Avatar: Lux et Lex
Title: Lux et Lex
Rating: K+
Characters: Zuko, Long Feng, the Dai Lee, and Azula
Summary: No refugee is safe in Ba Sing Se - especially if you’re a firebender on the run. Zuko runs afoul of the Dai Lee. S2 AU, Zuko-centric, direct companion to Tabula Rasa.
A/N: When I took prompts a while back, flameraven prompted me with the “Jin is a spy” AU that was so popular for a period of time there. Then I remembered that I had written Tabula Rasa (which is now three years old, holy hell) which had similar themes, and that I had been asked several times to consider a sequel for it. This isn’t a sequel, but it’s set in the same universe. If you’ve never read Tabula Rasa you’ll probably still be okay to read this, just know that the Dai Lee is far more serious business in this universe than in the regular Avatar world.
“Okay, now you can look.”
His heart was pounding in his chest. Zuko had no idea why he should care so much - why he should be so nervous for the reaction of this girl, or why his heart should leap when she opened her eyes and gasped for joy, why he couldn’t help the little smirk on his face as she stepped through the ring of lamps with an almost gleeful look on her face.
“Wow - wha - how?” she stuttered, and Zuko looked away, partly because he felt unbearably smug, but also in an effort to assuage the little guilty part of his mind whispering someone could have been peering out the window…
Then she grasped his hand in her own, and all thoughts of other people went out the window. He turned in surprise to face her, and felt his stomach drop at the look on her face: it was the same self-satisfied one that had been mirrored on his own just moments ago.
She started to lean in towards him. To think, at the beginning of the evening, he’d been suspicious of her intentions. Now he was merely nervous for them. His throat closed up. Do something!
He fumbled with the coupon as if it was worth anything more than the paper it was printed on. Just in the nick of time, he managed to put it between them, managed to save himself some time. Jin took it gratefully, and mindlessly Zuko engaged in some small talk with her, his mind racing the entire time.
“I have something for you now,” she said quietly, playfully. “Close your eyes.”
Zuko gulped hard, then obeyed. He wasn’t sure what to do with his lips - pucker up? Let them part?
The next touch he felt, however, was not that of Jin’s lips like he’d been expecting. A hand clapped down on his shoulder, rocked his weight back onto his heels. “That’ll be enough, Jin.”
“What?” In a flash Zuko opened his eyes, tried to strike out, no firebending, tried to defend himself. When he spun he saw them: the men in green robes, the same men who’d taken Jet away.
Arrest them! They’re firebenders! The words rang in Zuko’s mind - he could see it so clearly as if Jet was standing right before him. But they couldn’t have truly taken that raving lunatic seriously, could they?
That moment of distraction was all they needed - something caught Zuko by the wrists, jerked his arms behind his back, and he stumbled forward before two men caught him as if this were nothing more than a dance.
Struggling for breath, he looked back at Jin. “You knew!” he snarled. “I knew it! You did this!”
They threw Zuko onto his stomach when they loaded him into the wagon, leaving him to shift angrily as he tried to relieve the ache in his shoulders, breathing in the dirt littering the floor as his mind worked frantically, trying to figure out any weakness they might have shown, any chance for escape.
He felt almost guilty sometime later - because it was impossible to tell the passing of time, blindfolded in a bumpy wagon as he was - when he suddenly realized that if they’d gotten to him, then they’d certainly taken Uncle Iroh as well.
For a moment, Zuko felt a pang of sympathy, then idly wondered if half of Ba Sing Se was burning behind him.
They were by water. Zuko could hear it crashing against the shore as they carried him in. It was raining, soaking Zuko almost instantly, the sound of sheet after sheet hitting the surface of the lake near deafening.
Once they were sheltered, the men’s voices become human language in his ears again:
“It’s been a long while since we’ve had Fire Nation scum within our walls.”
“Yeah, from what I hear Long Feng had a cowpig when he found out.”
