The Ties that Bind

by rayemars

Azula, Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee: In the most interwoven of tapestries, there are always loose ends. [Art of War 6]

Disclaimer: Avatar: the last Airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

This takes place immediately after the ending of Visual Emphasis, with The Unveiling occurring in the middle.
——————

-

Qiang and two more Dai Li agents brought Sheng Li and Yi to the main dining hall while Azula and her allies, and Zuko, were still rushing through breakfast. Azula hadn't bothered to sit; she was standing at the far end of the table, altering a scroll she'd taken from Long Feng late last evening. It was a small-scale map of the city, from the outer wall right up to the blank square which designated the former King's palace. She'd been sketching the locations of the new walls and the stationed positions of the soldiers over the course of the night; now she was finally laying out the route that she and Zuko would be taking from the outer wall to the gate of the middle ring. She'd surreptitiously checked the ceiling before doing so.

(She had also ordered last evening for broth to be served for the meal, because it was the only thing she would be able to eat enough of to make it through the day. She could have finished more if she'd been willing to take it in a cup rather than a bowl, thus allowing her to have her hand free during the meal instead of waiting until she was done with the map to begin eating; but under the circumstances, Azula refused to sacrifice her image for even a few minutes. The army would be within the walls in mere hours, and she could settle Qin into important but time-consuming tasks by evening; she could rest then.)

Azula rolled the scroll up tightly and attached it to the back of her belt before appraising the men. Sheng Li and Yi had been dressed in generals' uniforms, as ordered; but they lacked personal details. She narrowed her eyes. "Do neither of you have individual tokens that will make it easier for the refugees to recognize you?" Azula demanded. "No armor or belts?"

"We didn't take those when we brought them in," Qiang replied, deferentially.

I should have thought of that, Azula realized with irritation, and then threw her shoulders back. "Very well," she said, and looked down at the others. "It's time to go."

Ty Lee dropped her spoon immediately and pushed away from the table. Mai and Zuko took an extra second to set theirs down properly.
-

They left the palace when the sky was still at the edge of dawn, taking advantage of the lingering darkness to make their way down to the army outside the gates. As additional cover, Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai wore deep green cloaks taken from the store of Earth King. When they reached the gate between the middle and outer ring, Mai and Ty Lee remained stationed there with three of the Dai Li who had come with them. Azula, Zuko, and the new generals continued through and on to the city gate with Qiang, the last of the group.

Azula noticed Zuko making restless movements with his hands as they drew closer to the gates and the army beyond. He would fidget with the edges of his cloak for a few moments before forcefully bringing his hands to his sides, only to begin toying with it several moments later; but she ignored it and kept her face impassive. This would be the most critical moment of all, not only for the capture of Ba Sing Se but also for her future position. Her attitude was everything.

But after the replaced soldiers opened the main gate and the first line of the Fire Nation's army came into view, Zuko straightened to his full height and strode forward with a slightly longer step. When Azula glanced at him from the corner of her eye, she could make out the tightness of his jaw in the early dawn light.

She knew that look well, and wondered if Zuko would ever learn that projected bravado was not the same as confidence.

Azula lengthened her stride enough to stay ahead of him, kept her expression of focused calm steady, and reached up to unhook the clasp of her cloak. She let it fall onto the stone road behind her as she continued forward, its concealment a useless thing no longer needed. A moment later, Zuko did the same.

She noticed, in her peripheral vision, that Yi shifted just enough to avoid stepping on the cloaks as he followed behind. She was unable to see what Qiang did.

Zuko's back stiffened when several of the soldiers nearest to them glanced at each other and then began to make hesitant motions towards him. Azula ignored both actions and called out clearly, "Where is War Minister Qin?"

The closest guard glanced at Zuko again before facing her. "Princess Azula, you are in the presence of a traitor, and the Fire Lord has--"

He broke off when, behind them, Sheng Li snorted quietly. Zuko's good eye narrowed, but he bore himself surprisingly well.

In front of them, the soldier seemed to have realized what he'd done. Several of the others stood straighter as well, with two moving into the beginning positions of firebending.

"Stand down," Azula replied, still calm. "We need at least two generals to march unscathed through the city, and I don't want to drag another common soldier out of the prison and dress him up."

She heard rather than saw Sheng Li draw himself up at that. All of the small group of soldiers were in firebending stances now, as were several behind them who had noticed what was happening but weren't breaking rank until it was deemed necessary. Zuko had set his feet as well, though he'd had the decency to be marginally subtle about it.

Azula remained still, as was proper for the Fire Princess who was not only far more than a match for this lieutenant general but also so protected by her army that she didn't have to prove it to him.

She did note, however, that Yi continued to remain silent. She already knew that his patience was the kind inspired by hope, and thus far more dangerous than Sheng Li's anger. She needed him to see the workings of the Fire Nation camp so that she could let him spread that same hope among the refugees and keep them restrained with it, but his silence reminded Azula once again that what she had always disliked most about warfare was the necessity of gambling.

"We are losing the cover of darkness," she said evenly. "Where is War Minister Qin?"

One of the soldiers bowed, and then turned around as she stepped forward. Zuko followed, taking an overlong step in order to come up nearly beside her. Azula noticed his stride tense faintly when the rest of the soldiers parted and then closed in around them, but the men kept to the rear and only cut off the earthbenders from the outer wall.

She could hear the murmurings as they walked past, first those about Zuko and then those about Sheng Li. Even if her brother had been disowned from the royal family, even if he had been declared a traitor by the Fire Lord himself, he was still a firebender, and no insult--no matter how subtle--from an earthbender would be tolerated in front of representatives of the Fire Nation.

Azula allowed herself a brief second of pleasure at the thought of the spirit of the army she would be inheriting, and the extent of the propaganda that had inspired it, and then increased her strides.

Even the fact that the first soldier had committed such an error could be an advantage in the long run. If this was the sort of army that Qin produced, then she had all the more reason to remove him from position after she took the throne.
-

During the walk to the War Minister's tent, Zuko's shoulders never loosened.

He was going about it all wrong if he expected an attack, Azula thought; his tenseness would cost him seconds when he took the first of his stances. Those seconds might not have been that great a disadvantage against most of the soldiers, but they were all she needed.

Azula doubted that that meant he trusted her. It was far more believable that he couldn't control himself properly.
-

When they passed the other Dai Li agent, the one Ty Lee had been forced to leave behind when she delivered her report, on their way to the War Minister's tent, Qiang allowed himself to be detained. Azula had suspected that the main reason he'd been willing to follow them into the camp was to guarantee the man's survival, so she noted the depth of the group's bonds and continued forward without comment. Zuko hadn't glanced over at all, which could mean he wasn't intending to try and use the Dai Li against her, but more likely meant he was just that on edge. He always had hated to be stared at, after the Agni Kai.

When they were a few steps from Qin's tent, Azula stopped and faced the soldiers that were still behind them. "Keep them here," she said, gesturing briefly towards Yi and Sheng Li, before turning back around and pulling aside the doorflap of the tent.

Nothing about the situation improved when they entered. In fact, Qin's almost theatrical startlement when Zuko stepped inside behind her only made her brother clench his jaw tighter.

"The outer ring is the most unstable and the largest," Azula said without preamble. "I want the troops to enter and begin stationing immediately. The sun has risen far enough to give us the advantage. I assume you've put together a map of the city, since you detained the earthbender."

"Princess Azula, he--"

Without the cloak to hide behind, Zuko was doing a better job of keeping himself still. Azula unhooked the scroll with the modified map of the city on it from the back of her uniform's belt. She spread it out on the table, over the other papers lying there, ignoring Qin as she did.

"This contains everything you need to know; memorize it and start sending out orders now. I want to be back inside and have our men on the outer wall within the hour."

"Understood," he replied automatically, turning the scroll around towards him. Then he remembered and looked up at Zuko again, before glancing at her. "However--Princess Azula, you realize I must report all this to your father. To bring a traitor into here-"

"Prince Zuko is born of the royal family and you will have your men remember that," Azula said harshly, letting all the tenseness and lack of sleep of the last three days bleed into her voice. Qin pulled back slightly before he caught himself. "Especially in front of the Earth Kingdom. My uncle has created enough damage. I will not see it compounded. We will display unity before the enemy."

