Here it is… Third part of whatever this is…
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Chapter 3
103 AG
"No matter how royal you are, it won't change the simple fact the guy's name was Chen…" Wen argued, but Azula shook her head trying to get a word in.
"It's Chin. Chin the Conqueror." she claimed. When they started asking each other history questions they had no idea it would turn into this.
"Oh, I wish there was someone here we could ask so you'd finally admit you're wrong!" he spread his arms, gesturing to the forest they were in.
"Because all the Earth Kingdom peasants are very educated on their history from a couple of hundred years ago?"
"Because it's so obvious every moron knows it's Chen. They even have a village named after him. I've been there."
"Then the village is named Chin too!"
"Fine, Princess! You don't want to admit it? We're staying at 59:58 for me, and it's my turn to ask." Wen kept a serious face, but it was kind of obvious he was enjoying himself, "What was the name of the 46th Earth King?"
Azula stopped walking after that and looked straight at the pirate.
"What? Too hard for you?" he teased.
"Wen, we both know his name was lost in the fire set by those rioters! Asking a question without an answer? I invented that." she too was surprisingly having a decent time walking through the woods with this thief. Finally, someone who wasn't a total simpleton. Someone who you could talk to normally…
"I think you will find that I invented that, because I've been using it since before I can remember, and I'm clearly older than you… But 59:59. Come on, do your worst."
His comment was annoying but gave her an idea.
"My question. When was I born?" she asked.
"Not part of the game."
"It is a part of history, ergo part of the game." she smirked sensing she was about to take the lead.
"But it is not a part of Earth Kingdom history. We agreed we're steering clear of our nations since one of us would have an obvious advantage." he thought he had her, but her smile wasn't going away.
"You don't think the first Earth Queen ever is a part of Earth Kingdom history?"
"You ruled for what… A full day maybe?"
"But I did rule."
"Damn, woman… You were born in… 84?"
"85. My lead."
"So I'm two years older than you." he said, smiling even though he was losing.
"Why do you do that?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"Volunteer information about yourself… It can only be used against you. I don't understand the logic behind it."
"There's not logic, really." he looked away, "I just feel like I have an unfair advantage. You know nothing about me while I've read an entire book series on you and your family."
"You don't know anything about us. About me." Azula almost looked offended by that. She was sick and tired of people who thought they knew her just because they read what someone had to say about her in a book.
The Fire Nation books on the matter were almost fiction because of how they changed all the facts that could be a bit disagreeable. That's why, for example, Azula's grandmother didn't fling herself off the roof of the palace, she succumbed to a terrible illness after a long battle. Only thing worse were the foreign historians, who just didn't know a whole lot and added scary sounding lies in to make up for it.
"How about, for another ten points, I guess what your plan is?" Wen asked, "Loser finds us dinner."
"You can't seriously think that some book gave you the power of anticipating what I'll do?"
"The books gave me background information. The last few hours showed me that you think like me, with a few profoundly different core assumptions about the world."
"Alright, but you'll just embarrass yourself." Azula stopped and sat on a rock. She had to hear this…
"OK… Your plan…" he paced around her rock, deep in thought, "It's not freeing your father, because that's just too easy and you would have never agreed to the game."
"Obviously…"
"Obviously." he took a deep breath, "Your plan is to gather people, followers. Anyone you can, then inspire loyalty… Use them to gather resources. Use anything and everything you are given."
"You're staling," she smirked, "That's the beginning of every plan… If you want to win I want specifics."
"Alright… You are a princess, so your meaningful interactions were limited to your family mostly… So father's out, how about the mother? I read she disappeared, maybe finding her?"
"She's not missing, she's just a bitch."
"Alright, not the mother then… Your brother! He's Fire Lord. But overthrowing him would require an army, not to mention taking the Avatar out of the picture and you don't seem to be preparing for that. But it does have something to do with him, doesn't it?"
"Just give up." How absolutely adorable of him to think he can bring his mind to her level…
"He's your older brother, right? Zuko? So you want to come back to him, because you two were always close. You were the smart one and he was your protector. And he'd understand, because he was banished too while- Why are you laughing?"
