3 Years

Chapter 4-Lost Letter

“Thank you everyone for coming.” Zuko said to the remainder of the group, as he walked them out.

“It was our pleasure.” Aang replied sincerely, on behalf of him and Katara.

“Thank you for having us. I’ll be back on duty next week, as will Ty Lee.” Suki said happily.

“It was an honor.” Iroh replied in a true fire nation manner.

“Anytime!” Ty Lee exclaimed.

Mai simply walked out without a word after the rest of the group.

“Hey.” Zuko called out to Mai. She looked back at him, stopping. Everyone else had already left. “You’re just gonna leave without saying goodbye?”

She stared at him for a moment until she put together a response.

“I thought you of all people would know that I mean no disrespect.”

“I do, but I thought we were closer than this.”

“We are, I’m just tired and need to get home.”

“Alright.” Zuko said, now slightly embarrassed.

“Goodbye.” She said with her back turned walking, with a little wave.

He watched her as she left, in disbelief with how shockingly well things went between them. Then he noticed something peeking out of her pocket. He didn’t notice it earlier, it looked like a piece of parchment. His stomach dropped at the realization.

‘The letter. I’d completely forgotten about it! Maybe it’s not the letter, maybe it’s something else that I just didn’t notice.’

He immediately ran up to his room. He dropped to the floor in shock at the sight of his desk. It was gone. 

‘How had she acquired it? She couldn’t have come up to my room and taken it, she was with us the whole time.’

He then got up and went down to the servants’ quarters to ask about it, since he suspected that one of them had probably discovered it, and gave it to Mai since they saw it was addressed to her.

“Everyone!” He clapped his hands in attempts to grab their attention. They all silenced themselves and looked his way. “Did anyone take a letter out of my room?” The room remained silent for minutes. “Anyone? Step forward if you have any knowledge of the letter, I won’t be angry, I just need to know.” He announced. The room was still silent for a few minutes until somebody spoke up. It was the supervisor.

“Sir, it’s become apparent that nobody here has knowledge of what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you, Jiong.” Zuko bowed, and started towards the guards’ lounge, in hopes that they had any information at all. It was unlikely, since the guards don’t generally go into the rooms, they just stand guard of them, whereas the servants not only go into, but tidy the rooms.

He said the same thing as he did just minutes before when he arrived in the guards’ lounge.

“Did anyone take a letter out of my room?”

"Zuko? Um, I don’t think anyone touched a letter in your room.” Replied one of the Kyoshi Warriors, walking up to him. She looked around the room to make sure with the rest of the guards. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He walked out and back to his room, wondering who could’ve taken it.

As he walked through the halls of the palace, he saw his mother walking. 

“Mom, have you seen someone walking around with a piece of parchment?” He asked her.

“No, I’m sorry. I heard you were looking for that.”

“It’s fine.” And he continued down the hall. 

He then caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure rushing past. He barely caught sight of it, so he brushed it off and kept moving forward after pondering it for a moment.

‘It’s probably nothing. But what if whatever that was delivered Mai the letter?’

He continued walking to his room until he stood in the doorway. That’s when he saw it. Or saw her rather. Azula.

“Hello Zuzu.” She said nonchalantly. Sitting on his bed with her legs crossed in a flowy black cloak.

“Azula.” He said angrily. “How did you get in here?”

“Not even a quick hello, I see. Well, it wasn’t hard at all. I simply climbed up the wall near your balcony about a week ago, and I’ve been hiding in the secret rooms ever since.” She got up, and began circling him intimidatingly.

“But how did you get past the guards?”

“That’s not important.”

“Why are you here?”

“Oh Zuzu, always so quick to the point.” She said extra sharply. “I’m here to mess with your head.” Now speaking calmly.

“Of course.” Zuko sighed. And then it hit him. “Did you take the letter?” He yelled with the revelation.

“My, it did take you a bit to piece that together.”

“But why?”

“As I said.” She walked right next to him. “To mess with your head.” She whispered, then disappeared. He was about to chase after her, but he was stunned after seeing her for the first time in years. She had been living uncharted for just over 2 years, and when he finally got a grasp on where she was, he lost her again. It was too dangerous for her to just roam. She had an ulterior motive. She always did. But he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

He went into the hallway when he was released from his trance to see if she was still there. It was too late, she was nowhere to be seen. It was likely she was still wandering the palace. Zuko put out a notice to all the guards, and they began scouring the palace. They searched for hours until someone reported their findings back to Zuko. They stood in the halls

“We have no idea where she is.” The guard said.

“What?” Zuko said, slightly angry.

“I’m sorry, Sir. She seems to have left without a trace.” The guard said, noticeably nervous. He was the poor guard who had to report the news, he must’ve lost a choosing game of some sort.

“It’s fine.” Zuko sighed. The guard scrambled out of his sight.

Zuko went back to his room to think about his next course of action to locate Azula. Now that she had started screwing with things in the palace, it was only a matter of time before she commits something more dangerous.

He thought about it for minutes, and he was yet to come up with anything. “What to do, what to do…” He repeated, whispering to himself. He ultimately decided to simply put the matter into the top priority spot, allowing the maximum number of guards on the mission.

Hours later, there was still no news on Azula’s whereabouts. It was useless. She was likely hiding in a secret room only she knew of. That’s when he remembered the few people who may be actually capable of finding her. Mai and Ty Lee.

Mai. He couldn’t ask her back here. Not only because she just left, but she had his letter, and he was not ready to be confronted about it. So just Ty Lee would have to do. So he sat down to write Ty Lee a quick message telling her the situation and asked her to come back, and attached it to a messenger hawk with a black ribbon. In the Fire Nation, ribbon colors indicated the importance of a message, and black ribbon messages meant it was of utmost importance. Hopefully Ty Lee would be willing to come back early.