You can never fool Azula. Somehow, she's always completely aware of where a person's loyalty lay. A simple look in her eyes, and I know that she knows that Ozai would kill her in a second, that Ty Lee only follows her out of fear, and that I bear no more loyalty to her then I do the water peasants. But she keeps us around because she also knows that Ozai views her as a powerful weapon, one that should not be destroyed yet. That Ty Lee is strong, but not strong enough to betray her. That just because I am not loyal to her does not mean I will turn on her. A look in her eyes reveals that within a week of his return, she knew Zuko was not loyal to her and was planning a rescue for his uncle.
But Azula was not only a firebending prodigy. She was a master strategist too. While she could kill Zuko in his sleep now, Azula would aim for the outcome that would humiliate and hurt the most people possible. Although she could kill him now, she would rather wait and have a public execution.
So Azula waited patiently. She kept an extra close eye on Zuko, although I doubt he noticed. I watched him stare at exits, always a few seconds longer then necessary. I could almost hear him going over escape strategies in his head.
Finally, the day arrived. Azula entered mine and Ty Lee's chambers with an almost gleeful expression.
"Zuko's trying to free our good-for-nothing uncle. I want you and Ty Lee down there to assist me in case anything goes wrong in his capture." Azula smiled maliciously. "Unless you don't want to watch the defeat of your precious Zuzu."
And there it was. I had hoped she wouldn't have noticed that my crush on Zuko had far from dissipated. I hadn't really believed she hadn't noticed, but I had hoped. However, I didn't have much of a choice of what to do now. With Azula, there was never a choice, never a chance to show emotion when it would not be used against you. I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever." I grabbed my knives, and followed Azula into the dungeons, and noticed Ty Lee by my side.
"Well, Well, Well," Azula laughed, "I had suspected as much." I watched Zuko jump at the sound of his sister's voice. Was he really that surprised? This was Azula, after all. "It looks like we have another traitor. Put him in a cell," she instructed.
"I'm sorry Princess, we have no empty cells," One of the guards said uneasily.
"Well, kill the Kyoshi Warriors, or someone else in one of the cells. We don't want Zuzu to have anyone to team up with to try and come up with brilliant escape plans, now do we?" The guard bowed respectfully and left, dragging Zuko away. I frowned a tiny bit, and while I know Azula noticed, she said nothing.
Three weeks later, we were back in the Fire Nation and it was the day of Zuko and Iroh's execution. Azula's greatest victory. I sat expressionless and listened to the loud boos as Iroh was brought out. I sat expressionless as the cheers rose after Iroh's execution. I sat expressionless as Zuko was brought out. But has the killing blow was about to be dealt, I jumped up. Ty Lee, who had been looking at me nervously all day, now stared at me in fear. I ran in front of Zuko and heard myself shout not to kill him. I watched a smirk make its way across Azula's face.
"I knew it. I knew threatening his life would turn you traitor." I froze as Azula laughed chillingly. I watched a bolt of lightening speed towards me, and was unsurprised.
After all, you could never fool Azula.