The Fire Lord burst into the room, and all the candle flames seemed to burst an inch higher as he did. "Where is she?" he said with barely controlled anger.
"She's in the infirmary. We took her there immediately." said one of the attendants nervously.
Zuko turned and walked off in the direction given, while the same attendant followed him. "How bad is it?" he demanded.
"We managed to prevent any debilitating damage, but she will be scared for life. Fire Lord, please forgive us, we didn't know what she was doing until it happened, I swear."
He gave the gibbering fool a silencing glare, then continued on his way. He reached the infirmary soon, and approached the door. The Warden for the prison stood in his way, facing in. The fool was probably worried about how this would affect his career. Zuko had intended to inform him anyway, this would just let him take his anger out sooner.
"Warden," he said, startling the the man. The Warden tried to jabber out some excuse, then simply dropped to the ground and started groveling. "I entrusted you to a very delicate matter. You were to see that no harm came to her, and now you have failed. I wont waist any more breath on you. If your smart, you'll get out of this building and get. out. of. my. Fire. Nation"
The man ran off promptly, stuttering his thanks for mercy as he did.
Zuko stood at the door for a moment and composed himself. He took a deep breath, then removed his hair piece. He had to go in there as Zuko, not the Fire Lord.
He opened the door and stepped in. He closed the door softly behind him.
"Azula?"
The Young woman was lying on the cot with her back to him. She tensed when he said her name, and her reply was strained. "What, do you, want?"
"Azula, I've come to..."
"To gloat over your victory," she cried, "After all you took from me, my throne, my victory, my friends, my father, my m-" she chocked on the last word. When she spoke again, her voice had taken a strange, playful tone, "After I did this for you..."
"DO NOT MAKE THIS FOR ME." Zuko demanded. "This was not for me, it was for you and your own self pity."
"IT WAS FOR YOU." She screamed back, then her voice changed again, "It was all for you, aren't you proud?" She suddenly began to cry.
Zuko stepped toward her, looking down on her with a terrible pity in his eyes. She had been a monster, total and absolute, but she didn't deserve this madness. He tried to reach out to his sister, but she shrieked and drew herself tighter together. As he pulled his hand back, her sobs of anguish became a perverted laugh, and he quietly left the room.
Colonel Periswith watched idly as the small dingy with the 'representative' from the burning village across the bay made its way towards his ship. He met the commander at the landing deck as he climbed up, and held out his hand.
"Charles Periswith, Commanding officer of the 1st Exploratory Expedition." The man standing across from him was young. Not nearly old enough for all the achievements that the reports had given him, and certainly only barely old enough to have fought in any war.
Periswith retracted his hand when all the boy did was scowl at it, a scowl he returned.
Finally, the boy spoke, "Do you know who I am. I'm..."
"Haru, General in the Earth Kingdom army, second youngest person to do so. You received your rank from Earth King Bumi himself after an exemplary performance in what is called the War of Sozin's Comet, three years ago. In which you were instrumental in assisting the 'Avatar' in defeating the Fire Nation, thereby rescuing the Earth Kingdom." Haru stared at him in disbelief, and he smiled while he continued, "You were attached to this fortress as a ceremonial position, being considered the 'General of the East'. Your father died a happy man in his home 3 months ago, and you flirted with the General of the West after the funeral ceremonies."
Haru dismissed his surprise and hardened his expression. "You have good spies, so what. The Dai Li are just as good."
Periswith's smile became a frown. His gaze became stern, and he towered over the young general. "I am supposed to tell you that I have been sent here by the Iron Emperor himself, to assess whether or not you need our protection. I am supposed to tell you some half ton of bullocks about bringing civilization to a world torn by war. In short, I'm supposed to lie to you."
He turned and took a few steps away from the young man. "But I wont. I'll tell you the truth. We've come to conquer you. Your world has been weakened by war, and now it is ripe for the taking. Our superior armies and science will sweep through your defenses as easily as your village was burned. I am merely here to stir the pot a bit before the real force arrives."
He turned to face Haru again, and smirked. "What kind of 'witty comeback' do you have to that."
Haru stunned him with his speed, as the young man's jewelry came to life. The stone pieces Haru wore around his neck shot out and killed the guards instantly. Then he gathered them together into the largest stone he could form with them, and shot it at the Colonel.
It shattered as the Colonel punched it. Periswith then bent low and scooped up a piece of metal. Haru watched in horror as that piece compressed into a perfectly round ball the size of a bead.
His surprise was cut short when that same ball of metal shot through his body.
Periswith looked down on the corpse in front of him. The boy had indeed been quite dangerous. But, fortunately, he had made the fatal mistake of under estimating his opponent.
"Leftenant," he called out, and an officer acknowledged, "Get someone to clean up this mess, and prepare gunnery crews. Lets send a message to these 'Earth Kingdom' types what happens when they try to assassinate an Iron Empire officer, eh?"
He turned again to stair across the bay at the village and the fortress. Pity He thought, This was such a beautiful place. Then the cannons thundered.