Dark Puck - Blood Lines

And so, things were relatively quiet as winter turned to spring. Zuko managed to find creative ways to skip several of his sessions, of course — it was eminently clear to those few who knew about them that he hated them, hated reopening those old wounds. He almost found himself wishing for something to happen that ate up enough time that he didn’t have to face those hours in a quiet, secluded part of the palace grounds.

In early spring, he got what he wished for — and then some. The Fire Nation was made up of a string of volcanic islands. Many of them were active. One of them erupted — explosively.  Among those packed away immediately to help at the site were Toph, Minami, and Leilani; Toph and Minami to help keep lava flow and heat from the refugees and Leilani to heal the wounded.

In the confusion of the relief efforts, Firelord Zuko managed to slip off and follow them — something which managed to go unnoticed for several hours.  Kouji, missing his earthbending teacher and going crazy with a lack of things to do, was the first to notice.  When he did, he went running straight to Iroh.

Iroh’s normally quiet — if cluttered — office was a flurry of activity, and, so, he didn’t notice the boy right away.

Kouji made himself noticed, pushing past a few people until he was in front of Iroh.  “Zuko’s gone.”

“…what?”

“He’s gone.  I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Sir,” one of the soldiers in the room said. “You don’t think he…”

“…dammit! I thought I’d talked him out of that.”

Kouji looked both angry and wounded.  “Should I go after him?”

“Yes,” Iroh said. “He probably went to the volcano itself. Dammit! I’ll hold things together here. Please remind him how very risky this is — apart from the fact that it would be too damn easy to assassinate him and make it look like an accident, he could have a real accident, as well.”

Kouji bowed and ran off to finagle himself aboard the next transport to the island.

He spent the whole voyage leaning over the rail.

When he got there, he was informed, briskly, that no one under sixteen was being allowed up on the mountain itself — which, unfortunately for Kouji, was precisely where Zuko was.

Kouji didn’t even attempt to argue.  Instead, he made himself useful down below while waiting for the Firelord to return.

Which he did, three or four hours later — possibly around sunset. The smoke made it difficult to tell. “…Kouji?” he called, rasping a little, when he saw the younger boy. “What’re you doing here?”

“Iroh sent me,” Kouji replied.

The Firelord coughed softly. “Ah.”

“He wanted me to remind you how risky this is,” Kouji said, coughing himself.  “Not only could an assassin get you here, you could also have a bad accident.”

“Yes, he explained all that before I left,” Zuko replied, frowning worriedly at the boy. He shouldn’t be here…  “Listen, I’m glad you’re here,” he said, on a moment of inspiration. “I need you to do something for me.”

“…what?” asked Kouji warily.  He was afraid Zuko would order him back without leaving himself.

He started to answer, interrupted himself coughing again, then, when he caught his breath, “I need you to contact the Sun Warriors for me. I’ll give you a letter, they know me. Their style of firebending is different from the standard here, they might be able to help.”

Kouji blinked.  “The Sun Warriors?  I’ve never—” he broke off to cough; one of the medics approached them with a glare and bound wet cloth over their mouths and noses before delivering a short lecture on the dangers of ash and leaving.

“I’ll draw you a map, you’ll be able to find them,” Zuko assured him. “Can you do this for me?” It’ll get him away from all this ash without pissing him off by sending him home.

“…yeah, but what about—?”

“I need to be here right now,” he said, quietly. “I know it’s dangerous, but… Kouji, I’m doing more for my people in an hour here than I can do in a day back at the palace.” This wasn’t precisely true, and he knew that, but the results here were tangible, which was definitely more than he could say for staying behind.

The young nobleman bit his lip, looking down at the ground.  “You… you’re at least being careful, right?”

“As careful as I can,” he replied.

He hesitated, and then hugged Zuko.

Zuko hugged back, briefly. “I’ll write out that letter and map for you,” he said.

“All right.”

He smiled a bit behind his filter and, a few minutes later, had written out the papers and handed them to the younger boy.

“When do you want me to go?”

“As soon as possible. We need all the help we can get.”

“…should I go now?”

“Might be a good idea.”

Kouji nodded.  “Right.  Right.  Um.  You’ll tell Iroh?”

“I’ll make sure he knows,” Zuko assured him.

