Azula passed in front of the large tent thrice in the day, but inspiration slipped out of her hand again. It was circling in her head for almost three days, since she had captured this weird all-female warrior group. It was something with their ornate green uniforms, creepy make-up, and the very scene where she had found them, but it couldn't snap together.
Her first thought was that she should punish these girls for good. They prevented her from capturing the Avatar's sky bison, further fuelling her frustration with her recent failures to make progress in capturing that boy. But then, this elusive idea came up in her mind, so she decided to spare them.
And it was there, circling in her head, and she just couldn't unfold the whole picture. Something about these girls. Especially now, when they weren't in their green uniforms. They just looked like an ad-hoc bunch of young girls from every corner of the world. And this idea, it somehow worked along this line. Azula could feel it.
On the way to this base, she had a little chat with the leader of the group. She was a fierce redhead, and one should be blind or really stupid to not realize that she was from the Fire Nation. Personally, this sparked Azula's interest in the group more than everything else. At first, she simply found her funny with her dedication, but then, she had to realize that she actually enjoyed her company. There was a fire in that redhead, and it fascinated Azula as if she were a mothwasp. It was strange to have such a positive opinion of some lowly soldier girl, but she couldn't help it.
She left the entrance to the prison-tent for the fourth time, and headed back to her own tent. The idea was still pulsing inside her head, even stronger than before. She could see the four main points of it: the mixed nationality of the group, the odd makeup, their connection to the Avatar and the green uniforms. But there was an important centerpiece that was missing. And it was the one that connected the others. Azula was sure that, eventually, she would find this out. Maybe she only needed a little rest and maybe a little more talk with these warrior girls. Two days, and she would get it.
She was wrong. She only needed ten minutes.
Azula entered her tent, and to her greatest surprise, she found Mai and Ty Lee there. Or rather, their presence was familiar to her, but now, it was surprising how they were there.
Mai was lying on a couch with her usual bored expression. Her long, black hair was down but more interestingly, she wore a heavy, green uniform. It was the uniform of one of the warrior girls.
Ty Lee was standing next to her, trying to fit herself into another green uniform. Her hair was made half-way into a knot and her face was a huge mess of white, red and black paint.
"What are you girls doing?" asked Azula angrily. These antics were really unneeded in their current situation.
"Personally, I was just borrowing some clothes," answered Mai dryly. "But I'll take no responsibility for what Ty Lee is doing."
Azula had to strain her memory a little bit to remember why Mai should borrow clothes. She could distantly recall that one of those girls cut into Mai's robe with her sword or something like that. A fairly acceptable excuse.
Ty Lee finally finished with dressing, and spun around. Her cheerful smile nearly made Azula zap her with a lightning bolt, but she swallowed the urge and forced out a sarcastic smile.
"And you Ty Lee? You are wearing these clothes because…"
"Because it is neat!" the young acrobat ran to a nearby mirror and checked herself. "Now, if this makeup behaved like all the other makeup, it would be perfect!" she tried to smear the paints to resemble the same pattern that the captured warrior girls wore, but she failed to get even something similar. Ultimately, she just wiped her face clean with the sleeve of her uniform and cartwheeled back to Mai flopping down next to her.
Mai just rolled her eyes and sighed.
"She has been doing this for the last hour," she said to Azula. The fire princess frowned at them. She didn't need this little intermezzo at all.
"You know…" Ty Lee started her explanation. "Those girls we captured shared something special. A communion. I could see it on them. They are just so bright when they are close to each other. Especially around their leader! And these uniforms and the makeup represent their bond, so I thought that maybe we could imitate them to represent our bond. We could be… like… the Azula Warriors!"
Azula was just on the verge of scolding Ty Lee for her stupid idea. She, the princess of the Fire Nation and the heir to the throne, wouldn't wear the clothes of some backwater peasants for anyone! She could feel her anger rising quickly, and she was just about to say something nasty when the final piece emerged and clicked into the greater picture.
Suddenly, Azula acquired the key to unlock her plan, and it stretched out in her mind like one of those silly golden fans those warrior girls used in the fight. Now she could see it. Ty Lee and Mai unknowingly unveiled the hidden centerpiece, and now the connections became complete.
"Azula Warriors… Of course!" Azula whispered, astonished. "That's how we will do it!"
