The Warrior's Gambit (Zutara)

XLIII

"Maybe he was held-up," Mai said curtly, "Or he offered to wait."

"It didn't seem like the sort of situation where there was much choice, though," Suki mused. Whether it was a deep distrust or just meandering thoughts, Katara didn't like it. Lu Ten was like an older brother to her.

"If you think Lu Ten had something to do with that-" Katara began, angrily, furiously.

"I'm just saying! He told us to flee, to disobey a direct order from Ozai," Suki said, crossing her arms.

"To keep us alive?" Cilla pointed out, "Oh, how dare he."

"You guys! I know we all like him. He's perfect, right? Sometimes a bit too perfect-" Ratana agreed, but Zhi came down on all of them, Zuko and Azula following her in with the remaining items from the carriages.

"This is not the place for such discussions, my ladies. I think none of us want to recount that horrible, horrible night. Let's talk about happy things, shall we?" she said in a strained voice, and though it was offered as lightly as it could, it was not a suggestion.

But there were no happy things anyone wanted to talk about, so the girls opted for a heavy silence.

They walked in a single-file line silently back to their rooms, through the palace, as though on a parade for everyone who saw them. They were exhausted, mentally and emotionally, and wondering what the point had even been? Katara sincerely doubted their rag-tag presence had scared off the Equalists nearly two days ago.

Lu Ten joined them near the entrance to the south wings, mopping off his face with a towel and clearly having just gotten done with some boring meeting, and Katara couldn't help but see Suki appraise him with skepticism. While Katara wasn't sure what everyone else's thoughts were clouded with, Katara was torn between fury at Suki for daring to suggest what she had about Lu Ten but also swirling with confusion about the entire situation as it was. Yes, something was weird, she agreed with Suki to that point.

"And the victors return home..."

Katara spun to see Ozai leaning in the doorway of one of the palace rooms, his head tilted and a smile on his lips. If he was disappointed to see everyone alive, Katara couldn't tell. Lu Ten narrowed his eyes and took a step in front of the pack.

"Fire Lord," he gritted out, "They're all quite tired. If you can allow us on, please?"

"Of course, I mean not to interfere," Ozai said, blinking innocently. "But Zuko, with me." His voice was clipped.

Katara stopped entirely. She watched how Zuko paused, just for a second, in an unavoidable subconscious reactionary moment. For that brief moment, he had panic in his eyes. It was gone so quick that few would notice, but Katara did. And something else that did not escape her gaze was how a healer was two steps behind Ozai, and how, actually, there seemed to be a healer in the vicinity of Ozai quite often.

"Father, I'm tired," Zuko said, turning away, "and I'm covered in mud. Can I at least take a bath?"

"You will listen to your father, Zuko," Ozai said with a frown. "And respect me when I'm talking to you."

"Respect?" The fury bubbled inside of Katara. "Respect?" she squawked. All the girls down the hall stopped, turning to watch. Zuko realized immediately where her anger flowed from and grabbed her elbow, trying to pull her away.

"It's not worth this, Katara," he sighed, "Go and clean up."

"No, let her speak. Do you have something to say to me, Princess?" Ozai demanded. If Katara were smarter, she would have apologized and turned as Zuko asked, but Katara was exhausted. She had been sent to war and been trapped. Her arms were aching. Her heart was breaking for Zuko. Lu Ten's gift to Zuko had been irreplaceable, but someone else deserved to throw themselves into the ring for him.