"I couldn't stop myself after you said Zuzu was my protector…" she chuckled again, "But keep going, you're terrible at this."
"You call the most powerful man in the Fire Nation Zuzu?"
"Zuzu is not the most powerful man in the Fire Nation."
"So… Daddy didn't get it, Mommy didn't get it, Zuzu didn't get it… Looking for a lost lover?"
"Don't use this to find out things about me."
"Fair enough. Where was I? You didn't get along with your brother. You were rivals and you're coming back to take revenge on him. Torture him for betraying you. But you don't strike me as the physical torture kind of girl… Psychological torture?" Wen stopped pacing right in front of her and focused completely on her face so he could monitor the slightest twitch or gaze.
"That sounds more like me…"
"What are you up to? Taking away someone he loves? No. That doesn't help you. No… The two of you went through the same childhood, only he came out a national hero and you had a mental breakdown. Now he's you and you are him." Wen could see Azula's eyes were darting all over the place, telling him he was getting close, "And you don't like it that way, do you? Him better than you. You want Zuzu to fall, you want him to end up just like you did. So your plan is to corrupt him, to take away his heroism and make him just like you up to the last detail. Because if he goes evil and loses his mind for a while, he'd understand. Someone would understand finally, and he'd want you by his side, damn, he'd need you by his side."
Azula stood up, looking like she was about to say something to that, or at least rain fire on him, but then she swiftly turned around and started running away.
"Princess!" Wen yelled after her, "Princess! Azula! Come on!"
He allowed himself to fall to the ground and laid back. For someone so smart he sure could be stupid…
"I'm sorry…" he whispered to himself.
Following a girl that obviously didn't want him around through the woods seemed like the wrong move, so he decided to just set up camp where she left and wait till morning. A few hours after sunset, he was beginning to think she was never coming back when he heard footsteps approaching. He stood up, taking a flaming branch from the fire he made, but he didn't need it to recognize Azula, since she had a blue fire burning in one of her hands to see where she was going.
"Dinner." she said and placed three dead fish in front of his fire.
"But you didn't have a net or anything…"
She showed two of her fingers and said, "Lightning. Water. Dead fish."
"Tomorrow I think you should handle the fire and I the water."
"Smart." she sat down on the opposite side of the fire, but she seemed different. She wasn't making eye contact. Wen wondered what the best way to ask a person if they were alright was, without implying they were weak. That was the last thing he wanted.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said. I went too far for no reason…" he said, half expecting her to blow up at him.
"Don't apologize. I agreed to the game." she paused, "I can admit when someone else is as good at something as I am."
"I didn't want to offend you. I do that sometimes, I say what's on my mind, but I don't think it through so someone ends up hurt."
"I do that too. People don't like it." she looked at him, "But I'm not hurt. I didn't expect you to read me that easily. I'm not used to people seeing the world my way."
"Me neither. That's why I'm glad we got to travel together. I've met a lot of people in my life, I mean, a lot… But very few saw what I saw. Very few knew how lonely it is, how-"
"Exhausting." Azula watched the fire flicker.
"Yes. I used to love always being the smartest person in the room. Being one, two, twelve steps in front of them at all times… But sometimes I look at the idiots writing songs to someone who'd never date them, or dancing around, or laughing at nothing and I think… They're happy. They can barely think twelve minutes into the future, and they're happy…"
"But they will never know how it is to win battles with only your words. To pull one little string and watch the whole world change to your will…"
"But even if all my dreams were coming true, I still wouldn't be that happy. I'd be worrying, planning, calculating…"
"I'd never give up my mind. It's the only good thing I have left." she said deciding to be completely honest, "I've had the unfortunate opportunity to feel it fail on me and then I truly had nothing."
Hearing that, Wen got up and kneeled right next to where Azula was sitting down. She seemed to be a bit flustered by this sudden invasion of personal space.
