The smell of fire blossoms woke her up.
She started hearing them chant - the people by the harbor, the people of Capital City. - the Fire Nation.
Warm air seeped in the room she was locked in. Haruki brought her all her meals, and the Fire Princess kept forcing herself to think about the boy in her womb. It would do her no good to think of home. The baby demanded utmost care, and stress would not do him any good. Chief Hakoda would tell her to relax - and think carefully.
Azula's eyes grew heavy-
No. All she needed right now was to get to Katara.
"Princess!" Haruki jumped in her room, with a bright smile on her little face. Azula did not move when older servants entered the room with heavily embroidered cloth and the gold of a new hairpin. "We're here! You must get dressed for the home welcoming."
Azula cooperated. Her silence, forced the servants to thread carefully. As they prepared her bath, she quieted her mind and focused on each step. They waited as she stepped into the hot water, they watched her stay there.
She had a strange feeling that they knew her when she had been a little girl. She sensed their eyes on her stomach.
Azula almost felt ashamed that she never bothered to remember their names. After the bath, she let them paint her face. One happened to stare her in the eyes when she colored her lips.
Azula did not scowl, and the elderly woman looked down. "My apologies, you just look like-"
"My mother," Azula finished.
The servant did not speak again. Finally, she stepped into the embroidered garment, and she let them clip the top half of her hair with her hairpin.
"You look just like a princess now!" Haruki squealed when the servants left.
Azula's lips twitched. "Thank you, Haruki."
"You're wel-"
The child quieted when soft clacks echoed outside the room. The door opened.
Princess Illah blinked, the low light of the room tinted her darker skin. She sent the child a low lidded look that said, "Get out." Haruki scurried out of the room.
Illah dressed in black and gold armor, and had the same hair pin Azula kept as a child. The only difference, was the insignia of the family name on her armor.
"I wanted to personally apologize for butchering your savage family," Illah said, her lips spreading out into a smile. "I hope you will forgive your true people, and understand that the only family who would ever fight for you, want the best for you."
The air thickened. Azula suddenly felt a strange surge. Princess Illah tilted her head and waited for her to understand, but the truth sat in front of Azula all this time - she just tried to ignore it, to wait till she found Katara to come to terms with it. But at that moment, Azula's hands trembled.
Sokka was dead, that was what Illah meant
"One day, I will kill you." Azula said.
Princess Illah blinked in surprise, grinned, then giggled. "Really? You'd kill your poor sweet little sister? I'm family now, and we must bond together as father says!"
"It may not matter when I do it." Azula said. "You didn't expect my brother to return, did you?"
There. She saw something slip. Illah's eyes narrowed, and she did not do too well to hold herself together. Azula sensed what others spoke about when describing this girl. She may spill blood easily, but had no sense of diplomacy. This girl was a village rat in every sense of the word, and she finally understood why her father chose her.
"Your brother is a drug lord who got lucky, and you are a village chief's daughter-in-law," Illah said. "I may be a commoner in your eyes, but your royal bloods did not keep both of you from being treated like garbage. Don't feel too uppity now, Princess Azula - who knows when your daddy gets tired of you both again."
Illah bowed, gracefully, and when she straightened herself, she stepped outside and added, "I will wait for the day you plan to kill me - just don't expect me to let you. I've always admired you. Seeing your beauty up close makes me envious all over, but you've made me happier - and I look forward to our battle."
The door slammed shut.
"Keep your cool when you get on the palanquin," Zuko murmured.
Azula did not look his way. He came up to her door to call her out. Haruki, who returned, led her to the opening. The little girl did not speak, and Azula understood why.
The Fire princess found four guards dressed in brown tunics and dark pants.
They looked too plain to be guards, but once she took another look at their tired eyes, she realized they had accompanied Zuko on the raid.
"Father needs me to take care of a few things," he said, stepping up by her side to reveal a dagger in his pocket. "You will remain seated in your place. If you try to escape, you will be a national threat."
Azula turned to him. "With that dagger?"
"That dagger isn't for you, dear sister," Zuko replied. "It's for your little wolf."
Azula paused, watching the blade glint.
"You may be strong, but all it takes is a minute for me to cut him out and feed him to the bear lions in the Earth Kingdom. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
She stared a bit longer. Haruki started to tremble, so Azula looked away.
Zuko withdrew his dagger and turned to his fighters. "We part and take the private path to the palace. The waterbender will accompany me later. The Fire guards will take my sister to the main path to enter the front gates of the palace. If anything goes out of hand, we have backup in Capital City. The little shit they call Princess Illah will be in the palanquin. If anything happens, I'm sure she would act quickly,"
Azula caught the venom dripping from his tongue. He hated Princess Illah too, but also had to respect her existence.