The sound of the rain was muted, turned into a dull roar that seemed to be everywhere around him. Zuko’s hair was dripping into his eyes, down his face, but his hands were still bound behind his back. He heard the long creak of a metal door opening, and the next thing he knew he was dropped unceremoniously onto his stomach, all of his breath escaping his lungs in a short groan as he tried to shift.
The thick cloth that had been covering his eyes was ripped away, but there was no light for his eyes to adjust to. Someone started talking to him, and Zuko had to blink a few times before he made out the face: nondescript, pale, and with an expression of absolute hatred as he spat his words out at Zuko.
“….and while no one else in the Earth Kingdom was smart enough to peg you for what you are, boy, we knew from the second you and that old fool crossed the wall. Fire Nation citizens are not welcome here, let alone firebenders.” He paused for a moment, considered the scar on Zuko’s face. “We don’t practice firebending here and your face is just the first reason why.”
His partner’s feet stepped into Zuko’s field of vision. “No, I say we get along just fine with earthbending.”
“That’s right.” His captor held his hand up in front of Zuko. It was encased in rocks, and it took Zuko all of half a second to realize that this was the same thing that bound his limbs. “Know what these are?”
Then, before Zuko could think of a reply, his hand flipped, palm out towards Zuko. The rocks, still holding the shape of a hand, hit his throat.
The guard flexed his fingers. Zuko felt the pressure around his neck increase. “You wouldn’t believe the things we can use these for.”
His world narrowed, and become focused on the air, sweet air, filling his lungs and clearing his mind, and when it finally occurred to him to open his eyes again, to look, because the pain had gone away, there was a new man crouching in front of him, looking at him quietly with uninterested eyes.
“You two are idiots.” His eyes never left Zuko, but it was clear he wasn’t talking to him. “You have no idea who you’re playing with.”
He straightened and turned away, his knees popping loudly with the motion, and through his haze Zuko noticed how the two guards were standing: not quite defensive, but definitely nervous. This man was a big deal. They were in trouble.
“I know exactly what I want to do with this boy. Do not damage him any further.”
Those were the last words he spoke before he swept out of the room, his long braid twitching behind him as he went.
They released his arms, and his shoulders screamed as they grabbed him by the elbows and lifted him, hauling him up until he was sitting in a chair. The world was still in darkness, leaving Zuko to wonder exactly how these men where getting around, how they knew exactly where was safe to move.
Then a light appeared, and Zuko felt hope flare up along with it. The light moved, and Zuko's eyes followed.
Light meant fire, fire meant safety. Fire was home, fire was base, fire was in his blood itself. He watched, soaking in any measure of comfort he could find.
"Follow the light," a voice ordered, and whether it came from one of the men who'd arrested him or from his own mind he'd never be able to say. "You are safe now. Follow the light."
And Zuko did, keeping his eyes glued to the light, nothing but the light, until there as nothing left in the world except for he, himself, and this light. There was no Uncle, no Avatar, no Fire Lord Ozai, there was no one hunting him, no crazy Jet, no whispers in the shadows of his mind, no honor for him to claim or be denied. Just him, and the light.
And then the light was all that was left.
He was put to work in the kitchens, where he discovered he had an aptitude for brewing tea. The staff were impressed - such talents, they informed him, usually took years to cultivate. Long Feng, he finds with great pride, requests him personally for daily tea, and every day he serves it with honor.
His esteemed leader has even taken to showing him off, standing, putting an arm around his shoulder, and informing their guests, "This is one of the greatest treasures I've come across in Ba Sing Se. I cannot begin to explain to you the joy I feel seeing him come from the kitchens each day."
He had no idea why he should feel so proud of those words, why it should matter to him what Long Feng thought of him - no matter what the man thought of him, he was a lowly servant at the end of the day; and yet the older man was always so kindly towards him. He wanted to make Long Feng proud. The other servants didn't whisper pleasant things about Long Feng, and he knew in his heart that the leader of Ba Sing Se was not a man to be crossed, that it was dangerous to get too close to him.
There was only one other servant who ever talked about Long Feng in anything other than put-out murmurs: an older lady, who called herself Joo Dee. Despite the fact that her outlook was markedly sunnier than her colleagues, he often found himself blanching whenever she spoke.
