Chapter 9

The Earth Kingdom

Yu, recovering from his initial shock, looked up at Azula.

Now I know why she was in that hospital. This girl is completely insane.

"What are you gonna do" Yu asked "Light me on fire?"

The belligerence in his voice only served to stoke her anger more. Azula lowered herself so their faces where almost touching and whispered "I don't need fire to hurt you."

Yu had enough. He lifted his leg, intending to kick Azula off. But as soon as he moved, she sprung herself up into a hand stand, easily avoiding his clumsy attack.

She paused, still in a handstand above him, and shifted all her weight to one hand., she quickly jabbed two fingers of her free hand into his throat, causing him to recoil and gag. It wasn't a hard strike, but to such a sensitive target, it didn't need to be. Yu grabbed his throat and rolled away from her, toward the back of the boat as she somersaulted to her feet, landing at the bow.

Yu got to his feet as fast as he could and spun around to face her. As soon as he did, he felt something against the back of his right foot. She'd already moved in and hooked her foot behind his. In one swift motion, she pulled his feet out from under him, sending him crashing to the deck once again.

Yu hit hard, knocking the wind out of him. He looked up at Azula, now standing above him looking down with a cruel smile on her face. He didn't know if it was the fact that she was actually enjoying this, or how easily she was handling him that made him more angry. Either way, he'd had enough.

Girl or not, he thought to himself, it's time to get serious.

...

...Five minutes later...

...

Yu sat at the back of the boat breathing heavily, glaring at Azula with the eye that wasn't swollen shut. His nose was bleeding, running down his face and mixing with the blood running from the corner of his mouth. His right hand kept switching between rubbing his throat and his jaw, the pain from both competing for his attention. His left hand was holding his right shoulder, which he was having trouble moving. He was also soaked to the bone, having been thrown off the boat... twice.

Azula sat legs crossed, her hands cupped together on top of one knee, staring back at him from the front of the boat, completely unscathed. She hadn't even broken a sweat. Her crooked smile highlighting the contemptuous satisfaction on her face.

"Well" she said to him "That wasn't very satisfying, you have the fighting skills of a half dead rabbit-weasel. It's actually disappointing how little effort I actually had to use."

Yu simply glared at her, taking a few moments before responding. When he did, he delivered his words very slowly and deliberately.

"I don't like you" was all he said.

"Careful" Azula said, putting her hand to her chest and feigning insult "You might hurt my feelings."

"Like you have any".

She stood up and started moving towards him. Yu lifted his hands into a defensive position as a reaction.

Azula waved her hand, brushing him off. "Oh please, like I'd waste any more of my skill or time on someone so undeserving of it." She grabbed the rope from the bottom of the boat and threw it to him.

"I've wasted enough time on this foolishness. Rig your controls so we can be underway" She said, pointing at the rudder.

"Gladly" he said as he wiped the blood away from his nose and mouth. Yu stood up and grabbed the rope while keeping his eyes fixed intensely on Azula, doing nothing to hide his resentment.

"If your that upset about it" She said while motioning a hand out at the open ocean. "you can leave any time you'd like."

He went back to preparing his improvised rudder controls without saying another word. Azula turned and looked out over the ocean. While seemingly content and calmer on the outside, she couldn't help but be bothered by what she'd just done. Not that hurting someone, especially this someone, brought her any particular discomfort. It was admittedly a rather enjoyable distraction from the dream she'd woken from. The problem was, she'd let her emotions get the best of her. It wasn't like her.

She'd lost control, and now because of it, she'd jeopardized the plans she had for him. Now she'd have to waste more time and energy convincing him to stay. Not that it would be difficult. Yu had so far proven an especially easy target for her manipulations, but it was something she shouldn't have to do. Not if she'd just kept herself under control.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wait" Yu yelled back "You're honestly trying to tell me that you beating me up was... my fault?"

They'd gone nearly half the day with neither of them saying a word. After taking a break from propelling the boat (at a more manageable constant pace than their panicked flight from the airship the day before), Azula took the time to stir Yu's brain a bit.

"Well, that's a rather brutish and simplistic interpretation of what it was I was trying to explain, but yes, in essence." The audacity of her argument left him momentarily dumbstruck. Azula used the moment to continue.

"After all, I'm stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean and I wake to find you, a person the Fire Nation obviously thinks is dangerous enough to necessitate the use of an airship to apprehend, reaching suspiciously towards me..."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. What did you just say." Yu jumped in, more than a little confused.

Azula looked up innocently, betraying no outward sign of her inner satisfaction that he'd taken the bait so effortlessly.

"You really think they sent that airship for... me?"