Qin had straightened his shoulders slightly, and was now looking at her with much the same expression that Long Feng had days ago--only with more of the respect she deserved. "Yes, of course. You are correct. Unity is best." He settled one hand flat on the map, raising the other in a gesture that asked her to please understand. "However, now that your original arrangements have been made, it would be best if--he were left here-"

"No," Azula said, watching Qin's face evenly. "I have already heard the truth of what happened at the North Pole, and I will be reporting it to my father when Iroh is returned to the Fire Nation. The majority of the Earth Kingdom's soldiers and elite have seen Zuko beside me for the last three days, and I will not take the risk of changing anything at this crucial juncture. Now," she said, tilting her head just slightly to the side, "are you going to allow the earthbenders to retake Ba Sing Se while you waste my time arguing about decisions above your authority, or will we have a successful campaign this time?"

Qin's face had paled slightly, though his control over his emotions was good enough that it was difficult to tell whether it was from concern or anger or a mix of both. Zuko was staring at her openly.

For the first time in her life, Azula willed him not to ruin this, not when her plans were at stake and depended on him keeping his mouth shut.

She might have felt a moment of empathy with Iroh, except that then Zuko turned his head to face forward again, wearing that restrained yet not-quite-blank expression that he'd developed over the last week.

Azula had been very careful to make sure that the first line she drew between her father and herself was a matter of propriety and therefore one that outsiders would have a difficult time with. Iroh and Zuko had, ironically, given her an excellent opportunity. It could have been better, but all the same, the rights of a firstborn of the royal family were a difficult thing for most people to contest. And since all the reports from the siege had stated that only Iroh had attacked Zhao, it reduced the risks of her pulling Zuko's name free of the stain of treason.

And those in the court who were smart enough to see through what she had done would, for their sakes, either have the sense to choose her side or remove themselves from being placed on her father's.

Zuko himself was the worst risk. But if he was willing to stay silent long enough at this point, she would have the time and privacy to influence him on the trip back to the Fire Nation. And he appeared willing.

"Very well," Qin said, giving both her and Zuko a small bow. "I understand."

"Then summon our generals," she replied. "The balloons were a good plan, but only if we're inside before the Earth Kingdom recovers from their shock."

—

The parade up to the second ring was long, tiring, and not as perfect as Azula wanted, but not as bad as she'd forced herself to expect. There were a few attempts on the soldiers, herself, or her brother; but on the whole--and in no small part thanks to the efforts of last night--the citizens were still too confused and horrified to form a cohesive attack. The worst damage that she'd taken was an ache in her heel when she broke a boulder that had been sent at her chest, and Azula was able to remain seated long enough for it to ebb.

It helped that the route took them up to the gate of the middle ring in as straight a line as possible, keeping at a safe distance from the newly constructed walls and the potential unrest beyond. Fire Nation flags would be flown and soldiers stationed along the walls later to confirm the rumors that would already have passed through them, and the more she could awe Qin with examples of what she had accomplished in mere days, the better.
-

Rumors traveled faster than people. By the time they reached the gate to the middle ring, there were already signs of fighting. Soldiers were keeping the civilians at a distance from the road and gate, chunks were missing from the wall, and quite a few bodies were lying on the street running alongside it. Most of them were completely still; only a few had been hit with knives.

Ty Lee was standing in the street with her hands on her hips, surveying the area. She turned around when the noise of their parade reached her.

"Princess Azula!" she said immediately, before bowing at the waist--but not far enough that it would hamper her view of the street. Azula didn't mind. "I apologize for crossing the wall against your order, but it was getting ridiculous over here."

She made a brief negating gesture with her hand. "I expected this to happen," Azula replied, tone carefully chosen to show that her allies were trusted enough that they could act on their own decisions without damaging the intent of her orders.

"Pick up my knives while you're there," Mai called down to Ty Lee from her place on the wall.
-

Once they crossed through the gate to the middle ring, there was no hint of fighting. Azula disbursed a company of Fire Nation soldiers, along with several flags, along the wall. And then she continued along towards the first ceremony of the day, with Mai and Ty Lee absorbed into the retinue.

The ceremonies were stylistic, necessary things that had been scripted in only the vaguest of terms during the previous evening. There were three held altogether--two in the middle ring, and only one in the upper ring, where most of the community suppression had occurred. The two generals in their green and brown made proclamations of the fall of Ba Sing Se (Azula noted that Yi was a talented speaker even when he used a tone of resigned moderation) and handed over familiar tokens of the city to herself and Qin and her brother, who all were in shades of red.

It was late afternoon by the time they reached the palace, with only two large platoons of soldiers remaining. The majority of those soldiers were deployed along the palace grounds, until only a squad remained with Azula and the others.

Azula could have gone a few more hours--would have preferred to, in fact, in order to wrap up several of the more important loose ends--but she had noticed how Ty Lee was starting to drag her feet slightly. Ty Lee had had the least sleep of all of them, and the earthbenders were fairly disturbed by her; Azula couldn't risk letting that slip.

"War Minister Qin," she said, moving down the main hall with casual grace, "do you foresee any immediate issues you need to take on that couldn't be handled while we eat?"

"No, Princess Azula," he replied, and he either hadn't considered it deeply or he had been thinking over everything for several minutes now, even as the troops were being deployed. "Nothing comes to mind."

One of the Dai Li agents--he had been on duty when she had visited her uncle, Azula recalled, but wasn't the one who'd given her information on the teashop--took a step closer to their group and then bowed before any of the soldiers could react. Azula was standing at just enough of an angle that she could see he was surreptitiously eyeing them, even as he kept his hands still.

"Princess Azula," he said, "Long Feng wished to know when you wanted him to begin the census."

"What?" Qin said for her, fortunately, which allowed Azula to concentrate on not narrowing her eyes.

The agent straightened again, though he kept his head slightly bent. "The census," he repeated. "It will take advantage of the current confusion and allow Princess Azula to keep the citizens out of their homes, where they could meet and form rebellions, and in a position where they can be controlled."

From his tone, Azula couldn't determine whether he was attributing the idea to her for the sake of appearances in front of other Fire Nation members, or if Long Feng had actually lied.

She guessed the latter, however. Azula was still fairly sure of her hold on the Dai Li, and Long Feng no doubt found it distasteful that the chaos of last night had played havoc with the records he had maintained for so long.

Dangerous, Azula reminded herself, and then nodded once, sharply. "Tell him to begin now, and to start with the outer ring."

Beside her, Mai shifted her weight to one side. Azula didn't look over, but she did made a note that the other teenager wanted to speak to her soon.

—

During the lunch, she listened with Qin as Long Feng explained--justified, technically--the detailed uses of the census with a smoothness and a humility that was neither too obvious nor too insolent. Azula had to give him credit for executing the act so perfectly when she was well aware that he had had as little or less sleep than the rest of them.

Not long after the man had been dismissed again, Azula watched in her peripheral vision as Ty Lee deliberately tipped her soup bowl over onto her sleeve.

"Eep!" the teenager said, jumping up and holding her arm out away from her.

"Go wash that off," Azula said without looking over. "We don't have enough robes to spare, and image is still everything at the moment."

"Okay . . . sorry, Princess Azula," she replied, before leaving the table.
-

Several minutes later, Azula left Qin to go over the records and maps after making certain that Long Feng was preoccupied elsewhere. She didn't like leaving Qin alone--she had no guarantee that no one would mention Iroh to him, and she intended to be there to direct his attitude when he saw the man--but one of the Dai Li had discreetly informed her that there was something she needed to know about the previous evening, and then had gestured almost imperceptibly to Zuko.

When Zuko learned she would be leaving Qin, he had dismissed himself from the table with all the arrogance he could muster rather than wait to be told that he couldn't accompany either of them. Azula was equal parts mildly approving and suspicious.

She dismissed Mai before leaving the room, and considered telling her to keep an eye on the entry to the cells, but then decided that it was best not to alert Qin to anything before it was necessary. What the agent had to say might not take too long; and if it did, she could always send her down then.

So instead, all she said was "Check where he went," before turning away.

—

Zuko's location was easy to determine. Mai paused in front of his door, heard him practicing katas, and doubled back down the hall to her and Ty Lee's room.

