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Maybe they had gotten too content.
After all, the worst things in life tend to happen when you least expect them to. Maybe that’s why they were always so horrible. If you knew the horrible thing was coming, then it makes it less horrible somehow. Sometimes, Suki thinks that pessimism is a good thing, because you’re either always right or you’re pleasantly surprised.
Maybe the world had been too peaceful, too serene, too optimistic, for too long.
Maybe it was confidence, maybe it was arrogance, maybe it was as simple as some entity who just wanted to curse the world all over again.
Maybe Suki had gotten too proud of how far they had all come. Not only herself, sharpening her prowess as a warrior to be as sharp as the blades of her metal fan, but all her warriors. She couldn’t help but feel as much pride in their success and they did in themselves. She had grown up with these girls and watched them turn into women, their progress and lives intertwined with hers, by the oath they took to protect. And the newer warriors, either Suki had trained herself, or they themselves had taught her something. Ty Lee’s chi blocking was one of the most unique and effective combat styles Suki had ever seen, and as she learned the pressure points for each of the benders, (a nerve at the base of the right side of the neck for water, center of the back for earth, the right side of the ribs for fire) she felt as though she could go toe-to-toe with any bender. Not that she couldn’t already, of course, and it’s not like she would really ever have to use her skills now.
Again, Suki thinks, maybe pessimism is a good thing.
At first, she didn’t know what to think when Mai, the closest the world had to a Fire Lady, had personally come to Kyoshi Island, to ask the warriors if they would be Zuko’s personal body guards.
The Fire Lord’s bodyguards.
No, Zuko’s bodyguards.
Zuko, her enemy once, but now one of her closest friends. Zuko, the Fire Prince who left everything he had behind to teach Aang firebending, the person who not only helped get her out of the Boiling Rock, but stayed behind to help Sokka look for his dad, the one who saved Katara’s life, despite the knowledge that it could cost him his own.
Zuko, the best thing that ever happened to the Fire Nation.
She didn’t even let Mai finish before she agreed.
She had been at Zuko’s side since then, and though there had been some attempts on his life, none of them ever came close to being an actual threat. Either they were easily dispatched by her and her warriors, and sometimes even by Zuko himself. As the years went by, and the Fire Nation began to come to terms with the end of the war and what that meant, the assassination attempts began to taper off. Zuko’s council began to come around to the young Fire Lord’s ideas for a brighter future. When he walked in public, instead the heavily armored and fierce guards that always marched behind Ozai and Azulon, he was accompanied by herself and another Kyoshi Warrior, often Ty Lee, and occasionally the small children who would come to stare in amazement at the young monarch would follow behind them, and sometimes Zuko would hold their hands as they walked., or Zuko would purchase the children pastries or shaved ice from a local vendor.
Suki remembered, a summer night about six months ago, Zuko, Ty Lee and herself had gone into town. Zuko didn’t wear his crown, and the girls didn’t wear makeup, and nobody knew who they were. Suki and Ty Lee had gone off to shop and get food, while Zuko found a place to sit and people watch. Suki, returning to the spot they had left him in, found him sitting on stone steps outside a large building at the very edge of the square, holding out his hand to a stray cat. Suki paused as she watched him encourage the cat to sniff him, and then he held out a piece of dried meat he must have picked up sometime during the night. The cat sniffed this as well, before taking it directly from Zuko’s hand, swallowing it in one gulp, and then it sat, looking up at Zuko, as if it was contemplating it’s next move. Eventually, it came to a decision, and gently rubbed it’s head against Zuko’s still outstretched hand. Zuko scratched the feline behind the ears, and it closed it’s eyes. Suki was too far away to be sure, but the cat was definitely purring.
Zuko smiled softly at it, and all Suki could think was “Even the animals love him…”
The animals, the children, and his people all loved him.
Well, most of them, anyway.
