#azula: you seemed perfectly fine eating my-

[hyacinths-in-a-storm]

Thinking about the parallels between Zukki and Katzulee.

[thewokewordsmith]

Author's note: I posted this story before, but took down because I was worried it was too dark for some readers, but I'm a writer and I write all types of stories and censoring myself didn't make sense, so I decided to put the story back up.

Trigger warning: domestic/child abuse.

Blue Flashing Light

When his father came through the front door on Saturday Zuko could tell that it was going to be a violent weekend. The first sign was his father was drunk. He must have gone from his office straight to the bar. The second sign was the way his father looked at him. It were as if he were making a mental list of everything he hated about his son, all of which Zuko would be told about in great detail through the night.

He didn't know what age it was that he'd come to the realization that his father hated him, but he did, and having to be made aware of that fact had robbed him of an innocence kids his age took for granted. None of them had a father whose reason for hating them varied by the hour. Sometimes just his breathing would send his father flying off the handle. So he had learned long ago that the best way to get through the weekends without getting beaten was to stay out of his father's way.

"Ursa, I'm home. Come and greet your Lord."

His mother came down from the grand staircase seconds later to greet her husband. She was so perfectly made up she almost didn't seem real. She was dressed head to toe in clothing picked out by his father. She cut her hair in the style he liked, and wore the perfume and make up he chose.

She kissed him on the cheek. "How was you day darling?"

"Profitable." His father sank down onto the couch and stuck his legs out. Without missing a beat his mother knelt down to pull her husband's socks off, and place a fresh pair of socks and slippers back on to his feet. She stood up and unbuttoned the first three buttons on his shirt then took off his watch, cufflinks, signet ring, and headed upstairs.

It was part of his father's coming home ritual. They didn't have servants because his father didn't trust them. Besides that's what he had a wife and children for. Even Azula was relegated to nothing more than a servant, but she didn't know that.

His mother went back upstairs to put his father's socks in the hamper and his jewelry in his safe.

Zuko had long sense grown accustom to being invisible to his father and used it to his advantage. He waited until his father poured his second glass of awamori and was engrossed in the stock exchange report on television before he tried slipping out the front door. There were enough things to see and do in the city to keep him away from home until curfew, or he could skip going home all together and spend the night sleeping on the park bench as he done many times.

"Where do you think you're going?" His father asked.

Zuko closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. He should have known his father would see him. Normally his father couldn't be bothered about where he went, in fact the more time he spent out of the house the happier Ozai was, but since Azula was spending most of her weekend's at her friends his father seemed to have more time to focus on him. Zuko felt that it was rather ironic that his father ignored him but always knew what he was up to.

"I asked you a question and I demand that you answer me. Where do you think you are going?"

"Out." He answered through clinched teeth. Talking back would just make things worse.

If it hadn't been for his mother, Zuko would have runaway from home a long time ago. Azula would be fine in their father's eyes she could do no wrong, but if he ran away he'd be leaving their mother at the mercy of their father, and he didn't like to think what might happened if he left her to fend for herself.

Not that Zuko could take his father. Ozai was a big man 6'3 and he worked out everyday. Zuko was only thirteen and scrawny, but sinewy like an alley cat, no, he couldn't take his father, but he could fight him long enough to make it not worth it to go after his mother.

"You need to ask my permission first. You need my permission to do anything including drawing a breath."

"Please leave him be and come upstairs." His mother called from the doorway of their bedroom.

Ozai ignored his wife and stood like a statue guarding the front door. Slowly he crossed his arms over his chest. "You can go outside as long as you can get past me."

For a moment Zuko contemplated whether it'd be worth it to take an ass whipping to get past his father he hated backing down to the man. He knew that his pain and humiliation was part of the fuel that powered his father's fragile ego. That same fragile ego had mandated a rule that he keep his hands down to his sides fingers straight when ever being spoken to. He wasn't allowed to do anything with his hands that might be considered an act of bending, but the more he thought about the situation he was trapped in the more he could feel anger building up inside him. He bit his lip but it wasn't enough to assuage his defiance. His hands twitched to life and his fingers curled as if they had a will of their own. He thought about how satisfying it would feel to punch his father in his face over and over and over again.

His father chuckled as if his act of defiance was being done for his amusement. "What are you going to do?"

The alcohol from his father's breath billowed out towards Zuko and lingered in his face like a miasma forcing him to breathe through his nose. The fact that the man was still compos mentis defied logic, and never stopped him from fighting like a man Spirit possessed.

He stepped closer to his father not knowing what he was going to do, but knowing he wanted to do something. He wanted payback for every time he'd been punched, slapped, or kicked. He glared up at his father as his father smirked down at him.

Zuko bit down on his lip so hard he drew blood. His calves were taught and stretched out like rubber bands ready to dodge the moment fist started flying towards him or snap waiting for the blows to land on him. The moments before the beatings began were the worst. There was always the fear that one day his father would go too far.

"Come upstairs Ozai. I'll give you a shiatsu." His mom said still trying to coax him into a less violent frame of mind.

"Shut your whoring mouth Ursa! I'm making a man out of our precious little Zuzu." He looked past the living room and into the kitchen; this thoughts changing like mercury. "Instead of yapping at me like some common bitch why don't you go earn your keep and prepare me something to eat? I shouldn't even have to ask. When I get home you should have a hot meal waiting for me."

It took everything Zuko had not to voice his contempt. His mother would be able to earn a living if it weren't for his father's unreasonable jealousy. His father put a lock on his mom's cell phone and made her ask for permission to use it. He'd taken her driver's license, car keys, and passport. He'd even gone so far as and having her tracked whenever she left the house, and he never allowed her to leave the house for long. He knew, as did Zuko, that his mother would leave with him and Azula and never come back.

"In fact you should get down on your hands and knees and thank me for not putting you and that waste of sperm out in the street." He crossed the living room in three great strides forgetting all about his anger at his son and raced up the stairs to address his wife.

"Don't just stand there get down on your knees and thank me." He gripped his wife's upper arm and dragged her down the hallway. He stopped at the top of the staircase to give Zuko a bird's eye view.

"Thank me!"

"Thank you, Ozai."

"For what?"

"For not putting Zuko-."

"Who?" His father interrupted.

"For not putting That waste of sperm and myself out into the street." His mother said as she crumbled to her knees. Tears were streaming down her face as she looked at Zuko.

He hated his father.

"Now go earn your keep." His father commanded as he released her.

Zuko could see his mother trembling as she walked into the kitchen. They never knew what was going to push him over the edge, but they could always feel it coming, and it was coming.

Soon.

"Hurry up!" His father barked at his mom and shoved her straight down to the ground.

"Leave her alone!" Zuko shouted. He could feel the tension in the house grow like a living thing. He felt as if he had breathed in all of the tension and now it was growing inside of him.

"What did you say to me, boy?"

Zuko raced over to his mother and stood protectively in front of her. "I said leave her alone!"

"Is your mind so addled that you think I'd listen to you? The only reason you were even born is because I did not have the foresight to pull out. I'd of been better gifted by fellatio."

Disgusting! His father was disgusting and had no respect for his mother. Once again he had humiliated her. He lived to humiliate her. No more Zuko thought. Never again would he let his father hit his mother or make her feel unworthy.

Zuko reacted on pure instinct. He drew back his fist as far as it would go and slammed it into his father's stomach with everything that he had in him. Thirteen years of pain and suffering when into that punch. He heard his father give a groan as his fist hit him in the stomach. Zuko felt victorious, but his victory was not to be a long lasting one, Ozai's large and solid fist made contact with his not so solid stomach.

Zuko fell down to his knees and retched right there on the living room floor. The punch had left him feeling as if all of his internal organs had been liquefied, and before he could recover from that feeling his father jerked him up from the floor by the collar of his shirt and shook him around violently. The scenery of the room blurred as if he were on a ride at an amusement park. His mother's screams rushed in and out of his ears as his limbs purposelessly flailed around. When his father tired of swinging him around he dropped him to the floor like a piece of garbage.

"Please, please, please stop." His mom begged and Zuko wondered why she even bothered all three of them knew he wasn't going to stop. In fact he was just getting warmed up.

"If you'd taught the lowly cockroach some manners I wouldn't have to."

"FUCK YOU!" Zuko screamed. He was past the point of caring what happened to him, after years of having to repress his anger he was fed up. He wanted a showdown. No matter the out come he wanted things to be finished with his father once and for all. "YOU'RE A PATHETIC PIECE OF SHIT!"

Ozai didn't hesitate to retaliate. His foot swung forward catching Zuko on the cheek with the heel of his imported ming snake boot. The hard heel of the boot shredded his skin as it went.

Zuko struggled to get to his feet. He didn't care if he got killed in the process he was going to make his father feel pain.

"Don't try to move." His mom called out to him. Stay there and I'll come to you."

"Dinner, Ursa."

"You don't expect me to make you dinner without taking care of our son first. Not even you can be that cruel."

Of course he could. Zuko thought. The cruel train had left the station a long time ago and his father was going full steam ahead on the psychopath express.

"Do not make me ask you again." Ozai ordered.

His mother stifled a sob as she walked into the kitchen. There was nothing either of them could do. If his mother tried to come to his aid they would both be punished.

"I'm a Pathetic piece of shit, am I? He asked his lip curling up in a well practiced sneer; well you're a cockroach and you know what people do to insects?" He lifted one of his massively booted feet.

Zuko scrambled backwards as fast as he could. A half second later his father's foot came down so hard it caused the windows to rattle. Ozai didn't give him a chance to get up. He let his fist fly.

There was a bright flash of light, a ringing noise, and then intense pain. Zuko was knocked flat on his back and the pain spread like fire. He screamed not understanding how a punch could hurt so badly. He'd been punched plenty of times in his life, but it had never resulted in this level of pain. Perhaps his eye socket had been broken.

His mother ran out of the kitchen and began to scream.

"Be quiet Ursa!"

"I'm calling the police!" His mom shouted.

"Not another word. Get up stairs before I drag you up by your hair."

Zuko lie on the floor spasming in pain as a sick smell filled the room. The smell was coming from him. The smell was him! It was his flesh burning. Now he understood why the pain was so intense. He hadn't just been punched he'd been burned. His father had used his fire bending to burn him. The pain was so awful so all consuming that he wanted to die to get away from it.

"No! I will spend the rest of my life to make sure you stay in jail for the rest of yours."

His father spun around and bent a huge fireball at his wife. The flames narrowly skirted past her. "Next time I will not miss."

Ursa ran past Zuko. She didn't even chance looking back at him. She raced up the stairs to her bedroom. A few seconds later the door slammed.

"You're not going to do anything you couldn't survive without me." Ozai climbed the stairs stomping louder and louder on each step. "You're nothing, you come from nothing, and without me you'd be absolutely nothing. Where would you live? Who would protect your precious little Zuzu, because I'd have you killed before I let you take my children away from me."

Zuko had managed to crawl over to a corner and sat huddled there. His entire face felt as if it were melting off. He couldn't see out of his left eye. He stared up at the ceiling with his right eye and he could feel blood trickling down his face. The blood that poured out of him felt cold in comparison to the hot bed of lava the was now the left side of his face, or what remained.

Upstairs his mom continued to scream her voice partially quieted against the backdrop of his father's heavy handed fist raining down on her flesh, and then she stopped screaming all together.

The house went silent.

His rage sated his father came back down stairs and sprawled out on the couch still somehow managing, with the exception of his knuckles, to look like he should be gracing the cover of a high fashion magazine.

At that moment Zuko forgot all about his hatred towards his father. He forgot about his pain. He forgot that he'd ever been burned. His heart seemed have arrived at the top of the stairs before he did even though he raced up them three at a time. His hand shook as he opened the door that may as well have been made of lead for how long it seemed to take to swing open.

The lump in his throat felt like it was strangling him, and he didn't even realize that he'd been walking around with his right eye closed until he whacked his shin on the vanity. He opened his eye.

"Mom?"

In the middle of the floor lie his mother looking like a broken porcelain doll. His heart felt close to stopping.

"Mom?"

She didn't move. He couldn't see her chest rising and falling.

"It's me, Zuko." A cell phone that he did not recognize as his mother's was smashed into pieces beside her.

Finding his mother lying bloody and broken in the middle of the floor had happened more times than Zuko cared to remember, yet every time he saw her this way he was scared to check on her, but also too scared not to. He didn't dare shake her. Carefully he knelt down beside her.

"Mom, mom, please be OK."

He gently turned her on her side and softly pushed her hair from her face some of it got stuck in the blood that poured from her. A sob caught in his throat almost choking the breath out of him. Never before had his father hit either of them in their faces, but tonight he had destroyed both of theirs. His mother's eyes were wide open, but didn't see. Her bruised face was like a mask. The last scream she'd been screaming hadn't left. "No, no, no." He kissed her forehead and hugged her close to his body and wept. "Please, mom I need you. I love you."

Downstairs his father was still on the couch sleeping with a careless look on his face. It would be so easy to set the couch on fire. His father probably wouldn't even wake up, and if he did set the couch on fire by the time his father woke up it would be too late.

He began to creep towards the couch.

His father half opened his eyes and laughed as he watched Zuko creeping across the living room. "Go ahead boy. Creep like the cockroach you are, but you better make sure whatever attack you have planned kills me instantly." He didn't even bother to ask about his wife.

Knowing his opportunity to take his father out was gone Zuko turned around and headed upstairs. He knew that his father would not go to jail. He never went to jail. He was far too important of a man. He owned Sozin electric, Sozin shipping, and Sozin refinery. He was one of the wealthiest men and landowners in the Four Nations. He owned Fire Nation prisons he didn't get thrown into them.

"Tell your mother I still don't have my dinner." His father ordered.

Blood and tears streamed from his eyes; the tears from his left eye burning like lava on their way down. The police weren't coming, and there was no one out there who could save him. He may have only been thirteen but he already knew money could buy anything or anyone. He was a rat, his home was a cage, and he was trapped.

None of his neighbors ever called the police despite seeing the numerous bruises on him throughout the years. They convinced themselves that he was a clumsy kid who had a lot of accidents.

Even if his neighbors called the police nothing would change.

The police would show up with their hands out waiting for his father to pay them off to not report the abuse. His teacher's would blame his bruises on the fights he got into despite the fact that he had far more bruises and broken bones than fights. The doctors would look at him with pity as they patched him up knowing full well the hell they were sending him back to.

His father's pet lawyer had convinced the judge that Ozai was merely disciplining his son. If his son hadn't of been incorrigible and insolent, or if his son did not talk back then he wouldn't get hit. Ozai's work was stressful and the last thing he needed to come home to at the end of the day was a surly son who didn't respect him, and if Zuko didn't respect his father could he be blamed for disciplining him? No. It wasn't his father's fault for losing his temper it was Zuko's fault for making him lose his temper in the first place.

The pain was starting to come back, but Zuko ignored it the best that he could. There was someone else he had to take care of before he could take care of himself. He always knew his father would go too far one day, but he figured that it would be his body that his mother would be sobbing over.

He didn't care if it was tampering with evidence, this was his mother, and he wouldn't let her be seen like this by anyone. He bent down and lifted his mother up into her bed. The crime scene photos would get out and they would be spread all over the world. His father had a lot of influence over the media between that, and his team of lawyers, his father would ruin his mother's reputation. The ultimate and final power move in a marriage where his mother had none. He refused to let his father ruin the only thing she had left.

Zuko went to the bathroom, got a washcloth, and ran it under the sink. He made sure the water wasn't too hot before using the washcloth to clean the blood from his mother's face. He worked as gently as he could taking care not to press down too hard wherever there was a bruise. He closed her eyes with his fingertips so that it looked as if she was sleeping. He brushed her hair and fanned it over her shoulders. Then he sat down beside her and held her hand. She didn't speak. Not even to tell him that everything would be all right as long as they had each other like she always did. She didn't move. Not even to give him one of her super special huggy hugs. He closed his eyes. He'd never been so tired in all of his life.

Something was stuck to his face and automatically Zuko reached up to remove whatever it was. As soon as his hands touched skin the whole left side of his face throbbed and burned. His right eye snapped opened as the events of the day flooded back into his brain. What did he have to live for now?

The house was still silent. Zuko realized that the pain had caused him to blackout and he had no idea of how much time he'd lost. He could feel dry sticky blood on his face. He tried rubbing some of the blood away but that only sent a rippling wave of pain over him and blood started running down his face again. He popped off of the bed not wanting to stain the sheets. They were his mother's favorite.

He needed something to wipe his face on but didn't want to use anything in his parent's room. Zuko thought of it more as his mother's room because it was the only room in the entire house that she'd been allowed to decorate. It was the only room in the entire house that had her personal style. Every time he came into his parent's room he was reminded of how much she loved him.

"I love you too mom. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you." He wanted to say more to his mother but he didn't have the right words.

The pain from the burn was getting worse it seemed to grow more intense every time he drew a breath. He dropped to his knees, but he refused to let the pain incapacitate him, teeth clenched and hands gripping deep into the carpet he pushed himself to his feet. He staggered to his room and fell back down lying half in and half out of the doorway curled up on his side like a shrimp. Blood and sweat ran into his face and eyes stinging like a snake bite. Some of the blood ran into his mouth and he turned on his side to spit it out. He needed to clean himself up.

He smiled when he spotted his curtains. Gathering his last reserve of strength he crawled until he lie beside his window. He had always hated the damn curtains. His father had paid a Fire Lord's ransom for them because they were genuine artifacts from the Fire Nation Royal family. Through his father he was a direct descendant of Fire Lord Sozin. Zuko couldn't have cared less, but his ancestry obsessed father made sure that everyone who knew never forgot.

Zuko used the curtains to wipe the blood off of his face. Despite everything that had just transpired he was still going to get the living shit kicked out of him because of the curtains. His father would absolutely lose it when he saw that they had been ruined. Only they weren't ruined, not beyond repair, not yet. He held out the bloodstained curtains and threw back his head in laughter. Of course!

Moments later car doors slamming and blue flashing lights indicated that help had arrived. He could barely see the billowing black smoke that poured from his room, but the smell choked him until tears streamed out of his right eye. The noise of the roaring flames sounded like music to his ears. Tonight it was all over. After thirteen years of mental and physical abuse the neighbors had finally gotten involved, and all it had taken was setting his curtains on fire. He wondered who would reach him first the fire department or his father?

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 19)

“Lucky girl.” Go-Hara rasps one day. “Lucky, lucky girl.” She tsks.

“How can you say that?” Azula asks. The very question is an absolute affront. One that sets her fire blazing to a degree she hasn’t felt in a very long time.

“Because you had a chance.” She pauses and corrects herself. “You have a chance and you’re throwing it away.”

Azula furrows her brows and shakes her head, “You had it right the first time, I had a chance. My chance is gone.”  Twice over. It would seem that each time she has her fingers (very firmly) around something that will make her happy, someone comes to pry her fingers off of it. Or maybe she squeezes too tightly and shatters it herself.

The old woman tsks again. “You have a chance! You have a chance! You. Have. A. Chance!” Azula should be used to her turbulent moods by now, but this time the woman is acting rather infantile. She wonders if the disease has progressed, wonders if leprosy can even do such a thing to the mind.

“We should talk about something else.”

“You should stop playing in alleyways and make a life for yourself…”

“I already tried that.” Twice over.

Quick and deadly as a lightning strike, the woman’s mood shifts. She is very visibly enraged and Azula can’t understand why. She thinks that Go-Hara detects her confusion. “I don’t have a chance. I’d give anything to have one. But…” she holds up her knobby hands, “Every day in this decrepit town, I watch perfectly healthy folks waste what they have. Nobody wants to fight for anything anymore. They fail once or twice and they decide that there’s nothing to fight for.”

Azula opens her mouth. But Go-Hara rages on, her fury seems to build with every word and by the end of her raving her voice is raw and soft, “that’s because they don’t know what it’s like to truly be in a position where fighting isn’t an option.” She backpedals, “where it’s an option but it truly doesn’t matter how much fight you have in you, you’re punching at a breeze. And I just have to watch them give up, wishing that I had the chance to just throw my life away. I don’t even have a life to throw away.”

Her breathing is rugged.

There are a lot of things that Azula can say. Things that are better. Things that could calm the woman down or appease her. She picks the one thing that will do anything but. “Perhaps you’re the lucky one; you don’t have to fight to die like the rest of us.”

Go-Hara turns on her heel and storms away. She is startlingly fast, Azula chalks it up to pure hatred fueled adrenaline.

She doesn’t see the woman again for a very long time. It is so terribly lonely and the more she thinks about it, the more pleasant it seems to prove to Go-Hara, to herself, to everyone that she is ready to see herself out. Maybe that will drive home how little of a chance she knows she has. Or maybe there is no one to prove anything to. Likely Go-Hara has died like everyone else she gets close to. This time the note is a bitter one to end on.

She ventures into the forest that day and she comes back with a few sprigs of hemlock in her gloved hands. She finds that her usual spot is occupied. She counts the flowers in her hands, there is plenty of spare hemlock to offer the intruder.

“Where were you?”

“Picking flowers.” They fall to the alley floor.

Go-Hara eyes the hemlock at her feet, “bah! Some bouquet that is.”

“I thought that you died.”

She thinks that the woman is snarling. But it is often hard to tell with Go-Hara, especially these days. The woman’s worsening condition is beginning to limit her facial movement. “I am going to lose this fight.” She declares. “But I’m still fighting.” The resentment is back, possibly fuller than before. “You can win but you’ve stopped fighting.”

Azula swallows and waits for the woman to demand that she pick herself back up and resume the battle. Instead she gestures to the flowers. “Go on then. They’re right there, eat ‘em off’a the dirty ground.”

Azula folds her arms over her chest, torn between hatred and misery. Torn between wanting to do just that, if only to see how the woman would react, and wanting to kick the flowers away out of spite.

Instead she finds herself standing there. Now that it is happening, she wonders how it hasn’t happened sooner; she finds herself wondering about Hajime and Atsu in the Spirit World. She imagines herself standing there in a bubbling hot spring with bamboo that reaches gold-orange clouds. There is steam all around,enchanting as it crawls over black sand, and  curls around formations of long hardened magma. That is how she has always imagined the Spirit World. And Hajime and Atsu stand in the pool, Seukhyun and Caihong too. But they aren’t delighted to see her. And when Hajime embraces her it is mournful. He blames himself. He says that she shouldn’t be here. Ojihara is furious. Absolutely livid. Just like Go-Hara…

When she comes back to herself she finds that the real Go-Hara isn’t angry at all. Not anymore.

“I just want you to have a chance.” The woman mumbles. “I met a lot of people and a lot of them don’t deserve to live.”

She has always appreciated the woman’s bluntness.

“Why do you think that I do?”

The woman shrugs. “Sometimes you just get a feeling about a person.”

Azula doesn’t take the hemlock that night or the next. She doesn’t take it at all. Go-Hara doesn’t bring up matters of motivation again.

.oOo.

“Are you happy?” Azula asks one morning. A morning where things aren’t particularly good nor particularly bad. These are the honest days. The days when she truly knows how she feels within.

“Happy?” The woman grins as wide as her affliction will allow. “I’m downright joyful! I’ve gotten to see more sunsets than most people. I got to ride hippo-cows and lasso ostrich horses.”  Azula thinks that it is supposed to be the other way around, not that she knows much about ranches. “And I got to meet a princess before I died! They call me a dead woman walking, but I’ve lived more than the lot’a them!” Suddenly her laugh isn’t such a hideous sound. This is the Go-Hara whose company she enjoys.

“Sounds, fulfilling.” Azula nods.

“Aye, girl!” She nods. “You’re no lepper. You have a full life to live. I ain’t got much longer. Can you do a dying old woman a favor?”

“Depends on the favor.”

Go-Hara chuckles. “Can you live that full life for me? I can’t do it, can you?”

That morning she leaves a blanket in the alleyway, at the old woman’s feet. On an old scrap of paper she scawls a thank you. And with the rising sun as a backdrop, she heads for the vast grassland again.

That day she learns that sometimes the sick are less ill than the healthy.

.oOo.

She thinks about it more than she thought she would. It was just a little touch. A soft little brush. But she has learned that those smaller, simpler touches are often more profound than the bolder declarations. She absently touches her cheek where his hand had been. She can still feel phantom tingles.

It was only a playful gesture… Only a playful gesture and yet…

She hears a knock on her door and her heart quickens if only somewhat. Upon opening it, TyLee flounces into the room and flops onto the bed. Azula had forgotten that the woman liked to do that.

“I know that you don’t like baking, but Mai’s birthday is tomorrow…”

Azula had forgotten that too. Granted she has never really had time for birthdays.

“I was hoping that we could bake her something special. She doesn’t like the icing on the other cakes, it’s ‘too bright’. I think that it’s just fine though.”

“Sure, TyLee, I’ll help you bake.” Though she can’t promise that it will be any good. Hajime had tried time and time again to teach her to cook the things she harvested but the culinary arts are lost on her.

“Great!” TyLee bounces up once more. She takes Azula by the hand and drags her into the kitchen.

