It was an intense twisting along her shoulder and spine.
It was as if every muscle and joint in her body were straining to keep a boulder aloft on her shoulders, but that description seemed a little too detailed. So instead, she told her personal masseuse that her muscles felt a little tight on her back.
The masseuse was more than eager to please.
The masseuse, a young boy, was an expert at his job. And through his efforts, the pain subsided, leaking out of her body like steam. It was enough to make her sigh with pleasure and thank the boy.
However as soon as she left, the pain in her shoulders returned and not only that, it seemed to have grown to include her neck, making it ache and creak every time she tried to turn her head or tilt it.
And even though she was certain that this growing pain had nothing to do with the masseuse, the boy lost his meager job and was banished from the capital.
And still the pain continued through the girl's body, running up her spine, across her shoulders and creeping up along her neck. It was starting to come to the point where she was in too much pain to even in continue her duties as Princess.
She had refused to go before, but now she had to concede to visiting the Royal Physician.
In the end though, the visit to the doctor proved no more helpful than time spent with the ex-masseuse.
The doctor was an educated individual, a top-of-the-class scholar who had mastered a variety of techniques and pioneered several medical remedies that made him indispensable to the Fire Nation. So of course, the Princess gave the man an ample amount of time to explain why he could not identify what was wrong with her. Most of his explanation was meaningless medical nonsense except for his last desperate sentence:
"There's simply nothing wrong with you!"
It was a very good answer. And normally the Princess would have agreed without a second thought.
But the pain plowed on, pushing up against her head, as if a slug was crawling between her skin and skull, threatening to burst out in an awful bloody mess at a moment's notice. So the doctor was completely wrong and thus he was no longer fit to remain as the Royal Physician or even remain alive for much longer. Or so the Fire Princess decreed.
After a few days, it came to the point where the princess could not pull herself out of bed.
It was only then that the Firelord saw fit to see how his daughter was doing.
He came without a guard, dressed in simple garb and unceremoniously burst into the girl's room just as the sun was rising.
"Wake up." He said plainly, but loud enough.
The Princess stirred, wrapped in her blankets like a cocoon and shivered at the sound of her father's voice. "I already did."
"Then?" Ozai asked, his expression blank.
"Then what?" Azula retorted weakly.
"What are you still doing in bed?"
A sudden wave of heat washed over the Princess, almost boiling under her blankets, but she refused to throw them down. Instead she chose her next few words carefully.
"Woman problems."
"Liar."
Suddenly the blankets erupted in flames, every inch of it burning up all at once, turning into ash before the Princess could even feel the heat.
Ozai regarded his daughter coldly. "Or even if you weren't lying, I wouldn't care. You're getting out of bed and doing whatever it is you're supposed to do."
"And what would that be?" Azula replied sourly, covered in soot and left only with her night gown.
"How should I know? They're your responsibilities."
Azula scowled.
Her father only watched her.
She sighed, sat up and tried to stand, but winced as she did, touching her back gingerly.
"What's wrong with your back?"
Azula looked up and saw her father's eyes trained on her, intense as always.
"It hurts." She answered.
He raised an eyebrow. "Not woman problems?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing." She tried to get up, but only succeeded in raising her body a millimeter off the bed before sinking back into it, her face twisted. "It just hurts."
"And you had this checked with the Physician?"
Azula rubbed her shoulders sullenly. "He couldn't find anything wrong."
"So you're in perfectly good health, then?"
"It's what the doctor said."
Wordlessly Ozai crossed the room in three huge steps and before she could move, Ozai took his daughter by her arm and without a moment's hesitation yanked her to her feet.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Azula stared at her father as she screamed as if trying to make his head explode through sheer force of will. She may have succeeded as well, if it weren't for the fact that Ozai quickly put his free hand over the girl's mouth and ordered her: "Shut up."
The Princess glared at her father, her eyes hot with tears and barely-contained rage.
"Listen to me." The Firelord leaned in close, his voice dropping suddenly, but his commanding tone never disappearing. "If there is nothing to explain this pain, then there is no pain. And on the off-chance you really are experiencing this pain that you describe, it still shouldn't matter. Your bones are not broken, your organs are not failing and your muscles are not tearing or deteriorating. There is nothing stopping you except for this 'pain' and you know that I will never accept that as an excuse."
Azula glared at her father.
"Are you still in pain?" Ozai asked, his face as emotionless as it had been since he entered the room.
"No." The princess lied through gritted teeth.
"Good." Ozai let her hand fall out of his and he pulled back, but his eyes were still on her. "Then I'll be going now. Take care of yourself."
He left.
Azula watched him go, biting her lip till blood dribbled onto her night gown.
It didn't matter though, she'd have to change anyways.
She had a lot of catching up to do for all the work she missed.
End