“Thank you.”  Kouji looked at the map and winced.  “Boats.  It had to be boats.  …do boats even go to that island!?”

“Rarely,” the monarch replied, smiling slightly behind his filter. “But not to the part where you’re going, you’ll have to go on foot for a while.”

“But what if a boat isn’t going to that island at all?”

“Tell them I sent you, and I want them to go to that island.”

The youngster nodded.  “And one last thing before I go, are there any spare glaives here?  I left mine at the palace.”

“I don’t know,” the Firelord admitted. “There’s a supply tent for the volunteer soldiers over there. You could ask.”

“Right.  Thanks.”  The boy quickly headed off that way.

They did, indeed, have a spare glaive for him.  Thanking them, Kouji set off, steeling himself for a miserable trip.

The less said about the watery part of the voyage, the better. But they made good time, and reached the island without serious incident. The overland trip was also, thankfully, speedy and relatively boring.

Until he reached the ancient city.

Kouji’s grey eyes widened as he stared.  He’d never seen architecture like this in his entire life; it was like stepping into a completely different world.  It took him a moment to pull himself together and head down into the place, taking care where he placed his bare feet.

Zuko had warned him about the traps.

After a while, he got the sneaking suspicion that he was being followed.  He shifted his grip on the glaive slightly, checked his weight, then whirled without warning, bringing the weapon into a combative position as he settled his feet in a bending stance, to find that the supposed threat was a small, black, shiny lizardlike animal, with tiny wings. It was about three feet long, from its nose to the tip of its tail. It tilted its head and stared at him.

Kouji stared back at it.  “…what the hell…?”  He’d never seen anything like it before.  He settled his glaive butt-first in the rock and crouched to get a closer look at the animal.

It continued to stare at him.

He hesitated, then offered a hand for it to sniff.

It did so, then sneezed, a faint tendril of smoke coming out of its nostrils.

“…you’re a dragon,” he whispered, eyes wide.

It made a little mewling noise, and nuzzled his pockets, probably looking for food.  Laughing a little, Kouji offered it some of the meat he’d had for lunch, then got to his feet.  “Enjoy, little one.  I have to go look for people now.”

The baby dragon ate the meat he gave it, then proceeded to continue to follow him.  Kouji tried to ignore it, but the little thing was so cute he found it an exceedingly difficult task.  He had to remind himself several times that Zuko was counting on him to find the Sun Warriors.

It was not long, however, before they found him.

“Step away from the baby,” a furious voice ordered.

Startled by the voice, Kouji whirled, bringing his glaive up into a defensive position.  He hadn’t even felt the vibrations of anyone approaching!

A tall, thin man glared at him, holding a flame in his right hand. This, then, must be a Sun Warrior. “Step. Away,” he repeated.

Surprisingly, the baby dragon slithered between Kouji and the stranger, hissing at the tall man, hackles raised.

Not wanting to antagonise the people Zuko wanted to ask for help, Kouji obeyed the order, keeping the glaive up.

The baby continued hissing and spitting smoke at the warrior, daring him to come closer.

“…Who are you, and what do you want?” the tall man asked, suspiciously, not coming any closer. Baby though the dragon might have been, its fangs and claws were sharp.

“My name is Kouji,” the boy replied.  “I’m here on behalf of Firelord Zuko.”

The tall man frowned. “Come with me,” he said, after a long moment.

The boy acceded and shifted his weapon to a one-handed carrying stance, using it like a walking stick as he followed the warrior.

The black baby dragon, still glaring at the tall man, followed close at Kouji’s heels.

The tall man led the boy to a group of other men dressed as he was, some holding fire, some not.

One of them, apparently the leader, repeated the first Sun Warrior’s question. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Despite his nervousness in front of these men, he nonetheless held himself proudly and bowed to them.  “I am Kouji.  Firelord Zuko sent me to ask for aid.”  Reaching into his shirt, he proffered the letter.

One of the assembled warriors took the letter and gave it to the chief, who scanned it, then folded it and set it aside. “What are you doing with our baby?”

Now Kouji looked confused.  “Um… what?”

The first man he’d met, the tall one, made an impatient noise and gestured towards the black dragonling. “Our baby.” It hissed at him, hackles raised again.

