Azula had thought of a new torture for her jailers. She had not had the peace of mind to sleep since the Avatar made his appearance. If she couldn't slip into unconsciousness, then she wasn't willing to let her jailers have a moment of silence. The soft plink of rock on rock stammered a constant tattoo.

Normally the walls of her hole were smooth as glass, but the unthinking general had finally given her something to dig at. Bits of those glowing crystals had broken through her wall, littering the floor of her oubliette. One piece was barely large enough to fit Azula's hand. She toyed with the thought of tossing it at the first person she saw peer into her hole. But they kept their distance. Her display of fire concerned them. She was supposed to be crazy and therefore unable to align her chakra's enough to use her bending. The fear extended to the earth bending inspectors too, she suspected. Not a single sole had come near her home, other than to toss her hard bread, in nearly a fortnight.

Her repetitive tap-tapping continued. She methodically used the small bit of crystal to chip away the rock surrounding an oblong chunk of the wonderfully hard new material the great pain-in-the-ass general invented.

Azula had found this long splinter poking its little head out of the newly exposed rock. She kept her tool close, for the most part concealing the tell-tale glow. The others she had concealed under her ragged blanket. One tiny spark of light in her hellish hole would cause alarm. Unaccustomed to this abuse, her hands were wearing down too. Not only did the crystal in her hand have sharp edges which dug into her palm with every impact, the uneven space of wall was a mass of sharp edges hard to avoid.

She misplaced her next strike; knuckles jamming themselves in the small space between her object and the wall. The force left her arm numb to the shoulder. Her throbbing hand let the crystal fall and it clattered to the floor. With a hiss of pain, Azula clutched her injured hands to her chest. Blood oozed from her raw digits. She kicked the wall, attacking it with her feet; only managing to bruise her toes in the process. Azula screamed, piercing the infant silence with emotion. Like a child throwing a tantrum, the grown woman heaved herself at the slick rock walls; bouncing from one side to the other, fighting the oubliette as if it was an army.

Her motions shook the loosened rock she had been worrying at. Fragile pieces wriggled with her impacts, quietly clearing more debris from the sliver poking its way through the wall. Azula continued to rail against her cage. With a final shove, she slammed her back against the rock. She sank down to the floor, tears freely moving down her cheeks. Angry and hot, they steamed against her skin.

"My true heir proved she does not weep like her mother. Has my heir rescinded her claim to be Fire Lord?"

The voice startled Azula into stillness. All her heat evaporated in an instant, leaving her shaking with cold. The voice seemed pleased.

"Have you given up the throne you claimed in blood? The true Lord would not cry because of a rock! She would set a fire like none has ever seen and melt this pitiful hole. Everything makes way for flame, daughter"

Azula's gaze was drawn to her tool, glowing faintly from the tangle which was her blanket. An idea wormed its way into her mind; all light has some form of heat.

#$&^%

Ruji stood frozen, staring at the dark hole in the ground. His prisoner just had an all-out crazy attack. He heard the painful sounds of flesh smacking stone and could only imagine the damage the once mighty fire bender was inflicting.

His new leathers creaked as he leaned forward. Still several feet from the hole, he tried to peer in. The guard wondered if the prisoner had smacked her head one too many times and lay unmoving. Hell if he was going to get any closer to check though. Time, and smell, would let him know soon enough.

#$&^%

Her fingers stung as she rubbed her palms together as if to warm them. Several fresh scabs oozed fresh blood. Good, she'd need the heat from her own body to make this work. She picked the smallest of glowing shards, pressing it into the smear of blood in her left palm; she again started the frictional motion of rubbing her palm together. Blood coated her hands now, showing dark and purple in the blue light. The crystal began to soften, reminding Azula of a treat she used to enjoy as a child. Caramel, yes, that was it. As the stone became pliable Azula shoved it into the crevice surrounding her sliver of stone. She repeated this process, choosing the smallest pieces, until the crack glowed with blue light.

Azula pressed her all purple hands against the wall, thumbs jammed as far as they would go into the crack. It was difficult to arrange her flow of energy. She had been so long without the sun that she felt like a lizard moving on a cold morning. She tried to recall the burst of power she felt right before shooting at the Avatar. Her blood on the crystals bubbled and began to boil, the glowing minerals expanded. Growing with the heat she was feeding them, they swelled the crack, stretching the rock that would not melt. Azula knew she could never hope to melt the stone, but the heat was making it rubbery. Her eyes fixed on the sliver, watching through the sweat as the tip angled down. Her arms trembled as she maintained the extreme heat. She could feel her mind shutting down, her vision became blurry.

Not Yet! She bared her teeth; breathe hissing in and out as she panted. Azula pressed her forehead on the wall, willing herself not to pass out. The sliver's tip rocked back and forth like a snake's head, sharp and deadly. A few minutes passed, an eternity on the edge of unconsciousness, and Azula saw her sliver slither its way out of the enlarged crack. It rested against her toes, nearly a foot long and several inches thick. Azula grinned and gave her mind to the waiting darkness.