Chapter Text
Yuet has had to deal with and has seen a lot during her time as a doctor.
Despite being a relatively small landmass (or maybe because of that? Concentrated idiocy probably reared its head more than idiocy that was spread out…) Kyoshi Island has a surprising amount of ways one can injure themselves.
These include, but are certainly not limited to, plain old illness, girls coming in with fractures and broken bones from training, dumb kids eating whatever they find in the forest, some idiots who thought it was a brilliant idea to try fishing in the Unagi’s territory, and her personal least favorite, but the annoyingly common act of shoving things in places she had absolutely no interest in touching.
Her point is, her neighbors were idiots with absolutely no sense of self preservation, so she thought she would have been immune to anything anyone came in with.
Despite that, she couldn’t help but stare at the sight in front of her.
Because in her doorway was the current Kyoshi Warriors’ leader Suki, and on her back was an unconscious little Fire Nation girl. Well she was guessing the girl was fire nation based on the very red, and very drenched, clothing she was wearing.
The doctor continued to stare, bemused, at the two children in her doorway before eventually bringing the mug she was drinking from to her lips. The Kyoshi Warrior in training was still standing in her doorway like the statues spread across the island by the time Yuet set the mug down.
“Are you coming in or not shorty, the kid isn’t going to get any better over there.” This seemed to get Suki’s brain moving again as she carried the girl to the closest cot, setting her down as gently as she could. Sighing, the doctor stretched until a satisfying crack rang through the room, before scooching her chair closer to her newest patient.
First order of business was making sure the kid wasn’t dead, but she figured the wheezing breaths coming from her and the constant shaking was enough to determine that yes, the munchkin that was brought into her office was indeed alive. She also used her 4 years of mostly untrained doctoring to determine that touching the very irritated burn around her neck to check for a pulse might not be the best idea.
“You mind dragging the cot over to the fireplace kiddo?” Yuet asked as she got up from her seat to light said fireplace.
As she was rummaging through her drawers looking for the fire starters, a slightly concerned voice asked “Are you sure that’s…”
“Fire bender or not she won’t survive that long if she’s freezing, so unless you want piggybacking her all the way from the beach to here to be for nothing, I’d get moving shorty.” The doctor replied as she continued to scavenge for the fire starters.
Once she had finally found them (she should really clean the place ) she turned to see that the tiny warrior had indeed brought the cot over to the fireplace. On the way over Yuet made sure to grab some burn ointment, bandages, and a clean washcloth.
After lighting the fireplace, she finally began tending to the fire munchkin’s wounds. Aside from the obvious burn around her throat (which looked days old and turned suspiciously finger shaped once she began cleaning the back of her neck) the girl had mostly minor cuts and bruises. Whoever this kid was she was extremely lucky she didn’t have any infections, especially coming from the burn.
Yuet finished wrapping the last cut and sat down, looking the child over for anything more she would need. Aside from some new clothes (she’d ask Huan later) it looked like all she needed to do now was sit back and make sure things didn’t get any worse.
Turning to face the other little girl in her office, the doctor saw that Suki had still yet to take her eyes off the kid. Yuet looked between the two, before chuckling, “What, was it love at first sight?”
“WHAT!? No!” The little warrior responded, face as red as the fire munchkin’s clothes. Her blush died down as she turned her gaze back to the kid in the cot, trying to explain “It’s just that… she doesn’t… doesn’t look like…”
Suki didn’t finish her thought but Yuet could see what she was trying to say, her face pinching in sympathy. Hesitantly she brought her hand up to rub circles on the kid’s back, mumbling “I know Suki.” The two sat there, the only sounds being the three occupants breathing and the crackling from the fireplace. ‘I know…’
Eventually the little warrior tore her gaze away from the, before shuffling towards the exit. “I… should get back to the dojo.” Once Suki reached the door she paused and turned to face the doctor. Yuet knew that face, a sort of pleading with a slight shimmer of hope, and felt her body deflate knowing what was going to come out of the girl’s mouth
“Do you think later you can come by and help with my training?”
She couldn’t look the girl in the eye when she responded with “I have to make sure the fire munchkin doesn’t get any worse, sorry…”
Suki turned her back to the doctor, face scrunched in frustration “You could just say no.”
The door closed with more force than was probably necessary. Yuet sighed, before struggling to stand up. She dragged her chair, grabbing her mug and something to read, and plopped down next to the cot to watch the kid (and hopefully drown out the guilt coursing through her).
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It was not particularly rare for Ursa to wake up without Ozai in her bed. It was not particularly rare for the man to miss breakfast either, whether that be due to war councils taking longer than usual or him… honestly Ursa did not know and she thinks it would be best if it stayed that way.
It was however rare for her daughter to miss breakfast.
Azula was always on time for everything, she would taunt and ridicule her brother over being late starting it “wasn’t proper for a member of the royal family to be anything but on time” and “if you are going to be late you might as well just not come Zuzu.” The girl would not miss a deadline even if she was sick (in fact she seemed to push herself harder when that happened).
Despite that Ursa couldn’t find the princess at the dining table that morning. After seeing Zuko off to his lessons she asked the palace staff if they had seen her daughter, but none had, not even the girl’s personal servants.
As Ursa continued searching for her a voice wormed its way into the back of her head. It was a frantic, borderline hysterical voice that she had heard the night before.
Father’s going to kill me!
The woman quickly exhaled and shook the thought from her head. Ozai would… he’d never. He was a monster, a pitiful excuse for human being, and everything the other nations thought the Fire Nation was personified, but he’d never. Azula was his pride and joy, his perfect heir, he would never…
Grandfather said if he kills me he’d be next in line for the throne!”
He’d never…
Ursa took a deep breath before making her way to her garden. This was probably just some game her daughter was playing, what better way to give her family heart attacks than to claim she was going to be killed and then disappearing the next day.
Azula would show up by the end of the day, probably laugh at her brother and Ursa stating her father was more likely to kill Zuko before he ever thought about touching her.
Ozai had never liked his son, so maybe she would have believed her if she stated Ozai would kill him, but Azula…?
When she reached her garden she began tending to it, plucking weeds, watering the flowers and bushes. After a while she had almost completely forgotten about what had been bothering her, getting lost in her work and moving deeper into the garden.
Then she saw a patch of black grass in her peripheral view.
Ursa moved closer and felt her stomach drop and breath catch at the view in front of her.
Burnt grass. Burnt flowerbeds. Red scattered everywhere. Blood scattered everywhere.
‘He’d… he’d never…”
Ursa saw the glint of something metallic in one of the bushes and moved mechanically towards it, her mind begging this to just be some nightmare.
There were puddles of blood near the bush, more than anywhere else in the area. When she finally reached the object she reached for it with a shaking hand.
It was a knife.
It was Zuko’s knife
It was the knife Azula took from him yesterday.
Ursa felt her body crumble as she stared at the bloody dagger, tears beginning to fall from her cheeks.
“What did I do.”