She walked to the couch and grabbed a green uniform that was lying there. She checked it out, and her plan came to life in the clothing. Three creases ran through the heavy silk, passing the seam on the shoulders, just as three girls in disguise will infiltrate the heart of the Earth Kingdom. They passed down through the golden strip on the sleeve, reaching an elaborate insignia – the Avatar – and finally the dark green end – the Earth King.
Everything was so crystal clear that Azula was really surprised that she couldn't figure this out before.
Mai and Ty Lee just looked at each other in confusion. They could see Azula frown at the beginning and now they couldn't understand her sudden change of mood.
"Um… So, will you try these?" asked Ty Lee finally, but Azula didn't answer immediately. She was still enjoying the sweet taste of her own genius, and Ty Lee's question made her grin.
"I will." Her response widened Ty Lee's smile. Mai just hit her forehead with her palm as a sign of disapproval.
Azula had to rewind what Ty Lee had said about those girls. Yes, she could see some difficulties here and there. But nothing insoluble. Forcing people to do her bidding was always Azula's greatest area of expertise.
"So… They are especially bright around their leader, huh?" Ty Lee nodded. "Then I think it is time for them to go dark!"
The steel shackle slipped down on her shank with a loud clang and stopped at her knee. The heavy chains attached to it slowed down its momentum just enough that the strong and rude material didn't bruise her. Kitara swept her leg back, making the shackle swing back to her ankle.
"You are free Shackle! Fly away!" she whispered, but nothing happened. She tried to give it a small nudge, but it had no effect either.
"Stop it Kitara," sighed Pema, who sat next to her. She had given up on her own shackle long ago. "It won't go off."
Kitara knew it. She had witnessed Pema struggle with the locks, and she also saw her surrender to this piece of fine Fire Nation forge-work after a full day of trial.
By now, most of the girls were resigned to their current situation. They had lost a battle and became prisoners of war. All but two of the warriors had accepted this.
Suki was the sharpest example of defiance. She didn't give up. She didn't surrender. She kept the girls from sliding into complete apathy and losing hope. But Kitara was sure that Suki's reason to act for acting like this wasn't so selfless at all. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was a proud girl, but the recent events had shattered this part of her world. It turned out that the warriors weren't that exceptional; they were easily defeated by three random girls, and Suki had a hard time swallowing this. Kitara was pretty sure that this refusal was the main source of her determination. The well-being of her warrior sisters came only after this.
Asha was a much different case. She was the youngest Kyoshi Warrior, and by far the wildest. She didn't simply defy their situation, but went straight against it. She fought with claws and teeth when their captors had tied her up, twice she had tried to escape twice on their way to the base, and even since then, there hadn't been a single hour where she didn't try to break free. Okako and Suki often had to calm her down before she hurt herself with her attempts. Kitara knew that Asha was from some sort of primitive, barbaric Earth Kingdom tribe, and that the girl was prone to savage outbursts, but this behavior surprised even her.
To direct her thoughts towards a much funnier topic, Kitara made a big jump from the Kyoshi Warriors to the opposite group of girls. The firebender noble girl, the pink acrobat and the lethargic knife thrower. An odd trio, to say at least. Pema said that the firebender was in fact the princess of the Fire Nation, but Kitara couldn't believe her. Yeah, she looked pretty royal and stuff, and had those golden eyes, and weird blue flames, and subtle talk… And she was clearly in charge, and she ordered royal firebenders to guard the prison-tent…
Well, maybe she was really the princess of the Fire Nation.
Kitara grimaced as this thought crept into her mind and took a firm grasp on it. Yeah, the prisoner of the princess of the Fire Nation. That sounded like something!
"Girls! I think the firebender is the princess of the Fire Nation!"
"Yeah Kitara, I just told that a few hours ago," noted Pema coldly. "But I'm glad that it finally reached you!" Nirmal and Okako chuckled on this.
"No, no! I mean, she is really the princess! The one from those propaganda leaflets! The ruthless firebender prodigy and all!" Kitara's excuse made even Suki turn to her.
"And what's your point with all this?" she asked her.
"Well, I don't know if you remember, but the Earth Kingdom soldiers were all terrified when she came up. You read the leaflets, she is all-powerful and killy!"
"Jump to the point Kitara. I'm not really in the mood to listen to this any longer."
"Okay. So my point is that we are still alive. The biggest injury we suffered was my snapped finger, but even that was my fault! We clashed with the most dangerous girl of this world and are still alive to tell the tale!"
"I still can't get it," admitted Suki with a puzzled face.
"If we had really been defeated, then we would be cold dead!" yelled Kitara. She could see the utter lack of comprehension on the other girls though, and it was very embarrassing.