“Okay so I’ve already…”

“Made a huge mess.” Azula observes. At least she won’t have to feel guilty for wrecking the kitchen.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“I can’t cook, TyLee.”

She stares at Azula. Azula stares back. The princess is beginning to gather that she had been summoned under the impression that she could make something of this mess.

“You didn’t learn to cook in the Earth Kingdom?”

She shakes  her head. “I know how to roast meat.” Even then she usually burns it quite badly. “Have you tried asking Zuzu?”

TyLee nods. “It wasn’t this bad before he got here. The head chef personally escorted him out.”

.oOo.

The first step had been to clean the kitchen. Azula is good at this. She probably should have gotten one of the servants to do it for her but she needs to know with certainty that her baking area is absolutely spotless. And with her hand having done the work, she knows that it is.

TyLee drops two eggs into the flour mix.

Azula shakes her head.

“It says, two eggs’.”

“Yes.” Azula agrees as she cracks it against the rim of the bowl. She cringes as the yolk bursts in her palm. “two cracked eggs.”

TyLee nods. She too rams the an egg against the bowl, dropping the smashed bits into the mix.

“Without the shells.”

“Whoops.” She purses her lips as she begins picking shell shards out. “Well how do we get the yolk out without getting shell bits?”

“You open it correctly.”

“How?”

Azula wipes her hands clean and shrugs. She plucks another egg and tries again. Just when she thinks that the yolk will slide easily free, it explodes again, spattering her face with yolk. She crinkles her nose and wipes the mess from her forehead.

“You have to be gentle.” TyLee suggests. She picks up another egg and taps it on the rim of the bowl. This time she only has to pick a few pieces of shell from the mix.

“TyLee, can I ask you something?” She asks upon finally putting the cake in the oven. She will let the servants determine when to take it out.

“Sure, Azula!”

She swallows, before back peddling in her mind, “firstly, did you read my journal with Zuko?”

She cringes, “was I not supposed to?”

“I was hoping that you did.”

TyLee relaxes, “why?”

“Do you think that…” She pauses. “Do you think that Hajime would be angry if I found someone else.” It is a silly question, Hajime can’t get mad at her, he is dead.

“Oh, Azula!” TyLee takes her by the wrists, she thinks of a beach party so long ago, hadn’t TyLee been trying to give her love advice then too? “I think that he would be happy that you aren’t hurt or alone anymore.” Still holding Azula’s hand she presses it over the princess’ heart.

“Okay.”

“Who is it?” TyLee beams.

She isn’t sure how TyLee doesn’t know already. She hasn’t exactly been around that many people. And then she does seem to connect the dots. She gives a happy little gasp and covers her mouth, “it’s Sokka, isn’t it?”

She nods. Still she finds herself hesitant.

.oOo.

She takes the time to wash her floury, yolky hair and changes into fresh silks. She is offered lotions and perfumes and she helps herself to at least a little of it. She thinks that she is finally starting to settle more fully and comfortably back into her old lifestyle. At least a touch anyhow.

“The cake tastes good, what’s it for?”

Azula’s face flashes red, “Sokka, you didn’t!”

He throws his hands up, “I didn’t, I didn’t! Promise.” He drops his hands. “But it smells good.”

Azula exhales. Truly she should knock the man on his ass. “It’s for Mai, can’t you tell.”

He taps his chin. “Gloomy colors. ‘Birthday’ spelled with little mochi chunks and no ‘happy’. Yeah I can tell it’s for Mai.”

“I thought that we should just give her the mochi.”

“I didn’t realize that you can cook.”

Azula gives a dismissive gesture. “Wait until you taste it to make assumptions.”

He laughs. “I guess that you can’t be good at everything.” He takes a seat next to her on the bed, his hand brushes over hers briefly before he finds an unoccupied spot to put it. But she finds it again and without a word she takes it. He stares for a moment, at her hand in his.

“What’s this?” He holds up their hands.

She clears her throat, “it is my hand, Sokka. And yours. I would imagine that you have known what a hand is for a while now.”

He rolls his eyes. “I know what hands are! I just want to know why you’re holding mine.”

“Because it is here.” And she wonders if that is all there is to it. He is simply there and available. But she doesn’t think that this is the case. She is holding his hand because it is his hand. The hand that hovered over hers when she’d first woken up dazed and distraught, it is the hand that took hers at the theater, the hand that guided her as she learned to sew, the hand that held hers when she was falling apart.

He chuckles again. “I don’t exactly know what that means, Azula.”

But she does, she knows exactly what it means and she finds that she is just as hesitant to say it as she had been with Hajime. Perhaps more so. She hasn’t been around Sokka nearly as long as she had been around Hajime--not affectionately anyhow. She doesn’t know how to say it, not in a poetic and elegant way. And maybe that is just it, maybe it isn’t something that is meant to be spoken at all.

Anyways, she had promised Go-Hara that she would live. That she wouldn’t waste her youth and her pretty face. She had promised to truly live. She doesn’t give herself time to overthink it. She cups Sokka’s face in her hands and pulls his face closer for a kiss. Her first one in a very, very long time.

[tosskah]

Pom Pom and Votes Chapter 6

Stupid Ming

AO3

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

This is becoming a troubling pattern. Every interaction with Ty Lee seems to take over her thoughts. Now all she can think about is the kisses they shared when she dropped her off. How perfectly their hands fit together on the way out of cheer practice. The gentle, peaceful sight of her asleep on the couch. With so many exquisite sensations, how can she be expected to focus on school work? Azula has given up trying to fight it. Surely it’s a game Ty Lee is playing, but why shouldn’t she get to enjoy it? She’s never played a game like this before, and she has never had this much fun. Giving into the thoughts makes the day pass by blissfully quickly, although she doesn’t have a chance to run into Ty Lee until the dismissal bell.

“Hey!!” Ty Lee greets as she bounces into view. Her body stutters, as if she wants to move in closer, but she stops herself. Interesting, Azula smirks, opening her locker.

“Hey,” she replies, slipping into a larger smile without realizing. “Didn’t see you at lunch.” Her tone is inquisitive, rather than accusatory.

“I knooooow, I’m so sorry! I borrowed my friend’s notes yesterday, so I had to give them back, and then we got distracted talking and then I had like five minutes to eat, so!! How was your day?” Ty Lee is breathless in her excitement, and the way she looks earnestly into Azula’s eyes when she asks the question is almost enough to unbalance her. The look is so…. genuine.

“It was fine,” Azula shrugs, mercifully breaking eye contact to trade her last class’s books for her student council materials. “Classes were easy so I spent most of the day making sure I had everything ready for the student council meeting.” This is not exactly the truth. Classes were easy, but she definitely did not spend the day thinking about student council.

“Ohmygosh!! That’s right now, isn’t it? Are you excited? Are you nervous? Do you even get nervous? You seem so confident all the time!” Ty Lee has somehow become more enthusiastic.  Refusing to be swayed by the bubbly energy, she shrugs again and shuts her locker.

“I don’t think there will be any problems. The council will just be looking for me to tell them what to do, what to expect for this year. Should be easy enough,” she says, pulling back from the bank of lockers to head toward the student council office. Ty Lee naturally falls into step beside her, still carrying her books and nodding vigorously.

“Right!” she agrees, adding, “That will be easy! You’re good at telling people what to do!”

Azula mulls this for a moment, savoring the warmth of the compliment. The last compliment Ty Lee gave her was telling her that she was a good kisser. The memory makes her blush, and she fights the sensation. She can’t show up to her first meeting like this!! While she grapples with her feelings, Ty Lee fills the silence.

“Text me after so I know how it went, ‘kay? My sister won’t drive me home if I make her wait. But I know you’re going to be the greatest president ever!! They’re so lucky to have you in charge!” she beams and peels herself away, heading for the door. 

“I’ll text you,” Azula assures, watching her join the current of dismissing students.

Azula is the first to arrive in the student council room, as expected. She sets her leather folio at the head of the table and removes the copies of the agenda she typed up for the meeting. It is short work to flip through them and double check that she has the right amount, and by then other council members are trickling in. She greets them with a curt nod as she continues to prepare her materials. A few of the members speak quietly to each other and take their seats. No one fills the chairs closest to her, but she is used to that. By her count, almost everyone is present with a few minutes before the meeting is to start. It’s a good sign. With one minute before the meeting is scheduled to begin, the final member of the council swans in, phone to her ear. Her entrance is unmistakable as she bursts into obnoxiously loud laughter.

“Yeah, that’s so funny!! Anyway, I gotta go, I have a meeting. I’ll call you after. Bye!!” The newcomer disconnects her call and takes the chair to the right of Azula. All eyes are on the girl, though Azula’s are particularly narrowed. 

“Now that we are all here, let’s get started,” she begins, tone clipped. A few of the members further down the table wince. The phone girl snorts, prompting a sharp look from the president. Azula sets her jaw and passes the copies of the agenda down the table, making a point to start on the opposite side of the troublemaker so she will receive hers last. “Why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves and our position, and then we can go through the agenda,” Azula adds, pleased that everyone has seen fit to sit silently and await instructions. She gestures to the boy on her left, again ensuring that the troublemaker will have to wait until the end for her turn in the spotlight. She also doesn’t bother introducing herself. Everyone knows who she is and what she does. Azula half listens, matching faces to names and titles. The rest of her attention is spent monitoring the thorn in her right side. The girl’s name eludes her for now, which makes her even more frustrating. Her face is familiar in a bad way, but Azula cannot place her. At least she is enduring the introductions respectfully, other than fiddling with the corner of the agenda before her. Realization strikes at last. The reason this girl is so irksome is that she’s the same one that tried to get Ty Lee to go out with Ruon-Jian! Azula feels her anger flare just as the girl makes her introduction.

“I’m Ming, the treasurer,” she says, giving a half wave. The group returns their attention to their president, waiting for her to continue the meeting. Azula cuts her glare at the treasurer short and looks at the agenda as a distraction, taking a deep breath to collect herself. Ming does not seem perturbed to be on the receiving end of such hostility, which makes her even more annoying.

“Our first order of business needs to be the Homecoming dance, since it is only 8 weeks away,” she says smoothly, “I would like each of you to come with at least one idea for a theme by next week so we can secure vendors as soon as possible-”

Her commandment is interrupted by Ming, sighing loudly. 

“Something on your mind, Ming?” Azula’s tone is polite, but her eyes look fit to skewer her. The other girl pretends not to notice as she lounges in her chair, gesturing vaguely.

“There’s no point waiting a week to pick the theme. Why not just decide it now? Then we can get a week’s headstart on securing vendors.”

“If you look at the agenda for today, you will see that we already have plenty to cover-” Azula replies, the politeness sounding much more strained in every syllable. Ming’s response is a huff of disgust. Azula’s hand clenches involuntarily. “If you have concerns, Ming, let’s talk about them after this meeting so we don’t take up more valuable time.” She seals it with a smile that looks more like a baring of teeth. 

“Yeah, that sounds good. I’m not scared of you, so meeting one on one isn’t a problem,” Ming replies flippantly.

“Excuse me?” Azula snaps, pretending not to notice every other member of the council cowering.

“I said,” Ming draws her words out excruciatingly slowly, “meeting later sounds fine.”

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Azula says flatly, inspiring an eye roll from her rival. Without giving her another opportunity to disrupt the meeting, she pushes on with the agenda. It goes surprisingly quickly, although it might be because not one other council member can bring themselves to do anything other than nod minutely along with what Azula has to say. Their eyes are trained resolutely on the paper before them, as if any stray eye contact might earn some of her wrath for themselves. To be fair, they are correct. Ming contents herself with quieter sighs and gentler eye rolls, but doesn’t add any further commentary. The meeting wraps up five minutes earlier than projected, which is almost enough to put Azula in a good mood. The council members nearly trample each other in their eagerness to get out before another showdown can take place. Azula leaves her materials on the table. She isn’t going anywhere. She is ready for this fight, however long it takes. 

“So,” she begins, piercing Ming with a look, “do you have any more concerns?”

Ming counters with a shrug, though she can’t meet the gaze leveled at her. “Hey, just because you are the mayor’s kid doesn’t mean you’re the best fit for the job. I’m not just going to let you do whatever you want, unlike the rest of the council. Besides, do you really think you’ll have the time to give this job the attention it deserves?”

“What do you mean?” Azula asks, brow creasing. Why wouldn’t she have time?

Ming meets her eyes at last, replying, “Seems like you’re pretty focused on your dating life right now, that’s all.” 

Azula’s lips curl into a sinister smile. There it is, she thinks, satisfied. Ming is furious that I’m dating Ty Lee. “Unlike some, I am capable of focusing on more than one thing at a time. You’re friends with Ty Lee, right?”

“I am!” Ming responds instantly. Angrily. “I want what’s best for her, and there’s no way you can devote enough time to both her and this position!”

“Why don’t you let me decide what I can and can’t handle,” Azula replies, her voice a silken warning. 

“If you hurt her, your year is going to be impossible, do you understand? I won’t approve funds for any of your projects. You’ll be the most hated president this school has ever had. Put that on your fucking college application,” Ming points an accusatory finger at her.

“Noted,” Azula says, the picture of calm. She threads her fingers together on the table in front of her, showing she is above vulgar displays such as pointing. “Any other threats you want to make, or are we done here?”

“Whatever,” Ming mutters, snatching her backpack off the floor and stomping out of the council room. Azula watches her go, grinning. As soon as the treasurer is out of sight, Azula’s smile evaporates. This insubordination is going to be a problem, she stews, collecting her materials.

Azula makes it home in record time. That tends to happen when she drives while angry. Something about hearing the engine growl as it accelerates is soothing. It’s like the car is commiserating with her. The car also cannot be anything other than obedient, which is a relief after her meeting.

The house is deserted, as always, when she arrives. Well, unless one counts the staff, which she doesn’t. Her backpack is deposited unceremoniously in her room, where she proceeds to change into workout clothes. 

She is too keyed up from the confrontation. The only way she is going to be able to enjoy her evening is if she gets this energy out, and there’s no better way than to practice martial arts in the home gym. The room is cool in comparison to the rest of the house, and she loves the feeling of her bare feet on the springy mats that cover the floor. One wall is made entirely of mirrors so she can see her form and adjust as needed. A few padded dummies wait patiently in the corners, as well as a rack of free weights. Otherwise the space is wide open. She centers herself by drawing in a deep breath. The grating sound of Ming’s laugh comes to mind and she releases the breath in time with an open palm strike. Another breath, another strike, this time with the opposite hand. Her feet slide easily forward, advancing on her imaginary enemy. A feint at a low kick snaps to a brutal high kick, and she feels her agitation beginning to melt away. Seeing her reflection perform each precise move helps, but she is itching to feel her attacks deal some damage.

She drags one of the dummies out to the center of the room. It is vaguely humanoid in shape, and will offer some pleasing pushback when struck. Azula circles her opponent, hands raised in a guard. Her eyes don’t leave her prey as she waits for the perfect time to strike. There’s no need to glance down at her feet. She has practiced so much that it is as easy as breathing. Her forearm lashes out to deflect an imaginary punch from her left, allowing her the perfect opening to strike at the dummy’s unprotected neck. Stupid Ming, she thinks, hitting the dummy to punctuate each syllable. It becomes hypnotic, clustering her attack in groups of three. Stu. Pid. Ming. Stu. Pid. Ming. Stu. Pid. Ming...

Soon her hands are starting to feel pleasantly sore from the impact, and she feels other thoughts creeping in at last to replace the image of Ming’s insolent face. The fact that Ming’s protests seem to be centered around Ty Lee. Ty Lee… Azula’s concentration drifts, and she reverts back to a guarded stance, circling the dummy. She takes note of how hard she is breathing, but it’s a good sign. It’s why she came here in the first place, after all. 

Her frustration shifts stances as well, turning to an anxious twist in her stomach. Has Ty Lee been telling people we kissed? Do I want her to tell people? It’s not like I have anyone to share it with… Surely half the cheer team saw us walking out holding hands and can draw their conclusions from there. Ming has certainly been drawing her own conclusions. Azula interrupts her thoughts to deal a punishing kick to the dummy’s midsection. She imagines Ty Lee’s bubbly voice, introducing her to her friends, “This is my girlfriend, Azula!” and a strange, nervous warmth clamors from her gut to her heart. She’s never been anyone’s girlfriend before. Never wanted to, really. But the idea of that word, coming from Ty Lee, makes her feel….excited? Proud? It’s hard to name, but she likes it. And that would mean that Ty Lee is my girlfriend, she reasons, landing another volley of open palms on her opponent. When she checks her reflection to note her form, she catches herself with a sly smile. My girlfriend is a giddy thought that her mind won’t let go of. It’s invigorating, and she launches a fresh attack against the helpless dummy. 

But what if she’s not my girlfriend? The thought comes without warning, and she pulls back for a moment, feeling as though the floor has dropped out from under her. What if she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend? Her shoulders seize with tension. She did say I was a good kisser, her mind objects, desperate, And she wouldn’t have gone out with me if she didn’t like spending time with me. The dummy absorbs a handful of hits, swaying from the momentum. How am I supposed to know if she’s my girlfriend or not? Why is this so complicated?! 

Her opponent is wobbling dangerously now, and she backs off until it steadies. Azula’s breathing feels panicked, so she sucks in a slow breath to calm herself, assess her situation. I can just ask Ty Lee if she is my girlfriend and then there won’t be any confusion. The realization gives her a surge of energy, which she pours into a feint of a kick, before following up with a savage spinning kick with the opposite leg.  Her landing, as always, is perfect, and she walks away from the defeated dummy with a content sigh to return to her room. 

With a towel in one hand and her phone in the other, Azula realizes she was supposed to inform Ty Lee how her meeting went. Oh well, she shrugs, I can fill her in now. As she dabs the sweat from her face, she is shocked to see how many notifications are waiting for her- all from Ty Lee, of course. Anxiety forms a knot in her stomach. What if all these messages are berating her for not texting right after the meeting? What if she doesn’t want to be my girlfriend?  Azula fights the rising sensation of panic as she opens the texts.

👀👋Helllloooooo Miss President??? How was your meeting??👍

Wanna call and tell me about it💅 or do u have more ~official business~ tonite??

😱Oh no! I heard there was a little bit of a fight or something😓?? U okay??

😖I know ur probably just busy with ur important stuff but i’m worried🙀!! Txt me plz??🙏🙏

Azula releases the breath she was holding. Definitely not a tirade by any means, but she does feel a twinge of regret for forgetting to text after the meeting. Stupid Ming. But wait… how did Ty Lee already hear about the meeting from someone else? Surely no one would have posted about it online…. She quickly opens a flurry of apps, checking for posts from the council members. None of them strike her as bold enough to complain about the meeting with their name attached to the post, but she has to be sure. Despite a diligent search, she can’t find anything. She does notice, however, that Ty Lee has posted some new pictures and eagerly taps the link. She must’ve gotten bored waiting for me to text, she smirks. The expression falls immediately into a scowl as she clicks through the pictures.

While the first few posts are selfies, Ty Lee is quickly joined by another subject. Ming, posing with her arm around Ty Lee and their faces practically touching. ‘Selfies with my bestie!! #friends #bestfriends #selfie #bestfriendselfie #bestfie??’ is the caption. Azula is engulfed in a hot wave of anger as she sees picture after picture of the two of them smiling and posing together. Her knuckles are white around her phone and her jaw aches from clenching. 

How could I have been so stupid? She admonishes herself, flopping dejectedly on her bed. Ty Lee is clearly a master strategist. She will get close to me, since I have the most power, but she needs a back up plan in case I won’t give her what she wants. So of course she would cozy up to someone else on the council. Now she will have a mole inside the council as well.  I should have been able to see this coming. Ugh, why did she have to pick Ming?? Of all the insufferable people, Ty Lee picked the worst one!!! Azula heaves a sigh, and realizes it sounds just like one Ming gave during the meeting.

“Augh!!!” she groans, running her hand over her face. A very small part of her is impressed, though. Beneath that cute persona, Ty Lee is clearly very calculating. A worthy challenge… or ally, if I play this right. She takes a few deep breaths to  steady herself, then makes her way to the shower. She can’t counter Ty Lee in this state.

____

Soon enough, she is in fresh clothes and climbing into her car. The drive to Ty Lee’s affords her plenty of time to get her thoughts in order, so when she pulls up to the house, she is more than ready. She smoothly selects the cheer captain’s number and hits “call”.  

“Azula?? Ohmygosh, are you okay??” Ty Lee answers after one ring, and her tone is so convincing that it almost passes for worry. But Azula is too shrewd to fall for it. 

“I’m outside. Why don’t you come out and I’ll tell you all about it,” she replies evenly.

“What? You’re-- oh! Um, okay!! Let me just-- I’ll be out in a minute, okay? Bye!” 

Azula sets her phone down with a smirk. Spirits, she’s a good actress, she thinks, watching the front door. Ty Lee appears in an instant and bounds the rest of the distance to the car. 

“Hey,” Azula greets, watching her companion clamber onto the passenger seat. Ty Lee’s eyes are brimming with concern, causing Azula to marvel even more. 

“Are you okay??”Ty Lee asks breathlessly, reaching out to grip her hand, “I heard things got a little heated at the meeting and then I didn’t get texts from you and-”

“Who did you hear it from?” Azula interrupts.

“Well, Ming came over after the meeting and was telling me-” Ty Lee begins, but is cut off by a snort from Azula.

“So you’re just going to own up right away? That you had Ming report back to you? I was sure we would be dancing around that for at least 5 minutes,” Azula scoffs.

“What?!” Ty Lee sputters, her wide eyes the picture of innocence. Azula raises an eyebrow and waits patiently for an explanation. Ty Lee withdraws her hand and replies, “Ming wasn’t ‘reporting back to me’! She’s my friend, she just came over to hang out. She told me she had to stay after the meeting to go over some stuff with you, that’s all.”

“Did she tell you she told me I couldn’t possibly be a good president because the two of us are dating? As if having a girlfriend somehow takes up all my time and makes me unfit?” Azula fires back. She watches the other girl’s expression closely, looking for any clue that the term ‘girlfriend’ is unwanted or unpleasant. The only emotion on her face, however, is surprise.

“She said that?!  I’m sure she didn’t mean….: Ty Lee trails off, chewing her lip before continuing, “Ming has always been a really protective friend, so I’m sure she was just trying to look out for me…. But I’m sorry that she said that. I can, um, talk to her about that.” She pauses again, fiddling with the cuff of her sleeve. “Is that why you wouldn’t text me? Cause you were mad about what Ming said?” 

Azula considers this for a moment, then nods. It’s close enough. Ty Lee seems to be doing everything in her power to appear small and defeated. A clever tactic, Azula notes. The cheerleader’s shoulders are slumped and she isn’t even trying to put Azula off balance with direct eye contact. Rather than reach for Azula, her palms cradle her face. Ty Lee draws a deep breath before finding the words to say. 

“Next time…. Could you please, please just text me to tell me that? Or just… anything. ‘Hey, the meeting is over and I’m mad and I’ll talk to you later’ or something. Because. I thought. I thought something bad might have happened to you on your way home, like a car accident, or something. And I know that’s dumb to worry about, but it’s all I could think of, because you said would text me and then you didn’t. I was really worried! And then I was really surprised that you came over, and I thought it was a fun surprise that you had come to see me, but instead I’m like, getting yelled at over something that I had no idea about, and-” Her voice catches with emotion. For a moment, Azula thinks it might be real, not an act. “-and I don’t think that’s fair at all.”

Silence stretches between them for a long while. Azula isn’t quite sure how to respond. Being berated is something she is used to, but to be met with ‘I was worried about you’ and thinking her showing up unannounced could be a good thing… It’s truly impressive how unpredictable Ty Lee can be. These are kinds of battles she’s never fought before. It’s equally frustrating and thrilling. It seems the direct approach will not get the results she wants, so she must try something a little more discreet: kindness. It is a difficult path, however, because an apology is an admission of guilt, and she can’t give that kind of leverage.

“I can see that my actions have made you upset,” she begins, her voice more gentle than usual. Ty Lee straightens a little and chances a glance at her. “And that wasn’t my intention. I think my issues with Ming ended up with you caught in the middle, which isn’t what I want. I should have texted right after the meeting, like I said I would.” Azula reaches out, offering a hand for Ty Lee to hold. The other girl seems to think things over for a minute, but she tentatively puts her palm over Azula’s, and nods.

“Okay,” Ty Lee manages, her voice still tremulous.

“Okay,” Azula echoes, running her thumb over her knuckles. 

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Ty Lee adds, conjuring a weak smile, “But I should probably get back inside. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Azula assures her, offering a smile of her own. Part of her wonders if she might get a kiss for her efforts, but Ty Lee withdraws instead. Oh well, she reasons, watching her exit, I bet she is just stung because I won’t let her use her mole against me. Can’t blame her for that.  She puts the car in reverse and is basking in her satisfaction as she realizes that Ty Lee didn’t correct her when she used the word ‘girlfriend,’ and she doesn’t stop grinning all the way home.

