpled pile of girls in hideous Earth Kingdom colors. “It does seem odd.”
Blue and green eyes shone with defiance still. Well, that wouldn’t do. Her eyes landed on the auburn-haired girl. Clearly their ragtag leader, she surmised, watching the girl’s chin notch up. Her lips curled. She stalked towards her. She kept her eyes on those blue-gray ones staring back at her before she leaned in and suddenly yanked a different girl from the others. The leader started.
“Hey!” she shouted, starting up.
Azula kicked her back down, smirking, “Sit down, peasant.”
She turned, dragging the struggling girl with her.
“Mai, Ty Lee,” she said, shoving the girl at them.
Mai sidestepped the girl. Ty Lee started, fumbling to catch the half-limp girl still numb from her chi block strikes.
“Tie her to that tree,” Azula waved a hand, lips curling as she looked over at the flashing eyes of the leader. “Let’s play a game. We’ll start with an easy one. Do any of you know how to play ‘catch’?”
Azula opened her palm, a blue flame springing to life in it.
“Leave her alone, you monster!” the leader spat, bristling.
Azula raised a brow, toying with the warm brush of the flame over her fingers.
“Now that’s very rude,” Azula drawled. “Name calling right after we just met.”
She tutted.
“I knew the Water Tribes were savages but I thought better of the Earth Kingdom,” she hummed, mock sighing.
“We’re warriors of Kyoshi!” one of the girl’s seethed.
Azula’s eyes narrowed in amusement.
“Ah, Kyoshi Island, right,” she said. “That sad little backwater of an island so desperate to be kept out of the war? I heard that you all finally made the foolish decision to side against the Fire Nation.”
She tossed her flame, catching it easily as she grinned, "I believe my brother left something of a mark."
Blue-gray eyes flashed. Azula bared teeth before wiping the expression from her face. Desperate peasants were always so easy to manipulate for information. At the least, the leader had been there when Zuko set fire to the little flotsam island. Which meant she likely did know the avatar. Too bad Zuko hadn't stayed to really see it burnt down. Ah well, nothing she couldn't fix for him later if need be.
“Don’t worry,” she continued. “If you don’t know how to play catch, then we can always play a different game.”
She grew the size of the fire in her hand as Ty Lee and Mai finished tying the girl up. She ignored Ty Lee’s worried glances.
“Tell me where the avatar is,” Azula told the glaring leader. “And I won’t teach you how to play catch.”
The girl’s eyes darted between Azula and the one tied to the tree.
“Don’t worry about me, Suki!” the girl tied to the tree yelled. “Don’t give her anything!”
Azula flashed a knife-sharp grin.
“So glad to hear you want to play,” she purred, just like father did, just like he always did when he was showing her how to do this.
She extinguished the flame, dropping into a different stance. Circling her fingers, blue light crackled over skin, raising the hairs on her arms in that familiar, exhilarating rush of power barely contained. She met the leader’s—Suki’s—terrified gaze before she grinned, pointing her fingers forward.
“Catch,” she called.
Lightning erupted across the clearing. Suki screamed.
“Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will and the energy and drive to achieve what they want,” Uncle said as he traced the symbol of fire in the dirt.
Zuko lounged in the shade of the building, watching as Uncle taught the children. Things had been…strange. It hadn’t been bad, just…weird. He felt a little like he did after his ‘molt’, like he could think more clearly than before. Uncle and Yasuke had insisted on complete rest, which had been grating, but not as much as he expected these last several days. It felt a little like he was…disconnected in some way. He’d asked Nan about it.
“I don’t know,” she’d said, searching his face with her gaze. “But I’ve not helped with someone healed from spirit wounds in some time. It could be part of the healing process. Everyone’s had been a little…different, back when my father spoke such things.”
Zuko had sighed.
“I see,” he’d said, shoulders slumping.
She’d offered a smile.
“Perhaps it would help you more to be around people?”
Before he could protest, she’d roped him into helping with her shopping for that day. Which had ended in her showing him how to make those dumplings of hers. That had been…nice, he guessed.
“Earth is the element of substance,” Uncle said, tracing the earth symbol in the ground. “The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring.”
Zuko’s gaze slid to the other kids mixed in with their group. It had started out with Uncle teaching just their small group, and expanded with interest from the children on their block. Uncle looked like a mother turtleduck surrounded by her brood, Zuko thought wryly, smiling despite himself as the kids listened.
