The next few days passed in a flurry of activity, with Song and all the others trained and capable working shifts in the infirmary.

Zuko hadn't woken up.

The earthbending boy — Haru was his name — had, however, and was arguing that he should not have to take it easy and rest, that he hadn't been that badly hurt in that last battle.  Katara — that was Sweetness's real name — ordered him to take it easy nonetheless, no matter how not-serious his injuries were, he'd severely overextended himself.

 

"Katara, I'm fine," Haru stressed.  "I'm all healed up and I’m ready to go."

"You can go on your hunt after one more day of rest," she finally conceded. "No sooner."

The earthbender sighed in vexation, but conceded.  The next day dawned, and, true to her word, Katara allowed him to leave.

Relieved, Haru fetched the Dai Li chain that had nearly ended his life and tied it around his waist as a trophy, then slipped out of the palace to go on the hunt for more Dai Li.  Not long after he left, he ran into an old man and a middle-aged woman, who were doing the same thing.  On seeing them, Haru pulled back, wary.

"Hunting Dai Li?" the man asked, wryly. "Why don't you join us? U—" the woman shot a look and he smoothly corrected himself mid-word "—Bian can disable them so we don't suffer casualties."

"…very well," conceded Haru, coming into the open.  "I am Haru."

"As my companion said, I'm called Bian, and he Mushi," the woman replied, bowing. She turned to Mushi. "Give it fifteen minutes, then take them." He nodded.

Haru frowned slightly as he looked between the two.  There was something… oddly familiar about both of them, but he was positive he'd never met either of them before.  Something to ponder, that.

After the fifteen minutes were over, Mushi disappeared for about a half-hour. "I put them with the others," he said, when he came back.

"Good."

"Do you have any precise methods of dealing with them?" Haru asked then.  "Do you want them alive or dead?"

"Alive, if possible," Mushi said. "The more people we can hold to question, if the overall battle went our way, or barter, if it didn't, the better."

The boy nodded.  "All right, I'll do my best."

"I'll let you take the next group, then," the old man replied. "Let's find them so Bian can pave the way for us."

"Yes, sir."

The two adults gathered their few supplies and headed off, obviously expecting him to follow.  Haru did so without a word, absently fingering the chain around his waist.  Their hunt quickly fell into a pattern — when they found a group, Bian would disappear for a little while, return and give them a time estimate, and one of the two men would go secure the poisoned agents.

Between the three of them, they were making short work of the Dai Li, though Haru left more casualties than Mushi did.  He offered neither apology nor excuse, despite the strangeness of some of the death wounds.

Neither adult asked him for details. When he returned from his turns taking out the squads, he often found them arguing in undertones, cutting off suddenly when he got there.

Haru didn't like secrets.  Ironic, then, that I have one of my own, he reflected as he joined them, interrupting yet another argument.  He reported to Mushi, much relieved that his body count had dropped, though he was starting to wonder just how many Dai Li Princess Azula had imported.

"There's only one more group, we think," Mushi informed him. "Once it's taken care of, we can all head back to the palace."

"Mushi, I don't think—"

"We've discussed this, Bian."

"With any luck, Zuko will be awake by then," murmured Haru.  He hoped so, anyway.  The new Firelord wasn't a bad person.

Bian froze. "...Excuse me?"

The earthbender glanced at her.  "He was still unconscious when they let me out of the infirmary," he clarified.

"...What happened to him?" she asked, going a few shades paler. Mushi, while not freezing or asking questions, had paused as well, to listen to what Haru had to say.

The boy winced.  "He fought his sister and one of the Dai Li."

"Yes, and what happened to him?" she asked, sounding a little frantic.

"I didn't see it," Haru replied, "but he was pretty beat up.  And.  Um.  He lost his arm."

She let out a little cry of dismay, then turned to Mushi.

"Bian, even if you had — " he started, but she cut him off.