"They are worthless, useless servants," she was fond of declaring disdainfully. "You know because they have never left the palace. Only the truly loyal, the truly worthy are invited to Lake Laogai.”
Lake Laogai. The name put a pit in his stomach, and despite racking his memory he was sure he'd never been there. Why anticipate it with such dread? Why breathe a sigh of relief when, even though he was clearly favored, clearly loyal, Long Feng had never invited him?
"You can't tell," Joo Dee liked to accuse him. "You can't tell, but only the ones who go to Lake Laogai are truly loyal."
One routine day, almost the same as any other, Li nearly skidded to a halt as he bustled into the dining hall and found that Long Feng had a new personal servant. This alone was an entirely unsurprising development - any number of men or women could be found at Long Feng's side, most of them indistinguishable in their green robes - and so Li wasn't sure what it was about the old man that caused Li's heart to skip a beat, that made him miss a step. The old man didn't look twice at him, and yet Li could not tear his eyes away.
"Li?" Long Feng's voice broke through his distraction. "Tell me what you're offering us today."
"Yes," he answered, giving Long Feng a gracious smile while his brain scrambled to catch up. "Today, in honor of the spring blooms, I've brought you a cherry blossom blend. I hope it will suit your tastes?"
"You've never failed me yet." Li's smile bloomed into a genuine grin at the praise. He served the tea, sneaking glances away from the table when he could. Something about the old man... he was entirely unremarkable, and yet the sight of him made something flash in Li's chest, fresh and bittersweet. There was no reason for him to be having these thoughts, and yet as Li poured, murmuring polite small talk he'd mastered as a servant, he racked his brains, wondering where this tug of familiarity came from.
His distraction ended up costing him dearly. He was rifling through his fuzzy memories when the teacup he'd been filling overflowed, splashing tea over the saucer, and dripping on the noblewoman Long Feng had been lunching with.
"Oh!" she cried, her arms flying out, her chair tilting back and nearly falling over.
In a flash, Li had a small towel in his hands, spewing apologies faster than he could compose them in his mind. Too late, he noticed that Long Feng's servant had moved to help as well. Their hands collided midair.
Li felt as though he'd been struck by lightning.
He reeled back, his heel catching the hem of his robe and nearly forcing him to the ground. He caught his balance, barely, and stared at the old man, his mind racing, groping for the correct words, thoughts, feelings. "You - you!"
Long Feng abruptly stood up from his seat. "Li, the king wishes to extend an invitation to Lake Laogai."
Everything fled. All at once, his world expanded, collapsed, and coalesced into the light.
The light was all that was left.
The cot in his dungeon was little more than cloth and sticks. He laid on the little bed, his head pillowed by his forearms, and wondered what he was doing there and what was going on. His memories were little more than sand running through his fingers. It seemed like he could remember everything and therefore nothing, like his brain was so full that when he tried to reach for something, there was always another thing blocking it.
His head perked as something rang outside his door: a disturbance carrying its way down the hall, led by the voice of a female.
"So this is where my brother is kept when Long Feng isn't showing him off like some trophy?" He blinked at the noise, unable to help the shiver down his spine at the voice. "Open this door! Open it now before I melt it off the hinges!"
He sat up in alarm. They were opening his door. There was a long, heart skipping creak, and then the silhouette of two in the doorway. He licked his lips.
A woman stepped into the room - no, a girl. The shadows in the room and the glint in her eyes added years to her, but once he looked at her he had no doubt she was young. And still the guard with her nearly cowered at her presence. She bent over, made eye contact with him, and snapped impatiently.
"Hey Zuzu," she said impatiently in his face. "Remember me? I hear they've been making you serve tea."
He had no idea what to say, utterly sure that the incorrect response would go badly for him. He'd never seen this girl before, but all of his instincts were screaming, begging him to get away. She stared into his eyes for a minute longer and finally straightened up, turning back to the guard.
"He really doesn't remember." she seemed impressed.