[jaxsteamblog]

Tradition

Click here to read the full fic on AO3

Zuko was distracted on their video call. Katara let her words trail and it would take a few moments for him to respond. After watching him for a moment, Katara finally reclined on her couch.

“So, what’s new with you?” She asked. That got his attention and Zuko looked at her nervously.

“Katara, we’ve been dating a few months now.” He said, but didn’t seem to pick up the thread after trailing off.

“Yes?” Katara prompted.

“I don’t want to rush things.” Zuko said, as if that were a complete thought.

“But?”

“But certain people are asking about the long term.”

“Zuko.” Katara sighed and Zuko’s camera jostled as he sat up.

“I know, I know. Like I said, I don’t want to rush things. I just want you to know that people are asking questions and I’m answering them the best I can.” He said.

“That’s ominous as all get out Zuko.” Katara replied dryly.

“I just don’t want you to be surprised by the news or anything.” He replied easily.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing! Well,” Zuko looked strangled as he formed the words. “Azula and I are fighting. Or maybe my father is fighting me through Azula. Either way, we’re going to be in the news.”

“Is everything okay?” Katara asked.

“It’ll be fine.” Zuko replied. “I promise.”

It was not the news that told her.

Rohan landed their sky bison Dawa in the middle of the courtyard as Katara was going through her exercises. The large animal slid on the ice and bumped into the wall with a low groan. When they jumped off, Rohan pressed themself into Dawa’s massive head, bury their face in her fur.

“My poor baby. Did that hurt?” They cooed and Dawa lowed gently.

“Rohan? What are you doing here?” Katara asked as she approached. Still keeping their body pressed against Dawa’s head, Rohan turned their face. They were still mostly obscured by the long fur, but an attempt was made.

“Pop was thinking you and I should go to the Fire Nation.” They said.

“Arnook doesn’t want me leaving the palace. I still have a lot of learning to do.” Katara replied.

“Yes well, Azula challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai.” Rohan said.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU LEAD WITH THAT?” Katara yelled. Panicked, Rohan flipped around and Dawa growled at Katara.

“I DON’T REALLY KNOW.” They yelled back.

“WHY ARE WE WAITING?”

Katara pushed herself up with the ice and Rohan leaped onto the saddle.

“Yip, yip Dawa!” They said and Katara barely had time to brace herself.

The sudden force of air knocked her back, but after Dawa levelled out her flying, Katara was able to move. She crawled on her hands and knees toward Dawa’s head where Rohan sat with the reins.

“You need to explain to me what’s happening.” Katara said. Rohan turned, idly flicking the reins in their lap.

“Azula has stated that by continuing to pursue a relationship with you, Zuko has dishonored their family and should have no right to the throne. She’s challenged him to an Agni Kai for inheritance.” They answered.

“And he accepted?”

“He had no choice. His father wasn’t going to stop it; it’s kinda the end all, be all of decision making. And you know,” Rohan fidgeted as they spoke. “He had accepted the Agni Kai where his father burned him.”

“WHAT?” Katara gripped the edge of the saddle and felt the pressure against her palms.

“Like I said, it’s how they do things in the Fire Nation. Zuko didn’t really have a choice.” Rohan replied.

Katara sat back and stared off into the sky. Agni Kais were rare, but all of them were broadcast. They had been outlawed in the United Republic, and among any Fire Nation citizen in other kingdoms. The dangerous taboo created a massive allure and young Firebenders in the Fire Nation would routinely call for one, knowing that it would be televised. It was definitely their chance to make a mark on the world.

If Katara really wanted, she assumed she could find a recording of Zuko’s initial Agni Kai. Where his own father pressed his hand to his son’s face, in public, and marred him.

This one would be just as public. And against his sister.

Katara tried to think of the last time she had fought with Sokka. It was over the summer, when they had planned to eat dinner together and they disagreed over acceptable pizza toppings. She had thrown a loaf of bread at him. They weren’t even having pizza.

“So what can we do?” Katara asked.

“Thuy is already there with Pop trying to de escalate, except that neither Azula nor Ozai are actually, you know, emotional about it.” Rohan said.

“They’ve been looking for a reason.” Katara murmured.

“Probably.”

“You don’t think she’d kill him, do you?”

“It’s not illegal.” Rohan answered, answering her question as gently as they could.

“We have to stop this.” Katara stated.

“We literally cannot.”

“Then why did you bring me?”

“Just in case.”

Feeling sick to her stomach, Katara rolled on her tailbone until her back was against the edge of the saddle. Her arms fell along the edge as well, making her look like a boxer on the ropes. She felt like she had been sucker punched.

It took two days of flying to get there. Dawa pushed through as if sensing her riders’ desperation. Rohan showed Katara how to fly and they took shifts as they crossed the unending ocean. From a hastily packed bag, Rohan pulled out various foodstuffs and their eating times were the only moments they had together. They tried to think of a plan but had nothing, and fear gnawed at the underside of Katara’s heart.

When they landed, both Katara and Rohan leaped down. Katara pulled water from the grass on the ground to brace herself and Rohan’s wind ball gently shrank while propelling them forward. There were guards, because of course there were, but Rohan’s gusts snuffed out the pit of their fires while Katara swept them aside.

“The arena is over here.” Rohan yelled and Katara followed them closely. In front of them was also a large reservoir of water. It would make sense, in case the firebending got out of control. And it made things easier for Katara.

“There!” She exclaimed and found soldiers waiting for them. Rohan made a noise in irritation before spinning into an aerial kick, blowing them away with a gale. They floated down with a huff and Katara sped up to match their stride.

“They’re lucky I took a vow of non-violence.” Rohan muttered as they continued on.

“You’re lucky that I did not.” Katara said and Rohan briefly smiled at her.

They crashed into the doors and immediately struck bodies. There was a crowd gathered to watch the spectacle and Katara fumed. Rohan took a deep breath and blew out; a whirlwind burst out of his mouth and people were shoved away from them. It was just enough of a gap to see the raised platform where Zuko knelt, a cloth over his shoulders. Katara and Rohan bolted forward just as he stood, the cloth falling away.

And a burst of blue fire surged toward him.

Katara screamed even as Zuko turned out of the way, moving the blue fire around his body and changing it into the orange she recognized.

The fire was loud, which surprised her. It was also hot, which made her wary to get closer. Still, she stepped forward and Rohan put their hand on her shoulder.

“We can’t now.” They said. Katara, pained, looked at them before turning back to the platform. Zuko moved like a waterbender, sliding his feet as he pulled Azula’s attacks around himself before pushing it back at her. When he did get defensive, he spun with his feet arcing over his head, like an Airbender. And when the attacks were too large, Zuko took a deep stance and broke the line of fire, much like an Earthbender.

“What is he doing?” Katara asked.

“Tiring her out. Zuko’s hung out with us for so long, he’s picked up so many different styles, Azula can’t get past them.” Rohan replied. “Once she’s exhausted, he’ll knock her down and he’ll win.”

They smiled, looking relaxed, but Katara frowned.

“That seems very anticlimactic.” She said.

“But it’s a good thing.” Rohan retorted and she shook her head.

“Except Zuko said his father is dramatic.” Katara said before looking back Zuko. “Do you think it’ll be that easy?”

It wasn’t.

As soon as Azula went down - having been slow to react to a curve ball of fire and so Zuko swept her legs out from under her - Zuko immediately stood at attention.

Azula got up on a knee and started to laugh.

“You have brought dishonor yet again onto our family, prince Zuko.” Ozai’s menacing voice came from the far end of the raised walk. “You have fought with your sister in front of the entire world.”

“But he-” Katara started but Rohan grabbed her arm, shushing her.

Zuko put his fist to his hand and bowed deeply.

“I meant no disrespect.” He said, his voice hollow but still ringing in Katara’s ears.

Ozai stepped from the shadows; shirtless, as was required by the Agni Kai.

“So it’s time for a rematch?” He asked.

Zuko stood upright for a moment before sliding into a waiting stance. This marked a choice, not a reaction. He knew what he was getting into.

“Trust me,” Zuko said darkly. “It won’t be much of a rematch.”

Ozai’s burst exploded, making the air around the audience pop. That scattered most of them as the bending bordered on combustion; a trained combustion bender could control it, but Ozai did not focus on that form.

Zuko didn’t waste his time tiring out Ozai, mostly because his fight with Azula had already weakened his own stamina.

Looking around, Katara was finally able to see the people she was hoping for as the crowd fled. Tenzin, Iroh, and Thuy stood yelling at each other just a few feet away.

“Thuy!” Katara screamed and started to run. The Avatar turned and Tenzin preemptively held her back. When Rohan and Katara made it to the group, Katara was seething.

“Why haven’t you stopped this?” She damned, looking at Iroh and Tenzin.

“Our hands are tied here.” Tenzin started.

“All of this is perfectly legal.” Iroh added.

“But it’s not right!” Katara yelled.

“Watch out!” Thuy pushed Katara back and pulled up a rock wall as fire spilled off the platform.

“I’m going up there.” Katara stated.

“You are the queen of another country, you cannot interfere!” Tenzin said.

“Yeah, well, I’m the Avatar and it looks to me like the sovereign of the Fire Nation is terrorizing his heir, which I’m pretty sure can lead to some serious political consequences so I’m gonna have to overrule you here.” Thuy retorted forcefully.

“Look!” Rohan called out. Everyone turned and saw Zuko push Ozai back, now very clearly mimicking Waterbender styles. As Ozai shielded himself, the flames dissipated and Azula jumped up next to her father.

“That certainly isn’t legal.” Iroh said.

“Let’s go!” Thuy grabbed Katara’s hand and rocketed themselves upward on a protrusion of rock.

“There’s water under the grates.” Katara said just before they hit the platform. Thuy grabbed from the right side while Katara pulled water from the left. Bringing their wavering columns together, they clashed on the eruptions of fire heading toward Zuko.

Things worsened when the soldiers made it into the arena.

Iroh, finding himself yet again on the enemy lines, fought defensively. And as both Tenzin and Rohan had taken vows of non-violence, they were quickly occupied with keeping themselves safe while also not allowing anyone else to join the fight on the platform.

For the ones above, their fight was nothing less than brutal. Azula and Ozai went with sheer power, attempting to push someone off the platform. The fall would easily be enough to break a leg, making escape impossible. So Katara and Thuy pulled on more limbs of water, catching themselves when they got too close to the edge.

Thuy had no formal firebending training, but instinctively she was able to disperse indirect attacks.

But as Zuko got hit with a fireball, Thuy lost it. She pulled too hard on the water, bringing Zuko up but nearly taking Katara off in the process.

“Just. Stay. Put.” Thuy seethed through gritted teeth. Right before her eyes started to glow.

Katara had never seen Thuy in the Avatar state, and it terrified her a bit. Air swirled up around her, tossing her hair up that made her look like she was drowning. Large slabs of rock were ripped from the ground and circled her like an armor plated atom. Fire jumped between the slabs, creating a protective net, while water fell upward to coat the entire platform.

“We are sick of you and your forefathers treating everyone like filth.” A booming voice that was not Thuy’s said. “Your heir has atoned and we will bestow our favor on him.”

Ozai laughed. He laughed right in the face of the Avatar.

“You are a coward. You all were cowards! You can’t strike me down because of the balance!” He shouted.

The elements parted around Thuy, but something cloaked her. She was taller, wearing robes, and with a large headdress.

“I can assure you,” A clearer voice, but still not Thuy’s, rang out. “I was no coward when I killed my master.”

Avatar Kyoshi swept her hand and a large rock ripped itself free of the arena and slammed into Ozai, knocking him clear into the other wall.

The shroud changed again and Katara gasped at the sight of the blue parka. Water slammed into the place where Ozai had landed, just as the rock exploded. Avatar Kuruk ran on the water bridge he created and created a fist of ice.

“Don’t forget about me.” A lilting voice sang out. Blue fire shot toward Katara as she turned. Pulling up a sheet of ice, Katara took a moment to admire the shimmering explosion of blue that rippled behind it. Then, stepping forward, she shoved the wall at Azula. As Azula broke it, Zuko had spun through a series of sets. Azula charged them then, splitting them cleanly down the middle with a wall all her own.

Azula was good at keeping them apart, putting Katara on the defensive while forcing Zuko to choose between pushing an attack or trying to deflect spill over from harming Katara. They would dart at each other, only to have Azula fall back while attacking Katara.

The fight had barely gone on for ten minutes, but that was longer than any other duel. Zuko and Azula were both visibly panting, and they both swayed in their stances. Off to one side of the arena, the Avatar was beating the Fire Lord into the ground while the other side saw the trio slowly losing their footing.

Suddenly grinning, Azula stood up and took a different stance.

“Azula.” Zuko called out as a warning.

“Dear brother, this ends now.” She said. The electricity arced between her fingers and Katara froze.

She knew what happened when electricity met water. Unsure of what to do or how to help, she looked at Zuko.

“I can handle you Azula. For as long as it takes.” Zuko shouted, getting his voice over the snarling sound of lightning growing around Azula.

“Is that so?” Azula remarked casually.

Zuko stood, his body tilted and grounded.

And Azula turned to face a new direction.

Katara could see her gold eyes glint but she didn’t hear Zuko yell.

She saw the lightning and she saw Zuko. And she saw Zuko’s body. He was just a few feet from her, she could reach him.

Steam erupted as Azula shot fire in front of her.

“Oh no you do-” Azula began but cut off as the steam curled and shot up like a spear. Katara pulled more and more water, levitating ice shards all around her and sending them hurtling toward Azula. The water moved like a wave over the platform and while Azula twisted to dodge one of the ice spears, her ankle rolled and she fell to her knees. The water froze, adhering her to the platform. To keep her from bending, Katara pulled more water up and created an inverted bubble around them.

Then she froze it.

Bending was an art. Some benders were born with inherent strength while others could improve through rigorous training, and still others were stuck with low ability no matter what. But it was all dependent upon the benders chi, or spirit, or metaphysical energy. Whatever they called it, it was an energetic field that they could manipulate. Most of the time, benders had to move in order to control their element as they could never achieve true mastery of their chi.

Some monks among the Air Nomads were rumored to have achieved it and would float without the need for food or water.

Katara felt the frozen rage down to her core and the water around her obliged. She breathed, and the ice melted to let her pass.

Moving through the ice, Katara picked up the cloth Zuko had worn at the beginning of the Agni Kai. With it, she bound Azula’s hands, then refroze them. At least this way it would take longer for her to get frostbite.

Melting the ice block, Katara kept Azula pinned to the ground and her hands encased in ice.

Then she ran to Zuko.

Turning him onto his back, Katara knelt down to listen for a heartbeat. Not finding one, she immediately started CPR. As she counted, she used her bending to move the blood through his veins.

“I could use a little zap here!” She paused to yell. Focusing on her compressions, she had no idea how long it took Iroh to get up to them. When he did, she sat back and watched as Zuko was electrocuted again.

Gasping, Zuko rolled onto his side and Katara fell on him, crying.

“I have to heal you!” She sobbed. “I have to.”

Her hands glowed as the water came to them and she ran it over his chest. She had cracked his sternum during CPR and had to concentrate on pulling the fracture together. Her chi went into him, sewing the bone together. She healed his veins and the damage done to his heart. But the scar would not go. Dark veins bled out from the strike, but at least they were working.

“Zuko.” Katara said as she fell on top of him. “Why?”

“Tradition.” Zuko said weakly. “I wasn’t allowed to say no.”

“Get rid of it.” She murmured, burying her face in his chest.

“As soon as the crown touches my head beloved.” He brought his head up and kissed the top of her head.

“Yeah but seriously, someone needs to check to see if the Fire Lord is dead.” Rohan said from above them. “Because Thuy went all out on him.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

[saang]

accidentally just stayed up all night writing more of my medieval au 👀👀

anyway this one goes out to @rllyjohnrlly because they made me art so i wrote them a fic!!

word count: 1900

read on ao3

“We could take the long way to the kingdom,” Toph suggested. “That way we can guarantee more time together.” 

“To swordfight, I presume. You wouldn’t have an ulterior motive,” Aang smiled.

“Of course not, who do you take me for?” Toph reached out for his hand and held it. Her sword fastened in his belt with his own for the time being, until she got a safe place for it herself.

“Then, we’ll take the long way to the kingdom. Effectively adding two additional months to our journey. To swordfight, of course,” Aang squeezed Toph’s hand lightly. Her hand fitting perfectly in his. Her hands weren’t calloused like his, they were soft. They were soft, but she knew how to use them.

Toph let out a small laugh as they walked on the beaten path of the forest floor. They walked on a patch that had been once crossed a thousand times, but seldom still knew it existed. Aang led her across vines and branches and grass. 

“This path was once the most popular way to get to the coast,” Aang said. “But when the earthquake happened and left the cliff, it was completely forgotten.”

“There’s a cliff? I never knew that.” Toph reached out feeling the close net trees of the path. It was amazing how nature reformed after human interference. The leaves tickling her fingers as they brush by.

“Very few do. I did say it was completely forgotten, didn’t I?” Aang lightly nudged Toph’s shoulder. Toph scoffed playfully. “We’re coming to a clearing pretty soon. Do you want to have your first official swordfighting lesson?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Toph stepped forward, urging Aang to move faster.

“I guess not,” Aang chuckled. He walked towards the clearing faster, Toph keeping pace with him. 

“Alright, so,” Toph started. “What are we going to learn first?”

“We are going to learn the proper stance.”

“Ugh, boring. When are we going to learn the fun stuff?” 

“After you know how to uphold a good stance,” Aang explained. He guided her into a proper position. “Stance is the most important part of swordfighting. Without a good stance, you’re off balance and it is much easier for your opponent to gain the upper hand.”

“Ugh, fine,” Toph said, holding her sword out in front of her. Aang had taken great care in restoring it for her. Cleaning off the rust, sharpening it. Making sure it was at tiptop shape for when Toph actually started using it. 

Toph was a quick learner, picking up proper etiquette easily and well. Training went swimmingly for the next few weeks. They’d travel, train, set up camp or stay in an inn, but the closer they got to the Beifong Kingdom of Gaoling, the more they started to realize what would happen in the end.

Aang would go back to his kingdom. Toph would be married off to a nobleman to carry on the family lineage. They would part ways, and the only thing Toph would have to remember him by was a sword that her parents probably wouldn’t let her use. 

“Aang,” Toph said one night. Her head rested on his chest as he stared up at the stars. “Is this really the last time we’ll ever see each other?”

“Do you want the hopeful answer or the realistic answer?” 

“Realistic.”

“As much as it hurts me to say, even think about,” he took a deep breath, preparing to say the words he had been dreading. “Probably not.”

“Two weeks,” Toph said. “That’s how long we have with each other until we never see each other again.”

“Fourteen days, three hundred thirty-six hours.”

“What’s the hopeful answer?” Toph asked.

“Well, we would show up to the Beifong Kingdom and your parents would immediately accept our relationship. We would live out the rest of our lives together.” Aang dreamed up the scenario. He squeezed the arm around Toph a little tighter.

“We would have kids, three of them,” Toph played along. Aangs shirt was getting wet from Toph’s tears, but neither cared.

“What would their names be?” Aang played with Toph’s fingers. He was desperate to keep the tears at bay and unsuccessful.

“Bumi, Tenzin, and Poppy.”

“Poppy is your mother’s name, right?” 

“Yeah, it is,” Toph said it softly, barely able to be heard. “I was six, when I ran away.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Toph,” Aang told her in response. 

“If there’s anyone in the world I want to know this, it’s you.”

Toph described it in such vivid detail, that even without visual cues Aang was able to picture it all. Toph was six when she ran away. She had disguised herself as a servant and snuck out. At last, she was free, to do what she wished without anybody telling her to have better posture, or sit like a lady. She could feel the fresh grass in between her toes. The chilled air against her arms and the warm sun on her face. 

It was amazing, Aang felt a sense of freedom listening to her tell the story. However, all stories have a twist. Toph had had her first taste of freedom ten years prior, quickly she learned that freedom also meant danger. She learned how scary being blind could actually be. She sought refuge in the Southern Kingdom. It was cold, icy, barren, but the people were kind. They gave her food to eat and clothes to wear. 

Katara and Sokka, the crown prince and princess of the Southern Kingdom. Passionate, kind, caring. They weren’t too much older than her at the time. Katara was eight and Sokka was nine. They left her with a new sense of hope that she could make it in the world. They assured her that she always had a place in the Southern Kingdom if she were to need it.

She set off on her adventure, replenished, revitalized and ready to take on the world. She was faced with challenges of all kinds. People wanting to undermine her. People who wanted to hurt her. People who thought she looked a lot like the Beifong’s missing princess. No one really looked that far into the last one.

People were rude and scary, like the princess of the Equator Kingdom. Azula. Azula’s uncle and brother saved her, gave her shelter, food. Somewhere safe from not only Azula but the harsh realities of the world. Zuko was four years older than her, already fourteen when they had met. His uncle, Iroh, was a lot older, he never said his age but Toph guessed it was quite old.

She left the Equator Kingdom, ready to face the world, knowing the dangers of it. She stumbled upon where she would spend most of her days until a ceratin soldier from the Eastern Kingdom would walk in. 

She arrived in the Republic of Kyoshi, the first and only Republic in the world. The ruler wasn’t decided by parentage but by merit. She was adopted into a group of strong-willed girls, not unlike herself. Eight years were spent living peacefully, well as peaceful as it could get. That is, however, until a soldier came along. He found out who Toph was, they had agreed that they would return Toph to her kingdom. The Beifong Heiress would return. Toph couldn’t remember the name of the soldier, it was a complete blank.

“I think it started with an ‘E’?” Toph joked. “Then again ‘I’ and ‘O’ are also very realistic,”

“Did this soldier happen to fall in love with you?” Aang asked, going along with Toph.

“I think I can remember that happening,” Toph laughed. “I can also remember falling in love with him too.”

“Oh, really now?” Aang played with Toph’s hair that was sprawled on his chest. “And you still don’t remember his name?”

“Let me think about it,” Toph paused. “Nope, nothing.”

The fall asleep under the full moon and the bright constellations. They woke up to the rising sun in the east. They packed up their makeshift campsite and continued their journey. They tried to justify extending their trip. They bought themselves a few extra days before they were face to face with the doors of the palace.

“I remember there being a few artisans booths, we could stay at one a little while before we enter the palace?” Toph suggested. “Besides, I bared my whole life story to you, I need something in return.” 

It was a dry attempt at humour, but it was the only thing keeping them from breaking down. “Alright, where to start?”

Aang told Toph about where he was born first, hr figured he would start at the beginning. A little hospital outside of the capital. The fire that ended up taking both of his parent’s lives and many others. The heat that Aang could still feel at night sometimes. 

He was adopted by a monk, Gyatso. He trained his whole life to be a soldier. He wanted to save as many lives as he could. He looked out the window sometimes wod=ndering when it would be his turn to protect the people he cared about. 

His hope and his determination depleted when Gyatso passed away when he was twelve. The soldiers saw the boy with a dream and adopted Aang into their ranks. For three years he trained with the best soldiers of the Eastern Kingdom. 

One day, Aang was sent out to patrol. He got lost down a beaten path that led to a cliff. An old man drinking tea told him about the cliff’s past. The earthquake the path once taken. The life lived before the generation came to be. 

He followed the cliff, the shoreline until he found the Republic of Kyoshi. He saw a beautiful girl, arguably the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He introduced himself to the girl, telling her his name. Although, he can’t seem to remember her name. He discovered she was the princess that had ran away ten years ago, and they set a course for Goaling.

“And here we are, you're all caught up,” Aang said. “My whole life story.”

“Alright,” Toph smiled sadly, “I guess its time for us go to the palace.” 

They arrived at the doors of the palace for the second time that day. Aang stood by her side as she greeted the Kingdom again. After a decade of being lost, she was finally found. 

“You’re alive!” Her father shouted. “I never thought I’d see you again!”

“We did everything we could, we’re so glad to have you back!” Her mother welcomed her back with a hug. She had a faint sense that Aang was getting ready to leave. She let go of her mother’s hug and stepped back.

“I’m back on three conditions,” Toph said.

“What are they?”

“One, Aang gets to stay.” Aang turned around, eyes wide in shock at Toph’s condition. “Two, he can court me if he so chooses, and three he gets to teach me swordfighting.”

“Toph, you can’t be serious,” her mother laughed. “A woman wielding a sword? That’s blasphemous.”

“You do need an heir, don’t you?” Toph asked.

“I suppose that Aang can stay. He can court you, and he can teach your swordfighting, if he so chooses.” Toph turned to Aang and ran into his arms. 

“I guess we don’t have to choose between hopeful and realistic.”

[grither55]

The Princess and the Peasant - (An Azula Epic) - Chapter 58 - Acquiescence

“What do you think you are doing! Open that door right now or you will rue this day until your last breath!” Azula boomed in a piercing voice as she stood glaring icily at Yoko’s back.

Ty Lee also stood behind Azula staring at the older woman with furious brown-gray eyes.

