After the war

Plot

"And this will kill him?"

Hahn stood stock still for a second in shock as he heard the questionable sentence. He got closer to the door where the voice had come from and tried to discern who was talking The speaker must have been wearing something over their mouth as Hahn couldn't distinguish the voice.

"If the wound doesn't kill him, the poison will take care of it" again Hahn couldn't discern the voice. He kept listening in hopes that he could discern the voices or at least work out who's life was in danger.

"And the poison goes on the knife, yes?"

"Yes. The Firelord will be dead by morning"

"Good"

"When do you plan to carry this out?"

"The time has to be just right, the water tribe boy must be diverted for me to have the best chance of succession, and I have to work out how to bypass the guards"

Hahn wasted no time in reeling away from the door and running back to the dining room. When he got there the evening tea session had passed and Zuko wasn't there. His next port of call was to run to the Firelord's bedroom.

He reached the door and knocked frantically. The door swung open to reveal a very disgruntled looking Sokka.

"Who is it?" Zuko's voice came from inside the room.

"It's Hahn, my love"

"I- I heard- plot- kill- Firelord!" Hahn's sentences refused to come out of his mouth properly and he made a mental note to tell his brain off later.

"You're not making any sense Hahn" the northerner didn't know why Sokka sounded so impatient, or why a shirtless and dishevelled looking Zuko opened the door to its full extent. The two men looked very annoyed and for a minute Hahn wondered if they had been fighting.

"Zuko, I overheard someone talking about knives and poison"

The Firelord's annoyed grimace turned into a confused expression.

"What exactly did you hear?"

Hahn explained everything he'd heard and Zuko assured him he would increase palace security tenfold.

"Hahn? Are you listening?" Hahn's head snapped up to look at the Firelord. He realised he'd been distracted thinking about the assassination plot he'd overheard a few weeks ago.

"My apologies, Firelord Zuko, could you please repeat the question?"

"We were talking about what to replace the statue of Ozai in the city centre with" Zuko gently explained.

A few hours later they had decided that a statue of Zuko in common clothing, holding an ignited hand out in front of him, as if leading the Fire Nation from darkness and shame, into light and honour.

All the other council members filtered out of the throne room and it was just Zuko, Sokka and Hahn left.

"You seemed distracted through that entire meeting" Zuko looked at Hahn as he extinguished the flames from the throne with a nod of his head.

"I can't get that... memory out of my head, someone is plotting to kill you, Zuko!"

"And we have plenty of guards and security measures put in place, if something was going to kill me, I'd be dead by now" Zuko put a reassuring hand on the northerner's shoulder.

"But"

"Hahn! You're overreacting to an idle threat, trust me, Zuko is perfectly safe, afterall, he's got me and I promised to protect him from anything that would hurt him" Sokka smiled before planting a kiss on Zuko's cheek.