“He’s good,” Isao said, coming to sit beside him.
Zuko tensed, then forced his body to relax.
“Yeah,” he replied, glancing sidelong at the man before looking back.
“Air is the element of freedom,” Uncle continued, tracing the next symbol. “The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom.”
Zuko’s mind drifted to Khutma and her tribe. It was strange to think of them living out there in the desert, a secret, while the world thought of them differently than they were. He watched Jinsuke scowl, the boy wrinkling his nose at the symbol. He smirked to himself, amused.
“Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humor,” Iroh noted, chuckling.
The kids smiled.
Zuko’s mind cast back to the girl with silver eyes. He glanced at Han, who watched with a serious expression. Her name had been Feifei, right? Maybe he should ask Han if he knew what happened to her…
“Water is the element of change,” Iroh continued on, and Zuko watched Mei-mei perk up. “The people of the Water Tribes are capable of adapting to many things. They have a sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”
Zuko glanced sidelong at Isao, who was smiling as he watched. Zuko quickly looked forward again.
“I have no idea if it was my mother or my father who was Water Tribe,” Isao said suddenly, startling him.
Zuko looked over, surprised. Isao smiled at him, shrugging.
“My earliest memory is living on the street,” he explained.
“Jinsuke mentioned your parents found you,” Zuko blurted out, then flushed.
Isao chuckled.
“Yeah,” he smirked, crooked. “I guess you could say that…I actually found them first.”
Blue eyes twinkled.
“Tried to steal the purse right out of their pockets,” he admitted.
Zuko gaped.
Over by his Uncle, he could hear complaints from the children.
“This sounds like avatar stuff,” one of the kids whined.
“It is important to take wisdom from many places,” his Uncle explained. “Or it becomes rigid and stale.”
Isao smiled as he shrugged at Zuko’s look.
“I didn’t get far,” Isao said. “They found me, talked me into getting a meal with them, and offered to get me a place to live. I didn’t believe them at first…”
Isao raised his head to watch Iroh chuckle and placate his audience.
“I’m lucky,” Isao added, not looking over. “Blessed, really, that it was them I tried to rob. They treated me like I was really their son, told everyone I was theirs, gave me rules and a good life to live by…”
Taking a breath, Isao turned to him. Zuko swallowed at the deep well he saw behind the man’s eyes.
“This is to say,” Isao explained. “That I know what life is like for a child without anyone to care about them. My gratitude for what you and your Uncle have done for my children in my own absence, it is beyond words.”
Zuko swallowed. He turned to look back at the kids.
“They helped me too,” Zuko admitted, watching his Uncle laugh with the kids. “They were…they kept me going, to make it here.”
“I’m glad,” Isao said, drawing Zuko’s gaze. “They talk a lot about you. You’ve been good to them. I’m glad they weren’t just trouble for you.”
Zuko snorted.
“Yeah,” he replied, smiling as he looked back at the group.
Grunting, he pushed himself up as he dusted his clothes off. At Isao’s raised brow, he motioned.
“Pao will be closing his shop soon,” Zuko explained. “I’m going to walk Reika back.”
Isao smiled.
“You’re very good at caring for others,” he noted.
Zuko flushed, looking away.
“Uncle suggested it,” he grumbled, rubbing his neck. “I think it’s so I’ll stop climbing the walls as much.”
He huffed a breath. Isao chuckled.
“Still,” he said, rising from the stoop. “I’m sure she appreciates not having to walk alone.”
Zuko nodded, waving as he started past.
“Lee!” Mei-mei called, waving.
Zuko waved at the kids, motioning them to remain as he headed on. Uncle smiled at him.
“Be careful, nephew,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want someone to—”
“I’ll be fine!” Zuko called, rolling his eyes.
Agni, he was worse than ever now. He picked up his pace to avoid anyone else offering to come. He just needed time to think.
Zuko wove his way down the narrow side street to the main roads. He wasn’t entirely sure what he needed to think about. His head just felt…too full and too empty at once. Probably something to do with the spirit healing. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes.
He’d nearly made it to the main roadways when he paused. He glanced over his shoulder and back. The narrow street he turned down was empty. Silence surrounded him.
“You going to skulk up there all day or actually do something?” he asked, glancing sidelong at one of the rooftops.
