Zuko's Redemption

Part Two

Zuko blinked open his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the pain. A deep ache below his ribs that burned horrifically. The second was how dry his throat was. The third was the sleeping girl resting her head on his lap.
It was the girl from the alley. Her pale skin was dotted with freckles and her auburn hair spilled across his legs. Her eyelids twitched as though she were having a nightmare.
"Where am I?" Zuko croaked through his impossibly dry throat.
The girl didn't wake slowly: she jerked backward, falling off the stool she had been sitting on,
"Sorry," Zuko cringed. "I didn't mean to—"
"Stop!" The girl leapt back to her feet and grabbed a sword from its perch against a dresser.
To Zuko's dismay, it wasn't his sword, but the same dented thing she had carried with her in the alley.
"If you try anything..." she didn't need to finish. Despite the roughness of the handle and sheath, the blade looked incredibly well taken care of and sharp.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Zuko groaned. He wasn't sure he could even if he wanted too. The longer he was awake, the worse the pain grew.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the pillows. He was no closer to finding his uncle and now he was badly injured. What a waste of time.
The sound of a sword sheathing and pouring liquid brought Zuko's attention back to the present.
"Drink this," the girl said harshly.
Zuko opened his eyes to see a cup of what looked like tea held in front of him.
With a grimace, Zuko tried to sit up to accept the drink.
"No! Don't sit up!" The girl said. A hand pushed gently against his shoulder. It was pathetic how little pressure she had to apply to have him falling backward.
"Here, just let me."
The girl slid her hand behind Zuko's neck. He tensed at the contact, but she just as gently lifted his head and brought the cup to his lips. Zuko hated how helpless her aid made him feel, but even he knew he was in no position to argue.
The liquid was tea, but it had a very distinct medicinal bitterness.
The drink just made Zuko worry about his uncle more. He knew Iroh could handle himself, but the old man could probably use a hand in whatever predicament he found himself in this time.
"Thank you," Zuko said. The girl's glare was intense despite her gentle treatment.
"You're Prince Zuko," she said flatly.
Zuko swallowed painfully. So that was it. The girl had saved his life so she could collect the bounty on him.
"Yes."
"What are you doing in the city?"
"Hiding."
His answer seemed to surprise her. Her voice was slightly less harsh as she continued.
"From what?"
"You don't know?" he asked.
"Know what?"
Zuko eyed the girl suspiciously. If she didn't know about the bounty, why had she saved him?
"What's your name?" he asked her.
Her brow furrowed, clearly not oblivious to the dodged question
"Lei."
"Why did you save me, Lei?" Zuko asked.
Lei ground her teeth and crossed her arms.
"You were injured. I'm a doctor. It's my duty to save people."
Zuko looked Lei up and down. She couldn't have been more than a year older than himself. And she was claiming to be a doctor?
He glanced at the bandages wrapped around his abdomen. They did look rather professional. The opposite wall to the bed he lay on held an enormous case filled with scrolls. A desk near the head of the bed was covered with vials and glass jars. A bowl with crushed yellow herbs sat in the center next to a kettle of tea.
"Thank you for everything," Zuko said. He didn't remember much after she told him not to take the rock from his chest. He remembered pain and being dragged up a set of stairs and those intense blue eyes glaring down at his wound with determination.
"But I can't stay."
Lei gave a short bark of a laugh.
"I know you can't exactly see yourself, but you are in no position to move let alone travel."
"I'll be fine," Zuko said through gritted teeth as he attempted to sit up.
"No, you won't." Lei said, crossing the room and easily pushing him back down against the pillows. "Those stitches are the only things keeping your insides inside, and if you want them to stay that way, you won't move until those stitches heal completely."
"I can't just sit here while my uncle is in danger!" Zuko hissed as Lei kept a steadying hand against his shoulder.
"You're no use to your uncle dead," Lei argued.
"I'll be fine," Zuko growled.
"No you won't!" Lei snapped. She grabbed both of Zuko's shoulders and forced him down harshly. Zuko gasped at the spark of pain that raced upward from his wound.
"I'm sorry," she said, suddenly gentle again. "But if you leave now before you've had time to heal, you will die. Either the Dai Lee will find you and you'll be unable to fight, or you'll rip out your stitches and bleed to death in a ditch."
"Why do you care?" Zuko said with as much heat as he could muster around the pain in his abdomen.
Lei sighed and eased up her grip. Her hands still hovered on Zuko's shoulders, but their power was gone.
"You saved my life. I know it was probably just because I happened to be there, but you still saved me. And even though you're... what you are, I couldn't just let you die when I knew I could save you. And I can still save you if you just work with me."
Zuko stared back at her in shock. Her eyes were desperate, almost pleading. Even in his weakened state, if he wanted to hurt her and escape he probably could, but looking into her face, he knew he wouldn't. What she did, what she was still trying to do, was incredibly brave. Zuko respected that.
