ACTION: With the help of her new friend, Azula faces an old one.
Note to Reader: As you know, writing does not happen from beginning to end. While I work on the parts that you see in continuity, I'm constantly noting later events and dialogues. As a result, the next chapter may take a little while to come out, but bear with me loyal readers. I promise to see this story through to its conclusion.
Chapter 4: Leaving the Conflict
The Fire Lord's head advisor meandered through the palace garden, squeezing and grinding two pebbles he had picked up into perfect spheres. It helped him think and he had a lot of thinking to do. The insurgence was becoming far more aggressive. Before, the attacks were focused on military and industrial complexes, but now the attacks had degenerated into out and out acts of terrorism. They would bomb tea shops and other civilian establishments with no discrimination against who they killed.
This random violence erupting across the nation was taking a visible toll on the Fire Lord's constitution and Bai Tan was taking careful notice. Just yesterday, a family of four, a retired Fire Navy sailor of fifty, and a young man buying fruit for his mother were all burnt to death when an insurgent, posing as a merchant, immolated himself while he was selling to his victims. What humored Bai Tan was that the insurgent may not even have been posing as a merchant.
"Firebenders," mused the Fire Lords advisor as he walked across the softly arched bridge spanning the tranquil stream. There was a white tree with a stone bench beneath that provided adequate shade from the intense heat of the Fire Nation summer. He didn't know what kind of tree it was, but he was fascinated by the aesthetic of its needles, which always grew in groups of five.
"They are very… explosive, in their tempers," he soliloquized. "It makes them dangerous, passionate and easy to control. A charismatic leader could capture the hearts and minds of the ignorant masses and keep them going, even through years of bloody civil combat. So long as both sides maintain hope for a better tomorrow, they will continue to fight. They will continue to smolder, but they won't burn, not completely."
"Their Leader, a prodigal son returned as a savior from the tyranny of his own father, will keep the people alive through this rebellion and even beyond that. Eventually they will come to terms with themselves and douse the flames of their hatred. He can keep them alive, if he can stay his own fury."
After he ground his two now spherical stones around and against one another for a few minutes, he heard footsteps approaching. He looked and saw a short mass of armor clanking across the bridge. The mass of armor removed its stylishly spiked helmet to reveal a knot-topped young man with a scar on the point of his chin. "Sir," he saluted, "You sent for me, sir?"
"Yes, young Naoki. I wanted to see you regarding your duties."
"My duties, sir?" the lad quavered.
"I can assure you, you are in no trouble. I merely wish to gain a first hand knowledge of how the palace and military staff are getting on with their tasks. It's a random sampling technique that served me well in my time as an advisor in the Earth Kingdom."
"Oh, did it, sir?" he quavered with a now suspicious tinge.
"Indeed, it did. You've been assigned to guard duty at the Capital City Prison as of late, correct?"
"Yes, sir." The guard was trying to figure out what he had done and at the same time wondered where his superior was going with this line of questioning.
"In that time, have you guarded within the tower?" Bai Tan already knew the answer.
"Yes, sir. I'm sure you would already be aware of that, seeing as how you are also the head of internal affairs, sir."
The Head of Internal Affairs was impressed, but not surprised. He had chosen well, maybe too well. "You're a smart young man. I'll come to the point. You've guarded the cell of former Fire Lord Ozai. Have you observed any visitors to this cell?"
"As a matter of fact, sir, the Fire Lord himself, er, that is, Fire Lord Zuko," he stuttered, "He's visited with his father a couple times since my assignment there."
"Was the security tight?"
"Oh, of course, sir. The Fire Lord was guarded very closely, eh…" putting the situation into words was starting to tax the young mans mind.
"I understand, son. As a matter of interest, can you recall what they talked about?" Naoki's strain at recollection was visible on his scarred face. "It may be a further matter of security. Come now, what do you recall?"
