Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.
"It's all right. You can laugh. It's funny."
A few nervous chuckles come from the gathered soldiers, but there's little humor in the air.
She's made yet another biting remark about her unfortunate, out-of-favor brother. It's one of the few topics which she finds humorous.
It's become dangerous to laugh, nowadays. Princess Azula is all too quick to take offense. I've seen those who have accidentally gotten on her bad side. It was not a pretty sight.
No one dares to cross her. As if it weren't enough that she's a firebending prodigy, she has the authority of the Fire Lord behind her.
Her so-called friends seem to fear her. I'm not sure whether it's safer to be a faceless soldier in her army, or someone she knows and interacts with personally. I think it's the former, but both of the girls seem to have survived so far.
When the princess looks at us, I get the unsettling feeling that she doesn't see people. She sees bodies that can be thrown at the enemy, bodies to kill and die in her service, but not people.
She's fourteen. Fourteen, for Agni's sake! Fourteen, and she terrorizes us. Fourteen, and she wields incredible power, both physical and political.
I have a kid sister who's fourteen. Last time I was on leave, I visited my family. Kari's a typical teenaged girl-- mooning over boys and gossiping with friends, when she isn't helping manage the family shop.
When I look at Azula, I see none of that. I can't imagine her feeling any emotion as powerful as love. I can hardly imagine her with any emotions at all.
Even as she kills men, men with families, men who are fighting to protect their homeland... she always wears the same smirk. As if she thinks it's funny.
Perhaps she does.
Author's note: Azula is one of the two most interesting characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender. (The other is Zuko.) The idea for this little ficlet popped into my head as I pondered one of her lines (I forget the episode name, but it was the one where she corners a sleep-deprived Aang in an abandoned town and has to fight pretty much all of the main characters at once.) She does an impression of her brother, then tells Aang "It's okay. You can laugh. It's funny." I wondered why she would give someone permission to laugh. Then I realized that laughing at the wrong time around someone like Azula could be dangerous... and this story was an extension of that thought. Hope you enjoyed it!