For an awkwardly long moment, the whole tent fell silent, and every girl looked at Kitara. Even Asha stopped chewing the chain of her shackle.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Suki finally. "We were defeated, and that's all that counts." And with that, she turned back.
"Also, the leaflets are just propaganda," added Nirmal. "I wonder if even half of the content is tru…" she was interrupted by Okako, who just placed her hand on her mouth and drowned the word in her with a stern look.
Kitara hoped that at least the lieutenant of the cadre got it. And it seemed that she did.
"Suki…" Okako crawled next to the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and wrapped her arms around her neck. "What Kitara really wanted to say is that we weren't defeated per se..." Suki just growled something to this, but Kitara couldn't hear what. "…we were only hindered. We are still in perfect fighting condition. We only need the chance to break free. And then, we could have a rematch on our terms!"
This wasn't exactly what Kitara had in mind, but she let it pass. Okako's words clearly cheered up Suki a little.
"We fought against bad odds anyway. That forest battle wasn't exactly convenient for our style," added Pema. She leaned forward, and from her malicious grin, Kitara knew that she was about to drop the biggest thing. "And don't forget that we are one Kyoshi Warrior short." Suddenly, all the girls began to smile. Suki's wasn't really sincere, but Asha's super-wide grin counterbalanced it nicely.
"Yes! Kei is not here!" The yell of the youngest Kyoshi Warrior made one of the guards peek into the tent. The girls quickly fell silent, and the guard just shrugged and turned back.
"If we could somehow send a message to Kei, she would free us easily! And with her in the team, those girls would be no match for us!" Pema's words flared up the excitement even more.
"Kei could defeat the fir…" Asha's sentence was muffled by Nirmal's hand. The young girl angrily glanced up to her, but Nirmal's soft smile immediately appeased her.
"Yes. Kei could defeat the acrobat," said Okako quickly to Suki. "And then, you can fight the fire princess untroubled."
Kitara sighed. This was close.
Kei was the assault specialist of the cadre. She was a bully, who thrived in the terror and violence that followed her everywhere. She was matchless in terms of physical power and possessed unique powers no-one had seen before. But she was also a true sister to the girls, especially to Suki. Her absence was a rather… complicated story, but not entirely incidental.
Asha wanted to say, "Kei could defeat the fire princess," but that was Suki's fight. Even the mere mention of the possibility that Kei could steal her match would spark the same thing that made the girls leave her at the island. And that wouldn't be nice in their current situation.
Just as these thoughts rolled through her mind, two common guards entered the tent. Their red armor covered their whole bodies, but Kitara was sure that they were both women. They casually walked to Suki, and started to unchain her.
"What is this?" Suki was clearly astounded, and so were the other girls.
"Easy girl, you are going to move to another prison," answered one of the guards with a deep female voice. The Kyoshi Warriors were taken aback as a single entity. They watched as the guards unbound their leader, then helped her up and led her out from the tent. Frozen by the shock, they neither move nor speak.
Before she was dragged out from the tent, Suki somehow gathered enough strength to turn back to her sisters.
"Don't worry girls! I'll be back soon!" Then a guard forcefully pushed her out from the tent and she soon disappeared from their sight.
Kitara blinked.
Suki was gone.
Roughly two hours later, six Royal Firebenders entered the tent and unchained the other girls, too. They led the girls outside the tent, towards the center of the base.
Okako still couldn't believe their bad luck. Just when it seemed that they could finally put themselves together, they were separated from their leader. And this was bad.
Really, really bad.
As the second-in-command, the burden of leadership now fell upon her with the force of a landslide. And Okako wasn't sure if she was ready for the task. She commanded the girls before without Suki, but those cases were vastly different. Overseeing them for a peaceful ferry ride was not the same as making decisions in captivity.
They arrived at a large tent, and the soldiers led them inside. And just as she stepped through the curtain of the entrance, Okako's jaw dropped from the sight. The tent was huge, at least twenty meters in diameter. It was a lair of fine red silk, master-crafted furniture and ornate golden fancy-work. The shower of richness and luxury stupefied Okako, and as she could see, the other girls too. For a long moment, they just stood in the entrance of the tent, and tried to absorb the sight.
But the marvel was broken when Nirmal hissed up and pointed at a table on the opposite side of the tent. On that table, a large patch of green cracked the sea of red. The Kyoshi Warrior uniforms. They lied there in careful order, lined up from the largest to the smallest. Most of the girl's stuff was there too: the headdresses, the war fans, personal belongings, and even their all-new shields. Suki's equipment was there too.