"Well," the guard started, "I do remember the… Fire Lord Zuko raising his voice quite a bit. Fire Lord, I mean, former Fire Lord…"
"The prisoner. It's proper to call him that now."
"Yes, sir. The prisoner would tease the Fire Lord and tell him that he didn't know where his mother was." Bai Tan's ground the stones in his clenched fist. "I don't remember hearing anything else. I wasn't really paying attention." Naoki offered a weak laugh and the royal advisor nearly crushed the two stone spheres in his grip.
"Interesting. Are you happy in your work, Naoki?"
"Oh, yes, sir."
"I'll be plain with you, soldier. These are dangerous times we live in and the Fire Lord needs good men at his side, protecting him at all times. Men who can be counted as trustworthy. Honest men," the last words caused the corner of Bai Tan's mouth to flick. "I am promoting you to the Royal Guard. You will protect the Fire Lord and you will report directly to me. You will receive further instructions outside. I thank you for your perspective on matters. You may go now.
"Sir, if I may, do you really think the Fire Lord is in danger?"
The faintest hint of a smile creased onto Bai Tans cheek. "Oh, no. As long as honest men like you surround him, he is completely safe. But, in the interest of public interest and security in particular, do not repeat any of this to anyone else."
"Oh, yes sir, of course," said the young guard with an elevate volume.
"Carry on, Naoki, and stay safe."
"Sir! For the Honor of the Fire Nation!" and with a stiff salute the young man walked back across the bridge putting his helmet back on.
"Oh, and Naoki," the older man said to the now Royal Guard. "Pay attention." Naoki nodded and Bai Tan waited until the young man was gone from the garden before he vocalized further.
"I will know more. The prodigal son is flawed, no doubt. He has desire. He is passionate. He will burn his people to ash." While speaking these last few words the Head Advisor to the Fire Lord let his fist unclench and the dust that was once two stones trickled to the ground.
The summer sun had baked the town completely dry before it set. There was virtually no evidence of the shower earlier in the day. The waxing half-moon cast its gentle light upon the town. Qilaq looked up to the heavenly body and felt comfort in seeing Her slowly grow as though milk was filling Her like a celestial wine glass. His elemental influence was at its lowest point when She hid. He never really understood why that was the case. Even if you couldn't see Her lighting the night sky, She was never gone.
"Why Ba Sing Se?" Azula asked behind him, breaking him from his meditative thoughts and bringing him back to the worrisome thoughts relating to his current predicament: his potential pursuers and his present partner.
"I have an influential friend there that could help us disappear."
"A friend? You don't seem to have very good taste in friends," the once princess chastised before running into something. It was Qilaq. He had stopped at a T-junction at the end of the empty street and didn't seem to react when the Firebender ran face-first into his back. "What are you…?" "Did you know that Lim can't lie down without feeling excruciating pain from all the deep burns and pieces of metal lodged in his back?"
"How could I?" Azula was feeling more outraged than aghast at the moment and her tone showed it. "I don't care what his excuse is. You do not behave like that. You're actually defending that racist cretin?"
"Oh, don't get me wrong. He's as racist as they come and that is an abhorred way to be, but, knowing that the Fire Nation, your people, your subjects did that to him and worse to some of his friends and family, can't you at least understand why he is the way he is?"
"They aren't my subjects anymore," Azula said, turning away. "It's still no excuse. We're not at war anymore."
Qilaq chuckled. "Decades of fighting can do that to people. Wars like that don't just stop. Some scars won't heal. Scratch that. Scars don't heal." The two of them had it out in a staring match for a couple seconds before Azula scoffed and turned from the man who wasn't backing down.
"These robes stink," the Firebender said of her Water Tribe attire in an effort to change the subject.
Qilaq outright laughed. "Well, wear 'em long enough and they stink like you."
"I do not stink."
"Fine, they'll smell like you. How's that?"