"Please don't make me tie you to the bed," she said with a breath of a laugh. Her lips turned upward for a moment.
"Fine," Zuko said. He deflated into the mattress. Releasing the tension in his body eased the pain a bit, but not much.
Lei smiled tentatively again and released his shoulders. She reached over and snagged a small vial from the desk filled with milky-white liquid.
"Have a mouthful of this," she said cupping the back of his neck once more. A shiver of goosebumps erupted at her touch upon such a vulnerable spot, but he did as she said.
The liquid was strangely sweet and left a delicate tingling sensation in his throat.
"This should help with the pain." Lei explained as she replaced the vial and stood from the bed.
The front of her tunic was stained brown with dried blood. She looked down at herself and tutted in distaste. In one quick movement, Lei turned her back to the bed and drew the tunic over her head.
Zuko's eyes widened for a moment before he turned his gaze away from the half-naked woman.
"What are you doing?" he grunted. He could feel his face burning up.
"Changing," Lei said nonchalantly.
"Why here?" he asked. Lei walked across the room and Zuko had to shift his gaze again so he wouldn't focus on her.
"This is my bedroom," she retorted. "I couldn't very well set you up on the apothecary floor where other people can see you, or where you could possibly go on a murder spree."
She glanced back at Zuko and he quickly averted his gaze again.
"I'm not going to hurt anyone."
"Right. Like you didn't hurt that Dai Lee patrol."
Zuko blinked in surprise. Her tone was nonchalant, but there was rigidity to her shoulders. She was teasing him to mask how much she was probably still afraid of him.
"Fair enough."
In his peripheral vision, he could see her digging in a drawer. She had already donned some kind of half covering over her breasts and a pair of underthings.
At least she wasn't completely topless anymore.
The freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks continued down her arms. Her frame was surprisingly muscular beneath her poor-fitted clothing. No wonder she had been able to restrain him last night, even if only for a moment. Perhaps she really could use that sword of hers. She definitely had the build for it.
Zuko realized he was staring and tore his eyes away from her bare back.
"Lei!" A shout suddenly called from outside. "Lei! I found that stuff you asked—"
The door to the room burst open and a boy of similar age to Zuko dressed in earth kingdom uniforms appeared in the frame.
His mouth dropped open when he took in the scene.
Even Zuko had to admit it didn't look good. Lei was still mostly naked and a strange man was laying on her bed with a bare chest.
"Gene!" Lei shrieked. "Get out!"
"What the hell, Lei!?" The boy exclaimed. "Who is he?" He pointed an accusatory finger in Zuko's direction.
"He's a patient, Gene." Lei huffed, throwing a new tunic over her head. Her legs were still mostly bare, but the shirt was long enough to conserve her modesty.
"A patient in your bed?" he said disbelievingly.
"Gene I know how this looks but—"
"Whatever!" Gene cut her off harshly. "You're free to sleep around with whoever you want."
"That's not—"
"Here are those herbs you asked for," he spat tossing a sack into the room. Without further amble, Gene slammed the door to the room. His heavy footsteps could be heard retreating down a hall.
"He's your boyfriend?" Zuko asked.
Lei growled as she pulled on her trousers.
"Don't move," she ordered.
He waited until he couldn't hear her footfalls before pulling himself up to sitting. The pain was much more tolerable now thanks to whatever that white liquid was. His stomach still twinged as he swung his legs out from under the blanket.
He needed to get out of here. Lei could have been feigning ignorance of the bounty. Also, it was quite clear that this was by no means a secret or safe place for him to stay.
Zuko stood and immediately fell back down on the bed. His head swam and the pain in his chest increased to a sharp stinging burn. Zuko placed a hand over the wound and breathed for a moment, waiting for the dizziness and nausea to pass.
The pain still stabbed against his skin at full force, but Zuko could feel Lei's imminent return like a weight against his neck. Goosebumps erupted across his skin at the ghost memory of her hand against his nape.
He couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him so gently. Except maybe his uncle. All the more reason to get moving.
Zuko pushed to his feet and swallowed the immediate nausea. He stumbled across the room and scooped up the discarded bag from the floor. Bending down caused another flare of sharp pain to rip through his abdomen. Gritting his teeth against the sensation, he shook the strange plants out of the sack.
Zuko was only halfway to the desk which held the pain relief milk and the extra bandages when he heard footsteps stomping up the stairs.
Zuko groaned and scooped as much as he could off the desk into the sack. Lifting the small bag took way too much effort. Zuko's vision was blurring and his breathing had turned funny as he stumbled toward the window. He threw open the shutters just as the door to the room slid open behind him.
"What are you doing!" Lei screamed.
Without turning, Zuko tried to heave himself up onto the windowsill.
"No! Stop it! You idiot that's going to break the stitches!"
Zuko tried to ignore her, but his brain felt like a spinning top. He couldn't even try to resist as strong hands gripped him and hauled him away from the window.
