Dark Puck -

It took him a week, but Aang finally did manage to convince Zuko that he needed a break. The Firelord took another week to get everything as settled as possible, then the two of them took off on Appa.

Kouji watched them go, leaning against Qiang. No matter what he said, he still hadn’t fully recovered from nearly dying during the coup, but he refused to allow the Firelord to see how quickly and easily he tired.

Katara, however, had picked up on it. “You should take it easy,” she told him. “And now that Zuko’s gone on his trip, you don’t have to worry about setting off his guilt complex to do it.”

The teenager winced. “You’re not going to give me a choice in this, are you.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then I’m not going to waste my breath in arguing with you.”

“Good boy.” She ruffled his hair, smiling.

He ducked away from her hand. “Katara! I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Part of me will always see that adorable little eleven-year-old following Zuko around like a puppy,” she replied, cheerfully.

He scowled and flushed. “I was eleven and he reminded me of Yui.”

“It was still adorable.”

Kouji sighed. “You’re never gonna let me live it down, are you.”

“Probably not, no,” she said, still smiling at him.

“At least I’ll never have a girlfriend for you to embarrass me in front of.”

“You never know,” she said, philosophically.

“What do I need a girlfriend for? I’ve got Qiang.”

“Well, we’ll see. You never know, you might meet someone special enough to make you change your mind.”

“I’d have to get past that whole ‘scared of girls’ thing,” Kouji pointed out. “Which is never going to happen.”

“Not overall, maybe, but you’ve gotten over it for specific girls before,” she replied.

“…you’re you. Toph is my bending master. And Yui doesn’t count.”

“You might find some other girl who ends up not scaring you. Or Toph. I think she’s always secretly liked you.”

Predictably, Kouji turned bright pink. “She does not!”

Katara laughed. “No, I don’t think she does. But I got you to blush, which was the whole point, anyways.”

“Katara!”

She smiled sweetly at him.

He glared at her.

“Come on. Let’s go inside. You should probably lie down for a while.”

Kouji sighed and followed her. “This sucks,” he complained. “I’m sixteen. I’m not supposed to get tired like this.”

“You were also almost beaten to death a few months ago. You haven’t gotten all your strength back yet.”

He sighed. “Nice to be thought of as important.”

“Isn’t it?”

Kouji just groaned in reply and leaned against her as if he was eleven again. She hugged him and ruffled his hair again. “How’s Mito taking the vacation?” the boy asked after a few moments.

“Pretty well,” Katara said, though that wasn’t entirely true. But Kouji probably didn’t need to know that Zuko had been stabbed right in front of his son, and Mito was worried that the same thing would happen again on this trip.

“That’s good. He adores Zuko so much.”

“He really does,” she said, smiling. Which is a relief, considering.

“And he’s got Yui to mother him. And you too.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Lucky kid.”

She smiled a bit, colouring slightly at the flattery.

“Made you blush,” he teased, then slipped away to avoid retaliation.

Yui smiled lazily as she slipped out of the room, smoothing down her tangled hair and adjusting her shirt. Once boundaries had been established with the aides, she had made certain to be friendly to the poor guards who had to clean up after the mess. Very friendly. It never hurt to be nice to the men who were supposed to keep you safe, after all.

That was when she heard a child crying in a nearby closet.

The smile slipped. Mito? Quietly, she approached the closet and opened the door a crack.

The boy was in there, hugging his knees to his chest, trying to cry as quietly as possible so no one would hear.

“Mikoto?” she asked quietly. “What’s wrong?”

He jumped, sniffed a little, and rubbed at his eyes. “N-nothing…” he lied.

“…are you sure? You’re crying.”

“Y-you heard me… ?”

She nodded. “I was… um, passing through.”

“O-oh…”

Wordlessly, Yui knelt and opened her arms for him.

He didn’t go over just yet, biting his lip. “D-daddy’s coming home, right?”

“Of course he is, love,” she told him.

“B-but what if someone stabs him again?” He was leaking tears again.

“Nobody’s going to stab him again,” she assured him. “They’d have to get through Aang and Appa first, and then they’d have to get through the Firelord himself.”

“B-but that lady st-stabbed him before…”

“That was different,” Yui said softly. “She was Sergeant Li Shang’s second-in-command. Nobody knew she was with the Róng Yào, not even Shang or Iroh. Nobody suspected that she would do that. Out there, Aang and Lord Zuko are going to be very careful.”

Now he flung himself into Yui’s arms, clinging desperately and still crying, still half-convinced his daddy was never coming back.

The young woman cradled him against her, stroking his hair gently. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “Zuko will be back. I promise.”

“Okay,” he whispered, burying his head in her shoulder and hoping desperately she was right.

Yui closed her eyes as she held him and comforted him, feeling rage well up inside her. She blamed a good deal of his on Mikoto’s drunkard of a mother. At length, he stopped crying, but remained curled up against her, still breathing a little raggedly. She kissed the top of his head and rose, still holding him against her chest. “Everything will be fine, Mito,” she promised again.

“Okay,” he said, clinging a little tighter.