Azula furrowed her brow felt the infinitesimal weight of a shadow on her back. She hopped aside just in time to avoid getting kicked only to get kicked in the gut by the same foot. She staggered back a bit and prepared to throw a fire-fist at the attacker, but she was locked up in the grip of another shadow, right behind her.
Qilaq was already in motion, snatching up the foot that kicked at Azula before it could be lowered. He yanked the assailant to the ground and dragged them around into the wall behind him. It was a warrior dressed in a green kimono covered in leather armor. He noted that the persons face was stark white and very feminine. Before he could examine further another warrior in the same uniform kicked his leg out from under him. He used the momentum from the fall to roll away and recover himself low to the ground.
"Stop Azula, please," wailed the warrior restraining the Firebender in a shrill, girly voice. Azula recognized it, but that didn't stop her from throwing her head back into her assailants face. When she was free she turned and confirmed who it was.
"Ty Lee?" said Azula with shock on her face. It was hard to see her face through the white make up and the dark veil of the night, but Azula knew it was her friend from long ago.
Ty Lee offered a week smile as her lip started to bleed. "Azula, listen, you have to come with us. You have to give yourself up," she pleaded.
The shock of seeing her friend after so many years and in that getup was bad enough, but when coupled with being attacked by her, it was almost too much for the former Fire Nation princess to process.
Qilaq was all action, though. He wasn't one to let his attackers rest. After a brief moment coiled on the ground he leapt at the other two warriors who unfolded two golden fans in each hand. The edges of the metal blades glimmered and gave the waterless Waterbender pause. Just for a moment though, then he charged the armed woman stopping short as an arrow zipped past his nose. He looked to his left and saw a familiar face. Two, in fact.
"Oh, so it's you two. Thawed well, I see. Where's your other friend?"
"Dead, just like you're gonna be," screeched Fu Li firing another bolt at Qilaq, who twisted and dodged it expertly, before being jabbed in the thigh by one of the green clad warrior women. All the feeling in his right leg was gone and he toppled to the ground. The other warrior held a fan to Qilaq's throat, but he immediately batted it away and kicked out her leg from under her. She staggered and he rolled up to a low cat stance, putting all his weight on his left leg.
Fu Li threaded another three arrows at once, but Da Tan stopped him. "Don't waste the effort," he said with his hand on the mad archers shoulder. "Let them do the job."
Azula had recovered from the shock of seeing her friend and slashed a wild whip of fire at the two warriors behind her. They ducked and avoided the flames and went back to concentrating on Qilaq, while Ty Lee slid under Azula and knocked the Firebender to the ground. She then leapt on her old friend and held her down.
"Take him out," Ty Lee said to her two cohorts.
"Look we don't have any trouble with you," one of the Kiyoshi Warriors said to the poised Qilaq. "You can just limp away from this and we'll let you go."
"We'll see who else is limping in a second, here," fired back the now visibly enraged Qilaq.
"Take him out!" Ty Lee yelled again, pressing against the struggling Azula. The Firebender was almost foaming at the mouth, but she couldn't get free of her friends hold.
Qilaq didn't wait. He attacked them, awkwardly because of his numb leg, and was easily blocked. The warrior who had made the offer closed her fans, jabbed at his torso three more times, and the valiant Waterbender fell to the ground in a heap. Fu Li cackled off to the side. The third warrior turned her attention on the former member of the Yu Yan Archers with disgust on her painted face. He noticed he seemed to illicit that response from people.
"We're just here for her," said the warrior to her victim on the ground as she turned to Ty Lee, who was having difficulty holding Azula.
"Should we kill him?" Fu Li asked his colossal colleague. "Let's kill him."
"In a second. Wait 'till they have the Harlot under control. Anyway, we don't want to make a scene in front of bystanders," he said, gesturing to the people who cautiously observed from their windows.
"Azula," pleaded Ty Lee, "You have to stop. You can't run. You have to go back to the Fire Nation and take your punishment. Please, just accept it." Azula stopped writhing and relaxed, as did the young woman on top of her. This proved to be a mistake. Azula kicked the Kiyoshi warrior off of her back and stood back up.