Of course, Suki muses, having at least some optimism is a good thing, but when it goes from hopeful thinking to expectation, that’s when things start to go downhill.
Despite everything Suki had seen, all the Fire Nation citizens, aristocracy to beggars, children to hundred year old men, even the cats, some people still supported Ozai, still wanted Ozai on the throne, still hated Zuko and the end of the war and all the changes he had made. They hated him because they benefitted from the war, were removed from the council for still supporting Ozai or Azula, and some of them hated him just because they could— Zuko didn’t persecute those who did not agree with him the way his forefathers had.
Unfortunately, these people generally had a connection to the government in one way or another. The people who made up the Fire Nation cities, villages and countryside couldn’t care less about the iron mines in the Earth Kingdom they lost at the end of the war. What they cared about was that they didn’t have their food taken from them as tariffs to feed soldiers, instead of their own children. They knew it was Fire Lord Zuko who had done that. But they also knew Zuko was the one who gave the iron mines back to the Earth Kingdom, uprooting Lord Hua’s plan to industrialize and expand into building more weaponry to help fuel Sozin’s war.
These people knew Zuko was responsible, and these people didn't have any optimism.
They had been returning from the Earth Kingdom, actually, so Suki assumed they found some kind of sick irony in it. Their arrival at the palace was like any other. No celebration to announce his arrival, just the advisors he would need to review the documents from his trip. Suki stepped out of the carriage, Ty Lee at her back, and Zuko thanking the coach driver before exiting himself. Ty Lee made a joke that Suki could no longer remember, one of the guards added something along to it that sent the three girls into a giggling fit, and her attention was elsewhere.
Perhaps she had been too optimistic.
Zuko didn’t really scream as much as he gasped, but it was still loud enough for the commotion to stop immediately and turn their attention to him. Suki saw Ty Lee’s face before she saw Zuko’s. The other girl stared with a wide expression of shock, her hands instinctively coming up to cover her mouth as her own scream pierced through the air. Suki quickly turned her head to what she was looking at, and she felt her blood run cold and her heart lurch in her chest.
His expression was more of quiet shock, the kind that seems more confused than anything. His hand reached up but hovered in the air, unsure of what to do. His eyes seemed lost as he blinked, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He stumbled back slightly, the shaft of the arrow in him slipping between his now bloodied fingers. As he breathed, the arrow went with his body, his chest expanding and deflating with every inhale-exhale.
He stared at the ornately decorated arrow, rich brown feathers dotted with some of orange and white, tied together elegantly at the end of the arrow. The shaft of the arrow was made of steel, making it more durable than iron, and less likely to rust. The arrow head, well, the arrow head was unknown at that moment because it was buried in Zuko’s body.
His knees buckled.
Suki wasn’t sure if she screamed too, because everything suddenly became a blur of movement and color. Isn’t it strange how these moments that are so important to us somehow get lost in memory, as if they were a story you couldn’t quite remember all the details of?
Ty Lee reached Zuko before she did, her arms slipping under his as they both slumped to their knees, Ty Lee holding both of them upright. One of her gloved hands came to cup the back of Zuko’s head and pull his face against her neck, and it didn’t take Suki long to realize how badly the other Kyoshi Warrior was shaking.
Ty Lee and Zuko had known each other nearly all their lives. They grew up together, despite Ty Lee having been Azula’s friend. It was an odd connection, an older brother being friends with his younger sister’s former best friend, but between them, it didn’t seem odd at all. They loved each other, in their own way, the same way Zuko and Suki loved each other.
And now, he was leaning against Ty Lee, having fallen unconscious, bleeding all over her Kyoshi Warrior robes.
They were supposed to protect him.
Suki slid into a warrior’s stance over them, drawing her fans in a fluid motion, the same as she had done thousands of times before. Her hands did not shake despite her pounding heart.
“No!” Ty Lee yelled from where she held Zuko on the ground, “Forget fighting them, Suki! We have to get Zuko somewhere safe!”
