Chapter 2 The Solution

“You can’t possibly be serious about this!” Mai’s, usually indifferent, voice echoed loudly through the palace’s dining room. “After all she’s done, I’d say she’s right where she belongs.”

“Maybe she is”, Zuko angrily replied, “but no one deserves to go through what she’s going through.”

“Maybe not”, Mai’s voice softened, “but she had it coming, Zuko. She lost her mind and there’s no way of retrieving it now.”

“There has to be! I won’t give up on her, I can’t!”

“Why would you go through all this trouble to help her, she never even cared for you.”

“Yes she did … once.”

“Well she had a funny way of showing it.”

“I guess it runs in the family”, Zuko whispered.

“Zuko, the Fire Nation needs you. You can’t waste your energy on a lost cause.”

“I’m not just Fire Lord for the free people, Mai. My responsibility lies with every Fire Nation citizen, including the prisoners.”

“Even the ones that would have caused our nation’s demise.”

“You don’t understand, Mai, she lost everything. And to make it even worse, she lost it all to me. I have to help her, I can’t not try.” Zuko walked towards the window. He sighed as he watched the twinkling stars. “Then again”, he continued, “How could you understand? You don’t know the situation, you never have. Your only brother isn’t even old enough to talk.”

Mai approached and put her arms around the Fire Lord to comfort him. She didn’t speak. She knew he was right. She didn’t understand the situation and words would only get in the way now.

The two of them just stood there, quietly, watching the stars for a couple of minutes until Zuko stood up again. “But I know someone who would”, he said as he left the dining room and headed for his study. The room was messy, a perfect reflection of his mind at the moment. Zuko pushed off the scrolls that were lying on the desk and stretched a sheet of paper in front of him. He dipped his pencil in the black ink and started writing.

Dear Katara,

I urgently need your help on an important issue. Could you pay me a visit if possible, please?

Zuko.

Once the ink had dried, he rolled up the piece of paper and went to the royal birdcage. He petted his fastest messenger hawk as he put the message in the tube on its back. In return for a small piece of meat the hawk took off on a quest to deliver its message.

A couple of days had passed when a young Water Tribe girls arrived at the Fire Nation’s royal palace. She didn’t have to think twice when she received the Fire Lords plea for help. The two of them had a special relationship, beyond friendship and beyond romance. He saved her life twice, though she wasn’t particularly grateful the first time, and she knew he would have no doubts helping her if she had a problem. Nevertheless, she wondered what his problem was, it sounded serious, yet he managed to keep her in vain with his letter. But it didn’t matter now, she would find out soon enough. She knocked on the big door in front of her. A maid opened it a few seconds later. “Good morning, miss Katara”, she greeted her.

“Err … hi”, Katara awkwardly replied, “I’ve been summoned.”

“Come in”, the servant girl said sweetly, “I’ll inform Fire Lord Zuko of your arrival.” Katara entered the big palace as the maid headed towards the throne room. She knocked and entered. “Your lordship, miss Katara has just arrived to see you.”

Zuko stood up from his throne and went down the stairs. “Thank you, Lin”, he said as he passed her, “We’ll be in the garden. Make sure no one disturbs us, will you.”

“Yes, sir”, Lin replied. Zuko smiled at the young maid in gratitude as he left the throne room.

An intense hug united the two friends as they met again in the hallway. “Hey Katara”, Zuko greeted her, “You look great. How have you been?”

“Well”, she replied, “things have been quiet, so I guess that’s alright and you look half decent yourself. … So what’s your problem?”

“Azula.”

“She hasn’t escaped, has she?”

“No, don’t worry, I would have summoned the entire group if she had. It’s more of a … personal problem and I think you’re the only one who would understand. Maybe it’s best if we discuss this somewhere else.” The Fire Lord motioned her to follow him as he headed for the palace garden. He sat down on a bench next to a small pool, in which a mother turtle duck and her ducklings were joyfully swimming back and forth.

Katara sat down on the other side of the bench. “They’re so adorable”, she remarked as she noticed the carefree water birds.

