After the war

All men must die Pt. 1 - Walls and Secrets

"You know Zuzu, I've been thinking" earlier Azula had walked into the throne room after a particularly aggressive shouting match from a pair of feuding Lords, and had suggested Zuko take a break. And that was how the siblings had come to laying on the throne room floor. Zuko dragged his attention away from the throne room ceiling to turn towards his sister.

"You can think?" Zuko laughed as Azula swatted at him. "Come on, you deserved that, now pass me the fire gummies" Azula gave Zuko a dry smile and tossed the packet to him, smirking when it hit the side of his head.

"It's about the assassination" Azula fixed her eyes on the ceiling of the throne room, staring at the golden dragons and sun designs carved into the stone. "I think there may have been someone else involved" Azula had never seen Zuko's head turn so fast.

"Explain" Zuko narrowed his eyes at his sister.

"I met Fong, albeit quite briefly, but I did meet him... he just didn't seem smart enough to pull this off on his own" Azula sat up and crossed her legs. "How did he get in?"

"No one knows" Zuko sighed, holding a fire gummy above his head and dropping it into his mouth.

"See! It's been seven years and it's still a total enigma on how he got in" Zuko sat up and faced his sister. "He just seemed way too brash and impulsive to pull off such an elegant mystery" Azula chucked a fire gummy into the air and caught it in her mouth; Zuko marvelled that they could have such a serious conversation while catching sweets in their mouths.

"I do wish I knew how he got in" Zuko sighed. "I tried to put it to the back of my mind, because I knew if I let it bother me it would drive me up the wall"

"I may be able to help you there, Your Majesty" Zuko and Azula both turned to see Admiral Vise stood in the doorway to the throne room. The siblings looked at each other, and then asked Vise to elaborate. He motioned for them to follow him and they let him lead them to where he wanted them to go.

"If you'll remember, Your Majesty, when that officer from the Beifong prison came to deliver you a note from Lady Beifong?" Zuko nodded. "Given Princess Azula's suspicions, and looking at Miss Suki's handwriting, I suspect it wasn't from Lady Beifong"

"I would be inclined to suspect the same, Admiral" Azula piped up, falling in step with Zuko and Vise, walking three side by side down the long corridor to the Setting Sun Library.

"I believe I may have had a hand in it, though not through my own volition, Your Majesty" Zuko didn't know anyone worse at reading facial expressions than him, but Admiral Vise looked the picture of guilt and regret.

"I'm going to need a little more explanation than that, Admiral" Zuko said as he watched Vise stride along the length of the room to a bookcase.

"When the officer came here, you were at the play with Prince Sokka" Vise explained as his hand felt wildly around the edge of the bookcase. "I received him when he arrived, and told him you were unavailable so I led him here to wait for you to return" Zuko remembered back to the morning after his nineteenth birthday, when he'd had a visit from Officer Xhian. A guard working in Toph's prison.

"So, how did you have a hand in the assassination plot, Vise?" Zuko's voice had taken on that dangerous edge it held when dealing with the likes of Jet and impudent advisors.

"It was an accident, Your Majesty" Vise's hand stopped grappling around the bookcase, and he pulled a book away to reveal a handle. "I knocked this book off the bookcase, and discovered this" he gestured to the handle. "Xhian helped me open it and we found something on the other side that you definitely won't like" Zuko and Azula walked over to the bookcase and the three of them attempted to pull it aside. While Azula and Vise strained to pull the bookcase, Zuko managed to squeeze himself in where the great shelf had come away from the wall slightly. He braced one foot against the wall, and pressed his back to the bookcase. He pushed with all his might while Azula and Vise pulled but the thing wouldn't budge.