For the first time, Suki really took in their surroundings. The ministers were also being attacked— a few stray arrows had clattered on the stone work at their feet, and one had found it’s way into the arm of Lady Kirin, as over the horizon of the building surrounding the courtyard, dozens of archers began to appear. All taking aim at them now.
She glanced down at Ty Lee, and she knew the other girl was right. There was no way they could fight off the archers, for a multitude of reasons, and they certainly couldn’t do it while protecting Zuko, who was slumped in Ty Lee’s arms, blood dripping down from his fingers like the last few drops of tea in Iroh’s pot.
She didn’t hear the sound of her fans clicking shut, only the sound of an arrow whipping by her left ear. The archers were now trying to finish the job, taking Ty Lee and Suki out of the fight, leaving Zuko vulnerable.
As if it was even a fight, not an ambush, as if he wasn’t allowed to be vulnerable in his own home.
She would protect him, even here, where she shouldn’t have to.
She pulled Zuko out of Ty Lee’s arms and up against her, being mindful of the arrow, and began to sprint with the badly wounded Fire Lord in her arms, holding him as close to her as she could.
She didn’t look at Ty Lee when she yelled, “Cover us!” knowing that the girl understood, and sure enough, a moment later she heard the sound of an arrow at her back being deflected with a sharp metallic twang.
Suki wasn’t entirely sure she was going, she just knew she had to go, go go, go away, get Zuko and Ty Lee and herself away from the people trying to hurt them. The people who had already hurt them.
She wasn’t going anywhere in palace, that’s for sure. She didn't even think she could stay in Caldera, either. She had to take Zuko to a place where they would never think to look for him, spirits knows they weren't going to leave his dying up to chance, ever so pessimistic.
But Suki, Suki was optimistic that they were going to wish they had never loosed that arrow.
Suki ran, on the run.
It took them a little bit of time, a few words here and there, before Ty Lee and Suki figured out where to run. They slipped out of Caldera and found themselves in a forest, the kind where it rains everyday and the sun creates a peaceful glow in the mist afterwards. These forests were few and far between and only found in the Fire Nation. A few years ago, Zuko had put them under protection from land developers, insisting that they needed to be preserved. As such, virtually nobody ever goes in these forests, and they've remained untouched by humanity.
It was the perfect place to hide.
It was perfect in terms that they could easily hide here, no one would come looking for them, well, no one they didn’t want to be found by anyway. She was sure that as soon as the story got out, Aang, Katara and Sokka would coming looking for them. Toph would come, too, brining her students to help search. Iroh would board the earliest ship from Ba Sing Se to Caldera, and would not rest until he was certain his wounded nephew was safe again. One of them would put two and two together and realize this is where Suki and Ty Lee had taken him, a place away from civilization, a place away from people.
But it was also a place away from any help.
Suki and Ty Lee had taken turns carrying Zuko, sometimes on their backs if they could avoid the arrow, but mostly they kept him in their arms. It significantly slowed them down, as Zuko was not light by any means, and their adrenaline had worn off by this time. But they knew they had to keep running. Zuko was far from out of danger. Eventually, they had reached a cave. Small by most standards, but the two girls were exhausted, and Suki was satisfied with the distance they had put between themselves and their attackers. After a nod from Ty Lee, Suki stepped into the mouth of the cave and took in her surroundings.
It was dark, with blackened rocks dusting the forest floor inside. Zuko had explained to her once they the caves in these forests were once part of a vast system of lava tubes, but they had gone dormant with the small volcano that sits a few miles away from them. This one stopped short only 30 feet in from the entrance, the result of a small cave-in. Suki set Zuko down gently on the ground before quickly inspecting the walls for any loose rocks, not willing to risk the cave collapsing on top of them. Finding that nothing shifted at her touch, Suki’s attention immediately turned back to Zuko.