Nothing moved. He narrowed his eyes. He nearly cursed and moved on when he heard the swish of robes as a figure stepped from the alley nearby. Zuko’s eyes darted towards him. Flat, gray eyes stared back. Zuko tensed.
“I see Priest Kai did well for you,” Gau said in lieu of a greeting, eyeing him up and down.
Zuko straightened, eyes narrowing. His heart quickened. Gau had been at the fight. He’d firebended in front of him.
“Thought I’d be seeing you sooner,” Zuko retorted.
Gau stared blandly back at him.
“Why?” he asked, sounding unimpressed.
Zuko frowned, eyeing him. Was he trying to get him to admit it?
“Because I butted in on your…what did you call it?” he asked. “‘Mission’?”
Gau eyed him.
“I see,” he replied. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised your foolish attitude is not a side effect of your spirit unraveling at the seams, but a natural defect. Seeing as you are now healed.”
Zuko resisted the urge to lay a hand over his healing side as he bristled. The gold flakes he’d seen on first waking had nearly all disappeared now. As he’d healed, they had itched, and Zuko had been confused to watch them crumble and flake off when he scratched. He’d been certain he was going to scar, but the skin under the gold flakes had been new and unblemished. There was only a thin line of healing dark pink skin left over each previous wound. He hadn’t asked anyone about it. Uncle worried enough as it is, and he was healing so it was probably fine.
He glared now at the agent instead.
“Is there a reason you’re here?” he snapped. “Other than to piss me off?”
Gau fell silent. Zuko glared at him. The agent stared back. Zuko almost turned away when Gau spoke.
“Who did you tell?” he asked.
Zuko paused, frowning.
“Tell?” he asked, confused. “Tell who about what?”
Gau’s eyes narrowed.
“There is no war in Ba Sing Se,” Gau said, tone flat. “And thus no airbenders in this city for anyone to hunt.”
Zuko stared. Then he bristled.
“Are you suggesting I’d go after that girl?” he hissed, stepping forward.
Gau’s stance shifted. Zuko paused, glaring at the wary eyed agent.
“I don’t care about your niece,” he spat, not moving.
Gau eyed him, silent.
“Who knows?” Gau demanded, raising his hands in a bending stance.
Zuko clenched his fists, hissing, “No one, you lurking excuse for a wall shadow! I haven’t said anything!”
Gau gave him an unimpressed look at the insult. Zuko rolled his eyes. Gray eyes continued to consider him.
“No one?” Gau pressed.
Zuko threw up his hands, ignoring how the agent’s hands flexed at the movement.
“Yes!” he snapped, irritated. “Agni, are you deaf as stone too?! I didn’t tell anyone! I don’t give a flying fox-gull feather about your niece and whatever’s going on with her!”
Gau watched him. Zuko glared. Finally, Gau lowered his hands as he straightened, folding them into his sleeves.
“I see,” he replied calmly, as though he hadn’t been about to pull some kind of insane earthbending stunt in the middle of the city.
Zuko had no idea what earthbending stunt, but considering the ridiculousness this guy had pulled while hunting the kidnappers and then fighting them? Yeah, he looked calm, but Zuko knew there was a man in there willing to punt him just to distract from the fact he tore an entire fucking wall out. And Uncle complained he was dramatic. He rolled his eyes.
“Finally,” he grumbled.
Gau turned a look at him. Zuko got the distinct sense he was being sneered at without any use of the man’s facial muscles. He bristled.
“Then we have an understanding,” Gau said, interrupting his building irritation.
Zuko blinked.
“Uh,” he began eloquently.
“I reported only what was possible for a spirit fracturing to be capable of,” Gau said, speaking in that irritatingly slow way that Zuko knew he was patronizing him. “And as long as you continue to tell no one, I know nothing of a firebender named ‘Lee’.”
Zuko stared at him.
“Are you…” he started. “Are you blackmailing me?”
Gau slow blinked, like a lazy owl-cat.
“I am simply confirming our understanding,” he replied coolly.
Zuko stared at him, incredulous.
“Are you serious?”
Gau just stared back.
“Okay…” Zuko said, raising his brow as he eyed the agent dubiously. “Okay, sure.”
“And you will not say anything to the Dai Li,” Gau added.
Zuko blinked.
“But…you’re Dai Li,” he replied.
Gau gave him another look. This time it felt like he was being called an idiot—without words. Agni, he hated this guy.
