Zuko was, theoretically at least, supposed to be eating lunch. That’s what his schedule said, at any rate. Instead, he was sitting at his desk, trying to make sense of a report on — well, that was the problem, he wasn’t sure exactly what it was about, and he’d been staring at it for nearly twenty minutes now.

As usually happened when he was late to a meal, Kouji arrived with food.

Today, he also arrived with Iroh.

Zuko looked up when they came in. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”

Kouji settled the plate down in front of him.  “We need to talk,” he said quietly.

He frowned a little. “What about?”

The boy hesitated — after all, it hadn’t gone well when he’d tried it — and looked at Iroh.

“The same thing Kouji discussed with you yesterday,” Iroh said.

“…I can’t.”

“You need to,” Kouji countered.

“What happens if you have another breakdown?” Iroh added.

“I don’t know.”

“Which is why you need to get past this.”

“But I can’t afford to go away.”

“Neither can you afford to stay,” the general pointed out.

“We’re worried about you, Zuko,” Kouji said, looking up at him.

“I know,” the young Firelord replied, staring at the report again. If I can just make sense of this, that means I’m all right…

“Then why won’t you listen?”

“My place is here.”

Kouji sighed.  Sometimes it seemed like the Prince could out-stubborn Toph.

“That may be,” Iroh admitted. “But you’re not going to be able to get your head straight if you stay here, Zuko.”

“And the Fire Nation needs you to have your head straight.”

Zuko looked from his uncle to Kouji and back again. “But… I can’t just leave. That’s… that would be…”

“What?” the boy asked quietly.

“Irresponsible,” he finished, conscious of how stupid that sounded.

“How?” Kouji demanded.  “You have a regent to look after things while you’re taking a much-needed break from the incredibly stressful past six months in order to better serve your nation as ruler.”

Zuko didn’t really have a response for that.

“You need to do this, Zuko,” Iroh said quietly, after a long silence.

“Please?” Kouji added.

“What if this doesn’t work?” the older boy asked after a long moment. “What if I do this, and I still can’t get my head straight?”

The boy opened his mouth, closed it, and looked helplessly at the General.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” the old man said. “But this is your best chance of getting your head straight. You should take it.”

“You have to try, at least.”

“…fine,” he replied after a long moment. “Fine.”

Kouji immediately lit up.  “Great!”

Zuko still looked unsure, but he’d agreed. That was something.

Iroh gently rested his hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Who would you like to take with you? You can’t go alone.”

“There’d have to be some guards, at the very least,” mused Kouji.

“Precisely.”

“I… don’t know. Um.”

“Well, think about it,” chirped the boy, who then glanced out the window.  “I better get lost before Toph comes looking for me.”  He waved to Lord and General and slipped out.

Once Kouji was finished with the day’s training (Toph seemed to be working him harder than ever to make up for the days he had missed), he staggered over to the turtleduck pond and considered falling in to cool off.  Testing the water with a finger made him change his mind; it might have been the Fire Nation, but winter was winter and the water was freezing cold.

At some point while he was sitting there, Zuko had silently joined him. He stared at the pond.

“Hi,” Kouji greeted him.

“Hey.” The Firelord trailed his fingers in the freezing water, watching it ripple.

“Did you need something?”

He was silent for a moment. “Come with me?” he finally asked, quiet and quick.

Kouji blinked.  “You want me to go with you?  Really?”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah.”

A slow grin spread over the younger boy’s face.  “I’d love to.”

Some of the tension between the older boy’s shoulder blades eased. “Thanks.”

Kouji glanced at him.  “Do you know where we’re going?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Some of my mother’s property.”

“Sounds pleasant,” the boy commented.

Zuko nodded. “It’s quiet.”

“Quiet is definitely good.”

“Yeah, probably.” He clearly still wasn’t entirely sold on this whole going-away-for-a-few-days idea.

Kouji bit his lip, watching his ruler.  I hope this works.

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning, unless you need more time to get ready.”

“I pack fast,” he replied with a grin.  “Especially since I had to lose most of my clothes recently.”  He pulled on the sleeves of his now too-long shirt and laughed.

Zuko almost smiled back. “All right, then.”

“I’ll go pack.”  He hesitated.  “…and tell Toph.”

“Tell her to yell at me if she’s mad you’re leaving.”

He nodded and scampered off.