"Neither would, I. Of course… But don't you wish you could turn it off? Just for a second, a day, or for one person..." their eyes met suddenly, "Don't you wish you could look into someone's eyes, forget all the calculating and just see them?"
"Maybe."
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134 AG
"Wait, you didn't kiss him?" Mai asked.
"No…" Azula shook her head, "We'd just met. What kind of whore do you take me for?"
"You were alone in the dark, that was the cue."
"I'll have to agree with my wife." Zuko cut in.
"See, even Zuko would kiss Wen." Mai smirked.
"No, that's not what I…" the Fire Lord tried to explain himself, but the two women just snickered.
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103 AG
As the night went on Azula and Wen decided it was pointless for both of them to be awake, so they agreed to take turns sleeping. Azula got the first watch while Wen lied down on his side and swiftly fell asleep.
The Princess spent the first hour of her shift thinking about her new acquaintance and travel companion. Usually she would just dissect all the events of the previous day in her mind, and that day had a lot to study, seeing how she lost all her money, her ship and her associates. But there was something in her that just wouldn't let her move on from replaying her conversation with Wen in her mind.
All her life she prided herself in her uniqueness. She was the prodigy, in firebending and her studies, she was the only person with blue fire, the smartest student in all her classes... They taught her that was because she was a Fire Nation Princess, the product of hundreds of years of only the strongest and brightest ancestors, but now she wasn't so sure.
If she took her brother, someone with the exactly same ancestry as her, and this low-born thief, the difference was immeasurable. It was easier for her to believe Wen was an anomaly, than to question everything she ever believed about people, so that's the explanation she settled on for now.
She found herself glancing over to Wen often, while thinking about him, but after some time she noticed he was mumbling in his sleep. She couldn't make out any of the words, but now that she started paying attention to it, she realized he was covered in sweat and thrashing around like he was in pain.
Azula got up and walked over to him with the intention of kicking him awake. At the last second, she stopped herself, seeing his pained expression and decided to instead wake him by gently rocking his shoulder.
"Wen… Wen." she called and after the second time her opened his eyes and violently sat up, still breathing heavily.
"My turn?" he asked, still trying to calm himself down.
"No… You were shaking and turning…"
"Thanks. You can get some rest now, I'm not going back to sleep."
"It's barely been two hours."
"You might as well sleep, because when this happens I prefer being awake." he turned himself towards the fire. Azula moved back to her side, but didn't lie down.
"I used to have nightmares as a child." Azula broke the silence, catching Wen off guard, "What? I'm doing your thing. I'm sharing to prevent someone from having the upper hand."
"So, what made them stop?"
"Waking up." she said and Wen smiled.
"Mine are about my time in the war, mostly." he offered as an explanation.
"If you fought in the war, then why don't you hate me?" Azula asked directly.
"You never did anything to me…"
"But I could have. I would have, if given the chance. I'm not just any ashmaker, that's how you call us, right? I'm the Princess!" their campfire grew and changed color to blue, "Why don't you hate me for everything I did?!"
"Because you were a child! I became part of it when I was 12, you've been a part of it your whole life… You never had a real choice."
"Careful, Captain. Everything I did, I did because I wanted to. I did have a choice."
"Do it or die is not really a choice, now is it?"
"You think my father would have killed me?"
"I think you tried your hardest to never find out." he looked away and the fire stopped raging and returned to its original orange.
"Which side did you fight on?" Azula asked.
"What?"
"Zirin said she knew you as a child. Did you fight on our side?"
"Almost." he said and seemed reluctant to share more. Now he stays quiet! Now that she's actually curious…
"Can I get back my lead if I tell you your life's story?" she asked all of a sudden.
"And you called me out for making assumptions out of the books I've read…"
"That's entirely different, that's using a few actions to judge the person. This is using your knowledge of the person to guess a few details. It's induction versus deduction, really…"
"Fine. Deduct away, Princess." Wen laid back and watched the stars.
"Let's start then… You were born an only child in the Northern Water Tri-"
"Wrong."