"...I don't think anything brash would happen today, but do your best," he said, before sending Haruki a sharp glance. "You may leave."
Haruki froze, but then bowed. "Yes, your majesty!"
Azula grabbed her hand before she stepped away.
"Tell your mother that I loved her dish, Haruki."
Haruki, eyes darted about but it stuck on Azula. She let her bright smile creep out before Azula released her hand. The little girl bowed again.
As Azula watched her go, she made a mental note. Her father would change her servants more frequently, because he did not want them too grow attached to her - especially the waterbenders.
The vessel opened.
Azula saw the most beautiful palanquin she had ever seen. It's rubies glittered and the the head of a golden dragon snarled on top towards her. She found gems of all colors gleaming under the sunlight, and the mosaic of a historical battle etched upon its body. Illah peeked her head out of the curtains leading inside, gasping.
"You look so pretty!"
Azula let the guards guide her inside. She took a look behind her to find Zuko standing. Under the sun, he blinked lazily, and his scar looked more red. She turned away to mind her steps.
"Don't look so gloom, dear sister," Illah said once they were seated across from each other. "Life is brilliant! Aren't you excited about seeing your old friend again?"
Old friend?
Azula paused when it hit her. She almost forgot...
Ty-Lee is the Phoenix Queen.
Hours later
Ty-Lee walked down the corridors, ignoring several servants who would stop to bow before rushing off to perform their tasks. Ozai would be in the meeting chambers with the Fire Nation's local politicians, awaiting Zuko's arrival. She sent Yuatak to receive the latest news on the Earth Kingdom, but it did not take long for Ty-Lee to begin hearing people talk.
The Earth Kingdom was held hostage by criminals, and the Upper Ring turned into a war zone. Zuko's allies were more than she expected, and she knew why Ozai latched on to him.
Ozai had no interest in Zuko - he had interest in his new kingdom.
"Queen Ty-Lee,"
She stopped, the voice echoed so she turned.
Ozai emerged out behind the back entrance. He wore a plain tunic, and three men walked behind him. His black hair stood up in a messy bun, and the scar on his-
No. This was not Ozai
The imposter stopped, and blinked lazily at her. "Where is the meeting room?"
Zuko?
Yuatak's warning echoed in his mind. The last time she saw Zuko, he had been a crying mess in front of his father before he was burned - and before Azula intervened. Now, she did not recognize the man standing in front if her.
Ty-Lee caught herself before bowing, "My apologies. Straight down."
"Thank you," he said, before walking off.
His henchmen stopped to bow before they caught up with him. As they ambled down the corridors, Ty-Lee kept her eyes on his back before he disappeared behind black doors.
The roaring outside blasted her ears.
Azula kept watch outside the windows, and people who happened to catch a glimpse of her, cheered. She felt Princess Illah watching her every move, but she only lined out her thoughts to process her new surroundings. The Fire Nation used to be her paradise, her platform to ride on as her people screamed her name and praised her. The girl she used to be craved power, and drank every bit of it.
She fought wildly under the sun and trained close to fourteen hours a day to be the best fighter in the world. As a young child, that meant everything in the world to her.
But on the night her mother left, Azula's existence shattered.
Her mother's lips pressed her cheeks that night, before Azula no longer saw her mother again.
Azula wanted to believe that the woman who kissed her cheek had been a ghost, but as time grew, she kept thinking of the woman who she thought, hated her.
"The people cheer more for you that they do for me," Illah said with a grin. She peeked out the window. "You must have been a goddess."
"That is none of my concern," Azula said.
Illah paused, her smile breaking into something close to a sneer. "You seem so unbothered by their love for you. Why is that so?"
Azula blinked, not bothering to face the girl.
Why?
Her mother fluttered up in her thoughts, smiling over a meadows as the winds made her black hair flutter about. Azula thought of herself as her mother, being told she would marry a boy she had never met, being forced to never see her parents again, having children for a man who used her body - raising an ungrateful daughter who cared less about her.
Finally, Azula understood why she no longer cared about her past - a glory that never existed.
She understood her mother, and what she did. Her mother tried to protect Zuko from Ozai, and now, Azula found herself in the same ditch and had the difficult task of protecting she and Sokka's son from her people.
"We are finally home, dear sister."
Azula lifted herself from her thoughts. The crowd no longer were there to cheer her on, and the sun began to set.
