Chapter 7
A/N: Looking back at my last chapter, I realized Azula was a little ooc. I guess the real Azula would've been more questioning of her situation and where the ship was going...
Sorry. My bad.
Azula squinted off into the distance, scanning for what felt like the millionth time the empty horizon. Surely they'd hit land soon. The ship was moving fast, the weather was good, and they'd been traveling straight toward the Earth Kingdom for almost an entire day.
When the view remained the same, though, Azula closed her bright gold eyes, breathing in the warm ocean air around her. It was beautiful out, but the closer the ship got to Earth Kingdom shores, the more she wished the ocean would just swallow them all into its great indigo depths.
"Azula, what are you thinking about?" asked Ty Lee suddenly, waking Azula from her daydreaming state.
"Nothing, Ty Lee. Only...no, nothing." Ty Lee wouldn't understand. She herself didn't even understand exactly what was so wrong with living in the Earth Kingdom; this far south it would probably be just like the Fire Nation.
"Are you nervous? I mean, you've never lived in the Earth Kingdom before. What if it's really awful?" breathed Ty Lee softly.
"It can't be that bad. Thousands of people have lived there for their whole lives. I'm only going to be one more."
"You're right. It's good that you have such a positive attitude. If it were me who was humiliated by my father and practically banished to the life of Earth Kingdom nobility, which is just like Fire Nation peasantry but in the Earth Kingdom, I'd be feeling pretty awful. But here you are all chipper and everything; you're such a great person, Azula."
Peasantry? She was in no way going to be a peasant. "I wasn't humiliated by my father, and I certainly wasn't banished. I didn't do anything wrong; he couldn't banish me. But it is pretty disappointing that I could be so easily betrayed by the only person I have left..."
"You have me and Mai," sniffed Ty Lee.
"No, that's not what I meant. You have your father and your sisters; Mai has her parents and Tom-Tom; I have no one. My mother's gone. My brother's a traitor. My uncle doesn't count, and he's a traitor too, anyway. And now my own father is shipping me off to the front lines as some sort of war sacrifice. I guess I should be happy to serve my country like this, but it still hurts," answered Azula curtly, staring calmly over the rocky ocean waters.
"Don't be sad, Azula. I'll never leave you or trade you for soldiers."
Azula laughed, in spite of herself. Silly Ty Lee. She always knew what to say.
Suddenly, Azula spotted a long strip of darkness rising above the indigo horizon. "Ty Lee, do you see that?" she asked anxiously.
"What is it?"
"I think it's land...I think we're here." She tried to tell herself she wasn't nervous; what was there to be nervous about? She was a firebender. The best firebender. Nothing could ever hurt her.
"Are you scared?" whimpered Ty Lee, voice seething with excitement as she gripped the railing at the side of the boat so hard her knuckles turned white.
"Of course not. I have nothing to be scared of," scoffed Azula before adding in a quieter voice, "Are you?"
People were flinging her luggage around, swinging it over their shoulders and tossing it back and forth to each other. Azula frowned. No-good thieves. By the time she got to the palace, she'd have nothing left.
Tom-Tom was crying and had been ever since the ship struck land; the excitement, his mother said, was getting to him and he hadn't had a nap in a while. Azula wondered how hard it would be to abandon him at the busy port. Its dusty cobblestone streets were swarming with dirty sailors and citizens, all screaming out orders and greetings that Azula would rather not have heard. This place was filthy and teeming with vulgar atrocities only a fool could call humans. She hated the Earth Kingdom already.
"Ty Lee, don't talk to him," ordered the princess quickly as Ty Lee opened her mouth to say thank you to a grimy sailor who'd handed her an apple.
"But, Azula; I was just being polite..."
"These...these...ugh; they don't deserve your cordiality. Just keep walking." Azula grabbed the apple and handed it off to some hungry-looking tan-skinned beggar.
"Why'd you do that? I was hungry," whined Ty Lee.
"You don't know where it's been."
"Oh, Azula. Calm down," sighed Mai, holding up a wailing Tom-Tom where the native kids couldn't reach him. "Everyone wants to touch his feet," she explained to Azula when the firebender looked at her inquisitively.
"They're probably not used to seeing real, civilized human beings. Come, Ty Lee; don't dawdle."
"Sorry." They walked on in silence, Azula keeping a close eye on both her traveling companions and the reprobates carrying her luggage. If Ozai only knew what his beloved daughter was having to suffer through right then; he'd have to change his mind. Azula knew it was too late for that, though.
Fighting through a herd of beggars and venders, Azula gritted her teeth. If this was life in the Earth Kingdom, she'd have to go home. No self-respecting person would tolerate such poor conditions.
There was a short, skinny man in long green robes hollering at the crowd, but Azula ignored him. He was probably just one more merchant. As she was about to walk by him, though, Ty Lee grabbed her shoulder. "Azula," she shouted, trying to be heard over the whirlwind of unhappy voices, "I think he's calling for you."
"Thank you Ty Lee," grunted Azula bitterly. She'd been hoping no one would come looking for her, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. Sadly, she was just too popular to go anywhere unnoticed.
She strolled through the mass of people and stood in front of the little Earth Kingdom man, frowning. "Can I help you?" she asked demandingly.
"Yes, um..." he pulled a scroll out of one sleeve and looked at it, then back at Azula. "Are you Princess Azula?"
"Who's asking?" Couldn't trust any of these stupid Earth Kingdom barbarians. Not even the well-dressed ones.
"I am Wang Twai, chief advisor to the prince. I run all of his errands and stuff like that. Would you please follow me?" He bowed low and motioned toward some rickety excuse for a cart which, Azula realized with slight horror, was being pulled by birds. Giant, ugly birds. "You know, the prince is really excited to meet you. We've all heard wonderful things about the Fire Nation's prized princess."
If she was such a prize, why was she being sold for foul Earth Kingdom men? "Have you really?"
"Oh, yes, my dear! All sorts of wonderful things. So, how do you like the Earth Kingdom so far?"
"It's disgusting. I'm not at all surprised the Fire Lord wants it destroyed."
The man grimaced and smiled a little. "Oh, well...you entered the country at a pretty poor port. So sorry. We've been meaning to close it down to do some general maintenance, but there are just so many people..."
"Of course. I understand."
But she hated the country just the same. It was sickening; the people and the land itself.
And it would never be any replacement for the Fire Nation.
A/N: Nothing much to say about this chapter...hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter on Friday; please check it out. And guys, please review this. I'm dying for reviews.
Then read appa-appa-away's new stories My Blutara and Ahoy! The Zutara Drabble Series. Those stories rock. That author rocks. The whole world, you know, just like...rocks...except for my review situation. That plain sucks. Especially for my story Keeper of the Sun. That story may as well not be on, considering how few reviews it gets...
Please review!!
