Azula and her Bison are at the Earth King's Masked Ball, and Kuei gets more than he bargained for from a mysterious pretty face. Also present, Zuko and Ursa.
If you haven't read my fanfic "It Likes Azula?" You might want to do that first before you enjoy this one, otherwise this story won't make much sense.
In this story Azula is about as redeemed as I think she's gonna get, but she's still Azula. This takes place about two years after The Search ends.
Its kind of like Cinderella meets Avatar...if Cinderella were a recovering sociopath.
Disclaimer: I think its pretty clear that I don't own Avatar. Read on to confirm this.
Double Disclaimer: Please do not give your pets alcohol. This is written into the story for pure laughs.
"I'm sorry miss, you can't bring that bison in here," the Earth King's doorman stated.
Azula cocked her head. Her first instinct was to send a bolt of lightning up his ass, but she refrained. "Perhaps you don't understand," she began with a mock saccharine tone, "Dominatia is my therapy animal. I suffer from a very serious disorder..."
"Its not that," the doorman gulped. "Its just...well she's huge, Miss. I doubt she'll fit through the archway!"
Dominatia too looked like she was refraining. The corner of her pink lip was curling up into a low growl, and the gray tufts about her ears stood on end.
Azula put up a hand in warning, and the beast relented. Dominatia was Azula's personnal bison. She'd found the female during their quest to trekk down mother, and she hadn't left the Princess' side ever since. Dominatia was also the Alpha female of her heard and because of this, Azula had ended up with not only one, but several female bison at her beck and call.
They didn't mind that the deranged adolescent considered them her personal army, and in fact seemed to revel in the snarky, off color tasks Azula fashioned for them.
These included everything from stealing Zuko's underwear and displaying it on the royal ramparts during dignitary visits to raiding his personal sake; a drunk bison was a thing to behold indeed. Their mischevious temperament had come as a surprise to Aang, who knew the most about sky bison. These seemed to take on Azula's personality, minus the complete evil. They were also the only entity successful in getting Azula to comply with her medical regimen.
Under Dominatia's watchful eye, Azula took her drugs with clock like consistency and actually listened to her therapists without shooting bolts of lightning at them. Azula's hallucinations also disappeared completely. The doctors had never thought this would happen.
Aang had suggested exiling her to the Western Air Temple for a year or two, as she didn't need an asylum anymore, but putting her straight back into royal society wasn't ideal either. She needed interim placement and the Western Air Temple was ideal. The temple was close enough that Zuko and others could get to her, but it provided a nice peaceful environment in which she could heal and her bison could flourish.
Aang declared her Bison Lord. The title and duties associated with it enlisted her help in rebuilding the population, fed Azula's thirst for grandeur, and kept her homicidal tendencies in check.
"Fine," Azula grunted at the doorman, and she flashed Dominatia a discreet hand signal.
The female bison lunged at the man and seized him by scruff of his neck, suspending him above the earth. His eyes were wide with shock as he looked at Azula.
"You'll just have to show me a proper place for her then. And don't even tell me animals aren't allowed! I know about the Earth King's bear."
The man nodded nervously, tugging at his collar. He pointed ahead and Dominatia marched to his directions with the doorman still suspended by the scruff of his neck.
They ended up at a large courtyard where makeshift stables and troughs of water had been set up for the guests' animals. "Well this is quaint," Azula quipped approvingly.
Dominatia mewled with the doorman still in her mouth.
"Absolutely not, Dominatia," Azula firmly reprimanded. "You have enough chew toys!"
Visibly disappointed, Dominatia opened her maw, dropping the man to the earth. She settled under a high awning complete with a straw pallet, sulking just a little.
"You may go peasant," Azula commanded, and the man scrambled away from her before breaking into a full out run.
Azula watched the doorman disappear into the darkness. She wasn't sure if she should be pleased or disappointed that she still had that effect on people. According to her doctors and Zuzu, it was not a good thing, precisely why Zuko had insisted she attend this party.