The palace gates crept open as they all entered. Time slid by so easily, that Azula almost wanted to look outside again when the palanquin stopped.
She began to hear a low voice of a woman. It sounded familiar. Princess Illah stepped outside first. Azula waited until a guard peeked inside and extended his hand with a smile. She waited until he started to fidget. She reached out, and let him guide her outside. The heat soothed her, and she felt a surge she had never had in years.
After training without the strength of the sun, this felt sweet. Azula kept her eyes on her shoes as she stepped down, she kept her left hand on her belly.
Once she came out the palanquin, she watched the guards withdraw after a bow.
"Welcome home, princess,"
Azula turned to the sound of the voice. Her father stood there, with Zuko next to him on his left. Princess Illah took his right side, and two guards beamed behind them. Azula did not respond, but focused on the last person standing near the doorways, in a gown her mother used to wear as Fire Lady - only this was more elaborate.
The Phoenix King controlled the world, and it would do him good to have a wife who wore the most ornamented brocades and jewelry.
Despite the beautiful gown Ty-Lee wore, Azula saw the dark circles under her eyes.
Dinner became a musical orchestra of clinking porcelain, but Ozai took the lead.
"It came to my attention that you and Zuko had a misunderstanding about the welfare of your child, Azula."
The servants prepared all of Azula and Zuko's favorite dishes. Ty-Lee could see Illah boiling inside as she was seated next to Azula, but Azula was a cornered rabbit in a forest.
For the first time, Azula's honeyed voice slid out, "There is no misunderstanding."
"Threatening to kill everyone in this family sounds a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Ty-Lee and Azula sat across from each other, not once stopping to look at one another. Azula's expression never wavered. Zuko kept eating his food while Ty-Lee saw Kiyi smirking in glee.
"That is not my problem," she murmured, not looking in Ozai's direction.
Ty-Lee could not eat. Azula had always been a good looking girl back in their days at the Fire Academy for Girls, but there was something surreal about seeing her again - heavy with child and without fear of her father.
Azula never wanted to return to the Fire Nation. Not at all. Her body language screamed it.
Ozai blinked. "My grandson is as much apart of me as he is of you, dear daughter. But perhaps you are too attached to him. As a woman of the Fire Nation, you should consider having another child - of pure blood this time"
The dining room tensed, but Zuko seemed unbothered, and grabbed another slab of Komodo dragon. Ty-Lee watched how Azula's face twisted, but switch back to it's neutral state.
"You are lucky," Ozai said. "Despite you letting yourself go with that savage…"
"You ordered for the marriage to be consummated," Azula cut him off.
Ozai smirked. "I did, and I can do it again...Admiral Chan has taken a liking to you. All you need to do is do the same with him. Perhaps you could be fond of him like you were for that boy."
Azula's hands started to shake. Ozai returned back to eating. Soon, he and Illah started to talk about the raid. Ty-Lee listened in terror when Illah excitedly recounted the killing spree in the Southern Water Tribe.
"Zuko, you gave the killing blow to Azula's husband," Ozai said.
Zuko drank his wine. "Yes, but his sister intervened so I had to worry about her when he died."
"Does she give you any trouble?"
"None at all," Zuko responded. "She has been better lately."
"Good," Ozai said. "These animals are wild to tame, but once you calm them down they are a lot more timid."
Zuko grunted in response.
Ty-Lee watched Azula no longer touch her food. Something strange took over. She saw her continue shaking, as she listened to the gory details of the massacre.
She looked down.
Azula's hands were near a kitchen knife. The Phoenix Queen stopped. The Fire princess kept gazing at the sharp object as Ozai chuckled at Zuko's report on the state of the waterbender.
"Azula?"
The Fire princess looked up. Ty-Lee felt everyone watching, but they still ate their food. "Tell me about your stay at the Water Tribe. If, you don't mind?"
Azula blinked. She got the tiny message. "What would you like to know?"
"Did you do any work for a living?" Ty-Lee asked. "I know you were the chief's in law but-"
"Surgical medic." The room paused, as Azula took a new interest in her food. She took her bite and repeated, "I worked as a surgical medic with my sister-in-law."
Ty-Lee caught a glint. She leaned forward. "The waterbender?"
"Yes...she's a skilled healer and taught me all I needed to know."
Another twitch. Ty-Lee blinked. Azula was responding.
"Your sister in law sounds brilliant,"
"She is," Azula said. Ty-Lee could feel the others begin to tense. "Would you like me to tell you more about the Water Tribe? Over tea?"
Sister in law. Water tribe. Healing.
Ty-Lee saw it - another glint in Azula's wide stare.
