When the places Iroh had marked on his map came up empty, Toph and Kouji agreed to split up in order to cover more ground.  After almost a year in the palace, Toph had the feel of Zuko and Leilani just as much as she did Aang or  Sokka and so would be able to find them with bending; Kouji, lacking her raw power and massive skill, had Qiang’s aid.

She even picked up a trail, which they followed right up until it began raining, nearly five days after Kouji had left the palace.  The water completely destroyed any scent the baby dragon had had, and Kouji put his greatly expanded vocabulary to good use as the two of them trudged through the forest, seeking shelter.  There was none to be had, and Kouji was sneezing and coughing a day after the storm passed.

Qiang, worried and annoyed, had cuddled up close when they stopped the night before, and then, when rooting around for food the next morning, stumbled upon a tiny cave. When she found it, she bounced excitedly back to Kouji and tried to drag him there.

“What is it?” he asked as he followed her.  Qiang had grown quite a bit in the months that had passed since he first got her; she was as long as he was tall, now, and could easily drag him if she so chose.

She led him down into the depression, which was blocked halfway through by a sheet of somewhat muddy ice.

Ice?  In spring?

Excitedly, Kouji bent a tunnel underneath the ice and crawled through.

Sure enough, there were Leilani and Zuko, the former sleeping, the latter barely conscious and severely injured — Kouji had never seen him this bad before.

“Kouji…?” he whispered, eyes flickering open.

“Zuko!” Kouji cried, scrambling to his feet and running to hug the Firelord.  He was gentle, though, uncertain of how bad the injuries were — and that close, he could see that this was after a healing from Leilani.

“Hi…,” he whispered, attempting a smile.

Qiang followed Kouji, making the little space quite cramped indeed.

“What happened?” Kouji asked him.  “I see you escaped, but…”

“Wanted me t’start again…”

“…the war?”

He nodded, then his eyes fluttered closed again.  Rage poured off of Kouji in waves.  “Those bastards!” he snarled angrily.  “If I get my hands on them…”

“Calm down,” the Firelord said, worried, eyes flashing open again. “C-calm down…”

“How?” Kouji demanded.  “They might have killed you!”

“Didn’t,” Zuko pointed out. “M’okay, right…?”

“You’re not okay, Zuko — they tortured you!”  The boy was getting angrier by the moment.  “I’ve half a mind to go find them and—”

“Kouji, you’re eleven,” Zuko hissed. “You don’t need blood on your hands.” Short-lived fury spent, he sagged back against the cave wall again, exhausted by this effort.

There was silence for a moment, then, “I’m twelve.”

“…r-really…?”

“Yeah,” was the quiet reply.

“…oh… h-happy birthday…?” he whispered.

“…thanks.”  Kouji sat down, his rage tempered for the moment.

“S-sorry… didn’t… get you anything…” He was fading out of consciousness again.

“It’s okay, Zuko,” Kouji told him. “I forgot to tell you.”

“Still…,” he breathed, and then was gone.

Idly, Kouji bent, trying to signal Toph, then went into his pack, covered Leilani with his blanket, bandaged Zuko’s wounds, ordered Qiang to stay put, then went hunting.  By the time he got back, Toph was just coming to the cave. “…he doesn’t sound good,” she greeted him, nodding at the cave.

“He doesn’t look good, either,” Kouji told her.  “They were torturing him, trying to make him start the war again.”

“…bastards,” she snapped.

“I agree,” he replied, leading Toph inside.  “I made a tunnel under the ice — I think Leilani made that just in case they found ‘em.”

Toph nodded. “Right, I feel it,” she said, and dove into the tunnel.

The boy followed her, dragging his catch, and took to preparing it while Toph situated herself.

“…we should wait for ‘Lani to wake up and say it’s safe to move Sparky,” the tiny earthbender said, decisively, squeezing herself into a corner right by the icewall.

“Right,” Kouji agreed.  “Makes sense.  You’ll let me know if anyone comes our way?”

Before she could answer, Zuko stirred a little, drifting back up. “…Toph…?”

“Morning, Sparky.”

Kouji smiled and kept working on food — for certain Zuko and Leilani had to be starving.

“How’re you doing?” Toph asked.

“Fine…”

“…you’re a really bad liar, Sparky, you do know that, right?”

“I think he’s aware,” said Kouji dryly.

Zuko managed a very faint, pained smile.

“We’re gonna get you out of here as soon as ‘Lani says it’s ok, all right?”

“‘Kay…”

“Here,” said Kouji, moving to him.  “I’ve got food.”

“Mmm…” Zuko said, slipping out again.

“…or not.  Toph, hungry?”

“Sure,” she said.

He passed her the bowl instead and waited for Leilani to wake up; fortunately, she revived less than an hour later.

“Morning,” Toph greeted her. “Sleep well?”

“Like a rock,” she said tiredly.  “Do I smell—?”

Kouji was pressing a bowl into her hand before she could finish; Leilani all but inhaled the food he’d offered her.

“Is it safe to move Sparky?” Toph asked when she was done.

“Not yet,” Leilani said after a moment.  “I need to do another healing session first.”

“All right. Just let me know.” While waiting for ‘Lani to wake up, she’d been brainstorming ideas for how to move the injured man without doing even more damage. 

The waterbender moved to Zuko’s side and drew water from the ice wall she had made; without a further word, she began healing him again.

While she was working, he drifted conscious again. “You’re awake,” he whispered, relieved.

“Yes,” she answered with a soft smile at him.

“Good…”

Kouji urged Zuko to eat something while Leilani worked on him; sometime later, the islander announced that it was safe for Zuko to travel.  “All right,” Toph said, and stood up. “…Don’t even think about it, Sparky,” she said, when she felt Zuko shifting, as if about to stand.

“I can walk,” he insisted.