"Don't tell me you're one of those swamp-living waterbenders…"
"I was born in the South Pole."
"Untrue. There was only one waterbender in the South in the last half a century and I've met her."
"Well, let's just say we didn't stay long after my parents found out I could bend..."
"You hid right in front of us… You fled to the Fire Nation, that's how you knew that man from today… He smuggled you in through the Earth Kingdom. That's why you had to hide in the floor before. And when you got there you pretended to be Fire Nation citizens. They forbade you from bending."
"Correct. My parents knew they'd come for me eventually if we did nothing. We had to run."
"But you did learn how to bend… It was forbidden, so it was the only thing you wanted to do."
"That's right." he sat back up to look at her, "I had no one to teach me so I only did what felt right. That's why I win fights, I kind of invented my own style, before stealing a scroll at 8. I had to because… A life without bending for me, felt like no life at all."
Azula focused on him as he moved his fingers around slightly, collecting little drops of water on them from the air. If she was being honest, it was amazing to hear someone talk with such passion about their element. When she was growing up it was just fire, fire, fire… Fire is good, fire is strong, everything else fades in comparison… But she was beginning to internalize fire was not all there is.
"My parents both died when I was 11. Some Fire Nation disease none of us had built immunity for." he helped move her story along, "There is no way you could see that coming. Spirits know, I couldn't…"
"Alright, so you're 11 and you're all alone in an enemy land… You… Um, you can…" Azula couldn't even imagine being that alone at such a young age. Sure, she was often lonely growing up, but at least she knew she'd always have food and protection if she needed it. Despite that, she gathered the best strategy was to think about what she would have done in those circumstances.
"I suppose you teach yourself to steal," she started, "And lie, and more than anything get other people to do what you want. You quickly realize that with how smart you are, you can get other people to steal for you."
Wen usually hated how that part of his story made him seem, but when Azula was saying it there wasn't a grain of judgement in her voice. She said all those terrible things, but she said them like it was a completely understandable thing.
"But I was trying to finish school. I believed if I did, my life would get better one day. I'd finally be able to stop bending and be like everyone else… Bending that I was getting objectively great at the time."
"But something happened, didn't it?" somehow Azula wanted to hear the ending of that story more than she wanted to breathe.
"One day I heard they lowered the age of recruitment for boys. I knew I'd be viewed as a non-bender and they were basically used as bait back then, so I decided I needed to leave. I sneaked my way onto a ship and eventually made it to the North Pole."
"Wrong side of the world?" Azula smiled and he mimicked her.
"Yeah, I didn't know it that well back then. But I was with my people finally. And the Pole… Water everywhere, like nothing I'd ever seen… It was everything I dreamed it would be. But I was still an orphan and I was caught stealing one day so by the soldiers' logic, that meant I was ready to serve. They took me to a camp where I was trained for a year before I saw combat."
"And let me guess? It was terribly traumatizing, and you will never be able to forget the things you saw?" Azula interrupted. She could only imagine that's what other kids thought, kids who weren't raised with someone constantly telling them they'll kill a lot of people some day and make their daddy proud.
"Are you kidding?" Wen looked over to her, "I loved it. Someone was finally teaching me waterbending. And I was so good, Princess… Every shred of modesty I had left dissipated. In a year I could take every teacher there. One of the generals told me I restored his faith in us actually wining this war. And I loved combat even more, but I was too young to think things through completely. I did everything they asked, and I reveled in the attention it got me. It wasn't long before they told me I'll be lieutenant soon. That's when I realized if I didn't do something right away, I'd spend my whole life fighting their war."
"Wait? You deserted?" in Azula's mind it was unthinkable. She'd killed people for even mentioning it.
"I couldn't have known the Avatar would return in just a few years. In my perspective, it was the only way to get my life back." Wen looked up at the moon, "And there was only way I could do it. A waterbender's last, desperate option. Bloodbending."
