For the first time since she had arrived at the school, Azula ate inside. She and Ty Lee shared a table close to the huge windows, looking out at the grounds. The school had a beautiful courtyard where the physical classes often trained, though Azula had not been out there yet.
"Are you excited for the upcoming Fireball game?" Ty Lee asked, leaning on one hand and observing Azula's face. Azula took a bite of her fish before answering.
"What's Fireball?"
"Once a month, the boys from the other Academy come down, and there's a big showdown game where it's girls against boys. Only the oldest students are allowed to participate, but it's usually fun to watch!" Ty Lee said brightly.
"Watch." Azula snorted. "Things aren't fun to watch, Ty Lee. Things are fun to do."
"If you say so," Ty Lee said, taking a sip of her drink.
"So if you're eating with me now, who did you sit with before?" Azula asked, her golden eyes piercing into Ty Lee's as she waited for the answer, even if she wasn't quite sure she wanted to hear it.
"Oh, usually I just sat with a group of girls from our class," Ty Lee said, shrugging. "It was better than sitting alone, I guess…not that there's anything wrong with sitting alone!" she added hastily, seeing the look on Azula's face.
Azula stared thoughtfully out the window. "I would much rather sit alone than sit with people as a way to get by."
"Does that mean sitting with me is better than sitting alone? Yay!" Ty Lee grinned and took another drink. Azula rolled her eyes.
"I didn't say tha—"
Azula was interrupted by a commotion on the other side of the cafeteria. It seemed a girl had taken someone else's tray and thrown it onto the ground. A group of older girls were now standing around the girl, shouting and laughing at her.
The girl in the middle of the circle was tall, with short black hair and straight bangs to match. Her bangs hung over her eyes, giving her the appearance of being incessantly gloomy. She stared blankly at her tormentors, refusing to give them the slightest satisfaction.
"Did you really just tell us that a prince wouldn't look twice at me?" the ringleader of the gang asked, shoving the black-haired girl. "Please. Not only am I better looking than you, but at least my father serves in the military. What does yours do? Sit at home, counting money?"
"My father has nothing to do with me," the girl said quietly, though her words were drowned out by the other girl's.
"Well, if you think you're so worthy of Zuko, why don't we fight for him? I challenge you to an Agni Kai."
Her friends laughed along with her as the girl they were bullying blinked slowly.
"I'm not a firebender."
"Oh, right, I forgot. Well, you'd better just use your hands and hope the burns aren't too bad, huh?"
"All right. I accept your challenge." It was a new voice that spoke now, and all the girls in the gang turned to face Azula, who stood at the edge of their circle, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. Ty Lee was just behind her, watching with bright curiosity in her eyes.
"What do you mean, Princess?" the ringleader asked cautiously, her eyes roving over the two of them.
"I don't suppose you would know this, but in one of the great volumes containing the many rules of an Agni Kai, there is a provision stating that, should a non-bender wish to fight a firebender in an Agni Kai, they may choose a firebender to fight for them. So I choose to fight for this girl here. It seems only fitting, after all. I suppose I must defend little Zuzu's honor against you."
The group murmured among themselves, but the girl in charge stepped forward. "Fine, Princess. I'll take you on. Just don't be surprised if you lose. I am older than you, after all…"
Azula smiled sweetly. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of being a sore loser. Mainly because I wouldn't dream of being a loser at all…but let's see what you can do."
The older girl's eyes narrowed and she struck, launching into one of the more advanced forms. She jumped, spinning fire around her hands before throwing it at Azula. It was clear that she was, in fact, a talented firebender.
But talent was not enough to win an edge against the Princess. Azula surrounded herself with a wall of fire, easily blocking the attack, before she jumped forward, blasting a column of fire toward her opponent.
The girls surrounding them jumped back, and all around the cafeteria people were standing up to watch.
"Ag-ni-Kai! Ag-ni-Kai!" someone chanted.
The other girl leaped aside to avoid the attack, but the fire caught the edge of her shoe and set it alight. She swore aloud but didn't slow down. The next fireball was larger than the last, but Azula was already bored of the contest.
She slid gracefully down onto the floor and rolled under the fire. She gained her footing again, and a wall of fire was blasting toward her opponent, too big to avoid.
The other girl attempted to block, but her knowledge of the forms required to do so wasn't good enough. The wall of fire hit her full on.
The scream was loud enough that surely the whole school heard it.
Azula jumped, fitting the form called the Hawk, and landed lightly on the other girl's chest, her foot resting on her throat.
"I assume you yield."
Her opponent's skin was covered in vicious burns. Her eyelids fluttered to even open, and though her mouth moved, no sound came out.
Azula smiled and stepped off of her, back to Ty Lee. The black-haired girl, the one they had been bullying, was standing with her.
The ring of watchers was completely silent. Some of them began to scatter, heading to their tables or away to their classes before the adults showed up.
"Wow, Azula," Ty Lee said, attempting a smile. "That was, uh, really something."
