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Ｔｈｅ ｇｕａｒｄ of Daiyin searched the whole night for the princess with the airnomads and Tenzin, but to no avail. Korra wanted to go with them on their next round, but Tenzin forbid her. The man said that she should stay on the island and rest after the exhausting night at the secret factory of Hiroshi Sato.
Fire Lord Zuko arrived on a fast ship anonymously, approximately an hour before Korra's friends came. The ship left after dropping their lord off so he wouldn't grab unwanted attention. He bowed before the Avatar and the councilman, but his usual gentle smile had disappeared and turned into a worried frown. "Is there any news?" The two sadly shake their heads, causing the man to sigh. "I worry about her. She is strong, yes, but even tied up she has her limits."
"We will find her, Lord Zuko. I promise," Korra promises, just wishing that her promise would come true. The Fire Lord was led to one of the guest rooms in the main building to keep him separate from the Avatar's friends. She welcomes them with the airbender kids and leads them to their respective buildings.
When everyone was settled, it was time for lunch. They eat together before Tenzin and Korra would head out to Chief Saikon's installment, but then one of the air acolytes rushes in. He was completely breathless. "Master Tenzin, we found her!"
Chaos errupts. Everyone asks questions over each other. Tenzin's voice sounds above them all when he tells the acolyte to follow him to a different room. Only Pema and the Avatar were allowed to follow, which caused the other teens to sit around the table grumpily in wait of news about the missing girl. Though she was rather harsh, rude and surprisingly cold for a firebender, they still miss her constant presence.
Pema, Korra and the airnomad follow Tenzin to the guest room. "Lord Zuko, there is news. May we come in?" They hear the elderly man reply. "Come in." The group finds Zuko sitting on his bed, a picture in his hand. Korra notices that it was a family portrait. Everyone was on there: Daiyin and her parents, Iroh and his parents, Mai and, of course, Zuko himself.
"What happened? Did you find her?" The acolyte nods quickly. "She is with the others of my search party now. They will bring her here on your command, Master Tenzin." He looks with expecting eyes at the airbender. "How is she," Zuko questions. The acolyte was hesitant to tell the truth, but after an encouraging nod from Tenzin and Pema he starts talking.
"Technically we didn't find her. She found us. We were just patrolling the streets when she appeared around a corner and stumbled our way. We caught her before she fell on the ground, completely exhausted and unconscious. She.. she seems bad, Lord Zuko." They all share worried glances with each other. Tenzin orders the acolyte to bring Daiyin and place her in her room. Unfortunately they had to go to Saikon's installment, so they couldn't see Daiyin returning home.
Two nomads lift her from under her arm pits and her knees as they carry her inside. Bolin, Mako and Asami try to enter her bedroom but one of the nomads denies them entrance. "No one is allowed into the room without explicit permission of Master Tenzin." The three of them groan, but leave eventually. What they didn't know was that inside Daiyin's room, Zuko was helping to tuck his granddaughter in her bed.
He strokes a lock of her black hair out of her face. "I'll be by your side when you wake up. I promise," he whispers into her ear. Zuko gives her a kiss on her forehead like he did when she was younger. A few hours later Daiyin awakes and the first thing she sees were the fiery amber eyes of her grandfather. "Grandpa.. Zuzu?" The man chuckles deeply, his whole chest rumbling. He was so glad to see that she was okay.
"It's been years since you last called me that." Daiyin tries to sit up in her bed, but her arms give out underneath her. She groans when her back hits the mattrass. "I remember.. the airnomads.. How long has it been?" "Only a few hours. What happened?" The princess goes pale and swallows. The horrendous memories flow back into her mind and she cringes. Zuko closes her hands in his and stares into her eyes. "You can tell me anything. What happened to you?"
With a shaky voice Daiyin tries to explain. "T-they took me. Those men placed me in a platinum box. No windows.. always dark, unless someone came in. I heard screams. Screams of agony. I-I think Amon took the bending of some of his enemies," she tries to swallow, but it seemed like it was stuck into her throat. "A group of Equalists entered my cell. I-I thought it was my turn to be Equalized. I don't know what happened but.. I did it, grandfather. I killed them," she gasps. Tears start to escape her eyes as she sobs.
The princess ducks her head into her grandfather's robes. A memory of so long ago enters Zuko's mind. A young princess, clinging onto his waist as she tells them of the attack. How she, an eight year old, had killed her attackers by doing the exact same thing. Boiling their blood, elektrocuting them with her lightening. The Fire Lord puts his hand on the back of her head and pulls her closer.
