Lotus

II

"I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet, to go over everything"

The last lines of a poet surface in a memory and he keeps his gaze over the small of her back. The transparent sheets on the porch way in the bed chamber fluttered.

Soft taps from a bare feet over paneled wood reverberate through the room. He realized that an hourglass easily hid itself under gleaming black and gold armor.

He flinched when she turned, "Are you alright?"

The oil in his hands slid down over his arm. He shook his head and rubbed her back. Smoothed it over, listening to the soft sigh she exerted. Scars are etched over her like the interlocking paths of a map.

Her hair fell over her shoulder. If he were to pull them to cover her scars, they would reach the small of her back. He memorized every crevice, starting from the brown spot on the nape of her neck. He studied the worn layers over her breast bindings. The set of her shoulder blades, the indent of her spine traveling down to her tail, in between the tops of two round-

He understood. She asked him to lather oil on her for a reason, not to prepare for the day. She sat bare in her undergarments for one purpose.

"Azula," he said.

"Yes?"

A gentle breeze wafted in the room. Aang's voice deepened. He remembered telling her specifically what to do and she didn't refuse. She did it.

The room, bare in its minimalist emptiness cradled their harsh pants, the small table topped with a blue and white flowered vase shook. Sounds wet and slick snaked the small corridors. Inside, the two whispered secrets like how bloodied fingers latched and never parted.

"I accept."

The candle light flickered. Officials in the council seated around the table flinched at her sudden outburst. Zuko had leaned over and placed a hand on her own. The Avatar stared openly, his gaze a myriad of defeat and nullity.

He had said, "It'll only be six months. Just stay in the guest quarters with him and we'll see what happens. The New Ozai Society should calm down some."

If it can take a minute to kill someone, six months would be enough to do worse.

"Azula, you do not have to accept this if you don't want to. Remember that your family stands by you. When Zuko decided to institute the arranged marriage you proved your loyalty by accepting, and I will be forever proud of you for sacrificing your happiness for our own.

I…I don't care if you possibly...slept with the Avatar or kissed him or...just, whatever you two did for six months in the guest quarters will be kept under wraps," Ursa sent a glare in her son's direction, "We will not let you go back to that man. And we will forget about what happened this afternoon."

Of course, when the entire palace heard his sister and Aang arguing.

"Gee, I thought you liked him mom," Kiyi muttered.

Mai sighed, "Not until Zuko messed it up."

Zuko scowled, "I'm not getting arrested for anyone, period," He turned to his sister, "You did some bull and it's either you explain what the blazes you were doing with him or figure this out!"

Azula turned her head away.

"I can't be stuck in this situation for your sake! The whole palace heard the both of you screaming like lunatics! I didn't think I'd have to warn you in the marriage because you both were the last people on earth to have a relationship! He still had his heart broken from the split with Katara and you expect him to suddenly turn to you?"

Azula said, face flushed, "It was a mistake-"

"Azula. Fix this and find a way to get rid of him!"

"Well, you're so kind." Mai commented.

Kiyi's voice broke through, "I kind of like his fruit pastry and yoga ways." She filed her nails and took a quick look at their subject sitting stiffly with her hands on her lap. "I think he's perfect for you, 'Zula. You need to marry sooner or later." Ursa rolled her eyes and laid a hand of Azula's own.

A thump on the double entrance whipped its occupants into turning. Izumi burst in with another ink drawing, black liquid spattered over her round face. At her squeal, they calmed down. Izumi had that effect on everyone, "Auntie Zuzu, wook what I did!"

The maid running after Izumi bowed apologetically. Zuko nodded and waved her off.

"Auntie Zuzu's not feeling very well, Zum-Zum," Mai said.

"Why?" Izumi asked. She paddled over to her grandmother and tapped the motionless Azula on her lap. "Auntie Zuzu, do you hear me?"

"She's getting married," Kiyi quipped.

"Why?"

"Because she did the nasty with Mr. Avatar,"

Zuko almost tripped over to cover his only child's ears. Carrying her up, he sent his youngest sister a thunderous look. Mai sighed. Ursa had yet to pay attention to them.

"What's mawwy?" Izumi asked with a grin.

