Curt, purposeful footsteps came down the hall, to enter the throne room. The wearied new Firelord glanced up at his spymaster, who bowed.

"Your Majesty, we have intelligence that the rebellion is growing stronger. There have been numerous disappearances and threats made; our network has been counteracting them to the best of our abilities."

The spymaster faltered slightly, not wanting to add more to the burden of the young Firelord.

Zuko sighed. "What is it? There's something you've left out."

"There was a breach in the high security prison, Your Majesty. All prisoners but one were caught and detained." He leveled his gaze with the teen's as a glimmer of dark understanding crossed the boy's face.

"Azula."

Zuko rose from his throne, stepping lightly off the raised dais. "Would you mind, Teishu? Alert Aa- the Avatar and the rest of my councilors, please. This needs to be discussed immediately."

Teishu nodded respectfully, but maintained his position. "Sir?"

Zuko turned to him, gesturing for him to speak.

"They have already been alerted, though the cause of the meeting was not mentioned. They will arrive on the morrow. Lady Mai awaits outside the chamber."

Despite himself, Zuko looked faintly amused. "You expect my reactions well. I'm only thankful that you know me so well, Teishu. And must I remind you once more? There is no need for formalities. Just please, call me Zuko."

Teishu nodded, straightening when he caught himself bowing. With a smile, he left the room.

Mai entered from a passageway behind the throne, rolling her eyes. "Even when I'm silent and invisible, your spies always know I'm there."

She tugged on a strand of his hair. "If you keep worrying, Zuko, you're going to go gray before you turn twenty. Azula's escape was only to be expected. Did you really expect her to stay locked up? Even when her mind's half gone?"

"I hoped. And an Azula half mad worries me more than a sane Azula. Who knows what conspiracies and ideas she's got into her head now?" He paced around her.

Mai tsked, catching him by the shoulders. Looking squarely into his surprised face, she told him almost sternly, "You've changed, Zuko. You weren't always this paranoid."

Shrugging out of her grip, he shook his head. "I wasn't the wisest kid either, Mai," he said quietly. "I wasted most of my life uselessly, trying to get into my father's heart. I was born into the wrong side of the war, and thought that my place was the one society gave me. I couldn't see past my own needs!"

"But you're not like that anymore! You need to take some time to relax!"

"I'm not like that because Uncle helped me. But he isn't here right now, and I've got to keep this nation running without him. And for that, I've got to be ready to look both ways! I can't just turn the other cheek when something happens. There's no taking what she'll give, and there's no ignoring it either! Just yesterday my war minister disappeared!" Sparks danced at his fingertips, and the fire in front of his throne sprang up.

"I know," she said tersely. "But running the country doesn't mean that you have to leave everything else!"

In the time since the end of the war, she had grown slightly more expressive, though her mood ranged only as far from bored to annoyed or, on an especially good day, somewhat content yet moody.

"You don't understand these things, Mai. You didn't grow up with a father or sister like mine. You didn't grow up in the midst of politics."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "You forget that I was here more than I was ever at home, Zuko. I did grow up with politics. And your sister used to be my friend. I'm not ignorant about this stuff."

He sighed. "I'm going to prepare for tomorrow's meeting. You can join me for dinner if you want afterwards." He strode out of the room, leaving Mai more than a little cross.

These small disagreements were growing ever more frequent between them. She only hoped he wouldn't do something rash.

"Okay, Sparky, what're we here for?" Toph's charming and ladylike demeanor made itself apparent as she put her dirt-encrusted bare feet on the table.

Rolling his eyes, he looked around at the five of them.

"Well, to put it lightly, Azula has escaped from prison, formed an underground rebellion called the Mehrs, and has begun attacking the delicate balance of the rule by doing away with various of the higher nobles who work under me."

Various degrees of shock sprouted on their faces, though Mai, as usual, remained passive.

"Well, obviously, we've got to stop them," Sokka reasoned, always somewhat practical.

"How did she get out?" Katara seemed almost a little afraid. That last battle with Azula had been fought under sheer force of adrenaline and anger – she knew that the older girl was exceedingly powerful.

Putting his hand on her arm comfortingly, Aang asked, "Is there anything we can do to stop the rebellion before it gets too far?"

"I don't think there's anything we can do right now, but there will no doubt be some of her spies at the diplomatic talks in Katai Shi a few months from now. That's the one great city that was never conquered during the war. To her, it must be like a sore thumb; she'll want it for her collection."

