Each day preceding the arrival of the Southern Water Tribe, Zuko woke up late. Sweat would soak through his bedclothes and sheets. Needless to say, it was unbearably uncomfortable. The brazier would crackle merrily away, but Zuko came to resent it for the excessive heat it provided. Each day the sun would be higher and higher in the sky by the time he woke up. Sometimes the sweat and heat that forced him into wakefulness wouldn't leave him until the late afternoon. It made him irritable and the clingy dragons did nothing to help him. The only time that they seemed content to be without him was when he filled a large basin with water. Heating it until the water bubbled with his weak firebending, they swam happily for hours. Watching them cut the water like dolphin-eels lost its novelty to him, and soon he was setting up the boiling basin just so he could nap while they were quiet.

On the day of their guests' arrival, Ursa had to rouse him from sleep. She hadn't thought much of his late risings over the past week, but as soon as she felt the heat coming off him the wheels in her mind were spinning.

"Zuko," she called him again. When his bleary gaze focused on her, she continued, "Have you been feeling hotter than usual?"

His slight shoulders shrugged under her hands. Already he was falling back asleep. "The brazier …"

A smile fought for a place on Ursa's face. Silently she thanked Agni and all the dragons. "Zuko, kid, it's not the brazier."

"Oh," he mumbled. It took a minute for the sleep to fall off his face. Copper eyes looked at her excitedly. "Oh!"

"The spirits are testing you," Ursa said mostly for herself. Despite being certain her son was a firebender, she had to admit there were several times doubt had plagued her mind. It was a relief to have all the question marks cleared up.

"Even though I feel like trash, I think I'm happy, too," he mumbled. "I should have realized."

"Well, I guess you have a perfectly solid excuse for why you shouldn't be down at the docks to receive our guests. I'll tell your uncle the good news." A frown creased her face. The Spirits' Test wasn't that dangerous anymore. But one undergoing the test should not be left unattended. Zuko was older than any other kid who had been sick during the Test, so he should know how to take care of himself. But still … Ursa had to remind herself that princesses of the Fire Nation do not bite their lip when making decisions. "I'll have Kyko stay with you until we come back. You'll be okay until then?"

"I feel fine, Mom." For some reason that satisfied smile didn't look completely right on his tired face. Ursa supposed that not many kids got excited about being sick, so this situation didn't really fit the protocol. "You guys won't be gone long. Don't worry. I'll probably be in the same place you left me."

That was true enough.

Ursa had gotten Azula outfitted in the appropriate skirts and left with Iroh and Lu Ten. Not sticking exactly to his word, Zuko left his sweat-soaked bed to entertain Rya and Shenn. They could hover now. Their wings beat furiously and a little clumsily, but they achieved short flight. It appeared that they grew and learned new tricks much faster than Zuko did. Already their size must have doubled. They consumed komodo chicken at an alarming rate. Rya even smoked the meat herself. She and Shenn couldn't spit fire yet, but Rya was already spitting that telltale smoke. When he held them, their scales grew hotter.

They followed Zuko out of the room and climbed up his clothes until they sat on either of his shoulders. The path to the tub they swam in was already familiar to them. When they were close enough, Shenn attempted to fly down to the water. Instead, his weak wings flapped uselessly and he splashed gracelessly into the tub. Rya crawled down Zuko's arm before falling in with less fanfare. He sat with his back to the tub while they shrieked and swam. That's where Kyko found him. She placed a tray of food down beside him before bowing low.

"Thank you," he said to her even though he knew that royalty was not supposed to thank the servants. It always seemed wrong to deny them those two words.

Kyko waved away his thanks like she always did. Sitting down cross-legged, she said, "Lady Ursa told me the big news. Congratulations, Prince Zuko."

He was grateful that the Test made him feverish so that she couldn't tell he'd colored at her words. There was no one who could take a compliment worse than Zuko. "It's about time," were the words he finally managed.

"She asked me to give you something to help with the fever before she left." Kyko gestured to the small glass vial beside a cup of water on the tray she'd brought with her. "Made it herself in about two minutes. Your mother is very proud of you. I promised her that I'd make sure you drank it."