"I can hardly believe she was foolish enough to challenge royalty to a duel," Azula snorted. "As if she could have won. I hope she learned that age certainly isn't a replacement for skill. Anyway. Who are you exactly?" She turned to the black-haired girl.
"Mai," she said. Her voice was surprisingly flat, given what she had just seen. She hesitated an instant before nodding. "I guess I should thank you for stepping in."
"The girls won't bother you if you stand up for yourself," Azula said contemptuously. "If you act like a doormat, they'll step all over you."
"My mother doesn't like me to make commotion," Mai said under her breath. Azula opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, the cafeteria doors burst open.
In marched what looked like a majority of the staff of the academy, the headmaster in the lead. The students cleared a pathway for them.
One man rushed immediately to the side of the fallen girl, checking first her pulse and then turning her over to look at the burns. "She's alive, Headmaster, though unconscious. I'll take her back to my office right away and see what I can do for her."
The headmaster nodded curtly before turning to face Azula. Ty Lee and Mai, on either side of her, shrunk back, but Azula was determined to hold her ground.
"Princess Azula, I hear you fought an Agni Kai with this girl."
"I did. What of it?"
"Any sort of dueling, unless it is strictly supervised, is forbidden within school grounds. You should know that. But furthermore…" His eyes flashed. "Such a display of ruthless violence is both uncalled for and unnatural. Your parents must be notified, and for now you are suspended from school activities."
"Don't you think it would be far more apt to suspend the idiot who lost the duel? Rather than losing an exceedingly talented student such as myself, you would get rid of a hopeless failure who got involved in a fight she couldn't hope to win."
"That is neither here nor there, Azula!" the headmaster said angrily. "This is not a war academy. We are not training soldiers. We are training capable young ladies! I will not tolerate senseless displays of brutality here! Now come along to my office. You may remain there until your parents come to pick you up."
Azula followed him as he exited the room, glancing over her shoulder at Mai and Ty Lee. Ty was waving goodbye, an apologetic look on her face.
Ahead of her and the headmaster, a group of the staff had put the other girl onto a stretcher and carried her in a different direction. Azula watched them go. The sight gave her a thrill.
Display of ruthless violence…senseless display of brutality…even the headmaster agrees that I'm dangerous. Serves them right.
As it turned out, however heinous a criminal the headmaster believed her to be, he was reluctant to punish the Fire Lord's granddaughter without permission from the Fire Lord himself. So Azula was left sitting alone on the floor outside of his office, with Ko Shen assigned to watch her.
Her firebending mentor seemed to take the whole matter very lightheartedly. When she had first seen him, he had simply shaken his head and laughed.
"To be honest, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner," he had said. Then the headmaster had scolded him for talking to Azula, and ever since that, Ko Shen stood silently just outside the door, though Azula saw him glance her way every few minutes.
She was focusing deliberately on a single point on the far wall, and conjuring tiny flames without looking away. Slowly she was improving, and soon she was able to throw the fire wherever she wished without moving her gaze. The flames needed to remain small, though, or Ko Shen would surely reprimand her.
Then, finally, the monotony was broken. Azula heard footsteps coming down the hall toward them, and a young man wearing the staff uniform hurried past Azula and Ko Shen, disappearing into the headmaster's office.
A few seconds later, both men emerged and swept down the hallway. Azula watched them go. She supposed her father was here, and it was only proper that the headmaster go to greet the son of the Fire Lord.
But when the headmaster returned, he wasn't escorting Ozai.
"Mother?" Azula sighed. Now she was certain to get a lecture on the morality of throwing fireballs at the other students. Nobody even seemed to care that the other girl had been picking a fight.
"Azula, come in here right now." Ursa marched over to her daughter and grabbed her arm. "Headmaster, is it all right if we borrow your office?"
"Of course, milady Ursa," the headmaster said, bowing.
Ursa tugged Azula into the room and closed the door behind them. Azula glanced around the room and noticed chairs, but it seemed Ursa wasn't about to let her sit.
"I received a messenger hawk saying that you brutally attacked another student. Is this true?"
"No," Azula said, widening her eyes. From an early age, she had learned that Ursa responded best when told what she wanted to hear, rather than the truth. "This group of girls was bullying someone, and then their leader challenged her to an Agni Kai! She couldn't firebend, so I stepped in…I really should have gone to a teacher, shouldn't I have?"
She turned her head to one side, perfectly faking distress. "I didn't really mean to hurt her! I just wanted to make sure she wouldn't bully that poor girl ever again! Honest, Mom! But I wanted to use the cool new forms I've been learning, and I guess my teacher hasn't taught me control enough."
Azula glanced up. Her tactic seemed to be working; Ursa's expression was slowly morphing from anger into concern. She locked eyes with Ursa.
"I'm really sorry! I know I shouldn't have taken things into my own hands…I was just caught up in the heat of the moment! And now part of me doesn't feel guilty, and I hope she learned her lesson…but that part scares me too, Mom. I know I've let you down, just please forgive me?"
Ursa met her daughter's gaze with concern, still lined with the faintest edge of suspicion. "That's not what the headmaster told me."