“N-nothing!” the boy said immediately, worried that this would get him into trouble.  “It just started following me…”

“She’s bonded him,” one of the other men said suddenly, watching the baby.

“Huh?”  Kouji got the feeling he’d missed something along the way.

The chief sighed. “Dragons have been known to bond, either with other dragons or, more rarely, with humans. Not all dragons bond. Apparently, this baby has bonded with you.”

“…how?”

“We don’t really know. It just happens.”

“…oh.”  Kouji fell quiet, looking down at the little dragon.

She stared back up at him, making a little mewling noise of contentment.

Kouji hesitated, then looked up at the chief.  “Um… could you teach me to take care of her, then?”

“It’s not that difficult,” one of the other warriors, the one who’d said that she had bonded with him, said. “Mostly you need to be careful that she doesn’t grow too attached. She’ll be too big to follow you around everywhere before long.”

“…how big do dragons get?”

“Quite large,” the man replied. “About as long as this plaza, from nose to tail. Maybe a bit longer.”

Kouji’s jaw dropped; his mouth worked, but nothing came out, given him no uncertain resemblance to a fish.

“Why don’t I show you how to feed and clean her, while the others discuss what help to send your lord?”

Two responsibilities warred within him, then he realised that his presence during the discussion probably wouldn’t affect the outcome.  “Yes, please,” he said gratefully.

The Warrior smiled, and led him away.

By the time he was finished showing Kouji the basics of caring for his new little friend, the rest of the tribe had come to a decision — four of their firebenders were sent back with Kouji to help at the volcano.

Kouji was grateful and thanked them several times.  He did his level best to travel at the pace they set, feeling a strange urge to be seen as an adult in their eyes.

His horrific seasickness once they got seabound did not help him at all in this.

By the time he got back to the volcano, the people at the site had, apparently, realized that their Firelord was there — and probably shouldn’t be. Zuko had gone home.

Minami and Toph, however, were still there.

Followed by the baby dragon, who he had named Qiang, Kouji went looking for Minami — Toph was well able to care for herself, but Minami…

He found her, just coming down off the mountain, helped along by a young soldier who had, apparently, been assigned as her partner, to catch her if she fell. Despite wearing a filter similar to the ones the on-site medics kept pushing on the young nobleman, she was coughing violently.

Kouji immediately ran to fetch her some soothing tea, covering it to keep the ash out as he returned to her.  “Here,” he said quietly, blushing from head to toe.

“Thank you, sir,” she managed to gasp out, between spasms, accepting the tea with eyes lowered.

“How long has she been here?” Kouji asked the soldier with her.

“Since the beginning, sir,” he replied, bowing slightly, then turning a worried frown on the noblewoman.

Kouji frowned now.  “She should have gone back by now.  I assume Healer Leilani left with the Firelord?”

“Yes, sir,” the older boy — he was a few months younger than Zuko, barely old enough to be in the army at all — replied.

“Damn!”  Kouji thought, eyeing Minami for a moment.  “…I don’t think she can stay here much longer.”

“I’ve been trying to convince my CO to send her back for a couple days now, sir,” the young soldier offered.

Grey eyes narrowed.  “And he refuses?”

“I-I can only tell him how bad she’s coughing and suggest, sir,” the other boy said, somewhat miserably.

“Who is he?” Kouji asked.  “I’ll talk to him.”

“I’ll take you to him,” the soldier replied, relieved.

“Minami, stay here,” Kouji told her.  “Unless a healer asks you to move.”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered, coughing again despite the tea.

Controlling his anger — he’d picked up some good habits from the Sun Warriors to counter the bad ones from Zuko — Kouji turned to the soldier.  “All right.”

The soldier bowed and led Kouji to his CO — a fortyish man in military dress.

The boy went for the route of politeness first, which had yet to hurt any of his causes.  “Excuse me, captain?”

He looked up. “Can I help you?” he asked, mildly patronizing. He didn’t recognize Kouji.

Kouji drew himself up to his full height, bridling slightly at the tone.  Forget asking.  Minami was going back to the palace.  “I wanted to inform you that I am taking Lady Minami back to the capital.”

“On whose authority?” the captain asked, derisively.

“Mine.”

The captain arched an eyebrow. “Then I’m afraid I’ll have to deny your request. We still need her help here.”

