Your younger brother imprisoned you in an asylum on a desolate paradise near the sea and yet you still do not understand why.

You are not emotionally disturbed, or prone to hallucinations, or mentally unstable in the way Azula is.

You are not insane in any kind of way. You are merely a princess of the Fire Nation, an advisor to your younger sister in her endeavors. A tactician for her thoughts, a balm for her instability.

Ah.

Perhaps that is why. He believes you are an accomplice in Azula’s psychological deterioration.

But would that make you crazy as well?

——————————

Zuko stands outside the door of your cell, and the guard opens the door for him tentatively, as if the institute’s personnel themselves are aware of the magnitude of consequences his decisions could cause.

You’re seated on the floor diffidently, hair loosely tied and hands folded neatly in your lap as he enters the room.

You glance up at him as the door shuts behind him, and your gaze is even and gentle, but without any true kindness or sentiment.

He wonders when you grew so cold.