rebuilding the world

Part 13

"good luck" Suki called after Katara and Zuko got off of Appa. Katara waved as the bison rose to the sky and flew to the fire nation, she then faced Zuko.

"are you excited to visit again?"

"I'm sure this visit will be better seeing as I'm the fire lord now and all the guards work for me, but no, I'm not excited to visit here" he was bitter, seeing Azula again was definitely not something he thought of doing so soon after imprisoning her, Katara thought that nipping this rebellion in the bud could cheer him up, or maybe if he sees Azula's condition there. Zuko stopped, Katara bumped into him, almost dropping him to the boiling lake, he balanced himself again before he could fall.

"plenty of ammo, should I need it" Katara smiled, looking at the lake. Zuko took a few steps to their right, a cable car station was there. Katara followed him as he opened the door into the station, a few fire nation guards were there, all looked at them in surprise and bowed to their fire lord.

"I want to see my sister and this rebellion she thinks she can use to break out of here" he said coldly. The guards quickly pulled up a car and opened the door to it, Zuko let Katara in before walking in himself. The guards closed the door and let the car down.

"Zuko, are you okay? You seem a little... cold" Katara touched his arm, it flexed under her touch but soon relaxed.

"I'm fine, thanks for worrying about me. I'll be much better after we handle this", he took her hand from his arm and squeezed it before letting it go. The doors opened and a new group of guards bowed to Zuko as he and Katara left the car.

"it is an absolute pleasure to have you here with us, fire lord Zuko. May I ask to the reason of your visit?" the warden asked, bowing still.

"get up, all of you" Zuko said coldly. The guards and warden all stood up straight.

"I hear my sister is planning a rebellion, do you know who is taking part in this? Is any of your guards a part of this ridiculous scheme?" he asked, looking at the warden. His eyes almost seemed icy as he stared at the warden, who shivered in fear.

"only prisoners are a part of this my lord, I have a list in my office" the warden said, his words shaking as they came from his shivering mouth.

"take us there" Zuko said.

"you are not the warden I saw when I visited here last, did someone hire you to replace him?" Zuko asked on the way to the warden's office.

"the previous warden lost his job when he let three prisoners escape with two guards, it was your father who hired me to replace this useless warden"

"I see, do you still work for my father?"

"of course not, my lord, I am loyal to you now, I shall be loyal to you until you end your role as fire lord, then I will be loyal to whoever it will be that will succeed you, of course I would be long dead by the time you are replaced, my lord"

"I see. Did the former warden see who the guards were?"

"I believe not, my lord, although one of the prisoners did say something about how one of the guards had blue eyes" the warden looked at Katara as he said those words.

"it was not her, it was her brother, and me" Zuko smiled slightly, the warden stopped and turned to him.

"you, my lord? You were one of the guards?"

"I can prove it if you don't believe me. We snuck a girl and two men from here, a Kyoshi leader, the leader of the invasion on the day of the eclipse and... honestly, I have no idea who that other guy was, or what he did to get imprisoned here, but he served as great help in helping us steal Azula's air balloon" Zuko's smile grew bigger now.

"I sent him here to be a guard after I assumed my role as fire lord"

"oh, yes, Chit Sang, he is one of our best guards. If you want, I can have him help you"

"please do, I would love to see him again" the warden opened his office and took a small scroll from the desk, he gave it to Zuko.

"this is the list of all prisoners who side with Azula" Zuko opened the scroll and read the first few names.

"have them all come to the dining hall, I would like a word"