“We believe you, Sparky. But humour us. Let us carry you this time, okay?” Without waiting for a response, she gently bent the earth under him, making a sort of litter, which she then started pushing, as gently as possible, following the others out of the cave.

Kouji led the way with Qiang; Leilani stuck close to Zuko and Toph as they made their way back to the palace.  Zuko drifted in and out of consciousness several times along the way.  It was long, slow going, but eight days after the kidnapping, Kouji and Toph had managed to sneak Zuko back into the palace.  While Toph took a severely overextended Leilani and Zuko to Doctor Chang, Kouji raced to report to Iroh.

“You found them?” the old man asked, as soon as Kouji came into his office.

“Yeah,” the boy told him.  As coherently as he could, he told Iroh everything he had learned.

Iroh clenched his fists, and looked fairly murderous. “I see. Thank you.”

“Zuko and Leilani are in the infirmary now.  She didn’t say anything, but… I think they were using her to bring him from the brink of death, so they could keep hurting him.”

“Right.”

Kouji hesitated.  “You’ll probably want to debrief Leilani as soon as Chang’s done with her.”  Which Iroh knew, of course.  Which meant he should shut up now.

“Of course,” the old man replied, then eyed the boy closely. “You should probably get some sleep. You look dead on your feet.”

“It’s been a long week.”  Kouji yawned.  “Night, Uncle Iroh.”

“Good night, Kouji,” he replied, smiling.

The boy didn’t even notice his slip until he was halfway to his room.  “Gah!”

 

Some indeterminate time after returning to the capital, Zuko fought his way to full consciousness. It took him a long moment to figure out where he was. With his free hand, he scrambled for a weapon that wasn’t there. Panicking a little, he turned to see what was holding his other hand — and found Katara, face faintly tear-streaked, curled up in a chair, fast asleep, clinging to it.

Kouji was snuggled against her like a little brother — or even a son — with his head nestled in her lap and holding onto her other hand; it was impossible to tell who had been comforting who.

Zuko felt an all-too-familiar stab of guilt at the sight — if I hadn’t been so careless, if I’d been faster, stronger… — and struggled to sit up, so that he’d at least look better when they woke up.

No such luck, Kouji stirred and opened his eyes.  “Zuko…?”

“Hey, Kouji,” he whispered back, still trying to push himself up.

Carefully he slithered out of Katara’s lap and moved to help Zuko.

The older boy managed a faint smile in thanks, then sagged back against the headboard, exhausted by the effort. He still hadn’t let go of Katara’s hand.

“Are you… feeling any better?”

“Yeah,” he replied. This was actually true. The last time he’d regained consciousness, the pain had been so bad he could hardly put a coherent thought together without great effort. Now that his initial panic on waking where he wasn’t expecting to be had passed, it was a little easier to think through the pain. Not much, but a little.

“Good,” said Kouji, sighing in relief.  “That’s good.  I’m glad.”

“You?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good.”

The boy smiled at him, but the smile soon turned to a pensive frown.

“…What’s wrong?” Zuko asked, frowning a little himself.

“…I… I think I scare myself, a little,” Kouji replied.

“What d’you mean?” the older boy asked, forcing himself to sit a little straighter.

“After I found you… I think that, if I’d found the men who did that to you… I really think I would have killed them.”  The boy stared at his hands.

The Firelord was silent for a minute, unsure exactly what to say to that. Were their situations reversed, he wouldn’t have been as patient and forbearing as Kouji had been — he would have gone hunting them rather than waiting. “But you didn’t,” he finally said. “And that’s the important thing.”

“I just— I never realised that I was capable of…”

“I think…everyone is, deep down.”

Kouji fell silent for a moment.  “…I guess you’re right.”

Zuko managed a faint smile at the younger boy. “When did we get back…?”

“Yesterday,” he replied.

“And how long were we gone…?” This was the number he was really afraid of hearing. Just think that however long you were gone, that’s how long you held out.

“Eight days,” Kouji replied quietly.

“…Oh.” No wonder she looks so upset…

“Your uncle is out looking for the men who did this.”

“…then who’s… who’s running things?”  There was that look on his face. Kouji knew that look. He’d spent much of the last year arguing with it.  So, he’d preclude the argument.

“…correction: he’s got people out looking.”

Zuko relaxed a little, and That Look faded a bit. “All right, then.”

Kouji stifled a sigh of relief.

“…what?”

“Nothing,” he said innocently.  “Oh, Doctor Chang checked Leilani out.  She’s not to bend for a few days, but she’ll be fine.”

“That’s good,” Zuko said, relieved, too tired and in too much pain to recognize that this was a deliberate subject change.  Kouji then proceeded to fill Zuko in on everything that had transpired during his absence.

It was better than the older boy had expected — Iroh had kept news of his disappearance as quiet as possible, and no major emergencies had managed to crop up. “Could be worse,” he whispered when Kouji was done.

“Yeah, it could,” the earthbender agreed quietly.

Zuko shifted position slightly, flinched a little — only inwardly, I didn’t hold out that long to give in now — and wondered when they’d let him get back to work.

Yes, that look was back — masked a little by pain.

Fortunately, Kouji had come prepared.  Glancing around, he reached under his chair and removed a number of papers, which he passed to the Firelord.

Zuko smiled faintly. “Does anyone know you got these for me?”

He shook his head, smiling back.  As long as he could keep Zuko pre-occupied with paperwork, the Firelord would remain in bed.

He frowned slightly. “…Are you going to get in trouble?”

“Not if they find out I did it,” Kouji replied airily.    “But nobody told me not to.”

Zuko nodded, and turned to the papers, blinking a little when a wave of pain made his vision blur for a few seconds.  After a few moments, Kouji said, “I need to feed Qiang,” and quit the room.