Inside, Ty Lee was wringing out her sodden sleeve into the washbowl. Mai was about to leave again, but then she heard the other teenager sigh loudly. She glanced back over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow. In response, Ty Lee threw herself into a chair with the bonelessness that Mai had never seen in any other human being, and then flopped down over the table in front of it.

That was theatrical, even for her.

"What is it?" Mai asked, letting the eyebrow drop again.

"I think I fought too many earthbenders," Ty Lee answered, the pout clear in her voice even though her face was still tucked behind her arms. "Azula's aura has been getting grayer every time she sees me."

". . . Ah," Mai replied.

She tapped her arm against her hip a moment later, feeling the weight of the knives shift with the movement, and then stepped away from the door and closer to the chair before saying, "Next time one of these people feels like being stupid, just be in the wrong position." She rested an arm on the back of the chair. "I'll take care of it."

Ty Lee looked up at her for a moment, then grinned and hugged her legs tightly. "Thank you, Mai!"

Mai gave her a look that asked if the hugging was really that necessary.

They barely heard the sound of boots on the stone hallway before Azula pushed open the door. Her face was set in the hard expression that even Mai--who, thankfully, lacked any aura-seeing abilities--could tell was calm anger; but she paused long enough to raise an eyebrow when she saw the two of them. However, having known Ty Lee even longer than Mai had, she didn't bother to ask. She didn't say anything at all, in fact, and just strode over to the vanity along the side wall, the one with the washbowl on top of it. She dumped the old water out the window, then poured more in from the pitcher before splashing it onto her face.

Ty Lee finally let go of Mai's legs at that, and she took a step away. She was about to ask Azula what they needed to handle next, but then there came yet another tap at the door.

Mai exhaled through her teeth, thoroughly sick of the sound of people knocking on doors, and twisted her wrist slightly. She stopped just short of shaking one of the knives free.

Azula had ignored the door completely, aside from a brief tensing in her shoulders that disappeared almost immediately, so Ty Lee pushed out of the chair and went to answer it. The messenger glanced at her before looking further into the room to verify that Azula was there.

"Princess," he said with a bow, "War Minister Qin has requested an audience again. Some more questions have come up while he was looking over the documents."

Azula was still washing her face, so she made a sharp, 'I'll leave soon enough' gesture at him. The man bowed a little deeper, and then turned away.

Once Ty Lee shut the door, Azula reached for a nearby towel. "I am amazed," she said, voice rich with sarcasm that the cloth failed to mute, "that that man achieved the position he did."

"The Dai Li make him nervous," Mai replied.

"Go ahead and see what questions Qin has," Azula said. "I don't have the patience for his extended monologues."

Ty Lee made an agreeing noise and headed for the door. She held it open for a several seconds, looking at Mai; but when the other teenager remained still, she bit her bottom lip slightly and then left.

Even while drying her hairline, Azula could tell that, after Ty Lee closed the door behind her, Mai was still standing by the chair. She was tapping her wrist against her hip, half a way of checking her knives and half a nervous gesture that Azula didn't think she was entirely aware of.

"This isn't going to last," Mai said--half cynic, half political student who'd already lived in an occupied city, and wholly correct. "If we leave, the Dai Li are going to look at the streets and change sides again. We should at least shore up the defenses in the upper ring, and maintain an escape route they don't kn-"

"Mai," Azula said. She continued once the other teenager fell silent. "That's the point. Control of Ba Sing Se will be lost while I'm gone."

Mai started to frown, and then Azula watched her eyes widen fractionally when she worked out the deeper meaning of the statement.

When the occupation inevitably crumbled before the face of the Earth Kingdom's remaining forces--which would come, because Ba Sing Se was just as historically important to them as it was to her--people wouldn't think that Qin had had no chance of keeping hold of an entire city made of stone walls when reinforcements were still distant, but instead would think If only Princess Azula had been there. . . .

"My uncle is not only a traitor, but also a clear threat to the morale of our troops," Azula continued, dropping the cloth onto the counter and turning fully to face Mai. "But because he is a member of the royal family, in people's lingering thoughts if not in law, it's necessary that he be escorted back by a member of the royal family." She paused, watching Mai's expression--unconvinced, but not intending to argue--and then added: "And if Zuzu returns, it's best if someone who'll validate his story is with him."

Mai's hand twitched.

That was all, though. Ty Lee would have taken a step or two back; but Azula had always had to handle Mai differently. Mai was too much of a loner, and tended to fight back against intimidation. And because it had grown clear that she was an ally, Azula couldn't count on using the Fire Lord's power--still her father's power--to keep hold of her. She'd been required to use secrets instead to tie Mai to her, and to count a little more than she preferred on the fact that the other teenager liked her.

And, though the fact that Mai liked Zuko as well was dangerous, it was also useful. A double-edged trait; appropriate to her, really.

Azula strode past without another word. As she pulled the door open and headed into the hall, she heard Mai fall into step behind her.

—

The majority of the reason behind Qin's request for an audience seemed to be that he had the sense to include her in strategy meetings for decorum's sake. But he also had questions on the feasibility and scope of the census, the structural integrity of the area when the new walls were taken into account, what the measures had been that she'd used to quell the elite, and--in more private company, when Long Feng was dismissed--about the grand secretariat and the Dai Li in general.

Azula had nothing to gain by keeping secrets about these things from him, and so told him everything she knew that Long Feng or Qiang hadn't already filled in, right down to her brother's confirmation of the Joo Dee girls and the extent of the brainwashing within the city. She mentioned in passing that Ty Lee and Mai had been with Zuko, because it was in her best interest to appear that she hadn't been too quick to trust him until he'd proven himself, but she made sure that she used his name first. Qin tapped the scroll in his hands against the table a few times, quietly and agitatedly, but said nothing.

The action reminded her of something else, as well.

Once she was finished and saw an opportunity to end the conversation, Azula stood. "I leave everything in your hands for the next two hours, War Minister Qin," she told him, when he looked up. "I require a brief rest before continuing."

"Understood," he replied, bowing. "It has been a long day."

"Two, in my case," she said, before turning to leave. Behind her, because she hadn't gestured for one or both of them to stay, Mai and Ty Lee stood and followed.

—

After leaving the two of them at their quarters, Azula headed down the hallway towards Zuko's room.

She'd considered confronting him with the fact that he had been noticed by the Dai Li when he'd left the palace last night, but eventually decided against it. Although the Dai Li knew roughly when he'd left and returned, they hadn't been able to actually follow where he'd gone; and the timing wasn't right. First she needed to determine just how guilty he was of the treason of which he'd been sentenced. Later, she could add to it. Perhaps it would be best to wait until he was on the boat and it was clear that she had Iroh as a hostage if he lied. . . .

He opened the door a few seconds after she knocked, and Azula noted that he'd been training yet again. He'd been doing it quite often the last few days.

She'd had to strain her image in order to get into a room alone with Zuko for a few minutes, not to mention the fact that she was genuinely tired, so once the door was shut she immediately asked: "What happened during the North Pole siege?"

"What?" Zuko said, and then set his feet more firmly. "You told Minister Qin--"

"That was based on reports," Azula replied, moving further from the door but not too close to the windows. She motioned for him to follow her. "They stated that Iroh was alone when he attacked Zhou. What happened, Zuko?" she asked again, watching him. "I have to know, so that the matter will be settled once and for all. Were you even there?"

"Yes!" he said harshly, and then clenched his fists. Azula cocked an eyebrow, but waited.

". . . I was there," he added a moment later, "when the moon went out. I didn't see exactly what happened."

"Unnecessary," Azula replied, even as she cursed the fact that her previous statement to Qin had been false. But if it hadn't been included in the reports, it had likely gone unnoticed. At worst, she could claim Zuko had lied to her; there would be consequences for that, but it was better than the alternative. "The reports covered it. How did you get within the walls in the first place? You were presumed dead at the time," she added, a little wryly.

Zuko shot her a look. "That--that got back to the palace?"

"Admiral Zhou recruited heavily for his armada," she replied. "Your crew spread the word as soon as they were placed in other ships."

He was quiet for a moment. Azula folded her arms, but refrained from tapping her foot. "We don't have much time," she reminded him. "There's still work to be done with Qin."