“Why?” he asked, narrowed eyes searching his corpse-still face for any clues. “Why can’t they know?”
“What does a bender do when they’re upset?” Gau asked instead.
Zuko frowned, confused again.
“Uh, what?”
Gau sighed.
“A bender, bends,” he answered, as though he was the exasperated one about this entire, confusing conversation. “And the city cannot have airbenders.”
Zuko stared at him. His eyes widened.
“Wait,” he started. “The Dai Li…hang on, do you kill them?”
Gau shot him a narrow eyed look.
“Do we look like Fire Nation?” he snapped back.
Zuko blinked then glowered. Okay, touchy subject, got it, he thought testily.
“Then what?” he demanded. “What has you so afraid you’re out here—”
“I am not afraid,” Gau snapped again.
This time he stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He leaned down to glare directly into Zuko’s eyes as he bristled in response to the agent’s proximity.
“An outsider like you never understands what it takes to keep this city safe,” Gau said, voice flatter and colder than he’d heard since the man killed the ones who had been chasing his own niece. “The Fire Nation hungers for Ba Sing Se, like a starving tiger-dog. If they knew the people they claim to have wiped from the known world lived freely here? Fire Lord would pour every resource he holds into tearing down our walls. The city would panic. People would die bloody. So sacrifices are made.”
Zuko stared, tense as the agent’s gray eyes seared like frozen steel.
“The airbenders forget their bending to live,” Gau said, straightening as he stared down at Zuko from his stupidly tall height. “Under the guidance of the Dai Li.”
Zuko stared, struggling to understand what he just heard. That can’t be right, he thought, nobody just forgets—a vision of Jet flashed in his mind’s eye. His eyes widened. His heart stopped.
“You—” he choked, disbelieving. “You mindbend them to forget?”
Gau held his gaze levelly.
“It is painless,” he replied. “When done correctly, the subject never remembers.”
Zuko gaped. Then he bristled.
“Don’t you fucking touch my people,” he snarled.
Gau narrowed his eyes.
“I have no interest in your family,” he replied coolly.
Zuko almost snarled that he didn’t just mean his family. But that would mean explaining what kind of position he might have held…and that could lead straight back to his true identity. He bit the words back behind his teeth.
Taut silence stretched between them. A song bird twittered somewhere. Gau took a breath.
“Feifei was mindbent—once,” the agent admitted, slow and even, as though the words were dragged from somewhere deep inside.
Zuko’s eyes widened.
Gau didn’t look away.
“It failed,” Gau admitted, cool expression tightening. “Eventually.”
Zuko stared, unable to even process what he was hearing.
“You let them do that?” he finally managed.
Gau’s gaze turned frigid.
“I did my duty as an agent,” he replied flatly, pausing before his shoulders sagged as he added. “She was fine. It took years to fail but…when it did, it nearly broke her mind.”
The agent’s eyes drifted, searching for something in silent stone walls along the empty, narrow street.
“I pulled her back together,” he said, quiet. “Her mother begged me not to let them try again…But I am an agent of the Dai Li.”
Zuko eyed him, wary.
“Is she…”
“No,” Gau replied, looking pointedly at him. “We made a deal, Feifei and I. So now I make one with you.”
Zuko eyed him, considering.
“Don’t try and mindbend me or whatever and I won’t say anything about her,” Zuko replied.
Gau’s expression barely changed. Still, Zuko got the distinct sense he was amused.
“Not informing my superiors of your…skills, is not enough?”
Zuko glared.
“No,” he replied tersely
Gau hummed, then leaned down to meet his gaze again.
“Speak nothing of my family, and I speak nothing of yours,” Gau stated.
Zuko glowered.
“You try and mindbend me, and I turn you into the world’s ugliest scarecrow,” he threatened in return.
Gau blinked.
“Charming,” the agent drawled.
Then he sighed, straightening.
“Very well,” he agreed at last.
Zuko almost breathed a sigh of relief. Not that he fully trusted this guy, but not immediately being threatened with this mindbending thing was incredibly relieving after he just got himself put back together.
“Lee!” a voice called, echoing distantly up the street.
Gau turned to leave.
“Wait,” Zuko said, hesitating as Gau paused to look back.
“How many airbenders are there in this city?” he asked, confused.
Gau stared at him.
“How many firebenders are there?” the agent countered.