Zuko knew that Kyko was technically there to serve him and the family, but he always did what she said. If he so desired, he could order her around to do the most ridiculous tasks. She was a nurse, when you got down to it. Zuko could easily refuse her and be in no risk of being reprimanded. At least not by Kyko. Mother would certainly be looking for an explanation to why he hadn't heeded her. So he had come to the conclusion that Kyko spoke with Mother's voice. In reality she may not have authority over him, but Zuko liked to think she did. Obediently, he drained the vial. There was a weak but lingering medicinal taste left over, so he chased it with some water.

Kyko smiled both approvingly and gratefully.

The two of them spent the time talking and not talking. Zuko never felt like he had to talk to Kyko, so their silences were just as comfortable as their conversations. He sipped from the cup of water and tried to make it last. By now the heat he woke up with would sweat itself away, but today it seemed to stick to him in damp clouds. It made him feel heavy and slow. Above all, Zuko felt hot. The heat came in waves and sometimes it would make his vision squirm around the edges. Kyko sensed this and suggested that he go back to bed.

Rya and Shenn clawed excitedly from the tub when he coughed his first puff of smoke. It was thick and dark, and the dragons loved it. Rya spat back her small smoke. Zuko supposed it would have been cool if the smoke didn't sear his throat on the way out. He was not very impressed by the dragon's imitation. Another round of smoky hacks put the thought out of his mind. Kyko saw him panting and hauled him to his feet. She all but marched him down the airy halls back to his room. Thankfully, the sweaty bedding had been changed.

Sternly, Kyko said, "Bed." To emphasize this, she pointed an iron finger toward the furniture in question.

His reluctance must have shown on his face, because the look she gave him more than subdued him. Zuko did as she said. A voice in the back of his head suspected Mother had put something in her vial that was supposed to make him sleep. Kyko was extinguishing the brazier when the dragons came skittering across the floor and into the room. They could cover alarming real estate on foot.

"They need that," Zuko said of the brazier.

For some reason he regretted speaking up when his caretaker leveled him with that look. "They'll live," she said curtly. The smoking pot was pulled outside to smoke out.

The dragons, for their part, didn't miss a beat. Clawing their way up the bed, they curled into the hollows of Zuko's frame like a foxhound. Upon her re-entrance, Kyko frowned at the arrangements. The dragons only provided heat his body didn't need. She told herself that there was no way she'd get them away from him for any extended length of time. Where would they go? What would they do? No solution was forthcoming, so Kyko decided to tell Lady Ursa about her concerns and let the princess deal with it.

Shenn sniffed the air excitedly when Zuko coughed that black smoke again.

"I'll be right back," she told her young charge. He was already halfway asleep again. "Don't move." The last bit was unnecessary but it fell out anyway.

Kyko brought back with her a bowl and a tall glass of seawater. He sat up when she asked him to.

Holding the water out, she instructed, "Drink, swish, and spit."

Zuko did as she asked, spitting out the seawater earlier than expected. A dry cough followed. "Salty!" he declared. "Why did you give me …?"

But he saw exactly why. In the bowl, the water and saliva was a dark grey. No prompt was needed for him to take a second drink and swish it around vigorously. The second spit was almost black.

"Everything will taste like ashes until it clears up, I'm afraid," she said. "You're like a chimney. We have to clear all that gunk out."

They did this a few more times before Kyko was satisfied. Though he'd been awake for only a few hours, she ordered him back to sleep. It felt wrong to be sleeping at this time of day. Zuko couldn't recall if he'd ever voluntarily gone back to sleep while the sun was still in the sky. But he was rather tired. So it didn't take very long for him to fall back asleep. Kyko woke him up more than once to make him eat something and drink so much water she might as well have drowned him. He was always thankful that she did that, though, because he found he was always thirsty the next time she woke him.

The sun was just about to hit the western horizon when he woke up next. The feeling made him all the more tired. No doubt he'd sleep like an earthbender once the sun was completely gone. Ursa was beside him waiting patiently for him to register her presence. Zuko was about to say something when he felt the ash in his mouth. Had it collected in his mouth while he slept? Did he cough like that while asleep? His mother intuitively knew what was wrong, and offered the salt water and the cleaned basin for him to spit in.

