Since Jet's arrest, things had been fairly quiet. Kouji would go to school, run messages, go home, and make dinner for the three of them while Zuko and Iroh worked in the tea shop; after dinner he'd do his homework and complain quietly about whatever he'd learned that day. About the only thing he really liked about the school was that he wasn't snapped at whenever he read ahead of the class.

As a messenger, the boy quickly gathered a reputation for speed and reliability, and was soon running messages all over the city — even in the forbidden Upper Ring, though he had been warned the day he gained permission for this that he was never to speak of the war there.

One such afternoon, he ran into the girl he and Iroh had met on the road a few weeks earlier. A bit startled, the boy froze, then ran to catch up with her. After all, it wasn't often he got to see anyone he'd met on his travels.

"Hello again. What d'you want?" she asked him.

"I just w-wanted to say 'hi'," he replied, grinning at her. "D-didn't know you w-were coming to B-Ba Sing Se t-too."

She shrugged. "There's a couple things we need to take care of here."

We? Oh, she must have been travelling with people. "I s-see," he answered, falling into step with her as his face became pink.

"What about you?" she asked, almost reluctantly, after a minute.

He checked around before answering, using both his eyes and his feet to make sure nobody might take offence. "Well, we f-found my brother not l-long after we left you. Then w-we got hit by a Fire Nation g-group called the Rough Rhinos," Kouji said. "After that we m-made our way here — with a d-detour." He winced, remembering how badly Zuko had been sunburned by that.

"Sounds like fun."

"Well, if you c-call getting kidnapped by s-sandbenders 'fun'."

She made a face. "They stole my friend's pet. That's why we're here, they said he was probably brought here."

Kouji nodded. "I see. M-must have been a different group f-from mine, then. They only wanted t-to train me."

"They wanted to sell him. And it was really just the main guy's kid, the boss was kinda pissed off that he'd done it."

Kouji sighed. "Kids today." He ignored the fact that both he and the blind girl were kids, too. She giggled a little. His grin widened at her laugh, then he said, "By the way, my name's K-Kouji."

"Toph."

"It's nice to see you again, Toph." He sighed. "I should p-probably finish delivering this. Got a reputation to uphold."

"And I should head back before they think I ran off again. See ya." She disappeared into the crowd.

Again? he wondered as he reoriented himself and continued on his way.

He was still thinking about that encounter while doing his homework that night, so much so that he even forgot to complain about his day at school. Iroh came home about a half hour after he did, and, rather smugly, informed him that Zuko was out on a date. "So it's just us tonight."

Kouji blinked several times. "…so, are the polar ice caps melting then? The sun rising in the west?"

Iroh laughed. "There's a pretty girl who's come in to the teashop several times this week. She asked him out this afternoon."

"Guess it was too much to hope for that he did the asking."

"He didn't even do the answering," Iroh admitted sheepishly. "But she's a nice girl, she'll be good for him."

Kouji arched an eyebrow at him, then shook his head. "Ah, well. Oh, you'll never guess who I met today."

"Who?"

"Remember that blind girl we met last month?" the boy asked.

Iroh paused, then, very carefully, "She's in the city?"

He blinked. "Yeah, I saw her in the Upper Ring."

"Are her friends here, too, do you know? Or is she on her own again?"

"She's with her friends," Kouji answered, confused. "Said that her friend's pet was stolen by sandbenders and they were told it was probably brought here."

"I see." The old man sighed. "What would you like for dinner tonight?"

"Noodles are fine," the boy replied, wondering just why Iroh seemed so sad now.

"All right," Iroh said, then set about boiling water. Once he'd finished cooking, Iroh firmly changed the subject again, asking how Kouji's day at school had been.

"Same old, same old," Kouji sighed. "At least the teacher lets me read ahead."

The old man nodded. "Well, that's something."

"Yeah…" The boy let out a second sigh. "I'm seriously weirded out, though. Nothing in any of the books say word one about the war, and the teachers won't let us ask about it. How can control of a city be that complete? And why?"

Iroh frowned. "I'm not entirely sure how, but as for why… it's one more way to maintain that control, if you police what people say and think about the world outside. In addition, it can be comforting to those trying to start over--if the war doesn't exist here, the ways the war hurt you don't, either. It's either a frightening way of tightening a control freak's hold on the city, or a well-intentioned yet poorly-thought-out psychological bandage that could rip at any time."

Kouji scowled. And what if the siege had succeeded? he wondered, looking at the former General. He breached the Outer Wall. What if Prince Lu Ten hadn't been killed? All these people who don't know about the war… He let his head fall onto the table and groaned.

The rest of the evening passed in pensive silence, until Zuko came home from his date and went straight to his room, ignoring Iroh's attempt at conversation.

Kouji looked up from his homework, then rose, intending to go to the older boy, then stopped. Sighing, he sat down and picked up his brush again. Zuko was radiating Unhappy Place vibes.

...or maybe not.