“It was your servant’s choice to jump in. And now she must wait three more minutes alongside House Lin.” Yoko declared in a still defiant voice with her fearless eyes turning to meet Azula’s murderous glare.

Only for her composed eyes to widen in surprise when a hot spark of lightning generated near instantaneously on the monarch’s well-manicured fingertips.

‘How? How is she generating it so quickly?’ The governor thought with her hazel eyes never leaving the royal woman’s cold face.

The chancellor took a fearful step backwards while the soldiers also backed away behind him as the lightning continued to spark at the young woman’s fingertips.

“Watch yourself Governor Yoko. I don’t give a damn if you make your threats against House Lin. But if anything happens to that girl. I will level this entire city.” The princess snarled as she bared her teeth to the taken aback older woman while the acrobat shuddered behind her.

And just when Azula sunk into a stance to rupture the trap door she spun around in shock when a blinding flash of light emanated from the cave below.

The light shot into the air as she covered her eyes while her mouth dropped open in surprise.

“W-what is that!” Terak cried out with his sleeves shielding his eyes.

All the while Yoko squinted her taken aback hazel eyes as she gazed through the see-through barrier in confusion.

“Azula! I-it’s just like before!” Ty Lee exclaimed with sisterly shock in her voice while she gazed out of the glass screen.

Nako blinked her golden eyes as she gazed out from behind her hands only for her eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates.

And to the great astonishment of everyone they watched as the large creature recoiled away from the small cave.

Thud!

Mai sat back with her jaw dropping while Ukano gawked at the sight beside her.

Elle still sat on a damp rock with her eyes closed in fright only to find herself opening her eyes not a moment later.

“H-huh? What happened? Did Azula-sama do something?” Elle asked in a puzzled voice as she gazed out at the large reptilian still recovering from being blinded in the eyes.

“N-no Elle. That wasn’t Azula. That was you.” The markswoman breathed with her shocked hands still grasping at the bars of the cage.

“M-me?” The blonde-haired girl squeaked in confusion while she scooted back in surprise.

“H-how did she do that?” Ukano pondered with awe in his recovering voice.

“Was that…your servant?” The governor pondered with rare bewilderment in her stoic voice while she turned to her monarch’s still taken aback face.

‘How did Elle make that beast back away! Did she just blind it in the eyes? Or is it something more? Does this have something to do with her Component?’ The princess thought with her crimson lips pursing in a thoughtful line.

And not a moment later she exploded the trap door with a lightning imbued fist before she effortlessly leaped into the water before.

Yoko and the chancellor exchanged a mutual glance of battlement before the governor finally relented.

Not even two seconds later Azula dropped into the water below with a splash.

Both House Lin nobles instinctively shrunk under the princess’s cold stare before the monarch stepped into the water to retrieve her handmaid.

The royal woman stomped through the water while she approached her seated handmaid before she called out to the smaller girl.

“Servant!” Azula barked with her voice causing Elle to jump in fright.

“A-aah! Azula-sama! You scared me! I almost thought that you were a scary monster that was about to eat me!” Elle cried out only to gasp in innocent panic when her music player fell from her hip to the wet rock below.

The princess stiffened with a twinge of pink on her cheeks while she turned to gaze at the large beast through the corner of her eye.

Only to spin around in annoyance when the girl’s music player started playing as soon as it hit the cave floor.

The young handmaid blushed when Azula turned to cast her an irate stare when Redbone started playing in the cave.

And despite the terrifying situation Mai couldn’t help but sweatdrop as she leaned back with a sigh alongside her bewildered father.

“Come and get your love. Come and get your love. Come and get your love. Come and get your love.” Redbone played while the crocodile shark gazed around with predatory yellow eyes.

The occupants above listened in confusion while the faint music echoed into the air just as a large grin began to appear on the acrobat’s lips.

“Eh…is that music?” The royal pilot pondered with a tilt of her head while the governor gazed on with comical puzzlement in her eyes.

“Yeah! It’s called Redbone.” The brown-haired woman answered with a smile only to peer down in surprise to see the vast animal was relaxing under the music.

Azula could only slap a hand over her groaning face while Elle beamed up at her with an infectious smile.

“Do you see that Azula-sama! He likes Redbone!” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed with a sunny smile while her master turned to glare down at her.

“I could care less about what that creature likes! Turn that stupid music off!” The princess ordered just as she pulled her happy handmaid up by the collar of her shirt.

“I-it’s not stupid. He has a good taste in music.” Elle stammered only for her heart to race under Azula’s domineering stare.

“Please! That garbage hardly qualifies as music!” Azula snorted in a snobbish voice with a roll of her regal eyes while Elle quickly grabbed her mp3 player.

“Millions of people in my homeland disagree with you Azula-sama! Redbone is a total classic!” The blonde-haired girl argued in an innocent voice only to gulp when her master began pulling her behind her.

“My opinion has more weight than all of those peasants combined! Now turn it off!” The princess bellowed with as she glared ahead while her pet pouted behind her.

“Y-yes princess.” Elle mumbled like a disciplined puppy while Azula’s lips began to curve into a smirk once more.

Only for her full lips to contort into a scowl once more when she laid eyes on the two nobles just as her friend finally kicked open the cage door.

Ukano was still staring between Elle and the large animal in disbelief as he shakily stood up alongside his daughter.

Mai flinched under Azula’s callous glare but for once she was more terrified of someone other than her tyrannical friend.

That being Yoko and her ravenous executioner that was already approaching them once more.

And just as Azula raised her hand in blue fire to kill the creature before it could get any closer, she could only gaze down in aggravation when her servant tugged on her sleeve.

“N-no. Please don’t kill the poor animal Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl requested meekly as her girlfriend gazed down at her with an incredulous stare.

And the nobleman gazed down at the young girl with disbelieving tawny eyes before he turned to his daughter to see her just shaking her head fondly.

It was just astonishing to see that this seeming servant girl had somehow had such a deep impact on not only his aloof daughter.

But, their cold and ruthless princess of all people!

“You have got to be kidding me! It just almost devoured you!” Azula scoffed as she glared down at her serving girl’s innocent face.

“As you did the armadillo bear. It’s all a part of the flow. And I bet if he wasn’t cooped up in this cruel cave, he wouldn’t be so bad.” Elle mumbled with her hands grasping her backpack while Azula rolled her eyes down at her.

Both members of House Lin just stared at the teenager in bafflement before the older man cried out in renewed fear.

“P-Princess Azula can we please leave this nightmarish cavern?” Ukano pleaded just as the creature lunged forward while his daughter grasped ahold of his arm to help him up.

“Fine! But I suggest you listen well Mai. Until the wars end you are forbidden to have contact with Zuko.  If I should catch wind that you are into contact with him…” The princess remarked in a dangerous voice as she stared murderously at the other woman’s rapidly nodding face.

“I-I understand Azula.” Mai answered just as she leaped into the air with her father hanging onto her shoulder.

Mere moments later Azula herself bounded into the air with Elle adorably latched around her neck.

It was a stunning sight that had not only Ukano gazing on in marvelment but Yoko and the others as well as Azula gracefully sprang forth from the broken trap door.

Yoko stared at Elle with great shock in her eyes when Azula landed with finesse in front of the smiling acrobat and the skittish pilot.

It was readily apparent that the teenager was no ordinary servant.

Mai arose behind Azula with her father as they stared back at Yoko in unconcealed fright while she briefly gazed over them with frigid hazel eyes.

“And now I will accept your offer of vassal house.” Yoko announced in a victorious voice while all but Azula stared back at her in shock over her gall.

“You have some nerve playing this sick game with us.” The markswoman hissed only for her leader to silence her with a strict glare.

“Now you understand who you are dealing with. If you ever cross me again…I will feed your entire family to my pet crocodile-shark. Including Tom Tom.” The governor declared in a perfectly composed voice while the nobleman hastily nodded in understanding.

“Yes, Governor Yoko. House Lin understands.” The nobleman agreed with his head hanging low while his daughter slumped in renewed shame.

“Who is this girl Princess Azula?” Yoko questioned as she folded her hands behind her back while her gaze focused on Elle once more.

“This is my-“ Azula responded only to be cut off by Elle standing on her toes to place her hand over her mouth.

The royal woman glowered down at her handmaid’s chipper face while the acrobat laughed at her expense.

“My name is Elle Turner! I’m a foreigner! And I have the Avatar’s greatest weakness running through my veins!” Elle cried out as she puffed out her chest while Azula nearly fell over in anger.

A great many soldiers nearly fell on their face in shock over the girl’s blunt declaration.

Mai and Ty Lee stared at Elle with a look of protective concern in their eyes.

And Ukano’s mouth dropped open in bafflement as he gazed down at the seemingly harmless girl with questioning tawny eyes.

And that was to say nothing of Terak and Yoko’s reaction.

The conniving politician stared at the teenager with wide golden eyes as his brilliant mind already began to put the pieces together.

Now it all made sense.

Why Princess Azula allowed this girl such freedom to talk and behave as she did!

“The Avatar’s weakness?” The governor repeated with complete surprise in her usually calm voice while the small blonde nodded rapidly.

“That’s me! I am Princess Azula’s secret weapon!” The blonde-haired girl chirped with a bright smile while her master’s eyes twitched in aggravation.

And the matriarch of House Song just stared at the young girl with building confusion in her hazel eyes.

She couldn’t help but ponder if Zoe has interacted with this girl.

“Her secret weapon you say.” Yoko stated in a curious voice while Azula’s callous golden eyes never ceased penetrating her skull from behind the handmaid’s head.

“That’s right. Now look…I understand that you’ve got all the reason in the world to be angry at Mai. But your daughter has already agreed to let it go in exchange for three years as your vassal house. Would you be willing to do the same?” Elle pondered as she walked forward while Azula furrowed her brows as she watched her closely.

In that instant Mai’s bruised face took on a moved expression while she closed her eyes with Ty Lee’s gentle hand on her shoulder.

The acrobat found herself unable to resist grinning at their adopted sister with limitless love in her eyes.

And the head of House Lin couldn’t help but be astounded that this young girl was going to such lengths to speak up for his daughter and all of his house.

That was all it took for Yoko’s gaze to take on a colder stare once more while she too took a step forward.

The matriarch was so incensed by the query that she didn’t even pay heed to her monarch’s authoritative glare.

“You are Princess Azula’s servant are you not?” The governor asked in a glacial voice as she stared down at the small girl approaching her.

“I am!” The blonde-haired girl replied with a happy countenance while her girlfriend rolled her eyes out of her sight.

‘Foolish peasant! If you are going to try to act intimidating you should try to drop the smile.’ Azula thought with a snort of blue fire escaping her nostrils.

“Whether you are a servant for Princess Azula or a servant to Lady Mai it is not your place to tell me what to do. A well-liked servant is still a servant.” Yoko commented in a tone of superiority as she now loomed over Elle’s much smaller frame while Ty Lee now cast her a protective glare.

“My apologies Governor Yoko but as I said I am from a foreign land and I don’t agree with such narrow-minded thinking.” Elle remarked with her hands grasping at her backpack straps while all but her friends gazed at her as they thought her insane.

“You tolerate this backtalk princess?” The governor inquired with an edge to her voice while the pursed her lips into a thin line.

And naturally both Mai and Ty Lee almost wanted to laugh at the fact that Yoko found Elle disrespectful.

“It is not your place to question my training methods Governor Yoko. The girl is fully trained to my liking.” The princess snapped in a hardened voice that bordered on parental.

“I am a servant by choice. I find life serving Azula-sama quite satisfactory. And I am in possession of your greatest enemies’ weakness. So, you’re just going to have to deal with it. Just like Zoe did.” The blonde-haired girl retorted with her neck craning to meet the statuesque matriarch’s now infuriated gaze.

The princess and her two childhood friends gazed at their young friend with stunned eyes to see that the girl was growing even bolder.

The pilot could only blink in confusion as she shook her head.

What is that girl doing!

If she had any sense, she would keep her head low and refrain from provoking her superiors!

All the while Azula watched with her golden eyes flickering in surprise as she felt a familiar sensation travel down her spine.

A sense of satisfaction to see that her young girlfriend was growing stronger by the day.

‘I am proud of her…that’s it isn’t it? I am proud of my Elle.’ Azula thought with her beautiful lips entrenching in the barest hint of an approving smirk.

“My daughter might find have found this amusing but I do not. Go back to your masters…all three of them. I don’t take orders from servants.” Yoko declared in a rigid voice only for her eyes to narrow into slits when the girl grasped ahold of her shirt.

The two noblewoman both directed the matriarch a distasteful glare over how the degrading manner that she spoke to their little sister.

And just as angry over how she referred to them as her “masters”.

Only for their anger to ebb away into returning surprise as they watched the petite girl stand defiant under the governor’s angered stare.

“You’ll just have to deal with it. Because this servant is the Component that brings the Avatar down! This servant doesn’t have to fight for House Song if she doesn’t want to!” Elle exclaimed in an emboldened voice with her kind eyes narrowing ever so slightly while Azula watched in growing marvelment.

No one said a word while they all stared speechless at Yoko’s furiously bewildered face.

And slowly but surely Mai and Ty Lee gazed at one another with small smiles forming on their lips.

While Ukano gazed between the girl and his daughter in disbelief.

“Who do you think you are brat? Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? I am the highest noble in all of the land!” The governor demanded with her jaw clenching in her fury while she glared down at the small girl’s pitifully defiant face.

“I don’t care! I have not only Azula-sama but the backing of an emperor in my homeland! I might look weak! I might be small! I might be a servant! But I am someone that you should be wary of!” The blonde-haired girl shouted in an uncharacteristically incensed voice while the matriarch stood seething above her.

Even Elle’s highborn friends stood gazing at their young companion in astonishment.

And just as shocking was the fact that this was the first time that they have heard the girl mention this ‘Rieko’ as someone on her side!

And Yoko looked so furious that she looked as if she wanted to break Elle’s neck!

“You watch how you speak to your superiors! I will not tolerate such disrespect from a lowly serving girl!” Yoko yelled in an infuriated voice while she violently slapped Elle’s hand from her expensive robe.

As soon as the noblewoman so much as even touched Elle’s hand.

The princess’s golden eyes narrowed into a terrifyingly protective glare while her beautiful lips creased into a displeased scowl.

A puff of wrathful flames escaped her lips as she released a possessive snarl.

And her two highborn friends took on defensive combat stances with sisterly anger in their eyes.

Only to find themselves completely taken by surprise when their small friend angrily lunged at the looming matriarch.

“If you ever try to hurt my big sister again, I’ll come after you! Do you hear me! You stay away from Mai!” Elle roared with rage in her voice just as a spark of luminescent light flashed before the speechless noblewoman.

The spark of light flickered in the air while Yoko gazed down with widening hazel eyes.

One by one everyone gazed at the scene unimaginable shock to see the scrawny girl emit a strange power once more.

The three highborn women stood awestruck over their young friend’s uncharacteristic display of fury.

“Elle…I…” Mai spoke in an immensely moved voice with her mouth open in awe while she swallowed the lump that was in her throat.

It’s going to be really hard to be away from this kid.

Even if it was only for a few months.

Ukano just gaped at the girl with fatherly appreciation in his eyes.

And Ty Lee’s small smile had now changed into a giant grin.

Nako could only blink with total bafflement in her eyes.

Terak observed the scene with taken aback golden eyes while he continued gazing on in awe.

Just what is this girl?

What sort of power does she possess?

And Azula’s reaction was the most profound of them all.

Her mouth dropped open in surprise before she closed her red lips.

And her red lips soon curved into a proud grin.

‘That’s my girl. Be proud of yourself.’ The princess thought with an approving smile on her full lips while she gazed at her young girlfriend’s back.

“Or maybe I’ll throw you down t-there!” The blonde-haired girl cried out only to find herself shivering under a heartless hazel glare.

Mere seconds later she took a fearful step backwards when the matriarch’s arms began to quickly rotate as lightning began to generate at her fingertips.

Mai and Ty Lee took a horrified and astounded step backwards as their little sister now backed away under Yoko’s dark stare.

It was a complete shock to see that the head of House Song could bend lightning!

But the momentary shock soon crumbled in fear for Elle’s safety.

The chancellor’s surprise soon gave way to sadistic amusement while a smirk now grew onto his lips.

Only to find himself gasping in disbelief when a red blur leaped past him with speed that he could barely follow.

“It appears that you need to be taught a measure of respect! If the princess isn’t going to teach it to you then I will-“ The governor yelled out only to trail off when she found herself gazing back into golden eyes that were even more frightening than her own.

And then she grunted in pain when her left hand was pushed back at a torturous angle while two lightning imbued fingertips were now being held up to her shocked neck.

Azula’s callous golden eyes glared back into Yoko’s widened eyes while she exhaled wrathfully in the startled noblewoman’s face.

“A-Azula-sama.” Elle stuttered in a timid voice once more as she gazed up at Azula’s tall robed back with appreciative amber eyes.

The audience stood speechless while their Crown Princess painfully restrained the surprised matriarch of House Song.

And both Mai and Ty Lee soon found themselves smiling fondly over Azula’s openly protective behavior.

Their friend was cold and cruel.

But there was no doubt that the fire princess had fallen for their innocent little sister.

“You’ll not only tolerate it! You’ll embrace it! She’s here to stay!” The princess bellowed in a cold voice with fire spewing from her lips while the older woman took a surprised step back.

That very moment when Yoko understood that Elle was no average servant.

Yoko grimaced as she stepped back with her hazel eyes shifting down to the much shorter girl behind Azula’s back.

And then she gazed back into the princess’s furious eyes just as her arm was bent even further backwards.

It was painfully obvious by the way that Azula was practically salivating to spill her blood.

‘Is this servant…Princess Azula’s…’ The governor thought with a look of contemplation in her eyes while domineering golden eyes gazed back into her own.

The declaration took all but Mai, Ty Lee and Nako aback.

“A-arigatou gozaimasu Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl spoke in a voice of reverence as she bent over in a bow with an arm over her bandaged chest.

And she remained in her bow while everyone but her big sisters stared at her in surprise by her respectful curtsy.

“And if you ever try to generate lightning near her person again, I will skin you alive!” Azula hissed in a merciless voice while she watched in satisfaction when Yoko quickly nodded her head.

“Yes…Your Highness.” Yoko agreed before she finally found herself released from Azula’s hold while she rubbed at her reddened wrists.

All the while gazing at the small girl still bent over in a polite curtsy behind her monarch.

Azula then straightened with fists falling down to her womanly hips while she protectively shielded her dainty handmaid behind her back.

Her strict golden eyes darted around the room from Ukano to Terak’s surprised faces then back to Yoko herself.

As if she was daring them to question her choice in companion.

“Listen well Yoko. The feud between House Song and House Lin is over! As your sovereign I declare it so! House Lin shall spend an agreed upon three years as the vassal house of House Song! From this moment onward I will handle the remainder of Mai’s punishment!” The princess announced in a voice of absolute authority with her fists planted on her hips while she gazed about the chamber.

To her delight she watched all parties involved drop into a low bow of acknowledgment.

Ukano sunk into a bow with his head bent as he sighed under his breath beside his bowing daughter.

Beside them was Ty Lee and to her right was Nako.

Terak had hastily followed suit.

And Yoko now knelt on the ground on one knee before the princess’s pointed boots.

And most pleasing of all to Azula was the sight of her little admirer bowing on the floor behind her.

“You bow your head just like that Yoko. And you’ll cow just like Ukano. And from this moment forward you will obey. Is that understood!” Azula remarked in a controlling voice with her callous eyes glaring down at Yoko’s bowing back.

“It is my princess.” The governor spoke with her now calmed eyes gazing down at the floor while Azula shifted on her feet above her.

“And you see to it that you get used to this one here. She is my most loyal servant. And if you have any desire to form any sort of political pact with me. You will treat her well. Otherwise…next time I won’t be so merciful.” The princess commented with her domineering eyes gazing down at the kneeling woman while she felt her handmaid press her face into her pantleg.

“As you decree Your Highness.” Yoko stated with a small trace of anger still in her eyes that she wisely squashed when Azula’s dominant eyes gazed down at her.

“You should really try to me more appreciative Yoko. When there were no supplies to make Zoe an arm sling…she gave your daughter the shirt off her back.” Azula informed with a scowl on her regal lips while she gestured to Elle’s bowing form behind her.

“You did that for my daughter?” The governor asked in a taken aback voice while stared at the young girl with surprised hazel eyes.

“I-I did.” The blonde-haired girl answered in a still intimidated voice while the matriarch’s eyes flashed with a newfound gratitude.

“And you chancellor. I want you to spread word to the other eight noble houses that I punished House Lin under suspicion of treason. And that if any other house should follow suit in sympathizing with the enemy…I will wipe them from the face of this Earth!” The princess declared in an all-encompassing voice as she turned around with her fists still on her womanly hips.

“It shall be done my princess.” The chancellor assured in an amicable voice as he knelt gazing up at his monarch.

Both Mai and Ukano said nothing while they knelt beside each other.

The markswoman felt a spark of anger to hear that Azula in part subjected her and her father to such a terrifying punishment solely to send a message to the real treasonous house.

But she knew better than to say as much aloud.

“And lastly but most certainly not least. What you think you saw from this girl today…you did not see. Not a word of what you saw will escape this room.” Azula spoke in a powerful voice as she pointed down at her prostrated handmaid while her small audience of nobles gazed at her intended in understanding.

A moment of silence passed over them before the monarch turned her merciless gaze back to her kneeling subjects.

“Because if I should receive word that even a single one of you has betrayed me…” The princess trailed off in a menacing voice as her ruthless eyes swept about the sweating nobles.

The young handmaid bowed with a bashful smile on her lips while she pushed her face into the much taller woman’s heel.

In that very moment blue fire sparked from Azula’s fists while she glared hard down at her kneeling audience.

“I will execute every last one of you! Regardless if you betrayed me or not! Is that understood!” The princess snarled in a terrifyingly callous voice as her dangerously narrowed eyes glared from one intimidated face to another.

“Yes princess!” The group of nobles agreed as one while they knelt with their faces against the floor while the royal woman stared harsh down at them.

“Good. This meeting is hereby adjourned.” Azula concluded with a lazy wave of her hand as she watched all of her subjects rise to their feet.

And then she turned her callous gaze to her pretty handmaid standing up behind her.

Only to find her scowl giving way to an approving smile when her pet bent over in yet another respectful curtsy with her arms tucked in at her sides.

“Azula-sama.” Elle spoke with a content smile on her lips while she curtsied her smirking master.

Only for her bashful smile to widen when she felt a strong hand pat her head.

“Come Elle. Let’s go.” The princess ordered with a fond smirk on her regal lips before she turned to walk away while her pet bounced after her.

“Yes princess! Wherever you go I will go!” The blonde-haired girl cried out as she paid no mind to the stares that she was receiving from her master’s subjects.

“Servant girl.” Yoko called out with her arms at her sides while Elle paused behind her companions.

“Her name is Elle.” Ty Lee remarked as she leaned on her crutch glaring back at the matriarch’s strict face.

“Y-yes?” Elle pondered from beside Azula while she gazed back at Yoko’s composed face.

“Thank you for helping my daughter.” The governor stated with a stoic countenance while the group paused in surprise.

Only to resume walking not a moment later while Elle smiled back at Yoko before she turned around to rush after Azula.

That was when the princess cast the matriarch a final parting glance just as she set her palm on her handmaid’s petite shoulder.

“This girl belongs to me. I am her master. I own it all…even the power that runs through her veins. I expect you to remember that the next time you meet this one.” Azula called out with her callous golden eyes forming a soul piercing stare while Elle smiled radiantly under her palm.

“I understand my princess. I will remember that.” Yoko responded in another bow while Azula turned to walk away with Elle under her hand.

“See to it that you do.” The princess spoke in a possessive voice before she resumed her walk with her little handmaid eagerly padding after her footfalls.

And then the six walked through the vast palace with three out of six of them making it a point to move as quickly as possible.

All the while the two members of House Lin turned to the young girl with gratitude flashing in their eyes.

That was when Ukano cleared his throat.

All but Azula turned their head while Elle found herself gazing up at the older man’s softly smiling face.

“Thank you, young lady. For what you did for my daughter. House Lin is in your debt.” Ukano declared as he placed his hand on Elle’s shoulder while the blonde smiled up at him.

“Debts aren’t necessary! I was just helping my big sister.” Elle insisted as she beamed up at Mai’s softening face.

And Ty Lee found herself grinning down at Elle while she walking alongside Azula.

The proud princess just glared at Mai through the corner of her eye when the noblewoman slid an arm around her handmaid’s neck.

“Really kiddo. Thank you.” Mai stated with a sigh while she held her arm over Elle’s neck while the small girl turned red under all of the attention.

“Anything for you oneesan!” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed as she walked with a grin under the older female’s protective arm.

“But seriously Azula…they could have died if Elle hadn’t jumped in after them.” Ty Lee commented with a returning scowl while her friend and her father shuddered over the reminder.

