Welcome to chapter seven! Thanks again to reviewers.
I promise you you will see fights in the following chapters. The next one will have at least one. And blue fire and everything else.
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Azula had found a way to get herself some new cloths. She simply stole them. There was a small tailor's shop, and she strode in like she intended to buy. To her surprise, clothing had, in fact, changed only a little. Most of it, she noted, were pants and so forth. Skirts and the like were reserved only for situations were they were really needed. Even better. She got herself some olive green breeches and a tunic she had worn that was very similar to the one she had worn, except there was no Earth Kingdom symbol in the center. Or rather, she picked them out, finding where they were. She asked if they could be held for her a while and the shopkeeper nodded, taking them, and putting them in the backroom for when Azula returned. Exactly what she wanted. True, it seemed degrading, a princess turned thief, but she had to get some cloths, and she wasn't above stealing for them right now. Better than working for them, which would only delay her.
She left and went around the back, into an alley. It was on the right side of the building. She got herself ready, back to the alley mouth, and sent out a column of flame, and a sudden explosion. Someone shouted and she dashed around the left side, as she saw the shopkeeper run out of his shop to see a building beside catch fire. People were shouting and paid little attention as she ran into the shop, into the backroom and took her cloths. Then, she wrapped them up, hid them in her shirt (well, not really hid, but if anyone tried to get them she could then slap said person). Into the bushes and trees nearby, where she changed, leaving her Water Tribe cloths and shoes behind. Her royal headpiece went into a pocket. Now was not the time. She didn't care if anyone found them, it didn't matter. He'd know he'd been robbed, and he's probably guess it was by 'Zula'. Besides, he could then sell her old cloths, if it made him feel any better. He'd refused to trade before, but now he'd be forced.
Next, she needed transportation. Simple. It was simple. She'd found a caravan. It was a long, planned out roadway, with cars pushed along by earthbenders. It also had Fire Nation technology, so it could be moved along by steam during the night when the earthbenders rested, but couldn't manage all the time. She came to the station, where a four-car caravan was ready to go. There was another, making it five, really, at the front for the engine and the earthbenders little quarters. This technology had come along about thirty years ago, though it had been use for special purposes about fifty years before. A three day ride to Ba Sing Se from here. Tree days at top speed, that was. Of course, she had no money to pay for a ride. Time to stow away in plain sight. Or rather, as close to it as she could get. She walked along the road, a dirt wide path were the caravans had run. And then, she broke into a sprint. Azula's
plan was simple. Get running ahead, and then jump and cling on to a side. If she was lucky enough, the earthbenders wouldn't see. They, after all, were in the back and the earthbender in the front did the steering. He would see her running, but she doubted he'd think she was going to jump on.
She heard the caravan coming, and didn't look back, only running faster. She'd been running for ten minutes, at near top speed, and was getting tired, but she needed to stay ahead and she'd needed to get out of the town before she tried it, or she'd be seen before. She glanced behind her and saw it coming, and in a second she was running alongside it. The first car passed then the second…NOW! She jumped, and felt a sting of pain in her palms as she ended up in the smell step, at the wooden door. There was a splash of blood where she was clinging on and she gritted her teeth, clinging as she let herself get her footing here. If she fell, she could well be run over. If they hadn't stopped, they hadn't seen her, and they wouldn't if she fell.
Now. Up. He knew it was risky but she did what she had too. She couldn't cling here forever. She reached up with one hand, standing in tiptoe, and reached the top of the door. Then a jump, and he pulled herself up, now half on the top of the car, half on the bottom, and clawed her way, leaving slightly bloody handprints as she went. On the roof, though, she could relax and sleep. It would take her time to get to Ba Sing Se. Hopefully there were no stops (she knew she'd be able to take food and whatnot in the moments were the earthbenders switched places and stopped for the night). If there were, she'd have to work out how that would work. Hm. Hide between the spaces of the cars? That could work. It would be so much easier if she could firebend, but she couldn't. She couldn't let the blue flames show. Besides, she'd manage for now. She'd bend all she wanted in Ba Sing Se, but not yet.
Three days and no stops. Three days and no Ba Sing Se, either, and Azula was bored as hell, spending her days atop a car. She found it amusing that no one found her. Honestly. Was it that hard to look up? On the fourth day, though, she had to wedge herself between cars so she wouldn't be seen at a small town stop in the evening. She stayed in much the same position as she had climbing the library at the Northern Water Tribe, and so low to the ground any wrong move would let her fall. It was murder on her bare feet, but what had to be done had to be done. She wouldn't give in now.
Day five, though, showed her to Ba Sing Se. She climbed down between cars and got off, disappearing into crowds. She wasn't quite in the main city but good enough. Ba Sing Se had flourished past its walls (which had been put up at half their height again, at some point). The area seemed decent, middle class, she would guess as she walked around, feet bound in bandages. Someone had given them to her, seeing the Fire Nation girl with new shoes, and bleeding feet. They'd do for shoes.
What she was really looking for, though, was inside the city. The poorer, bad, crime-filled areas. It was there she would firebend, there she would find the shambles that were the resistance, there should would get this going. Get this war restarted, because 'the warmonger' was never dead to start with.
Time to have a bit of fun.
Time to play war.