"How's it coming?" she asked when he was done.

"Was more fun this morning." Feeling their heat more than seeing them, Zuko pushed the dragons away so that they didn't touch him. It was so hot now he was afraid of burning them. A stupid thought, he knew. At the time, he was expecting his sweat to steam off his skin. "How are the waterbenders?"

His mother smiled. "They're wonderful people. Chief Hakoda and his family joined us for dinner. We will be treating him and his wife to a social night with the other nobles in a bit. I wanted to check on you before I left."

"Oh. I'm doing fine."

Ursa's face fell a bit at the news. "Oh. Good. I could stay with you, you know. You're not feeling well, and they would understand."

Zuko's lips twitched. "Mother, are you using me as an excuse to get out of a meeting?"

"I suppose I am," she laughed. And Ozai said that Azula was the one best suited for service to the Fire Lord. The humor dampened on her face a little when a round of wet coughs racked his body. She swiped the smoke out of the air with a wave of her hand much to the dismay of the dragons. "You're sure you're feeling okay?"

"It's just the Spirits' Test," he reminded her thickly.

Not too much later, Ursa left with Iroh and the Chief and his wife. Lu Ten haunted the house, checking on Zuko every so often. It was a good thing that the window was open because as soon as his mother left, Zuko was plagued with coughs. The smoke was threatening to become sickeningly thick. Sleep would not come because of it. After an hour of shifting under the smoke, Zuko got up and headed for the sand. At the very least, the air was cooler. A storm was on its way in. Rya and Shenn skittered after him.

Sitting in the sand cross-legged, he lit his palms. It felt good. All that heat that was making him sweat and made his blood feel hot in his veins finally had somewhere to go. The bending made him tired, but the relief it brought was more than worth it. That being said, it wasn't long before he was hacking up more smoke. He let the fire in his hands go out so he could focus on breathing.

The dragons were sparring in the sand, both of them the same silvery color in the spotty moonlight. Their happy chirps were enough to focus on as he lit his hands. Again, he only got so far before his lungs interrupted him. It was the voice that really grated on his nerves after he caught his breath.

"What's the matter with you?" it asked. "Can't you control your bending?"

Igniting a fire in his hand once again, Zuko held the light up in the direction the voice came from. "Show yourself," he said roughly.

And a little girl in blue materialized from nowhere. One moment she was just a voice in the darkness, but then a cloud shifted and the moon shone on the pretty little girl. She didn't hesitate to walk right up and peer at him, a challenge in her eyes. The sounds of the dragons sparring caught her attention and those blue eyes focused on them.

"Whoa," she breathed. "Are those actual dragons?"

Zuko didn't say anything. Perhaps it was the sickness that made his brain all clogged up. No words occurred to him. She looked at him and waited for an answer. His neck nodded the affirmative stiffly.

"Are they yours?" was her next questions.

He considered telling her that dragons didn't belong to anyone, that they weren't pets or animals that could be had or domesticated. However, this distinction seemed to be lost on people that were not native to the Fire Nation. To everyone else, to ally with a dragon was to have a dragon. So Zuko didn't correct her, only nodded in the same manner as before.

That answer was all she needed to plop down beside him and coo at them. Shenn approached first, sniffing the air cautiously. No doubt he found the Water Tribe girl foreign. How often does a dragon encounter one anyway? Because that's what she was, right? Zuko couldn't draw up any other explanation. The scarlet dragon sensed no threat and crawled into the girl's lap. She started to talk in a foolish, high-pitched voice as if Shenn was a baby. Zuko fought the urge to roll his eyes. Rya must have thought along the same lines because she came over to him and settled on his shoulder.

Despite thinking the girl was acting ridiculous towards the dragon, he didn't interrupt. At least not on purpose. It could go on only so long before his lungs spat smoke out again. The heat of the air left his throat feeling singed. Almost like she was mocking him, Rya spat her own smoke at his cheek.