“Please. I could have killed that creature at any moment’s notice. It is just an oversized beast and nothing more. Size isn’t everything.” Azula snorted with her hands on her hips while all but Elle stared at her incredulously.

“That’s easy for you to say Azula. Considering that you weren’t locked in that cage as its food.” The markswoman muttered with a trace of anger in her eyes while her father shivered in agreement.

Only to find themselves backing away when Azula spun around to cast them a terrifying golden glare.

“You should be down on your knees kissing my boots in appreciation! You got off easy and you damn well know it! You should be grateful to Zoe that she is so forgiving! If you had tried that little stunt on me, I wouldn’t rest until you burned at the stake!” The princess snarled while the others trembled as she approached the intimidated noblewoman.

“I-I get it Azula.” Mai assured only to find herself sweating when Azula leaned in to glare into her eyes.

“Then shut up and fall in line. I have had it with your defiance. You should likewise consider yourself fortunate that the chancellor’s little scheme worked in your favor.” Azula remarked as she scowled back at Mai’s now disbelieving face.

“That bastard tried to feed Mai and her father to Yoko’s pet.” The brown-haired woman protested angrily while her spoiled friend rolled her eyes back at them.

“It was either that or a civil war. Thanks to the chancellor’s ploy Governor Yoko’s rage was abated enough to let Mai’s slight go.” The princess scoffed before she resumed her walk while the others exchanged a grudgingly thoughtful glance before they resumed onward.

“That’s right Azula-sama! Size doesn’t matter!” Elle cheered with her chest puffing out in a show of innocent pride while her big sisters sweatdropped over her infectious cheer.

“In your case it does. You are so scrawny that we have to take great care not to step on you.” Azula taunted with a smug smile on her full lips while her childhood friends cast her a disapproving glance.

“Azula…” The brown-haired woman sighed only to find herself smiling once more to see that their small friend took it as praise.

“And yet it was the smallest member of the party that saved the day! I defeated the crocodile thingamdo!” The blonde-haired girl cried out with her hands on her hips while she adorably imitated her master’s pose.

“Crocodile-shark.” The princess corrected with a roll of her eyes yet even so she couldn’t help but gaze down at her servant in approval.

Elle had great power.

She just needed someone to show her how to use it.

And there was no one more qualified than her.

“Whatever Azula! Elle still won!” Ty Lee shouted in a supportive voice with a hand on Elle’s head while the others still marveled over the girl’s power.

“I really mean it Elle. If there’s anything I can do to repay you.” The markswoman spoke with her tawny eyes softening down at her little sister’s bright face.

“Well! I don’t know oneesan…. maybe a snuggle would do the trick?” Elle pondered with a finger under her chin while Mai chuckled over her.

“Childish peasant. You are so predictable.” Azula sighed with her hands still on her hips while Elle smiled up at her.

“A snuggle?” The nobleman asked in a baffled voice as he hurriedly made his way out.

“I don’t usually do snuggles. But for you…I’ll make an exception.” Mai stated with her hand on Elle’s shoulder while the younger girl beamed in delight.

‘I still can’t believe that such an odd girl…is the key to defeating the Avatar.’ Nako thought with bewilderment in her golden eyes.

Only to sigh in relief a moment later as she gazed at her monarch’s clearly pleased face.

If nothing else she should be thankful that Azula was letting them go without punishment.

“Azula-sama?” The blonde-haired girl inquired as she walked between her big sister and her older girlfriend.

“Hm?” The princess responded as she turned to gaze over her shoulder at her handmaid’s thoughtful face.

“I don’t think it’s fair to keep that poor crocodile shark in captivity. I think you should set him free.” Elle commented with a finger under her lip while all but Azula gazed down at her in horror.

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” Azula agreed with a wave of her hand while all but Elle recoiled in terror.

“Really!” The blonde-haired girl exclaimed with her mouth open in joy.

“A-Azula!” The brown-haired woman cried out in mortification.

She wasn’t sure if she should find it horrifying or adorable that Azula literally didn’t have it in her to tell Elle no.

Ultimately, she decided to settle on a mix of the two.

“Of course. I’ll see let the poor dear go. In the Earth Kingdom.” The princess purred with a malevolent smile forming on her lips while her subordinates shuddered behind her.

‘Leave it to Azula to turn a naïve request into something much more horrifying.’ The markswoman thought with a groan while she strode beside her adopted sister.

“That’s my princess! She’s the kindest person in the whole world!” Elle chirped with a grin while everyone gazed unconvinced at Azula’s smirking face.

“I truly am. My perfection is a divine right. It is truly a harsh burden to shoulder…being so flawless in a world full of lesser people.” Azula huffed as she scanned her fingernails with a conceited smirk upon her lips.

The two noblewomen just sighed as they exchanged an exasperated glance yet all the while knowing that it was pointless to debate their friend’s colossal ego.

And neither did anyone else in their party.

That is aside from their smallest member.

“Do you see that Nako! It’s just like I told you!” The blonde-haired girl cried out as she walked closer to the nervous pilot.

“Eh? It is?” The royal pilot answered in a wary voice while she sensed their monarch’s eyes bearing down on them.

“Mhm! Such titles of status like royalty and nobility have no meaning!” Elle announced with a chipper carefree smile while Nako suddenly trembled in fear beside her.

And just like that all members in the party halted.

While the three nobles shivered as they turned to Azula’s now merciless face.

“Hey! S-stop trying to get me killed. The princess likes me and I would prefer to keep it that way!” Nako complained with a gulp while Azula glared down at their backs.

“You have nothing to worry about Nako! She might look a little scary but deep down inside she’s a big softie!” The blonde-haired girl shouted with a wide smile while the pilot recoiled from her touch in horror.

The two noblewomen mustered a laugh at Azula’s expense while the prideful woman glowered down at the young handmaid’s back.

“Care to repeat that?” The princess demanded in an intimidating voice with her fists planted on her hips while she loomed over the two peasant girls.

“Y-you’re crazy Elle. You’re a dangerous person to be around.” The royal pilot sputtered with her words causing the two noblewomen to sweatdrop.

In a strange way Nako had a point.

“Don’t tell anyone Nako but secretly…” Elle murmured as she leaned into Nako’s ear while the poor pilot gulped with Azula bearing down on their necks.

All the while Azula glared down at the two girls with narrowed golden eyes that only widened in anger when she caught what her handmaid was saying.

“I’m the master and she’s the servant. But don’t tell her that. She doesn’t know.” The blonde-haired girl whispered with a playful smile while her big sisters chuckled behind her.

And the royal woman grasped at her biceps while she ground her teeth in anger that had the nobleman backing away.

Suffice to say Ukano was astounded by how fond the princess and her team were of this young girl.

So much so that the girl was even allowed to talk openly in front of the Crown Princess herself!

“Twenty-five floggings for the both of you!” Azula bellowed in callous voice as she narrowed her eyes down at her handmaid’s happy face and her pilot’s now terrified countenance.

“But I didn’t do anything!” Nako protested with a gulp while the two noblewomen gazed at her in sympathy.

“And now you’ve just earned twenty-five more for attempting to speak to me as an equal!” The princess snapped with a scowl while the acrobat sighed alongside her.

“Yes princess! Fifty floggings for the both of us!” Elle agreed in a joyful voice while Nako stared at her as if she had just spouted a third arm.

“You are really weird Elle.” The royal pilot commented with a sigh while the younger girl just smiled back at her.

“Are you mocking me servant?” Azula questioned with a snort while she leveled her pet in a beyond strict glare.

“I suppose so! But I’ve mastered the art of Azula-sama’s flow! All you have to do is humor her by agreeing with everything she says and bow when she tells you to! If you do that, she won’t find out that we’re actually the bosses around here!” The blonde-haired girl quipped in the terrified pilot’s ear just when the torches above them suddenly exploded in blue fire.

“Rebellious peasants! Prepare to be punished for this disrespect!” The princess yelled out with her golden eyes narrowing into a penetrating glare while the acrobat giggled beside her.

“Quick! Run Nako!” The blonde-haired girl cried out just as she scampered away with the terrified pilot running alongside her.

“Ty Lee! Mai! Go catch those miscreants!” Azula ordered with a thrust of her finger while her two childhood friends gazed at her in amusement.

“I don’t feel like it. I need to change into a fresh pair of clothes and get out of this wretched palace.” Mai remarked in deadpan as she walked beside her baffled father.

She really couldn’t blame him for being so confused.

It was truly perplexing to witness the affect that Elle was having on Azula.

“Please do. You smell like a wet possum pigeon.” The princess snorted in a pompous voice with her cruel words causing her friend to turn red in the cheeks in her anger.

“Azula!” The brown-haired woman scolded while the two members of House Lin quickly began to walk away.

“What! They smell revolting!” Azula complained with her arms crossing over her breasts while Ty Lee cast her a pointed stare.

“A change of clothes would be good.” Ukano muttered with a sigh while his daughter still gritted her teeth in anger.

“Yeah well. You’re one to talk Azula. Considering that you didn’t smell so fresh on our little camping trip.” The markswoman grumbled as she stomped off while her father quivered in returning fear when the princess’s golden eyes burned a hole in her back.

“What did you just say!” The princess growled in a glacial voice only for the acrobat to sigh as the two vanished around the corner.

“Come on Azula. It’s only fair. You started it.” Ty Lee reminded as she began to walk beside her controlling friend.

“I didn’t smell. I bathed every day in the river.” Azula scoffed in a haughty voice while she ran a well-manicured fingernail through her hair.

“Look Azula…about earlier.” The brown-haired woman began nervously while her royal friend glared at her through the corner of her eye.

“Save it Ty Lee. I am through with your lectures.” The princess spoke in a colder voice only to find herself relaxing ever so slightly when the acrobat touched her shoulder.

“I don’t want to leave your side Azula. And I’m sorry if I said anything that would have put that thought in your head. Okay?” Ty Lee stated in a softer voice with her kind eyes gazing back at Azula��s now taken aback face.

The princess opened her mouth for a brief moment before she closed her lips while she gazed back at her longtime friend with a more pleased countenance than before.

“Fine. I accept your apology.” Azula replied with her fingers curling around her bicep while she turned to glare off at the nearest wall.

Only for her scowl to increase when she felt the acrobat slip her arm around her shoulder.

“The last thing I would want is for us to be apart!” The brown-haired woman exclaimed just as she hugged her stiffening friend.

“Humph. You can let go now Ty Lee. I already have to deal with my servant constantly clinging onto me. I don’t need you getting clingy like the tiger monkey.” The princess declared in a spoiled voice while her friend giggled at her from over her shoulder.

“We should really take Elle to the beach tomorrow Azula. It would be a great way to show off your strength to Elle in front of all the other beachgoers!” Ty Lee announced with a wide grin while Azula’s lips curled up in a thoughtful smirk.

“Perhaps Ty Lee…perhaps.” Azula answered in a contemplative voice while she scanned her clenched fist with a refined smile on her regal lips.

“It will be so much fun!” The brown-haired woman shouted with a cheerful countenance while the royal woman smirked in agreement.

“Of course, it will Ty Lee. We don’t usually take servants with us to the beach. But now we have a worshipful pet peasant to wait on us hand and foot while we bath in the sun.” The princess boasted with a smug smirk while she took delight in how the acrobat nearly fell over in surprise.

“That’s…not what I meant Azula.” Ty Lee stated flatly with her hands falling to her sides while she walked beside her arrogant friend.

If nothing else Elle would get to see the beach.

Even if Azula was too busy working her to death for the poor girl to get anything out of it…

Zoe sat in a chair with her hazel eyes gazing up at the ceiling when she heard the door open behind her.

She lazily glanced over her shoulder only to find herself unsurprised when her mother gazed back at her.

“You seem displeased.” Yoko commented as she seated herself in her chair while Zoe stared back at her.

“I wonder why that might be.” The captain stated as she leaned back while her mother sat opposite of her.

“You have been gone from home for an entire year and you already want to leave.” The governor quipped in an observant voice as she reclined with her hands folded in her lap.

“My home is on the battlefield.” Zoe remarked with her bandaged hand grasping at the arm of her chair.

“Your home is Fire Mountain.” Yoko retorted with her hazel eyes forming a narrowed stare while her daughter gazed back at her.

“What is it that you want Mother?” The captain questioned in a knowing voice while her mother eyed her intently.

“You know what I want.” The governor answered only to find herself scowling when her eldest turned away.

“And my answer is still no. I have no interest in your seat Mother. Give it to Sia.” Zoe declared with a wave of her hand while her mother stared back in poorly concealed mortification.

“She may be my daughter but I will never cede Fire Mountain to a nonbender.” Yoko remarked with a stony countenance only for her hazel eyes to narrow in anger her daughter abruptly stood up from her seat.

“It was good seeing you Mother. But I really have to go.” The captain announced as she arose with her back turned to her angered parent.

“Why won’t you just do your duty to your house?” The governor demanded with her fists clenching on the tabletop.

Only for hardened eyes to meet her daughter’s defiant glare when she turned around to stare down at her.

“I am doing my duty! My duty to my country! Do not preach to me of duty and honor!” Zoe shouted as her fist pounded the desk while a small crack appeared in the wood as a result of her abuse.

“By Agni Zoe why do you continue to insist on thrusting yourself in one threatening battle after another?” Yoko inquired in a frustrated voice while Zoe turned to face the door.

“You damn well know why.” The captain answered as she placed her hands in her hair before the hair tie flew down onto her scowling mother’s desk.

And just like that her short hair hung freely behind her as she turned to gaze into her mother’s angered hazel eyes.

“For glory.” Zoe spoke in a tone that brook no argument just as she stormed for the doors.

“Zoe! Get back here! We aren’t finished yet!” The governor yelled out as the torches in the room took burst to life as proof of her fury.

“You have only one heir Mother. And it isn’t me.” The captain concluded as she briefly gazed at her enraged mother over her shoulder.

Before she opened the door and slammed it behind her.

Never even stopping when the older woman furiously called out to her.

About forty-five minutes later.

The princess’s group sat waiting for Elle to finish her shower on a balcony that overlooked the palace gardens

Azula sat beside Ty Lee and across from them sat a freshly washed Mai.

Beside Mai sat the still nervous Nako.

The pilot had yet to become used to spending time with nobility and royalty.

“Did your father leave already?” Ty Lee asked as she fiddled with her braided hair while she watched her friend nod in response.

“Not that I blame him. But he did say that I was welcome to bring Elle to visit Ash City anytime I wanted.” Mai answered in her usual deadpan while Azula glanced back at her with annoyed golden eyes.

“No. You are not permitted to do so. The girl is my pet. Not yours. She stays with me at all times.” Azula remarked in a supremely egotistical voice with a haughty smile on her lips while her two lifelong friends sighed.

And the pilot just wisely kept her mouth shut.

“Uh but she’s our little sister Azula. I just have to take her to see my family sometime!” Ty Lee exclaimed with excitement in her voice while Azula rolled her eyes back at her.

“Family? As in all seven of you?” The princess snorted with a trace of amusement in her voice while the acrobat sunk back in a pout.

“Meanie. You know I don’t like being part of a matched set.” The brown-haired woman complained while her spoiled friend just sighed as she scanned her fingernails.

“Matched set?” Nako asked in an awkward voice while she shifted when the three highborn women turned to gaze at her.

“Ty Lee has six identical twins.” The markswoman responded dryly just as the pilot nearly fell out of her seat.

“S-six?” The royal pilot blurted out with blinking golden eyes.

“Each of us adopted a special hobby to tell us apart from the rest! Ty Lin plays the flute! Ty Lat is a swimmer! Ty Lao is a dancer! Ty Liu plays the harp…and uh Ty Lum makes origami! And Ty Woo insults people! And I specialize in acrobatics!” Ty Lee explained with a grin while all three women gazed at her in confusion.

Even Azula rose an inquisitive brow while she studied her friend incredulously.

“Wow. That’s confusing.” Nako stated with her mouth open in puzzlement while Azula just sighed heavily.

“Ty Lee. That has got to be the most convoluted family story I have ever heard.” Azula spoke flatly while her lifelong friend still smiled back at her.

“Maybe so. But it’s how we tell each other apart.” The brown-haired woman replied with a carefree shrug.

“Nako.” The princess began strictly as she turned to the pilot only for the poor woman to sit up in a panic.

A detail that had both noblewomen gazing at the girl in pity.

“Yes princess?” The royal pilot responded in a noticeable voice of admiration that earned her a smirk of approval from her monarch.

“Tomorrow we are all going to the beach. I hereby command you to come with us.” Azula ordered to the surprise of all three women present.

“G-go to the beach with you?” Nako repeated in a dumbfounded voice while the two noblewomen gazed at Azula in shock.

“Refuse me and I will destroy you! You will be struck down into a defeat so profound that you will never again rise above the ashes of your shame and humiliation!” The princess declared in a terrifying voice with her golden eyes now narrowing back at the other woman’s terrified face.

Mai and Ty Lee just sweatdropped while they sighed over their friends demented behavior.

“Azula! That’s not how you ask a friend to go hang out with you.” Ty Lee exclaimed as she offered the scared woman a comforting smile.

“The Great Princess Azula does not ask! She commands!” Azula scoffed as she lounged back upon her posterior the acrobat sighed in defeat.

“I-I’ll go to the beach with you princess! Just please don’t kill me.” The royal pilot agreed with sweat dripping down her brow while the markswoman snorted in amusement beside her.

“Well the solution is simple then Nako. Do as you are told.” The princess remarked with a smirk while she pointed a finger in the direction of the intimidated woman’s nodding face.

“Wait! Does that mean that…we’re friends?” Nako queried in an awestruck voice while all three highborn women gazed at her oddly.

“You wouldn’t be sitting with me if you weren’t.” Azula snorted as she rolled her elegant eyes once more while she eyed the pilot with a flicker of fondness in her cold stare.

“What? No! Of course, I’ll be friends with you princess!” The royal pilot exclaimed in delight while the acrobat leaned over to pat her shoulder.

“Welcome to the team Nako!” The brown-haired woman yelled out while the pilot flushed in appreciation.

“T-thank you Lady Ty lee.” Nako answered in an awkward voice only for Ty Lee to kindly shake her head.

“No need for formalities. Just Ty Lee will do.” Ty Lee assured as she leaned back into her seat while Nako gazed at her uncertainly.

“I…won’t get in trouble if I call you by name?” The royal pilot requested with a small trace of fear in her voice that prompted the acrobat to frown in sympathy.

“No! Most certainly not. Isn’t that right Mai?” The brown-haired woman asked as she turned to her apathetic friend.

She could certainly see why Nako would be worried.

All things considered Nako struck a figurative gold mine when she saved Azula’s life.

She has no doubt that the pilot doesn’t want to lose all of the honors that Azula has given her.

“I’m not much for titles. But I can’t say the same for Azula.” Mai answered in monotone while she still gazed about with unhidden fear in her eyes.

“Yes well. I am. Continue to serve me faithfully Nako and perhaps one day you will have the honor of calling me by name.” The princess commented with a sophisticated smile while her two noble friends rolled their eyes outside of her line of vision.

“R-right princess. I will do just that.” Nako stuttered in a moved voice only to turn her head when she heard a door open behind them.

They had all expected to be greeted by Elle.

Only to find themselves gazing at Zoe as she stepped out onto the balcony.

Mai visibly tensed as soon as she saw the woman that she despised.

“Why isn’t your hair in a top-knot? And where is your tie?” Azula taunted with her boots propped up on a stool while she watched Zoe stand over her.

“Gone. It’s not me. I just came to let you know that I am departing for the city.” Zoe informed in a curter voice than usual while Azula rose a curious eye brow.

“You seem irate. What’s wrong? Aren’t you enjoying being home?” The princess questioned in a smooth voice while the armored woman slid her cloak over her shoulders.

“Not particularly…House Lin.” The captain stated as she turned to gaze down at the seated woman with observant hazel eyes.

“What?” The markswoman snapped in a hateful voice while the soldier stepped closer.

“I am astounded that you are alive. The crocodile shark always gets through the cage by the third minute.” Zoe quipped with a taunting smile while Mai spun around to glare at Azula’s unsympathetic face.

“A-Azula!” The brown-haired woman exclaimed while her royal friend just scoffed.

“Oh please! Mai and her father escaped with all of their limbs attached.” Azula scoffed as she waved a hand before her face.

“Only because of Elle!” Ty Lee growled with a boot tapping on the floor while Mai just scowled down at the floor.

‘It’s just another reason to be thankful for Elle’s devotion.’ Mai thought as she gazed back up at Zoe only to frown when a hand was lowered before her face.

“Out of the kindness of my heart…I have decided to forgive you for your cowardly murder attempt.” The captain announced to the surprise of the others as she gazed down at the suspicious woman.

“I find that hard to believe.” The markswoman muttered as she eyed the older female warily.

“It’s the truth. I am more forgiving than my mother. Vassal house has abated my bloodlust.” Zoe assured with her hazel eyes staring down at Mai’s doubtful face.

“You told me that you were going to have me raped by a komodo rhino and now you expect me to shake your hand?” Mai demanded with anger in her voice while Nako nearly fell out of her seat.

“W-woah. Remind me never to anger you Zoe.” Nako stammered with a shudder while Ty Lee still glared at Zoe.

“I was angry but that’s all gone now. Come. Give me your hand.” The captain insisted as she pulled the glaring woman to her feet by the wrist.

And Azula watched with curious golden eyes as Mai quickly took a nervous step backwards.

“What sort of idiot do you take me for? Let go of my hand!” The markswoman complained with her tawny eyes narrowing at the other noblewoman’s face.

“And now we’re going to put that behind us.” Zoe instructed in a serious voice while Mai furrowed her brows in frustration.

“Really? No komodo rhino?” Azula asked in a smug voice while Mai spun around to stare down at her in anger.

“Shut up Azula!” Mai snapped with reddened cheeks while she ground her teeth together.

“Your assassination skills leave much to be desired. As can be said of your marital candidacy. But even so. I have decided to forgive you.” The captain explained with her hand gripping the other woman’s own while tawny eyes glared back at her in humiliation.

All the while the princess snickered in laughter in the background while the acrobat just gazed at her in disapproval.

“Don’t mock me Zoe.” The markswoman replied in an increasingly aggravated voice while the other woman still gripped her hand.

“I’m not mocking you. I just want to ask you one thing. Do you still think that I deserve to die in such a shameful manner?” Zoe questioned in a searching voice while Mai stared back at her in surprise.

And Azula now gazed at Mai through the corner of her eye as if she were silently telling her not to mess this up.

The noblewoman of House Lin hesitated for a brief moment while she gazed away from the soldier’s hand.

All the while recalling Zoe’s compassion for their dying allies.

How she assisted Nako on the climb.

How she was quick to share the liquor stores with the soldiers.

Zoe’s surprising appreciation for Elle handing over her shirt and giving hers to Elle in return.

Which was not to mention the woman’s equally surprising kindness to the people of Fire Mountain.

“No. I…don’t. I cannot say that you deserve to die…and I no longer wish to kill you. I…apologize for the assassination attempt. But not for saving Zuko.” Mai answered in turn while Zoe gazed back with a flicker of surprise in her hazel eyes.

“Very well. I accept your apology.” The captain declared to the astonishment of all present as she released the stunned noblewoman’s hand at long last.

“But that doesn’t mean that I like you.” The markswoman growled as she took a step back while the soldier now narrowed her eyes back at her.

“My sentiments exactly. Piece of shit.” Zoe spat at her boots while the others sweatdropped when Mai did the same.

“Cunt.” Mai hissed in a voice of loathing only for Azula’s voice to cut through the air like a whip.

“Enough!” The princess bellowed with her volume causing the pilot and the acrobat to flinch.

“Ah. It’s going to be so wonderful…lording over you for the next three years to come.” The captain purred as she reached out to pat the once more frightened woman on her shoulder.

“Joy.” The markswoman snorted as she backed away while she eyed the soldier in still present unease.

Just before she plopped back down in her seat while she folded her angered arms over her breasts.

“What’s gotten into you?” The princess pondered in a slightly inquisitive voice while her most skilled soldier shifted on her feet.

“Nothing. Nothing has gotten into me. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be waiting for you outside of the palace gates.” Zoe answered in a somewhat evasive voice before walked away before the puzzled monarch could comment further on her behavior.

Azula just leaned back in her seat with a sigh while she gazed off into the distance.

Her lips pursed into a scowl while she crossed her arms in her lap.

“Just what is taking that girl so long?” The princess complained as she tapped her boot while the acrobat frowned.

“Maybe you should go check on her Azula? She’s still healing from her injuries.” Ty Lee advised with a hand waving in the air while Azula pridefully scowled back at her.

“You expect me to go check on a peasant?” Azula asked in a snobbish voice while her two friends rolled their eyes at her.

“You already do it every day.” Mai stated with a small smirk while she turned to her leader’s frowning face.

“Whatever! I’ll go ‘check’ on the tiger monkey. If only because I have chores that I want her to do…” The princess trailed off with a finger twirling through her hair while she strode off without another word.

It wasn’t until that the door closed shut behind her that the three remaining women turned to share a knowing look with one another.