"Bison are great Azula, and they've done wonders for you, but it's time for you to start interacting with people other than just mom and your doctors and I. Attending the Earth King's Birthday Ball is a perfect way for you to do this," Zuko had insisted.
Ursa agreed. "Really honey, you haven't tried to kill anyone in over two years!" she'd chimed in enthusiastically "That's real progress! I think you're ready!"
Azula stuck out her tongue at the memory, and Dominatia bellowed good naturedly beside her, reading her thoughts.
"Why did I agree to this nonesense, Dominatia? I should have stayed at the temple where I am the Bison Lord."
Dominatia grunted and drew herself up on her legs. Her gigantic head nudged her mistress towards the bright windows winking at them from beneath the archways supporting the palace. The ballroom guests were passing like green and gold shadows in the bright lights of a party in full swing. Several of the costumes were quite unique, ranging from boar-cu-pines to ornate Kyoshi Warriors to peacocks.
Azula had added a glittering green half cat mask that covered her eyes and nose and a sequin tail to her shimmering emerald cheongsam. She doubted anyone would see her costume, despite her stunning appearance. She wasn't sure she wanted anyone to.
She was distrustful of people ever since her betrayal by Mai and Ty Lee. She barely opened up around her mother and brother.
"Oh I'm NOT going in there alone!" Azula declared.
Dominatia warbled her version of "Why?"
"Well for one thing its boring. There's nothing to conquer, and no one who I'm interested in tormenting. The last time I was here I successfully led a coup. After that everything just seems so...lame."
Dominatia rolled her eyes, not convinced.
"Well it is lame!" Azula stammered, crossing her arms defiantly.
Dominatia rolled over on her back, presenting Azula with her fluffy belly.
Azula raised an eyebrow. "So it's go inside or rub your belly?"
Dominatia growled a "yes."
"Fine," Azula sighed, running her hand up and down her pet's underside, "but don't tell the others. Understood? I'll never live it down if you do."
"Oh my goodness!"
Azula stood and whirled, her hands clenching reflexively. She almost took up a bending stance, but it didn't take her long to realize that the man before her was no threat.
He was long and lean, his hands clasped together in joy, his mouth partway open below his bear mask. His long green robes swayed a little in the night air. Despite his mask Azula knew his identity immediately, having held him captive for several hours during the coup of Ba Sing Se. Speaking of chew toys.
"Can I help you?" Azula asked.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, Miss. It's just," he sidestepped her a little, his gaze fixed on her fluffy companion, "my doorman said something about another sky bison. I had to see if it was true. And it is! Dare I ask if it's a female?"
"Her name is Dominatia," Azula confirmed.
"The Avatar must be thrilled! May I pet her?"
"You may."
The Earth King descended on the bison and gave her an enthusiastic belly rub. Dominatia was more trusting of people than her mistress and groaned at the affection, her tongue lolling with pleasure. "She is so beautiful. I'd heard stories. I hoped they were true!"
"I have several female bison in my charge," Azula stated, a little proudly, "I am breeding them with the Avatar's bison and what few precious males I've found to ensure the survival of the species."
"Such a noble cause," the Earth King sighed. "Animals are wonderful, aren't they? I have a bear myself. His name is Bosco." The man straightened up in sudden realization. "Where are my manners? I am Earth King Kuei." He bowed slightly and waited for her to fawn, to swoon, to rush beside him all giggles like the other women had.
Instead, this woman in the cat costume bowed ever so slightly, then straightened her shoulders and stared at him. Her golden eyes remained narrow and glittering through the slits in her mask. "I am the Bison Lord," she told him in a voice that was as serious as it was suave.
Stunned by her odd behavior, the Earth King dissolved into fits of laughter. "Does the Bison Lord have a name?"
"None that matters, Your Majesty."
The Earth King laughed again. "Well then, Bison Lord, you don't mind if I stay out here with you, do you?" He let out a long breath. "You see, things are getting rather tiring in there."
