Even wrapped up in his own emotional turmoil and with only one usable eye (the doctors said his vision will come back, but it's not like that means anything right now, and even a perfectly functional eye wouldn't work beneath the all bandages), Zuko notices the roses, and the particularly familiar shape of the school crest. For most of his life he's kept his ring hidden, because something that people know is important is something they will take, but he lives with Uncle Iroh now, and... he's really needed to look at the ring lately. It's just been. Important. It makes him feel...

(Like he has a future. Like someone once looked at him and thought he could be entrusted with a task.)

It makes him feel different. He even wore it today, though now, looking at all the roses on everything, he wonders if that makes him look stupid.

It doesn't make him look stupid! In fact, nobody seems to take notice at all.

As Zuko is leaving his second class of the day, he passes by a window overlooking the greenhouse,

And sees a green-haired upperclassman in the uniform worn only by student council members, slapping a girl across the face.

She's knocked to the ground.

Zuko, in the manner of teenagers, and particularly teenagers who have just undergone a massively stressful event that left physical marks, does not notice them not noticing and is convinced people are staring at him through all of his classes. He can't do anything to make the left side of his face less stare-worthy. He could take the ring off, but even in his current state of tension and self-conciousness he can recognize it's less conspicuous than the bandages, and he doesn't want to lose it. He tries swapping hands, putting it on his left instead of his right so he can put his whole hand in his pocket or under the desk and hide the ring that way, but he quickly realizes he doesn't like having the ring on his blind side and out of sight and switches it back. He doesn't do a very good job at paying attention in either of his first two classes.

He does look out the window at exactly the right (wrong?) time to see someone hitting someone else. His first impulse is to jump out the window. Thankfully, he does not follow this impulse, because even though there's no glass in the window, he is on the second floor. His second impulse is to lean out the window and yell, get someone's attention, but he doesn't know anything about this situation, or if anyone will respond, or really anything about what the consequences of 'getting someone's attention' will be here. So instead, Zuko keeps it simple, and runs towards the nearest stairwell, using his freshly-acquired and deeply mediocre awareness of the school layout to chart something like a path to the greenhouse. He's not entirely sure what he's going to do when he gets there, but he knows this isn't right, and he knows someone should do something. He should do something. He can't just watch that kind of thing happen and move on, and -

Ah. He's made it to the greenhouse. Not quite close enough to physically intervene, yet, but close enough that he can yell "Hey! What are you doing?" and expect to be heard.

Maybe that's not the wittiest or even smartest thing to say, but it's what comes out.

"A lover's quarrel," says the boy. (He's a full head taller than Zuko, and nearly a foot taller than the girl.) "It's none of your concern."

The girl is still on the ground.

It absolutely isn't his concern. Right? This is wrong, but he doesn't know these people. He shouldn't interfere. He shouldn't get involved. This is how he always gets into trouble. It's his first day at school, he can't do this, he shouldn't do this, but he's already in the greenhouse and this is wrong.

"I think you should leave," he says.

Very cautiously, she looks up.

The boy laughs in his face. "Anthy's my Bride. Why should I leave?"

"Because you hit her," Zuko says. Is this upperclassman old enough to be married? It doesn't really change the situation or Zuko's current involvement in it one way or another, but if the upperclassman and the girl - Anthy - are married, probably he's going to get in a different kind of trouble than if they were just dating. Maybe? He's not sure, but that sounds right. Assuming they are married, anyway.

He notices that Anthy is looking up - looking at him? - but his focus remains on the upperclassman.

"You could never understand. The Bride and I are deeply in love, and I don't want to hear complaints from the likes of you. Isn't that right, Anthy?"

"...yes, Saionji-sama."

She does not sound deeply in love. She sounds very meek.

This time, 'bride' sounds more like a title than a specific relationship. Zuko is starting to really recognize that he has no idea what he's walked into. But no amount of context will change that Saionji hit Anthy, and Anthy is still on the ground, and Saionji has not tried to help her up or even directly acknowledged her before just now. "I don't care if you're in love, you hit her. In the face."

Zuko's ring gleams in the light, reflected off the greenhouse glass.

"If you object," says Saionji, "you can duel me."

What.

"Then I'll duel you," Zuko says.

The thing is, he's just been presented with a clear if-then situation. If he objects, he can duel. If he refuses to duel, then he's as good as saying he doesn't object, or that he refuses to stand by his objection. Backing down is unacceptable.