It was plain to see to all three of them that Azula was falling for Elle.

She was just too proud to admit it.

Azula stepped into the servant chamber that Elle had been granted to wash up.

She turned her head in annoyance when she heard the sound of running water in the bathroom ahead.

“How can that girl still be showering? Elle!” The princess grumbled as she stomped towards the bathroom with her fists on her hips.

And then she placed her hand on the door with a sigh.

“Servant? Are you in there?” Azula questioned with just a sliver of concern in her strict voice before she pushed the door open.

Only for her golden eyes to widen when she heard heavy breathing coming from inside the show.

Without even so much as a second thought the princess sprinted for the shower door.

And nearly tore the door off its hinges.

Only to find herself staring down in unconcealed concern to find the girl sitting naked on the floor of the shower.

And most worrying of all was the fact that her handmaid was unconscious!

The small girl moaned with her wet hair pushing into the wall of the heated shower just when two strong feminine arms grasped ahold of her shoulders.

“Peasant! Wake up!” The princess shouted with a slight loss in composure as she shook her moaning pet’s small shoulders.

Not even a second later she scooped the tiny girl into her arms while her callous eyes narrowed in renewed anger when her gaze briefly swept over her handmaid’s scarring wound.

The girl mumbled with her head against her shoulder while she quickly carried her girlfriend out of the steaming shower.

“Wake up little peasant.” Azula ordered with building panic in her voice while she shook her pet’s shoulders.

And for the briefest of moments her mind flashed back to how she felt when she was gazing down at the girl bleeding in her arms.

The princess plopped down on the cot with her posterior sinking into the bed while she nudged her girlfriend’s shoulders once more.

“Elle! Wake up dear!” Azula commanded in an unusually apprehensive voice with her mouth open in concern.

Her heart began to race in familiar fear that something terrible had befallen her sweet serving girl.

Only for her eyes to widen in relief when the girl finally opened her eyes.

“Azula-sama? What happened?” Elle murmured in a tired voice with the back of her head against her master’s breast while Azula’s golden eyes furrowed in confusion.

“What do you mean what happened! I came in to…because I have work for you to do and I found you unconscious in the shower!” The princess exclaimed in a colder voice with her strict eyes still peering down at her pretty handmaid’s blinking face.

“Oh? I was? Sumimasen Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl spoke softly as she blushed when she felt her girlfriend’s arm slide around her naked back.

And then she peacefully sunk into her master’s protective arms while she quivered when the older female growled in her ear.

“Are you feeling alright little handmaid?” Azula questioned with her fingertips brushing against her pet’s cheek while Elle leaned into her neck.

“I just feel a little sleepy. Whatever I did in that cave…made me tired.” Elle admitted in a sheepish voice while she felt Azula’s palms cup her cheek.

“Tired? Whatever am I to do with you peasant?” The princess sighed as she gazed down at her naked handmaid with a fond smile on her full lips.

She couldn’t deny that it felt quite nice to hold her naked handmaid in her lap.

“I…don’t know but a kiss would be nice.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled in a bashful voice with her amber eyes peering up into confident golden eyes.

“A kiss? You wish for your master to give you a kiss?” Azula purred just as she fell down onto the cot with her blushing girlfriend in her toned arms.

“T-that’s so master…may I…please have a kiss?” Elle pondered in an innocent voice only to find herself blushing even deeper when Azula’s much taller body crawled atop her.

“Oh, very well…I suppose that I could allow it.” The princess sighed as she traced a fingernail along her serving girl’s shivering cheek just as she leaned down to exhale in her pet’s face.

“O-ooh Azula-sama…” The blonde-haired girl stuttered in a still sleepy voice while much taller woman straddled her nude body.

“Hm. You like that? Being on the bottom?” Azula cooed with a charming smile on her lips while her warm hand slid down on Elle’s gasping cheek.

“I-I d-do master.” Elle sputtered with a lovestruck blush on her cheeks when Azula’s face loomed in her line of vision.

Only for her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of red when her girlfriend’s other hand suddenly groped her naked ass.

“You belong to me little lady.” The princess spoke in a purr as her hot breath washed over her girlfriend’s quivering cheek while her lips lowered over her handmaid’s waiting mouth.

“I-I belong to you Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl mumbled in an abashed voice only for her overwhelmed eyes to widen when her girlfriend’s full lips crushed against her own.

She sunk back into the cot with Azula’s dark hair hanging over her eyes while the powerful woman smashed her lips into hers in a breathtaking kiss.

The handmaid lay there with her heart racing a mile a minute while the princess effortlessly led their passionate kiss.

Only for Elle to gasp in wonderment when Azula’s lips teasingly began to slide off her own.

“Mhm. Mine….my pet.” Azula remarked in softened voice with one hand still on her handmaid’s lovely ass and the other on her trembling cheek.

“My dominant…my protector.” Elle whimpered as she shyly pressed her face into her girlfriend’s growling cheek while Azula’s nose nuzzled the side of her face.

And then her cheeks flushed once more when she felt Azula’s nostrils release a puff of air against her cheek.

“If there was something wrong…you would tell me…wouldn’t you?” The princess pondered with her lips against her serving girl’s cheek while she held onto her young girlfriend’s cheek.

“I would Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl muttered as she closed her eyes while strong arms snaked around her naked back.

“So be it peasant. I will take your word for it. But see to it that you don’t forget who owns you.” Azula stated with a possessive smirk while she pulled the naked girl into her arms until her handmaid’s face was in the crook of her neck.

“Yes Azula-sama…as you…command.” Elle yawned as she hid her face in Azula’s neck while the older female released a pompous sigh over her.

“Just…be sure that you stay in good health tiger monkey. If you don’t…I will have to punish you.” The princess sighed in a smooth voice with her warm breath brushing against her serving girl’s forehead.

“Wakarimashita…Azula-sama.” The blonde-haired girl agreed in a heavy yawn while she began to breath peaceably in her girlfriend’s neck.

Not a moment later Azula rose an inquisitive brow she heard the sound of soft snoring emanating from against her neck.

The royal woman snorted as she rolled her elegant golden eyes while she held her palm against the back of her handmaid’s blonde hair.

“I didn’t say that you could go to sleep tiger monkey.” Azula grumbled with her fingernails running through her Elle’s hair while the younger girl snored into her neck.

But even so.

She couldn’t help but make a mental note in her brilliant brain that this power easily drained her girlfriend’s chi.

Perhaps…it was indeed worth consulting that sage in the Forgetful Valley after all?

Her mind was already made up.

After Fire Mountain…

To the Forgetful Valley it is then.

[zukoofthenations]

Chapter 4: Forgetful Valley

Read also on FF and AO3

Zuko's mom tried to explain to him why they were going to live in a forest from now on. She said that they were going to be safe from dad there, and if they were lucky a spirit or something would give them new faces so they'd be safe from dad forever.

Zuko still wasn't sure about the whole spirit thing, but it was starting to sink in that his dad really had planned to kill him, so anything was possible at this point.

His mom tried to keep his injury wrapped up at all times, but once, while she was changing his bandages, he noticed his reflection in a bowl of water. When he saw himself, Zuko had gasped in shock and startled his mother. The left side of his face was red and blistering; he had tried to open his eye and could see, but not open his eye all the way.

I look like a freak, Zuko realized while his mom wrapped up his face again. She had insisted that he keep his burn covered for the next week to make sure that it didn't get infected. There was a part of Zuko that wondered if she really just wanted to cover his face.

Zuko hoped that this face-changing spirit was real, but he didn't think that he was that lucky.

When Zuko, his mom, and Noren first got to Forgetful Valley, Zuko really wanted to get out of his place. He may not be as opposed to ickyness as, say, Azula's friend Mai, but he did have a limit to how many times a bug crawled on him before he squealed. When they slept in a tree that first night, he had been convinced that he was going to fall down and break something important. When they had their first meal on wild berries, he dreamed of the spicy roast komodo chicken he used to eat at the palace.

He tried not to complain though, since he knew he couldn't go back home, and because he had never seen his mom look so happy.

As time went on, they started to change their surroundings to make things more comfortable. Noren and Ursa built a light shelter out of felled trees, sturdy branches, and leaves. At first Ursa told Zuko to lie down and let himself recover, but after a few hours of twiddling his thumbs he asked if there was something he could do, so Noren showed him how to lash the wood and leaves together to form a roof. Before long, they had enough of an immediate shelter that they could worry about a fire pit. Zuko helped them arrange several stones in a tight circle while his mom and Noren looked for wood.

When the whole thing was set up, Noren pulled a pair of rock out of his pocket and kneeled down. Zuko couldn't tell what he was supposed to be doing.

His mother, on the other hand, did. "Oh, there's no need for that, love. Zuko, would you mind showing us some of your firebending?"

Zuko blinked at her, puzzled. "Do you want me to drill my basic forms?"

"If you want. But I need you to use your bending to set a fire in the middle of our fire pit," she clarified. "Do you think you can do that?"

Not bothering to answer in words, Zuko stood up and took a stance. He breathed a few deep, controlled breaths and began a familiar, fluid set of movements. It was just a basic form, one of the first things he'd learned in firebending: A controlled set of breaths accompanied by a few shifts in weight, ending with punch and a fire blast. His blast may not be as large as Azula's, but he had gotten a good grip on the form years ago.

When he reached the end of the form, instead of sending the fire into the air or a dummy at shoulder level, he directed it towards the center of the fire pit. A small ball of flame, about half the size of his fist, hit the woodpile and set it aflame.

Ursa had a proud smile on her face. Noren looked surprised, but not unhappy. Zuko, however, was on the verge of tears.

"It's smaller than normal," he noticed. Normally his fireball was a little bigger than his fist. When he really tried and was pissed off at Azula, he could sometimes make it about the size of his teacher's head.

"Well, you're probably just a little out of practice," Ursa suggested.

But Zuko knew that wasn't it. He may have been injured and hadn't practiced in a week, but that wasn't an excuse for him to be this sloppy. Deep down in his very being, he could sense that his inner fire had weakened.

When he looked at the small, flickering flame, he didn't feel any anger or rage, only frustration, regret, and something like sadness.

Noren added some more wood to the fire. "Well, I know I couldn't do anything like that. Even with the rocks, it usually takes me close to a hundred tries to get a spark."

With the addition of a fire, the necessities for their shelter had been met, so now they could focus on getting more food.

"Mom, I don't mind the berries, but do you think we could eat something else?" Zuko asked.

Ursa sent her son one of those Mother-certified, don't-argue-with-me glares. Zuko backed up slightly.

Noren cleared his throat. "I actually was thinking about going hunting… Now that we have a fire and a place to store our stuff, there's no reason we can't walk away from the campsite and get some meat."

Ursa looked at him, scowled, and finally sighed. "Fine. If you two want to eat meat, go ahead and hunt. Have some male bonding time while you're at it."

Zuko frowned. "Mom, what do you mean by that?"

Ursa pointed to the two of them. "You two have been acting weird to one another ever since we got here. Go work it out. While you're gone, I'll gather some medicinal herbs since I'm sure one of you will get injured."

Zuko flinched. Yes, he had been acting weird around Noren. He just… didn't know how to feel about the man. Obviously, he knew Zuko's mother and was helping them survive in this forest, but Zuko really didn't know anything else about the man. Noren was just some big mystery that had shown up in his life when they got here.

In addition, there were times when Noren and Zuko's mom would start talking and doing stuff and it seemed like… like they had completely forgotten than Zuko was there. And when Zuko did make his presence obvious, he felt like they both resented him for butting in.

Hence the awkwardness.

Noren appeared to be sizing Zuko up. "Are you sure he's ready for it? We're going to need to run and hide from the beasts, and the spear is awfully heaving." He asked Ursa.

Zuko stood up defiantly. "I can run and hide just fine!" To protest Noren's last point, he marched over to and picked up one of the spears Noren had made las night out of a long stick and a sharp rock. It was heavy, but Zuko could handle it easily after the strength training his swordmaster had made him do.

Ursa folded her arms and smirked at Noren.

Noren sighed. "Alright, we're going hunting. Together."

Zuko crouched down behind a fallen log. He could see the komodo rhino grazing by another one of those ponds that appear everywhere in this forest. He thought about the komodo sausages he had in the palace, and his stomach grumbled.

Noren was crouched down beside him, staring at the animal just as intently. "I've taken down a komodo rhino a few times before. It's difficult because of both its size and tough hide, but it's possible. We'll have to rely on the spears."

Zuko nodded. That made sense. In the back of his mind, he remembered hearing in a lesson that the komodo rhino's skin was incredibly thick and durable, which was why they were more useful in battle than most domesticated creatures.

Noren shifted his hold on his spear. "I'm going to try and get closer. Stay here and stay still. We don't want to startle the beast before we pounce." He then stood up and snuck around to get close to their potential prey.

Zuko tried to do what Noren asked. However, his position currently put most of his weight on one leg and his hand was cramping around the spear. As quietly as he could, he shifted the position of his feet and moved his spear to his other hand. In doing so, he unwittingly parted the leaves of a bush in front of him, and became face-to-face with a jackalope.

For one second, both Zuko and the jackalope froze, ears perked and eyes open wide. In the next moment, the jackalope had scampered away, right into the path of the komodo rhino.

The motion startled the komodo rhino. The large beast reared up and took off… right in Noren's direction.

"Look out!" Zuko cried.

Noren, however, didn't move. Instead, he lifted his spear and took a sturdy stance. The raging beast soon blocked Zuko's sight of the man.

"RAHR!"

A blur of motion, and the komodo rhino took off in a different direction. Zuko ran up to where Noren was laying on his back.

"I'm sorry!" the boy cried. "I tried to be quiet, but that jackalope…"

Noren sat up. "Wait, what are you apologizing for?"

Zuko bit his lip. "I tried to be still and quiet, but I moved a little and startled a jackalope, which then startled the komodo rhino, which is why it charged after you."

Noren blinked. "Oh. Well, there's no harm done. In fact, it gave me an opportunity to get a hit in. Didn't get it deep enough to kill though."

"But that was supposed to be food!"

Noren shook his head. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't expect to bring down something as big and difficult as a komodo rhino this time out. I'm surprised we even saw one."

"But…"

Noren put his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Look, you might have messed up, but it's not the end of the world. Just make sure that you realize what went wrong and try not to do it again next time." Noren finished standing up and brushed himself off. "Wait… Didn't you say something about a jackalope?"

"Um, yes?"

Suddenly, the biggest grin stretched across Noren's face. "Zuko, how would you like to learn how to snare a jackalope?"

Zuko shrugged. "Is it meat?"

"Yes, it's not as much meat as a koodo rhino, but it's still meat."

"Well, okay then."

Noren pulled a long string out of his pack of supplies. "Would you mind showing me where you saw this jackalope?"

Zuko showed Noren the path the jackalope took, and in return Noren showed him how to set up a simple snare. Farther down the rabbit path, he had Zuko try it out for himself. He gently gave Zuko guidance on what steps to take, and let him know what he was doing wrong and how to fix it. Eventually, Zuko had a completed snare that Noren hadn't even touched.

"Well done!" Noren congratulated him. "Now we just need to wait and check on these every so often. We can come back on our way to the campsite."

Zuko nodded. Now that he'd done something successfully by himself, he felt happy and confident, something he hadn't really felt since… well, since he and his mom had left the palace.

Riding this emotional high, he turned to Noren. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead." Noren replied.

"Why are you helping me and Mom so much?"

Noren looked genuinely surprised by that question. "It's it normal for people to want to help others?"

Zuko frowned. "I guess, for some people…" His mom, for instance. His uncle Iroh also liked to help servants who were down on their luck, or soldier families who'd lost their sons in battle. But he couldn't think of any time his Dad had done something nice for someone he wasn't expecting something from. "But most people would have only given us some supplies or information, like that girl at the first house Mom and I went to. You completely uprooted your life to help us."

Noren just shrugged. "Well, I guess I'm just unusual."

Zuko bit his lip. He wasn't stupid; he had some idea about what was going on between Noren and his Mom. He just wasn't sure how to ask it. "You know the Dragon Emperor and Empress in Love Amongst Dragons?"

Noren nodded. "I do. I told you that I'm directing a production of the play when we first met, didn't I."

Zuko looked away. "Um, well, I was wondering… Do you feel for mom the same way that the Dragon Emperor felt for his Empress?"

Noren's face turned red.

Zuko took that as a yes.

Noren cleared his throat. "Zuko, um, I don't want to make this whole situation weird…"

"Too late," Zuko flatly replied.

"Yes, well… Zuko, I really do care about your mother. And I want both her and you to be safe and happy."

Zuko glared at him out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to believe that Noren was a good person, but… "I can't let Mom get hurt."

"I know that," Noren accepted, "and I have no intention of hurting her in any way."

"What do you want then?"

"I—I would really like to spend the rest of my life with Ursa."

Zuko scowled. "You mean, like a family? Mom and I already have a family, and Dad – my Father – He, he…"

Noren gave Zuko a sympathetic smile. "I have no intention of hurting you either, Zuko."

Zuko stiffened. "YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER, OKAY!"

Noren sighed. "I know I'm not. I just… I want all of us to get along, somehow."

Zuko realized his eyes were getting blurry from tears. He wiped them away. "Just… You've got to be better than him, okay?"

"Pardon?"

Zuko took a deep breath. "If you're going to try and make us some kind of fantasy family… then you've got to be better than… than my father. You can't make mom sad all the time or yell at her when you think I'm not listening. You've got to be better than him."

Noren looked Zuko in the eyes. "I can't promise that everything will always be perfect, but I will do everything I can to make you and your mother happy, okay?"

Zuko wiped his eyes again. "You promise?"

"I promise."

The two of them got back to walking through the forest again. After a few minutes of silence, Zuko spoke up again. "You know, you may not be my father, but that doesn't mean you can't be my dad."

Noren raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Maybe. Someday. If you keep your promise."

Noren chuckled. "Well, just take your time in deciding that."

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Speak No Evil (Part 32)

So today on things keep happening; updates might be more sparse than I anticipated for the next few days as one of my friend’s dad passed away just today (I’m doing alright but I want to be there for said friend). I’ll try to put out a chapter before my vacation but I can’t make any promises and my work for the Zine is gonna come first as it has a deadline. Thanks for understanding everyone.

It has been spinning around in her head for days now, stirring beneath the surface. There doesn't seem to be a right fine to bring it up. She doesn't want to ruin a perfectly  good mood, neither does she want to have this conversation when tensions are already high.

But, spirits, the conversation needs to happen before it comes out in a messy explosion. Spirits knows that the pressure has been building since the speech.

Building and eating away at her. She rubs her hands over her face, feeling entirely torn. Every other time she has tried to have a discussion like this it ended in shouting and tears. She doesn't want to lose Seicho, the woman is the best thing that had happened to her in ages. Perhaps the only good thing. And yet the things that were at first endearing have so fast become unbearable.

"You should sit down, you've been pacing for hours." Seicho notes.

Azula swallows.

"What's wrong?"

How is she supposed to tell her that she's the problem? No, that's not quite it. How is she supposed to tell her that some of the things she does are a problem. It might be that she is just being too particular. Maybe she is overreacting, making something out of nothing like she had with TyLee.

"You can tell me what's going on."

She can but, Agni, what if the woman thinks that she hates her.

"How do you think it's gonna get fixed if you don't talk about it?"

She doesn't want to hurt her. "I...you do things...you weren't supposed to tell TyLee all of that."

"I was just trying to help. Sometimes you don't say things that you want to say."

"I didn't want to say that, Seicho. I didn't want her to know. She already thinks I'm manipulative. She already thinks…" she rubs her hands over her face again.

"That's why I told her for you. That way she would know what happened but you wouldn't have to tell her."

"Seicho! I didn't. Want her. To know." Her fingernails rake through her hairline. She can feel the anger bubbling up, it puts a certain redness on her cheeks. She is going to say something she regrets. Something awful.  "You always do that! I'm a secretive person and you...you tell everyone everything."

And there it is, the look. She has gotten too loud and now she is receiving that look of distress and guilt and hurt. The same one that TyLee always wore. She is so good at taking bubbly people and making them miserable.

"I thought that I was making things easier."

Azula swallows again. In some ways she had, she supposes. But, Agni, she wishes that the woman would ask first."

"I wasn't ready for that speech either…"

"But you did so good."

"That's not the point, the point is I wasn't ready."

"But I knew that you could do it. You just needs a push. I thought you wanted me to give you a little nudge every now and again."

And to a degree she does. Sometimes does need a push. But sometimes she needs patience. "Telling TyLee that I tried to kill myself." It is the first time she has said it so bluntly out loud. "It  wasn't a little push. And neither was the speech." Those were huge steps. Milestones when she needed baby steps.

Again, Seicho cringes. "I was just trying to help."

She knows this and that's why it hurts.  It is just what TyLee said; that she was just trying to help, just trying to make her happy. And all she can do in return is complain and guilt.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Because you...we were so happy. I don't want to lose you." Even as she says it, her tummy flutters and her cheeks color slightly. She feels too meek, too open. Like she is saying too much.

"You're not going to lose me for setting boundaries. You'd be more likely to lose me by not communicating."

She should know this. It is exactly how she lost TyLee. A combo of not saying the things that needed to be said, saying them wrong, and poising her tongue like a weapon. Now that she has her voice he needs to use it and she needs to use it right. For once she thinks that she is. Even still, she thinks that she had communicated better with brushes and parchment. Seicho is quiet for a long time, just long enough to leave her feeling jittery despite prior reassurance.

Azula begins to speak, though she still isn't quite sure of what to say. Before she can begin the struggle, Seicho pulls her into her arms and kisses her forehead. "I'll try to keep my mouth shut until you tell me to open it."

Azula nods, finally allowing herself to relax at least a little.

"Just be patient with me, over sharing is kind of a habit."

She nods again. "Alright."

"You're not mad at me are you?"

"I am." She folds her arms across her chest. She doesn't want to be but she is, she can’t entirely help it. Truth be told, she wasn’t in the mood for this conversation at all. She is more that surprised that it had gone at least somewhat smoothly.

Seicho squeezes her around the middle, “please don’t be mad.” She props her chin upon Azula’s shoulder.

“I’ll try not to be.” Seicho nuzzles her head against the crook of Azula’s neck. She is lucky that she makes it so hard to stay mad.  “Just promise me that you’ll shut up when I tell you to shut up.”

“I’ll do my best.” She agrees. And she smiles, for some reason she smiles. “Well look at that. You survived our first fight.”

She wouldn’t exactly call it a fight--there hadn’t been enough yelling and back and forth--it was more like a confrontation. And she wouldn’t call it their first either. But she supposes that she is still very much alive. Even still she feels a sense of relief; she hadn’t let it spiral into a fight. She finds that she is smiling too, faintly, but a smile no less. Perhaps she isn’t a lost cause.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 10)

“That one!” Atsu shouts. “I want that one!”

“It’s not for sale, Atsu. You’re going to have to win it.” Hajime says.

“But...but I’m no good at tossing games.”

Hajime ruffles his hair, “you’re great at it.”

He shakes his head. “Nu-uh, last year Caihong said that I’d do it better if I turned around and threw it backwards.”

“New year, new skills! Give it a try.” He gives Atsu a pat on the shoulders and a few coins.

“You aren’t going to teach him how to do it?” Azula asks.

“You just throw a bag full of beans into a hole, he just has to practice.”

She watches the boy chuck the bag with all of his might, overshooting the hole by several feet. His next throw is weak to compensate and the bag doesn’t fall too far from where he stands. His third shot is too far to the right and so his fourth throw is significantly left. He stops his foot and carelessly throws the last bag. The straw-stuffed badger-mole still hangs on the hook.

“Dad! You do it!” Before Hajime can answer he changes direction. Azula is none to pleased with this change. He stares at her with that gap toothed grin. “Rikka can do it!”

“I don’t want to play a silly game.” Azula folds her arms over her chest.

Hajime laughs, “you’re at a festival. Festivals are all about silly and rigged games.”

“Just because you can’t win, doesn’t mean that they are rigged.” She holds a pointer up as if to accent her point.

He nudges her, “if it’s not rigged, go win.”

Atsu tugs on her sleeve. “Please Rikka, please! I’ll...I’ll…” He lightly knocks his head with his fist, “Caihong and I’ll make you a pie!”

“A pie? What flavor?”

“Uhhh. Chocolate?”

“You’re going to get the chocolate from the garden, aren’t you?”

“A flower pot actually…” He mumbles.

“I don’t eat dirt.”

“I do! It’s not that bad if you get it from the flower pots especially if you find those teeny rolly bugs that get all...rolly when you poke at them like this!” He jabs her in the side with his tiny, pudgy finger.

“I’ll pass.” She grumbles as she watches Hajime fail to land any of the bags into the hole.

“Please win it for me, please, please, please, please phu-leeese…”

“These games are for children. I am not a child.”

“What? Are there better uses for your talents?” Hajime quirks a brow.

“Yes! Yes, exactly. I am glad that you understand…” she glances at him and realizes that he, in fact, does not understand at all. She very nearly pouts.

