It was another day or so before they realized that no one had actually seen or spoken to Zuko since Toph reported him being taken off by “official-sounding people.”

A bit worried, Kouji went off trying to find him again, accompanied by Haru, who seemed a tad peeved to have been dragged away from Ty Lee.

This time, they managed to find the hallway where all the official meeting rooms seemed to be, judging by the increased number of official-looking people bustling about.

“He’s definitely gotta be here,” said Haru, who then reached out and snagged one of the official-looking people. Kouji grinned; Haru was acting exactly like he’d hoped.

“Yes?” said person asked, somewhat snippily.

“We’re looking for Zuko,” said Haru, just as snippy. “Where is he?”

“Are you even authorized to be down here?” the official shot back.

“My authorisation comes from nobody having seen him in two days,” Haru said in a pleasant, talking-to-morons voice.

“If you have no official authorization, sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Ask away. See what good it does you.”

Kouji took advantage of the belligerent Haru’s distraction and snuck off towards the meeting room, clearly intending to wait outside to see if Zuko came out.

The snippy bureaucrat immediately summoned a guard.

“What’s going on here?” the guard asked.

With a bit more politeness, Haru explained the situation.

He had scarcely finished when the bureaucrat jumped in. “This young man has no authorization to be down here. He could be another assassin.”

The guard eyed Haru for a long moment.

Haru merely arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. The fact that the bureaucrat had mentioned ‘another’ concerned him.

“Unfortunately, we really can’t afford to take chances, and this is a highly restricted area. I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the guard said, politely, after a moment. The implication was that the politeness would not last long if Haru chose to stay.

“I’ll leave as soon as I know if Zuko is all right,” Haru said carefully. “We haven’t heard from him in two days and some of us are starting to worry.” Glancing past the guard, he could see the kid perched idly on a bench outside the meeting room; before that could give Kouji away, he returned his eyes to the guard.

“I’m afraid you can’t wait in this hallway,” the guard replied, calmly. “It’s too risky.”

“All I need is confirmation from someone who’s seen him,” Haru said reasonably. “I understand you need to think of security.”

“And I will gladly get you that confirmation, sir, but you need to leave this hallway first. Someone will come and speak with you shortly.”

The earthbender decided that was the best he would get, and bowed. “As you wish.”

The guard bowed back, and escorted him out of the hallway.

Everyone had conveniently forgotten Kouji. The boy did his best to keep it that way, making himself as small as he could and staying out of the way. He figured he could run errands for people if he was noticed. When he finally was noticed, about twenty minutes later, it was by a rather harried looking aide who assumed he was a page of some sort, and sent him running to fetch something.

Glad to be doing something, the boy obeyed, even managing not to get lost (by listening to Toph telling Haru about an earthbending trick to keep the maze straight and then employing it) and returning in record time with the needed item.

And thus passed the next two hours, until Zuko finally came out of the meeting room, wearing the same clothes he’d entered the palace in two days before, and looking as though he hadn’t slept or eaten in about as long.

Kouji lit up on seeing him. “Zuko!” he cried, running to the prince — Firelord — and hugging him tightly.

Zuko seemed a little startled by the enthusiastic greeting, but, after a few seconds, hugged Kouji back. “What’re you doing down here?” he asked.

“Looking for you,” the boy replied, looking up at him. “Nobody’d seen you in two days. We were worried.”

The teenaged monarch blinked, seeming surprised. “Two days?”

“…yeah.” Kouji’s smile was replaced by a worried frown. “Haven’t you slept? Eaten?”

“It can’t possibly have been that long,” was Zuko’s only response.

“It really has been,” the boy told him.

“…Oh. Wow. I guess I lost track of time…”

Kouji took Zuko’s wrist in one hand. “We should get you some food, and then bed,” he said firmly.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I have time right now.”

The younger boy’s jaw dropped. “Time? Zuko, you haven’t eaten or slept in two days!”

“I’ve been busy.”

“But you need to eat!”

“I have work to do.”

“But…” Kouji trailed off, looking up at the Firelord in dismay.

Zuko gave the younger boy a faint smile. “Maybe later, if I have time. Okay?”

“…okay…,” he said reluctantly.

The new Firelord ruffled his hair gently, then disappeared back into his meeting room. Kouji didn’t even duck away from the tousling, considering this new problem. After a few minutes, he grinned and asked the nearest person where the kitchens were. Said person, a rather harried-looking aide, willingly gave him directions.

Before he could be sent off on a fetch mission, Kouji scampered down to the kitchens, carefully marking his path with subtle bending, and talked someone into making food for the Firelord that could be eaten in a hurry. Triumphant, he carried it back to wait for Zuko.

Zuko didn’t re-emerge for nearly four more hours. “…you’re still here?” he asked Kouji, blinking a little in surprise.

The boy nodded. “Here — I brought you food,” he said, offering it to him.

He stared at it for a minute, as if processing this information, then shook himself, and said, “Right. Thanks.” He smiled a little and took the food.

Kouji grinned back — that was one need taken care of. But how to make the older boy sleep? Zuko wolfed down the food, thanked Kouji again, then disappeared back into his meeting room. With a sigh, pondering the new problem, Kouji settled back to wait for Zuko to come back. He had hardly sat down when someone grabbed him and sent him on another errand.

