My favorite little prisoner…
The phrase rang through her head, tauntingly. And it was even she who had said it! Azula continued glaring at every object, inanimate or no, which she passed. It helped with her pent-up frustration.
She hadn't been able to visit The Boiling Rock in weeks. Weeks. Weeks of sitting around the palace, which was usually somewhat interesting, and waiting. Weeks of just Mai and Ty Lee. Weeks of listening to Mai drone about "Zuko the jerk" and weeks of watching Ty Lee walk in circles on her hands and telling her to make her aura pinker.
She wanted escape. She needed escape. Of any kind! The Fire Princess needed to go to The Boiling Rock. But instead she was sitting in on another one of her father's War Councils. He had at least 5 a week after the attempt on his life by Zuko and the Invasion plan that actually had been incredibly well planned out.
She'd never admit it out loud, and hardly even in her mind, but the Invasion plan the Avatar and his little posse had concocted had been amazingly detailed. Practically flawless. Azula had know precisely the right amount of information in order to stop it. One more surprise and it would have worked, without a doubt. This didn't bother her, of course. It was in the past. And she had dealt with it.
"All this War Council attending is making me think too much of battle…" the Princess murmured to herself as she shut the door to her chambers for the night. Azula shook her head, attempting to clear it of the endless talk of that stupid comet. She glanced out the window, seeing that the sun had just set.
Darn it all. I don't care. I'm going to see her- TONIGHT, Azula thought. She pulled her Fire Nation armored plate off her chest and slipped into a red and gold cloak. She gathered together a small sack of food, being prepared in case the balloon went down for any reason, and slipped from her room.
As she walked by the room currently inhabited by Mai, she knocked 3 times. Quietly. But loud enough for the weapons mistress to hear. And with that she continued walking through the practically-deserted halls of the palace. After her father's War Councils were the best times to sneak out. That was when the Firelord and most of the Council members would retire for firewhisky and fireflakes, and then talk more about the war. She hardly attended those, in favor of using her brain for other activities.
By the time she'd reached her private War Balloon docking station, a red balloon was already prepared for her to leave on it. She glanced up at Mai's window, where she could see a figure standing. She gave a slight nod as in thanks, and climbed into the basket. Setting her bag down, and pulling her hood up, Azula opened the main chamber leading up the shaft to the balloon itself, and pumped it with a few bursts of fire. Immediately the coals roared to life, lifting the red balloon high into the air.
She steered it as far away from the palace as possible, in case anyone got suspicious for any reason. Azula hated being disturbed by petty things such as security whenever she went to visit the prison.
Mai's uncle had received the Princess so many times unexpectedly at night, that he had actually grown accustomed to her. The night guards at the Gondola knew her in her cloak by sight, and had the machine running before she'd even stepped onto the platform. The Warden also knew that so far, the only prisoner the Fire Princess had ever asked to see was the girl in the second floor holding cell. He had the key already prepared to hand over so that he wouldn't even have to take off from his schedule to take her there.
Azula landed her balloon on the beach, far enough away from the steam so that she could control it landing and leaving again. She made the climb in a relatively short time, as her mind was distracted by other things. As she made it to the guard platform, the guards on duty scrambled to bow to her, and then get the Gondola prepared for her to cross. She waved lazily at them, continuing up the ramp.
The Gondola was just arriving as she prepared to board it. She walked on, alone, and the thing lurched to life. She could practically feel the relief in the guards on duty. It was funny how tense…well…everyone got as she came near. This thought merited a chuckle as she thought back to what Ty Lee had once said to her when they were at a party.
"I always scare boys off," Azula had said, "Like they're afraid I'm going to do something horrible to them."
Ty Lee had began laughing at this. "But, you probably would do something horrible to them!"
A truer thing had hardly been said about her, in her opinion.
She arrived on the other side more quickly than she'd expected, but she was pleasantly surprised. Azula was greeted by the Warden and two guards at his sides. He bowed deeply, almost to the floor, and the two hand guards followed. He camp up, and proceeded to hand her a simple silver key. She nodded, not even speaking, and went forward on her way.
The Fire Princess knew the route by heart now as she walked the path. Into the prison itself, to the left, down the hall, left turn again, up the stairs, right turn, another right turn, and 6th cell on the left. Azula paused in front of the door only long enough to put the key in the lock and turn it. She was quickly inside, and shut it and locked it again without hesitation.
"It's been 17 days," said a voice from behind her.
Azula's lips curled up into a wicked smile. "And so it has. Did you miss me?" She turned towards the prisoner.
The girl on the other side of the room look very similar to the Princess. Her arms were crossed, her hip out to the side, and a smug look of contemplation on her face. "I'm sure not nearly as much as you missed me."
Azula shrugged, the smile never leaving her face, as she lowered her hood. She then unhooked her cloak and tossed it to the side of the room. "I do hate wearing that thing. But if I don't people notice me and…get a little edgy."
"I can understand edginess."
Azula chuckled at this. "I make you uneasy?"
Suki shook her head, the smile still playing on her lips. "You make me unsure…but then…You manage to fix that by the time you leave."
Azula stepped closer to the girl. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"
Suki shrugged, grinning more wildly than ever. "Have I once made it easy for you so far?"
Azula shook her head as in "no". "I can't say that you have…but there's always room for change. I didn't want to count my koala chickens before they hatched." She paused for a moment, before continuing. "You're sure you don't want to just surrender and save yourself the trouble?"
Suki sunk into a defensive stance. "I'd rather not."
"All right then." And with that Azula sunk and shot off the balls of her feet, aiming for the other girl. Suki leaped to her right, grabbing Azula's shoulder and twisting her as she attempted to pin her to the wall. However, just as Suki was pushing her back, the Fire Princess changed her footing and pushed Suki to lose her balance.
As the Kyoshi Warrior fell forwards, Azula wasted no time in pushing her torso forward and pinning her arms to the wall above her. Suki had been beat.
Both girls' breathing was shallow as they stood still for a moment just letting the air return. Azula had Suki pressed flush between her and the wall, her breasts pushing into the Warrior's. Their faces remained a few inches apart, only their noses bumping occasionally while their caught their breaths.
A smile spread further across Azula's lips. "And I win again."
Suki chuckled deeply. "You usually do in this situation."
Azula growled suddenly. "And don't forget it, peasant."
The space between their lips had suddenly been closed off.
Azula locked the cell door behind her as she left. She turned away from it, pulling her hood back over her face. The Princess navigated her way back through the maze of The Boiling Rock's main tower. As she reached the Gondola, she tossed the key back to the Warden, who bowed once again. She glanced up at the sky. Light was just beginning to come into the once-black sky.
"I'll be back next week, Warden." Azula said coolly as she slipped into the Gondola. "You can count on that."
"As you wish…Princess Azula."