She never found him crying in a closet again, but he asked every day if Daddy was back yet, and always seemed disappointed when the answer was no. As a result, Yui lessened her daylight liaisons to zero, and rather than show friendship to a rather burly guard one night, chose instead to visit the boy and make sure he was doing all right.

Finally, a month after Zuko and Aang had taken off together, the Avatar returned the Firelord — in one piece, and carrying a little more weight and a little less hell in his eyes. Someone was smart enough to send for Katara; even more fortunately, Mito was with her when word came in.

And so, the child came tearing out of the palace, a minute or so ahead of his stepmother. “DADDY! DADDYDADDYDADDY!” He flung himself at his father, who, startled by the sudden outpouring of affection, was nearly bowled over by it.

“H-hey, Mito…”

Yui trailed behind the Firelady, carrying one of the twins so Katara would have a free arm with which to greet her husband. “Let him breathe, Mito,” she said, gently, laughing a little, and greeting her husband with a kiss. “Welcome home.”

Kouji’s twin smiled slightly as she held baby Yuki, enjoying the reunion. Mikoto had come a long way from the poor kid who had been told his father was a bad man. For his part, the Firelord seemed delighted to see his family. He limped over to Yui to say hello to Yuki, and Aang, just barely audible, whispered to Katara, “I told you I’d bring him back in one piece. You had nothing to worry about.”

Smiling, Yui proffered the Firelord’s daughter to him so he could hold her. “Thank you,” he said, taking the infant. “Hi, there.” She reached up and pulled his hair. The young woman stepped back to give them space. Mito and Katara, holding Aiko, joined him.

In turn, Yui retreated further, back to the Avatar. “He looks a lot better,” she commented quietly to him.

“Yeah, he really does,” Aang said, sounding relieved. “A couple weeks after we left, we ran into a storm, and he ran off and screamed at it. That seemed to help a lot.” He stopped throwing up at that point, anyway.

She nodded. “It was good of you to help him.”

“He’s my friend.”

Yui grinned at him. “I know.”

He smiled back. “I’m glad I could help him.”

“So am I. For Mito’s sake, and Kouji’s too.”

“Mito seemed really glad to see him. He’s come a long way, hasn’t he.”

The younger girl nodded, pleased.

Aang grinned again.

Yui fell quiet, keeping one eye on her monarchs and the other on the Avatar. Aang, meanwhile, was likewise dividing his attention, between Zuko and Katara and their family and Yui. “Should we give them some privacy?” Yui asked him.

“Probably a good idea,” Aang said.

She grinned at him and took him by the hand. “Come on, then.”

He grinned back, blushing faintly and carefully keeping his eyes on hers, and followed.

Some people, knowing how… friendly Yui tended to be would have laid money that she was taking him somewhere secluded. They would have lost their money; instead, Yui took the Avatar to get some food, which he was grateful for — he and Zuko hadn’t stopped after taking off for the last leg of their trip that morning.

She did, however, remain with him the entire time, making small talk with him. He was all too happy to talk with her, always careful to keep his eyes on his food or her face. Once he was fed, she drew him out to make certain Appa was fed as well. The Firelord and his family had, by that time, finally migrated inside, which relieved Yui. Kouji was going crazy; hopefully Zuko would drop by her twin’s office soon. Which reminded her, she’d better go take care of the kids so that husband and wife could reunite properly.

A few hours later, after Zuko and Katara had gotten a little time alone, the Firelord limped off to his study, grabbing a page along the way to let Kouji know that he was back (if the younger man hadn’t been informed already), and if Kouji could come meet him in his study, that would be wonderful.

Kouji was there almost before he was. “Hey, Kouji,” Zuko said, actually managing a very tiny smile. “How’re you doing?”

The younger man hugged him tightly. “Great! How about you?”

“Better. Ready to get back to work.” The Firelord opened his study and settled himself at his desk.

“Of course you are.” Kouji sighed. “What did you need me for?”

“Can you tell me what I need to get up to speed on first? I figured I’d spend the rest of today getting briefed on everything I missed, then get to the real work tomorrow.”

Kouji stared at him.

“…You’re giving me that look again,” the older man said, frowning slightly.

“You can’t possibly be serious.”

“Of course I am. I’m here, there’s no reason I shouldn’t get back to work.”

Kouji rubbed his temple. Ah, yes, that was why he got so tired. Speaking of, he still wasn’t completely recovered. Best to sit now before he had to. “Zuko, you can’t catch up on a month’s worth of work in only a day. Less than a day.”

“I’m not expecting to. I’m expecting to get up to speed on the main details, and the rest will present themselves as I go along.”

The teenager shook his head. “No, Zuko. You need to pace yourself.”

“I am. I’m taking this afternoon — ”

“That is not pacing yourself by any definition of the word. You need at least a week.”

“…An afternoon is plenty,” Zuko responded, after taking a stunned moment to process what Kouji had just said.

“No, it is not, Zuko.”

“….Fine. Fine. I’ll spend tomorrow morning getting briefed, too.”

“Five days,” Kouji retorted.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“This afternoon, and all of tomorrow. That’s as long as I can wait.”

“…fine,” Kouji conceded.

The older man sighed. “All right. What should I get briefed on first?”

Smiling, the younger man settled into the business of the nation.