Zuko scowled. It’s not like he was going to do anything about it. Khutma might have liked to know though…
Gau’s eyes creased, and Zuko got the sense the man was laughing at him. Before he could do more than bristle, the man was gone.
“Lee!” Jinsuke called, jogging down the worn street towards him.
Zuko turned, frowning.
“I told you guys to not go anywhere on your own,” he snapped in greeting.
Jinsuke blinked then scowled as he jogged up.
“But I’m not,” he argued. “You’re right here.”
The brat grinned. Zuko glared. He stepped towards him. Jinsuke yelped, ducking past him to run. Zuko turned, dashing after.
“You can’t outrun me!” he yelled. “You’re doing 100 hotsquats when I catch you! 200 if you get me in trouble with Uncle for running!”
Jinsuke complained as he dodged down the narrow street, scrambling to get away. Zuko scowled to hide a grin. It was good to run. The memory of an unsettling conversation and a gray-eyed agent fell from him like wisps of smoke. In the sky, Agni painted the clouds in fading light.
“He’s so stubborn,” Lu Ten sighed. “You’d think he was the one with Earth Kingdom blood.”
Orange light dappled the clouds.
Lu Ten looked down.
“Thank you, for letting me help him,” he said softly.
The orange deepened, violet hues painting the sky.
“I know,” he said, nodding as he looked back at the walled city. “Let’s hope he manages to stay out of trouble for now.”
The violet hues darkened. Lu Ten closed white-gold ringed eyes. He could only hope.
Some nights later, Zuko sat on the roof, watching Tui’s pale shape rise over the dark city streets. He didn’t look as he heard Yasuke grunting while climbing out the second story window to haul himself onto the roof.
“I have no idea how you make this look so easy,” Yasuke complained, shuffling carefully over clay tiles to take a seat on his right.
Zuko glanced sidelong at him, curious.
“There are a lot of hand holds,” he offered as way of explanation.
Yasuke stared then sighed, muttering something he didn’t quite catch.
“You can’t hide up here forever, you know,” Yasuke finally said aloud.
Zuko scowled, looking over the city again.
“I’m not hiding,” he insisted.
He could feel Yasuke’s disbelieving look and scowled harder. Yasuke sighed.
“Sir,” Yasuke said, in that quiet, reasonable tone that always meant he was about to take Zuko’s problem apart with logic he didn’t want to hear. “You and your Uncle deserve a better life than the Lower Ring, and it’s most reasonable for Reika to be the one to go with you.”
Zuko tightened his fists.
“The others—”
“Can’t go, sir,” Yasuke said, tone still reasonable and certain.
Zuko cut furious eyes at him. Yasuke didn’t even flinch.
“Isao is a good father,” Yasuke added, tone softening. “He will take care of his children. His work and life are here, and theirs with him.”
Yasuke’s lips curled slightly as he added, “And with the healer’s license Master Juun finally helped me obtain, I’m the only one most able to travel up into the Middle Ring if needed without living there.”
Green eyes softened in the silver light, hand carefully moving to rest across Zuko’s right shoulder.
“Reika needs you still, my prince,” Yasuke murmured, soft words nearly stolen by the wind. “Think of what good it will do you all to live in a better place.”
Zuko brushed Yasuke’s hand off roughly, glowering at the roof tiles.
“I don’t want a better place,” he insisted, feeling 13 again and petulant. “I don’t want to live in this Agni-forsaken city. I don’t know why we have to do this, or why Uncle cares so much about this damned tea shop! He kept asking me for name ideas! What do I care!?”
He picked up a broken piece of tile and threw it as hard as he could. He watched the small clay piece sail over the city to disappear into the dark. A distant sound of shattered clay reached his ears as he glared across the cityscape. Yasuke sat in silence a moment beside him.
“I don’t have the answer I think you really want,” Yasuke finally said, leaning back on his hands to watch the quiet city.
Zuko glanced at him, eyes narrowed. The other smiled as he looked at him.
“I don’t want to live here forever either,” Yasuke admitted, shrugging. “But here’s where we are. And as long as you’re in the city and will accept my help, I will give it.”
Zuko scowled, looking away as he drew his knees up to his chest.
