𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

┏━━━━━━━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━━━━━━━┓

Zuko's swords dragged behind him as he walked across the apartment threshold sluggishly. La'kea trailed closely behind warily, he looked disconcertingly exhausted.

Iroh closed the door behind them with a smile, "You did the right thing. Letting the Avatar's bison go free."

The prince stumbled forward weakly, pressing a hand to his head. "I don't... Feel right."

She turned towards him as he gave out a weak groan, and that was the only warning she had to grab his shoulders when his legs suddenly collapsed beneath him. La'kea gasped as she gently lowered him to the ground, shifting the prince in her arms as his head rolled against her shoulder. His uncle exclaimed in worry as he knelt next to him and shared a frightened look with the islander.

They wasted no time in pulling him towards a mat in the bedroom, Iroh clearing the room to give the healer space as she ran to gather as much water as possible. La'kea walked in the room as Iroh was sliding a pillow under Zuko's head, and rolled up her sleeves. The general's eyes widened at the tribal tattoos patterned up her forearms in deep blue ink, but there was no time to question them as they turned towards the prince.

Zuko groaned weakly in pain as she knelt beside him, pulling a large stream of water through the air to hover over the prince. She waved her hands through the air in smooth sweeping motions, the water mimicking the movement as it began to glow a shimmering silver. Iroh watched in careful anticipation as her brow furrowed in concentration, waiting for her diagnoses.

La'kea sucked in a breath, barely managing to fold away the water in it's bucket before she dropped her hands. "I can't find anything wrong with him," She pressed a hand to his forehead to find it burning. "There's no wound, no poison, and no internal injuries."

Iroh hummed in deep thought as he ran a hand through his beard, "It's as I thought. He is so conflicted with himself it's manifesting as an actual illness."

"What can I do then," The islander murmured despairingly, feeling useless.

The old man just pressed his mouth together in a thin line, and handed her a cloth soaked with cool water. "All we can do is help him through this." Iroh watched the islander tend to his nephew with painstaking attention and gentleness, he realized that their friendship had taken a turn towards something more. 

He sighed, "My apologies, Miss La'kea," She looked up in question, "I'm afraid I misjudged your influence on my nephew while underneath the lake."

The islander dipped the cloth in fresh water, confusion written on her face, "What do you mean?"

"I was afraid you would only support whatever decision he made, even if it was a poor one, and not help guide him towards making the right choice." Iroh admitted. "I was under the impression that although your intentions were not malicious..."

"You were afraid I was only going to enable his bad decisions," She finished quietly, keeping her eyes on the prince.

"You see," The old man continued, "I only want what's best for him, and I understand that you will want to return to your island, but you don't need the Avatar to do that."

La'kea was silent for a moment, mulling over his words before she spoke up. "I care about Zuko too much... At this point, I don't know if I would be able to leave him." 

"La'kea," Iroh persisted solemnly, "I believe you play a crucial role in helping my nephew towards the right path."

She didn't look away from the prince, "Right now we need to focus on helping Zuko pull through this."

The former general nodded slowly, even if the only thing they could do to help the prince was wait.

┏━━━━━━━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━━━━━━━┓

Zuko's inner turmoil continued to rise, causing his skin to flush with heat so intense his uncle had to change him out of the heavy black suit he had collapsed in. At one point when she had placed another cool rag on his forehead the water had quickly evaporated.

She was running her fingers through his damp hair when his eyes flickered open, and with a tired groan he shifted onto his back.

"You're burning up," His uncle explained to his delirious nephew as he rung another cloth with water. "You have an intense fever. This will help cool you down."

"How do you feel," La'kea murmured as she placed the rag to his forehead, wiping away the beads of sweat rolling down his face.

He lifted a hand to her face weakly, rasping, "So thirsty."

They stopped him from sitting up as she bent a small bubble of water from the bowl nearby and propped his head up. "Here," She coaxed as he quickly gulped down the water and abruptly twisted to the side to grab the bucket of water nearby. Wincing as he haphazardly tipped the container back, causing some of the water to spill onto his chest before he flung the now empty bucket against the wall harshly.