But Suki herself wasn't here.
"Move in!" grumbled a soldier behind them, and the girls complied. Only two firebenders followed them inside the tent, and they led the Kyoshi Warriors to a heap of pillows on the ground, not far away from the table.
"Now, sit here until princess Azula arrives!" said another firebender. "No shenanigans until then! Just stay put!" The soldier sounded rather puzzled. He seemed very uncomfortable with the situation.
"What do you want from us?" asked Pema, but the soldiers quickly left the tent without giving an answer. "Hey!" Pema yelled after them, and she was just about to go after those two, when Okako grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Just do what they said." Pema opened her mouth for a reply, but then closed it without saying anything. She resignedly plumped down into the pillows, and soon all the other girls followed her.
Okako made a quick calculation for herself. It seemed that their new situation was a surprise even for those soldiers. The girls were technically free. They were no longer shackled, and most of their gear was literally within arm's length. Okako had to strain her mind a little bit to figure out the real limitations of their possibilities. This was way too convenient.
"This was set up," stated Nirmal suddenly. "Don't fall for it girls. This is much more than it looks like."
"But we could break free!" protested Asha. She was eyeing with that table continuously. "We have our equipment! We can slip through the back of this tent and sneak out from the base!"
"Nice plan, but won't work," noted Pema coldly. "The only way out from this tent is through its entrance."
Asha skeptically reached out, and poked the thick silk wall of the tent. It proved to be surprisingly rigid.
"What is this?" asked the young girl confusedly. She poked it again, then scratched it a few times.
"The wall has three layers," explained Pema. "One inner layer of silk, one middle layer of steel mesh, and an outer layer of linen. As you probably noticed, our swords are not here. We couldn't cut through the mesh without them."
Asha sniffed the wall, carefully tried to rip it open with her fingernails, but after some completely futile attempt, she gave up. Okako crawled to her, and hugged Asha. She knew that the young girl was in a dire need of comfort, and she was right. As Asha hugged back, Okako could hear her sobbing quietly.
The other girls endured the situation with varied moods. Pema was clearly worried, her face was all red and she was skulking amongst the pillows like a little girl after a bad dream. Kitara was just the usual carefree goofball: she was lying on the pillows with a somewhat strained smile, quietly chatting with Nirmal about the intended purpose of the tent. And Nirmal… was surprisingly indifferent. She often glanced towards Okako, so she probably wanted to talk with her, but Okako was busy comforting Asha. As the most staid warrior, Nirmal often had very good suggestions. Okako was curious about her opinion on their current situation, but just when she tried to crawl to her, the curtain of the entrance flipped sideways, and three girls entered the tent.
They were their captors. The fire princess, the pink acrobat and the dark knife thrower. Okako ground her teeth and tried to shoot a menacing look at the princess, but she barely noticed her. And even then, she just smiled.
The acrobat leaped to the Kyoshi Warriors and danced around them, staring at the pile of girls while doing so. Her unearthly, smooth moves would be truly fascinating to Okako, but the actual atmosphere ruined the feeling. Now she could see her only as a snake, twisting around its prey to suffocate it and devour it in whole.
"You should see them, Azula!" chirped the acrobat after making a full circle, and jumping back towards the fire princess. "They are so colorful! Like a rainbow!"
Okako raised her eyebrow. What was this girl talking about? All the Kyoshi Warriors wore the same red prisoner clothes…
The knife thrower walked to a nearby desk and turned over the large metallic plate on it. It was a mirror, with a frame made from tubes of glass. Okako could see some hazy gas or liquid flowing in those tubes. The girl then drew a chair in front of the desk and unceremoniously sat down into it.
"On my part, I'm ready," she said finally, and the fire princess nodded.
Okako desperately watched as this… Azula slowly approached her. She looked down on her, with disdain written all over her face. Okako's first thought was to attack, but as she looked up, she caught the fire princess' eyes, and in those, she saw only pure domination.
Fear grasped Okako's heart as she momentary looked into those golden depths of power. She suddenly felt weak and helpless. Her determination and spirit quickly dispersed under the weight of the eye contact, and Okako involuntary shuddered when Azula finally began to speak.
"So… I guess you are the substitute of the redhead." The world nearly blacked out for Okako when Azula addressed her. But ultimately, she managed to regain enough of her strength to stay conscious.