“That was an order, captain.  Not a request.”

“I don’t believe you have the authority to give me orders,” he replied sharply.

“I believe you’re mistaken,” Kouji snapped back.  “I am Lord Kouji.”

The captain’s eyebrows shot up again. “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

There was a long silence, then the captain sighed. “Very well. I cede her to your authority, milord.”

“Thank you.”  Kouji retreated quickly and made arrangements to take Minami (and himself) back to the palace, then checked to be certain the Sun Warriors were being treated with the respect they deserved.

The Sun Warriors were, indeed, being treated with all due deference, and were already on the mountain, doing what they could to calm the eruption.  Sighing in relief, Kouji found Minami again.

She was right where he’d left her, curled up, still coughing.

“Lady Minami?” he asked, blushing again.

“Yes, sir?” she asked, shifting position so she was kneeling.

“We’re going back to the palace on the next boat out of here,” he told her.

She looked relieved, though she tried to hide it. Breathing had hurt for ages by now, and it would hopefully hurt less when she got away from the ash. “Yes, sir…”

“Which is before sunset.  Pack your thing— no, tell me where they are.  I’ll pack them.”

“Y-yes, sir,” she said, then started coughing again. When she’d caught her breath, she told him.

He told Qiang to stay with the noblewoman — hopefully, nobody would bother Minami with the dragonet there to guard her — and went to pack Minami’s clothing.

The baby dragon curled up at Minami’s feet, seeming to understand the need to be gentle here.

By sundown, boy and albino were headed back to the capital, and Kouji was praying for the ride to be over quickly.

The ride, luckily, went as smoothly as possible, given the still-volatile state of the island, and brought them to the capital without any serious incidents, save for Kouji losing his dinner.  Once they were ashore, Kouji did his best to ignore his nausea and got Minami to the infirmary.

Minami, still coughing constantly, followed obediently where he led.

“Doctor Chang?” called Kouji on arriving.

“Lord Kouji, Lady Minami, welcome home,” one of the other doctors said. “Doctor Chang isn’t in today.”

“He isn’t?  Damn.”  Kouji thought.  “Could you check Lady Minami out, please?  She’s coughing pretty badly.”

“Of course,” the doctor replied, bowing again, and leading Minami off to be examined.

Sighing, the boy sank into a seat and tried not to be sick — the nausea was lingering today.

One of the other doctors noticed. “Are you all right, sir?”

“I don’t travel well on boats.”

“Wait here for a moment,” she said, then disappeared and returned a while later with a cup of tea. “This should help with the nausea.”

“Thank you,” he said gratefully, drinking.

“You’re welcome, milord,” she replied, bowing and returning to her regular duties.

Once his stomach had settled, Kouji chirped to Qiang — he had a tendency to try and use dragon sounds with her — and went to report to Zuko.

Qiang, who had been dozing at his feet, sighed, got up, and followed him.

It took him nearly an hour to track the Firelord down, which was somewhat irksome — he seemed to be continuously just missing him.

Finally, however, he managed to find Zuko — doing paperwork at his desk when he was supposed to be eating dinner.

Kouji heaved a vexed sigh.  “Hello, Zuko.”

“Kouji! You’re back,” the Firelord said, smiling a little at his young aide and looking up. “…where’d the dragon come from?”

“…um, from the Sun Warriors.  Sort of.”

Qiang mewed imperiously at the young Firelord and butted her head under his hand, demanding attention. Zuko smiled a little wider, and scritched behind her ears. “Well, it’s adorable. Aren’t you, kanojo?”

Kouji grinned.  “Her name is Qiang.  The Sun Warriors said that she bonded to me.”

Qiang licked Zuko’s hand, then, apparently figuring there was no food in his pockets for her, drifted back to Kouji.

Introductions made, Kouji then reported to Zuko, adding at the end that he’d brought Minami back with him.  “She probably should have been sent back a while ago, if she’s really doing as badly as you said,” the Firelord replied, frowning slightly.

“The soldier they had watching her had been trying,” Kouji told him.  “His commander wouldn’t allow it.”

“…idiot,” the older boy replied, along with several other less-polite words. “Well, she’s here now, we’ll have to hope for the best.”

“I left her in the infirmary.”