"Of course, Princess Azula. We can make him believe anything we want. Long Feng has perfected the technique." There was a long pause after he finished. Azula's eyes flashed, and the guard tried not to visibly shrink back.
"Well he's not in charge of it anymore," Azula declared, turning away from him. "He's lost the Avatar and I'm not sure how my father will feel, having Zuko returned to him in this condition. At least he doesn't have to worry about his honor anymore."
She started to exit the room, then stopped, pausing in the thresh hold, looked at him and the guard in turn. Finally she asked, "You can make him believe anything?"
His world was dark. He couldn't see a thing, couldn't hear a thing, but he knew he wasn't alone, knew there were others in the room with him. He trembled against his restraints while he waited for them to make themselves known. He wasn't sure how he knew: he was nothing more than a simple tea merchant who'd been dragged here against his will. He knew that to be fact. He could feel the heat of the sun in his mind, could feel how his throat was hoarse from yelling for customers. He wasn't even sure what he'd done wrong, he was nothing more than a merchant, had been born and raised in Ba Sing Se. He'd taken over the business from family.
And then the light appeared, and he felt something in his chest flare up. Could it be...
The light came closer, and his heart skipped a beat as her face appeared behind it. Her eyes glittered as she loomed over him.
"Firebender," she whispered, and held out her hands. Blue flames danced at her fingertips.
"Never!" he insisted, trying to lean away, trying to back away from the fire. Everyone knew firebenders weren't wanted, weren't tolerated in the Earth Kingdom. He had roots in the city. Why was he here?
She brought her hand closer to his bare chest, her fingertips inches away from his skin. He could feel sweat beading at his brow, and he pulled at his restraints until he felt something slick running against his skin. She was going to burn him, she couldn't - !
"Please no!" he pleaded, and then her hand brushed his chest.
The pain that came with it was blinding. He screamed, tried to arch away, and through it all heard her laughing at him.
His world narrowed, and despair threatened to swallow him up. All that was left was him and the light. Him and the light and the one behind it, the smell of burned flesh and the confusion in his mind.
All he wanted was to go home.
Then the light was all that was left.
Lux et Lex: lit.: light and law.
Rating: K+
Characters: Zuko, Long Feng, the Dai Lee, and Azula
Summary: No refugee is safe in Ba Sing Se - especially if you’re a firebender on the run. Zuko runs afoul of the Dai Lee. S2 AU, Zuko-centric, direct companion to Tabula Rasa.
A/N: When I took prompts a while back, flameraven prompted me with the “Jin is a spy” AU that was so popular for a period of time there. Then I remembered that I had written Tabula Rasa (which is now three years old, holy hell) which had similar themes, and that I had been asked several times to consider a sequel for it. This isn’t a sequel, but it’s set in the same universe. If you’ve never read Tabula Rasa you’ll probably still be okay to read this, just know that the Dai Lee is far more serious business in this universe than in the regular Avatar world.
“Okay, now you can look.”
His heart was pounding in his chest. Zuko had no idea why he should care so much - why he should be so nervous for the reaction of this girl, or why his heart should leap when she opened her eyes and gasped for joy, why he couldn’t help the little smirk on his face as she stepped through the ring of lamps with an almost gleeful look on her face.
“Wow - wha - how?” she stuttered, and Zuko looked away, partly because he felt unbearably smug, but also in an effort to assuage the little guilty part of his mind whispering someone could have been peering out the window…
Then she grasped his hand in her own, and all thoughts of other people went out the window. He turned in surprise to face her, and felt his stomach drop at the look on her face: it was the same self-satisfied one that had been mirrored on his own just moments ago.
She started to lean in towards him. To think, at the beginning of the evening, he’d been suspicious of her intentions. Now he was merely nervous for them. His throat closed up. Do something!
He fumbled with the coupon as if it was worth anything more than the paper it was printed on. Just in the nick of time, he managed to put it between them, managed to save himself some time. Jin took it gratefully, and mindlessly Zuko engaged in some small talk with her, his mind racing the entire time.
“I have something for you now,” she said quietly, playfully. “Close your eyes.”