"We can talk about blame later," she snapped. "Let's finish with the Dai Li." As she sped up to pass the old man, Haru could distinctly hear her mutter "Told you he'd do it on his own."

More and more interesting, that.  He followed.

This last group was smaller than the others, and quickly dispensed with.  When the earthbender returned — Mushi had allowed him to take out the last group — the pretty healer who'd been working with Zuko was with the two adults.  Bian seemed to know her, as did Mushi, though her relations with the old man were a little awkward.

"…is worried about you," Song was saying to Bian.

Bian looked rather furious. "I knew Lǘ Zi was a bigoted ass, but I never thought he'd — well, never mind. How is Yì Suì now, or when you left?"

"He's doing well," Song replied.  "We found him a room on one of the higher floors, and Sweetness promised to look in on him for me while I was getting Haru."

"Sweetness?"

"She means Katara," Haru said with a grin.  "Toph gives us all nicknames, and she calls Katara "Sweetness"."

"Katara?"

"The waterbender I told you about," Mushi explained.

Haru nodded.  "Katara and Song saved Zuko's life.  …and Azula's, but mostly Zuko."

Bian paled a little, swallowing hard, then nodded.

Song cocked her head and glanced at the earthbender.  "You're needed back at the palace," she told him.  "Toph is good, but she can't watch the whole place all the time.  You're the only bender she thinks is almost good enough to spell her."

"From the greatest earthbender in the world, that's a compliment," Haru replied.  "As it happens, we're done here."

"I'll take some of the palace guards to where we're holding the agents we captured. Bian should stay in the palace," Mushi said, shooting a look at the woman.

"It's too ris — "

"Riskier to leave and wander."

"It's all right, Bian," said Song quietly.  "He needs you."

She bit her lip, but subsided.

By this time, they were at the palace gates. Oddly, Bian and Mushi both carefully hid their faces as they passed.

Haru split away from them quickly, in search of Toph, and Song led the two adults to Zukos room.  "Any change?" she asked the guard at the door.

He shook his head. "No, Miss Song. No change."

Disappointed, Song opened the door and took Mushi and Bian inside.

Bian paused at the doorway, staring at the unconscious boy. Lying there, he looked much younger and more vulnerable than she had expected.

The young doctor, however, continued straight to his bed, checking his temperature and breathing without a word.  There was no perceptible change from when she'd left.

Bian turned to Mushi.

"You stay," he told her. "I have to go talk to the guards. I'll come back later." Before she could argue, he slipped out, much more stealthily than a man of his bulk should have been able to.

Song was no longer paying attention.  She watched Zuko breathe, biting her lip.  He should have woken up by now.  Why is he still unconscious?  Absently, she reached out and smoothed down his hair.

He twitched a little, but didn't wake up.

Bian slowly, hesitantly, approached the bed and took her son's remaining hand. "Oh, my darling. What has the world done to you?"

"You'll make it through this, Lee," Song added quietly from the other side.  "You're strong enough to do it."

No response from the boy.

Bian took a deep, shuddery breath and squeezed his hand. "I'm here. I've come home..."

Song fell silent, just watching the young Firelord.

He still didn't respond. Bian started crying.

"He'll wake up, Bian," Song said firmly.  "I know he will."

Bian nodded, but didn't stop crying.

Song rose from her chair and moved to wrap her arms gently around the older woman, trying to comfort her.  Her shoulder shook slightly as she cried silently into Song's shoulder.  After awhile, Song pulled away slightly.  "You should eat," she murmured.

"...Yes," Bian agreed, quietly. She squeezed her son's hand one last time. "I'll be back," she told Song, then slipped out of the room to find food.

The doctor closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then checked the Firelord over for the tenth time.  He didn't move or respond, but by now she was sadly used to this.  "You'll wake up," she said.  "You won't let Azula win."

He twitched a little.

Song gasped.  "Lee?"

He made a small noise.

She tried again, using his real name.  "P— Lord Zuko?"