"Oh?"
"There have been so many of these balls thrown for me lately. Now that things have settled down and the war is over," he hung his head, "everyone expects me to get married."
"Isn't it terrible when people expect things of you that aren't in line with your desires?"
Kuei stopped petting the bison and looked up at the strange woman. Her arms were crossed protectively over her chest, and she seemed a bit cold and distant, but she had just read him with pinpoint accuracy. "Yes," he whispered, "it is terrible."
"Especially when none of the women you've met suit you," the ambigious Bison Lord continued. "Many balls thrown for you. You must have met hundreds."
The King let out an exhasperated sigh. "More."
Azula placed her finger on her chin thoughtfully. Her doctors did say she should try caring about other people. "Hmm. Well you know I consider myself a people person. Not necessarily that I like them, it's just that I can read them very well. Perhaps you've misread some of the ladies brought before you. I could help you out with that."
Kuei brightened at the idea. He didn't know this woman from anyone. She wouldn't even tell him her name, but she did love animals, which was more than he could say for most of his advisors. What did he really have to loose? "All right then Bison Lord," he laughed. "You've stirred my curiosity." He stood and presented his arm.
Azula stared at it for a second before cautiously accepting it. She threw a glance over at Dominatia, who was smiling a huge bison smile at her. "I'll be back. When the others get here, please see to it that they are comfortable," referring to her family and the two other bison who were on their way.
# # # # #
They stepped through one of the archways into the glittering world of opulance that was the Earth Kingdom Palace Ballroom. It was gigantic, much larger than the Fire Nation Palace's Ballroom and adorned with gold and mother of pearl frescoes. The giant paintings reflected the shimmering lights from crystal and gold chandeliers. Azula wasn't usually impressed with much of anything, but she couldn't help but appreciate this. It was a style apart from the dark cherry wood and rubies used in the throne and ballrooms of the Fire Nation, which was a style meant to evoke passion, power, and mimic a smoldering fire.
The Earth King's style, on the other hand, emulated a beautiful spring day through its use of emeralds and gold and illumination. Everything in the room from the shimmering marble flooring to the jeweled ceiling caught and magnified light.
"I'll show you the first group of women," Kuei disrupted her thoughts, "And after I speak to them I would appreciate your opinion."
"I am at Your Majesty's service," Azula purred and let go of Kuei's arm when they were still a good distance away.
No more had Kuei come into view than two of the women came running up. One looked positively annoyed when she failed to be the first to embrace him. "Your Majesty, where did you run off to?"
"Yes, we were so lost without you," the second let gravity assist her toward the King.
What followed was a ridiculous amount of giggling and shameless hanging and fangirling. Azula dutifully stayed off to the side, suppressing her nausea and studying it all with calculating eyes.
When at last the Earth King excused himself and returned to the Bison Lord for her analysis, she had plenty to say. "I know their type well Your Majesty. They all just want to be Earth Queen. They might be nobility in blood, but in their hearts they're gold-digging peasants; they would bang a badgermole if it would get them the same result."
"That's about 50% of them unfortunately," Kuei sighed.
"Well then let's concentrate on the other 50%," Azula stated, and as she put her arm around the King, one of her fingers let loose a tiny stream of lightning, catching one of the gold-digger's robes on fire. "Women like that will have you murdered in your sleep the minute you diplease them."
Kuei made a face as he was led away. He was completely unaware that the noble women he was wooing a second ago were scrambling to put out their flaming gowns.
"Show me the rest immediately," Azula demanded.
And so he did. The next was a petite Earth Kingdom noble Mai Ling to which Azula said: "That one would be loyal, but she's a pathetic drone with no spunk, passion, or mind of her own. She's bred to absorb the desires and personality of her husband. She would be a total bore in all aspects of life."
The noble lady Amora of the Nothern Water Tribe was equally displeasing to the Bison Lord. "That one is too passionate about everything," Azula rolled her eyes, "She has to be the center of attention which means if you don't constantly fawn after her and pump up her ego, she'll take it as an insult."
