He decides to trust his sister

"Would you like to go for a walk?", Zuko suggested. He figured it was a good idea as any and that Azula would be eager to get out of her... accommodations. Indeed she did, as a nod from her was all the response he received. With a knock on the door, it was opened and Zuko explained that he'd be going on a walk with his sister. The guards (he had decided to leave the Kyoshi Warriors back at home for today, figuring that seeing them might cause Azula to have a bad reaction) were to follow them at a distance. He overruled the protestations of the doctor about the dangers Azula posed, but as she walked out of the cell next to Zuko, he was silenced by one of her patented **** glares.

The other doctors and nurses hurried to get out of their way, partly because they didn't dare to stand in the way of their Fire Lord and partly because of Azula, who, for her part, seemed to enjoy the fear she was still able to inspire. Zuko could tell from the way she smirking that this devious, vicious streak of hers still persisted. Together, they walked out of the main building to the courtyard. There, Zuko spotted what appeared to be a garden of sorts and, deciding some privacy would be good for the two of them, walked in that direction with Azula close behind him.

"So... I've received regular updates about you, Azula.", he began. "That you attacked the nurses and doctors. That you refused to eat. You've gotten thinner...", Zuko mentioned. And it was true. Though she looked by no means malnourished, her pale skin and baggy eyes along with her thinner frame made Azula look a lot more frail than he had ever seen her before.

But Azula didn't seem to notice her physical decay. "Who's to tell me that they're not trying to poison me?", she replied with a shrug of her slender shoulders. Ah yes, Zuko had been told about that as well... paranoia, an imagined woman that Azula was convinced was out to get her. Or perhaps she thought it was her own brother that had it in for her?

"Why would I order you to be poisoned?", he questioned her, turning to face her. He would be truly troubled if she thought he would stoop so low.

But his fears were unfounded as she waved him off. "Oh, you wouldn't, I know that much. That wouldn't be like you at all, you lack the stomach for that. But I wasn't saying that you'd be trying to have me killed.", Azula answered him cryptically as she walked next to him, looking straight ahead.

He decided not to push the topic at the moment. From what the doctor had told him, her good days were rare and she was quite lucid right now. He didn't want to risk having her lapse into an episode by probing deeper. So, he walked on into the garden. It seemed this place was meant for inmates to have something to do, to grow their own vegetables and fruit even, judging from the small grove of trees bearing their ripe fruits to be plucked. Zuko walked over to a table where a bowl with fresh fruit on it stood. "How about a small snack then? These look good. Very unpoisoned.", he suggested, motioning to them.

But Azula remained unconvinced. "You first, Zuzu.", she demanded.

Zuko saw no harm in appeasing her. So, he took a bite from the juicy fruit and was pleased to learn that it was just as sweet as it looked. "See? Nothing to worry about. Here, your turn.", he said and held the fruit towards Azula for her to take. To his surprise, that wasn't what his sister had in mind. Instead of taking the fruit, she took hold of his wrist and slowly turned it around, rotating the fruit in his hand towards her and then bit into it as well, right next to where he had.

And it looked as though Azula enjoyed the fruit even more than he had. The first, tentative bite followed a second and third. Soon, Azula was devouring the offered fruit hungrily. Once she had finished most of it, she let go of Zukos wrist. He smiled at his sister a little when he noticed that her voracious appetite had caused a little mess and her chin was glistening with the juices of the fruit. "Oh wait, you have... something there...", he said and wiped away the trail of fruit juice dripping down his sisters chin with the hem of his robe. Azula eyed his hand cautiously but remained still and let him clean her up.

Once he was done, he pulled his arm back. It felt a little strange, cleaning up Azula like that, like she was a little child. Though she didn't seem to terribly mind the touch, he was glad to note. "See? If you'd be the one feeding me, I wouldn't need to worry about anything at all, Zuzu.", she commented with a wry smile.

Zuko would be lying if he'd said he didn't enjoy this small moment of normalcy between them. Even this tiny bit of sibling bonding gave him hope that he hadn't made a mistake coming here, that there was hope for Azula yet. But then again...

'Azula always lies', he recalled. That had been his mantra for the majority of his entire life when dealing with his sister. He should have remembered a bit more often, but its truth was proven time and time again. Azula always had an ulterior motive, some secret agenda she was pursuing with her every action. He wanted to trust her, to believe in her, but could he really? There was more on the line here than just his own personal feelings towards his sister. If he was wrong, innocent people could pay the price for his misplaced trust.

But for her to so easily let him do this to her... either she had recovered really quickly from her breakdown and had been playing part for a long while just to lure him here now and convince him that she was ready to be released or... or he really had been granted powers over his family? It seemed stupid, even now, but not stupid enough for Zuko to decide to have one final, definitive test to see whether or not that dream had been just that, a dream... or truth. 'I wish for Azula to have blue hair.', he thought to himself. It was as clear and precise a wish he could have possibly made and...

Zuko gasped as the Azula before him was now almost a stranger, her hair a shade of blue brighter even than her fire. The change had occured instantaneously. It was as though he had looked at Azula with her black hair, blinked and now she had blue hair. The realization hit him like a sky bison. So it was true... Zukos head began to swirl with astonishment and he took a step back from his sister. It was true: He had been given ultimate power over his family by the whims of a bored deity. What did that mean? Could he now-?

A painful but brief knock on his forehead brought him back to the present, face to face with an irritated Azula who seemed entirely ignorant of her new hair color. "Hello? Zuko, still in there?", Azula called out to him, brows furrowed with frustration. Blue brows, he noted. The color did not suit her whatsoever, he decided.

'I wish Azulas hair to be black again.', he formulated the wish and just as quickly as the change had occured, it was reverted again. Azula stood in front of him, same as before. The garish color of her hair was gone without a trace. But what was left behind was Zuko, now deep in thought. He now had proof that the words of the deity were correct. He had absolute power over not just Azula, but Ozai and his mother as well... how, if at all, should he use that power? Could he trust himself to use it responsibly and well?