Author's Note:
Hey everyone, I've seen a lot of people add my story to their favorite story and Author's, so to those people here's a shout out. It's nice to get support for my story. To those that are commenting thank you so much for your words, its really helped me with coming up with ideas on how I should right something. So fair warning VERY long chapter today. It almost about three times long than all of the other chapters.
VERY IMPORTANT BELOW
To those that may be wondering about Azula's behavior keep in mind she's not mentally health so her personality is going to be spiritic for a little while, but not to worry she will be her dominate self by the end of the story. Though for those that are worried about her being meek, worry not because I tried to keep her strong willed and it will only get strong as her health get better. She will see Katara as something to conquer, let's see if she can take our fiery waterbender. That's later in the story though so that'll have to wait. Anyways just try to keep in mind that Azula will be OOC for the next few chapters. Also I hope you like the name I chose for her.
DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTER FROM THE FRANCHISE ARE OWNED BY THE WRITERS OF AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER. THOSE BEING MICHEL DANTE DIMARTINO AND BRYAN KONIETZKO.
Without further ado Chapter Six
The Color of the Sky
Today was different. That much she could tell when the Time Spawns didn't show at their regular time. She wondered if she did something wrong, maybe they didn't want her anymore. Not that it mattered to her, she had three people that would never leave her. While That One and The Other One didn't visit her yesterday, though Ursa visited her.
At first, she hated when the middle age women showed up. She was told by The Other One that Ursa couldn't be trusted, that she's weak and hates her because she thought of her as a monster. However, Ursa while not showing up as much as the others, was the only one that letter talk back. Ursa listened to her more than the other two. If she wanted to be left alone, Ursa would always say that they'd talk later.
While she still didn't talk very much, but she liked Ursa much to the hatred of the others. Also, unlike the others, Ursa only said comforting things, but most of the time Ursa liked to ask questions. It was hard for her to answer some of Ursa's questions. Ursa would ask her to remember the world outside the walls that she lives.
She never could remember anything except a white circle in blue space. The white circle would go to sleep and thus its shine lessened. She could see the dark circles on the circle, she couldn't help but think that it must be tiring to shine all the time. She told Ursa that the circle was tired, because of the dark circles it carried at the twinkle hours.
She also thought that it might be sad because it cried. When Ursa asked what she meant she told her that the floating lights were the tears that it shed when everyone else was asleep. But it knew when she was watching, so it never cried when she was awake. That's why she went to sleep for an hour a night, she wanted to give it time to shed its tears.
She was able to relate with the circle because she doesn't let anyone see her tears when she cries. She was surrounded by things that were small and insignificant to her, while she was a big shape that everything else revolved around. They moved on while she stayed in the same spot. While she liked to be at the top, she did find it lonely sometimes.
Much like it was now, the Time Spawns, while annoying and invaded her space too much, were at least punctual. Although she didn't have the concept of time, she knew they should have shown themselves by now. That's when she heard the footsteps coming down the hall and there sounded to be more than usual.
Usually, two or three come to see her a day, sometimes four on the days that she was given a bath, but that was yesterday.
She nervously shifted making sure her back was pressed against the wall so she couldn't be attacked from behind. She moved her gaze to the opposite wall while keeping one eye on the wall where they emerged from. It didn't matter how many showed up, it would just give her info on what they want with her.
Though when she saw someone emerge from the wall, she was shocked to see someone new. They wore a dress that was the color of the sky. Her clothes had clouds attached them, she glided across the floor as if walking on clouds. She held grace and flexibility in her walking. Her mocha skin a sharp contrast when compared to the other Time Spawners. Her face while gorgeous looked tired but still had a slight warmth that spread from her small smile.
Though it was her eyes that caught her attention. Her eyes were blue, but with the darkness, it looked almost black. They reminded her of the twinkle hours, they were a void that shined with unknown light shining from them. They captured her full attention, they looked like the blue sky and a void all at the same time. When they meet her eyes, they flashed like the lights in her dreams.
She didn't know why but she wanted to move. She wanted to do something other than sit there and stare at this Time Spawner. Though she couldn't help but think that she wasn't a Time Spawner, no she seemed different. This piqued her interest. She moved her head to look completely at her. She stared her up and down, while the Sky Lady did the same thing to her.
She turned around and spoke in a soft voice, "I'll look after her from here. You can leave if you want."
