A/N: Just in case you didn't notice, I rewrote chapter 5. So please read that first if you skipped over it.

"The indignity of it," Azula spoke under her breath as she picked up the fallen gold pieces. "…reduced to picking up change off the ground. At least I don't have to endure being with that insufferable Joo Dee."

Standing up, she brushed some dust off her clothes, and picked up the earthen-colored scroll. Well, I still need to buy something to eat, Azula walked along as she unfurled the scroll…

---

CONDITIONS OF EXILE

Throughout her time in exile, Princess Azula is to abide by the following rules. The penalties for not complying follow each enumerated term.

Article 1:

Under no circumstances is Princess Azula to set foot in any territory of the Fire Nation. Failure to comply will result in said Princess' immediate execution.

No kidding, that's kind of the point of exile.

Article 2:

Clause I

Princess Azula's noble status shall be dissolved for the duration of her banishment. As such, she is to bow before local officials, nobles, and royalty like everyone else. Punishment for noncompliance shall vary based on local ordinances.

Ridiculous, though I doubt any of those pompous fools will even approach me.

Clause II

Being removed of her royal title, Princess Azula is to earn her living as a peasant. Begging for food or shelter is strictly forbidden. Stealing or any other minor crimes shall be punished twice as severely as local law dictates. Greater offenses shall be met with immediate execution.

Please, like I'd ever be reduced to begging for food. I'd starve to death first.

Article 3:

Clause I

Princess Azula is expressly forbidden from using any firebending to inflict bodily injury upon another even in self defense. Such an offence will result in Princess Azula's immediate execution.

Clause II

Due to prejudice towards firebending in general, it is recommended for Azula's own safety that she refrain from using firebending altogether.

Oh, for my own safety is it?

Article 4:

Princess Azula's banishment is intended to open her eyes to the terrible destruction the Four Nation's War has caused. During her first year of banishment she is to live in Ba Sing Se, where she is to aid the city's reconstruction efforts.

Article 5:

The remainder of Azula's banishment can be served in any Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe destination of her choice. At any moment Azula decides to move, however, she must inform the sovereign of her current place of residence. Said ruler will thereafter notify the Lord of Azula's new place of residence, and indicate a date for arrival. On the occasion that Azula should not arrive to her new destination within one week of the date of arrival a manhunt shall commence for her capture. Upon her capture, Azula is to be sent to Ba Sing Se, without the option of leaving, if no other crimes have been committed during her disappearance.

The following terms have been decreed by the Earth King of Ba Sing Se, and apply only while Azula remains in Ba Sing Se….

Princess Azula is forbidden from practicing any firebending whatsoever.

Azula may not approach within 1000 feetof the Earth King, his palace, or the entire inner ring of Ba Sing Se.

Heh, the Earth King must be very thrilled to have me here, she mused. Tossing the scroll in a grocery bag she turned for home.

---

"Aarrrrg!!! What am I supposed to do?!" Fire Lord Zuko threw a crimson scroll at an adjacent wall. He began to pace the room, fists shaking.

"Fire Lord Zuko calm down," General Iroh spoke out of the darkness of the dimly lit room, while sampling some tea lying on a small table. "You will accomplish nothing if you let anger get the best of you. General Kuma is threatening a coup; surely we can assemble the rest of our troops and quell this uprising."

"General Kuma isn't our only problem," Zuko rounded on Iroh as if he was to blame for his present predicament. The Fire Lord reached into his pockets and thrust another scroll under Iroh's nose, as the dragon of the West stumbled to save his tea from being toppled over.

"Naru has joined forces with him. Both of them gave the same response to my summons to abandon Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe territory."

Iroh read…

Regarding our order to leave the Northern outposts of the Earth Nation, my troops and I consider it the highest dishonor to the memory of Fire Lord Ozai to abandon the Earth Kingdom. Such a display of weakness rivals the Dragon of the West's failed siege of Ba Sing Se, and is assuredly bred of the same weakness.

Indeed we think the late Fire Lord Ozai's restoration of Prince Zuko's honor to have been premature, and born of pity not proper judgment; we will not, therefore, take orders from the current Fire Lord, and will hereafter pursue the Fire nation's goals on our own terms.

"You must not do anything rash Fire Lord Zuko," the Dragon of the West stared into his Jasmine tea. "The memories of your past banishment still linger about you. Any wrong move could start full scale civil war in the Fire Nation." Iroh gulped down a generous swig of tea. "Between the two of them, Naru and Kuma command two-thirds of the Nation's troops."

"Don't you think I know that, uncle?" Zuko demanded. "At least General Senshurei has remained loyal to us. The Fire Nation's most elite firebenders fall under his command. He will be invaluable in crushing the other generals."

"Surely you haven't sent General Senshurei on the offensive?"