“You shouldn’t have to,” he said, hiding half of his face in the fold of his arms on his knees. “If you don’t want to—”
“I want to be where you need me,” Yasuke interrupted, pausing Zuko in his frustration. “And I know this is presumptuous, but as difficult as things can be, I think I’ve felt more alive helping you and your Uncle these last few months than I have in years.”
Zuko turned his head, peering over his arm to eye Yasuke’s smiling face.
“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ all the time you know,” he grumbled.
Yasuke raised a brow, lips quirking.
“I can’t exactly call you your title all the time here, can I?” Yasuke teased. “Besides, no matter what anyone says, you are the prince to me.”
Zuko glared, ducking his face into his knees. He grumbled.
“What was that?”
Zuko grumbled again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“Ugh!” Zuko exclaimed, jerking his head up. “What, are you deaf too! I said to just call me Lee! Or whatever! It’s way less suspicious and people probably think we’re friends or something anyways.”
Yasuke blinked at him like an owl-cat. Zuko glared. A smile slowly curled Yasuke’s expression, green eyes glittering in silvered light. Zuko tensed on instinct.
“Sir…” he began. “Lee, do you think of me as your friend?”
Zuko flushed, spluttering.
“N-no!” Zuko snapped back, glaring. “I just—”
“I’m honored you consider me a friend,” Yasuke interrupted—because he was rude and awful that way—bowing as best he could from his seat beside him. “Truly.”
“That’s not what I said!” Zuko argued, throwing up his hands.
“But it’s what you meant,” Yasuke replied serenely as a terribly mischievous grin split his features.
Zuko bristled, scowling.
“No I didn’t,” he grumbled, looking away. “Whatever, do what you want.”
“Thank you, Lee,” Yasuke said, lowering his voice. “I truly am honored if you consider me as such…it’s been a long time since I’ve had any friends.”
Zuko hugged his knees, grunting a response. He didn’t look over. It would be weak and pathetic to admit his only friends had been his sister’s friends. No one else wanted to be friends with a nobody prince, not if they didn’t have to.
Except for Lu Ten, he thought, a pang in his chest. He pushed the memories away.
“You know,” Yasuke said after a moment of quiet. “I think your Uncle just wants to be able to share in this experience with you. The tea shop and naming it, that is.”
Zuko sighed, pressing his forehead to his knees.
“I know,” he mumbled. “It just feels like…like something more permanent. And I’ll have to leave Jinsuke and them here with their father, and I know that was always the plan, for them to be with him. I just…”
He trailed off, searching for the words.
“They’re important to you,” Yasuke said, easy tone drifting in the quiet night. “And you’re important to them…You know, they were upset you came up here when you got back from work and wouldn’t come down?”
Zuko groaned.
“I know,” he admitted, raising his head to frown across the dark roofscape. “It’s just…I feel like I’m letting them down. Reika too…we haven’t found anything about her parents.”
Yasuke hummed.
“I know,” he agreed. “I was hoping we’d learn something by now. But maybe it’ll be good for you to look in the Middle Ring? And I can keep looking here.”
Zuko scowled then sighed.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I guess.”
They sat in silence for a time. A wind blew gently over the city, stirring bits of dust through the air. The scent of tea from his work clothes thinned with the wind. Somewhere nearby, a pygmy puma yowled.
“You should come back inside,” Yasuke said.
Zuko didn’t look at him, tightening his arms around his knees. Yasuke sighed softly.
“Don’t fall asleep up here,” he warned, shifting.
A hand reached for his arm. Zuko glanced at it then away, not objecting. Yasuke laid a hand on his right arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“We don’t want you falling off now,” Yasuke joked, patting his shoulder.
Zuko snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Whatever,” he said, glancing over at the other.
Yasuke grinned then grunted as he stood, easing carefully back towards the roof edge.
“Yasuke?” Zuko murmured.
Yasuke paused, looking back. Zuko fought to not squirm.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, looking away.
He sensed more than saw the smile in Yasuke’s voice, “You’re welcome.”
Zuko listened as he shuffled his way back down to the window’s ledge, climbing inside. Zuko swallowed, taking a breath. He knew he couldn’t hide up here forever. He tipped his head back, watching the pale disk of Tui far above. It was weird to think that the great spirit almost died—had died—and from what Uncle told him, had only been saved by the sacrifice of a girl about his own age. He swallowed. What must it be like? To suddenly have her life taken over by a great spirit? He sighed.
“Probably less trouble than mine,” he muttered, looking down.