"Are you sure?" It was one of her regular Time Spawners
"Yes, I'm a bending master. I can look after myself." She again spoke softly, but it was a firm as steel whether from pride or annoyance it was hard to say. It was an odd mixture she spoke with such strength but was still able to sound soft and approachable.
"Then Hui and me well be going now," spoke the Time Spawn to the right, both of them bow.
Once the Time Spawns were both gone the one wearing blue focused their gaze upon her. They scanned her body as if pulling apart her very body just to take a closer look, all while keeping a current distance. They gazed at her with such intensity that it felt as if they were stripping her bare, and leaving her naked while they continue to stare. It seemed as though she was seeing her very soul with that frosty gaze that they laid upon her.
As she stared at the wall, she couldn't help but feel uneasy by her staring. It felt like the blue one knew what she was doing by pretending not to look at her.
"You can stop acting like your not paying attention, I know you're just pretending not to look at me." She spoke firmly.
That was because she did know. She could no longer pretend.
Katara watched as Azula seemed to shrink in on herself when she knew Azula was watching. It was a sight to see, while the rest of the doctors and nurse thought Azula was disconnected from everything around her, Katara could see how she slowly built the walls around herself when she along with Hui and Yan showed her in.
Katara watched Azula strengthen her wall when she stayed behind with Azula. It what she expected of the warrior princess from the long ago. What she didn't expect was the flinch that followed her statement of knowing what she was doing. She watched as she shifted further away, her back stayed straight, and she kept one eye on Katara the whole time she moved to the nearest corner.
She could tell Azula was nervous or at least cautious of her. She noticed Azula's little to no movement of her arms, from what Doctor Li had informed her that after the second year of her imprisonment her straight jacket had been removed as they felt it wasn't necessary. It seemed that he was right as her arms were wrapped around her just like if she was in her straight jacket.
Katara felt somewhat conflicted, while it was nice to see the one that caused her so much pain to be like this. She couldn't help the small amount of pity and sadness that seemed to stem from her heart. She was on guard against everything that came into the same room. She had to guess that years of basically total isolation and never being visited by family and friends, if she had any Katara didn't know, would cause anyone with her past to develop a paranoia against everything except for her tiny cell.
Katara decided that continuously staring at Azula wasn't going to help her. She put on a smile and slowly approached her while making sure that her water skins were uncapped. As she approached, she watched Azula press herself harder against the corner. She raised her arms in surrendering motion before walking slower than she had before.
"Don't worry Azula. I'm here to help, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to get a better readout on your condition that all." She spoke while having a small smile in place to show her that she meant no harm.
Instead of anger, which she expected to be her response to anyone thinking she needed help or even fear, she was meet with a face full of confusion. That stopped Katara in her tracks as she watched her stare at her with wide amber eyes.
"Azula? Azula...Azula?" Katara watched as Azula furrowed her brows, her voice was raspy, but the tone of confusion was most evident. "Who is Azula? I like the name...but that's not my name. It can't be my name, that's a nice sounding name, much to nice to be my name."
This comment had Katara stepping back in shock. She stared at Azula who honestly believed that it wasn't her name. She swallowed before asking, "Then what's your name?"
"Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe it Ugly, Slut, Coward, Failure, Bit-"
"Okay, enough!" yelled Katara, "Why would you say that about yourself?
"That's what the others call me. Well, Ursa calls me darling, but I'm a monster, so I can't have a nice name like that."
"You're a person just like me," Katara argued back.
"Then why am I here locked up? If I'm a 'person' just like you then why don't I know anything other than this place? You're just a Time Spawner trying to lull me into a state of false comfort and safety. I'm not stupid, I'm smart and safe. I may not know much outside of this room, but I know that no one cares about me.
"So don't act like you do, its disgusting. I know that sooner or later you leave me just like The Other One told me in the stories. Her friends betrayed her and left her alone. So I won't make the same mistakes as her. It's better to stay alone that way, no one will cause the hurt of betrayal if there's no one there to commit the act of such things," she continued to talk, but Katara could see that Azula was more talking to herself than her.
Katara took a step forward thinking that Azula was too preoccupied to notice, it proved to be a mistake. She saw Azula's eyes lock on her feet and if a taut string was cut she watched Azula snap.
"STAY BACK!" Azula shrieked, the room flared as blue flames answered her call formed a circle of blue around her. Katara just barely to jump back before her feet caught fire, though the edges of her dress singed making the white and blue border to become a smouldering black.
The once blinding light diminished into a dim blue as Katara stared at Azula. Azula had tears rolling down her face as she cried into her knees. Katara thought of using her water to extinguish a small section of the ring to check on Azula's health. However, after some thought, she decided another approach was necessary.