"Do you have so little faith in me uncle?" Zuko's expression lightened a little. "No, I have asked Senshurei to return to the Fire Nation. He'll be here in three weeks. Meanwhile, I will call on the other Nations' aid, and summon a war council to deliberate further on the matter."

"It may be wise to send the Avatar a hawk as well," Iroh gazed out at the star-dotted sky, brows furrowed.

---

"Tch, a traditional Earth Kingdom meal, does that bug-eyed nut think I can't cook a simple meal. A princess of the Fire Nation has no business being the frail, high-maintenance aristocrat a Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom royal family member might be. No, we know how to survive, and fight for ourselves."

"Now, let's see," she held a meat cleaver dangerously close to her chin in contemplation. Rummaging through a grocery bag, she withdrew a slab of pink, sinewy flesh wrapped in brown paper. "I'd better eat this rabbiroo meat before it spoils; I know. I'll make a stew out of it."

"But what else could I put into it," she reached into the bag, and felt a glass jar, pulling it out. "Pickled koala sheep eyes, why in Agni's name did I buy these again?" Azula titled the jar in several angles, then shrugged," Too disgusting to eat…oh, well." Azula placed the eyes on the window sill against her bed.

"I think I'll just add diced potatoes," she placed a couple of russet potatoes on a countertop and attacked viciously wit a meat cleaver. She sliced with precision, but the cleaver was rather blunt. "Finished," Azula's brow furrowed as she stared down on the scarred and mashed up spuds she'd produced. "Looks like I got a little carried away," the potatoes made a loud plop as they joined the rabbiroo meat in Azula's rust-colored pot.

Adding curry to her culinary disasterpiece, Azula's mind began to drift…

"Azula, can you help me skin the boar-q-pine Mai caught? It's really big." Ty Lee looked down at her loafing comrade, hands at her hips.

"Ty Lee, what did we discuss about lunch preparation?" Azula spoke in a lazy drawl.

"Umm…" Ty Lee brought a finger to her chin trying to remember. "Mai hunts something down, I prepare it, and you….light the fire?"

"Precisely," Azula yawned, and stretched a finger towards a pile of firewood. A sliver of blue set the camp fire to life. "There…I see a fire, but I don't see a skinned boar-q-pine."

"Oh, right away, Azula." Ty Lee straightened up, and half saluted the princess before marching off obediently…

Azula pushed the rest of the memory out of her mind. "Why am I remembering that traitorous circus freak now? It's not like I ever really cared for her or Mai, they were just exceedingly capable soldiers." She noticed her broth start to bubble, almost ready.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Azula walked up to answer the door, glaring at it as it creaked once more.

"Hi…I'm…supposed to…deliver your…community service…assignment," a boy with bushy, unkempt hair panted. "Here you go," the boy presented a crumpled, dirty piece of parchment from one of his pockets.

Arms crossed, Azula looked down on him with a mixture of contempt and amusement. "Are all of you this filthy?"

The kid stood there unsure how to reply, or what exactly she had meant by "all of you." Finally he spoke up, "Hey! Be nice, I had a couple stray pygmy panthers chasing me and----"

Azula slammed the door in his face with a smirk. She poured herself a bowl of stew, and pulled out her work orders. Flattening the note on her small table she read…

Report to the Sochi District's Civil Works Offices to aid the outer wall reconstruction efforts. Be there at 4:00 pm sharp.

Leaving the note, she regarded the bowl of stew before her. The mashed up potatoes swirled and danced with the greenish broth giving the impression of thick swamp water. She tipped a ladleful of the stuff into her mouth. It was mushy and watery at the same time, leaving an intense burning sensation in Azula's tongue."

"Agni! This is revolting," she spit the vile mixture on the floor with as much zeal as she'd initially sampled the stuff. She gagged, and spit, vainly attempting to rid herself of the taste.

---Later---

"Here we are. The Civil Works Offices," Azula read the faded, crooked sign in front of the small complex. She stuffed a gilded scroll into a pocket. This thing was rather expensive. I spent about half my money, but at least I didn't have to ask anyone for directions. Of course Azula had had no idea where the Sochi District's Civil Works Offices were located. Rather than sinking so low as to ask a commoner for directions, she'd decided to buy a map of Ba Sing Se. The ornate scroll nearly depleted the funds the Earth King had provided, but it was worth it.

The exiled princess could hear voices as she stepped in…"So that was an exiled Fire Nation princess who put Joo Dee to tears?" A voice whispered.

"That's what I heard. There's more too, Xin the butcher said she was all high and mighty about Fire Nation food being better than Earth Kingdom produce."

"Yeah, sorry we don't eat roast peasant here. I've heard they're a delicacy in the Fire Nation."