Zuko gulped hard, then obeyed. He wasn’t sure what to do with his lips - pucker up? Let them part?
The next touch he felt, however, was not that of Jin’s lips like he’d been expecting. A hand clapped down on his shoulder, rocked his weight back onto his heels. “That’ll be enough, Jin.”
“What?” In a flash Zuko opened his eyes, tried to strike out, no firebending, tried to defend himself. When he spun he saw them: the men in green robes, the same men who’d taken Jet away.
Arrest them! They’re firebenders! The words rang in Zuko’s mind - he could see it so clearly as if Jet was standing right before him. But they couldn’t have truly taken that raving lunatic seriously, could they?
That moment of distraction was all they needed - something caught Zuko by the wrists, jerked his arms behind his back, and he stumbled forward before two men caught him as if this were nothing more than a dance.
Struggling for breath, he looked back at Jin. “You knew!” he snarled. “I knew it! You did this!”
They threw Zuko onto his stomach when they loaded him into the wagon, leaving him to shift angrily as he tried to relieve the ache in his shoulders, breathing in the dirt littering the floor as his mind worked frantically, trying to figure out any weakness they might have shown, any chance for escape.
He felt almost guilty sometime later - because it was impossible to tell the passing of time, blindfolded in a bumpy wagon as he was - when he suddenly realized that if they’d gotten to him, then they’d certainly taken Uncle Iroh as well.
For a moment, Zuko felt a pang of sympathy, then idly wondered if half of Ba Sing Se was burning behind him.
They were by water. Zuko could hear it crashing against the shore as they carried him in. It was raining, soaking Zuko almost instantly, the sound of sheet after sheet hitting the surface of the lake near deafening.
Once they were sheltered, the men’s voices become human language in his ears again:
“It’s been a long while since we’ve had Fire Nation scum within our walls.”
“Yeah, from what I hear Long Feng had a cowpig when he found out.”
The sound of the rain was muted, turned into a dull roar that seemed to be everywhere around him. Zuko’s hair was dripping into his eyes, down his face, but his hands were still bound behind his back. He heard the long creak of a metal door opening, and the next thing he knew he was dropped unceremoniously onto his stomach, all of his breath escaping his lungs in a short groan as he tried to shift.
The thick cloth that had been covering his eyes was ripped away, but there was no light for his eyes to adjust to. Someone started talking to him, and Zuko had to blink a few times before he made out the face: nondescript, pale, and with an expression of absolute hatred as he spat his words out at Zuko.
“….and while no one else in the Earth Kingdom was smart enough to peg you for what you are, boy, we knew from the second you and that old fool crossed the wall. Fire Nation citizens are not welcome here, let alone firebenders.” He paused for a moment, considered the scar on Zuko’s face. “We don’t practice firebending here and your face is just the first reason why.”
His partner’s feet stepped into Zuko’s field of vision. “No, I say we get along just fine with earthbending.”
“That’s right.” His captor held his hand up in front of Zuko. It was encased in rocks, and it took Zuko all of half a second to realize that this was the same thing that bound his limbs. “Know what these are?”
Then, before Zuko could think of a reply, his hand flipped, palm out towards Zuko. The rocks, still holding the shape of a hand, hit his throat.
The guard flexed his fingers. Zuko felt the pressure around his neck increase. “You wouldn’t believe the things we can use these for.”
His world narrowed, and become focused on the air, sweet air, filling his lungs and clearing his mind, and when it finally occurred to him to open his eyes again, to look, because the pain had gone away, there was a new man crouching in front of him, looking at him quietly with uninterested eyes.
“You two are idiots.” His eyes never left Zuko, but it was clear he wasn’t talking to him. “You have no idea who you’re playing with.”
He straightened and turned away, his knees popping loudly with the motion, and through his haze Zuko noticed how the two guards were standing: not quite defensive, but definitely nervous. This man was a big deal. They were in trouble.
“I know exactly what I want to do with this boy. Do not damage him any further.”
Those were the last words he spoke before he swept out of the room, his long braid twitching behind him as he went.
