Chapter 20: Convergence

Twice before, Azula had come to Ba Sing Se. The first time had been nearly two years ago, when the War still ground on and her father was still Fire Lord; that day, she had done what her uncle had failed to do and taken the city, though her army had consisted only of Mai and Ty Lee, and her chief weapon had been nothing more than her own keen wit.

The second time had been just a little more than a month ago, when she had come reluctantly to seek Iroh's advice in the search for her mother. That time she had stayed only briefly, remaining within the walls only long enough to pick up the information she needed- and also, it later appeared, an old enemy in the form of Long Feng.

Now, though, there was something wrong with the city- Azula could tell that from where she stood on a rock overlooking it. She could see the gaping hole in the Wall from here, but it was more than that. A sense of tense waiting hung over the whole scene, pent-up violence just waiting to burst out. She could almost smell it, and wondered idly if this was anything like what Ty Lee's uncanny spiritual intuition felt like.

As if that thought had summoned her, the acrobat stepped forward to stand beside the princess. "Something bad's going to happen," she said in a quiet voice. Azula turned to look at her, and realized that she looked slightly ill. "I can feel it. That spirit you told us about- he's here, and he's not happy, and that's messing everything up all around him."

"Are you going to be all right?" Azula asked.

Ty Lee managed a weak smile. "Sure. It'll just take me a bit to get used to it."

"Good." The acrobat's words confirmed what Azula had already suspected- this was going to end here, at Ba Sing Se, and end soon. It was appropriate, in an ironic way, the princess though. She would face her greatest challenge here at the scene of her greatest triumph, and conquer or be destroyed. There were no other options anymore, if there ever had been. Though Azula hated to admit it, she knew she could fight her way through Jian Chin's army and then take on the spirit-possessed warlord himself on her own- she was going to need all the help she could get.

Footsteps sounded behind them, and the two girls turned to see Ursa and Shin approach. "What's going on?" the captain asked, all business. "Can you tell if the city's been taken?"

"I don't know," Azula told him. "Ty Lee thinks that Zhan Zheng is inside, which means that Jian Chin probably is as well, and I can't imagine any other reason for that- the warlord may be powerful, but he is hardly subtle." She turned to look back at Ba Sing Se. "In any event, he doesn't have enough soldiers to police the whole city, and there aren't any more Dai Li to take advantage of. I think we should go take a look and see if we can get a better idea of what's going on."

Shin looked dubious, but before he could say anything Ursa pointed at the sky. "What is that?" she asked. "There's something up there- but it's not any bird I've ever seen before."

Azula turned to look in the direction her mother was pointing, shading her eyes with one hand. Sure enough, there was something there, coming closer- and her eyes widened when she realized what it was. "That, mother," she said, "is a Fire Nation airship, something we invented while you were gone. And if I'm reading that glint of gold on the prow right, it's the Royal airship to boot."

"Royal?" Ursa's eyes widened. "Zuko!"

"Most likely," Azula said. "So everything is coming together now," she added in an undertone. "I wonder if the Avatar is down there as well? Old friends, and old enemies. Not that there's much difference, in my case."

Shin turned to look at the airship as well, eyes narrowing. "It looks like the airship his headed directly for the city. If Jian Chin is in there, the Fire Lord may not know what he's flying into."

Ursa spun to face him. "Then we need to get to him," she said, eyes flashing. "If my son tries to fight Jian Chin without knowing what power backs him, he'll die."

Shin sighed and shook his head, looking from mother to daughter. "Then it appears Ba Sing Se is our course," he said. "I just hope we don't all end up rotting in Jian Chin's prison."

"Then we'll just have to be careful," Ursa and Azula said almost simultaneously- mother and daughter shot each other surprised and wryly amused looks. Then Ursa turned and slipped down the rock towards the city, with the others following closely behind her.

Every so often Azula's gaze darted up to the approaching airship, though she forced herself to stay focused on the task at hand. It was not enough, however, to fool Ty Lee, who started looking at her with concern. "You know, you thought I was having trouble earlier," the acrobat said, "but now you're not looking so good yourself. Is something the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter," Azula told her. Ty Lee shrugged and turned her gaze back towards Ba Sing Se, but the princess knew that her words had been a lie. She hadn't expected to be running into Zuko so soon after establishing her fragile equilibrium with her mother, and she didn't know how Zuzu's addition to the whole mess would complicate matters. She was only certain that they would, and Azula hated complications she couldn't predict, especially in this case.