"Are you trying to be funny? There is no way those stories are true…"
"There are a lot of misconceptions in them, like the one about a dark spirit that comes to drag you into the Spirit World if you try it, but bloodbending is very much real. I've done it." he finished and noticed Azula was subtly trying to check the current moon phase. He understood, they were alone and there was really no decent defense against a truly skilled bloodbender.
"I wouldn't use it again if it wasn't absolutely necessary." he added to put her at ease, "My friends and I all tried practicing it every full moon, but I was the only one that could actually do it. I got them all out together with the ship you saw, but there were… Casualties."
"And that was the beginning of Captain Wen. Pirate with hidden depths." she finished for him.
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134 AG
"If things were a little different we would have known each other," none of them noticed Katara was also listening in, until now, "Sokka, your husband and me."
"I suppose." Azula sighed.
"You would have probably dated him, Katara." Zuko cut in, amusing his wife greatly.
"Yeah, think about it. He would have been the only older boy besides your brother." Mai supported Zuko's theory, making both Katara and Azula visibly irritated.
"That may be, but what happened happened." Azula concluded this childish exercise.
"I had no idea the Northerners even sent…" Zuko started.
"The capitol wasn't all there was." Katara started, "They were safe behind their walls while the rest of the Pole went to fight, just like my father did."
"Did your father take little orphan boys with him, too?" Azula asked.
"Of course not." Katara shook her head, "How can you even ask that?"
"Kat, you want to go check up on the kids with me?" Mai asked, trying to defuse the situation.
"No, I want to hear more." Katara seemingly calmed down, "Wen was one of our people, I have to know what happened to him."
Azula nodded and continued her story.
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103 AG
Azula slowly opened her eyes, realizing it was already morning. She looked around for Wen, assuming something had happened to him since he didn't wake her for her watch.
But in a few seconds, she spotted him emerging from the forest carrying fruit.
"Good morning, Princess." he started, "We have a long walk ahead of us, but that shouldn't stop us from enjoying this gourmet selection. We have lychee nuts, purple berries and lychee nuts…"
He dropped the entire pile of food in front of her.
"Having trouble deciding with so many options?" he teased as a response to her silence.
"Why didn't you wake me?" she asked, taking a nut from the pile.
"I wasn't going back to sleep, this way at least one of us got a good night's rest." he put a handful of berries in his mouth, "And I thought of another way for you to get back your lead from our game."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Fight me. Winner gets ten points." he got up and attached his water pouch to his waist.
"Aren't we on a tight schedule?"
"Yes, but I think some training will be good for us. We got into some serious stuff yesterday, so we could use something simple."
"Now that you don't have the whole ocean to use against me, it will be simple." she stood up too.
Azula won the first round, evening the score. It wasn't easy, though. For the first time in a few years she had a decent opponent. A real challenge. So when he asked if she wanted a rematch she agreed.
They fought a couple of times, each winning about half, as expected. Every time Azula made the tiniest mistake, Wen was there to take advantage of it. She wasn't perfect, but neither was he. She really didn't want to stop any time soon, and the fact that the fights always ended with one of them on top of the other didn't hurt.
As they fought they both learned each other's moves, which only made the whole thing more interesting. But that was not all they picked up. Azula learned Wen smelled like the sea, no matter how long he'd been away from it, and also that sometimes he was willing to take a punch to see her smile.
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Anyway, we got some backstory for Wen and something about what Azula was up to when she got involved in all of this. Her plan is not entirely my idea, though, she did speak to Zuko in Smoke and Shadow about how she realized her destiny wasn't to be Fire Lord, but to make him into the Fire Lord he was supposed to be.
I love the idea of Azula dealing with the fact that her destiny lies somewhere else. It may be a bumpy road until she finds it, though…
Also, I added a bit of Azula dealing with the fact that low-borns can be just as amazing as the kind of people she grew up with.
I promised, I'll post weekly, and I think I'll be able to uphold that for now.
The sheer quantity of continuity errors I had to slay in order to make this postable is painful. Writing something slowly over a long period of time is the death of me. So please forgive me if something still doesn't quite add up. I tried my best.
And of course, feel free to share any thoughts you may have :)