"I'm. My name is Okako." She tried to stand up, but Asha was still in her lap.
"I don't care what your name is," noted Azula coldly. "I'm here to ask a little favor from you."
"F-Favor?" asked Okako confusedly. She was now completely lost.
"See…" Azula made a wide gesture towards the two other girls. "Ty Lee and Mai are really interested in your customs." Azula walked to the table where the uniforms were kept, and picked up a green robe. "Your clothes, primitive weapons and creepy make-up are all very intriguing for them. And it saddens them greatly that they are so… unusual."
Okako couldn't miss how the knife thrower rolled her eyes and the acrobat swallowed a giggle. There was something different behind this. But she didn't know what, and as she glanced through the other Kyoshi Warriors, she saw that they were just as puzzled as she was.
Azula dropped the robe back to the table, and picked up a golden war fan.
"Personally, I'm more curious about your cadre as a whole," she said, and it sounded surprisingly sincere. "Your composition, customs, history and such."
"If you think that we will help you in any way then you can forget it!" burst out Pema suddenly.
"Yeah! Tell her Pema!" added Kitara.
"Why?" asked Azula innocently. "A little cultural exchange won't hurt anyone! You will spend quite some time as the guests of the Fire Nation. Aren't you curious how it works? It could save your life!"
Okako was ready for a sharp reply, but as she was about to say it, she could feel a small nudge from behind. She turned back and she saw Nirmal. The other girl was startled and her hazel eyes conveyed a silent message: Don't stretch it!
Okako nodded, and it eased Nirmal's expression. Yeah, starting a fight wasn't really a good idea.
"We are not interested." But Azula barely noticed Okako's answer. She flashed a small smirk and then stepped back in front of Okako.
"Whatever. Maybe if I show you an example, it will change your mind." She leaned over Okako, and in her eyes, Okako could see the spark of malice. "Let's start with taming an animal."
"What?" popped up from Okako, but before she could even comprehend Azula's words, the fire princess reached out with her right arm, grabbed Asha on her neck and tore her out from Okako's embrace.
The Kyoshi Warriors were taken aback as one. Pema screamed up, Nirmal crawled back a meter in panic, Kitara instinctively reached for her sword only to realize that she didn't have it, and Okako tried to drag Asha back, but Azula was too fast and the young girl quickly got out from Okako's reach.
And Asha…
…Asha was way too surprised to do anything.
"You know…" started Azula thoughtfully, addressing her words to Asha. "…I don't even know what you are doing amongst these civilized folks. You are a savage. A little animal." The fire princess lifted her left arm, so her palm was on the same level as Asha's face. "But luckily, in my country, we have a very efficient way to domesticate your kind."
Suddenly, Azula's empty left hand flamed up. The blue fire danced around her fingers like a malevolent spirit, an eerie phenomenon perfectly fitting to the fire princess. Asha just stared into the flames with the most terrified look on her face Okako had ever seen from her, and her mouth opened for a silent scream.
"Animals like you fear fire don't they?" asked Azula, and she intensified the flames with a smooth hand move. Asha's face strangely softened. She was now mesmerized as the shock overwhelmed her mind. Azula just widened her smile and slowly moved her burning hand closer to Asha's face.
"Please, don't hurt her!" cried out Okako in desperation.
"Why, what would you do to make me stop?"
There was only one thing she could do. Okako lowered her head in resignation. She didn't like the prospect of sharing any knowledge about the cadre with the fire princess, but Asha's safety was of utmost importance.
"Anything," she said finally. "Just don't hurt her. Please."
Azula laughed up, and roughly pushed Asha back to Okako. Then she made a wide sweep with her other hand towards the Kyoshi Warriors, unleashing a roaring arc of blue fire. The girls screamed as the flames hit the floor just in front of them, and the wave of heat ran through them. And Azula just laughed, clearly enjoying the dismay of the girls.
As she hit the pillows, Asha instantly snapped out from her shock. She yelped up, and hysterically crawled away from Azula. She sought cover behind Kitara, only peeping out to keep Azula in her sight. She really looked like a frightened animal, but luckily - as Okako could determine - she was just badly startled but suffered no physical harm.
Still, this scene wasn't good. Not at all.
Azula cleared her throat.
"So I think we could start with the hair and the make-up," she said with a smug tone. She pointed towards the knife thrower, who was still sitting in the chair, undisturbed by the events. "Mai will be your first subject, while Ty Lee will be watching closely. Show them everything. Every little detail."