"Marriage is one of the most terrible things Agni ever created," Zuko said. "Don't ever have boyfriends or get married, okay?" The women glared at him.

"...Zuko."

They all turned to the woman seated in the center. Each family member watched the princess earnestly. She gave her mother a pleading look and watched the elder woman step back. "May I have a week?"

"A week."

Azula said, "Whether we like it or not, the six month contract did more good than we expected...and we haven't had an issue for some time, besides what we're facing at the moment. I'll still talk to him."

Silence befell the group. A time before the contract had been built on uncertainty. Assassination threats poured within the palace. He couldn't put his only child in a room by herself.

Since Ukano's imprisonment, bombings and massacres began occurring in open markets. One of them ravishing the famous Fountain City Market Square. Burnings destroyed villages, most leading to the several peace treaties Zuko has to sustain in between trying to calm their fears of another fascist regime stripping away their resources. Azula had not been allowed to leave the palace because the New Ozai Society wanted to take her in. This changed the day a tiny school massacre in a remote colony shattered the nation.

Zuko remembered going there to visit each family, assuring them a safer nation despite their tears and frustration. Then it happened. He rode on a palanquin to a nearby ship home when his fellow adviser said something.

"What did you say?" he had asked her.

"One of the ways in which a fascist regime succeeds is by perpetuating propaganda. If our weapons only make things worse, why not see what our words do?"

He had a meeting with the Fire Sages, and sure enough, one of them recommended the marriage. A temporary marriage to show the New Ozai Society that without the princess's support, there was nothing to fight for. The marriage was supposed to be part of an elaborate plan to psychologically break down the terrorist group. He relentlessly posted propaganda of men destroying their own kinsmen and preached on their terrible costs of conflict. Civilians began listening.

But it took the wedding of his sister and Aang to break them. He didn't think it would help but it did. "Alright. A week. But what will you accomplish?"

"I'll talk to him," Azula said. "I think he's just going through a mental crisis. It would seem that his meeting with the waterbender didn't go so well."

Zuko slowly nodded, now uncertain just how Azula had stayed quiet all this time. Once upon a time in another world, Azula would have killed him for speaking to her the way he did.

The argument he overheard seemed foreign. The two people he thought he knew were complete strangers. And what troubled him the most was that Aang shouted along. The two fought like he and Mai used to fight when they were very young.

Azula sighed, her voice hoarse, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to...my husband."

She walked away, her short heels clacking until the bang of the door shook the room. Izumi did not even speak, more fascinated at her family's silence than her own. They all looked at one another, with Mai blinking confusedly, "...did she just say husband?"

Ursa sent her son a withering glare, "Get. Katara."

Azula's voice withered. Her throat burned, its skin raw from use. She shouted so much that the entire palace heard her from afar, and he did nothing but just regarded her with the most preposterous expression she had ever seen! How dare he come here and embarrass her like this?

The palace mongers watched her like they would a bear dog. Ambling through the Royal Gardens, she noted the turtle ducks sleeping near the trunk of a tree. The gated back entrance stood ajar, just as she left it. Grass flattened under her quick steps. The sloppy hill didn't slow her pace. She noticed that her room was lit.

He was making himself comfortable.

She stopped. Nothing should have came out of their arrangement. He was supposed to leave, live his own life and never return. This is just how things work. She made a mistake with him. She thought she made herself clear and he agreed! How dare he do this to her and paint her out to be a fool?! She wasn't a dolt! She wasn't someone for him to play with how ever he wanted!

"Get out of my house,"

She now stood in the living area, watching him sit quietly by a table. The tired look on his face threw her off, but she had to regain control. "I give you a week. You pack your things and you find your way out. Because no matter how many laws you set up or signatures you sign, you and I both know that you cannot make me do anything. I refuse to see things your way because they mean nothing. Do you hear me?"

Azula didn't wait for him to respond. She walked into her bedroom, banging the doors shut. She locked herself in for good measure.

End Note - Chapter Four on the way! Thanks for the reviews Anonymous Rex, Tyleepoof, jesjessiejessica and arasanmezhil70! And you know that lyric piece belongs to Adele's Hello!