He is, however, acutely aware of the fact that he has no idea what he's just agreed to.

"After classes, then. In the forest behind the school."

He turns and starts to walk away. Anthy, mutely, follows.

"Okay," Zuko says. He feels vaguely like he should do something else, because Anthy is leaving with Saionji, and that's probably not good? But also, he just agreed to a duel, so maybe he should stop right here and right now before he does something worse somehow. "It was nice meeting you," he says to Anthy.

Wow.

The rest of Zuko's free period passes without incident, as do his next two classes.

After his fourth class, though, he's approached by another upperclassman, also in the student council members' uniform.

"Hello. My name is Arisugawa Juri. Saionji tells us you're the new challenger?" 

"My name is Hosokawa Zuko," he says automatically. "Uh, yes?"

"Hm." Her face is impassive. "Do you have a sword?"

...

"... no."

So this is an actual duel. With swords. They have duels here, with swords. The part of Zuko that craves clearly-defined rules and codes of conduct relaxes. The part of Zuko that says 'hey I think this might not be normal' does not.

The corner of her mouth twitches. It might be approaching a smile. "Well, follow me then."

(Zuko's next class starts in five minutes— four, now. Juri's tone does not invite argument.)

Zuko elects not to argue. "Okay," he says. Then, "Thank you for your help," because she is possibly allowing him to borrow a sword, which seems like the kind of thing you should thank people for.

"It's really no problem."

She leads him to the fencing salle, and then into the empty locker rooms, and hands him something from her locker (she's got the best one, right next to the door) that is distinctly not a fencing foil; it looks more like a broadsword. "Here, take this."

Zuko takes it. It doesn't seem like a kind of sword that's been optimized for nonlethal combat. But it is being kept in the school, so hopefully that's a sign that whatever is going on is school-sanctioned and he's not going to go to jail for possession of a deadly weapon. Zuko's not sure, however, if that means he can take an entire broadsword to his next class.

"Thank you," he says again. "Should I... leave this here until after school?"

The best chance to back down would have been hours ago, at least, possibly before he even came to school at all, so he might as well just keep going along with it.

Juri does not appear to think it's remarkable that she's offering him a non-blunted sword. "It's a good idea if you don't want people staring at you and asking why you have it. —which you don't."

Juri is right, Zuko absolutely doesn't want that, for many reasons.

"Okay," he says. "That's good to know." He offers the sword back to her. He's not sure if she wants the sword back in her locker, since that would mean she'd need to come open it again before his duel, he is dueling, it is very important that he be aware of the fact that he is dueling an upperclassman with a sword on his first day, but leaving it propped against the wall like a drying umbrella seems bad. So she can have the sword and figure out where it goes.

After a pause to think about the logistics here, the sword goes into a bag clearly labeled with Juri's name and the bag goes under the bench. She does not seem to consider it a possibility worthy of thought that anyone might go through her bag who wasn't supposed to. "Fencing club starts an hour after school ends, if you get here before that it should be empty. I'll walk you to your next class."

In Zuko's mind, Juri has become a Person Who Knows What's Going On, so he's mostly trying to follow her lead. He does not raise any concerns about the bag solution. He also feels like the duel will probably be entirely over before fencing club starts, so no concerns on that front either.

"I appreciate your help," he says. He sort of wants to ask her what to expect from a duel, if this whole situation is normal for Ohtori Academy, if Saionji and Anthy are married, but he also doesn't want to make it obvious how little he knows.

"Thank me by winning, Saionji's been insufferable."

(There are a lot of questions he could ask based on that, so many that he's incapable of mentally articulating them. And there's still the issue of not wanting to reveal his ignorance.)

"Hosokawa! You're late, that'll be—"

Juri clears her throat. She is, very pointedly, not looking at Zuko's teacher.

"—well, sit down."

"Yes, Sensei."

Zuko sits down.

Zuko thinks that it's a very good thing that Juri found him.

Zuko would very much like to thank her by winning the duel, and really wants it to be in any way possible for him to do so.

The rest of Zuko's school day goes by. It could almost be normal, except for how no it couldn't be.

The forest behind the school is very, very off-limits for students. There's a gate; it's not entirely obvious how it opens.

But when he takes the handle, a drop of water splashes up to hit the ring on his hand—

—and water crashes down around the steps, and when the mist clears Zuko is staring up at an open gate and an enormous carved rose.

And surely he should have been able to see those stairs from outside the forest, right?

Right?