"I'm Ty Lee!" added the acrobat. The other girl, Mai, just grumbled something under her nose.
"Meanwhile, someone else could fill me in with the customs and such," continued Azula. "If I deem your cooperation inadequate, then I will be glad to teach you another lesson about the Fire Nation." She looked through the girls. "And I assure you, I devised a good lesson for each of you."
Okako gulped. She glanced through the other Kyoshi Warriors, and she saw the agreement in their eyes. Except for Asha, who was still keeping an eye on Azula from behind Kitara's back. But Pema nodded, Kitara forced out an encouraging smile and Nirmal just sighed with resignation.
She rose from the pillows and helped Pema to do so.
"I'll tell you everything about the Kyoshi Warriors. Or at least everything I know." Her words widened Azula's smile. "And Pema is the best with hair and make-up."
"Very well then!" Azula seized a chair for herself. "I knew that I can reason with you!"
This was a bad dream. A nightmare. And she couldn't wake up.
Pema felt like a mess. She was doing the hair of this 'Mai' for almost two hours, carefully explaining every move, every trick to make a good Kyoshi Warrior bun. She had to repeat the process a few times, because the other girl – 'Ty Lee' – missed a point or got confused. When this happened, Azula always ordered Pema to undo Mai's hair and start the whole thing over again.
And she did it just as she was told. Of course, when the soldiers brought them to this tent, she was of a much different disposition. She thought that she would resist until the very end. She believed that she could do that. And she was sure that the other girls had something similar in their minds too.
They expected to do that. So it was even more humiliating that they had eventually gone down like this.
And it was all Suki's fault. She shouldn't have left them like that. The guards unchained her, and she had an opportunity to free them all. She could have just beaten the guards, unchained the other girls, and they could have all snuck out from the camp.
But no, she just walked away, with some cheap promise that she would come back. The problem was that as it now stood, there won't be Kyoshi Warriors when their great leader finally decides to return. Because this Azula will ghost them as soon as they served their purpose!
Actually, Pema had this weird feeling that she misinterpreted Suki's feelings after their defeat. She thought that the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors simply took their defeat to her heart, but refused to surrender. She looked determined and undaunted as she sat in that small tent with the others, but now, in hindsight, Pema had to admit that maybe she was simply pondering on something.
Like how to turn coats.
Such a spineless and mean act would be pretty alien from Suki of course, but Pema had seen a few shocking things from her before.
She finished with Mai's hair again. It was hard to admit, but the traditional Kyoshi Warrior bun looked very well on her. Pema used her own hairpins to fix up Mai's hair and she felt horrible to contribute to this treachery this way.
Azula was still occupied with listening to Okako. At first, the fire princess seemed rather uninterested, but as Okako revealed more and more to her, Pema could see her mood changing. Soon, Azula was actually questioning back, inquiring about things even Okako didn't know like information about the adult Kyoshi Warriors and details on the finer workings of the cadre.
Pema walked to the table, and picked up her make-up set. She hated herself for doing this, but the knowledge that she pretty much had to do this soothed the bad taste in her mouth. It was enough to look at Asha. The young girl was still hiding behind Kitara, with the same terrified expression. Azula's little demonstration truly unsettled her, and Pema had no intention to experience the same.
She began to apply the make-up to Mai. The girl had a very similar facial structure to Kei, so Pema had an easy time to work out the proper layout of the war paint. It took only a few minutes, and she was done.
Other than her dark red clothes, Mai looked like a Kyoshi Warrior.
"Excellent!" commented Azula. She stepped to the make-up desk and checked Mai. Her face was full with contentment. "Maybe I misjudged you." The fire princess walked around the tent, and checked all the Kyoshi Warriors. "So far, I thought that you are nothing more than a pack of dirty peasant girls playing soldiers. That only your leader was worth my attention." She tried to poke Asha, but the girl jumped away and snarled at her. Azula just chuckled at the surprisingly aggressive response. "But it seems that I was mistaken. You are a valuable asset. And I no longer have the intention to waste your little group."
Pema ground her teeth. Now this is how something goes from very bad to even worse.
"I told you!" giggled Ty Lee.
"Are you going to set us free?" Nirmal asked the princess.
"I have something similar in mind." Azula's answer was rather confusing. "But now, let's go back to our current business. You shouldn't worry. Your future is in a good place." Azula flashed an evil smile that froze the blood in Pema's veins. "In my hands!"