"It certainly wasn't for my benefit" Azula lied. "You show up at a hospital, claiming to be from the Earth Kingdom then suddenly and without provocation attack the place. Looking at all this from the Fire Nation perspective. They probably assume it's some kind of retaliation for the war. Of course they're desperate to catch you. For all they know, this could be the first in a wave of retaliatory attacks."

Yu cringed to himself. She had a point.

"In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the Fire Nation was already in the process of trying to alert the Earth Kingdom as we speak. In a matter of weeks, your face could be plastered all around every major city on the continent. That is... If you last that long."

"But... then why are we going there" Yu stammered out.

"To be honest, I simply hadn't thought about all this until now. Look, since you did help me escape, I guess I could help you out a bit longer... That is, if you can put this mornings little incident behind you. I of course understand completely if you want to head out on your own once we land..."

Azula stood up and readied herself to continue the journey. She'd given him enough to think about for now, no need to pile on too much at a time. Yu sat silently at the front of the boat, mulling over everything she'd just said.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

* 2 Days later*

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Azula moved through the streets of modest but busy fishing village they'd docked at. She pulled her hat forward, hiding her face just in case. She glanced to her right at Yu, following in step just a bit behind her lead.

She'd not let up the entire time they were at sea. Constantly dropping subtle hints and suggestions that the Fire Nation was desperately hunting him down, and that without her help, he'd be equally doomed in the Earth Kingdom. By the time they'd made landfall earlier that morning, Yu made no effort to leave. Though, unbeknown to her, his reasons for staying had very little to do with her attempted manipulations. Yu had plans of his own.

He glanced over, looking at her out of the side of his eye.

What it really came down too was one offhand comment that she'd meant as a threat. "In a matter of weeks, your face could be plastered all around every major city on the continent. That is... If you last that long".

It was really something she should have given more consideration to before saying it. For someone in his situation, not knowing who he was or where he was from, having his face on wanted posters spread all over the Earth Kingdom was the first good thing to come out of all this.

Of course, those posters would only circulate as long as he were free. That's why he needed her. He'd already proven woefully insufficient at avoiding and escaping soldiers back in the Fire Nation. As much as he hated to admit it, the only reason he wasn't in chains already was because of her. So, as unstable and dangerous as she seemed to be, staying with her seemed the only sure way to stay free long enough for his plan to take effect.

Azula walked with purpose, keeping slightly ahead of Yu. She moved through the crowds of people with an apprehensive gracefulness, taking great care as to not actually touch or be touched by any of them. While the two of them stopped occasionally to pick up the necessary supplies, Azula wanted nothing more than to move away from the coast as fast as possible. A centralized location farther within the mainland would be a better place to rest, as well as offer more avenues of escape... just in case.

Her brother would have to wait for permission to enter the Earth Kingdom officially, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have already sent men covertly to come looking for her.

Fortunately, with the peasant she'd acquired, keeping abreast of any firebenders would be absurdly easy. What with hardly any of them actually being in the Earth Kingdom anymore, they'd stick out like a sore thumb to Yu's senses.

All she had to do now was wait. Zuko was anything if not predictable. It wouldn't be long before his frustration and "honor" drove him to come looking for her himself. He wouldn't come alone of course, but neither would he risk bringing too many troops with him into the Earth Kingdom during such a delicate time.

...Azula please, this isn't what you really... A small voice in the back of her mind spoke up. Azula dug her fingernails into her forearm, using the pain to help herself focus on what she had to do and cutting the voice silent.

Suddenly, the dream she'd had days earlier came back to her. Despite her mother's attempted interference, she finally realized what she'd been trying to tell herself. She almost broke out into laughter right there in the crowded street, but held it back.

As her father had taught her all those years ago. She would have to do what was necessary, even if it was unpleasant. In that moment, the thoughts and plans that she'd been unable to focus on finally came together, solidifying within her minds eye the way they used to. Everything was clear now.

Zuko would still die, but killing him was only the beginning. And while she had no desire to see her homeland in turmoil, to make everything right again, it would be necessary. Yu, for his part, now seemed more essential than ever.

Once the Fire Lord was found dead inside the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation would see this as an atrocious act of retribution. Angry, confused and with no Leader to guide them, the citizens of the Fire Nation, Nobles and peasants alike, would began their own acts of retaliation. From that point, stoking the fires of a new war would take almost no effort at all.

And with this new war being waged by the angry, leaderless and unorganized masses, and seemingly started by an unknown element within the Earth Kingdom, there'd be no single person for the Avatar to make an example of to stop it. It would be like trying to stop a forest fire with a cup of water.

That was why Yu seemed almost like a gift from the spirits. In order for it all to work, there couldn't be any witnesses tying her to Zuko's death. With his ability to sense benders approaching from all directions, he could do the job of a dozen lookouts without the worry and trouble of having to silence that many accomplices. With him....

Azula stole a sideways glance at Yu and smiled.

...She'd only have to kill one.