He spent the next several hours in this manner, all the while looking for the Firelord to re-emerge from the current meeting. Finally, after another five hours or so, he drifted out of the meeting room, and sagged against the wall, eyes closed. Hesitantly, Kouji got up and approached him. “Zuko…?”

“Hmmm…?”

“…are you all right?”

“Mmhmm. Fine.”

Kouji eyed him. “…I think you need to lie down,” he said after a moment.

“No time,” Zuko reminded him, eyes still closed, sliding an inch or so down the wall.

“I’m not so sure you have a choice in the matter,” Kouji said hesitantly.

“They’re expecting me back in there in ten minutes…”

“Yeah, but you look like you’re about to fall over.”

“No’m not,” he muttered, and slid another inch or so down the wall.

Kouji crept forward, noting sourly that he seemed to be the only person noticing that Zuko was slowly collapsing. “Are you sure?”

“Jus’ a little dizzy,” the Firelord replied.

“I don’t think that’s a good thing, Zuko.”

“I’m fine…” he insisted, somewhat woozily, and slid another couple inches down the wall.

Kouji caught him by the elbow and helped lower him to a sitting position.

Zuko’s eyes flickered open. “…dizzy…” he mumbled. Then he fell over completely.

“Zuko!” Kouji cried. Hesitantly, he checked the older man’s pulse and found it normal.

He was only out for a couple seconds, then his eyes flickered open again. “What…?”

“You fell over,” said the concerned boy.

“…Oops. Sorry,” Zuko replied, and pushed himself up.

“You need sleep!” protested Kouji, glancing around to see if anyone would back him up.

“But I’m supposed to be in there…” he pointed out, squeezing his eyes shut in hopes that that would make him less dizzy.

“You just fell over.”

“So you told me.”

“What if it happens again?”

“…um…” Clearly, Zuko didn’t have an answer for this. Or, if he did, it was taking a while to appear in the front of his brain.

“So, sleep,” Kouji said quickly. “You can have your meeting after.”

“But I think I have another one after this one…”

“I’ll tell them what happened,” promised Kouji. “You need your rest, too.”

“But this’s more important.”

Kouji stared at him, then finally spluttered, “How!?”

Zuko muttered something halfway intelligible about responsibility and expectations needing to be fulfilled and lived up to. “You can’t meet expectations if you’re sleep-deprived,” Kouji explained patiently.

“But everyone’s expecting me to be in there.”

“And what will they think if you collapse halfway through?”

“…I dunno…”

“So, sleep. I’ll reschedule the meeting. I promise.”

“…but what about the other ones?”

“Them too,” Kouji said, hoping Zuko was tired enough not to notice the major flaw in his plan.

“…promise?”

“Absolutely,” the boy said with a smile.

“…okay,” Zuko finally agreed, and pushed himself to his feet. He reeled a bit, and had to steady himself against the wall.

Kouji promptly moved in to help keep Zuko to his feet. “Where’s your room?”

“That way,” he said, and pointed down a hallway.

Kouji immediately headed that way. Zuko stumbled along next to him, only about half aware of where they were going. With luck, Kouji managed to find the right room and get the door open with only a little bending that hopefully nobody would notice. “Okay, here we are!” he said cheerfully.

Zuko blinked a little. “Whoa… that was fast.”

It really hadn’t been, but Kouji didn’t point that out. Instead he carefully led Zuko to his bed and pushed him gently onto it.

The older boy resisted. “…I’m gonna clean up and change first,” he said, examining his clothes.

“…if you can,” Kouji said, uncertain if Zuko could manage.

“I’ll manage,” he replied, with a weary little half smile, then reeled off to do so.

Uncertain, the colonist waited, half-afraid Zuko would fall asleep in the bath and drown. After a half hour, the young monarch hadn’t come back. In a near panic, Kouji let himself into the bath room. Zuko had, indeed, passed out in the bath, though it didn’t look like he’d drowned.

With a sigh of relief, Kouji reached out and shook Zuko’s shoulder. He jerked awake, instinctively reaching for a weapon that he didn’t have on him. “It’s just me,” Kouji said quickly. “You fell asleep in there.”

“…oh,” he said, relaxing a bit. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay,” he soothed the older bender. “But you should probably dry off and get dressed and sleep in your bed.”

Zuko nodded. “Right. Okay.” He did so, then hesitated. “Wake me up in a couple hours?”

Kouji nodded. “I will.”

He smiled a little, then fell into bed and passed out.

Kouji spent a few moments making sure he was asleep, then trekked back to the meeting hall to spread the news that the Firelord was getting his first night’s sleep in two days and the meeting would be rescheduled at a convenient time the next day.

He was probably not expecting half a dozen aides falling on him complaining that he was interfering in their business and that he clearly was incapable of properly scheduling anything.

Startled, Kouji almost fled; six adults all yelling at him at once was nearly too much for the shy child. Then he remembered how tired Zuko had been, scowled, and informed them that Zuko had not slept in two days and had, in fact, passed out not forty-five minutes earlier, which none of them seemed to have noticed.

They still told him, in essence, to mind his own business, but agreed not to bother their lord until he woke up. He crossed his arms and, without thinking, informed them that the Firelord was his business.

“And what pushes you to make that claim?” one of the aides said, glaring down his nose at the boy.

“He trusted me to get the meetings rescheduled,” was the simple reply.

None of the aides seemed to have a response for that.

Taking advantage of the quiet, Kouji bowed and continued on the task Zuko had set for him.