"I had the Avatar," Zuko began, and this time Azula raised both eyebrows.

Moments into his explanation, Zuko began pacing, with his hands clenched into fists and his arms stiff at his sides as he spoke tersely. Azula merely stepped back to give him room, because being saved by the Avatar was rather humiliating.

"I chased after Zhou," Zuko finished. "Uncle stayed behind. I caught up to him on a bridge, but then--the Avatar's. . . ."

"'The Avatar's'?" she repeated, when he trailed off.

Zuko clenched his fists even tighter, and then abruptly loosened them.

"The Avatar, and that monster he created," Zuko said, voice tight, "killed him. The water swallowed him up completely. I don't know why it missed me."

Azula pursed her mouth. "That explains why we never found the body," she noted, mostly to herself.

Zuko turned sharply, staring at her with his good eye a little wider than normal. The scarred one wouldn't open as far.

"I wasn't there," Azula pointed out, recognizing the need for mild damage control. "You can't expect me to understand."

". . . No," he replied after a moment, quietly. "You're right."

She frowned at that, but Zuko turned away from her and stared at the curtained windows.

"When the news got back," he asked, still quietly, but in a different way now, which told Azula exactly what was coming, ". . . what did Father say?"

"He was glad," she replied, keeping her arms folded.

Zuko tensed up violently, but he didn't turn towards her this time, which was telling. Azula continued. "It was one less risk he had to worry about."

Zuko did turn this time, giving her a confused look that failed to conceal his anger and sadness. "Risk? What?"

Azula gave him a long, odd look, which Zuko found half familiar and half . . . not. It was soft in that way he'd learned never to trust, but it was also haughty, like she was wondering when he was ever going to stop being so naïve.

"Zuko," his sister said quietly, moving so that she was gripping her elbows with her hands, a harmless gesture that set him a little more on edge, "after what happened to Grandfather, why wouldn't he be afraid of his own children?"

He went still and stared at her.

Never . . . they had never spoken about their grandfather's death after the funeral, not even a word. No one else in the palace had, either. It was as if, after being consigned to the fire, the man had ceased to have a place in their world at all.

Zuko had actually thought that was how things always were for a few months, until he heard a captain speaking to Iroh about his son.

Azula watched his face for a few more moments, and then her expression slid out of that indefinite balance and more onto the side that questioned his naivety. She shook her head, closing her eyes briefly as she did before looking at him again.

"Come, Zuko," she said, softly and urgently, "why else would he have banished you for apologizing to him?"

He turned away.

He heard her exhale a moment later, and then heard the sound of her boots on the stone floor as she stepped away. "That was all about the siege that I needed to know," Azula stated, her tone back to the brisk one she'd been using since Ba Sing Se fell to them. "I'll relate the story to Qin when the time comes. Try to ignore everyone until the news is settled--they'll respect you if they see they're beneath you."

There was so much he normally would have argued with in that statement, but Zuko was still caught on what she'd said before.

When he heard her close the door behind her, he moved jerkily over to the dresser, and stared at his reflection in the mirror above the washbowl.

It made sense. He didn't want to believe her, he knew not to trust her, and yet. . . .

It made sense.

He hadn't known who he was speaking against in the council room! He had apologized as soon as he'd learned! He had . . . he had. . . .

He had refused to attack his father.

And what man--what father--would take offense at his son's filial devotion . . . unless he was using it to remove what he saw as a threat?

Zuko slammed the side of his fist down hard on the table, making the bowl rattle and the water slosh over the sides. He tore his gaze away from the mirror and stared down at the spots it had made on the painted wood.

Azula always lies.

The words rang hollow, this time.

—

Zuko avoided Azula for the remainder of the afternoon, which wasn't that difficult considering that she was either napping or carefully arranging for more control to be handed over to Qin. She almost would have been suspicious that the man had shown no surprise to her willingly delivering all the information and control she'd worked so hard to gain, if it weren't for the fact that she suspected he assumed she was only working in her father's name, as he had said once before on the drill.

Azula never had forgiven him for that remark.

Long Feng had noticed the situation too, but he remained silent whenever he was around, which was less and less often now that Qin had all the records in his hands. Under Azula's insistence, the task of arranging the census had been regulated to a Fire Nation general, who had permission to assign it to whomever he found fittest. Qin had started to ask why, if it was only a time-killing task to prevent riots, it couldn't be either pushed aside or left to some Earth Kingdom member who did not have quite as much to do as their soldiers; but then he stopped in the middle of the sentence, considered what he'd been saying, and said he would see her orders carried out immediately.

He had the ability to understand. Azula hadn't doubted that. Despite her dislike of him, she knew he was War Minister for a reason. But his flaw lay in the fact that he had to hesitate to consider all the angles of a problem. Even if it only demanded several seconds of time for him to do so, the Dai Li wouldn't stand for it.

She decided that, at the next available opportunity that evening, she would bring up the subject of her uncle and the necessity of returning him home. It would be best to test Zuko while he was still unstable, after all. That would bring the truth out sooner.

—

When she'd guaranteed that Qin had not only been given all the information he needed, but also that he was busy arranging and disseminating it to the rest of the army, she sought out Zuko.

He was in his room, but not training for once--he'd gotten a hold of a dish of dumplings. Or perhaps Mai had shared them. They had all been snacking between tasks for the last few days; the irregularity of the demands undoubtedly annoyed the kitchen staff, but Azula lacked empathy.

Between all the traveling she had been doing in search of her brother or the Avatar, as well as all the work of the last few days, Azula was hard-pressed to remember the last time she had sat down for longer than several minutes to eat. She had never particularly enjoyed banquets or similar parties, but she did look forward to once again having the certainty of control over everything that made such things possible.

Once they were aboard the ship, she reminded herself. There would be time again then.

"Yes?" Zuko asked, setting the remains of the dumplings aside and immediately moving to wash his hands. Azula didn't like the oils that some of the food here was served with, either; it made her hands feel too slick, and she could never quite shake the worry of whether it was flammable. Mai never touched anything she ate here anymore, either, she'd noticed. Ty Lee had less need to worry. "Is it another meeting?"

"No," Azula replied, closing the door behind her and stepping away from it out of habit in order to give herself room. "I've passed nearly everything Qin needs to know into his control. All I need now is for him to arrange for the ship."

Zuko frowned slightly, drying his hands. "The ship?"

"Iroh needs to be brought home immediately," she replied. "He's a potential threat not only to the maintenance of our control, but also to the morale of the troops."

Zuko's hands had stilled in the cloth when she'd answered; it took him a few moments to notice and hang it back up.

"We'll be returning with him, of course," Azula continued, looking out the windows of the room and keeping him in her peripheral vision. She gave Zuko much the same explanation as Mai, though with several cuts in information. "Even if he's been decreed a traitor, he had far too much popularity among the troops, and the commoners still view him as royalty."

"You don't need to worry about that," Zuko commented, voice tinged with bitterness. "His old comrades have been turning on him just fine."

". . . Hm," Azula replied. She'd have to ask about that, later. "All the same, I don't want to take the risk. And, of course, I have to give my report that you were only a victim of his manipulation during and after the North Pole Siege, rather than an accomplice."

Zuko's expression at that was exactly what she'd expected. "That isn't . . . you can't blame it all-"

"He attacked Admiral Zhou," Azula said. "You tried to save him."

He was silent at that.

Azula watched him for another moment, and then looked back out the windows again. "I need to bring the knowledge of his imprisonment to Qin's attention first, of course. And to tell him about the brainwashing equipment, as well. But after that, we--"

"Wait," Zuko said. "You didn't--"

"No, he wasn't brainwashed," she replied, with a tone that asked would he please stop being so gullible. "Did you think I would trust these Earth Kingdom soldiers that much?"

Zuko's mouth pulled back, though Azula couldn't be sure on what account the discomfort was for. "So where is he?"

"Still in the cell."

He was silent at that, and this time she could guess why. "Do you want to see him?" Azula asked.

Zuko almost took a step back. Instead, he looked to the side, and started to purse his mouth again.

"You fought beside me against the Avatar and his minions," Azula said, without moving. "I don't doubt your loyalty, Zuko."