“I know”, Zuko replied, “My mother and I used to sit here all the time and feed them. The good old times. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, or maybe in a way it is.”

“Oh, you’re right, you wanted to talk about Azula. I’m not sure if I can help you though, it’s not like I know her all that well.”

“You saw what happened to her and you have a brother. I think that probably makes you the most qualified person I can talk to.”

“Go on.” Katara still didn’t know where Zuko was going, but she had a feeling she would soon.

“Well, I visited Azula a couple of days back. And it probably won’t surprise you that she’s doing pretty bad.” Katara just nodded. “It really hurt me to see her like that”, Zuko continued.

“I guess she did get more than even she deserved.”

“Exactly, and I want my old sister back.”

“What!?” Katara’s eyes were wide open in shock.

“I just want to see her happy again, Katara. And you said it yourself: not even she deserves this. Wouldn’t you do the same thing for Sokka if he were in her place?”

“I guess I would try to help him, but Sokka’s not a homicidal monster like Azula.”

“She’s still my sister.”

“Yeah, but a lousy one at that. I mean, when was the last time she showed concern or care for you? Ten years ago?”

“Actually, she showed genuine concern for me in the short period that I was back home, before I finally decided to join your group. … More than I ever showed her.” These last words were pronounced with genuine regret in his voice. Azula did show concern over him on several occasions and the only thing he ever returned was suspicion. It made him wonder who really was the monster in his family.

Katara seemed to be persuaded. It never came up to her that Azula might have had a human side. But how could she not, after all Azula was only a fourteen year old girl, and yet she had managed to hide that side from all persons, except the one closest to her. “I … I’m sorry”, Katara broke the awkward silence, “I’ll help you help her, but you’ll have to face the fact that you might very well be her problem. … And I really doubt she wants to see me.”

“I know … and I realize that I might actually be the problem, but I have to at least try.”

“Agreed. Maybe it’s best if you think back to the time she actually trusted you. Did she ever say to you that she regretted something or that something hurt her? Knowing her, she probably didn’t, but try anyway.”

“Actually there was something on her mind. Of course she tried to cover it up as if it were nothing, this is Azula we’re talking about, but she sounded genuinely hurt when she told us.”

“What was it?”

“She thought mother didn’t love her. She was wrong of course, I knew she was wrong, but I didn’t say anything. I guess I didn’t want to break the armour she wore so proudly by pitying her.”

“That’s quite something, Zuko. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still is the main thing on her mind.”

“You’re probably right. But in that case I guess there’s only one person that can actually help her.”

“I think so. Have you located your mother yet?”

“Father said she was somewhere in the southern Earth Kingdom, but he didn’t know where exactly either. I guess that’s why he told me so easily. I haven’t really had the time to look further into it, even though there’s nothing I want more than to see her back. But ruling a country doesn’t really give me any spare time.”

“Well, now you have an other reason to prioritise.”

“I guess the Order of the White Lotus might be able to help me find her. They’re quite resourceful.”

“There you go. I guess that’s settled then. So how’s Toph? Enjoying her holiday?”

“I guess. She’s roaming the streets more often than she’s with us.”

“Well, she is quite fond of her freedom.”

“She is. And she’s still determined to go on a field trip with me, so I promised her she could be my bodyguard on one of my diplomatic missions to the Earth Kingdom next week. I’m visiting some old friends and people that I treated unjustly during my time as a refugee. I told her it’d probably be boring, but she insisted.”

“She’ll love it. And there’s no way you can get a better bodyguard than her. Maybe you can find your mother on the same trip, sure would spare you some effort.”

“I guess, though I doubt there would be time for it, unless of course it happens to be on the route. … Who am I fooling? I’m the Fire Lord, I can make time for it or at least find another way.”

“It’s your call. … Anything else you want to talk to me about? Now that I’m here, you might as well take advantage of the situation.”

Zuko shook his head. “Nothing I can think of for the moment.”

“Well then, it’s been a pleasure seeing you again, Zuko.”

“Same here, thank you, Katara.”

“That’s what friends are for, Zuko.”