"Why do you keep doing that?" the girl asked shortly.

If Zuko didn't know any better, he would have said that this girl was upset at him for interrupting her while she played with his dragon. His irritation only grew when he realized he'd thought of Shenn as something that could be owned.

"I'm not doing it on purpose!" he grounded out.

"So you can't control your bending?"

"No," he hissed. "I mean, yes, I can control it. It's just the Spirits' Test."

"The what?"

"The Spirits' Test."

"What is that?"

Zuko spluttered. How could she not know what the Spirits' Test is? How did he explain it? "Don't waterbenders have a Spirits' Test?"

Her eyebrows crawled up her forehead. "I don't know. What is it?"

So he struggled to explain about how all firebenders became fevered and would unleash a new level of power once they recovered. The girl looked perplexed the whole time. Personally, she thought Tui and La were much nicer to the waterbenders. Why would these crazy Fire Nation people pray to Agni when he cursed all those the spirits touched with such a sickness? The girl's mother always said Agni's children were crazy. Why else would they worship him?

Seeing the girl's doubtful look after he had explained, Zuko plucked Rya off his shoulder and held her. Speaking to the dragon instead of the girl, he added, "Fire can be dangerous, but it can also mean life. Firebending is the line between destroying and creating. The Spirits' Test only claims the lives of those who would never be able to reconcile the two." He smiled at Rya before looking at the girl. "Or so they say."

"I guess that makes sense. I mean, not a lot of sense, but you know …"

The rest of her sentence was drowned in dark coughs. It seemed to go on too long. But it subsided after so long and he could breathe again. The fit hadn't gone unnoticed. Lu Ten was drawn to the sound. He stood sternly behind the two of them.

"Zuko, what do you think you're doing?"

He turned to face his cousin. "Is it a crime to sit outside?"

"No. But it's incredibly stupid when you're sick."

"I'm just sitting … and talking, I guess."

Lu Ten waited for another fit of coughing to pass. "Come on. Come inside. I'll take you to Kyko for some soothing tea and maybe something to help you sleep. Would you like to see more of the house, Miss Katara?"

Zuko whipped around to look at the girl. She had to be Azula's age. Katara, was it? Water Tribe names sounded strange to him. They all kind of just rolled around in his mouth. Absently, he supposed Fire Nation names must sound harsh to the Water Tribes. Miss Katara. Miss? Wasn't her father the chief of her tribe? Shouldn't her title be princess or something of more prestige? Miss was the name of a common person. The Water Tribes were a strange place indeed.

"I'd love to," the girl, Katara, said.

"Come along, firefly," Lu Ten said to Zuko when he didn't stand up.

Resenting his cousin calling him a childish term of endearment, Zuko did as he said anyway. No way did he appreciate being called a bug in front of this guest, no matter how weird her title and name were. He had never met someone from the Water Tribes before, indeed never someone so close to his own age. Shenn stayed on her shoulder the whole way down to the room that they called the infirmary for lack of a better word. It had no real staff (Water Tribe healers or Fire Nation doctors). But the room housed their medical supplies and medicines. The other nations would be surprised how often firebenders are injured on their vacations. Of course, they would argue that it wasn't a good vacation without a few good burns to show off in the autumn. They were an explosive people, after all.

Kyko sat at a small table that might have been called a desk if it were just a bit wider. A teacup sat at her elbow as she poured over a large book. No doubt it was taken from the small medical library that was set into the wall farthest from the open bay windows. Living right on the beach, the books had to bound more protectively in leather covers with sticky imported glues along their spines. Stacks of scrolls would be damaged beyond repair in a single summer here. If it wasn't the humidity, then the crashing rains do them in.

She looked up from the tome, and stood to bow when she saw them enter.

After she rose, Kyko asked politely, "And what are you doing here so late at night, may I ask?"

Lu Ten tapped Zuko's shoulder. "This one. Do you think you could fix something for him? It's late and he'd been smoking like a chimney. His room's absolutely full of it."