Toph was still in their unofficial training area, working out.

“Um, Sifu Toph?”

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I’m, um, leaving tomorrow for awhile.”

“How come?”

“Zuko is taking a leave of absence, and he’s asked me to go with him.”

“‘Bout time he did, too,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How long’re you two gonna be gone?”

“I’m not sure.  Hopefully a few weeks.”

“Hopefully?”

“He really needs this break,” Kouji said.  Not a lie.

“I may be blind, but I’m not stupid.”

“…it’s up to Zuko or Iroh to give you the details.”

“Right, fine.”

Kouji bowed to her and slipped away to pack.

Kouji was not an easily-frightened boy.

He had travelled with the Avatar, stood against Princess Azula, and daily took on a job that would drive grown men mad.

Therefore, it came as a surprise to everyone when he balked on reaching the docks.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko asked him, frowning slightly.

“That is a place with boats.”

“…how else did you think we were going to get there?”

“Nobody said anything about boats!”

Zuko looked a little confused. “Probably we thought you knew we’d have to sail there. It’s on a different island, and the balloons are too easy to track…”

Kouji groaned.  “I spent way too much time in the Earth Kingdom.  I forgot this place is made of islands.”

“…What’s wrong, Kouji?”

Kouji hesitated.  “I… I get seasick.”

“…It’s just a short trip. A couple hours, at most.”

He nodded, but still eyed the boats warily.  Zuko smiled very faintly at the younger boy, and got onto the boat.  Kouji followed unhappily, and spent the entire voyage being violently ill.

For his part, the Firelord looked happier than he had in weeks — he’d forgotten how attached he’d gotten to the ocean over the years.  Li Shang, promoted two grades to lance-corporal once released from the infirmary and allowed back on duty, was unusually quiet on the voyage, staring out over the water.

As Zuko had promised, the trip was over in a little under two and a half hours, the boat pulled up at a dock on a tiny island, with no other landmass in sight.  Kouji was quick to get off the boat, though he would be queasy and miserable for the rest of the day.  Zuko followed not far behind, accompanied by his (distressingly, according to some highly paranoid people) small escort.

Probably the fact that this escort was comprised of some of the most elite soldiers in the Fire Nation military (and a young, naturally-talented fighter who had proved himself willing to give his life to save his monarch) wouldn’t have helped with this at all.

Hastily sent, carefully encoded messages had let the household staff know that their Firelord was coming, and two women were waiting for them on the dock — one about the General’s age, the other perhaps five years older than Zuko. Both bowed low when he stepped off the boat.

“Welcome, Lord,” the elder said, carefully hiding a look of dismay at how thin he looked.  Kouji, on seeing the women, carefully moved back so that the majority of the escort was between himself and them.  Six months of working for the Firelord hadn’t yet cured him of his irrational fear of the fairer sex.

“Thank you, Bǔ Yù,” Zuko replied, with a very faint smile. “It’s good to see you all again.”

The men were escorted to the manor and settled in, though Kouji had to detour and find a convenient bush to be ill in; he still hadn’t recovered from the rough voyage.

“Are you all right?” the younger of the two women who’d greeted them asked, concerned.

Kouji flushed bright red in return and stammered something about not taking well to sea-travel.

She smiled a little. “Some never do, and some are never happier than when they’re on the water.”

“I’ll st-stick to air travel i-if it’s all the s-same.”

She laughed. “Of course, milord.”

Kouji took several deep breaths, hoping he wouldn’t lose control of his stomach again, and relaxed when it seemed that he was done for the time being.

“May I escort you up to the house?”

“Y-yes, please.”

She offered him a hand.

The flush grew even darker, but he accepted the hand and followed her to the manor.

She led him to a small room, not far from Zuko’s. “This is where you’ll be staying, if it’s all right with you.”

Kouji managed to bow.  “Y-your hospitality is a-appreciated.”

She laughed again. “Thank His Lordship. This is his house, my mother and I are merely its stewards.”

“I s-see.”

“If you need anything, please, don’t hesitate to ask. I am Tù Zi.” She bowed.

“Th-thank you,” stammered the blushing boy.

She smiled again, and left him to unpack.

Current Location: my dad's chair
Current Mood: scared
Current Music: thunder and lightning MOMMY MAKE IT STOP
Tags: au, avatar, blood lines, fanfic

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