They released his arms, and his shoulders screamed as they grabbed him by the elbows and lifted him, hauling him up until he was sitting in a chair. The world was still in darkness, leaving Zuko to wonder exactly how these men where getting around, how they knew exactly where was safe to move.
Then a light appeared, and Zuko felt hope flare up along with it. The light moved, and Zuko's eyes followed.
Light meant fire, fire meant safety. Fire was home, fire was base, fire was in his blood itself. He watched, soaking in any measure of comfort he could find.
"Follow the light," a voice ordered, and whether it came from one of the men who'd arrested him or from his own mind he'd never be able to say. "You are safe now. Follow the light."
And Zuko did, keeping his eyes glued to the light, nothing but the light, until there as nothing left in the world except for he, himself, and this light. There was no Uncle, no Avatar, no Fire Lord Ozai, there was no one hunting him, no crazy Jet, no whispers in the shadows of his mind, no honor for him to claim or be denied. Just him, and the light.
And then the light was all that was left.
He was put to work in the kitchens, where he discovered he had an aptitude for brewing tea. The staff were impressed - such talents, they informed him, usually took years to cultivate. Long Feng, he finds with great pride, requests him personally for daily tea, and every day he serves it with honor.
His esteemed leader has even taken to showing him off, standing, putting an arm around his shoulder, and informing their guests, "This is one of the greatest treasures I've come across in Ba Sing Se. I cannot begin to explain to you the joy I feel seeing him come from the kitchens each day."
He had no idea why he should feel so proud of those words, why it should matter to him what Long Feng thought of him - no matter what the man thought of him, he was a lowly servant at the end of the day; and yet the older man was always so kindly towards him. He wanted to make Long Feng proud. The other servants didn't whisper pleasant things about Long Feng, and he knew in his heart that the leader of Ba Sing Se was not a man to be crossed, that it was dangerous to get too close to him.
There was only one other servant who ever talked about Long Feng in anything other than put-out murmurs: an older lady, who called herself Joo Dee. Despite the fact that her outlook was markedly sunnier than her colleagues, he often found himself blanching whenever she spoke.
"They are worthless, useless servants," she was fond of declaring disdainfully. "You know because they have never left the palace. Only the truly loyal, the truly worthy are invited to Lake Laogai.”
Lake Laogai. The name put a pit in his stomach, and despite racking his memory he was sure he'd never been there. Why anticipate it with such dread? Why breathe a sigh of relief when, even though he was clearly favored, clearly loyal, Long Feng had never invited him?
"You can't tell," Joo Dee liked to accuse him. "You can't tell, but only the ones who go to Lake Laogai are truly loyal."
One routine day, almost the same as any other, Li nearly skidded to a halt as he bustled into the dining hall and found that Long Feng had a new personal servant. This alone was an entirely unsurprising development - any number of men or women could be found at Long Feng's side, most of them indistinguishable in their green robes - and so Li wasn't sure what it was about the old man that caused Li's heart to skip a beat, that made him miss a step. The old man didn't look twice at him, and yet Li could not tear his eyes away.
"Li?" Long Feng's voice broke through his distraction. "Tell me what you're offering us today."
"Yes," he answered, giving Long Feng a gracious smile while his brain scrambled to catch up. "Today, in honor of the spring blooms, I've brought you a cherry blossom blend. I hope it will suit your tastes?"
"You've never failed me yet." Li's smile bloomed into a genuine grin at the praise. He served the tea, sneaking glances away from the table when he could. Something about the old man... he was entirely unremarkable, and yet the sight of him made something flash in Li's chest, fresh and bittersweet. There was no reason for him to be having these thoughts, and yet as Li poured, murmuring polite small talk he'd mastered as a servant, he racked his brains, wondering where this tug of familiarity came from.
His distraction ended up costing him dearly. He was rifling through his fuzzy memories when the teacup he'd been filling overflowed, splashing tea over the saucer, and dripping on the noblewoman Long Feng had been lunching with.
"Oh!" she cried, her arms flying out, her chair tilting back and nearly falling over.