That polite, obedient smile crossed her face. Zuko always noticed that Kyko became different when someone asked something of her. Gone was the stern and smart nurse. What stood in her place was a servant. It was hard for his brain to get both versions to represent the same person. Maybe he'd judged the titles of the Water Tribe girl too quickly.

"Of course," Kyko said. "I'll get right on it. And how about some tea? I find it soothes the mind."

"You sound like my father," Lu Ten said with a good-natured eye roll.

She smiled at him as she got to work on the water. "Prince Lu Ten, I don't believe anyone has ever paid me such a splendid compliment."

Another servant appeared in the doorway. She was older and never seemed quite as subservient as Kyko. Zuko found this both refreshing and unnerving. Her job was to serve, but she seemed to never let them forget that she could kill them all any time she wished. Gruffly she said, "Prince Lu Ten, Princess Azula has played an awful prank on that Water Tribe boy. I daresay the situation requires your attention. The boy is quite upset and the princess finds this amusing."

"Right," Lu Ten said calmly. Turning to Zuko he added in a low voice, "Your sister will be the end of us all." In a normal volume: "I'll see to it and return as soon as I can. Lead the way."

Zuko watched his cousin follow the servant out of the doorway. Vaguely he wondered what Azula could have done to scare the Water Tribe boy. He knew she could be terrifying, but he also wondered how much of a pansy the boy must have been to let Azula rile him up. It didn't take long for him to reach the conclusion that it must have been entirely his sister's fault. Letting her loose on fresh meat was their fault.

"He's your brother?" Zuko asked Katara. The silence had been awkward, with Kyko shooting them figurative glances over the teapot.

"Yeah," she said. He noticed how much more shy she was now that they were inside under the eye of an adult. That challenge in her eye was gone. "Sokka is older than me."

Sokka, he thought. The name wasn't nearly as smooth as Katara. It sounded like something you would spit out. He decided he liked her name much more. Just thinking it reminded him of stones shaped and smoothed by a river. Hers was a name with an edge that wasn't sharp.

"Your sister?" she asked.

"Azula," he said automatically and didn't add anything else. Just how would he describe his sister without making her out to be the annoying little brat she was? Was there a nice way to say she was terrifying and impressive all at once? Zuko was almost glad for the onset of smoky coughs so that he didn't have to elaborate.

They just sat there in silence. Kyko brewed tea and arranged the medicines Ursa had left her in the correct order, mixing them quietly. Only a single scone burned by the nurse's table. Rya had slid down Zuko's back to flap her wings and curl up on the bed the two children sat on. Shenn left Katara's arm to lie beside his sister. Zuko was glad to be rid of the dragon's heat. As if he wasn't sweating enough. Had Katara noticed? Here he sat shedding fat drops of sweat beside a chieftain's daughter. How embarrassing.

That's when several things happened in quick succession. Zuko let loose a particularly strong cloud of black smoke. Kyko moved to bring the tea tray over to him and Katara when a loud thump was heard from the bay windows.

"For fuck's sake!" a voice yelled.

Another said, "No one is supposed to be here!"

Kyko tripped over her skirts and shrieked, "Burglar!"

The scone flared with heat and then guttered out. Another thump and a squeal sounded from where Zuko thought Kyko had been before the light was sucked from the room. Almost immediately, there was the sound of a body hitting the floor. A calloused hand gripped the back of his neck. Katara made a distressed sound next to him. The hand was dragging him toward the bay window before Zuko could get his feet under him. Shenn and Rya were absolutely screeching in all their infant anger. He tried to take in a breath to scream with them, but it grated on his sore throat and he only coughed smoke at his captor.

"Fuck, that one's a bender!" the voice above him said.

"Get rid of 'em," came another voice.

A distinct splash was heard. Then a deep grunt. Zuko was sure he heard Katara squeal in pain.

"A damn waterbender!"

"When did the fucking Water Tribe get here?"

"Get rid of both of them!"

"Shit, they're just kids!"

"Lu Ten," Zuko tried to say, choking on the smoke in this throat. He was sure his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. Pure terror was coursing through him. A good breath was drawn deep into his lungs. Then he forced it out with as much volume as he could. "Lu Ten!"