"I ran, grandfather. I found my way out, but all that power.. It drained all of my energy. I simply couldn't go any longer. When I saw those acolytes, I ran to them and finally closed my eyes." The elderly man nods and kisses the side of her head. "None of this is your fault, darling. You did what you needed to do to protect yourself." The dark haired girl shakes her head. "Then why do I feel so bad? I killed people, grandpa. Despite what I tell myself, I'm no better than.. than Azula. O-Or Ozai-"
Zuko stiffens. He takes her head between his hands so he can look her in the eye. "You are nothing like them. They tortured and slaughtered people because of their unquenchable lust for power and their misleading ideals. Don't ever compare yourself to them. You may look like them, you may have great talent like them, but you will never be them." Daiyin nods. She then buries her head into his chest once more and hugs him. "Thank you, grandfather."
"Ahum-"
Both of them look up to see Tenzin and Korra standing in the dooropening. "We didn't mean to interrupt something," the airnomad says. Daiyin leans into her cushions once more and crosses her arms. Her eyes settle on Korra. "You really should learn how to knock one of these days, otherwise I might need to burn it into your brain," she snarls. Zuko lays a calming hand on his granddaughter's shoulder. "You can not speak to your students like that. Though I really wanted to sometimes with your former life, Avatar Korra."
The Avatar bows before the Fire Lord. "We are all known with Daiyin's ways to interact with people, Fire Lord Zuko." She walks in and sits on the bedside of the princess' bed. "How are you holding up? The last we heard you were still unconscious." The girl nods. "I am only just awake. How are things in the city?" Tenzin steps forward and closes the door behind him. "Beifong resigned and the new chief-" "-Is part of the Tarrlok fan club," Korra finishes with an angry tone.
The Fire Nation Princess rolls her eyes. "I'm not even a day gone and the city goes to hell." She tries to stand up, but she once again failed. Korra and Zuko push her back into the mattrass. "You are in no way ready to start walking, Daiyin," her grandfather scolds her. "If I want to, I certainly can," she responds back, though her tone was a little more respectful to Zuko than it had been to Korra.
He throws her a stern look, like a father reprimanding his child. "Let me rephrase that. You will not walk until you are remotely recovered from this experience, and that's an order," he tells her. Korra was surprised to see Daiyin lower her eyes and reply: "Yes, grandfather." Daiyin was slowly leaning more and more into her cushions. The Avatar and Tenzin look at each other when they see Daiyin falling asleep. "Shall we leave you two alone, Lord Zuko," Tenzin questions.
"If you would, I would greatly appreciate it." The airnomad and the watertribe girl leave the room and when Korra got back to her friends she was bombarded with questions. "Daiyin is fine, she is just.. really tired from this all. Her escape cost a lot of energy. It is best to leave her alone now. Besides, we've got bigger problems."
•
Ｗｈｉｌｅ Ｋｏｒｒａ and her friends were headed out to the city, Daiyin and her grandfather spent the day talking, drinking tea and playing Pai Sho. "Ha, I win," Daiyin tells him. He smiles at her. "You did, but I won the last round." The laughter soon dies down and the princess asks her grandfather a question that had long been burning on her tongue. "Grandfather, how is everything back in our Nation? Is everything still stable?"
The older man sighs. "Nothing but a few riots. They believe that, when you turn eighteen and I ascend the throne, you are still too young to reign such an empire. They are fearful of chaos like in the Earth Kingdom for years back. But, we will overcome those bumps in the road as we have done with so many others." Daiyin looks down at her feet and takes a sip of her steaming tea. "Who do they desire as their ruler instead of me?"
She looks up at him with a saddened look in her eyes. "Tell me honestly, please." The Fire Lord shakes his head. "They want Lady Azina. She has many friends with political influence and I fear of what she will do. I beg of you to be careful, Daiyin. One reason to think of you as unfit for the throne can escalate in a mighty tug of war about power."
They stay together in her room until late that evening when it was time for dinner. Seeing that Korra's friends were locked in jail for interfering with police matters, the two royals were free to sit by the dining table without getting caught. Immediately, the airbender kids cling onto Daiyin's feet, legs and hips, so happy that she was fine. Pema gives her a loving hug while helping her sit down.
"Here, you must eat. You haven't in a few days. We worry about your health." She puts a bowl of rice, mixed vegetables, fish and meat on the table for them to pick from. Everyone fills their plates and begins to eat in silence after Tenzin's prayer. They all talk and share stories until it was time to go to bed. Her grandfather was just wishing her a good sleep when Tenzin barges in and tells her that he hadn't seen Korra since she got into her room after her friends' captivity.
Having almost sank into sleep, she mumbles softly. "Korra is just being Korra. Don't worry, she will be fine. Korra is always fine." And then her eyelids closed and she immediately sank into a deep sleep.
Not knowing how wrong she was..