“Com’on Rikka!” Atsu whines. “Com’on, com’on, com’on!” He pleads until the words blend into one steady stream.

“No.”

“Look at his face, Rikka.” She has. It is gap-toothed, bug-eyed, and pudgy. The same as every child she ever set her eyes upon. “How can you say no to that face?”

“Cooooommmme ooooon, Riiikaaaa.”

“Not a chance.” She folds her arms tighter.

“You’re his only hope, Rikka. He gets his hand-eye coordination from his dad.”

“Yes,” she agrees, “you’re both awful at this.”

“Well why don’t you grace all of us with your fantastic bean toss skills, master.”

Azula gives a haughty sniff. “Fine. But only so the both of you know that it isn’t so hard.”

.oOo.

He hasn’t put it down since she’d won it for him. Day to day the badger-mole has a different name. At first it was ‘Duster’ and then it was ‘Mud Muncher’ and after that it was, ‘Caihong the Second’. She isn’t sure which name has been bestowed upon the toy today but she has a sinking feeling that it has something to do with her name and is doubly glad that she is using a false one.

The boy comes prancing up to her. “I’m going to show Misa and Min, Dáxiyi!”

“Dáxiyi?”

Atsu nods, “your mongoose-lizard.”

“You named my mongoose-lizard?”

“You said that you didn’t!”

Azula rolls her eyes, “and who are Misa and Min?”

“Neighbor’s kids.” Hajime says as the boy rushes outside. “How are things going at Ojihara’s?”

“Well enough.” Azula replies. Nevermind that Caihong’s father has been tirelessly pestering her for details of her past to the point she is considering calling off their dinner date. “Seukhyung asks too many questions.”

“You do realize that going out to dinner is all about questions and getting to know someone, right?”

Azula frowns, her stomach tying itself in knots. “Why would he want to do that?” She wonders if she is being pursued. Surely she has been in this village long enough to have attracted attention. Golden eyes stand starkly out amid shades of green.

“Because he likes you. And his daughter does too. And his old man…”

“In other words, I should tell him that dinner is cancelled and that he will not be interrogating me over lukewarm miso soup and mochi.”

Hajime laughs. “In other words, give him a chance. Just let him do all of the talking if you don’t want to.” He tilts his head. “You do realize what this dinner is, right?”

“Why do you think that I wouldn’t?”

“You did imply, the other day, that you have trouble understanding people.”

“I understand people perfectly. I just don’t know how to connect with them. I know that he…”

“Loves you?”

She nods. “I think.”

“Well then, take him to dinner and see how it goes.”

“I will.”

He nods, “I figured that you would.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“No!” He says too quickly. “I told you that I wanted to help you socialize more. I just didn’t expect you to... catch on so quickly.”

But she truly hasn’t. “And?”

“And what?”

“There’s something you aren’t saying. What else didn’t you expect?”

He rubs his hands over his face.

“Why would you think that there’s something else?”

“Because I understand people perfectly.”

.oOo.

Seukhyung takes her hand and leads her into the eatery, a fine place really. Small but fine, with walls of bamboo sticks and a burbling fountain at the very center. All about the place are hanging ivys and pots that spill colorful leaves and petals. “Here.” He helps her into her seat. “I’ll have the waiter light these,” he gestures to the candles.

Azula quirks a brow.

He laughs, “right, I’m used to dating Earth Kingdom women.”

“Clearly.” Azula cups the lotus shaped candle in her palms and lights it up. She waits for the flame to warm into a shade of orange before putting it back in place.

“So uh…” he clears his throat. “So, what was life like back in the Fire Nation? Is everyone as competitive and passionate as you are?”

She shakes her head. “In the Fire Nation you either have the spark or you don’t. You’re either bold or useless.”

“Sounds harsh.”

She shrugs.

“No wonder you left.” He rubs the back of his head. “I wouldn’t want to deal with that sort of pressure. It’s like, no wonder Fire Nation soldiers are so ruthless and cruel.”

Azula swallows. The waiter finally makes his appearance. “Miso soup add some spice to it.”

“And I’ll have the roast duck and pau buns.” He pauses and turns to her, “you said spicy right? Have you ever tried spicy pickled kelp?”

She shakes her head.

“A real delicacy!” Seukhyun exclaims. “I’ll split one with you, if you’d like.”

“That sounds just fine.” If she doesn’t like it he can eat the whole thing, she supposes.

“Anyways, what was I saying?”

“That firebenders are monsters?”

“N-no! That’s not what I meant. Just the military types and the rich folk.”

Azula gazes into the candle’s flickering flame. “Right…”

“But you’re not like that. I can tell.” He smiles. “I was able to see it when you gave Caihong that turnip.”

She rolls her eyes. She isn’t quite sure if her laugh is resentful or genuinely humored. “You’re still on about that? It was one, little, scrap of a turnip.”

“It’s the small deeds that show a person’s true nature. That’s what my old man told me. That little turnip had Caihong smiling for days, you know. It was the best turnip she ever ate.”

This time she is certain that her little laugh is genuine. “Well of course. It was touched by my hand, afterall.”

He chuckles, “you’re something else.”

“A good something?”

He cups his hand over hers, “I wouldn’t have asked you for a date if I thought that you were a bad something. I’m so glad that my old man took Caihong off of my hands tonight.”

“Why’s that?”

He laughs, “it’s a little less romantic to have her yanking on my sleeve all night, don’t you think?”

She shrugs, Hajime seems to manage just fine.

“I haven’t had a date since I lost Cai’s mother.”

“What happened to her?” She asks.

“Same thing that happened to a lot of wives here. Bunch of Earth Kingdom soldiers came up here and when we refused to let them turn Wu Jing into a military camp...people died, Rikka, a lot of people.” He pauses. “Fire Nation soldiers aren’t the only brutal ones. I haven’t met any soldier who was pleasant for conversation.”

Her stomach sinks. She can’t help but wonder how far she would have gone, had her pre-destined path not been so rudely blocked. She doesn’t have to wonder for long at all, not knowing full and well that she had told her father to charr the entirety of the Earth Kingdom. Knowing that she took pride in her suggestion. She pictures Wu Jing under a wave of fire streaming from her father’s hand. Ojihara, Seukhyung, Caihong, Atsu, Hajime, all of them burning to ash. “Yes, you’re probably right about that.”

She takes the first taste of the spicy pickled kelp. It isn’t spicy at all.

“Well, what do you think?”

“It’s fine.”

Azula was almost certain that she would never know the feeling... She hates it. She resents it. It leaves her stomach queasy, but that night she learns what it is to feel shame, regret.

.oOo.

Her voice is strangely soothing. A bizarre patchwork of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom and he almost ravenously enjoys how pleasantly it plays through his ears. She isn’t talking about anything in particular. Mostly it is small talk with a sprinkle every now and again about how she is surprised to be receiving such a generally positive welcome home.

“You’re their princess.” He says. “Of course they’re happy to have you back.”

“But did I really do them any favors while I was here?”

He nods. “I think that you did, or you did at the time.” He tries to get his thoughts together. “And I think that they agree. The problem isn’t that you didn’t do any favors it’s that those things aren’t considered good deeds anymore. Times change, what seemed like a helping the Fire Nation at the time isn’t so helpful after all.”

She fixes him with the dullest stare he has seen in a while.

“But I think that they know that you meant well, right? You’re not the only Fire National who has been doing some reflection. This whole nation is…”

“Doing some horrifying introspection.” Azula mutters. “Some things can’t be fixed, Sokka. Maybe some cultures are worse than others...”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Thinking too much. I suppose.”

“Firebenders aren’t evil.” He smiles. “You aren’t.”

She quirks a skeptical brow.

“Do evil people carry around stuffed badger-moles?”

Azula’s face flushes as she snatches it back. “Apparently, yes.”

.oOo.

Azula buries her nose in the badger-mole’s fabric. It smells faintly of turnip of dirt and of home. It smells of affection and care. If she inhales deeply enough she swears that she is whisked to that place for some time. Whisked back to a home where the scent of freshly baked bread was a morning starter and vegetable stew closed the night.

She holds her hand to her belly. She feels cold to her core. Things could have been fine. They could have been fulfilling, whole. Instead she finds the hollowness of a spoiled harvest, lush and flourishing on the surface but rotting beneath.

She gives a small jerk when she feels hands on her soldiers. “Hey. Are you still with me.”

Azula nods, “mostly.”

“You were…”

“Thinking.” She replies. “Just thinking.”

He nods and she isn’t sure that he believes her.

“I’m not crazy.”

“I didn’t say that you were.” He promises. “But ‘not crazy’ doesn’t rule ‘not okay’ out.”

She swallows.

“I think that you can use…” He wiggles his brows and pulls out a mahjong set, “a distraction!”

“Sokka…”

“Come on, it’ll be fun. A game night! Me, you, Zuko, Mai, and TyLee.” He beams. “I happen to be a mahjong master.”

“Is that right?”

“It sure is!”

“I’ll pass.”

“Oh come on, you’ll have fun.”

“It’s a silly game, Sokka.”

“I get it, you have to save your brainpower for something more important.”

Her throat runs dry. “What did you say?”

Sokka tenses, only briefly, but long enough. “I was just saying that you just don’t want to play because I am a mahjong master and you don’t want to lose in front of ever.”

Azula sniffs. “Invite the entire palace staff, I’ll win.”

.oOo.

She was smiling. It had reached her eyes at multiple points during their game--mostly when she was near victory--but he can’t say that she is unbothered. Raava’s tendrils he wishes that she would just tell him what is wrong. What happened to her, who she lost, and how.

And Raava’s light he doesn’t know why or when he started to care so much. He has a suspicion that, knowingly or not, it had been the moment she stumbled back into the palace with a story and a collection of scars.

He supposes that it is a compulsion to understand to know just what could have sparked such a stark change. No, he realizes, it isn’t so stark at all. Everything that made Azula, Azula is still there. He thinks that it is more of an addition; a newfound capacity for empathy and care.

He sighs to himself, his impulse decisions usually lead him to distress and disarray. But when he hears that small laugh, he isn’t quite so sure that, that will be the case this time. He is almost entirely sure when the game is packed away and she mutters, “I suppose that your ideas aren’t so awful after all. Tonight reminded me of...special moments. It almost felt the same.”

He isn’t so sure if that is melancholic or pleasent. “Special moments?”

She nods.

“You ever going to talk about those?”

She strokes the head of the badger-mole as she considers. “I went to a festival once.”

Her voice is so soft. Soothing. The very prospect of finally hearing a story where he can savor every syllable, every annunciation, is enticing. So much so that he finds it startling. He hadn’t expected to be so intensely and suddenly enthralled by the princess. But he supposes that he does have a history of falling intensely and abruptly. Quite frankly, it scares him. Truly, he only meant to reach out a comforting hand, to pursue a friendship and nothing more.

Changed or not, she is still Azula. Azula with all of her history and baggage. Azula with a steeper mountain of secrets.

“Are you listening, because I’m not going to repeat myself?”

“You went to a festival once, with a boy and his father…”

She nods.

But maybe it won’t be so hard to uncover those secrets. Maybe he only had to ask her to share the pleasant memories. It seems to almost comfort her to talk about this boy and his father. The name Hajime comes back to him and he wonders if this story is about that man.

“Can we do this again?” He asks when she is finished.

She furrows her brows. “A story a night! You tell me about a special moment and I’ll tell you about one.”

She considers. “Alright, a story a night. But you don’t get to ask any questions.”

[tosskah]

Pom Poms and Votes Chapter 4

It’s time for Azula to turn the tables on Ty Lee!

Chapter one, two, and three.

Ao3 link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/15499431/chapters/50926165#workskin

“Well, are you gonna kiss me, or are you just gonna stare?” Ty Lee challenges.

Azula chooses the former option without a second thought, and leans in to close the distance between them. Her fingers thread easily into the other girl’s silky hair and the soft heat of her mouth feels more wonderful than she could have imagined. The cheerleader’s body melts against her, hands roaming. One kiss folds into another, and another, growing hungrier. Azula slips an arm around Ty Lee’s waist and holds her near, urging her to continue. Their kisses break at last, and Azula’s lips trail her throat instead. She has never heard anything like the breathy, needy gasps those kisses entice, and takes it as encouragement. Her teeth scrape experimentally against the pale skin offered to her, and she is rewarded with a moan that sounds like her name.

“Azula…”

The girl wakes with a start, her dream punctured by the shrill insistence of her alarm. Her heart is hammering, and she is as breathless as she was in her imagination just a moment before.

That felt so real , she thinks, knuckling her tired eyes savagely, as if that could dispel those images from her mind. Her other hand fumbles and silences the alarm. She must have stayed up too late last night. Her body feels like someone has replaced her bones with cement. She allows herself one more minute under the warmth of the blankets before hauling herself up to prepare for the day.

________________________________________________________________________

The morning air has an autumn bite, and she quickly pushes through the trickle of students on their way into the school. Sleep still weighs heavily on her as she spins the combination on her lock. The rest of the students seem to feel equally sluggish, and chatter around her is minimal and muted. That is, until Ty Lee sidles up.

“Good mooorning Miss President!” she sing songs. Azula freezes in the act of hanging up her jacket. Her first thought is of her dream, and she feels her face reddening.

“Morning,” she manages, unable to meet the cheerleader’s eye. Did we really go on a date last night, or did I dream that too?

“Sooo last night was pretty fun, huh?” Ty Lee giggles. Azula finally makes eye contact and regrets it. It’s almost like she knows what she dreamt!!

“Uh-- yes, actually. It was fun.” The word feels unfamiliar in her mouth. She takes out the books she needs in one hand and closes her locker with the other before turning to walk toward her first class. The other girl falls into step beside her.

“And what are your big plans for your first official day as president, huh? Any decrees for your subjects?” Despite the early hour, Ty Lee is absolutely chipper. Azula wants it to annoy her, to grate on her tired nerves, but it doesn’t. In fact, it’s infectious. She feels her own spirits lifting at the silly question. A flash of inspiration accompanies it, and she feels her pulse quickening at the thought.

“Our first student council meeting isn’t until the end of the week, so I’ll have to hold off on sweeping policy changes until then. I… do have one decree for today, though,” she pauses, taking a moment to gather her courage, “And it’s not for all my subjects. Just one of them, actually.” At this, she stops walking and fixes Ty Lee with a direct look. “I think we should go out again. Let’s go see a movie tonight.”

“Really?!” Ty Lee squeals, face brighter than the morning sun. A few curious students turn to look. “Okay!!” The girl enthusiastically wraps her in a tight hug, and Azula stiffens instinctively. It’s too much like her dream, the sensation of Ty Lee’s body pressed so perfectly against hers. She feels her face heating up. The other girl pretends not to notice her awkwardness and withdraws at last, still beaming. Whatever she is about to say next is interrupted by the morning bell. “Oh!! Gosh, I’m gonna be late-- text me the plans, okay?? I can’t wait!!” As she departs, she squeezes Azula’s hand and tosses one last smile over her shoulder before joining the swell of students.

The teenager is dazed. She must be doing that on purpose , she reasons, trudging along to class, Touching me all the time to keep me off balance. She has had the upper hand for too long. Tricking me into a date when I thought it was a political meeting, now this? Ty Lee is much more dangerous than I could have believed. I can’t afford to continue underestimating her.

The class passes by with an uninterrupted drone of the teacher’s voice. Azula doesn’t hear a word.She is too preoccupied with reliving the morning’s interactions over and over again, gauging how she left herself vulnerable to the clever cheerleaders machinations. I must anticipate that she will try to get in close. I need to stop her before she can put her hands on me. Or hug me. She suppresses a shudder. Remembering the hug is too much like remembering her dream, and her thoughts keep drifting to those phantom sensations……The bell startles her back to reality.

“Azula, are you feeling well? You look flushed,” the teacher remarks as students make their way to the door. Azula doesn’t answer, and hurries out faster.

The movie tonight is her chance to turn the tables. Ty Lee will have very little time to prepare. Clearly she had been plotting to ask her out to coffee for some time, but she won’t have the element of surprise anymore. Just thinking about it makes Azula crack a smug smile. As she moves through the hall, she pulls her phone out to check her messages. There are four from Ty Lee. Seeing her name on the screen makes the girl’s heart and stomach contract in painful unison.

Can’t believe I’m nervous over a stupid text message , she chides herself, opening the text.

Hey ur honor~~👀😉

💁🙇I was sooooo excited that i forgot to mention i have cheer tonite until 5😅⏰

👀🎥Can we still see the movie????🎬👀

🍔Also i get suuuuper hungry after practice~!!! 🍕😋

Azula scoffs at the cheerleader’s blatant attempt to control the situation. She thinks she can dictate the time? Fine, let her think she has won that battle…. But the victory tonight will be mine!

The last comment of hers is strange, though. Why should Azula know when Ty Lee is or isn’t hungry?? She puts the thought aside for the moment and works on her response:

No problem. If we meet at the theater at 6, would that give you enough time to eat? We can catch the 6:15 movie.

Satisfied, she sends it and tucks her phone away.

The rest of the day passes by too quickly. Her classes continue to run together in monotonous fog. When she checks her phone again at another break, she finds a reply from Ty Lee indicating that the plan suits her, although there is a noted decrease in the amount of emojis. She makes a mental note of her decisive triumph. Despite this, she feels the return of the almost familiar heart-pounding that keeps occuring when Ty Lee is involved. It must be because she has finally found an opponent worthy enough to keep her on her toes.

_______________________________________________________________________

When the final bell rings at dismissal, Azula bolts to the parking lot. Part of her is worried she will run into the other girl, even though she knows Ty Lee will likely go straight to the gym to practice. It is unsettling, though, that she always seems to know where to find her. I must learn her schedule so she can’t keep surprising me , the teenager notes to herself as she pulls away from the parking lot. Her mind quickly turns to the night ahead of her, already calculating her plan of attack.

Not to be outdone, Azula digs in her closet to find her most form-fitting clothes. Now that she knows she is going on a date, rather than a meeting, she chooses a clinging black long sleeve shirt. The neckline dips enticingly low, and her blood colored jeans cling to her like a second skin. Her hair takes longer to put in order. Since she normally wears her hair up at school, she opts for a half down style, held up with a delicate gold clasp. At last, she deems she is ready, grabs her coat, and leaves. As she climbs into the car, she realizes it is later than she had thought, and weaves anxiously through traffic to make it to the theater on time.

On time, of course, means 15 minutes early. Azula scans the lobby of the theater, but doesn’t recognize anyone. She breathes a sigh of relief. So far her plan is on track. As the time inches closer to 6, her nervousness builds - but with it is a growing sense of excitement for the next stage of whatever game Ty Lee is playing. As 6:00 comes and goes, however, she feels her stomach churn. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of the cheerleader standing her up, and yet it would be the perfect move to claim the advantage.

I can’t believe she has outplayed me again , Azula fumes, scanning the lobby one last time before making her way to the doors. As she opens it, however, she runs full force into a breathless Ty Lee.

“Azula!!” she squeaks, recovering her balance. “I am! Soooo sorry!!! Practice ran long and one of the girls had to give me a ride and on the way here, her car overheated or something because a bunch of black smoke was coming out and we had to pull over and no one would stop to help us!! And then her dad came and said he couldn’t fix it and they had to call a tow truck, but I begged and begged and begged him and he gave me a ride here!! So now I’m here! We can still see the movie, right??”

While her story is impressive, Azula is not swayed by it. Sure, Ty Lee is selling it. Her hair is loosely falling out of the quick ponytail she must have thrown it into after practice. She is wearing the same outfit from this morning because she hasn’t had time to change: blue jeans with large white polka dots, and a bubblegum colored long sleeved crop top, with a pink jacket draped over her shoulders. The girl is out of breath, as if she has run from wherever this other cheerleader’s dad has dropped her off, with her backpack hanging off one shoulder to complete the look of Girl In a Hurry. If nothing else, Azula admires her commitment. She realizes that in all her time scrutinizing her date, she has not answered.

“Yeah, we can still see it,” she replies cooly, not granting the other girl the pleasure of seeing her unsettled.

“Great,” Ty Lee breathes, anxiety loosening as the pair moves away from the doors.

“I got tickets already, since I was here on time,” Azula adds pointedly. The cheer captain winces slightly, but tries to hide it with a smile.

“Wow, that was really thoughtful of you! Like I said, I am really really sorry I was late-!”

“It’s fine,” Azula replies, shrugging, and pulling the tickets out. The frail, uniformed employee rips the stubs for them and allows them through. The silence that stretches between them as they approach concessions is prickly with awkwardness, and Azula basks in it. Finally, she is not the one on her back foot! As she stops walking, her companion does, too. Another victory.

“Do you want to get popcorn or anything, since you just ate?” she asks, gesturing lazily to the counter in front of them.

“Um— well, I actually didn’t have time to eat before we got here- because of the car, so….” Ty Lee replies uneasily. She fidgets with the pink hem of her jacket and adds, “But if you want to just get seats, it’s okay! It’s my fault for being late-”

“No, it’s fine. Pick whatever you want— I’m buying. We’ll just miss the first preview,” Azula answers smoothly. Her smugness is starting to radiate from her now. It doesn’t matter what the cheerleader chooses to order, because all the time she spends eating will be a reminder that pretending to be late was a misstep. That Azula wasn’t rattled by it. And that is worth the few dollars spent on concessions. To her credit, Ty Lee responds as if she has no notion of the magnitude of her crushing defeat.

“Oh!! Really— are you sure? I— that is so nice of you!! You’re the best!” she stammers, glowing with excitement as she surveys the posted menu.

You’re right about that , Azula smirks, stepping up to the counter. She looks to her companion, giving her permission to order whatever she wants.

“Okay, ummmm, could I get, please, a soft pretzel aaand a medium popcorn? And a drink?... Is that okay?” This last question is posed to Azula, apprehensively. Her reply is a true grin, reveling in her achievement.

“Sounds great,” she assures, fighting to keep her smile from overtaking her. Easy now , she counsels herself, Don’t get too confident and give her an opening . Her expression folds into something more demure. Once again, Ty Lee refuses to react to her setback, and instead erupts into an enormous grin.

“Thank you!!” she squeals, bouncing with excitement. Azula offers the cashier her card for payment, and the food is quickly supplied. “You look amazing, by the way,” the cheer captain continues, scooping her treats off the counter and blatantly letting her eyes roam. When Azula is too startled to respond, she adds, “Sorry I couldn’t dress up, but it’s a good thing you look good enough for both of us!”

Compliments on her appearance are rare. How is she supposed to respond? Her face feels hot. Damn , guess she saw an opening after all .

“Thanks,” Azula replies at last, though she sounds uncertain. Ty Lee giggles at that, like something is funny, and leaves her feeling more unsure than ever.

As they enter their theater, the lights have dimmed. They pick two seats on the end of an aisle and get settled. Ty Lee glances at her nervously and seems about to say something, but stops herself. She instead gets to work on her snacks. She must not have been joking about how hungry she gets after practice.

The screen in front of them is flooded with light and the sound kicks in, almost too loudly. Azula relaxes in her seat, picking at the popcorn. So now they just…. Watch the movie, right? Together? Seems easy enough , she assures herself.

Unfortunately, the movie can’t really hold her attention. It keeps drifting over to the girl beside her. It is much more fascinating to watch her watch the film. Ty Lee reacts as though the events are really happening before her, complete with gasps, shouts, and peals of laughter. How strange! If Ty Lee notices her observer, she pretends not to. The snacks do not last long between them, leaving the cheerleader’s hands free to shield her face when the tension is too great, or clap them together in delight when something goes right. Watching them in motion sparks an idea.

It’s true that Ty Lee often puts her off balance with her casual, unanticipated touches. This is Azula’s chance to turn the tables on her! She waits for a lull in the movie, when the other girl’s hand is on the arm rest between them, and carefully slips her own palm into Ty Lee’s. Ty Lee instantly looks over at her, but she is beaming, not alarmed. She is unflappable ! Azula curses, though she doesn’t withdraw her grasp. No need to concede defeat, after all.

Holding hands is….nice. It is pleasant, although she knows her own palm is starting to sweat just a little. When she feels sure Ty Lee can sense the moisture too, she gently tugs her hand out of reach and discreetly wipes it on her pant leg. Now she is torn. Does she attempt to go back for another round? The first try did not seem to shake her. Maybe it isn’t effective.

As Azula deliberates, she notices the music is swelling. The movie must be ending, coming together in some contrived closure that she can’t be bothered to pretend to care about. No sense holding hands, then, since they’ll be leaving soon. She can work out a stronger plan of attack for another time.

The lights come up, and Ty Lee is bursting with opinions on the movie. Considering Azula didn’t really watch it, she cannot contribute, and simply listens as they gather their things and head for the exit. As soon as they return to the lobby, Azula realizes something.

“Do you need a ride home?” she asks, pulling her keys out of her jacket.

“Oh! Well- I can just call my sister to come get me, I don’t want to be any trouble-”

Azula waves the pitiful struggle aside dismissively. “I can take you.” Her tone makes it clear that the matter is closed.