Ty Lee had already kneeled down at his side, hands hovering over where the arrow was sticking out of his left shoulder. If she hadn’t been wearing the white face paint, Suki was sure her face would be still be the same shade of white.
Ty Lee looked up, “Do…do we take the arrow out? It looks like the arrow itself is what’s kept him from bleeding out.”
Suki walked over to the two of them, sitting down next to Ty Lee. She scooted over to be able to pull Zuko’s head into her lap.
He looked awful.
His topknot had fallen out in the commotion, his crown being lost somewhere in the courtyard they had fled from. That left is ever-longer black hair sticking to his face as he sweat with the beginnings of a fever. He was panting a little, like he was trying to catch his breath, but couldn’t. His eyes were squeezed shut, the scar around his eyes crinkling with the movement.
His shoulder….Suki sucked in a breath.
Ty Lee had pulled back the torn and bloody clothing as best she could with the arrow still in him, revealing a bloodied mess. His skin was torn up and red, dried blood beginning to crust around where the shaft of the arrow met his shoulder. Suki slipped off one of her gloves and placed a hand close to the wound, checking for heat that was a sign of infection.
Zuko gasped quietly, but Suki kept her hand there, and swore under her breath. Ty Lee looked up at her.
“Its infected. We should have taken the time to clean it. There are plenty of times we could have stopped along the way, I was stupid to think that—“
“Suki,” Ty Lee cut her off, “regrets aren’t going to help now.”
The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors looked up at her subordinate, her friend, and saw the steely hardness in her eyes. Ty Lee was trying to dissuade her fear with reason.
“If it’s infected, what does that mean, exactly? How do we treat it?”
Suki nodded at Ty Lee’s words, acknowledging that she had heard her, had understood, but Suki’s mind was running marathons on empty. She stared blankly at Ty Lee, before she realized that the other girl was waiting for an answer.
“What?”
“Suki, you need to focus. I need you to focus. Zuko needs you to focus.”
Suki took a deep breath. Her hand was still on Zuko’s shoulder, and she could feel the odd texture of fabric stiff and sticky with blood, and the heat radiating from the wound. It felt wrong, like honey on a hot day.
She could feel Zuko’s breathing, his chest moving up and down sporadically, taking her hand and the arrow with it.
She suddenly realized how close the arrow had come to piercing his heart.
Too close, too close, too close.
Suki took a deep breath.
“First we need to clean his wound as best we can. That being said, we need to take the arrow out. We’ll need to do it fast. He can’t lose any more blood.” Ty Lee nodded, prompting Suki to continue.
“We need to clean it,” she reiterated, “so we need to find water. We also need to bandage it, but I think we can manage that; we can tear up the bottom of my kimono into strips. We’ll just have to make sure the fabric is clean first.”
“Okay, I’m going to go look for water. We’re pretty far from the nearest town, so I think we’re going to have to make do with whatever we can find.”
Suki nodded her agreement.
“I’m going to make a fire— we can boil the water— and we need to keep him warm. He’s already starting to get a fever. We have to try to keep him as comfortable as we can.”
It was silent for a moment before Ty Lee spoke.
“It’ll be okay, Suki. Try to be optimistic.”
An hour later, the two girls had a roaring fire and were in the process of creating clean water.
The giant leaves found on the trees just a few paces from the outside of the cave were large enough to be folded into swallow bowls, which Ty Lee filled with water.
Suki had placed small rocks in the hottest part of the flame, at the base, them dropped them in the water and letting them sit, slowly building up the water’s temperature until heated air bubbled to the surface.
It took a long time, but the two girls worked diligently, realizing only long after the task had been complete. that had Zuko not been hurt, he could have easily heated the water with his bending.
They had stripped Zuko down to his bare chest, as he panted and shivered on the cave’s cold floor.
It was painstaking and heartbreaking work to pull the arrow out. Suki had gripped the shaft and yanked, only a little at a time, each tug sending more pain radiating through Zuko’s shoulder. Ty Lee had to hold him down, while at the same time using a dampened cloth to try to soothe his fever.
