Chapter Text
"Legally speaking, you are required to stay in the palace." Gun fussed with one of his cuffs, unnecessarily. He'd always had an anxious way about him, always ready to cringe and plead. It worked very well on her sister-in-law, who enjoyed nothing more than intimidating all of the various sycophants around her. The bitch.
"Without Zaichun? I think not." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking a moment to compose herself. It wasn't that she wouldn't cry for her husband; she had and she would, she knew. She wasn't going to do it in front of anyone else, however. It simply wasn't the Fire Nation way. She frowned at one of the servants, who had jostled a vase on its way into its protective packing. "None of us want to be here and you know why."
"Wen is staying."
"You there! Watch yourself!" She glared at the servant as he kowtowed to the floor before turning back to Gun. "Wen doesn't have the sense of a hippo cow and you know it. Hou-Ting will stash her in one of the remote pavilions and forget about her and both of them will be just as happy that way." She pursed her lips and took in a deep breath. "What happens if I do this?"
Gun met her gaze. "Hou-Ting would be within her legal rights to demand that you be returned to the palace if you were still in the Earth Kingdom. Per ancient treaty, Firelord Zuko should also return you to the palace if you were to go back to the Fire Nation and the Queen demanded your return. Would he actually do so, however?" A slight shrug. "I do not know the Firelord well enough to say. Hou-Ting could always release you from the court, of course."
She bit back a laugh that was merely a breath away from being a snarl. "You and I both know she won't do that."
"I find it...unlikely." Gun was doing his best to be polite but even he couldn't gloss over what they both knew was true. Without Zaichun to keep his sister at bay, the Queen would take perverse pleasure in making the lives of certain of her sister-in-laws as tortuous as possible. Wen, while the prettiest, had always been too dim to interest her and Ji was simply too diplomatic for even Hou-Ting to find fault with. The same could not be said for either Yu or herself, however. Hou-Ting would go out of her way to make her miserable, that she knew. She wouldn't be in any danger, however, unlike Yu. Without Zaichun's protection Xiaozheyi would have her killed before the year was out. She was afraid for Yu.
She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I can't stay here, any more than Yu can. I don't think the Firelord would force me to come back." A grimace. "Although I can't say as going home is my first choice." At his inquisitive look she scowled. "I don't relish moving back to the Fire Nation, not after all these years. And what would I do? Move back in with my parents?" The thought horrified her. She loved her parents, but she had left their home twenty-five years back to marry Zaichun and it had been such a relief to live in a court where her non-bending status was looked on as a positive thing instead of a source of shame to her family. She could not go back to to sit there, day after day after day until she died, a now childless widow who couldn't even bring a flicker of flame under her control.
Gun folded his hands within his sweeping sleeves. "There is, of course, another option." He gazed out into the hallway past her rooms, watching as her servants continued to scurry about, gathering her things together. He glanced over at her. "The Earth Kingdom has no extradition treaty with the United Republic unless it concerns criminals. Moving out of your husband's home is not considered a crime there. They would not extradite you for that, regardless of what the Queen might say or do."
"Zai would never want you to stay." Yu came from behind her, taking her hand in hers. She was wan, her eyes red-rimmed with tears, her hand trembling, those unruly curls of hers sagging out of their pins.
"What will we do with you?" She reached into her pocket for a fresh handkerchief as Yu's tears spilled over her cheeks. "Gun, we can't leave her here. It's not safe."
"It most certainly is not," Gun replied, and bowed at Yu. "Your Highness, we must get you out of the palace."
"But..." Yu swallowed. "My son..."
She exchanged a glance with Gun. Yu had never accepted that Zaichun's first wife had taken her son away from her, had never stopped trying to somehow win him back. Not that it mattered anyhow. The boy had been utterly and totally ruined. He was a wretched, vicious thing; illiterate, crude, unconscionably cruel towards his servants and prone to tantrums when he did not immediately get his way. Zaichun had despised the boy and had always blamed himself for not standing up to Xiaozheyi in the first place about it.
If only their daughter had lived. Her beautiful green-eyed daughter, the one that had looked so much like her father. Leaving her shrine behind would be the only regret she had about leaving this place.
The Grand Secretariat cleared his throat and waved his hand, waiting for the servants to scurry out and close the door behind them before he bowed at Yu again. "Your Highness," he said, his tone weary, and for the first time she noticed that his eyes were reddened as well. "Imperial Consort Narumi is correct. It is simply not safe for you here any longer. I cannot guarantee your security if you remain." He moved slightly closer to her. "I have an obligation to my prince to see to it that all of his consorts are safe and cared for."
