She spent the first few weeks in shackles.
The room - her prison - was small and bare. One window, also small, high up on one wall. One makeshift bed, set along the opposite wall. One chair, plain. One small table, empty.
One steel door, locked from the outside.
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Katara came to see her, whether out of some kind of morbid curiosity or determination to provide some kind of healing, Azula was never sure. She spent the first week (though she couldn't be sure of that either, finding it as difficult to keep track of time as it was to keep track of her own thoughts and feelings in that early time) screaming at Katara- ranting and cursing and threatening her with all manner of things. Katara only shouted back for the first two days. Then she would just sit and wait and watch until Azula ran out of energy.
Azula resented that probably the most; if her only remaining weapon was her words and they had no effect, what did she have left?
After the first week or so, Azula tried silence, ignoring the waterbender entirely.
After a few days of that with no deterrence from Katara, Azula grew frustrated.
"What do you want from me?" she demanded.
Katara calmly replied, "I just want to help."
That damn belief that anyone could be saved, that there was good in everyone. She wanted to refute this, to argue, to prove it wrong and still be thought of as someone to fear, as something dangerous and other. But- she found she had grown dependant on Katara's company. There was no one else. The thought of driving her away now produced an uncomfortably empty feeling in her stomach.
"I don't need your pity," Azula spat.
She wished her hands were free so that she could toss a fireball in Katara's general direction.
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Still, Katara came to her, and still brought with her a kind of offer for companionship.
Frustrated, worn down, exhausted and feeling like there was nothing left of herself, Azula gave up. She began to talk with Katara.
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They were cautious with each other. Katara because she was still somewhat afraid (intimidated) of the firebender; Azula because when she saw Katara all she could think of was her defeat at this waterbender-peasant's hands, everything that followed and everything that it meant.
Weeks worth of time alone to think had produced no solution, no plan in her mind of how to get out of this situation. She was trapped, she had lost, and there was no way to return to her former life.
Azula had heard what had become of her father.
"Will he take mine, too?" she asked. Would she be made utterly powerless and weak? Would her last shred of dignity be stripped?
She didn't have to name the Avatar or firebending for Katara to understand what she meant.
"Only if he has to. He doesn't want to." The implication clear; behave, be good, and you can remain whole.
Azula nodded, looked away, and considered.
Eventually, her shackles were removed. The figurative hand of trust was outstretched to her. Azula's insides twisted with the compulsive urge to betray it, to manipulate it, (to burn it).
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Katara brought her clean clothes. Certainly not the finery of a Fire Nation princess, but neither were they the tatters of a prison shift or a peasant's tunic. Azula frowned upon realising just how long she had been dressed in the same filth.
She was lead out of her room, down a corridor and into a chamber in which she could bathe and clean herself. Two guards flanked the door on the outside. Katara handed her the pile of clothes, gave her an awkward, encouraging smile, and turned to leave.
Azula struggled with the urge to command the Water Tribe peasant to stay and wash her.
She entered the room, shut the door behind her, and tried not to think about how much things had changed.
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In the early mornings, as soft sunlight fell on her through a barred window, Azula imagined Katara kneeling before her.
She felt almost like herself again by the time Ty Lee came back. Almost.
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Ty Lee spent less than a month on Kyoshi Island before giving in to the pull to return home; to return to Azula. Ty Lee visited her every day since without fail.
Ty Lee, who laid soft kisses on her cheeks as if to erase any tears that may or may not have once been there. Ty Lee who had to be reminded to be quiet, struggling to suppress her moans and whimpers as they kissed, fully aware of the guards standing (listening) so closely outside.
Ty Lee gazed at her with total adoration in her eyes, loyalty unwavering, love unquestioning. In Katara's eyes Azula found concern and care, as she expected the waterbender couldn't help but have for everyone, even her enemies. But there was something else, too. A grudging respect, a flicker of hope, and... something else she couldn't be sure of.
But the way Katara's eyes would linger on her made Azula want to find out.
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Ty Lee apologised constantly for her actions at the Boiling Rock. Azula waved it off, not wanting to talk about it, to dwell on it, to think about it. When Ty Lee tried to explain herself yet again, Azula snapped at her angrily and turned away.