He had groaned and whimpered as they worked, Suki and Ty Lee both whispering “Shhh, it’s okay,” and “I’m so sorry,” and “I’m not trying to hurt you, stay still,” and “Deep breaths Zuko, that’s it,” and sometimes one of them would just whisper “Please.”
They eventually, after was seemed like years but could not have been more than an hour, got the arrowhead free of his flesh, and Suki chucked the offending arrow away, not looking at it as it clattered against stone.
Cleaning the wound took even longer, and that made it worse than removing the arrow, if that was even possible. The cloth she had ripped from the bottom of her kimono was placed in the boiling water, absorbing the liquid and the heat. Had Zuko not been a firebender, Suki was nearly sure that it would have scalded his skin when she placed it over the wound in his shoulder.
They were all sweating by the time they were done, the heat becoming nearly unbearable in the small space. Suki did her best to clean her bloodied hands as Ty Lee used both the Kyoshi Warrior’s sashes to bandage Zuko. Suki dried her hands on her clothing, and watched Ty Lee work, assessing their options.
They would be decently safe here, for the time being, maybe a couple days before they would have to move to a different area. Suki wanted to stay in the forest, still hoping that Aang or Katara or Sokka or anyone would figure out where they had taken Zuko. She wished she could have left some kind of clue for them, but they had been in such a hurry….
Suki took a deep breath to halt her train of thought, remembering Ty Lee’s words, regrets aren’t going to help now.
Suki knew they couldn’t attempt to return to the palace, not with Zuko in the state he was in. But Either herself or Ty Lee, and not the palace but the city…
It would take awhile, and she would have to keep him hanging on, but the truth was…
“He needs medicine,” Suki began, the terror of their situation beginning to truly sink in. “He needs medicine or the infection will spread and he’ll die.”
Ty Lee looked down at him, and Suki could very well guess she wasn’t seeing Fire Lord Zuko, but Zuko, her friend, the brother she never had.
Ty Lee could very well guess what Suki was thinking, too.
“I’ll go. I’ll be able to slip into the city, find an apothecary, get what we need and return as fast as I can.”
Suki met Ty Lee’s eyes, and nodded sharply. “Be careful,” she said, “and don’t take any unnecessary risks. Zuko needs as many people on his side as he can get.”
“Okay,” Ty Lee said, the affirmation handing in the air for a moment as she look at Zuko from where she was kneeling at his side.
Her face shifted, making a decision, and slowly leaned down and kissed his forehead, despite the sweat making his hair stick to it and the skin salty and warm.
“Stay with us, Zuko. Stay with us.”
Suki watched Ty Lee turn and exit the cave with both determination and tears in her storm cloud eyes.
It was hours later when Suki heard Ty Lee return, the light of the flames throwing her silent shadow across the walls of the cave, creating a looming presence. She stopped a few feet from Suki, with a face unreadable and drawn. She was empty-handed, and when her eyes found Zuko, they broke a little. He was laying as close to the fire as he could without risking his clothing catching on fire, his head cradled in Suki’s lap, as she dabbed at his pale and sweaty face. The bandages had started to stain red.
As Suki listened to Zuko’s panting, she saw Ty Lee’s face. It was a broken expression that she had never once seen on the joyful acrobat. Ty Lee was like a ray of sunshine. Her positive demeanor was magnetic, and made her such an easy person to get along with. She genuinely cared for the people she loved, and was fiercely protective of them, but she also knew how to make them smile— Suki and Zuko themselves.
Ty Lee was, without a doubt, the most optimistic person Suki had ever met.
But looking at Ty Lee’s expression, no matter how hard Suki tried, she just couldn’t feel optimistic.
“They’ve taken over Caldera,” Ty Lee’s voice cracked, “I’m sorry.”