In a flash, Li had a small towel in his hands, spewing apologies faster than he could compose them in his mind. Too late, he noticed that Long Feng's servant had moved to help as well. Their hands collided midair.
Li felt as though he'd been struck by lightning.
He reeled back, his heel catching the hem of his robe and nearly forcing him to the ground. He caught his balance, barely, and stared at the old man, his mind racing, groping for the correct words, thoughts, feelings. "You - you!"
Long Feng abruptly stood up from his seat. "Li, the king wishes to extend an invitation to Lake Laogai."
Everything fled. All at once, his world expanded, collapsed, and coalesced into the light.
The light was all that was left.
The cot in his dungeon was little more than cloth and sticks. He laid on the little bed, his head pillowed by his forearms, and wondered what he was doing there and what was going on. His memories were little more than sand running through his fingers. It seemed like he could remember everything and therefore nothing, like his brain was so full that when he tried to reach for something, there was always another thing blocking it.
His head perked as something rang outside his door: a disturbance carrying its way down the hall, led by the voice of a female.
"So this is where my brother is kept when Long Feng isn't showing him off like some trophy?" He blinked at the noise, unable to help the shiver down his spine at the voice. "Open this door! Open it now before I melt it off the hinges!"
He sat up in alarm. They were opening his door. There was a long, heart skipping creak, and then the silhouette of two in the doorway. He licked his lips.
A woman stepped into the room - no, a girl. The shadows in the room and the glint in her eyes added years to her, but once he looked at her he had no doubt she was young. And still the guard with her nearly cowered at her presence. She bent over, made eye contact with him, and snapped impatiently.
"Hey Zuzu," she said impatiently in his face. "Remember me? I hear they've been making you serve tea."
He had no idea what to say, utterly sure that the incorrect response would go badly for him. He'd never seen this girl before, but all of his instincts were screaming, begging him to get away. She stared into his eyes for a minute longer and finally straightened up, turning back to the guard.
"He really doesn't remember." she seemed impressed.
"Of course, Princess Azula. We can make him believe anything we want. Long Feng has perfected the technique." There was a long pause after he finished. Azula's eyes flashed, and the guard tried not to visibly shrink back.
"Well he's not in charge of it anymore," Azula declared, turning away from him. "He's lost the Avatar and I'm not sure how my father will feel, having Zuko returned to him in this condition. At least he doesn't have to worry about his honor anymore."
She started to exit the room, then stopped, pausing in the thresh hold, looked at him and the guard in turn. Finally she asked, "You can make him believe anything?"
His world was dark. He couldn't see a thing, couldn't hear a thing, but he knew he wasn't alone, knew there were others in the room with him. He trembled against his restraints while he waited for them to make themselves known. He wasn't sure how he knew: he was nothing more than a simple tea merchant who'd been dragged here against his will. He knew that to be fact. He could feel the heat of the sun in his mind, could feel how his throat was hoarse from yelling for customers. He wasn't even sure what he'd done wrong, he was nothing more than a merchant, had been born and raised in Ba Sing Se. He'd taken over the business from family.
And then the light appeared, and he felt something in his chest flare up. Could it be...
The light came closer, and his heart skipped a beat as her face appeared behind it. Her eyes glittered as she loomed over him.
"Firebender," she whispered, and held out her hands. Blue flames danced at her fingertips.
"Never!" he insisted, trying to lean away, trying to back away from the fire. Everyone knew firebenders weren't wanted, weren't tolerated in the Earth Kingdom. He had roots in the city. Why was he here?
She brought her hand closer to his bare chest, her fingertips inches away from his skin. He could feel sweat beading at his brow, and he pulled at his restraints until he felt something slick running against his skin. She was going to burn him, she couldn't - !
"Please no!" he pleaded, and then her hand brushed his chest.
The pain that came with it was blinding. He screamed, tried to arch away, and through it all heard her laughing at him.
His world narrowed, and despair threatened to swallow him up. All that was left was him and the light. Him and the light and the one behind it, the smell of burned flesh and the confusion in his mind.
All he wanted was to go home.
Then the light was all that was left.
Lux et Lex: lit.: light and law.