He twitched again, and his eyes drifted open.

The girl smiled.  "You're awake!"

"...Song...?" he whispered.

"Yes," she replied.

"...sorry..."

"It’s all right," she told him, knowing he was referring to the theft, now months past.  "I forgave you for that long ago."

"...can't feel my arm..." Now he sounded worried.

Oh, dear.  "…your arm is gone," she said after a long pause.

"...Gone?" Confused now, he tried to move it. He paled a little, impossibly, when raising the arm revealed it was, in fact, incomplete.

"Swee— Katara couldn't reattach it," Song whispered.  "She tried.  I'm sorry."

"Oh."

Song thought rapidly, trying to think of a way to keep him from freaking out or spiralling into a depressive fit.

He dragged himself up to a seated position, then started trying to stand.

"Take it easy," the young doctor cautioned him.  "You've been down for almost a week."

He paused, started to swear, caught himself midword, and then stated moving again.

"Lord Zuko—"

He ignored her. He managed to stand, wobbled a bit, off-balance from being unconscious for awhile and shift in centre of balance, then stumbled towards the door.  Muttering a curse of her own, Song moved to his side and helped him.  Once they were outside, she made him sit down, pushing on his shoulders to get him in a chair.

He shook his head and immediately tried to stand again.  "You need to take this in stages, Prince Zuko," she told him.  "Whether or not you have to take the throne, you still nearly died.  It will take time for you to recover completely."

"I can do this," he said, shortly, and wearily, still trying to stand.

"Of course you can."  She held him down.  "In ten minutes."

"No, now, lost too much time already."

"Humour me.  Please."

"...Fine." He sagged back in the chair.

After ten minutes, Song did allow him to move a little further down the hall.  Doctor Chang, the man in charge of all the healers in the palace, was going to scold her for this, but it was far better that Zuko get where he thought he needed to be with assistance rather than try and make the whole trip on his own.

He kept dragging himself along, heading for the throne room.  The entire trip wound up taking an hour, as Song made him sit down for five to ten minutes every few metres.

"Lord Zuko!" one of the noblemen cried, spotting him first.

Before he could respond, the young man suddenly found a very frantic twelve-year-old attaching himself to him. "You're awake!" Aang whispered.

Smiling, Song slipped away to inform the palace healers that the Firelord had finally awakened.

 

*          *          *

 

Later that day, Song was preparing to go find Yì Suì after an exhausting shift.  Between tracking Haru down and Zuko's awakening, the young doctor was strongly interested in a meal and bed.

"Song!" a vaguely familiar voice called. When she turned to see who it was, she found the dark boy — Sokka — from the battle, half-carrying a girl she didn't recognise.

"Sokka, what is it?" she asked, pushing some of her hair from her face.

"She's hurt, you're the first doctor I ran into," he replied.

Song didn't sigh.  Back home, it was just her and her mother.  She'd been spoiled by Doctor Chang's insistence on shifts.  "All right, come with me," she said.

Sokka nodded, and, helping the other girl along, followed.

Once they were in the infirmary, Song got the girl onto a bed and made her lie down, then proceeded to check her injuries.

She had several broken ribs, a long gash running down nearly the full length of her right leg, and various other minor cuts and bruises.

"What happened?" she asked the younger girl as she began to clean the gash.

"We made a run for it," she replied, somewhat dully. "Got out of the prison, but she hit her head... she fell asleep, when I woke up the next morning she was already cold."

She?  Song didn't ask further, instead quietly treating the girl.

"How's Sparky doing?" Sokka asked, softly, while watching.

"He's awake.  Aang is with him."

"That's great!"

The young doctor smiled.  "Yeah, it is."

Then Sokka's face fell a little. "...I should go talk to him. Ty Lee, you're gonna be okay here?"

The younger girl nodded, hugging herself a little and saying nothing.

"I'll stay with her," Song promised.

"Thanks," the Water Tribe boy said, then headed off to find Zuko.