He gave her a long look at that; but, finally, he said, "Yes."
-

Because there were more than a few risks involved in the action, Azula considered her options and decided it would be better if she told Qin about Iroh afterward. This forced her to rely on Mai and Ty Lee to guard the area, and to keep the man distracted as long as necessary.

"Okay!" was all Ty Lee had replied, and Azula felt reassured yet again by the other teenager's complete lack of interest in politics or consequences.

Mai, however, frowned. "Is it safe?"

Azula gave her a glancing look as she tied down her sleeves. The uniform wasn't tailored for her, so even the slight looseness of the cloth was a potential risk. "I am a better firebender than my brother."

The frown still remained. "It'll be in close quarters. Even if he isn't as good, the heat--"

Azula nodded once, cutting her off. Mai was rarely subtle about her attacks, because she did them so infrequently, so rather than being offended Azula only noted that, at the moment at least, Mai still held her in higher concern than Zuko. "A necessary risk. Besides, if he turns on me, I'll need physical proof. But I don't think it will come to that. And even if it does, it's night--the heat will be tolerable."

Mai didn't reply, but she smoothed her expression out to its usual look when she and Ty Lee went to guarantee that Azula and Zuko would have a clear path to the cells. Any Dai Li agents they noticed--and there were more agents around the halls during the last several hours, even if they were taking pains to be less visible, a fact Azula hadn't missed--didn't count. Yet.
-

Zuko was silent the entire walk down to the cell.
-

Qin, being preoccupied with all the other matters of conquest, had not yet had the time to ask why only one traitor was present in the palace and not both of them. And since none of the Dai Li had mentioned Iroh's capture after they noticed that Azula was being silent on the subject, there were only two Fire Nation soldiers stationed at the entrance to the cells. Their presence was primarily to guarantee that no one thought of releasing any earthbending prisoners in an attempt at a revolt, so they were understandably surprised by her and Zuko's arrival. But they stood aside at her gesture.

She noted the muted confusion in Zuko's movements at that, and decided that being on the run for the last few months had clearly taken its toll on him; he'd forgotten what it meant to be royalty.

He slowed down further as they entered the hall. Azula began gauging the distance in her head, trying to figure out whether they would be far enough from the soldiers by the time they reached Iroh's cell that the men would take longer to notice any firebending.

Two older Dai Li members were guarding the cell, but they also left when she gestured for them to do so. Azula had expected their presence, but at the same time wondered why the soldiers had allowed them to remain. And if they weren't aware of the agents. . . .

She couldn't afford to lose Ba Sing Se until after she was a reasonable distance away. She would have to report Iroh to Qin as soon as she was out of the dungeon, in one way or another, and then have the ship back to the Fire Nation prepared by tomorrow. Then-

She set her thoughts aside when Zuko finally stepped up to the door of the cell and looked in through the small slatted window.

He seized up immediately.

"You said he wasn't brainwashed!" he sputtered, turning to glare at her. Azula kept her expression even.

"He isn't," she replied. "He's drugged. He was using his knowledge of the Earth Kingdom and the city to disarm the agents guarding his cell. That's why only older ones, who remember the fall of the outer wall, have the duty now," she added, gesturing down the steel hallway through which the agents had left.

Zuko turned away from her to stare into the cell again.

"You know how persuasive he can be," Azula continued after a moment, letting her arms drop and silently setting her feet into the best defensive position possible in the confines of the hall. "The risk was too great."

Zuko stared into the cell for another long moment. And then he turned and attacked her.

She immediately blocked, deflecting the fire into the side of the corridor opposite of where the soldiers and agents were.

(If Azula had given him the credit, she might have realized that the pause was not Zuko trying to restrain himself, but instead doing what she expected of him and pretending to try to restrain himself. But because she was still coming to the realization that he was not who he had been at fourteen--or even at seventeen, a few months ago--she didn't.)

Zuko remained still after the first attack, arms and feet set in the best basic position available given the narrowness of the area. Azula made herself remain in a defensive position and seized the opportunity.

"I'm your sister!" she hissed.

Zuko stared at her, unmoving.

A stronger attack, then. Curse Iroh. If she only knew what the man had told him-

"Or are you going to be like Father now, too?" Azula said, with harsh quietness.

That worked. Zuko took a step back without even thinking, running his heel up against the edge of the door and rendering the stance necessary for his position impossible unless he moved again. Azula kept her defensive position despite the fact that all her training had taught her never to let weaknesses go unexploited.

". . . Coming from you," Zuko said shakily, but without stepping forward again to improve his stance. "Three years, sister, and you came with a battleship and lies-"

"I've been alone with him for those years!" Azula snapped back. "He sent my friends away to make sure I had no allies! What could I do but follow orders?" She narrowed her eyes. "Don't speak to me as if you weren't protected."

Zuko was staring at her now, arms lowered--only a fraction, but enough. She had mixed just enough truth into the statement that she knew he wouldn't be able to deny it; she'd overheard Mai mentioning to him how her family had been ordered to Omashu when they'd gone to discover if the rumors about the Joo Dee girls were true.

When the silence stretched on, Azula took a risk and let her arms drop. She changed the set of her feet as well, moving into a high-level position that looked unthreatening but would allow her to swiftly block and attack if necessary.

"Enough," she said, staring Zuko straight in the eyes. "This isn't the time to continue their petty feuds and fears. We succeeded where both Father and Uncle have failed--because we did it together." She gave him a significant look. "And we don't need the soldiers outside to become suspicious."

Zuko hesitated for several more seconds, watching her. Azula stared back, cultivating stillness.

Finally, he let his arms drop.

Zuko nodded once, looking down the hallway toward the bend, in the direction where the soldiers would be waiting. The Dai Li had probably been too close; but Azula remembered their faces. It would only be a loss of two, and it could be done quickly and quietly. "I'm sor-"

"There can only be one heir," Iroh slurred from within the cell.

Both Zuko and Azula turned to stare at the darkness beyond the bars of the small window. Iroh's voice had been low, thick, barely understandable; but he shouldn't have been able to speak at all. Azula hadn't seen him in the last two days, but she knew exactly the balance of food, water, and drugs that he was kept on. She had refused to risk letting Long Feng have too much control over that. How could he have--?!

When Zuko turned around, Azula barely managed to compose herself in time.

"We should return before the soldiers see the Dai Li," Zuko told her, instead of finishing what he'd been about to say.

Azula tightened her jaw slightly, but began moving down the hallway. "Yes."

Curse their uncle. Whatever her father decided to do to him, it wouldn't be enough.
-

The Dai Li were standing quietly just past the bend, where they were afforded the most protection from the gaze of the Fire Nation soldiers. Zuko began to walk past them, but he paused when Azula stopped and looked at them.

She verified that she had memorized their faces correctly, and said, "You two will keep your duty guarding General Iroh until Fire Nation soldiers are assigned. I trust you will continue to maintain control of your personal feelings regarding him."

"Yes, Princess," they replied in unison.

She turned away, striding forward once more. When they reached the outer door of the area, Azula noticed that Zuko deliberately let himself fall one step behind, not far enough to be a threat but enough to make the point of superiority that she had been subtly trying for all day.

Azula walked past the two Fire Nation soldiers without a change in expression. It didn't matter, ultimately. She held Iroh; Zuko would get onto the ship willingly or he would be forced and drugged as well. So long as she provoked him into attacking her within Mai's sight, the potential damage would be minimal.

As Azula returned to the main area of the palace, she decided that she would wait to mention that she knew Zuko had snuck out of the palace until after he was on the boat. Whatever he had done, it couldn't be anything that would pose an actual risk; he'd never had the charisma to move people and make allies, and she had made sure to destroy any connections Iroh might have created by keeping her beside him throughout the overthrow of the city.

—

It was difficult to tell whether Qin's reaction to the news of Iroh was less or more melodramatic than his reaction to Zuko.

"General Iroh?!" he demanded, standing abruptly. His hands splayed over the papers on the table. "He's here!?"

"Ex-general," Azula corrected evenly.

"Yes, of course." Qin stared at her. "Why did you not report this sooner? And he's been under the guard of earthbenders all this time!"