The acrobat got up from where she had been seated next to Azula on the bed. She had left a small bag by the door, and from it she produced a hairbrush. She came back to the bed, wriggling her way behind Azula, and began long, slow, gentle brush strokes through her princess's loose hair. (It was far less tangled than she expected, and far less soft than she remembered.)
Azula tried to remain tense, stubborn and unyielding, but she couldn't help the comfort that Ty Lee infused in her. She closed her eyes and sighed quietly.
Ty Lee leaned closer on one stroke, whispered into her ear, "I'll never do it again, 'Zula. I'll never leave you." She placed a soft kiss behind the ear, and felt Azula lean back against her.
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Katara still sat a safe distance away from Azula. She still carried a waterskin slung over her shoulder, she still kept her eye on the former princess, but the wary tension in her shoulders was gone, and she talked openly.
"So I hear Ty Lee's been coming to see you."
Azula made a non-committal "Mmm" sound.
Katara paused. Then asked, "How do you feel about her?"
Azula's eyes narrowed in a brief look of suspicion before unconsciously shifting to a mask of indifference. Much as she was growing used to Katara questioning her on her feelings, she still couldn't quite understand why the girl did it. She shrugged. "I suppose I understand why she betrayed me."
"Oh?"
Azula smirked. "She's a lot like you. She cares about people. She didn't want me hurting Mai."
"You almost make it sound like it's not normal to care about people being hurt."
Azula's gaze drifted away and her reply was a cynical, "Isn't it?"
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Katara hadn't seen Ty Lee and Azula interact much, preferring to leave them alone, not wanting to intrude on their friendship. (Her own contact with Azula was tenuous enough without making it look like she was constantly keeping an eye on her.)
The visits were never scheduled to precise times, and there was no sound of conversation coming from behind the door as Katara approached it. She smiled politely at the guard who unlocked the door for her, waiting for him to return to his post a few feet away before pushing it open.
She walked in on Azula and Ty Lee, who broke apart, surprised. Ty Lee blushed and giggled. Azula just looked at Katara with that thoughtful, vaguely lustful gaze.
Katara stuttered an apology and left immediately.
She could almost hear Azula's voice in her head, "This could be you."
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Katara did eventually return, of course, a day later, trying to act as if she had never seen two of her former enemies kissing like their lives depended on it.
They didn't speak of it - Katara didn't bring it up - but the waterbender looked perpetually nervous and embarrassed. It amused Azula to no end.
They exchanged meaningless pleasantries, Katara barely aware of what they were talking about, when Azula asked quite suddenly,
"Did you like it?"
Katara's eyes narrowed. "Like what?"
Azula leaned forward, provocative. "Did it make you feel... interested? No, no, wait." This was so much more fun than meaningless chatter. With a smirk, she pushed it further. "Jealous? Envious?"
Katara flushed.
The growing self-satisfied grin on Azula's face made her angry. She got up quickly, her chair sliding back slightly with the force, and left without another word. A soft chuckle followed her down the hall.
Katara mentally reprimanded herself even as she walked out of the building. She thought she had grown immune to Azula's taunts by now; some vague insinuations shouldn't have gotten to her.
But Azula's implications were clear, and Katara found she could not stop thinking about it.
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The next time, Azula didn't bother with faking small talk. The waterbender entered, the door having only just shut behind her before Azula moved. She came up to Katara, grabbing the front of her robe in one hand and the back of her head in the other, pulling her in for a kiss, hard and demanding.
It lasted a few seconds before Katara pulled back in shock, a hand raised to her lips, a small frown of confusion forming as she looked at Azula.
"What..." she started, but wasn't sure where to even begin.
Azula's fingers tightened their hold on the blue robe. "Just let me have this one thing," she said in a near whisper. 'You know you want it too,' she didn't say. (She didn't have to.)
Azula knew her so well already, knew how to push her in just the right way, and they were both well aware of it. Katara could almost convince herself that this whispered request was as close to pleading as she had ever heard from the princess. It made it so much easier to believe she was doing this for Azula and not at all for herself.
Katara didn't move as Azula leaned closer. A pale hand reached up and settled at the back of her neck, Azula inching closer still.
Lips so close she could feel the warm breath against her own, Katara's eyelids fluttered closed. Those lips drifted across her cheek, pausing before her ear.
"I will make you feel things you've never even dreamed of," she breathed into Katara's ear. Katara shivered.
She let herself be drawn in again.