Rating: G
Spoilers: If "The Storm" counts still.
Character/Pairing: Azula, Zuko
Author's Note: Written for
31_days: 13 April, “the confusion of mind you dub honor.” Thank you to the lovely and talented
juxtaposie for the beta! <3 (Title is from the song "Fake Palindromes.")
Warnings: None
Summary: Azula pays Zuko a brief visit after his Agni Kai.
Blood in Her Eyes
Azula strides along the empty corridor to the room in which Zuko rests. She isn't sure she's allowed to be there; her father has ignored him since he was dragged out of the stadium and the servants have been instructed to ignore him as well, but not being allowed somewhere has never stopped her before.
She reaches the door and looks inside. Iroh, for once, is nowhere to be seen. He's been keeping vigil over his nephew, but at the moment he has gone to get some tea. Azula knew he'd have to get it himself, with no servants nearby to get it for him, and is glad she timed it so well. Nobody will notice her brief visit.
She studies her brother. Supposedly, the physician has managed to save his eye and Zuko sleeps the only way he can sleep since the Agni Kai - he's been given a sedative. The pain would otherwise be too much. Half his face is bandaged, but Azula knows when they come off - if she ever sees him again after they do, that is - his face will be scarred almost beyond recognition. She allows a brief smile, imagining, then looks back at him.
Azula has always called him “dum-dum,” but she had no idea he would be so stupid as to talk out of turn at a war meeting. And why? To save a couple of recruits, people he didn't know and never would know, for such a stupid reason as honor.
And just look where your honor got you, Zuzu, she thinks with a slight sneer. Was it really worth it? Banished, sent on a wild rabbit-goose chase?
With any luck he'll spend the next fifty years searching, or perhaps fall prey to an Earth Kingdom ambush. She realises she doesn't really care, as long as she doesn't have to see him again.
She turns and leaves, one less obstacle in her way.