A wind stirred behind him. He rolled his eyes. Freaking Gau, again?!
“You know,” he started irately. “This would be much less irritating if you just sent word you wanted to talk instead of constantly dropping in to lurk like a—”
“Who’s constantly dropping in?”
Zuko started, whirling around.
Dexing’s lips quirked, brow raised beneath his broad, Dai Li hat.
Ah, Zuko thought, well…shit.
“No one,” Zuko lied immediately.
He swallowed down the bile it raised. Dexing’s brow rose further.
“Sounds like an annoying someone,” the agent finally stated, drifting near soundlessly over the tiles.
Zuko scowled. Yeah, he was. He pushed the thought aside.
“There a reason for this call, or just more chances to irritate me?” Zuko asked instead, glaring as he refused to stand.
The agent came to a stop nearby, tilting his head as though in thought.
“What makes you think I only come to irritate you?” Dexing asked.
Zuko snorted, turning away as he grumbled, “Because that’s all you Dai Li seem to do?”
No response.
Zuko looked back over his shoulder to see Dexing considering him. He narrowed his eyes. The agent’s expression had turned thoughtful.
“This is Agent Gau’s doing, isn’t it?” Dexing asked.
Zuko tensed.
Dexing sighed, appearing rueful now as he continued, “He has that effect. I’m afraid he’s a very…particular individual. He’s not successfully partnered long-term with another agent since Long Feng. He’s usually assigned recruit pairs to train instead. He seems to thrive putting them through their paces.”
Zuko frowned as he looked at the agent.
“You don’t have a partner,” he noted.
He’d never seen or sensed a second individual with Dexing. Dexing’s expression sobered.
“No,” he agreed, tone impossible to read. “It is better I work alone. My focus is usually evaluating recruits, or assisting with other teams when needed.”
Zuko frowned, raising a brow.
“Okay…” he said.
Dexing remained silent. Zuko looked forward again. Dai Li and their weird secrets, he thought irritably.
“What do you know about an attack by firebenders on some bandits and a scout patrol near Huoling?” Dexing suddenly asked.
Zuko tensed. His eyes widened. He hurriedly tried to school his expression, narrowing his gaze as he cast a look over his shoulder at the agent.
“Firebenders?” he asked. “In the Earth Kingdom?”
Dexing nodded, green eyes watching from beneath a shadowed hat.
“Yes,” Dexing agreed. “You said you had to go around, through the desert. I was wondering if you knew anything.”
Zuko forced himself to shrug.
“I don’t,” he lied, trying to swallow down the way his skin crawled at the lie. “Sorry.”
Dexing hummed, looking at him before finally shrugging as he looked over the rooftops.
“Well, I suppose it was a long shot,” Dexing said, smiling as he stared at something through the darkness.
Zuko relaxed.
“How’s your throat?” Dexing asked, causing Zuko to pause. “I heard you were spitting fire when Priest Kai was healing you.”
Zuko swallowed, looking over the rooftops as he scowled.
“Fine,” he replied, which wasn’t a lie.
“I’ve never heard of a firebender breathing fire,” Dexing pressed.
Zuko could feel him staring. Agni, he couldn’t believe he was actually wishing to have Gau back right now. At least he had a chance of the guy actually shutting up.
Forcing himself to shrug, he replied, “I never said I was a firebender.”
“No,” Dexing agreed. “You didn’t.”
A beat passed, before Dexing added, tone wry, “I believe I told you to not cause trouble that first night we met, did I not?”
Zuko glanced sidelong at Dexing, wary. Was he finally going to attack?
“Yeah?” Zuko replied carefully.
Dexing’s green eyes curled.
“Sword fights in tea shops? Escaping from a guardhouse under the guard’s very nose? Chasing down kidnappers?” Dexing asked, numbering off each item on a stone-wrapped hand. “Does ‘trouble’ mean something else in the Fire Nation, Lee?”
Dexing smirked. Zuko flushed. He hid it by glaring at Dexing as he bristled.
“I didn’t even start the sword fight!” he argued. “And what was I supposed to do? Let the kidnapper escape?”
“Let Agent Gau do his job?” Dexing suggested, still sounding more so amused than condemning.
Zuko remained prepared in case that amusement turned to earthbending. Always be ready. He snorted.