She shook herself. She couldn't change things just by worrying about them, and there were more pressing concerns at the moment than her family issues. Focusing her attention towards Ba Sing Se, Azula began mentally preparing herself for battle.

"How could you let this happen?' Zuko demanded of General How as he paced back and forth in Iroh's tea shop. The Fire Lord was clearly in a towering temper over how the situation had been handled, not the least because of the current predicament of his uncle. After arriving about an hour ago and getting the whole story, he'd begun alternating between trying to rush off to the palace and save Iroh himself and snarling at the Earth Kingdom general for allowing Iroh to get himself captured in the first place. Aang winced sympathetically- it had been a long time since he'd had that temper turned on him, but he could still remember it. Certainly Zuko had calmed down a great deal since the War ended, but clearly a threat to the person who'd been the closest thing he'd ever had to a loving father was enough to bring that side of him out again.

"If you'll forgive me for saying so, Fire Lord," How replied, "I was following your Uncle's plan, not my own inclinations. I wasn't any happier about it than you were, but it appears to have worked- Jian Chin has been stalled in the palace ever since he took it."

"I know," Zuko said, sighing and turning away. "I just don't like this at all. Uncle may be the greatest firebender in the world, but he's an old man and he's trapped inside there with that thing." He nodded towards the window and then looked back at the general. "But no matter what happens, you're not going to seal the Palace up. We're going to go in and find a way to stop Jian Chin and we're going to get Uncle and the Earth King out safely. Got it?"

How nodded. "I believe that this is what General Iroh intended- a delaying tactic to allow help to arrive or an alternate plan to be conceived. I believe both have happened now, though," he glanced over at the table where Sokka was bent over a piece of paper and furiously writing, "I must question the wisdom of certain alternative strategies that have been proposed."

The young Water Tribe warrior looked up and scowled. "You're just jealous because you didn't come up with the idea to stop Jian Chin with an airship, some of Mai's knives, and Momo," he said proudly.

"Yeah, because that sounds completely sensible," the girl whose favored weapon had been mentioned said from where she stood in a corner of the room.

Sokka shrugged. "What can I say?" he asked. "You want to fight a spirit, you've got to think outside the box."

"Well, you might want to get a little closer to the old box, Mr. Creative Thinker," Toph put in.

"Well, someone has to be the idea guy," Sokka said. "I'm not seeing you coming up with anything here."

Growling under his breath, Aang stood up and held up his hands. "Everybody, calm down," he said. "We're not going to get anywhere if we keep arguing. Jian Chin and Zhan Zheng are tough, but we can do this. It's like the Fire Nation drill- big tough things always have weak spots, and we just need to find them."

At that moment one of General How's aides rushed in and whispered something in the general's ear. His eyes widened, and excusing himself with a bow he ducked out of the tea shop. "The problem is, Aang," Katara said when he was gone, "we don't know what the weak spots are, or how to find them. How do we fight something like this?"

Aang slumped back into his seat, head bowed. "I don't know," he said softly. "Right now, I just don't. Even if Iroh's plan to bury the palace killed Jian Chin, the spirit would just find a new body." He shook his head. "I'm the Avatar- I'm supposed to help people solve their problems, not just sit here and do nothing."

The door opened again, and General How returned. "Avatar, Fire Lord," he said, and there was a strange note in his voice, "my men have just brought up some travelers they found outside the city and… well, you should see for yourself."

He stepped aside and three Fire Nation soldiers entered, one of them an officer. Aang didn't recognize any of them, but Zuko apparently did- his eyes widened and darted towards the door in time to see a weary looking girl with large, expressive eyes and a long brown braid enter. This person was familiar to everyone in the room, and when Ty Lee saw who was there, she gave a broad, cheery smile and a wave. Behind her came Azula.

Even though it had been more than a year and a half since she'd been an active enemy, the whole room tensed as the Fire Princess entered. She too was tired-looking and dressed in travel-stained clothes, but she still held herself with the easy, deadly grace Aang had become all too familiar with during the War. As her gold eyes swept the room, however, it was obvious that she had changed- there was a haunted look in them, and a depth of weariness that Aang had never seen in her before, but also a flash of purpose as well. A long, jagged scar that had not been there before ran along one cheek.

