Not Too Far from the Yew Tree (an ATLA fanfiction)

Both a New World and the Old Made Explicit

Sokka set the letter aside, the last to read it and visibly uncomfortable. "And you're saying this story is true?"

Zuko, who was still holding Katara's hand as she buried her face into his shoulder, replied, "Yes. I overheard a story once—sailors are fond of sharing ridiculous stories—from many decades before I was born. There was once a prison in the Fire Nation designed to hold waterbenders. The guard said that, one day, one of the prisoners reached inside his body and controlled him like a marionette on strings, and had him open the cell door for her. Just like that, she strolled out. No one ever believed him, of course; it hadn't been heard of before, and people assumed he was making an excuse to cover up freeing a lover he had taken on, and that they were planning to meet later. The man was moved to a different duty, far away, and the woman was never seen again. Despite no one believing it, the story was so outlandish that rumors spread widely, and it came to be superstition that waterbenders could perform inhuman magic, although that was never the official teaching."

"So the letter is legitimate, at least as far as that. What about these bending moves?" Sokka asked, "Katara, can you do these?"

"No, and don't ask me to. It's sick, and wrong."

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to know if it was legitimate." He rubbed his head, as if feeling bad for his sister but not understanding why it made her so upset. "So, instead of bending water, blood. Bloodbending."

It was late afternoon, but no one had appetite for lunch. Piandao seemed lost in thought, seated cross-legged on the floor beside the window with his hand on his chin. Finally he said, "Firelord, would you recognize the herbs used in that tea?" Zuko nodded. "Then let's see if it's planted on the campus."

The group stood to follow him. Both Piandao and Suki were using their students as guards, keeping them in pairs so that, if one were compromised, the other would keep them in check, and it must have weighed on their minds to not be able to trust them. As large as the campus was, a few small plants could have been concealed anywhere, but they hadn't needed to go far. In the main physic garden, where other medicinal herbs were grown, the responsible plant was there hidden in plain sight. Zuko stepped through the rows to kneel beside it. "This is what they used in her tea. Some leaves have been harvested from it recently."

"That's troubling," said Piandao. "Someone familiar with the grounds is involved. I'll have the lead servant brought for questioning." He sent two of his students to find her. Zuko lingered, trying to remember if he'd seen anyone in the garden, but more vivid memories overtook it, of his mother in the royal garden teaching him what her parents had taught her. After being taken from them for her engagement, she had never seen her mother and father again, and by the time she gained freedom from Ozai, they were already passed from old age. Katara, who had noticed and waited for him, called out his name, and he rose and returned to her.

In a drawing room they greeted the woman who oversaw the other servants at the mansion. She had light brown eyes and was around forty-five or fifty years old, a nonbender who had been in Piandao's service for fifteen years since giving up on the prospect of getting married. She worked in the kitchen and did the household laundry, which, after the addition of Suki's students, became a task consuming most of her day.

Piandao held a neutral demeanor as he examined her. It was difficult to tell that he was angry, but his posture was tense and his tone flat. Zuko understood the reason for his distress—had he been his father, Ozai may have had Piandao executed for his oversight. Despite their good relationship, his shame and discomfort were inevitable, as it would take more than two years to change perception. "Where did you get the herbs for the tea you gave Katara?"

"From the kitchen, the jar marked as 'lemon balm.' I've always used that tea. Sometimes I fill it from herbs bought at the market, and sometimes from what I get in the garden. Lately I haven't had time to be in the garden as often."