The sack he carried slipped from his fingers as he was dragged back to the bed.
"Stop moving," Lei commanded as she forced him back against the mattress.
"I can't. I—"
"I will tie you down if you don't hold still," Lei threatened.
Something in her voice made Zuko know she meant it.
With a hiss, he relented and let himself sink downward. It wasn't easy to relinquish control. The pain definitely helped.
Lei let go and went to quickly gather supplies from the sack discarded on the floor.
Zuko leaned his head back and moaned against the sharp pain stabbing into his stomach.
"Alright, let's see how bad it is."
Zuko opened his eyes to watch as Lei's practiced, steady hands pulled the bandaging away from his stomach. Blood had seeped through the pristine white.
"You ripped through all the stitches. How the hell were you even standing?" she muttered to herself.
"My uncle says I'm stubborn," Zuko replied weakly.
Lei glanced at his face with a raised eyebrow.
"I think your uncle is right."
Without further delay, Lei began cleaning the wound and removing the remnants of the ruined stitches. Zuko flinched but did his best to hold still.
"This is going to hurt a bit," Lei said as she held a needle over the flame of a candle on the desk. "I can't risk giving you more poppy milk, so you're going to have to bear it."
Zuko swallowed and nodded. He wasn't unfamiliar with stitches, though he had to admit that he hadn't had any through a wound this severe.
The first push of the needle through the irritated skin hurt much worse than he was expecting. He tensed against the pain and a small whine escaped his throat in spite of his best efforts to reign it in.
"I know it hurts, but you have to bear with me," Lei said soothingly, not halting in her sewing even remotely.
Zuko cried out and instinctively flinched away on a particularly painful stab.
"You have to hold still!" Lei huffed, placing a bloody hand against his shoulder.
After he had calmed down a fraction, she went straight back to work.
Zuko's entire body recoiled as another painful jab sent burning tingles all throughout him.
"This was so much easier when you were unconscious," Lei growled.
"I'm sorry, I—" Zuko cut himself off with another cry and yet another painful jerk away.
Lei ground her teeth together and glared at Zuko for a moment before swinging herself up onto the bed. She placed her thighs on either side of Zuko's hips and sat down, effectively immobilizing him.
Zuko went still with shock. His face was heating up again, but Lei seemed oblivious to the effect her new position was having on the man beneath her.
She was straddling his lap.
Zuko scrunched his eyes shut as she delved back in with the needle. If he focused on the pain, he wouldn't have to think of their compromising position. As strange as their proximity was, it did succeed in tampering his involuntary movements. In only a few short moments, Lei had finished sewing up the wound. She didn't move from her position, but simply leaned across Zuko to reach the bandages and herb poultice on her desk.
Zuko closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing even as she applied the medicine with her fingers and began wrapping bandages around his middle. Her weight never left his lap, only shifted every once in a while as she performed her work.
"There!" she finally proclaimed. Zuko opened his eyes to see her peering down at him from her perch with a smile and a glimmer of pride in her eyes. "Now I hope it goes without saying that you won't try something as stupid as that again."
"Understood," Zuko grunted. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He never would have been able to climb down from the window in that state, let alone walk all the way out of Ba Sing Se and defend himself.
"Thank you," he said.
Something in her gaze softened.
"You're welcome."
She swung herself off of Zuko's lap and began to go about the room, collecting supplies.
"You should be safe here," she said without looking at him. "No one comes up here, except for Gene. He was mad at me, but I don't think he knows who you are. Plus I doubt he's going to go around advertising the fact that I'm keeping a strange man in my room."
"He's your boyfriend," Zuko said.
"No he's not," Lei replied as she gathered vials from their fallen positions on the floor.
"Does he know that?" Zuko asked.
Lei met his gaze. She didn't appear amused.
"He's a good friend."
"Like that Pao guy?"
Lei's frown deepened.
"You heard that?"
"He was disgusting," Zuko remarked.
Lei blinked at him in surprise.
"You're the first person to say that. Everyone else says that his offer is incredibly generous and valiant and I should be thankful to have captured the attention of someone of his caliber." Lei grimaced and wrinkled her nose.
"No you shouldn't," Zuko responded. "He was a creep. He got what he deserved."
Lei grew still.
"You killed him."
"He would have killed us."
Lei slammed some vials back into place with more force than was necessary.
"Yes. He would have," she said with a cold anger.
Zuko wasn't sure who it was directed at.
A bell rang from downstairs.
Lei took a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh.
"Someone needs my help." She stood and gathered a few supplies.
Just as she reached the door, she turned back to stare Zuko down with that all-too familiar glare.
"I don't have to tie you to the bed do I?"
Zuko felt the corner of his mouth twitch upward in spite of himself.
"No. Consider my lesson learned."
With a small smile of her own, Lei shut the door behind her.
Zuko sighed and closed his eyes. The sooner this wound healed, the sooner he could continue searching for his uncle.