Azula was tempted to quirk an eyebrow at the fact that he could ask that immediately after his own slip, but decided it was undignified in the situation. "You are aware that the bounty on my uncle has been out for months now," she stated.

"Yes, but--I don't-"

"In that time, the closest he came to being caught was when I came to collect him--and even then, he got through our soldiers and escaped." Azula folded her hands behind her back, quietly irritated that when they stood on an even floor she had to look up to stare him in the eyes. "This pattern has repeated several times. I can only assume that, despite the Fire Lord's decree, when faced with Iroh the soldiers simply cannot overcome their ingrained loyalty to the royal family and respect for the Dragon of the West."

She hardened her expression slightly. "Given this, I decided that the best method to return him is to involve as few soldiers as possible. I did not bring him up until now because there were more important matters to be attended to--and, as you'll recall," she added, correctly judging from his expression what he had been about to say, "it was my uncle who first broke through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. The earthbenders who are guarding him remember that well."

Qin finally pulled his hands away from the table, realizing what his body language looked like. It was with clear effort that he resumed a dignified posture, however.

"In light of that conclusion," he began, "I can understand your methods. But still, Princess Azula, our spies have noted that the castle guards have begun behaving more restlessly throughout the day and this evening. I think it wisest if his guard is changed to a Fire Nation one, now."

"Certainly," Azula agreed. "I leave it to your discretion on who is best fit to handle him under these circumstances, War Minister Qin."

"Make sure that they're also soldiers you can afford to lose temporarily," she added, shifting her shoulders back a little more and tilting her chin. "I will be escorting my uncle back to the Fire Nation, along with my brother and my companions. I want a ship to be prepared as soon as possible--the faster he is delivered to justice, the sooner I can return."

Qin gave her a startled look. "You intend to leave? So soon?"

"I think it's best if former members of the royal family are returned by a remaining one," Azula said lowly. "At the least, it will reduce the difficulties already mentioned. And everything I learned in my infiltration, I've already given to you."

Qin was still for several moments, considering her. Finally, however, he nodded. "I understand. I'll have word sent to the docked navy tonight."

"Immediately."

Qin nodded again. "Yes, Princess."
-

Azula heard him call for one of the guards outside the door to come in as she left.
-

It was late enough that she went immediately to Mai and Ty Lee's suite. She found that Mai was still up and sharpening her knives, and woke Ty Lee as well.

"Is that enough?" she asked, after describing the two Dai Li agents who'd been in the dungeon.

"We'll have to get close to pick them out of the groups," Mai replied.

"No," Azula answered. "They'll be coming out of the dungeon soon. Iroh's guard is being replaced with our soldiers."

"Okay," Ty Lee said. "That's a lot easier. What do you want us to do?"

"Get rid of them," Azula ordered. "They overheard something between Zuko and myself that I can't allow to spread," she added, glancing briefly at Mai. "For both our sakes. Don't attract attention."

Mai started to say something, but then stopped herself. Instead, she just stood. Ty Lee followed suite.
-

Once they were in an area of the palace that was temporarily deserted, Mai gestured for Ty Lee to follow her behind one of the pillars.

"Yeah?" Ty Lee asked, even as she checked that no one had seen them.

"We can't start a revolt yet," Mai whispered. "You go disable those two, and then bring them back here. I'm going to make sure we have a clear path to the caverns Azula and Zuko talked about."

Ty Lee nodded once, and then checked behind them again. Mai examined the opposite direction, absently tapping her wrist against her hip. The knives made a soft clinking sound.

". . . I can't wait to go back to the circus," Ty Lee said quietly. "I miss the normality."

Mai made a half-amused noise in the back of her throat. "Normality."

"You could come too sometime! Knife-throwing's always popular, as long as you don't hit them."

"No," Mai replied, and this time all the amusement was gone. "That's not an option."

Ty Lee glanced over her shoulder at that, and took in Mai's aura. Then she bit her lip and looked forward again.

"All clear," she said.

"Same here."

They spilt off into opposite directions.

—

Late that night, Azula was running through firebending katas in her room, practicing the stances without actually bending, when Ty Lee stopped by to report that the two Dai Li agents were taken care of.

"And then we hid them in those old caverns, where you fought the Avatar," she finished. Azula was unsurprised to learn that it had been Mai's idea.

"Where's Mai?" she asked.

"Um," Ty Lee replied, and then reached back and tugged on her braid. Azula frowned and looked at her directly. "I had to disable them so we could move them, and she said it was like hitting rats on a ship. So she after she cleaned the knives, she went to practice."

"Ah," Azula replied, turning back into her stance. "Fine."

Ty Lee recognized the dismissal and left.

Azula's katas were slightly more tense after Ty Lee was gone, lacking the proper fluidity; but the problem wasn't Mai, really. Her movements had been flawed even before Ty Lee's news.

No matter how often she practiced the lightning kata, she couldn't feel the separation of the energies. Iroh's words--one measly sentence, more than he ever should have been able to say in the first place--had unbalanced her, and knowing that only made her more frustrated. All the effort she'd wasted-!

Azula deeply disliked gambling.

All the same, she told herself as she set her feet once more, it didn't matter what Iroh had said. It didn't erase the reality of the scar on Zuko's face; it didn't make what she had said about their father less true. She had gotten that part through, at least. So long as she kept her brother focused on Ozai as the current future, the conflict between them could remain the distant one.

And yet, she couldn't afford to put it aside for too long. She had to decide what was to be done with Zuko soon, so that she could implement it whenever it became necessary--even if that was years from now.

Azula did not intend to let Zuko realize that, if their father was forced to choose between a failure and a threat, then Ozai's sense of self-preservation would ultimately choose the former.

Their father loved the Fire Nation second, after all. The power and strength of the position of Fire Lord came first.

The motions were less tense this time, closer to the required fluidity; but the split between the energies was still out of her reach. She knew they were there, but they wouldn't respond.

Azula exhaled through her teeth as she glared at the wall, imagining what the old women would say if they could see her now.

And then she stopped thinking about it, because it only added to the weight that kept the lightning away. Azula continued to glare at the wall for another moment, and then turned aside and made her way toward the bed.

He had not won, not with mere words. The frustration of being beneath Qin again, the weariness of all her work toward keeping Ba Sing Se for a few precious days, the lack of proper sleep and food for the last months--it had all compounded. All she needed was rest and a decent meal, and then all her uncle's futile methods of keeping Zuko convinced that he stood a chance would be meaningless, because she would take apart each one.

Azula set her boots by the side of the bed, and then dropped back onto the mattress and closed her eyes angrily.

—

That night, Zuko slept badly.

He opened his eyes abruptly, staring up into the dimness of the room he'd taken in the palace and feeling a moment of disorientation. He still wasn't used to it. The stone was different from that of the Fire Nation's palace, and the ceiling was much higher than the ship's or any of the places he and Iroh had lived in afterward.

Zhou's face, and the look on it as he'd wrenched his hand back, were burned as an afterimage onto the darkness of the room. The glowing of the Avatar's water-monster was dark in its reverse color and faded first; Zhou's expression lingered. Zuko squeezed his eyes shut and then, when that failed, ground the heels of his hands against the lids until dots of light blurred the man out.

He shoved the blankets away a moment later, and strode over to the window. The curtain had been pulled shut, but he tugged it aside and breathed in deep. The air was cool; it felt sharp and sour in his throat.

Zuko felt the fire almost before he noticed the light. There was someone in the pavilion to the right. He could see torchlight flickering through the pillars.

He didn't see anyone moving, though, and the flames were as stationary as fire ever could be. It wouldn't have been Azula, anyway; her room was to the left, and she only practiced openly during the day. He didn't hear the sound of earthbending, either, but the guards would have stopped anyone who dared to train so close to this section of the palace. It was probably one of Azula's friends. And given the lack of shadows, it was probably someone standing still. Mai, maybe.

It was strange that she was practicing so late, and outside. Her skills were the only ones that didn't demand a certain amount of open space.

Zuko let the curtain fall back into place before it could be noticed. He turned around again, ready to just rub his hand hard over his eyes and try to go back to sleep; but then the bed caught his eye.

He stared at it for nearly a minute, before exhaling harshly through his teeth.