"All right," Suki said from across the room, standing and resting a hand on one of her war fans. "What is she doing here?" The leader of the Kyoshi warriors had once spent several months as Azula's prisoner- she had even less love than most of them for Fire Lord Ozai's daughter.

"What am I doing?" Azula asked coldly. "Perhaps I'm here to offer you all my help. More to the point," here her gaze shifted to Zuko, "I'm returning someone who was lost."

She stepped aside, and an older woman entered, her features similar enough to both Zuko and Azula that Aang had no trouble figuring out who she was, though her features bore a weight of sadness rather than her son's scars or her daughter's arrogance and cruelty. Zuko was on his feet in an instant, mouth open wide, while Azula gave a wry half-smile, Ty Lee beamed, and even Mai showed signs of surprise.

"Mom," was all the Fire Lord managed to say before he hurried across the room and wrapped the Lady Ursa in a tight embrace.

"Nice," Toph said.

Some time later, Azula stood outside of the tea shop and looked at the door with an expression that might be described a wistful longing. She had ducked out moments after Zuko and Mother had pulled away from each other and started talking- this was somewhere where she could tell she had no place. Once she would have resented Zuko for that and hated him in the same way she'd hated anyone who'd had something she couldn't, but now she just felt sad, tired, and alone. Once she would have even tried to find a way to ignore those feelings, or else blame their causes on others, but now she understood that so much that had hurt her in her life came directly or indirectly from her own hand. If she wasn't as close to Ursa as Zuzu was, it was because she had spent her childhood clinging to her father and learning tyranny from his knee. A few weeks wasn't enough to repair the damage.

"Standing out here alone too?" a quiet voice asked. "I wonder why."

Azula turned slowly to see Mai shutting the door behind her. "I don't do overly-sentimental reunions," she said dismissively. "I take it you're not interested in it either?"

"I'll say hi later," Mai said. "You know I'm not one who goes for that kind of thing." She turned and looked towards the palace, standing silently for several quiet moments. "Why did you do it?" she asked finally.

"Do what?"

Mai turned to face her. "You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Why did you find your mom and bring her back?"

"Perhaps because it's what I set out to do when I left the Fire Nation?" Azula asked.

"Since when did promises ever mean anything to you?" Mai replied. "I thought you probably just did it so you'd have an excuse to get out of the Fire Nation so you wouldn't have to see it ruled by the brother you hated."

"I did it because I thought it's what I needed to fix what was wrong in my head," Azula said in a quiet, fierce voice. "On the way- well, let's just say I wound up having to rethink a lot of things." One hand strayed to her scar, and Mai glanced at it with an expression of mild interest.

"So you've got a scar now too," she said. "Maybe that's enough to make you change, but I'm not calling it until I actually see that you're different."

Both girls fell silent for several more moments, until Azula spoke. "You hate me now, don't you?" she asked flatly.

Mai turned to look at her head on. "No," she said. "I did for awhile, back after you left me and Ty Lee to rot in prison, but I don't any more. Hating people takes a lot of effort, and I decided that you weren't worth it. Once you were my friend, then my enemy. Now I don't feel about you one way or the other."

"Ty Lee forgave me," Azula pointed out.

"Ty Lee likes everybody- I'd have thought you'd have noticed that," Mai said. "But for me, forgiveness takes effort too. Someday I might, if you do something to earn it that I can see. It takes more than one good deed and saying you're sorry to make up for everything you did."

Now Azula's gaze turned towards the palace and the enemy that waited inside, her eyes hard and cold. "We'll see about that," she said.

"I was Jian Chin's captive for years," Ursa said, "and it didn't take me long to learn how he thinks. He's arrogant, powerful and cruel, but he has no imagination- if he sees a problem, his first and generally only thoughts for how to deal with it are to smash it or wait it out. If he has a weakness, that is it, but I don't know how much the spirit has been able to compensate for that."

His mother's return had re-energized Zuko, and by extension the whole group. The two had spent some time reminiscing and telling each other what had happened to them over the last several years- Ursa's eyes had flashed dangerously even as her hand went to Zuko's face as he recounted the story of his scar, while the Fire Lord's fist had clenched as he learned about his mother's captivity under Jian Chin. Once it became apparent that she possessed information the group could use, however, Ursa seemed to fix herself on helping them before all else. Aang could tell that now that she had been reunited with her family, the noblewoman's main goal was to see Jian Chin fall. Azula had slipped out early on; Mai had followed to keep an eye on her, but nobody seemed interested in dragging the princess inside if she wanted to be elsewhere.