He pushed the door open a few inches, quietly answered Iroh's earlier question, then shut it again, more gently than before.

Confused, Kouji turned back to his homework.

Not many days after that, Kouji was out running more errands when fliers began to drop from the sky. Blinking in surprise, he reached up to catch one.

It was a missing poster, indicating a reward if the bison pictured was found.

"Oh, no," the boy whispered. If Zuko saw one of these….

When he got home that evening, neither Zuko nor Iroh was home.

Worried, and more than a little scared that Zuko had gone haring off after the Avatar and accidentally outed himself, Kouji puttered around the apartment, making dinner, carefully keeping his home, and trying to concentrate on his homework.

Still, neither prince returned.

Fear began edging the worry out, and now the boy began to pace, jumping at the slightest noises. The night wore on, and he remained alone in the apartment. Finally, some three hours after midnight, Kouji fell asleep on the floor, curled up by the door with his back to the wall. At long last, just before dawn, the door finally opened.

The boy was awake instantly, rubbing his eyes and looking up. Zuko came in first, looking weary beyond words. Iroh followed him and shut the door behind them. "You did the right thing," the old man said, but didn't elaborate--probably to spare Kouji the details of whatever had gone on the night before.

Kouji scrambled to his feet. "Lee! Uncle!" He couldn't hide the relief from his face or his voice.

This relief, however, was doomed to be short lived. "I don't feel right..." Zuko said, one hand drifting up to his forehead.

Then he passed out.

"Lee!" Kouji cried, running to his side and dropping down next to him.

Iroh, completely forgetting himself, used Zuko's right name instead, and joined Kouji. The teenager was spiking a fever. "Help me get him into bed," Iroh said, worried. Kouji nodded and managed to help the older man drag Zuko to his bed.

"He's so hot…," Kouji said, biting his lip.

"We'll cool him down," the old man said, quietly, settling his nephew in the bed. "I'm going to get some water."

"Okay." Kouji sat beside Zuko and drew his knees to his chest, just staring at the exiled prince. Why? Why do bad things keep happening to him? the boy wondered.

Iroh rejoined him moments later with a bucket of water. "Is he still out?"

"Yeah," whispered Kouji. The old man sighed, and rested a hand against his nephew's forehead. "He… he'll be all right… won't he?" the boy asked, turning to Iroh.

"Of course he will," the old man said, a little absently, brushing Zuko's hair back off his forehead.

Kouji nodded and settled back in to watch Zuko. A few minutes later, the older boy stirred a little. "Lee!" whispered Kouji, crawling forward just a little. His eyes flickered open, glazed with fever. "It'll be okay, Lee," the earthbender said softly, trying to assure his friend.

"You have a very intense fever," Iroh said, quietly, soaking a cloth in his bucket and pressing it to his nephew's forehead. "This will help cool you down."

"So thirsty..." the prince mumbled, clearly not all there.

Quickly, Kouji grabbed for the bucket and a dipper, filling the latter with water from the former. "Here, this should help…"

Zuko drank the water from the dipper, then tossed it aside and grabbed the entire bucket, spilling more than he actually managed to drink. Flinching, Kouji took the empty bucket and went to fetch more water. When he got back, Zuko had drifted off again, tossing and mumbling something indistinct.

"…He's not looping, is he?" Kouji asked Iroh, uncertain. He didn't know what, exactly, looping was — Ichiro had once mentioned it to him in an off-hand manner, citing it as the reason he tried his hardest not to get sick — only that it happened to firebenders.

Iroh shook his head. "Not yet. His fever is high, but steady. If it gets any higher, though..."

Kouji nodded, biting his lip. "Hang in there, Zu…," he whispered.

The old man frowned, looking from Kouji to Zuko and back, considering. "There's an apothecary a few streets over. Why don't you go see if she has anything that will help?"

Kouji froze for a brief moment, his fear of the feminine sex warring with his fear for Zuko, then he nodded. "R-right. I'll do that." He got to his feet and bolted out the door, heading for the apothecary.

Her shop, a small, dark room full of unusual but not entirely unpleasant smells, wasn't difficult to find. Kouji checked the sun and flinched — just past dawn, nobody would be happy about getting up at this hour — then knocked on the door.

The door opened almost instantly. The apothecary was middle-aged, maybe in her early forties, with long dark hair.

Like Zuko and Iroh, she had golden eyes.

His own silver eyes widened at unexpectedly seeing Fire Nation eyes here in Ba Sing Se, and he stumbled back a step as his face predictably turned red. "Um, h-h-hi…," he stammered.

"Hello," she said, softly. "What can I help you with?"

"I-it's my b-brother," he said. "H-he's sick, h-h-has a really high f-f-fever…"

The woman nodded. "Come in, I'll see what I have."

Nodding, the boy obeyed, his face turning even brighter of a red as he walked by her. There was something familiar about her… or maybe it was just the eyes. "Now, how old is your brother?" the apothecary asked, collecting some things from a shelf.