"If I go to Republic City, couldn't she come with me?" She took Yu's hand in her own again. "Hou-Ting couldn't extradite her either, correct?"
Gun shook his head. "She could not. And in your case, Your Highness, moving to Republic City would be enough. Hou-Ting will be incensed at losing her quarry but she would not bother trying to assassinate you. In her mind, that would be giving you more attention and validation than she believes you deserve. Better to pretend you didn't even exist. Perhaps Republic City would not be your first choice, but I believe that you would live your life there undisturbed." His face darkened as he turned back to Yu. "However, while I believe the Queen would feel much the same when it comes to you I do not believe that Her Highness Xiaozheyi would be so sanguine, Your Highness. I do not believe there is anywhere in this world that you may remain safe from her."
Another tear tracked down Yu's cheek. "I know how she feels about me. If even Republic City isn't safe for me then what can I do?"
"She needs to disappear, doesn't she?" She brought Yu's hand to her chest and covered it with her other hand. "That's what you're saying, Gun, isn't it?"
He nodded and his mouth trembled just slightly. "Your Highnesses, what I am telling you is that, for all intents and purposes, Imperial Consort Yu needs to die."
Yu sucked in a quick breath and dug her fingers into hers. "What does that mean, exactly?"
She scoffed with admiration. "Gun, you cunning old bastard." Zaichun had always told her that Gun was far more than he seemed. She was starting to understand what he had meant.
He bowed and allowed her a slight smile. "As you say, Your Highness." His expression sobered. "It means, Your Highness, that for all intents and purposes, you will appear to have died. We will hold a funeral for you and your family will be compensated, as per protocol. You will be provided with a new identity and will live the rest of your life that way."
"I...you sayin' I can't go home to my folks anymore?" Yu was upset enough that her accent slipped, the vowels broadening and slurring.
"I regret very deeply to say that you cannot, Your Highness. In fact, they would be safer if you did not."
"Oh," Yu murmured, and then sank down to one of her benches, her face buried into her hands.
"No one else can know about this, Your Highness." Gun had met her eyes. "The less people that know about it the better."
She nodded. "Of course." She glanced at Yu before returning her gaze to Gun. "You can be assured of my discretion. The last thing I would want to do is expose her to any more danger. It isn't like I would tell Wen, after all." She thought for a moment. "Ji would help, though. If you asked."
Gun shook his head. "It is not that I doubt Imperial Consort Ji's intelligence or discretion. It is simply better that no one outside of this room knows."
Yu glanced up, eyes resolute. Yu had always understood how to do whatever was necessary, after all. "How would you do it, then?"
He frowned and began to pace. "I am not sure. An illness, perhaps? Some sort of accident."
She shook her head. "Suicide." At their looks, she raised a hand. "Hear me out. Yu, you could go to Zaichun's summer pavilion on the other side of the lake, let it be known that you need privacy to grieve, take only a handmaid or two. Women you trust implicitly. While you are there, you can write a suicide note, insinuating that you will be casting yourself into the lake. Then you can leave while your women pretend for another week or so that you are still there in seclusion." She turned to Gun. "You can procure an already dead body, can you not? Someone of Yu's general age and looks? If you dress her in Yu's clothes and put her into the lake, by the time they got waterbenders to locate the body the face would be too disfigured to really tell who she was. Everyone will just assume. After the funeral your ladies can discreetly leave the palace and join you wherever it is that Gun thinks will be safe."
They both stared at her before Yu leapt up and grabbed her around the waist. "You're brilliant," she cried, and she felt her face begin to warm.
"It might work," Gun mused, frowning. "It very well might work." He nodded. "I can do whatever is necessary on my end. Are any of your women ones that you can trust, Your Highness? Women who would keep your secret and go with you into exile?"
"Fan," she immediately replied. "Fan would, I know. And perhaps Jun. I can speak to Fan."
"Please be discreet, Your Highness. I beg of you."
"I will, Gun. I promise."
"As for you, Your Highness," Gun turned to her, "I believe that it would be best for you to leave as soon as possible." He tugged at his sleeves. "The Representative of the Earth Kingdom on the United Republic Council is an old friend. I will send a missive to her tonight, asking her to assist you in finding a home. I have already informed the Queen that you are relocating to the Jade Pavilion. We will continue to move your things there so she will not suspect that anything is amiss. Is there anything in particular that you would like to take with you to Republic City? I don't suggest you leave it here." He looked pained. "I cannot guarantee that Hou-Ting won't destroy it out of spite."