"I don't want to have to paralyze you Azula, but if I have to…"
"How can you betray me like this? Again?" screamed the young woman, choking on a sob.
"You're the one who betrayed her country," Ty Lee responded with an authority that Azula had never heard from her before.
"I was the rightful heir to the throne. My brother seized that from me. He robbed me of my right to rule!"
"It doesn't matter, Azula. You have to go back to prison."
"You don't know what it's like," hissed the Firebender.
"What, prison or betrayal?" Ty Lee snapped back. "I've experienced both because of you, my friend. My once best friend."
Azula couldn't speak anymore. Her throat closed up staring into Ty Lee's ghost white face. She couldn't beat one of them, let alone all three and the two mercenaries down the street. It dawned on her that she was not back in form. Years in prison had made her sloppy and weak.
A tear went down her cheek as rain began to fall. Big drops fell one by one, splashing apart on the rooftops, in the empty pots and on the earthen street. Soon, it was pouring.
Azula clenched her fist. "I will not give in," she said, almost unsure of herself. Ty Lee and the other two Kiyoshi Warriors took fighting stances before they noticed the raindrops coalescing into tentacles of water around them. Several of the tentacles wrapped around Ty Lee, pulled her into a wall and froze her completely in a block of ice.
Everyone turned and saw Qilaq standing in the middle of the street. "Summer showers," he said, with a smile on his face, and with a sweep of his arms he froze the other two warrior women solid.
Fu Li screamed and let three arrows fly at the Waterbender. Qilaq didn't mind two of the bolts as they glanced past him. He plucked the third from the air with an arm of water, encrusted it with ice and launched the bolt back at its shooter. Fu Li screamed, this time in pain, as he looked at the frozen arrow in his left thigh.
"Come on, you sons of whores!" Qilaq screamed in kind with a mad look on his face. "Come and get it!"
Da Tan snatched up his squealing friend and ran off around the corner without so much as a word.
"That's what I thought." said the Water Tribe warrior, rubbing his ribs.
He limped past the two frozen warriors, still dragging his numb leg and over to Azula who was staring at her friend as she suffocated in the ice. "Get her out," she commanded.
"No," Qilaq quickly answered.
"Do it!"
The Waterbender growled as he brought his left hand up, chest high, and pushed his palm down towards the ground. The top of the block of ice melted instantly and Ty Lee gasped and coughed, her head now free. Azula immediately grabbed her friend by the throat and started to choke the young woman. Her hands heated up and started to burn Ty Lee's supple flesh.
"You have no idea what it's like," she managed, her voice cracking the snarl in half. Images rose in the murky depths of Azula's consciousness. Chains. Guards. Things she couldn't suppress, couldn't forget, try as she might. But then she realized what she was doing and she let go.
Again, Ty Lee gasped and whimpered at the pain from her sizzling skin. A part of Azula wanted to tell Ty Lee, but her pride and her shame wouldn't let the words slip past her lips or even let the memories stay within the sight of her minds eye. Yet another, more visceral part of Azula wanted to kill the friend who had betrayed her, but that was just it: Ty Lee was once her friend. She couldn't kill her. Azula was too rational to let her emotions get the best of her, or at least that's what she told herself.
Qilaq wrapped his arm around Azula. "Take your hand off of me," she said low.
"Don't worry. I'm not trying to comfort you. I just need help walking. Still can't feel my leg."
"That's not my problem."
"Well, I'm making it your problem. I just saved your ass, again, so the least you could do is help me along. We're going to the same place anyway, right?"
Azula seemed to consider this, but there wasn't much to consider. For some perplexing reason, this Waterbending Tree Keeper had saved her, twice. He seemed the only person not out to get her. So, for lack of anyone else, she let him lean on her as she leaned on him.