The Fire Nation noble Yonoko was a "bimbo," according to Azula.
Kuei slumped at this analysis.
"Now hold on," Azula countered, taking his hand and leading him out onto the dance floor. The band had just began a traditional waltz, and guests were already starting to sway. "Bimbos can be very useful; they're loyal to a fault and easy to please." Azula guided his hand onto her waist and stared gently into his eyes as she began to move. Much to his surprise, she was leading him in the dance; more to Kuei's surpise he liked it!
"The problem with bimbos," Azula continued, never missing a step, "is that they're disgustingly giddy and too trusting. But as long as you monitor who she associates with and tolerate her incessant optimism, it would work out fine." Azula shuddered, remembering Ty Lee, "Could you put up with something like that?"
Kuei sighed, his imposing figure melting a little as he moved with her. "This is impossible."
"It's not impossible if marriage is what you really want," Azula disagreed. She let go of his hands to whirl before him, and as she did so Kuei was reminded, irresistably, of firelight on green silk. When she came back into his arms it seemed that her eyes were a little brighter, her skin a little softer, though he didn't know how this was possible. "It's like my therapist says: 'there's no perfect person.' Therefore you should marry by picking the person with flaws you can tolerate. Personally I would go for the 'bimbo' or the 'bore.'" Azula cocked her head, studying the disappointed look on Kuei's face as they moved together. At last she concluded: "But marriage isn't what you want, is it?"
Kuei smiled at her through his mask. "I feel like I'm still learning how to be a good King. I don't have time to learn how to be a good husband too."
"Perfectly reasonable. You just want these women to leave you alone." Azula threw her right arm about the King's neck, and her left leg slid out from beneath her, forcing the King to dip her. "So let's make that happen."
"How?" Kuei lamented. "You've seen how they are around me. I could try a different costume, but I'm so tall I stand out from everyone else."
The violins' sweet waltz halted and Azula righted herself. She bowed before him and then rubbed her hands together sadistically. "I have an idea. Does your ballroom have a larger entrance?"
An hour later, when Bosco, Dominatia, and two more of Azula's bison were chasing Kuei's silly fangirls out of the ballroom, Kuei and Azula were laughing at the edge of the balcony, watching pandemonium unfold. Those who had the most intent designs on becoming Earth Queen, the "gold diggers," as Azula had called them, scrambled embaressingly away. To the rest of Keui's guests, however, the bison remained amiable. Those people, interestingly enough, were most trusted by the King. Bison instincts were certainly keen like Bosco's, even more so the King believed. The sky bison did wonders to liven up the party and polish off the food and punch in addition to chasing off undesireables.
"Oh, look at that one run," Azula snickered, commenting on the behavior of one of the gold-diggers. "There's just the faintest hesitation of her right leg when she scurries. Now where did a noble woman get an injury like that?"
"I'll bet she got it from chasing bankers!" Kuei exclaimed.
"Good one!" Azula congratulated, smiling.
Kuei thought she had a beautiful smile, and he regretted the loss of it when she turned her attention back on the scene below. "Dominatia! Go easy on punch! Remember what happened the last time you got drunk?!"
Kuei, on the other hand, found he couldn't stop staring at this strange little cat woman who called herself the Bison Lord. She carried herself like a queen and spoke like a true intellectual, though she swore she was just a bison breeder. It didn't add up, and yet she was quickly adding up to be the most fascinating individual the King had ever met.
His mind kept drifting back to the dance they'd shared and how perfect she'd felt in his arms. He almost wished the insanity below would die down and the violins would play again so he'd have an excuse to hold her. Would she let him hold her without an excuse? He was determined to try.
When at last the party started to disperse and Dominatia and Bosco had wandered outside to rest on the hay, the King led his companion to the recess of the balcony. A green velvet couch was set against the wall and shrouded by gold gossamer curtains.