"Then we'll go there and stop anyone trying to bring down the city." Aang wasn't comfortable with Azula roaming free, either – being murdered once by her was more than enough.

Sokka shook his head. "No, you can't. You, Katara, and Zuko are too easily recognizable. Everyone knows your faces now that you guys took down Azula and Ozai down."

"But we've got to do something! You don't expect us to sit back and let Azula kill everybody and start another war, do you?" Katara's face was set in her usual determined manner. She wasn't one to let innocent people get hurt where she could help.

Sokka flinched. "She's not killing anybody. Not when we can do something about it. Because we can."

Toph grinned. "You've got a plan."

He smiled. "Yep."

Zuko looked slightly relieved. "What're we going to do?"

"You're not doing anything." He looked pointedly at Zuko, Mai, Katara, and Aang.

"Toph and I are going to go to Katai Shi. They don't know us as well as they know you. I'm a non-bender, and Toph isn't really the face of this team, either. We can go there undercover."

"Sweet." Toph nodded in agreement. "I can knock some of those dunderheads' heads together!"

"I don't like it." Aang couldn't let his friends be put into such danger.

"Neither do I," Zuko shook his head.

"Look. You and Mai are needed here. Aang can't just suddenly disappear and go undercover when people are still looking to him to trust the Fire Nation. And Katara is needed to finish rebuilding the South Pole. There aren't enough Waterbenders to do the job without her." He leaned forward across the table that served as a world map.

Mai shook her head with a sigh. "He's right. None of the rest of us can be spared."

He leaned back, satisfied. There was only one loophole in his logic, and she had just sewn it shut. Mai could've gone with them if she'd wanted, since her role was somewhat minimal on the world scale.

Azula huffed, irritated yet relieved at the ignorance of the prison guards. She was dressed as one of them, with the traditional dragon head mask. Her mother followed closely behind her, with no disguise. She must've been a regular visitor – the guards never gave her a second glance.

She had been raising followers despite being locked up, and her officers had followed her orders satisfactorily. Enough of Zuzu's councilors and nobles had disappeared that he was getting worried. She smiled. Perfect.

It had been a couple days since she had left her cell, with the Warden locked inside and bleeding from a head wound. A couple times, Mai, Ty Lee, her mother, or her father visited her cell, talking to her.

But they'd always disappear when she'd shout at them, dissolving into thin wisps of air that were gone by the time a guard thought to check on her.

Once, Long Feng came in, to tell her that her phoenixes had all roosted, but the dragons were eating them alive, flames and all. She had kicked him then, but he didn't flinch. "They're good, your dragons. They may be creatures of fire, but their stability is so Earthbender." He walked through the wall and away.

"Stop following me, mother." She looked over the battlements at the lights shining from the palace, her old home.

She looked back, to find her mother with an arm around a thirteen-year-old Zuko.

Azula shook her head. "I've got to get out of here. This place is making me go mad." She whispered quietly to herself.

Walking to the entrance guard, she saluted in the manner reserved for equals. It hurt her dignity to salute to a mere, foolish guard, but there was no other way.

"Shift's over. I'm to relieve you."

"Yes ma'am." The guard bowed, subconsciously feeling the authority hidden in the former princess's voice.

Within minutes, she had jumped off the tower, sliding down the wall with her firebending to propel her.

She had chosen her descent in the corner between the sentry turret and the high fortress wall, making it virtually impossible to be seen. At the bottom, she discarded the clunky, gaudy armor and mask, escaping unnoticed into the forest.

An envoy would meet her there soon, as planned.

Ursa continued to watch her daughter silently, hovering a few inches off the bramble-strewn ground. Her voice echoed inside Azula's head. "I love you Azula. I do. And I care about you. Fear isn't the only reliable way. You need to trust people! Trust that your brother will do the right thing for the nation."

She growled, lashing out at her with a volley of fire. "You never cared! I was a monster to you!"

But she was gone.

The last thing Ursa says is taken directly from the show.

I hope everything is in character!

I know, Mai is a bit too expressive, but how would you have her argue?

Poor, overworked Zuko...

So this is a prologue - I realized around the time I started writing chapters four and five that I never explained several things, so this was necessary. And I've noticed that people tend to read these stories if they start with canon characters, as opposed to OCs.

Do tell what you think!