She sat down and waited for Azula to calm down enough to talk with her again. In this time Katara decided on what her visual diagnosis could be treated with. Something was causing her to be unable to keep nutrients, she was going to start to cook Azula meals from now on. She was obviously sick, so she had to keep Azula warm with something.
She obviously needed sun and fresh air but most of all she needed a bath. The bath had to be done with some medicinal herb that could help her keep her food down. Her cell smelled of pungent vomit and some other repulsive smell. She could tell that, while the nurses kept Azula clean, that was all they did. It looks like the nurses had just replaced the waste buckets without actually cleaning the room.
Katara watched Azula's curled up position and saw that the war had affected Azula just as much as she had been, if not more than herself. She could see that the years of being so close to Ozai had caused so much mental baggage that it wasn't all that surprising that her mind had snapped. It was like Azula had the emotional stability of a six-year-old, which was a huge difference from when she was in the war.
She felt that Azula was like she was in the war because it was the only way of protecting herself from all the horror's that the war had shown the young princess. That protection was tied with her title and the ties she had with her former friends but, it was all held up with the weak supports and once those supports fell her whole image began to crumble underneath all that pressure. The perfection that she had to follow due to her father's order, the weight of a country on her shoulders and knowing that most people wanted her dead most likely had been too much for her to bear.
As she watched Azula's attempt at getting her emotions under control, Katara made a vow to help Azula emerge from this strong than ever, no matter how long it took. Whether it be weeks, months, years, or even decades she would help Azula put the pieces together that once had been her life.
It had taken about two hours before Azula was once again calm enough to approach. It had taken a lot of talking from Katara to allow Azula to acknowledge Katara again. Katara went about the conversation slowly and calmly, before she brought up examining her again.
"Azula, could I come close so that I may see what is making you ill?" Katara asked cautiously.
"Don't call me that," She responded with a glare.
"Than what do you want me to call you?" asked Katara as she scooted closer to the burn marks, that were the only evidence of her flare.
"I don't care as long as its not that, I don't deserve it," she stated quietly.
"Hmmm...what about Azala?" asked Katara.
"No."
"Why not it's close enough to Azula you said you like the name, plus when you earn it back it won't be so hard to go back to Azula."
"No."
"Okay okay if not that then let me think some more," Katara said quickly, noticing the change in temperature in the room. "What about Azu?"
"Ugh, will you be quiet if I agree? I'm tired."
"Yes, I'll be quiet if you agree."
"...Fine. You can call me that."
"That's great now can I see what's making you so sick?"
"I thought you said you'd be quiet," Azu deadpanned.
"I promise it won't be loud just allow me to do a scan real quick," Katara said scooting over the burn line.
"...You'd better make it fast. I'm tired," Azu said while shifting her sore muscles against the wall and closing one eye while the other kept watching Katara.
"Of course, Azu I'll just be a moment. Then I'll be out of your hair for the rest of the day until dinner."
Katara moved closer to Azu before reach for the water on her back with her senses. Her hand made a scooping a dipping motion and the water travelled out of her waterskin and onto her hands. The water engulfed her hands and began to glow softly when it met them. Azu's eyes widened and Katara noticed the quickening of her breath.
"Azu, hey look at me. Azu, it's going to be fine. The water is just going to help me look at you on an internal, spiritual, and appearance plane. If you're feeling any pain or stiffness this should do the trick, while I'm looking the cause," Katara explained.
She moved closer to Azu and placed her hands on Azu's left hand. She felt Azu tense at the touch and Katara moved her hands up slowly along her arm. While Katara scanned Azu began to relax into her touch halfway through the examination, Katara noticed that Azu had fallen asleep. It was at this time that Katara had been examining her back. She let out a soundless chuckle before she continued her examination.
When the exam was done Katara moved silently out of the cell. Once outside she slumped against the wall. Her reading didn't reveal good news, and she was understanding why Yue gave her that spirit water. The amount of healing she was going to have to due was extensive and there was a strange dark presence built up within her body mostly focused around her brain and around her head.
She was going to have to research it. She would send a letter and ask if Pakku knew anything that could cause that. It wouldn't hurt to ask Iroh about it as well. She pushed off the wall to head to the temporary house to send a few letters, and see about finding any books about the black haze from Azu's body. She also needed to prepare some herbs, and food for her second visit. Maybe if there was enough time she could take some time to catch up on some sleep.