"S-sixteen," Kouji answered, turning his head to the wall. If he wasn't looking at her, it was easier to speak.

"Mmhmm. And about how much does he weigh?"

Kouji panicked briefly, doing some mental calculations, came up with an answer he didn't like, and told her.

She nodded. "Is he taking any other medication that you know of?"

"N-no, ma'am."

"And does he have any other health problems he's not taking medicine for?"

"W-we're refugees," Kouji blurted. "We h-had some t-trouble with s-supplies on our w-way here, s-so he's recovering from th-that."

The woman bowed her head, then nodded. "All right." She finished gathering what she needed, measuring it out, and mixing it in the right quantities. "Would you like me to write down the directions, or would you prefer to memorize them?"

"Write them d-down, please," Kouji replied. "Our u-uncle will need t-to see them too."

"All right," she said, then retrieved a paper, brush, and ink from a different shelf, wrote a few things down, blew on the ink and sprinkled a little sand so it would dry quickly, then folded the instructions and pinned them to the bag.

"Th-thank you, ma'am," Kouji said, turning to look at her again.

"You're welcome," she said, handing him the bag.

"H-how much…?"

She shook her head, then, whether to justify it to herself or because she felt he should know why he was getting free medicine, "You're about the age my son was when I lost him. And your brother's about how old he would be now."

"…o-oh." he said quietly, then bowed. "Thank y-you again."

"You're welcome," she said, bowing back and managing a faint smile.

Clutching the bag to his chest, Kouji bolted back to the apartment.

Iroh looked up when he came in. "Welcome back," he said, softly, wringing out the cloth again.

"I have the medicine," Kouji said, handing the bag to him and then putting the money back on the table.

Iroh unpinned the instructions, read them through quickly, then frowned, reading them again. "...Kouji, what did this woman look like, do you remember?"

Curious, the boy closed his eyes. "Well… she had golden eyes, like you and Lee… um…," After a moment, and some coaxing, Kouji managed to describe her to Iroh, finishing with, "And she seemed… familiar, somehow."

Iroh was silent for a very long minute. "Can I ask you not to mention her to Zuko?"

"I… guess?" he replied. "Why?"

"It's… complicated."

Kouji hated those two words put together. Translated, it meant "There are reasons, and you don't get to know them." Why would Iroh keep secrets now, after everything they'd all gone through? "Fine."

"Thank you," the old man said, relieved, then he set about making the medicine.

Kouji turned to look out the window. The sun was rising higher, and he would have school soon. Rubbing his eyes, he groaned slightly. After last night and this morning, the last thing he wanted was to go to school.

Iroh didn't seem likely to let him play hooky, though. "You should get some sleep when you get back from school. How late were you up last night?"

"Third hour after midnight," Kouji said softly.

Iroh sighed. "Go to bed when you get home from school."

Kouji flinched as he eyed the table and his undone homework. "Do I have to—"

Iroh shot him a Look.

The boy fled to his room to change.

When he got back from school, Iroh told him again to go take a nap. "I'll wake you up for dinner, or if anything changes. Whichever comes first."

The exhausted boy nodded and yawned. "How is he?"

"The fever's gone down a little. Not much."

Nodding, the boy stumbled to his room and collapsed onto his futon. He was asleep before his body hit. He was shaken awake several hours later. "Dinner," the old man murmured. Kouji nodded and wandered out, peeking into Zuko's room. The older boy was tossing and turning again, probably one of his usual nightmares made worse — or at least more disjointed — from the fever.

The earthbender turned away sadly and went to the table, wishing he could do more for his friend.

"He's doing better," Iroh assured him quietly. "His fever dropped again."

"That's good," Kouji said, his voice just as quiet.

"Can you watch him for a while?" the old man asked. He'd been up longer than Kouji, after all.

"Sure!" Kouji agreed quickly. He could bring his homework in with him and do it there. Anything to avoid another bawling-out from his teacher, who accepted no excuses.

"Thank you," Iroh said, then finished his dinner and went to his own room to sleep for a couple hours.

As soon as he was done, Kouji grabbed his school things and went straight into Zuko's room to watch over him. An hour or two later, Zuko jerked awake, sitting up with a half-strangled shout. The startled boy nearly tore the scroll he was reading in two. "Zuko!" he cried, forgetting himself. "Are you all right?"

Panting, the prince took a minute to reorient himself, before nodding. "Y-yeah."

Kouji reached out to check on Zuko's fever.

It was still there, but much, much lower, almost gone.

The boy sighed in relief, then spontaneously hugged the older boy.

"Kouji, what—"

"I was worried," Kouji whispered, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry..."

Kouji could feel his shoulders starting to shake and tried to control it. The last thing Zuko needed right now was a kid crying all over him. Silently, Zuko reached up and hugged him back.

"Everything will be all right now," Kouji whispered, fighting back relieved tears. "It'll all work out in the end…"

Zuko didn't answer, just hugged him a little tighter.

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