He was half grateful that it was still that old dream he was having, rather than a new one about Un--. . . rather than a new one. But mostly he was angry that he was still having that dream. Zhou had chosen his own fate. It was stupid to die for pride.

Spite, he corrected himself almost before he'd finished the thought. To die for spite. A man needs pride, or else . . . what else is- There is nothing else.

He tried not to think of what his uncle would reply.

Zuko wrenched the covers back a moment later and threw himself into the bed, tugging the blanket up around his shoulders afterward. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to think about the lights in the pavilion, or the long corridor that led to Iroh's cell, or the unnatural color of the Avatar's water creature.

They never had found Zhou's body, Azula had said.

Maybe the Avatar really was better dead. By anyone's hands.

He would be an infant in the . . . Water Tribe, now, if he hadn't somehow survived. In the North Pole, most likely. It would take years for him to be distinguished again, but it was nearly summer. Night would only last for a few hours up there by the solstice. Infants didn't fight capture.

Those thoughts only made the sourness worse, and he had to swallow heavily to keep it down.

Uncle saw what he did, and he still sided with him, Zuko reminded himself. It didn't help the taste in the back of his throat.

No more than knowing that Zhou had chosen to die had made his hand feel any less cold.

—

When Mai finally made her way back to the suite she shared with Ty Lee, she found the other teenager asleep in one of the chairs in the main room. She woke up when Mai closed the door. Though Mai noticed, she didn't speak to her. Instead, she made her way towards the door to her room, shrugging off her outer robe.

She'd only gotten one sleeve off before Ty Lee wrapped her arms around her shoulders from behind.

Mai closed her eyes for a long moment. "Don't tell me you stayed up to hug me."

"It'll start helping soon," Ty Lee replied. "Hugs always help."

Mai's aura hadn't changed when she tried to pull away a moment later. "I'm fine."

"Let go," she snapped a second later, and Ty Lee finally complied.

Mai shrugged out of the rest of her robe, and then turned and gave the other girl an irritated look. "Just because we got into the city so easily doesn't mean everything was going to be that simple. Wars-"

"-aren't won through diplomacy," Ty Lee finished with a pout. "I didn't sleep through that many classes." She stomped over to the chair and sat down abruptly, propping her chin up with her fists and giving Mai an equally annoyed look. "I was just trying to help."

Mai gave her a long stare, and then turned towards her door again with an exhale. "When did Azula say we need to be up tomorrow?" she asked, folding the robe sloppily.

"She didn't, actually," Ty Lee replied, letting her chin drop a little further down her fists until it was propped on the heels of her hands. "She was really mad when I went to talk to her. Whatever they overheard, it must have been bad."

Mai stared at the doorway, robe draped over her arm.

In the end, though, she didn't say anything, and just walked through it and closed the door behind her. Ty Lee made a half-hearted face at it after that, before standing and stretching for a few moments. Then she headed to her own room.

—

Breakfast was in the long room just off of the throne hall, which was standard procedure because it was the room Qin had taken over for the study of all the documents and maps. A smaller table had been moved in and set to the side so that they could eat without risking damage to any papers.

What wasn't common was both the general who was standing beside Qin, and the fact that, when Zuko entered, they saw he'd slicked his hair back.

Azula noticed the slightest tension in his shoulders when he saw the general, didn't bother cursing Iroh another time, and addressed Qin. "Has word returned from the navy yet?"

"Yes," he replied. "A ship has been designated and is being reinforced as we speak; it will be ready whenever you desire, Princess Azula." He then gestured to the man beside him. "This is General Jian. I chose him as the most capable of handling this delicate situation."

The man bowed. Azula gave him a considering look, but was already mildly impressed by the fact that he neither commented about nor reacted to Zuko's appearance. "And what is your plan?"

He straightened again before speaking. "The best option, I believe, is to keep his name as obscured as possible. I intend to put him under the guard of a group of soldiers who would not have the rank or age to recognize his face, with their leader being one of my soldiers whom I can trust to be impartial. It would be best if we could procure some Earth Kingdom clothing for him beforehand."

"That's already been taken care of," Azula replied. "My uncle attempted to blend into the civilian life here. He was captured in both Earth Kingdom clothing and with this area's distinctive hairstyle."

Jian nodded, expression remaining the same, and Azula's attitude suddenly shifted from impressed to suspicious. She would need to get information on Jian's campaigns and career as soon as possible, including any and all contact he'd had with Iroh.

"Also," the man added, before pausing.

Azula tilted her chin slightly, a silent order for him to continue. She noticed out of the corner of the eye that the palace servants had begun to enter and lay out the table. Zuko was still standing a fair distance behind her, but Mai was leaning against the wall. Ty Lee was trying to peek at the dishes as they were brought in.

"I sent an additional notice to the ship, to see whether there would be enough-" Jian paused then, and glanced once at the servants moving in the background before looking back to her, "-of the plant stored onboard to keep him safely contained during the trip."

He was speaking of datura, she realized. It was a plant that could be found easily enough throughout the Fire Nation, a common poison and hallucinogen. Because of its availability, all members of the royal family began building up a resistance to it, and other poisons, as soon as they proved they weren't going to die in infancy. Azula gestured for him to continue.

Jian nodded again. "However, one of the surgeons warned me that, given the former general's trip to the spirit world, it might not be as effective."

Azula stopped and considered that.

The purpose of non-fatal doses of datura was to create hallucinations that made it difficult to separate reality from fantasy; but according to the sparse records of the few who had actually made the journey to the spirit world and come back, that was much like what life itself resembled upon returning. And all records stated that non-fatal doses had consistently failed to have any affect on Avatars.

"We'll see," she replied. "Prepare for both possibilities."

"Understood, Princess Azula. Is there anything more you wish of me?"

"No," she said. "Go arrange for the guard."

Jian bowed to her again and left.
-

During the middle of her discussion with Qin over the risks of the activated brainwashed earthbenders, Azula suddenly noticed that Mai was using the back of her spoon to surreptitiously eye Zuko. The familiarity of it was startling--she'd used to do the same thing when they were children, only with her knives instead of silverware--and Azula actually had to check herself to keep from laughing out loud.

She made a note of the action and told Qin to repeat himself.
-

According to the Dai Li, the re-educated remained on their vacations until otherwise ordered; but Qin looked dubious and Azula couldn't blame him. While they still had the advantage of splits between the brainwashed and their families and friends, the fact that it had happened on such a large scale would have raised suspicions. Once the drudgery of the census was over and people had the opportunity to gather in private groups again, it would undoubtedly come up. Compound that with the fact that the brainwashed were, by and large, those who had originally been troublemakers before becoming upright citizens of Ba Sing Se, and she had to assume that at least a few people would begin to put things together.

Azula wasn't concerned with the inevitability, only with making sure that it was sufficiently delayed, so she asked Long Feng to bring back the scroll containing the information on the teenage mercenary who'd broken free.

She left Qin to deliver orders to his subordinates to go through all the files once again, looking for any hint of someone else who'd managed to undo their brainwashing without the Avatar's help, and made her way across the room to where Zuko was standing by the table.

He'd actually started to help the servants clear the dishes for a few seconds, before apparently realizing what he'd been doing. Qin had hidden whatever his expression was behind his napkin; everyone else had discreetly ignored Zuko, though Mai had looked slightly, briefly amused. Now he was doing much the same thing he'd been doing since the Fire Nation's army had entered the city yesterday: standing silently, making sure his presence was obvious without being overly obtrusive, and listening.

Everything would be so much easier once she got him on the boat and into open water. She could maintain everything until then. She was the crown princess to the throne of the Fire Nation, and had been since the first report of Zuko's death. She would have to maintain an empire one day. This was a simple task in comparison.

After another moment, Azula eyed Zuko's bangs. The oil had dried and they were coming loose, starting to hang in front of his eyes.

"You'll need a haircut before we board the ship," she said, raising an eyebrow. "This won't do, for a returning prince."

"I'm letting it grow long," Zuko replied, looking slightly away over her shoulder.

"Ah," Azula murmured. "Honorable, but . . . perhaps not the best gesture right now."

Zuko was quiet for longer than she expected, but the reason why became clear when he spoke.