Azula had sensed a change in his demeanor, but wasn't sure what it was or if it really mattered. While she was a fair judge of compatibility between personality types, she was a moron when it came to pure flirtation or matters of the heart.
Kuei motioned for her to sit beside him, and Azula did so obediently. Kuei took her hands in his; Azula noted that they were trembling. "I just want you to know," he started with all sincerity, "that I've had more fun in this one night than I have my entire life. Meeting you has been one of the best things to ever happen to me."
Azula inclined her head slightly. "I am happy to have been at Your Majesty's service. Just remember, be firm in your convictions, and your subjects won't question your choice in delaying marriage." The Princess made a move to stand, but the King held her hands firmly.
"Wait," he said, a little pleadingly.
Azula raised her eyebrow and settled back onto the couch.
"I wanted to ask you if you would please take off your mask."
Azula laughed. "I don't think Your Majesty really wants that."
Determined, Kuei removed his mask, then smiled and scooted closer to her on the couch.
He looked a little different than Azula remembered him: less gaunt and more striking. He had a slight beard shadow, and his green eyes seemed a little darker, deeper. He was actually handsome; Azula swallowed.
Azula would have scooted away, but the sitting room on the couch was quickly diminishing. There was nowhere to go without standing, and the King still firmly held her hands, so this was impossible. "Why," he crooned, tipping her chin with his finger, "were you injured in the war? Do you have a scar?"
"Of course not!"
Kuei ignored the malice in her voice. "Are you Fire Nation? Or Water Tribe perhaps?" he quested, runnng his hand along her jaw below the mask. "I don't mind."
At last Aula lost it. He'd let go of her hands, and that was enough opportunity. She stood, fuming before him. "What I am is a shitzophrenic sociopath with anxiety and depression!" she growled. "In order to be stable I require heavy medications, intensive therapy, and a legion of sky bison! Despite the wonderful evening you've had with me I would make you very miserable indeed. I may be very fun, Your Majesty, but I am incapable of love!" Azula fumed. She procured a very irritated bow. "I bid you good night."
Undeterred Kuei caught hold of her wrists and pushed her against the wall.
Azula was furious. She could feel her breath of fire welling in her chest, threatening to burst from her wrists and fry the man detaining her...but for some reason it didn't. She just stood there, eyes simmering, lips twisted in a grimace.
He smirked back at her, looking at her with eyes that studied, accepted, wanted. For the life of her Azula couldn't figure out why. Her failure to analyze him was confusing but exhilirating, and it was the only thing that kept her from setting him on fire. "Why?!"
"It's like you told me," Kuei answered gently, his green eyes luminous. "There is no perfect person. You pick the one who's flaws you can live with. So what if you've got some emotional problems? My doctors are very good; I am sure they can help you."
"My personality is too overbearing," Azula squeaked, desperate to put him off, "and you're far too kind. I'd dominate the hell out of you!"
A lecherous smile spread across Kuei's face as he moved closer. "That actually sounds like fun."
Azula caught the sexual meaning in his words and felt heat rise in her cheeks. Her heart started to thunder. Half of her wanted to set him on fire and run out of there screaming. The other half wanted to be kissed. She was nearly 20 years old, and the only time she'd kissed a boy was during that horrid party on Ember Island. Chan hadn't even wanted her.
Kuei did. She'd admitted her faults and laid everything on the line for him. She'd told him who she was as completely as she could without giving him her name, and still he wanted her. Why?
Before she could figure this, or her next course of action out, however, Kuei's lips were on hers. Azula froze at the touch, but he didn't. He embraced her fully, completely, and it was nothing like she thought he would be. Despite her earlier opinion of him as a chew toy or a weakling, he certainly didn't kiss like one. He kissed with genuine interest, strength, and compassion. His arms moved the same way, then came to rest gently but firmly about her waist. She'd been kissed once, but she had never been held by a man before. Not even by her own father.