“Good.” Zuko smiled slightly again, then turned back to his paperwork, frowning again.

“Something up?”

“Just the usual problems, plus resettling all the refugees,” Zuko assured him. This was only half the truth — his ill-advised trip to the island had reminded his nobles that he was still unmarried, and had no heir and a nasty habit of almost dying several times a year. Sooner or later, the odds would catch up with him. Better by far to ensure the succession before that day — preferably by attaching the crown to a young lady from one’s own family tree.

“When was the last time you ate?”

The young monarch gave a rather vexed sigh. “Do we have to do this now, Kouji?” which probably meant something along the lines of “I don’t remember, leave me alone.”

“…okay, how long are you going to be here, and where is your next meeting?”

“Twenty more minutes, in the throne room. Why?”

“No reason,” said Kouji innocently, vacating the room before Zuko could react.  He headed immediately for the kitchens.

Qiang followed him, claws clicking a little against the stone floor. He’d managed to get her to spend time away from him on the trip from the Sun Warrior city, and then on the trip back to the palace from the volcano, but she preferred to stay close to something familiar until she got the feel of this new place.

Kouji didn’t mind.  He was fond of his new companion.  On reaching his destination, the boy ordered a meal for Zuko, making sure they were foods that could be easily transported and quickly eaten.

Qiang, meanwhile, appropriated the heartstrings of all the kitchen staff, and got a few tidbits for her trouble.

“Sneaky beast,” he told her as he headed for the throne room.

She made her little contented noise, and followed him.

Zuko arrived around the same time as they did.

“Here,” said Kouji, offering the food to Zuko with a slight smile.

Zuko blinked — he looked a little harried, having just barely managed to extricate himself from a situation with a particularly pushy nobleman who had an eminently eligible sister — and then replied, “Oh, right, thanks,” managed a smile, and accepted the food.

“…you look stressed,” Kouji commented, looking him over.

“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” he said, dismissively, then wolfed down the food. “I need to be in there. We’ll talk later, okay?” and he was gone.

The boy scowled.  “He’s hiding things from me.”

Qiang sighed, as if agreeing.

“…I wonder if Iroh knows what the problem is.”  He glanced at her.  “Want to meet the Dragon of the West?”

She blew a smoke ring.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She chirped a little and made ready to follow.  Kouji led her to Iroh’s office, where he knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” the general called.

“Hello, general,” said Kouji, entering with his reptilian shadow, which immediately bounded over to Iroh and licked his hand.

“It seems you have developed a tagalong,” the old man said, face completely straight, giving Qiang a cookie from his pocket.

“Rather unexpectedly,” Kouji said dryly.

“Well, your tagalong is precious,” he replied, scritching her behind her ears. “Did you have a good trip?”

“Yes.  Even the sidetrip was eventful, as you can see.”

“I can indeed.”

Kouji hesitated.  “Do you know what’s bothering Zuko now?”

“Aside from the usual messes and resettling the disaster refugees, you mean?” Iroh asked.

He nodded.  “Yeah.” 

Iroh sighed. “Marriage.”

“…what?”

“He’s being put under a considerable amount of pressure to marry and assure the succession.”

“…oh.  Girls.”

“And their relatives,” the General agreed. “They won’t leave him alone.”

“No wonder he looked cranky.”

“Indeed.”

Kouji pondered this for awhile.

“Unfortunately, they have a point, so there isn’t much we can do,” Iroh said quietly.

The boy shuddered.  “I’m glad I’m not him.  Girls.”

The old man laughed a bit. “It probably wouldn’t be driving him quite this crazy, but on top of the crisis and the usual business of the realm…

“I see your point,” Kouji murmured.

“Was there anything else you wanted?”

“…Minami may not be able to assist at the academy for awhile.”

He frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Quietly, Kouji explained the noblewoman’s situation.  Iroh looked furious, and muttered something rude about people who saw gifts rather than other human beings.

“At least she’s here now?”

“And being taken care of,” he agreed.

Kouji smiled.  “Need me to do anything?”

“Not at the moment, no,” Iroh said, smiling back.

“Then I think I’m going to go crash,” the boy replied, stifling a yawn.  “It’s been a long day.”

“Go sleep, then.”

Kouji bowed and wandered off to seek out his bed.