a·mel·io·rate / to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; to improve / verb

Summary: Zuko learns the ups and downs of (unconditional / reluctant / unearned) love.
Rating: M for Mature; dark themes, character death, mentions of blood, and violence.
Notes: Sorry that this took so long! I thought I had a section of this pre-written and forgot I lost it, so I tried to write it as it was. This is dedicated to Cegorach for the 'Zuko is a wizard' theory, which I was tempted to keep when I was writing Convalesce but I always had a loose construction of how they traveled that far.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of the characters portrayed here.

ap·pre·ci·ate / to be grateful or thankful for; to value or regard highly / verb

Zuko winces. Zuko doubts. But then, Zuko succeeds.

A matronly servant, Zuko suspects she may be a midwife or Healer, catches Zuko only hours after his parents' deaths rooting through cabinets in the kitchens. He doesn't speak, he vows to never speak and she cleans his wound without question. She talks to him in a gentle tone without implication and expectation of a response, and when she bandages his wrist, he doesn't move for a solid twenty minutes. He just sits, he just takes it all in, he just tries to catch his breath.

She doesn't ask any questions as the Prince fills a pack full of simple foods like bread, fruit, and anything in a container. He grabs a bottle that she pretends not to notice and she doesn't ask when she watches him put the pack on his back and it jingles with coins. She doesn't ask him anything as he retreats, and Zuko is grateful for it.

The port of the Caldera makes no allowance for small children, even a slightly dirtied prince carrying a murderous princess. "Watch it," an older man stumbles over Zuko and the Prince shoots him a look full of (venom / terror / apprehension) when he turns his golden eyes to him. He shifts Azula in his arms and tries to channel his father through his voice.

"I need to get to the Earth Kingdom."

The older man, dark hair tied in a topknot and his crimson clothes sleeveless and dingy, laughs at the little boy, giving him an amused glance. Zuko's face is stern and the man crouches down to meet him. "That's a long way. Don't no one ever wanna go to the Earth Kingdom when they livin' in the Fire Nation." He is only met with more silence, so he sighs and straightens himself. "Aight, kid. You ain't got nothin' but a brat and a backpack, when what you need is coin."

Zuko hesitates before shifting Azula in his arms; he brandishes a golden, glimmering artifact and holds it out to the older man. "It's real." He takes the ornament into his hands, running his fingers along the five-pronged headpiece. Zuko knew it wasn't his to take, but the thinning line between right and wrong was nearly invisible to him at that moment in time.

"I got a ship travelin' to Ba Sing Se, but you ain't allowed outta the cargo hold."

"Done." He snaps back and shifts Azula in his arms. The man stares down at him incredulously but turns to lead him towards out of the port and towards the dock where more men and a few women navigate the crowds.

"It's uncomfortable—" "—So?" "And we export spiced seafood—" "—I don't care."

"Oh, come on, kid!" He whirls on Zuko, brushing shoulders with someone else in the crowd and the Prince nearly barrels into his legs. "What's so bad you ain't got no problems with being stowed like a shipment of squid?" When he meets fierce golden eyes, he finds an answer.

He turns quickly and leads him back towards the dock, up a gangplank, and onto a decent sized ship. Zuko doesn't take in any sights, not that he has to chance to, before he is shoved below the deck and into the darkness of the cargo hold by a rough hand. He stumbles and Azula tumbles out of his grip with a crack and a roll; she offers him little more than a grunt of acknowledgment to show that she has felt it, and Zuko feels around in the dark before lighting his palm and finding Azula splayed next to a bunch of heavy crates and boxes. He breaks off a splintering piece of wood with his fist and lights it on fire, wedging it carefully into a crate as he moves swiftly. He sits Azula up against the wall and drapes his cloak over her body. He pulls his backpack off of his shoulders and sets it at his feet. When he draws his knees up to his chest, he rests them there solemnly for a while, before he reaches to extinguish the flame.

Zuko is (kicked / startled / forced) awake by shrill screaming. He scrambles and throws his palm over Azula's mouth while lighting his other palm full of fire. "Azula," he stops when he sees her eyes are closed. He kicks his backpack over, watching a roll of tape and the neck of a bottle spill out. He lets go of his fire to reach for the bottle and he fumbles in the dark with the cork. The liquid splashes back a harsh smell and he forces it into Azula's mouth. He can feel her gurgling, choking, swallowing it; he can feel it dribbling out of her mouth in the corners. She screams for five more minutes under the cover of his palm before she drifts asleep and stays asleep.

The rocking of the ship makes him uneasy, but not nauseous. He sips from the bottle but the burning liquid only makes him (despondent / numb / apathetic) and he rests his head back against the wall of the ship. It's so dark that he can no longer tell when he is asleep and when he is awake; visions of his mother and father dance in front of his eyes and he doesn't cope with it well, reaching for the bottle or crying gently into his warm fists.

When the door is thrown open, Zuko wonders if he is dreaming of a warm light where his mother awaits him with a story and his father resides with trickles of love he hadn't given him in his mortal life, but the fantasy is quickly shattered with a, "Hey, kid!"

Zuko scrambles for (his belongings / his resolve / his sister) as the older man offers him a hand. He declines it, pulling himself and an unconscious Azula along with him. The sun burns in his irises and he squints even when he gazes down at the ground over his sister's prone body. He grumbles a gentle thanks to the older man and prepares for the rest of his journey.

When Zuko sees the familiar tea shop, he crashes through the door—literally. Azula falls to the floor and doesn't stir; his palm catches an upraised piece of wood and splinters through the skin. He hisses as he pulls back and the patrons and servers all stare at him on his hands and knees. "What is all the commo—nephew!"

He looks up at his uncle and isn't sure if he's crying, shaking, or just really cold all of a sudden. All he knows is that Iroh pulls him up into his arms, engulfing him in an embrace scented of ginseng and charred pastry. When he lets go, he lifts Azula and instructs his nephew to follow him. Every step shakes and Zuko remembers he hasn't eaten; the scent of food turns his stomach over with nausea.

"Prince Zuko," his uncle says when Azula is safely propped up in a bed in Iroh's cottage close by the tea shop, "what is the meaning of your visit here?"

And Zuko launches into the tale, trembling, sobbing, disintegrating with anger and sadness. When he finishes, Iroh's face is pale and ashen and Zuko is shaking and sobbing with his hands covering his face. It hurts to cry as he feels his body draining for lack of food and proper rest, but he is still (broken / delicate / wounded) over the events that transpired. If he has anything to say to the young prince, he doesn't; instead, he leads Zuko to the same room where his sister is fast asleep and leaves him there.

Zuko sleeps (fitfully / lightly / quickly) until Iroh comes to retrieve him. Azula is still asleep; Zuko isn't sure what he'll do when it's the two of them, alone, with just each other. He is still having a difficult time wrapping his head around everything that has happened. "Listen to me, nephew," Iroh says quietly, but fiercely, "we must return to the Fire Nation. Things will not be easy for you or your sister, but I will be with you. No one can take that away from you."

This time, when he pulls Zuko into a hug, the young firebender feels nothing but relief and a grateful sensation spreading through his chest. Maybe he will be able to get through everything in one piece.