Despite herself, a couple of tears slipped from her eyes and her fists began to loosen as the encounter continued. Slowly but surely, she began to thaw; she didn't lend her own passion to the kiss but opened her mouth and let it move in time with his. She let him posess her, dominate her, hold her. It was being held that was the most intoxicating.
When Kuei finally pulled away, the Princess looked at him through her tears, panting both in reaction to the kiss and with the effort of holding back her emotions.
Kuei smiled and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You don't kiss like someone who can't love. You kiss like someone who's afraid of loving."
That did it. Azula shoved him aside and ran away from the balcony, down the stairs, and into the courtyard to where Dominatia waited for her beside the stables. Just short of the beast she tripped and scrambled to her feet. She was in such a hurry to get to her mount that she didn't realize she'd lost a shoe in the process.
Dominatia took to the skies before Azula could utter the first "yip."
Kuei caught sight of them climbing into the moonlight just before his foot hit something foreign on the ground. He looked down.
There, glistening amidst the hay and moss, lay a green sequin heel.
# # # #
"We are so sorry we couldn't make your birthday ball," Ursa apologized to Kuei at breakfast the next morning. Zuko and Ursa had arrived many hours late due to a malfunctioning war balloon. Kuei had no more than greeted them and shown them to their rooms than they retired in the wee hours of the morning.
"It's the second time the damned thing has done that. I ought to have it scrapped," Zuko sighed as he sampled the eggs.
"Yes it's strange that Azula got in so late also," Ursa continued. "She wasn't riding in a war balloon. She took her b..."
"Please, Please, " Kuei interrupted good-naturedly. "There's no need for apologies. I am just happy you're here now. We'll have a nice day together in the wine country once Azula is awake. Perhaps later you all can help me find someone."
Zuko looked up from his plate. The King's countenance had taken on a dreamy expression, and he produced a shimmering sequin heel.
Ursa's mind raced, trying to decide if she'd seen that shoe before.
"You'll forgive me if I didn't notice your absence. You see, I fell madly in love last night! We laughed, we danced, we tormented society women. Zuko it was just..." A look of ecstacy washed over the King's face as he relived the night. "It was perfect. She was perfect."
"So..you took her shoe?" Zuko questioned. He'd heard Earth Kingdom people were into kinky things, but this was just weird.
Kuei sighed. "No. I..." he hung his head. "I came on too strong and scared her off. She lost this while she was running away from me."
Zuko considered Kuei. Aang had told him about love at first sight, but he remained skeptical of the stuff. Regardless, he'd never seen Kuei this enthusiastic or happy, and that meant an easier time diplomatically for him. Far be it from him to discourage the jovial ruler.
"I'm going to find the woman this shoe belongs to Zuko," Kuei declared, "and I'm going to marry her!"
Just then Azula entered the kitchen to see the Earth King rubbing her green heel against the idiotic grin on his face.
"What are you doing with my shoe? Do you have some kind of fetish or something?" The second the words left her, Azula realized her mistake and clapped her hands over her mouth. But it was too late. The cat was out of the bag.
Kuei looked at her. The color drained from his face. "This is...your shoe?"
For an answer Azula gently plucked the heel from Kuei and placed it on her foot; of course it fit perfectly. For a moment she stood there, feeling lopsided and conspicuous. She thought about spewing further vitreal at Kuei, but couldn't. She'd never seen a man make out with her shoe before. She'd never been held like he'd held her last night, and for the first time in her life, she couldn't stomach being mean.
She swallowed thickly. "Thank you for a wonderful evening," she told him, blinking back the tears that crept into her eyes. Her gaze darted nervously from Kuei, to mother, to Zuzu and then back. They were all as shocked as she was. Suddenly she turned around and fled the kitchen to weep her confusion into Dominatia's fluffy belly.
"Darling wait!" Ursa hollered, following after her.
Zuko looked at the shocked King. "I would say I'll kill you if you break her heart, Kuei, but I think I'm the least of your concerns right now."
So what do you think kids? :)