"Because no one would listen to me!" Azula burst out, her eyes widening. "I tried to tell them, but the headmaster just dragged me away without asking me for my side of the story! Besides, everyone at this school hates me. They probably lied to get me on the headmaster's bad side! I only have one friend…well, two, if the girl I helped wants anything to do with me…"
Then Azula lowered her head into her hands, sniffling as she forced real tears to drip down her palms. When she looked up, her eyes were red.
"Oh, Azula." Ursa's motherly inclinations won out over her mistrust of her daughter and she hugged her, pulling Azula close into her chest. "I'm so sorry you feel that way. You're right. This isn't fair. Don't worry. I'll make sure you aren't suspended for this. It was just an honest mistake, I'm sure. If anything, maybe we should blame that firebending master of yours."
"N-no," Azula sniffled. "Don't blame Ko Shen. It's my fault. It's all my fault. I should have been more careful. What will Daddy say?"
"Shh, shh." Ursa gently rocked Azula back and forth, murmuring into her daughter's hair. "I'll take care of everything, Zula. Ozai loves you. He won't be angry with you. I promise."
Slowly Azula's sniffles quieted, until finally she was composed once more. "Do I have to go back to school today?"
"No, of course not," Ursa said soothingly, slowly opening the door. "We'll just go home, and you can take a bath with some calming tea to drink. Your Uncle Iroh sent a new kind of Earth Kingdom tea just the other day…"
"Okay," Azula said, following her mother out the door. Tea from dear old Uncle? Please.
The headmaster stepped forward to greet them, glancing from Azula's tear-streaked face to Ursa's stern look. Before he could speak, Ursa drew herself up, and for an instant looked quite majestic, even in Azula's eyes.
"Thank you for informing me of this farce, Headmaster. I'm astounded that you would have the gall to accuse the granddaughter of the Fire Lord with such an act. I was under the assumption that you were a reputable man. I trust all charges against my daughter will be dropped, and I assure you that, should you attempt to accuse Azula of anything else, you will receive a visit from my husband."
Ursa swept past all the staff members, her red robes flowing behind her. "Good day."
Azula was lying on her bed, reading an old tome on firebending theory, when a servant knocked on her door. It was much later that night, long after dinner, after the sun had set. Outside, the stars glinted brightly.
"Princess Azula, your father, Prince Ozai, has summoned you," the servant said, bowing. "Please follow me to his chambers."
"I can find them myself, thank you," Azula said, shutting the book and climbing off her bed. She could never stand walking with servants; they were too slow and too obsequious. It was irritating.
"As you wish, Princess." The man bowed again and left the room. Azula checked her reflection in the mirror; it was always better to look her best when she saw her father.
Zuko and Ursa were nowhere to be seen, and Azula quickly reached her father's chambers on the floor above. As he was Azulon's son, his rooms were very impressive. Ursa had her own set, connected, though smaller. Castle rumor, flitted from loose-tongued servant to drunk guard, had it that Ursa and her husband never shared a bed anymore.
Azula took a breath and then knocked on Ozai's door. It was carved with dragons and inlaid with gold. The door itself seemed to shimmer, as if it were on fire.
"Come in, Azula."
She opened the door and stepped inside.
Ozai's anteroom had a high ceiling and red silk draped all across the walls, embroidered with all creatures of fire, who danced across the fabric as if they were alive. There were several doors in the walls, which led to his other rooms. There were several golden chairs in the center, as well as pillows and cushions. Ozai was sitting against the wall.
"Come sit down."
She obeyed, sitting on her knees across from him. She bowed, as was custom, and then raised her head. Golden eyes met golden eyes.
"Yes, Father?"
"Your mother told me about your incident today. She said you were involved in an Agni Kai with another student."
"Yes." Azula saw no point in lying.
Ozai leaned back and observed his daughter, his eyes glinting. "I have some advice for you, Azula. Your brother, Zuko, is rather fond of using fighting to solve his problems. He is rash and unthinking, and acts based on emotion alone."
Azula closed her eyes. She could see what was coming.
"Fighting should be your last resort. If there is another way, use it. If you can intimidate with words alone, do so. Force others to do your bidding. Don't get involved. Never endanger yourself. Manipulating others is the surest way to success."
Azula nodded, opening her eyes and meeting her father's gaze. "I understand, Father. I apologize. I will be more cautious in the future."
Ozai smiled a thin-lipped, dangerous smile. "Good girl. Now you may go."
She stood and bowed once more before turning and heading for the door. Her hand was on the wood when her father spoke again.
"I trust, at least, you taught the girl a lesson."
Azula smiled then, though her father couldn't see.
"Oh, yes, Father. One she won't soon forget."
A/N: Enjoy! Have fun! Leave reviews! Oh, and before I forget, I feel the need to mention that this is a very slight AU-slight in that certain things stated in canon will not be respected, or that scenes that appeared in the canon may not occur in the same way here. But, as I said, it'll be slight.
So, tell me what you think! Reviews feed my soul!