"I'll consider cutting it," he said, quietly enough that Qin and perhaps even Ty Lee and Mai couldn't hear. "Would you loan me the scissors you used to trim your bangs?"

Azula tensed before she could catch herself.

Underneath the offense, a part of her noted that Zuko had changed since he had left. She'd noticed hints before, but this--a well-timed, and even more important, subtle insult--was a clear warning.

She smiled at him, refusing to give ground. "Certainly."
-

Long Feng returned with the specific scroll she had asked for as the soldiers were bringing in the chests containing the other files. When Azula held out her hand, he moved to deliver it to her rather than to Qin's desk, where he'd originally been heading.

"The mercenary," he said, as he placed the scroll in her hand. Azula automatically checked that it was the same weight, with the same color and texture of paper, as before. She doubted it would have been forged--Long Feng seemed the type to only make a drastic mistake once and then learn from it--and he didn't know she'd only skimmed it the first time. But Ozai had taught her by example that she should never trust anyone but herself.

"Ah," Qin said, a polite syllable that allowed him to ask what she was doing now without the risk of insubordination.

"I'll read over this," she replied, before gesturing to the several chests now standing beside the table. Two of the subordinates were already pulling scrolls out of the first one. "Begin compiling a list of potential flaws. I'll compare them to this one when I finish."

Azula was aware that this was an awkward plan at best, and therefore ordered it in her strongest voice. Qin simply bowed. Long Feng kept his face expressionless and humbly stepped aside when she turned to leave.

After she'd spoken, she gestured for Mai to follow her. She strode out of the room, heard the measured footsteps on the stone hall a few moments later, and led the other teenager back to the suite she shared with Ty Lee.

"What is it?" Mai asked after the door was shut behind them.

"Give me one of your knives," Azula snapped.

Mai raised an eyebrow in lazy surprise, but twisted her wrist and snapped one of the smaller ones out. She flipped it so that she held the blade between two of her fingers, and then tossed it loosely to her.

Azula caught it and stalked over to the mirror, thinking to herself that this was frivolous and she had more important things to do, and that she certainly shouldn't have let Zuko rattle her enough that she'd let herself look less than perfectly capable in front of the war minister of the Fire Nation and the grand secretariat of the conquered city. She had too much work to do to spend time now fixing a flaw that was imperceptible to anyone who hadn't seen its creation. She could already hear her father's disapproving statement.

But those few short strands of hair were a reminder that she hadn't moved fast enough. That she had almost doubted her chances of winning the fight against the Avatar and the waterbender.

Azula tossed the knife back to Mai a minute later, when she was satisfied that her bangs were perfectly even again.

—

She'd barely opened the file and read the piece of paper within it when someone knocked on her door. Azula gritted her teeth and composed herself. "Enter."

It was Zuko, who was looking remarkably more like himself than he had the last week: he was scowling.

"What was the name of that mercenary?" he demanded.

"Excuse me, Zuzu?" she replied.

His fingers tensed restlessly at his sides before he noticed and loosened them. "War Minister Qin called Long Feng back into the room after you left, and he described . . . him." Zuko went still suddenly, silent for a moment, before saying, "I may have known him."

Azula arched an eyebrow.

"You must have some fascinating stories," she commented, but held the scroll out. "That will certainly make the trip home go faster."

Zuko took the scroll and turned it around swiftly, ignoring her statement. He couldn't have read more than the name before his expression darkened.

Azula stepped around the table and then leaned against it. "It's the same person?" she asked, phrasing the question in that way because she didn't want to ask whether Zuko had been right about anything, no matter how unimportant.

". . . Yes," he said after a few more moments, enough time that he must have read the physical description.

She arched her eyebrow again, until he noticed. Zuko clenched his jaw and glared down at the document, but finally explained further. "He was on the same ferry across as U--Iroh and I. He figured out that we were firebenders . . . somehow. He even burst into the shop we were working at, announcing it to everyone. The soldiers defended us when the Dai Li arrived, and they took him away."

Azula blinked once, amazed that they could have been so careless, and then glanced at the scroll in his hands. "That was fortunate."

Zuko glanced over, and then seemed to war with himself for several seconds before asking, "What happened to him?"

"According to the attached report," she said, indicating the loose sheet of paper that had been rolled up within the scroll, "he and the two with him allowed the Avatar to escape the Dai Li's internment base, along with his flying bison." Azula picked it up and glanced at the bottom. "They stated that since he was nearly dead already, they disabled the other two and then left all three inside the area when they collapsed it."

Zuko swallowed, hard enough that she could hear it. Azula looked over, and found that one of his hands had dropped to his side and was clenched into a fist.

"What is it?" she asked. "You said yourself he was an enemy."

He didn't answer her until he'd uncurled his fingers.

"Nothing," Zuko replied, rolling the scroll up. "It's nothing."

The fact that he was not only lying but also not even trying to lie believably convinced her that the mercenary and the circumstances of his arrest deserved further investigation. She wanted to leave as soon as possible, but this was clearly too important to brush aside. She'd have to send for Qiang, and have him tell her who had been the ones to arrest the teenager.

Zuko held the scroll back out to her, and then started to turn around when she took it.

"I'll deliver the report to Qin," Azula said, watching the set of his shoulders.

He paused mid-motion, so it was hard to tell if he had tensed briefly or not. "Fine," Zuko told her, and then left.

Azula glanced down at the scroll one last time, and then--when she was sure her brother would have stalked off--left the room to find a Dai Li agent and have them send Qiang to her.

—

Zuko shut the door to his room hard behind him and glared at the windows. The curtains had been pulled, likely by whoever had also made the bed; but instead of seeing the common work of servants within a palace he saw only the intrusion of outsiders into a space that wasn't really his.

He didn't move for several minutes, long enough to hear people walk down the hall twice--once away from Azula's room, and once towards.

Eventually, Zuko pushed away from the door and moved over to the windows and the morning sunshine spilling through them. He rested his hand against his side as he did, even though he couldn't actually feel his knife since it was hidden underneath the armor.

Zuko pulled it free a moment later as he stopped in front of one of the windows, close enough to feel the breeze outside. But he was careful to keep it hidden, both from outside view and from anyone who might come through the door.

Below, the city of Ba Sing Se spread out so far as to be incomprehensible. Zuko had studied all the maps that had been used in the last three days, but even they were useless; he didn't know what sector of the lower ring he'd been living in, and the street hadn't been large enough to have a name. All he knew was the shops and tenements around it, that the grocery with the freshest produce had been down the alley of the basket shop from their apartment, that the local baths had been on the street with the fountain and the lamppost that was broken and had never been fixed the whole time they were there. The restaurant Jin had led him to had been somewhere past that; he'd been too uncomfortable to pay enough attention to trace his way back, and Pao hadn't been paying them enough to be able to eat out much, anyway.

Zuko clenched the knife so tightly that the rim between the sheath and the handle bit into the flesh of his palm.

He didn't loosen his grip for several seconds.

When he did, he tucked the knife back underneath his armor. Then he set both hands on the window sill, leaning out far enough that he could feel the sun. Zuko forced himself to take a deep breath, and then another, and then a third. Remember your basics.

Even if it wasn't . . . even if it wasn't about his honor anymore. The Avatar was a murderer, a thing of nature, not human. His uncle had sided with him, knowing that.

His uncle was the only person who had stood by Zuko, over and over again.

He closed his eyes, breathed in a fourth time, and tilted his face towards the sun. It was almost too warm for the armor, when he wasn't in the shade; the metal absorbed the warmth, held it close even when removed from direct sunlight.

Even drugged in his dark cell, Iroh had been sitting in a position of meditation.

He went to the spirit world, Zuko thought to himself, still breathing as evenly as he could manage. It's a famous story. Maybe . . . maybe something changed there, and that's why the Avatar seems acceptable to him. . . .

Maybe.

But his father wouldn't care.

Zuko opened his eyes, glaring out at the sky and the portion of the sun he could see over the palace's roof until his eyes watered. Then he shoved harshly away from the window, turning his back to it.

He stood still for a while longer, blinking until his eyes no longer stung and his sight had adjusted again. Then he began walking over to the dresser where a small bottle of oil was sitting beside the washbowl. His hair had dried out and come loose in the last two hours; and, as Azula had said, image was still currently everything.