"Don't even start," Zuko said darkly, cutting his sister off before she could say anything. "You just have to accept it and move on. Yell all you want—it won't make a bit of difference. He's still going to drink his tea. It's easier to keep quiet."
"You've certainly suffered through your share of Uncle's eccentricities," Azula replied dryly.
"We spent over two years aboard the same ship..." the prince said simply, folding his arms.
"That many unnecessary problems?" the princess asked, arching an eyebrow.
"That much unnecessary junk in the wardroom..." Zuko said, looking away with a pained expression, clearly unwilling to revisit his uncle's unstoppable urge to browse every dockside market they came across.
"So what do we do?" Mai cut into the conversation.
"I don't know." Azula ground her teeth. "We're locked in here, remember? 'By order of the Fire Herald.'" The heir to the throne shot Suki an irritated look.
The commander of the Kyoshi Warriors remained in the room alongside the distinguished company while her subordinates stood watch outside the doors. Azula had no complaints about Chan's girlfriend. Quite the opposite—having competent guards she could genuinely trust (and Chan's people were certainly trustworthy... at least far more so than a great many others) struck the young firebender as a definite advantage. Even so, she couldn't resist showing her irritation at the situation, if only in this small way.
"He made the right call," Zuko said. "Though I'd give a lot to be up on the walls right now instead of sitting in the palace."
"So what's stopping you, Zu-Zu?" Azula's attention shifted to her brother, and with her nerves stretched taut, she was especially unbearable.
"The North taught me a couple of lessons," he replied. "I know when it's time to charge headfirst into danger and when it's time to stay put and obey orders. Besides, you don't seem too eager to rush to the barricades yourself, Sister."
"What can I say?" Azula shrugged theatrically. "Some people manage to learn that useful skill in childhood... No offense, Zu-Zu."
Oddly enough, her venomous smile, against all precedent, eased the tension in the room. Even Zuko didn't feel the urge to snap back.
"And here's the tea!" As though he'd been waiting for exactly that moment—or perhaps not merely as though—Iroh returned carrying a tray with a clay teapot and a set of cups.
"The Herald chose the most logical course of action," Mai said after watching the general begin his "spellwork" over the tea. Her voice remained as cool and detached as ever. "He left the civilians and the people under his protection somewhere relatively safe, then went to deal with the danger itself... Though considering the scale of that danger, it was a brave decision."
"Nah." Toph, who had sprawled across her chair with her feet tucked up on it, waved a hand dismissively through the air. "That's just Chan. It would've been way scarier for him to stay here with us and do nothing."
"And how would you know what would've frightened him more?" Azula asked, turning her attention to the girl.
"I'm blind, but I see everything through Earthbending," came the muffled reply from somewhere within the furniture. "And I can also tell what people are really feeling. The body doesn't lie. Heartbeat, breathing, muscle tension—I can sense all of it through the earth," young Beifong explained. "And..."
She fell silent.
"And?" prompted Suki, who had remained quiet until now.
She understood perfectly well what the princess and everyone else was feeling, which was precisely why she had tried to draw as little attention to herself as possible. Of course, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was worried about Chan too, just as she was every time he threw himself into something dangerous. But they had been through so much together that she'd grown accustomed to the feeling. From experience, she knew the others would get used to it as well. All they needed was time...
And for no one to start offering "helpful" advice.
That was exactly why Suki had kept silent.
Still, the subject Toph had raised couldn't help but pique her interest.
"When he heard there was an epidemic..." Toph said at last, her words falling like an axe, "...he got really scared."
She paused for a second before continuing.
"It's really hard to scare Chan. But when it does happen, you know it's serious. I argue with him all the time... well, you've seen that yourselves. But when he's like that, you can't argue with him. Even if you don't understand what's going on, you just can't."
The young earthbender hugged her knees to her chest.
"Because he isn't afraid for himself. Chan..." She lowered her head. "The only thing that can scare him... is something happening to the people he cares about… Us."
"Like any real man," Iroh spoke up unexpectedly, refusing to let silence settle over the table. "Many people mistakenly believe that a boy becomes a man only after..." The elderly firebender faltered, belatedly realizing that most of those present were young women. "Well... I'm sure you've heard that one before," he amended, drawing an involuntary blush from several of his listeners.
"But that's completely wrong!" Without missing a beat, he raised a hand in a lecturing gesture. "A boy becomes a man only when he finds something worth protecting with his life. Chan has that. And it isn't his weakness—it's the source of his strength. As long as a man has someone whose safety can frighten him more than death itself, someone he'll throw himself into the very heart of danger for without a second thought, he cannot be defeated."
He looked around the table.
"Don't dwell on the danger. Simply have faith in him. And drink your tea before it gets cold. I don't think it's wise to drink anything but something piping hot right now, and reheated tea is never quite the same."
Without changing his serious tone in the slightest, the general concluded his little lecture in his own peculiar manner and set the example by taking the first sip from his cup.
(End of Chapter)
🙌Bonus chapter for 400 power stones!
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