“Thank you!! You really are the best!!” Ty Lee gushes.  

Considering this was likely her plan from the start, she hides it well , Azula thinks to herself, impressed. They exit the theater into brisk evening air, and both shiver. Ty Lee steps closer and slips her hand into Azula’s. It takes all her will not to look startled. It feels just as nice as it did in the movie theater. Her free hand curls into a frustrated fist. How is it that Ty Lee can unbalance her so easily? It’s not right.  

When they reach her car and their hands part, the night air feels colder, somehow. Both girls are quick to scramble into the car and adjust the heat so it can wash over them. The warm air is met with twin sighs of relief.

“So you liked the movie, then?” she asks, trying to create a distraction as she once again places her hand on the passenger seat to reverse out of the parking spot. The action puts her so close to her date. The one that she was dreaming about kissing.

“Yes!! It was so good! And the snacks were sooo yummy, thank you again for buying them!! And the tickets! Do you want me to pay you back??” Ty Lee starts to unzip her backpack.

“No need,” Azula replies, returning to her seat, well within the boundaries of her own personal space. “My treat.”

“You’re sure?” Ty Lee presses. When Azula nods, the other girl zips her backpack. “That’s very sweet of you!”

The drive to Ty Lee’s house passes quickly, mostly full of chatter about the movie. It feels like they arrive too soon.

“This was fun,” Azula declares, “Thanks for going with me.”

“I had fun, too,” Ty Lee answers, unbuckling her seatbelt. Instead of gracefully exiting the car like last time, she leans in a little closer. Azula feels her breath catch in her throat. It feels like a signal of some kind, like she wants her to lean in too, so she does.

“Can I kiss you?” Azula hears herself ask, though her voice sounds far away. Ty Lee’s gaze drops to her lips before returning to her eyes with a smile.

“Mhmm,” she nods ever so slightly.

Azula’s heart has never hammered so hard. The idea of kissing her in real life is dizzying. And yet… she wants to. She wants to know if it will be like her dream. She leans in closer, tipping her head ever so slightly. Ty Lee tips her head, too, and her eyes flutter closed. That wasn’t in her dream, but it’s a detail that thrills her. Her own eyes close an instant later, and there is an endless, waiting moment before their lips finally brush against each other.

The sensation is almost startling enough to make her pull back, but she holds firm. The kiss is soft, and, if she’s honest, wonderful. In truth, she hasn’t kissed anyone before, not really. There was the time she was dared to kiss a boy on the playground back in the early years of school, but that was nothing like this. This kiss is like floating. Weightlessness. Like everything else has faded away, other than the two of them, in this moment.

It’s unclear which of them pulls away first, but suddenly Azula finds her eyes open. She can’t seem to remember how to form words. And what would she say? What could be said, after something like that?

“Goodnight,” Ty Lee says, her voice breathless in a way Azula hasn’t heard before.

“Goodnight,” she replies, just as short of breath. Ty Lee flashes a smile and slips smoothly out the passenger door.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Wan High Weeping (Part 1)

Avatar high school AU. After a long summer, with Sokka in college, Katara is left  to fend for herself at Wan high where rumors about her are still running wild and her new teacher June is out to get her. Sokka also leaves Suki behind when she needs him the most. Aang, newly out of the closet becomes a target for the school jocks. The summer has been cruel to Toph, whose family has lost everything. It had left Azula, the captain of the volleyball team, with a set of broken ribs. And it has treated Zuko, Mai, and TyLee even less kindly.

AN: A few of the character’s ages have been tweaked to fit the plot frame. 

Content Warning: rape mention, abuse, drug abuse, eating & mood disorders, suicide, and self-harm. 

Katara weaved her way through the crowd. She found herself more nervous than usual. It was her junior year and her first year wandering the halls of Wan High School without Sokka for company. Without Sokka for protection. She took the care to be as quiet as possible, the less attention she received the better especially these days. 06-31-09, at this point in time she knew the combo like the back of her hand and felt as though I would be ingrained in her for years after she graduated. The locker door swung open. She had hoped that summer vacation would be enough to let old problems be forgotten, she truly hoped. That’s how these things normally went. “Normally,” she muttered to herself as she plucked a sheet of folded paper from her locker. She hadn’t even had the time to arrange her books and the notes were already appearing again. With a scowl contorting her face, Katara stomped up to the rubbish bin and ripped the paper to bits. She already knew the basics of what it would read. After all the shreds had drifted to the bottom of the trashcan, her anger subsided and a helping of despair filled its place. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone already? It wasn’t even true what they were saying. She wrapped her arms around herself, willing herself not to cry.

She wished she had Sokka right now, she could really use his support.

 “Hey Kat!” Aang greeted cheerfully. She didn’t know how he did it, how he managed to hold his chin up so high with jocks like Chan and Jet pinning him up against the lockers between verbal beatdowns. An activity they part-took in since middle school. And when they moved onto high school, a boy named Hide filled in their shoes for another two years.

 “Good morning, Aang.” She tried to return the greeting with a smile. But she wasn’t in the mood for conversation—much less a smile—with her day starting the way that it had.  

 “How are you?” He asked.

 “Oooh I’m fine.” She replied.

 “You seem down.” He cocked his head. He always did seem very sensitive to others’ emotions.

 “Just sad that the summer is over, ya know?” She fibbed. “Sokka and I were having an amazing one but now he’s at college so I don’t get to talk to him much…” Now that wasn’t a fib at all. That had been bothering her since Sokka stated that he was moving states away to attend a rather prestigious school. She could only imagine how hard it must be on Suki.

 “I’m gonna miss him too. You’re brother was a pretty cool guy.” He rubbed the back of his head, “not that I’d know much about that, ya know.”

 “Don’t let them get to you Aang, you’re a pretty cool guy yourself.” She nudged him on the shoulder. “Soon enough guys from all over this school will line up to date you.”

 “That would be nice.”

 “Hey, twinkle toes!” Came an energetic shout.

 “Who is that?” Katara asked.

 “Oh, that’s Toph, she’s from my soccer team.”

 “Our team is co-ed?”

 “It’s not the school team.” Aang replied. “I don’t think I could handle being here for extra hours.”

 Now there was something Katara could completely understand. Aang gave a quick wave and a ‘talk to you later’. It was nice to see that he had at least one person on his side.

 Katara unfolded her schedule. Math with June…what a great start to her morning.  She just hoped that Jet wasn’t in her class, that would make it at least a little more tolerable. She found herself wishing that she was a year older, that way there would have been a chance that she’d have Suki in her class. Naturally though, everyone she liked was either a year or two younger or a year or two older. And even more naturally everyone who made her time at Wan High difficult were just the right age to earn assigned seats next to her.  Katara rummaged through her backpack—a kiddish looking thing, iridescent shimmery teal in color with golden seahorse, starfish, and mermaid patches. It was just another thing people jabbed her for. “You’re in high school.” She recalled Azula asking with an eyebrow raised and arms folded over her chest.  

“Yeah, why do you have a kiddy bag?” TyLee asked with an eye-roll from Mai to annunciate the point.

 If Katara had her way she would have had a new backpack something in a sleek and solid metallic blue. They couldn’t pick on that. But her mother refused, telling her that getting a new backpack when that one was in perfectly good shape was a waste of money. Sokka didn’t help her case either, but at least tried to appeal to her; “Aww but you love that backpack? Are you really going to stop using it because three people don’t like it?” He smiled that charming smile and ruffled her hair. So she promised him that she’d keep using it and that she’d text him a few pictures of herself holding it by her locker. She looked to the left and then to the right—no teachers. She snapped a quick photo and sent it off. Hopefully it would make college move-in that much better for him.

 She quickly put her phone back in her backpack and continued ruffling through it. Water bottle, check. Summer reading assignment, check. Pencil and highlighter, check. Spare pencil, check. And calculator, check. Katara smiled, never a day unprepared. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and sprinted across the hall, never a day tardy either, she noted to herself. And she planned to keep it that way no many how many jocks and jerks she had to plow through.

 “Kiss ass.” She heard a girl scoff. She knew she shouldn’t have, because it only made them laugh harder to know that they got her attention, but Katara looked back. It was one of Azula’s friends. Not Mai nor TyLee, but the one with the pigtails. Katara could never remember her name, Osha or Usha, or something like that. She just knew that the girl was on Azula’s volleyball team and was on par with Azula herself in terms of relentless bitchiness. Katara cringed, if her mother caught her saying something like that…

She cringed again harder, realizing that she just winced for something she thought about. It’s not like she said it aloud.  “No wonder everyone things I’m a dork.” This she did vocalize. She looked at the clock, she had about three minutes left to get to homeroom.  Deciding that, that wasn’t enough time for her to get to class and get settled in, she beelined it.

 Wrong move. With an soft oof, she collided with another student. “Hey” Katara greeted awkwardly with a sheepish smile.

 “Hey.” TyLee returned quietly.  So long as the rest of the poms team wasn’t there, the girl was actually pretty decent to be around.

 “I can pick that up for you.” Katara offered, scrambling to pick up a rose gold iPod with a bunny key ring, some stencils, and a scatter of glittery gel pens.

 “No, I got it.” She muttered. “Don’t worry about it.”

 Katara bit the inside of her lip. Since the beginning of last year the other girl seemed quieter, a lot less bubbly. “Are you sure?”

 “The bell is going to ring in one minute. Everyone knows you don’t like being late.” There was a bitter edge to this refusal that made Katara wonder why she offered to help in the first place.

 Katara scooped up her own things and shuffled to class. No sooner than she sat down, did the bell ring. Quickly she splayed her pencils and notebooks over the desk. “And here I thought I’d be giving you your first tardy strike.” June remarked.

 Katara stammered out an apology, despite not really having anything at all to apologize for. Katara watched those who should have been muttering apologies saunter into the room without a hassle from June save for a half-hearted, “don’t be late again.” Already, Katara was getting a sense that she and her teacher weren’t going to click—this would be a first. For the most part the teachers at Wan high were focused and firm, but easy to talk to. She could already tell that June was going to have a rather laidback manner of teaching. On its own math was a task for her, she feared for her grade now that she would be learning in a style that didn’t bode well with her.

 “She’s fine as hell.” Chan remarked, dropping into his seat. Katara closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. At least he wasn’t Jet. She could tolerate Chan.

 “Alright.” June declared, slamming a stack of papers onto her desk. “Here’s how this is going to work.” She leaned herself against it. “I’m going to teach, you’re going to learn. This will be the easiest class you’ll ever take, or you’ll go home crying every night. I’ll let you all decide.”

 Katara cringed, what a promising start to the class. She had half the mind to shoot her hand up and ask, “aren’t you supposed to pass out a syllabus.” Instead she remained as quiet as possible, hoping that she wouldn’t go home crying every night.

 “Let’s start out with a little icebreaking activity. I’ll tell you all about my tattoo and you’ll tell me anything you feel might be worth sharing.” Lowering her voice some, she mumbled, “you’d be surprised at how boring you all are.”

 This drew a few chuckles, apparently June was going to be a hit with the rest of the student body, especially the boys. This time Katara couldn’t hold her tongue, “what about attendance?”

 Chan sniggered. Turning to one of the guys on his volleyball team, Chu-Leng, he mimicked “what about attendance?”

 “Attendance?” June asked.

 “Before class starts, especially on the first day, you’re supposed to take roll.” Katara continued, fighting hard to ignore the snickers from behind.

 June shrugged. “You’re either here or you aren’t, it’ll show up on your report card.” She moved to sit on her desk. “Besides, I’m a math teacher, I can count. I have a class of twenty-six students, only twenty-five are here.”

 “Yes!” Katara replied, trying to sound as level as possible. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but shouldn’t you know who, is missing?” Frankly, Katara wanted to know who she was supposed to be sitting next to. The only two open seats were the ones next to her.

 “Well, since you seem so eager to run the class, how about you start. Introduce yourself and tell the class a little bit about you.”

 “Big nerd.” Chu-Leng remarked.

 “Big slut.” Chan added, quiet enough for her ears but not June’s.

 Katara stood and made her way to the front of the class room. “Hi I’m Katara, I love with my mother, father, Gran, and brother…well my brother just moved out to go to college. You all know him though, or most of you do.” Why did she have to ramble when she was nervous, it was almost as bad as stuttering. “Anyways, I’m going to try out for the swim team…”

 “Of course she is.” Chan commented, “has to put her swimsuit pics in the year book.”

 “…If I don’t make the team I’ll be running for student council.” She didn’t know what else to say, she didn’t feel as though she was as interesting as Sokka or Suki. The thrill of going back to her seat was overpowered by Chan ramming into her as he made his way up to the front.

 “For those of you who don’t know, not that there are many of you, I’m Chan. I throw the best parties this school knows…”

 Katara felt herself zoning out for the rest of the class, it was all the same year after year and next period she would be in for a different version of the same icebreaker games.  She didn’t see Suki at lunch either so her spirits dimmed that much darker. Hoping that she wasn’t in class, she sent her a quick text, ‘when do you have lunch?’ She unpacked her lunch as she waited for the reply. She smiled as she drew the note from her lunch bag. It was simple, as it always was; Good luck with your first day. Enjoy lunch. – Love, Mom. She wished that those wishes of luck were more than just that, but she would apricate lunch. Her mom took the care to pack it for her.

 Her phone buzzed and the words, ‘fourth hour’ appeared in the chat bubble.

 ‘Me too. Where are you?’ She hit send.

 This time the three little dots appeared right away. ‘Doctor’s.’

 Katara bit her lip. ‘On the first day? Everything o.k?’

 For a while the dots didn’t reappear. Katara finished peeling her orange by the time they did.

 ‘Yeah. Everything’s fine.’

 As fine as they could be, Katara thought, Suki didn’t have to say it for her to know. Her fingers hovered above the touch screen as she thought of what to say next. But it was hard to think with the cafeteria chatter and banter.

 “Hey! Give that back!”

 Katara looked behind her to spy a game of keep away, a classic among Chan’s lot. Should Teo or Haru be particularly unlucky, Jet’s team would join in too. She always wanted to step in and say something, anything, but as soon as she stood the words left her tongue and her nerves plummeted away. When had she become so…terrified? Back in elementary school she was reprimanded almost daily for throwing crayons and erasers at kids who took them from others. She would give an earful to any playground bully that needed a lecture. But now, when it seemed to matter the most, she sat uncomfortably, her stomach squirming as Teo’s lunch sack was tossed from one person to the next. The game only met its end when Chu-Leng fumbled it. “Nice going, dipshit.” Chan grumbled.

 “Hey, the point is to keep it away. I think we won.” He shrugged. “He can lick it off the ground if he wants to eat so bad.”

 “Can he?” Chan sniggered, giving the boy’s wheelchair a good shove.

 This time Katara opened her mouth. All she had to do was push it out, a simple, “leave him alone” or a bolder, “eat this” before chucking her own sandwich in his direction. How satisfying would it have been to see a paste of peanut butter smeared all over the jock’s face. She balled her fists but by the time she decided that she’d intervene Chan had found his seat and Teo wheeled himself away. Katara slammed her fist on the table, an outburst that was mercifully unnoticed. She hadn’t even had a chance to offer him some of her food. If only Sokka were there she would have sprung right into action. Hell, if Suki had been there it would have been the extra boost she need.

If only, if only, if only!

It was driving her crazy.

 With her mood more somber than before, Katara worked on finishing her sandwich. Suki had stopped replying to her texts, probably wrapped up in her appointment. For the time, Katara was wholly alone. Aang, Toph, Haru, she had a healthy amount of friends but so typically, none of them shared the same lunch hour with her. She swore that headmaster Roku had to be doing it on purpose, not that he actually kept track of the cliques and dynamic duos of Wan high. So it was that Katara found herself peeping in on various conversations. It wasn’t her intent to do so, but with no discussion of her own to uphold she found it unbearably hard to tune everyone else’s out. In her defense one boy a few tables over practically screamed, “have you seen Miss June’s ass yet!?” Katara’s attention left that discussion very fleetingly.

 “Is my mascara running?”

 “I heard that Long Shot’s joining the chess team this year.”

“Really, I thought that he was in archery?”

“Can’t expect a nerd to keep up with anything cool.”

 “I think that I should join theater this year…”

 It took her awhile to find a voice she recognized. “It’s actually disappointing really.” This was Usha’s slick mutter. Katara assumed she was catching the tail end of the conversation. “But I guess I’m the captain now.”

 So she found another one to follow.  “You know what, Zuko? No, I have my own things to deal with…” The girl paused. “How about this? How about instead of…hold on.” She fixed a set of dull eyes on Katara. They were so thickly coated in black eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara it was almost menacing on principle, never mind that the glare was a very pointed one. Katara mouthed a quick apology for eavesdropping.  “Whatever.” She grumbled and at a much lower volume, she carried on her conversation.

 Officially flustered, and rightfully so, Katara decided to curb her curiosity, lunch was almost through anyhow. She began tucking away what remained of her lunch, she never did eat the strawberries. For the remaining minutes spent in the cafeteria, she dutifully went over each and every one of the syllabi—cursing June in particular for having such a vague one when she finally did hand it out. With the bell’s ring she slung her backpack on and huffed, she was long overdue for a trip back to her locker. Only three classes in and her textbooks were practically conditioning her for the school wrestling team.

 She read over her schedule as she fought her way through a swarm of peers and groaned to herself. She had June for Chemistry too? For the first time in her educational career, Katara thought about taking one from Sokka’s book and playing hooky. She fumbled with her locker. “Are you kidding me!?” She tried the combination again and gave it a good pound.

The hall was nearly empty, but it wasn’t like anyone would have come leaping to her aid anyhow. “Come on, open. Please.” She winced. She looked at the time, two minutes left to get to class. She groaned, looks like June would be giving her, her first tardy after all.

 With the hall so nearly vacant the slam of a locker near her own caused her to jolt. She should have ignored it, it was always best to ignore loud sudden noises when on Wan high territory. But she didn’t, instead she locked eyes with the only other person in the hall. Straggly locks obscured much of her face, but not enough to spare her an intense furious glare—she wondered just how many of those she’d be on the receiving end of that day. Though these eyes had an exhausted undertone that took the edge off of the anger. She was paler than Katara last remembered and had put on some weight, wearing less makeup than Katara herself. And the makeup that she had bothered with was applied with a degree of carelessness. Overall, she was disheveled, leaving Katara with the impression that she wasn’t the only person having a tragic first day.  She heaved herself away from the locker she was slumped against, allowing Katara to assess that even her posture was wrong.

Everything was off to the point where Katara almost didn’t recognize her.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Wan High Weeping (Part 26)

For the billionth time that night, Mai wondered what she was doing there. It was still early and the place already reeked of alcohol and disappointment. She had already seen Aang approach Moo-Chee and she couldn’t help but cringe for the both of them. Moo-Chee, despite his adamant denial was emo trash through and through. One of the many reasons she had cut him out.  She listened to TyLee talk about what her twin sisters were up to. Apparently, they had this splendid group costume idea; they were dressing as idols from their favorite pop group.

If Mai was being honest, she had little interest in anything TyLee was saying, but she pretended so that the girl wouldn’t be offended. The longer she sat with TyLee at this stupid party, the more she realized that they had nothing in common. Their only tie had been Azula.

Truth be told she wondered if she really liked TyLee at all. Even in a gloomier state, TyLee was still too peppy for her. Too bright.

Too optimistic.

 She was beginning to figure out why preps and goths just didn’t click. It came as a shock to her that it might just lie at the fault of the goth clique and their lack of interest. Granted the preps had their bitchy streaks. Mai almost chuckled; what a shallow thing to think of. Shallow thoughts for shallow events.

 “Want to get a drink or something?” TyLee asked.

 “Not particularly.”

 “Please.” The way she said it, with some unnecessary desperation, had Mai on her feet.

 “I guess, if it means that much to you.” She looked over just on time to see Aang leaving with Moo-Chee. Talk about a potential disaster. She almost wanted to warn the poor boy away, but that would require an effort and perhaps some hustled running. Concessions stand, it was.

 “Bring me one, will you?” Jet called. To whom, Mai isn’t certain. But TyLee gripped her hand and pulled her through the crowd.

 At the concession stand, Mai found that she wasn’t hungry nor thirsty at all. She tried to eat a cupcake or two but didn’t have the drive to finish it. They were too sweet and reminded her too much of more joyous times. “Here, want the rest?”

 TyLee took it with a delighted smile and finished it off. She could almost pretend that things were normal. That Azula was off with Usha and Chan with a promise to meet up again before the costume contest winners were announced. And that Zuko was off sulking in a corner with the other stoners, as he contemplated how to make up for being an asshole. She took a moment to let herself truly revel in the illusion but reality seeped right back in.

 Azula was not off with Usha, she was next to her, eating as though she hadn’t done so in days. Mai had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn’t. That wasn’t what everyone else saw though. They saw another opportunity to give her former friend hell. Despite the bad blood she had created, she felt a twinge of sympathy for Azula. They were laughing, everyone seemed to have their own remark and she couldn’t imagine that her old friend was going to take it well.

It was enough for her. Without a word, Mai wandered away from TyLee. She didn’t quite like Azula, but she didn’t want to witness whatever happened next. That aside, hearing the Ghost Buster’s theme in between ill-fitting hip hop numbers was growing tiresome and she needed some air. In the back of her mind she knew that it was rude to ditch TyLee like that but then she recalled the slew of texts from Toph’s parents and her own.  She already received several texts asking her how she dared leave Tom-Tom without someone to take him trick-or-treating. How he was bawling because of her and his Halloween was ruined. It wasn’t like he had a mother and father to take him. No, it would seem that she was a selfish person through and through, she may as well add one more thing to the list. Let TyLee text her and add to her collection.

 She stole away and found her favorite room in the house; a guest room on the second floor. One of the few rooms in the house with a balcony. The chatter from the floor below was still too loud, but at least she was no longer in the crowd. She pushed the door to the guest room open.

She heard two startled cries from the bed and slammed the door shut again with a curt, “you got a room, now go the extra mile and lock the door.”

 Perhaps it was because they had stolen her go to hiding place, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Katara was the slut when Suki was pregnant and banging her man at every chance. She pinched the bridge of her nose, just light enough to not break skin, but tight enough to inflect irritation.

She found herself wondering how she had done this a few years ago. Had she actually enjoyed this scene? Was this kind of thing fun for her at one point?

With a knot of distress forming in her stomach, she realized that she had.

 There were a lot of things she used to love…

 She wandered down the hall wondering if there was anywhere else that would provide her with a place to think. And it occurred to her, she didn’t want to think. No, thinking would only pull her deeper under. What she wanted to do was drink. Drink and forget.

Forget about Tom-Tom, forget about Toph, forget about Zuko…hell she’d purge Azula and TyLee from her mind too while she was at it.

 .oOo.

 She ignored the constant flood of texts that flashed on her phone. Not only did she ignore them but she turned it off entirely. She chugged another glass and another until she felt her world go fuzzy. Her intoxicated mind formed a perfectly terrible idea.

 Mai stumbled her way up the stairs again and in the direction of the bathroom. If things remained as they had, the second-floor bathroom was the place to go if you were seeking free, albeit sketchy, tattoos.

 She’d have her fix of pain and something to really drive her parents up the wall.

 She could hear the hum of a tattoo gun and knew that she was in the right place. One of her lunchmates stumbled out with fresh ink and something to regret in the morning. She supposed that they could discuss that at lunch. She entered to take his place.

 “What are ya lookin’ ta get.”

 “A passing grade in your class.” Mai said automatically.

 June chuckled. “Don’t mention that I was here and I’m sure we can make that work.”

 “Deal.” She probably wouldn’t recall having seen the woman at all anyways. “Give me something my parents will hate.”

 “Oh trust me, darling, they’ll hate anything I give you.” June drawled. She flicked a cigarette butt into the trash.

 “Alright, then…” she thought for a moment. “Just give me a heart being stabbed.”

 “Ah, a classic.” June took a drag. “Who’s the unlucky ex?”

 She let the alcohol do all of the talking. “He fucking leaves. Just straight up disappears and doesn’t say a fucking thing. He texts me when he’s down but ignores me when I complain to him.” She blabbered on and on, probably slurring the whole way. But that was fine, someone needed to know that Zuko was a jackass. So she threw his name in there.

 “Ah yeah, Zuko.” June muttered “I saw him at Chitsang’s place.”

 “Who’s she?” Mai grumbled.

 “He’s a…” she trailed off. “Never mind. That boy got himself in trouble is my guess.” She brought the tattoo gun down.

 Sharp pangs danced over the back of Mai’s neck. It was almost euphoric. She savored each prick of the needle. Each prick of ink that brought her closer to watching her mother’s face twist in horror. “He deserves the trouble he gets.” She spat.

 “Mmm…harsh.” June cooed.

 Mai busted out laughing, forcing June to withdraw that tattoo gun until her laugher died away. She couldn’t help it, it was just so funny what she had thought of. She could show Tom-Tom her new ink and help him plan a tattoo of his own. Yeah, that would really send her mother reeling.