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

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Zuko frowned as he sat on the edge of his bed, his shoulders drooping tiredly. He had been staring at his ceiling, trying his best to calm his anger so he could try and get some sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Izara, bruised and bloody, partly falling in through his office door. The image of the massive purple and blue bruise that covered the right side of her ribcage. The angry red lines from partially healed cuts, the dried blood that had caked on her clothes, and her skin that had turned a rust-brown colour. Watching her drop to her knees in obeisance had flooded his mind with relief, worry and fury. Seeing her alive was a relief; her injuries caused worry, and knowing who was responsible ignited the fury. He'd spent the few days while she was gone bouncing between pacing as his mind raced with terror and enraged and wanting to set out on Appa and track her down. There was a part of him that had considered finding June and her shirshu, Nyla, to hire them to track Izara to the Supremacist camp. He would have gotten to that eventually if she hadn't returned and had already sent out some feelers to see if he could find June to prepare for that possibility. Zuko hadn't received word of success yet. It was no longer necessary since Izara had returned, much to his relief.

Izara had been purposely vague on precisely what had happened to her while she was at the Supremacist camp. He was still unsatisfied despite getting more information in the council meeting. He knew that she had clearly been tortured, and Katara's shocked gasps while she had been treating her were enough to tell him that it was brutal. Knowing that she had suffered for his sake and for the cause of peace only heightened his respect for her, but he was still upset that she had been hurt so terribly. His short temper had been tested since Izara had been back, not wanting her to be concerned about his state of mind while she was recovering. Thus, he bit his tongue many times and spent some nights unable to sleep due to his anger.

With a frustrated groan, he got up and marched out of his bedroom door. Izara's room was just around the corner, in the quieter part of the Palace, and he only had to walk around 20 metres to reach her door. There was a faint flickering on the ground from underneath the door, signalling that the light was on in her room, and he knocked softly. He heard her speak from the other side, permitting him entry, and he pushed the door open and closed it behind him after he walked inside. When he saw her lying in bed, he smiled gently.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I thought you might still be awake because of the light." Although Zuko spoke softly, his voice sounded through the room, which didn't have much furniture to absorb the sound.

"I've been reading, so you didn't really wake me," she answered, and he looked to see the now-closed book on her lap. "What are you doing here? You should be resting," Izara replied evenly from the bed in the corner of the room.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black." He retorted with a cheeky smirk before his expression changed to something akin to bashful. "I couldn't sleep. I wanted to check on you."

"I'm okay. You need to sleep, though." She said with a smile.

With a slight hesitation, he walked over and pulled the nearby chair next to her bed. Once she had come back, bruised and bloody, he had sat on that chair for days at a time. Although he wasn't sure how to phrase it, he wanted to ask as delicately as possible. Despite her tough exterior, he had begun to see the softer sides of her personality. He believed that she was much more sensitive than she let anyone realise. Hopefully, it was a sign that she was letting her walls down around him, and he wanted to help and support her through her healing process.

"Will you... tell me exactly what happened to you?" He enquired gently, sitting forward in the chair, and she huffed in reply.

"I'm okay. I promise." She saw right through him.