The sound echoed around the room and rang in his ears. The hand that wasn't on his neck slapped over his mouth. Still, the hand was steering him toward the window. Panic shook him. Zuko lit a fire in his hands without a thought and latched on to the arm around him so hard his nails probably drew blood.

"Ah! The little shit!"

But it worked. He released him. Zuko crabbed toward the exit. "Help! Lu Ten!"

Katara remained silent. There had to be at least six people in the room all talking at the same time, but he didn't hear her. Even Rya and Shenn could be heard in the din. Zuko ran into Kyko's still body. His hand touched something wet near her head. The scent of tangy metal met his nose. Blood. His stomach did an uncomfortable flip.

So he screamed.

Something viselike clamped on his ankle and pulled him back through that horrible puddle of blood. There were echoing smashes and feet pounding on the ground beyond the door. Someone was coming! From the sound of it, several people were coming. One of the voices said as much.

"People are coming! We have to go, Jong-su! We'll try some other time!"

"Kill the kids! We can't risk it!"

"They're kids! They could be useful. Hostages…"

"Fine! Just get out of here, back to the ship!"

The vise dragged him until arms closed tightly around his torso. He didn't stop struggling even though he could feel Kyko's blood soaking into his clothes, sizzling when it touched his fevered skin. The boots fleeing for the windows shook the ground Zuko was lying prone on. The door went up in flames, and his saviors rushed into the room.

Shouts. So many voices shouting.

A hand slapped over his mouth again. He shook his head side to side and tried biting the flesh over his mouth. His eyes locked with Lu Ten's for the briefest moment. Those gold eyes were wide with worry and panic.

"Drop my son now," a horrifyingly ice-cold voice hissed.

Was that really Mother?

Zuko tried frantically to find her face, but the person holding him was putting pressure on a certain spot on his neck. His eyes wouldn't focus, the lids becoming suddenly heavy. There were several wooshings that reached his ears, indicative of firebending. An impressive display of colors swirled around before him all out of focus. More shouts; they sounded angry and pained and vindictive. Zuko couldn't make sense of the words. The pressure in his neck suddenly increased, and he might have gone boneless.

The sun was rising after that long, terrible night. Iroh pushed his way into the destroyed infirmary. Ursa sat on one of the beds worrying a bug net between her slender fingers. Exactly as he had left her. Kyko's body had been removed and was being prepared for burning, but her blood still stained the floor. It was smeared where the kids had been dragged through it.

Carefully, he said, "Lady Ursa, the Water Tribesmen have decided they would like to stay and help mount a search party to find Miss Katara and Prince Zuko. The Fire Lord has called a convening of all the generals and warlords. He is expected to declare war on the Earth Kingdom before sundown."

She didn't look up at him. "We do not know it was the Earth Kingdom that abducted them."

"That is not how the Fire Lord sees it. Who else could it be?"

She shrugged. "We should prepare to return to the caldera city. Is Azula around?" Ursa looked deeply upset suddenly. "Have I lost track of both of them so soon?"

"Lu Ten is with her," Iroh said comfortingly. "You have lost one, yes. Ursa, it will not do for you to sit around defeated. Think of Azula. She is still here, and she needs you now more than ever. You mustn't become lost now. You will never find Zuko if you have lost yourself."

"You're right, of course."

That fire she had last night still seemed to be kindling inside her. Ursa was a pleasant woman, tempered with manners. Even Iroh had been surprised by the ferocity his mild sister-in-law had attacked the invaders with. A dragon raises a dragon, it seemed. Take her eggs and she will deal you ten times the hurt you caused her.

That reminded him.

Iroh glanced toward the ruined bay window. White gold and scarlet sang their misery to the rising sun. They flapped their wings futilely. If they were capable of pursing, they would have done so already. The sounds they made broke his heart. Iroh did know some things about dragons not many others did. He took comfort in the fact that, while the dragons were singing their sorrow, they were not calling out the Dragon's Lament. Wherever Zuko was, he was not dead. If he died, Rya and Shenn would let them know it.