The decision to leave Ba Sing Se early could not have been made lightly. Each meeting Katara and Aang had with the Earth King was vital to preserving the hard-won peace. So when Zuko received a letter saying they were cutting their trip short to visit him, he knew something of grave importance had happened.

He first assumed the meeting had gone poorly, and that the Fire Nation Capitol would once again have to prepare for war. He stayed up late, pestering his advisers at odd hours, planning for the worst.

When they arrived a couple days behind the letter, Zuko was already waiting in the palace courtyard. He watched their sky-bison circle around the sky and float down onto the grass. Zuko had their letter in his sweaty hands. He had folded it several times and rolled it into a tiny scroll, something he did with papers when he was stressed, a nervous habit.

Aang climbed down from the giant beast first, taking a moment to pet the animal on the nose before turning to Zuko.

"Well, what's going on?" Zuko said, too anxious to wait for a hello. "What did the Earth King say? Do I have to send an ambassador? Do I have to mobilize the navy?"

Aang gave little smile and then an uncomfortable laugh. "No, everything's normal in that department. The meeting went well. I mean, there was something about the economy, I don't know how normal that is but... you know, nothing terrible. Honestly I didn't understand much of it."

"Maybe you would understand if you took notes instead of doodling," Katara said. She was still sitting up in the Apa's saddle, her arms wrapped around something. "But that's not why we're here."

"Well what is it!" Zuko said. He craned his neck to see what Katara had on her lap. "What's the news!"

Katara sighed. "I don't know how you're going to react, Zuko. But it's a relic from the past. Aang, help me out here." Together, she and Aang lowered a bundle of blankets—an adult human—down from the saddle and set it on the grass.

Zuko looked down. The bundle stirred, and he saw it had a face, the only part uncovered. It was his sister, whom he hadn't seen it two years. And she was not well.

Azula was barely conscious. Her cheeks were pale and sunken and covered in sweat. She was mumbling but only a small portion of the noises she made were actual words.

Zuko shouted at a pair of servants to run and get a stretcher.

Katara felt Azula's forehead, then undid the blankets to cool her down. Azula's clothes were tattered and soiled, like they were the only set of clothes she had. No one would think looking at her that she had been born in a palace, a princess of the Fire Nation. Her arms flailed. Katara caught them and laid them on her chest. They were covered in blood-soaked bandages.

Zuko took a step back. "What's wrong with her hands."

"I think they were burned," Katara said. "They weren't wrapped when we found her. They're infected. I tried healing them but they're pretty bad, so I couldn't do much."

"Once we get her settled somewhere she can rest," Aang said, "we... uhm... we really need to talk."

Zuko watched his sister shiver. He nodded.

They servants placed her in her old bed chamber. Katara helped them lower her onto the bed and rewrap her in the blankets. Aang served as her assistant, following her instructions on whatever Azula needed. "Bring me that pillow." "Bring me my water bottle. She's burning up."

Zuko watched the process from the doorway. He was still fidgeting with the letter in his hands. He'd folded it and rolled it so many times the ink was starting to smudge.

"You could help too, you know," Katara finally said to Zuko.

He came in and looked around the old bedroom. It was just as Azula had kept it in the days before, tidy, with a few ornaments on the fire-place mantel, her old training swords mounted on the wall. Most of this would have to go, he realized. It was all dangerous or flammable.

"We're going to need to nail the window shut," he said.

"You don't think she'd like a breeze?" Aang said.

"I think she'd like to jump out," he said. "Maybe to fall to her death. Maybe to escape and burn down some village."

"She's too sick to do that," Aang said.

"But she could get better," Zuko said. "It stays closed."

"Are you going to help me or not, Zuko?" Katara said. "At least find someone who can heat up some bathwater and and bring her clean clothes."

Zuko didn't get any closer to the bed. He really didn't want a better view of his sister. He had never seen anyone who looked that sick before. She shivered mumbled and her arms flailed. Occasionally she struggled to sit up. She had no idea what was going on. It was almost like she'd been changed into something not human, but at the same time her weakness made her look more human than she ever had. He knew it was selfish of him, but he wished he had never gotten the letter. He should have been in his office, working, thinking about something else.

Azula tried to push off the covers. Zuko stepped forward, prepared to step in in case she attacked. But Katara hushed her, and very gently forced her to lay down again. She was an experienced healer now, and had dealt with many sick, delirious patients, and Azula was just another sick person. The fact that Azula had attempted to kill her and her friends several times didn't change that.

Katara pulled the blanket up to Azula's chin. "When she calms down, she'll need a bath and some hot soup, but for now she needs to rest."