The Girl and the Fire Lord

29 Ma'am - Zuko's POV

Where could they possibly have gone?

"I'm sorry Luna, I don't know where he is." I said. The guard with Hiromi was badly burned. Surely he hadn't just gone back to his room.

"If he's as injured as you said he was we should probably look for him." She said. "If I don't get to him soon we may need to ask for Tamala's help too."

I nodded. I didn't know who the guard was, but I knew Hiromi. I remembered her room number and hall too. Hopefully he'd be there, or if not, maybe she could tell us where he went. 

No part of me wanted to see her, but I didn't have much of a choice. 

"Okay Luna, follow me." I said, and we walked quickly to Hiromi's room. It took all of me to swallow my pride and knock on the door. When she answered, my voice caught in my throat. 

"I- I brought our- I mean the palace's waterbender to heal him. Is he?" I took a breath as Hiromi stared at me with one raised brow. "Is he here with you? And is he..."

"He's doing fine. Come in." She said curtly, swinging the door open. Luna curtsied and we walked in to find Hiromi's roommate dabbing the guard's burns. The girl looked like she was crying.

"Hello ma'am." I started. When she looked up at me her tears dried quickly and her expression changed from concerned to fearful. She curtsied deeply and kept her head down. "I brought Luna with me to heal your friend."

"Thank you, Firelord Zuko. I was cooling the wounds, but there wasn't much more I knew to do. His burns are bad." 

"I never meant to hurt him. I'm going to make sure he's fully healed. I promise." My voice shook. 

"Well it isn't really you who's doing any healing if we're being honest. Quite the opposite, really." The girl responded. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open a bit. "I am so so sorry, that was completely uncalled for! I really really did not mean that. That's not what I meant to say. I'm sure you were entirely justified, sir. I truly do not mean to question your judgement at all and I know that you are-"

"No, you're right ma'am. And what I did was not justified. Not in the slightest. I acted out of impulse and let my emotions dictate my actions instead of reason. It will not happen again, and I will do everything in my power to help your friend." 

"Yes of course! You are incredibly merciful and I think you're an excellent Firelord-"

"Ma'am, please don't. I'm not deserving of that and I think you agree." She was silent for a moment. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Hana. I'm Hiromi's roommate. Naoko and her have been close for a while so I've gotten to know him too. We're all a little group. Oh, and my boyfriend Taiyo and our other friend Kaori and we're kind of making friends with this girl Anzu, but she's a bit of a gossip."

"Ah. Nice to meet you Hana. Sorry it's under these circumstances."

"It's good to meet you too. Of course, I've known you my whole life!" She laughed awkwardly. "I'm really glad you're not banished any more. I also think it's good that you brought harmony to the four kingdoms!"

"That wasn't me, that was the Avatar."

"Well you were a big part of it!"

"For most of the time he was working to bring the four kingdoms together I was trying to capture him and bring him to my father to be killed."

"But you didn't!"

"No thanks to me. My Uncle is the reason I stepped away from the dark path I was headed down. I can't take the credit for that."

"You can't seem to take the credit for anything good you do." She said, tilting her head as if she were studying me.

We were all quiet for a moment. Finally, Luna spoke.

"He's going to be okay. The skin hasn't scarred yet, so I should be able to return his back to what it once looked like. I'm going to stay here for a while and keep working tonight. By tomorrow morning he should be okay." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. 

"Would one of you be willing to stay awake with Luna to keep her company while she heals Naoko? Tamala usually works alongside her, but she's busy with another patient right now. I'll make sure to let your supervisor know you're excused." I suggested. 

"I'm happy to stay up with her." Hiromi said, smiling. It didn't seem disingenuous.

"Thank you. I'll let your supervisor know that you won't be coming in to work tomorrow and you can take the day off to sleep and rest." I said. "I wish I could stay and help, but I'm leaving to travel to Omashu tomorrow morning and haven't discussed the plans with my council yet. I have to go now, but if you need further help, you can come speak to my assistant Gakuto and when I return, you can speak to me." I turned and walked towards the door, but was stopped by something that surprised me.

"Thank you Zuko." Hiromi said. I closed my eyes and resisted turning to look at her. 

"You're welcome, ma'am."