Iroh left to go refill the water bucket as she pulled the blanket back over him, he turned back on his side and coughed weakly. La'kea looked down in surprise at the feeling of him weakly reaching back to touch her hand. She sighed, and laced their fingers together as she continued running her other hand through his hair.

Although he fell back to sleep, it was far from peaceful, they could only watch as he tossed and turned fitfully. The movement behind his eyelids betrayed the dreams that disturbed him.

They continued long into the night, to the point that Iroh took the time to brew tea for the three of them. La'kea helped the prince sit up as his uncle held the cup to his lips.

Zuko accepted the drink with a long drawn out sip, much more refined than his earlier episode. "What's happening," He rasped weakly, unconsciously tightening his hold on her hand.

"Your critical decision," Iroh explained gently, sounding proud, "What you did beneath that lake, it was in such conflict with your image of yourself that you are now at war within your own mind and body."

"What does that mean," He questioned before dissolving into another fit of coughs.

La'kea quickly helped ease him back into lying down, "It means you just need to rest."

"You are going through a metamorphosis, my nephew." Iroh shook his head slowly, "It will not be a pleasant experience, but when you come out of it, you will be the beautiful prince you were always meant to be." She pushed down the urge to chide the old man, this was no time for his metaphorical musings.

"You should get some sleep as well, Miss La'kea," Iroh insisted, observing the ways her eyelids drooped with the effort to stay awake.

She squeezed her eyes shut before blinking rapidly, trying to alleviate her exhaustion, "I'm fine."

"I promise, I will wake you if something happens," The old man promised gently.

That was all she needed to finally lay down beside the prince with a grumble, still holding his hand as her eyes drifted shut.

┏━━━━━━━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━━━━━━━┓

For once, Oliana didn't immediately greet her when she entered the void of her dreams.

Her friend just sat there, cross legged with a smile, and she warily mimicking the position across from her. "So..." La'kea started, unsure of what to do. "Usually you just nag me about something vague and cryptic."

Oliana shook her head, still smiling, "No, not this time. But-"

La'kea tipped back her head with a frustration groan, "There's always a but! I thought I've done everything you want me to do, you won't even tell me why I need to do this! What do you want from me now!"

"But don't let your emotions distract you," The chieftess finished wryly, rolled her eyes good naturedly before jutting her chin towards her friend's forearms. "I like the tattoos you chose, the symbols of the ocean, for your waterbending. And of strength and perseverance... Your fathers."

"I'm just happy I remembered them," La'kea smiled softly. "The artist here certainly wouldn't have known."

Oliana grinned, "See? You're remembering. You're on the right path, La'kea."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what the path leads to?" She tried, knowing it was futile, and predictably, her friend shook her head.

"It's for you to decide what you use it for," The chieftess replied cryptically.

"You sound like Iroh."

"Maybe that's why you get along with the Fire Nation prince so much."

La'kea suddenly felt embarrassed, like she had been caught. "Is... that bad?"

The face Oliana made wasn't reassuring, "Well- Not at the moment, just... Make sure he doesn't drag you down with him."

"Cheery advice," She muttered.

┏━━━━━━━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━━━━━━━┓

Zuko suddenly lurched awake with a yell, startling the islander who had been sleeping peacefully beside him.

"Zuko?"

He glanced down at the waterbender that was slowly sitting up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and realized their fingers were tangled together. The disturbing nightmare must have still shown on his face because she shifted closer. "Are you okay," She murmured.

His free hand brushed against the scarred side of his face, and relaxed as he felt the marred texture of the burnt flesh. "Yes," He croaked, throat dry as he finally turned towards her fully, and took a moment to marvel in the sight of the early morning rays framing her dark hair in a halo. "I'm fine now, let's just," The prince slumped back down on his bedroll, holding their clasped hands against his chest. "Rest."

La'kea stayed awake a moment longer as she memorized every detail of his sleeping face, Oliana's words weighing heavy in the back of her mind. As if, she thought as she closed her eyes, relaxing in the warmth the prince generated, she could keep them both afloat.