"Oh, she would, the bitch." She smiled at Yu's inadvertent laugh. "I have a few things that I would want, yes."
"The Satomobile, Narumi. Zai would want you to have the car." Yu took her hands in hers again. "You were the only one that would ride in it with him, after all."
"If you tell your servants to put those things you want aside I will have them put into storage. As it were." Gun cleared his throat. "I will ensure that they will be sent on to you there. I will also make sure that any and all of your funds are transferred into your name at Republic Bank." His smile was merely a shadow across his lips. "I think I might be able to arrange something with the Satomobile."
"Not my name," she blurted out before she realized she was going to say anything. "If I am going to make a new life then I want a new life. I don't want to be known as Zaichun's widow. If I am, I'll never be left alone, not by anyone in that city that cares about the Earth Kingdom crown. It's enough that they'd know I'm a widow."
"As Your Highness wishes, of course." Gun bowed. "In three days time the Queen will be hosting her annual Dragon Boat festivities. That would, I believe, be an auspicious time for you to leave the palace, Your Highness. The Queen, as you know, tends to become rather festive on that night and I have already informed her that it would be beyond inappropriate for any of her brother's widows to be present for the celebration." A moue of distaste. "Even she had to allow that it was too much to ask any of you to attend."
"Two weeks after her own brother's death." Oh, if she had only been a firebender! She would have burned this palace to the ground and let it smolder in her wake.
"The bitch," Yu echoed, letting her natural accent take over.
"Is three days enough time for you, Your Highness?"
She sighed, and nodded. "It'll have to be."
"Then I will leave you now. I have many things to arrange." He bowed at them both in turn. "I will return tomorrow, Your Highnesses."
"Thank you, Gun." They both watched as he left, shutting the door behind him. She turned to Yu, pressing down for a moment on her wedding ring, an imperial jade cabochon surrounded with seed pearls, a perfect match to her own. Zaichun had given them to all four of his consorts. He'd never slept with Ji, of course; she had married him for political connections and had never wanted a husband in the first place and he had always respected her wishes, the two of them becoming great friends instead of lovers. Ji was grieving him as well, she knew. Wen had been fertile, but after she'd miscarried for the fifth time he'd no longer felt he could put her through it again. Wen was just as happy with her candies and her endless embroidered tapestries and her poodlemonkeys, after all. No, it had been she and Yu that he'd spent his nights with, the three of them entangled in each other, an unlikely connection. Zaichun with his incisive intelligence and his deep love of anything modern, Yu with her sensible street smarts and her bawdy humor and herself, sharp-tempered and with an even sharper tongue to go along with it. She still could not believe it was all over. She wanted, more desperately than anything else in her life, to go back in time and somehow change it all. She had lost her husband and now, in a matter of days, would lose her wife as well. She turned to look at Yu, her eyes filling up.
"Oh, don't cry, please don't. I'll find a way to get in contact with you, I swear I will," Yu took her face in her hands and kissed her. "Don't cry, Narumi. Don't cry. I can't take it."
"Don't you dare do a single thing that will expose yourself. Do you hear me?" She grasped Yu's shoulders and shook her. "The only way I am going to manage this is if I know you're safe somewhere."
"She can't live forever. Neither of them. Someday, it'll be safe."
"Not until after Xiaozheyi dies. Give me your word. Your solemn promise, Yu. Not until then. However long it takes."
"I give you my word," Yu said, and spit into her hand, holding it out, and she had to laugh despite herself.
"Is that how they do it in the Lower Ring?"
"Yes." Yu wasn't laughing, still holding her hand out.
She spat into her own hand then and they clenched them together. "Alright, then. I'm holding you to it."
"I should go and let your servants back in here." They didn't move away from each other, however. "What name will you go by, then? If not Narumi."
She tilted her chin up. "Zong."
Yu hissed in a breath. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I have to leave her here, the same way you'll have to leave your son. At least I can take that little part of her with me." Both of them turned to where the portrait of her daughter, eternally four years old, was hanging on the wall. "If only that small part." She fought her tears back again.
"She's with Zai now, Naru- Zong. Your precious Zong has her father now." Yu bowed towards the portrait. "I won't forget her either. I promise you." Reaching up, she dashed her own tears away. "I don't know how I am going to do this."
"You'll do it because you have to. The same way I will." She squared her shoulders. She was of the Noble House of Ogasawara. She might not be a firebender, but she had her name and her pride. "Chin up, peasant."
"Fuck off and die, aristocrat," Yu replied, and they clutched at each other until the servants finally scratched at the door, hoping to be let back in.