Dark Puck - Blood Ties

Weeks had passed since the incident with the poison, and the Firelord had managed to completely recover — something he would never, ever admit how privately relieved he was over. Of all the times he had come within a hair of dying, nothing had scared him quite as much as the loss of control he’d experienced that day.

And then Mai’s reply to Shang’s letter arrived.

He read it, swore, and went to see the Firelord.  “There’s a big problem.”

“All right, what is it?”

“Read this,” Shang replied, passing him the letter.

Zuko took the letter, skimmed it, blanched, then read it again, a little more thoroughly.

“This is probably why they decided to hit now,” Shang said quietly.

The other man just nodded, still staring at the paper.

“Uh… Zuko?”

The Firelord remained silent. Unconsciously, his hand drifted up to touch the left side of his face. What damage have I done by not being there?

“Zuko?  Are you here?”

Still silence. What happens when I have a legitimate child and have to disinherit this one? What damage does that do? Oh, spirits, why didn’t I ever consider this? Tù Zi, has to be Tù Zi, she and Katara are the only ones I’ve ever… What the hell kind of damage am I going to do to this child?

“Zuko!”

He jumped, forcing himself up out of that spiral of fear and self-doubt. “Huh?”

His bodyguard looked worried.  “Are you all right?”

“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine, I just… I need to go talk to Katara.”

Shang nodded.  “Yeah.”

The Firelord pushed himself up and, still in shock, left his cane behind in his haste to find his wife and confess to his secret, unknown bastard.  Rolling his eyes, Shang grabbed the cane and followed Zuko.

When he found Katara, in her usual spot on the ground, he just handed her the letter and stood there, waiting for her to finish and respond.  Shang moved forward, handed him the cane with a glare, then retreated to enough of a distance to give them privacy.  The Firelady did not seem happy. Not at all.

Well, with news like that her husband had just brought her…

However, after a long argument, she seemed to accept that he hadn’t known about the child until he’d gotten Mai’s letter — though she still looked rather irritated.

Not that he could blame her.  Shang had a little boy himself by now, and had resigned himself to the fact that if he was to marry, his wife would not be pleased by this.

Their conversation seemed to have calmed down, and now seemed to be more strategic than lecturing.

A relief, that.  Shang sighed.  Iroh would have to be informed, and the child found.  The letter had indicated that the Róng Yào  no longer had the child in hand.

After a minute, annoyed, Katara jerked Zuko down so he was sitting, then they continued their discussion.

The guard couldn’t help but snicker at that.  At some point, it sounded like Katara had interrupted herself to lecture him again, this time about leaving his cane behind.  All this did was earn another round of muffled sniggers from Shang.

When she was about halfway through her tirade, another guard came by, to relieve Shang. “…what’s she lecturing him about?” he whispered.

“The usual,” he replied quietly.  “If anyone needs me, I went to see the General.”

He nodded, saluted, and settled himself on the ground, just far enough to give the couple a little privacy.

Li Shang then made his way to Iroh’s office and entered.  “Bad news,” he announced.

“What is it?” the general asked.

“Your nephew has a kid.”

Iroh stared at him for a long moment. “A child. That… makes an odd sort of sense.”

“And explains why they struck when they did,” Shang agreed.

“Yes, that too.”

“Which means that the Róng Yào  have this kid.”

“Which is a very bad thing,” the old man said, softly. “Hopefully, Katara has managed to convince Zuko not to search for the child himself by now.”

“…he would, too, wouldn’t he,” muttered Shang.  “Self-sacrificing idiot.”

“Make sure he doesn’t sneak out, would you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anything else to report?”

“No, sir,” was the reply.

Iroh nodded. “All right then.”

“Orders, sir?”

“Same as before, and take added precautions to make sure that Zuko doesn’t go looking for the child personally.”

Shang bowed and let himself out of the office.

As Iroh had predicted, the Firelord attempted to sneak out that night to go find his bastard. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Firelord?” asked Shang quietly from his position underneath the window.

“To find my kid,” he replied, evenly, continuing to climb down.

“No, sir,” the soldier said.  “You’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“You can’t go haring off like this.”

“I have to find my kid.”

“Leave that to Kouji and to Lady Mai,” urged Shang.

“My kid,” Zuko repeated, icily, glaring at the soldier. “I’ve done enough damage by not being there already.”

“You didn’t even know the kid existed!” Shang told him.  “It isn’t your fault you weren’t there.”

“I should have followed through with Tù Zi. It’s not like I didn’t know this was possible,” the Firelord replied, blushing faintly.

“You were seventeen and had other things on your mind at the time,” the sergeant pointed out.

“Look, whatever excuses I might have had then, I know now. And I’m going to find my kid.”

“You can’t,” Shang snapped at him.  “It’s too risky.”

“I have to. And it’s no riskier than staying here. At least out there, I’m a moving target.”

“And let the Róng Yào spread rumours that you’re running scared?”

“I’m not running scared.”

“I know that.  But will your people know?”

He paused a little, still dangling from his rope on the wall. “…Fine. I’ll take another day or two to plan this better, then I’ll leave.”

“Don’t wake your wife when you climb back in,” advised his bodyguard.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied, almost smiling, then turned his attention to climbing back in.

Li Shang sighed in relief.  Now to figure out how to keep him here two days hence.

Easier said than done. Two days later, Zuko had made it to the outer wall surrounding the palace grounds before he got caught.

“Zuko…,” said Shang, annoyed.  “I told you — you can’t go haring off on your own like this.  And yes, I am aware that this is your child here.”

“And I dealt with the image problems leaving will cause. And my point about being a moving target still stands,” he snapped back.

“If you’re out there, it’ll make it easier to get at you,” hissed Shang.  “The palace has been compromised -– they will find out you’re gone.  While you’re here, we can keep you alive.”

“While I’m here, I’m easy to find, especially if the palace has been compromised. If I’m moving, they may know I’m gone, but they don’t know exactly where.”

Shang’s eyes narrowed.  The Firelord had a point, damn him.  “Fine,” he said at last.  “But you’re not going on your own.”

Zuko considered this for a moment, then nodded shortly. “Fine.”

“Then lead the way.”

He nodded again, and led the way off the grounds and out of the city.