Rumors of Fire Nation atrocities had run amok in the city since its people had learned about the war. Still Azula's presence had not been reported to the general populous. How do they know who I am? Surely, Joo Dee told them, Azula thought. She stared daggers at the volunteers who continued to gossip…

"She must be pretty scary though. I heard she brought down this city all by herself, and almost killed the Avatar."

That's right.

"Don't be such a Fire Nation lover, Chung. Do you really think a delicate princess could do all that? No, those traitorous Dai Li agents were probably on the Fire Lord's side all along."

Azula stomped over, ready to chew out the babbling volunteers. As she did though, everyone in the room fell silent as a heavy door violently burst open.

"Good afternoon volunteers," a man walked briskly into the room. A mane of wheat colored hair, and his spotless verdant clothes made him look like the scion of spring, youthful and strong.

"Good morning Chiang!" a few of the younger women squealed.

"I see some of you already know me. For those of you who don't, my name is Chiang, and I'll be leading this team's operations."

Azula rolled her eyes at the now giggling maidens. Pathetic, she could see why they liked Chiang. With his overbearing arms and chest, he looked as if he'd been carved out of rock. Still, for girls to flock after a man like sheep is just disgusting.

The work crew walked onward to the outer wall, Azula keeping her distance from the others. Thankfully they had stopped gossiping about her, preferring to talk about Chiang, who it seemed was also a war veteran. Clearly, these "volunteers" only volunteered so they could be around Chiang, Azula figured.

"Ok team, we're going to split into three groups," Chiang ordered. "Quarried stone has been delivered just outside the city walls," he pointed beyond the ruptured outer wall. "But as you can see, the slabs are too big for us to move by hand. The men will break up the rock with pickaxes. The women will use wheelbarrows to move the stone, and a select group, including myself, will work on the wall itself."

"Moving rock, no problem," Azula went for a wheelbarrow.

"Sorry Miss Azula," Chiang came over to her.

"What is it?"

"Well…" Chiang sounded uneasy. "I was told to place you with the men's team. Sorry, Civil Works Commissioner's orders."

"Alright then," she went for a pickaxe instead.

"Think you can handle work with the big boys?" A ropy, bent over volunteer jeered as she walked toward the men's group.

"You mean work with a rabble of aged, hunchbacked geezers?" Azula taunted the decrepit man, "I think I can handle that."As the afternoon wore on, though, she felt a heavy weight on her shoulders. Her arms and lower back were stiff and sore. It was only her comrades' taunts that kept her going.

"So is it true that stuffed peasant arms are a delicacy in the Fire Nation?" One of the men waltzed over to ask.

Azula let a bit of her anger fill her before responding coolly. "A delicacy? Don't flatter yourselves, vermin like you don't even make decent livestock feed. No, you're far too skinny and underfed for anything remotely appetizing."

One of the guys to her left snickered before the other shot him a stare. "We've also heard that the Fire Lord's throne is decorated with the heads of Earth Kingdom military officers."

"I thought it might be easier to work with you men than with the women, but I see that you're even more gossipy than they are." Azula tried to sound exasperated as she spoke, but the group was unresponsive. "No, the Fire Lord's throne room is wreathed in flame. Tall and imposing hellfire, worthy of our nation's glory---"

"You're kidding," someone interrupted. "All that Fire Nation heat and the man surrounds himself in flame? A pity he didn't die of heat stroke before the Avatar got to him."

"Fire benders aren't as prone to----" Azula began to explain through clenched teeth.

"Blimey, what a fool," another broke in. "If I was the most powerful man in the world, I'd surround myself with a dozen or so concubines---screw the flames. How about you, Kai?"

"Yeah, and all the sake and roast mutton I could handle." The crew roared with laughter matched only by Azula's rage.

Twilight came, and with it the end of their shift. "Alright men, time to pack up. We've put in a hard days work. Meet back here same time tomorrow," Chiang called.

Azula stretched trying to ease her sore back, as everyone retreated into the city. A ways beyond the construction zone, she noticed an outcropping leading up to some hills. "I guess I could explore a bit." With cat-like dexterity, she climbed, finally resting at the first hilltop.

Looking out over the city of Ba Sing Se, she realized that she was utterly alone. A ghostly blue flame sprung from her right hand. "I haven't bended since the day of black sun…"

She turned her palm over and thrust forward sending a whip-like ribbon into a nearby boulder. "Now let me…" Azula felt the negative energies gather in her hands as they cackled with energy. She took aim, and brought her hand forward. "Wait, what am I thinking? If I lightningbend, the bellowing thunder and lightning will only be too obvious. I'd better stick purely to firebending."

Late into the night, Azula continued to practice her bending. The fatigue she'd felt earlier melted away as she broke in her newly discovered training grounds.

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A/N: Hopefully I didn't bore anyone with the part where Azula reads the conditions of her exile. I'd written it out just to help plan my fic, but thought it was pertinent to the story as well.