Chapter 5

Part 2

"It's got me thinking... Someone is out to get me... Or they're out to sabotage my chances at earning mastery. Or they're trying to mess with the royal family. Or, and this could be pretty fun, they might be trying to keep me from finding out what's going on around here, if something is," he said, counting each one off on a finger and then wiggling them about. "One of those, for sure."

"Pretty fun?"

Iroza gave her an exasperated look. "I've been so bored. You have no idea."

Mai took a moment to pinch her nose and mutter under her breath.

"Don't give me that. This isn't just paranoia! I got all of my paranoid theories out of the way on the trip over... And those were all just as clever and well-founded."

And no one would convince him otherwise.

She didn't say anything immediately, so he crossed his arms and huffed.

When she did speak, it was as much to herself as it was to Iroza. "Fine. Azula wants me to help, so I'll help. It might be stupid and pointless, but I'll help. If it is stupid and pointless, then whatever. It's fine. Fine. Great."

"Great?"

She nodded slowly, resigned to helping the cause now.

Iroza grinned. "Great!"

"Yeah, really great," she said, and he wished she would get into the spirit of things already. "Moving on. Assuming something is going on, which it might not be but we're gonna go ahead and pretend it is for now and that's fine, then it's probably one of the higher-ups. Either a noble, or a high-ranking official who doesn't want to take orders from you."

Iroza nodded. "Sounds about right. So what were you thinking?"

"I'll have a look around, see if anyone's left something around. Files or messages."

"Asking questions and such, right?"

She sighed. "I'm not really one for smiling and batting my eyelashes at people, no. You're basically already doing it, so just..." She made a vague gesture at him. "Just keep that up, I guess."

Smiling and batting eyelashes?

Ridiculous.

That hardly described all of the subtleties that made it into his performance as a mild-mannered prince with no secrets.

"Yeah, that's fair."

Alright.

It described it a little.

He crossed his arms and tried to look unimpressed. "So you'll be the sneaky one, and I'll be the social one who is also sneaky?Doesn't sound like much of a plan."

"There's no plan," she said flatly.

"This kind of is a plan, though."

"This is me looking for evidence of your paranoia, and you asking leading questions with your big innocent eyes, and then us maybe meeting up again at some point if either of us learns something important."

Iroza shot her a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan."

She snorted. "Whatever."

With that, she turned and crept back into the shadows.

He shook his head with a laugh. "Ahh... What a cheerful person. I missed her."

No he didn't.

Well, maybe a little.

A minute went by, and his leftover amusement from the conversation slowly faded.

It was nice to talk to someone who already knew his tricks.

Refreshing, really.

Walking over to a basin, he splashed his face with some cool water and contorted his face a few different ways.

Walking over to a basin, he splashed his face with some cool water and contorted his face a few different ways.

Big smile.

Small smile.

Wide eyes

.

Doe eyes.

Smug.

Naive.

Confused.

Practice was important.

A thought hit him.

He looked around with a frown, considering.

It would be nice if he didn't have to resort to his customer service persona at all, honestly.

And if he wanted to ditch it well, he was very far from home.

Dropping the act and bulldozing his way through the investigation, rooting out dissidents and making examples out of people...

It was very tempting, and would probably end up being very effective.

But...

It also sounded like something Ozai would do.

It sounded a lot like something Ozai would be overjoyed to hear that his son was doing in his stead.

Iroza drew himself up, stroking the beard he didn't have.

"My son, at long last you have proven yourself worthy of your bloodline. You have brought honor to the Fire Nation. Zuko would do well to learn from you. Why, back when I was a wee laddie, I was stomping out dissent in conquered territories all over the place. Good to see you following in my footsteps, boyo. I'm proud of you, Iroza."

Yuck.

That thought alone was enough for him to steer away from the idea.

He did think about it.

A little.

Well... A little more than a little, but still not a lot.

He shook his head roughly, putting it firmly out of his mind for the time being.

It wouldn't work yet.

He would just have to cross that bridge whenever it came up.

He left the room and got ready to start smiling again.

It was aggravating, but....

But hey, maybe he wouldn't have to keep it up for much longer.

□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

General Rama, how good to see you," Iroza said, beaming and suppressing the urge to glare.

It was an annoying reflex he had never managed to get rid of. "Ive learned so much in this role you've trusted me with. It's really been quite an experience, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from you."

Rama turned to him in his seat with a raised eyebrow, before he burst into jovial laughter.

"Ahah! lt is I who should be grateful to you, your grace. You have performed your duties as Adjutant with peerless efficiency. I admit, I find myself very impressed. But not surprised! Of course one of the Fire Lord's children would be equal to any task set before them. Its only natural!"

Yes, yes.

Back and forth groveling and empty compliments.

"I'm honored that you think so highly of my father, General. And me, for that matter. Ive only begun to learn the full extent of what goes on around here, and it's been inspirational to watoch you work"

An entire week and a half since he and Mai had met up and decided to look for clues.

A week and a half of standing around, trying to learn something incriminating, and failing.

But that wasnt to say he hadnt learned anything at all.

On the contrary, he had learned a great deal.

Like... How the General liked his tea.

And how much the General liked to talk.

And how little the General liked to work.

And how much the General relied on grunts to handle administration.

And how little attention he paid to issues that came up.

Most of all, how the most important and pressing issues seemed to dry up while lroza was there.

All was well in Wan Bhing, after all.

To suggest otherwise was ridiculous!

Rama nodded seriously, stroking the folds beneath his chin.

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose. You may be something of a prodigy, my prince, but you are young yet. Im honored that you think so highly of me, and it's my hope that you return home from this assignment with a new appreciation for this sort of work"

Iroza didnt narrow his eyes.

He was too busy thinking.

Thinking about taking his hands, making them as hot as he could manage on such short notice, and plunging them into the mans chest.

How much time would he need?

Half a minute?

Something like that.

Just hot enough so that all he would have to do is push.

Would the bones cave in from enough heat?

He might not be powerful enough to do that right away.

But given a minute or two, the bones would probably just burn to ash, right?

Anything could burn with enough heat, after all.

Ooh, maybe he could just lightly place his hands on the man's chest before unleashing his flames on him at point-blank range.

That could work.

A little messy.

Or a lot messy.

But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Yeah..