“Walking stone for face?” Zuko drawled. “Not a chance. Han is my—”
He paused, frowning. Would an earthbender even understand what ‘clan’ meant if he said it?
Dexing considered him, inclining his head.
“Kyoshi’s scrolls say you consider ‘clan’ to be near tantamount to family,” he mused, as though able to read his mind as he eyed Zuko thoughtfully. “Similar yet not, in the way we consider those of our village, our town, our city, to be important.”
Zuko frowned, brow furrowing.
“I guess,” he replied, shrugging. “I’d heard the Earth Kingdom doesn’t have clans. The nobles have noble families, which I’m told are different. The rest…”
He shrugged. Dexing nodded, hands folded into wide sleeves as Tui rose higher behind him. Dexing looked back over the city.
“Ba Sing Se is the oldest settlement in the Earth Kingdom,” Dexing spoke, tone distant. “Some of the scrolls suggest it’s the oldest in the world.”
Zuko scoffed quietly.
“You don’t believe it?” Dexing asked.
Zuko glanced sidelong at him, replying, “Wouldn’t anyone want to say that? Their oldest city is the oldest city?”
Dexing looked amused, nodding as he agreed, “Perhaps. The university professors have been able to draw rather impressive date logs regarding the city’s heritage. I would be curious to see what the Fire Nation might have for comparison.”
Zuko blinked. He stared at him.
“You…” he started. “You’re curious? About the Fire Nation?”
Dexing shrugged slowly.
“In regards to its oldest city, perhaps,” he replied easily, smirking down at Zuko. “Wouldn’t it be interesting to know?”
Zuko narrowed his eyes, studying Dexing. Huh, he thought, this was…not what he expected. Eventually, he shrugged.
“Maybe,” he replied.
A prickling ran along his skin. He froze, then leapt to his feet. Dexing tensed, but Zuko ignored him to stare across the rooftops.
“Do you feel that?” Zuko asked, eyes combing the shadowed city in silvered moonlight.
“Feel what?” Dexing asked warily.
Zuko didn’t respond, stretching out his senses. Uncle, Yasuke, Jinsuke, all three of their fires remained steady in the house beneath his feet. He tried to understand what it was that had set his hair on end and teeth on edge. It reminded him of when…
Isao’s startled face sprang to mind.
His head snapped towards Dexing, body taut.
“It’s—”
Something exploded. Zuko’s head whipped back around. His eyes widened to see part of a building collapse, dust and debris spraying upwards as it released a mighty groan in its death. Before Zuko could say anything, a dark shadow darted over the rooftop. He looked to find Dexing racing over rooftops, heading in the direction of the chaos. He looked quickly around. He couldn’t see movement on rooftops nearby. Dexing didn’t have any others with him.
Cursing, he swung from the roof and scrambled down the rough, stone side to the ground. He nearly ran straight into Uncle.
“Nephew!” Uncle exclaimed. “What is it?”
“A building collapsed,” Zuko explained, rushing past him to where he kept his swords. “And I sensed the spirit that attacked Isao just before it.”
Uncle frowned.
“From what you told me, that creature is dangerous,” Iroh warned.
“I know,” Zuko snapped, strapping his dao to his side. “But I can’t let it be. Agent Dexing already headed there and Uncle—”
He met his Uncle’s gaze, his brow furrowed as he added, “The building looked like it was inside our block.”
Iroh paused.
“I see,” he said. “You shouldn’t go alone then.”
“I’ll go with him, sir,” Yasuke spoke up, crossing towards them with his pack thrown over his shoulder. “I can help with any injured as well.”
Zuko hesitated then nodded.
Iroh frowned, saying, “I should—”
“Uncle,” Zuko interrupted, swallowing before he released a breath. “You can’t fight without firebending, Uncle…”
Iroh gave Zuko a long look. Zuko refused to look away. Finally, Iroh’s shoulders sank.
“Yes,” Iroh admitted. “I know.”
Zuko nodded, starting to move past when Uncle trapped him in a hug. Zuko jerked, startled. Uncle always asked. But he didn’t this time, and he hadn’t expected it—before he’d barely had time to react, Uncle released him and stepped away.
“Apologies, nephew,” Iroh said, looking gravely at him. “Please be careful.”
Zuko hesitated. Then he swallowed, giving a single nod.
“I will,” he promised, relaxing.
Turning, he met Yasuke’s gaze with another nod before they ran out into the darkened street.