The waterbender.
Ozai wiped his lips, but he did not seem irritated. Zuko focused on his food, but Ty-Lee saw him send Azula a sharp eye. Only Illah watched them, refusing to take another bite of her food.
"Of course," Ty-Lee responded. "We will talk more over tea tomorrow. How does that sound?"
"Sounds perfect."
The course of the dinner seemed longed, but for Ty-Lee kept her watch over the girl who used to terrorize all the children of the Fire Academy for Girls. She remembered Lady Ursa the most, watching Azula eat her food and tune out Ozai.
Lady Ursa had impeccable mannerisms that even today, left a lasting impression on every politician who liked comparing her to the mother.
From their faces, all down to the way they bit onto their meat and held their cup of tea with both hands clasped together, Ty-Lee never understood why she did not see the resemblance between mother and daughter when Azula had been a child.
She supposed, she just never noticed.
Later in the evening, the Phoenix Queen never saw Azula again after they parted ways in the dining hall, but she knew she would see her more often.
As she walked down the corridors late at night, hours after the dinner, she listened to the sounds of her feet against marble.
Zuko had a strange choice for a room. Near the servant quarters, his fighters and the Royal gardens. She quieted her steps, until she was near his bedroom chambers.
She listened.
A slight shuffle, and a quiet scoff. Zuko's voice.
Then, heavy sobbing slid out.
It belonged to a woman.
Ty-Lee listened to Zuko's low tone. The winds and the thickness of the doors muffled what he said.
"Is he awake?" Bao asked Koah.
Koah pointed left.
They found a cave after dragging Sokka through the new storm that covered the bloodshed of the Southern Water Tribe. It was the second genocide - next to the raid of the Air temples.
After checking to see if no bears roamed within, they set a fire and kept Sokka's burnt body under warm furs. Bao used the little skills he had to grind seaweed. He and Koah cleaned Sokka's body and covered him with the weed.
Sokka slept for ten hours.
And now Bao found him sitting alone by the fire, staring at the cavern walls. Bao walked until he stood face to face with him. Sokka still kept his eyes away, staring off deep into disastrous thought.
"We found your father's body," he said, "we gave him a proper burial before we moved you here. You are the new Chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe. We are only two civilians left."
"Three," Sokka said.
Bao blinked.
Sokka rose, his towering frame almost shadowed Bao. Though Koah kept guard, he took a look over his shoulder.
Sokka's hair hid the blue eyes that told Bao more than he needed to know, "My wife, son and sister are left. I don't need your hospitality from here onwards."
"Sokka…"
The new chieftain blinked. "Did you know what they did to your wife? In front of everyone?"
Bao froze.
"Because you were foolish enough to do business with my father-in-law, he found his son in the slums of the Lower Ring and persuaded that criminal to overthrow the Earth Kingdom," Bao continued to shake.
"His henchman took your wife in the council chamber and bashed her head against the walls after he finished."
Koah stood up. The fire flickered, licking at the wood underneath.
"I watched him take Katara to the vessel after..." Sokka stopped, staring deep into thought. "I watched my wife disappear when the council room collapsed, and I don't know whether they cut my son open or not - all because your stupidity cost us."
The last of his words echoed in the cave.
After long moments, Sokka stepped away from both men. For some reason, they were forced to study his every move. Sokka's walked as though he never was burned from the neck down to his waist.
The flames flickered as they waited until Sokka walked to the cavern walls. Bao stared as the new chief spot a frozen shard in the dark of the cave - and broke it off.
"Chief Sokka," Koah stammered, as Sokka watched the shard and tested its tip. Koah removed his dagger. "Please, have pity...our families were murdered too."
"There is no use for either of you," Sokka said. "If you were useful I would still have my tribe intact."
Bao raised his hands. "Sokka, we did not mean for this to happen. I only wanted what was best for the tribe."
Sokka stopped.
"You had no idea what it was like - fearing every single day that he would come and take everything. Despite her contributions to the Water Tribe, your wife became a liability. I should not be executed for deciding to protect my own people!"
For the last short calm moments, Bao saw something in the little boy who once smiled toothily at him the first day he came into the world.
Kya had asked him to enter the igloo. He found Sokka snuggled against his mother's bosom, and when he leaned down to touch the boy's little hand, Sokka gave him a gummy smile.
Now, this new Sokka, watched him like a dog would a stray piece of meat.
Bao knew then, that Sokka died the moment the Southern Water Tribe massacre happened.
This imposter blinked. "Does it look like I give a damn?"
End note - Thanks so much for your reviews!