Where There Is Smoke, There Is Fire [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic]

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The day after next, Zuko was waiting outside for Izara to meet him for their next session. They hadn't had one for a few weeks, simply because he was so busy getting tied up with war-room meetings. Everything with the Supremacists had suddenly exploded after they'd attacked a supply line, so there were reports from scouts and Generals every other day. Zuko had decided to mobilise the military to protect his people against them. Still, the Supremacists had been moving around over the last year. They had been having issues trying to pin them down to one location. Mostly it was just to make sure that they knew where they were, but there had been more and more issues recently, so now he needed to decide what they would do. Should they retaliate and strike back, or was he going to try and negotiate peace with them?

It kept him up at night, and he would continue to do so until he figured out what to do.

Izara walking over to him snapped him out of his thought process, and he gave her a smile, although it was half-assed. She was far more perceptive than he realised and narrowed her eyes at him for a fraction of a second before giving him a smile and a bow. She didn't want to draw attention to her noticing his troubled mind, and he was more than happy to leave it that way.

"Thank you for taking the time to teach me, my Lord." Her tone was polite and respectful as always, and her eyes held no hint of her thoughts.

"You're very welcome. It's taking my mind off things, so thank you." He kept his expression as even as possible and watched as Izara moved a few steps away from him.

"So I had a few questions about the intermediate sets...."

She seemed to sense his dilemma and didn't waste any time getting into it so she could help him take his mind off everything with the Supremacists. Surely she had heard about their attack, as it wasn't exactly a secret that they had been making more waves lately. Technically, she had been exposed to them more than anyone else in the Capital. Her Uncle was still camped in the same spot he had been during the siege, so Izara had more time to deal with them than any other military officials assigned to the mission.

They spent two hours going through the intermediate forms, and he answered all her questions. He could see that she had been working hard over the past few weeks, as her technique had doubled in efficiency, and there was no wasted energy in her movements. Before they started working together, he still found it strange that she had so little knowledge of firebending. His curiosity grew every time he saw her, and he decided to try and get her to talk. If she had been in some covert military group like Suki had suggested, indeed of all people she could tell, she would be able to say to him. He wasn't interested in having her punished for any reason unless whatever she had done in the past was so terrible that he might have to take action. But her kind nature made him doubt that very much.

Once it began to get dark, they decided to finish up.

"Let's go and get something to eat." He made a casual suggestion, and she nodded in answer, which was good. He hoped that she would let her guard down and talk to him.

He went toward the library, where he often took his meals since if he was in his office, he would keep working. He would work late at night, not even realising that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. The library had a pleasant atmosphere, so he came here sometimes to be alone, eat and do some reading.

She followed behind him to one side and refused to walk next to him despite him making minute adjustments to his pace. The staff offered to bring him some dinner, and he asked them to organise an extra serving for Izara. They went and sat down inside, and Zuko tried to figure out how to start the conversation so it didn't seem evident that he was trying to suss her out.