"Yeah, the spirit's the problem," Sokka said. "It's what's been stumping me- if Aang and Katara say it's there, I believe them, but you can't cut something like that with a sword or blow it up with machines or bending. I hate to admit it, but this is out of my league."

Ursa turned to look at Aang. "I have heard stories about how you defeated my former husband, Avatar," she said. "Could you do something similar to remove Zhan Zheng from the warlord's body?"

Aang looked down at his lap. "I tried," he said, "but he was too strong. Maybe I could bend Zhan Zheng if it was just him, but I had to take on two spirits at once or else get overwhelmed. This isn't the sort of thing you can really practice."

"Then maybe, Avatar, you need to change the rules," a cool voice said from the doorway. All eyes turned to see Azula standing there, her eyes fixed on Aang. "If you'll hear me out, I might have an idea."

"And we should trust you why, again?" Suki asked.

"Yeah," Toph said. "The only think I want from Princess Psycho here is a rematch. She probably wants to see this Zhan Zheng thing eat you for dinner, Twinkeltoes."

Azula's eyes flashed. "Say what you will about me," she said, "but I do not want that spirit to have anything. It's tried to use me or kill me several times now, and that's nothing compared to what it has planned for the world. I don't want that, and neither do you. You don't have any good ideas, and I'm offering one. It's in your best interest to listen up."

The rest of the group looked unconvinced, glancing from Azula to her family to Aang and back again. Finally Ursa spoke. "I can't speak for when you knew Azula, but she risked her life to bring me out of Jian Chin's fortress. If my daughter has a plan, I think you should hear it out."

"She has changed," Ty Lee said, "really!"

Zuko looked down at his hands, and then up at his friends. "Azula did help me and Aang take down General Azun and his rebels. I don't know if I'll like her plan or not, but I think I owe it to her to listen."

"I agree," Aang said, then looked from the Fire Lord to his sister. "All right, Azula. What's your idea?"

Azula told it, and the room fell quiet. The silence was finally broken by Toph, who whistled and said "Wow. You really are crazy." There was faint, grudging respect in her voice.

Katara looked from the princess to Aang. "You can't seriously be considering this," she said. "I mean, I'll buy that maybe Azula's not as nasty as she used to be, but I don't think this is smart at all."

"It's the only chance you have," Azula said. "The only chance any of us has. Jian Chin can't be overcome by brute force, and outwitting him is like outwitting an avalanche- it's easy enough, but it accomplishes nothing. Even if you kill him somehow, Zhan Zheng will survive and move on. You need to attack the spirit itself, and to do that you need me."

"Why you?" Katara asked, rising to her feet. "It's not your reasoning that bothers me- it's you. Why does it have to be you doing this? I get why it can't be Aang, but I'd do it for him in a heartbeat!"

"Would you?" Azula asked, seeming darkly amused. "And wouldn't that be interesting. But I'm the one Zhan Zheng wants- the only one who can trick it into doing this without thinking it through. It has to be me."

"Yeah, but we only have your word that it cares that much about you," Sokka said. "And I seem to remember that you lie really well."

Azula's eyes bored into them all. "You'll have to trust me," she said. "If I'm lying, you haven't made the situation substantially worse. If I'm not, it may be the only way to win. You have to decide which."

"It's your call, Aang," Zuko said after a long pause.

"I still don't like it," Katara said, "but I agree that it's up to you."

Aang looked at Azula hard, trying to make up his mind. He didn't like this any more than the others did, and there was certainly part of him that didn't trust Azula at all, but if he turned her down he might be throwing away his one chance to defeat the spirit of War. Beyond that, though, the Avatar was basically a kindhearted person, and he believed in second chances. Trusting Zuko had set off the chain of events that led to the defeat of Ozai- maybe trusting Azula could do the same here.

"All right," he said finally. "We'll do it, tomorrow."

Everyone in the room stared at Aang, and even Azula seemed somewhat surprised. "I hope this isn't a mistake," Katara finally said.

"So do I," Aang said under his breath.

Their plans laid, the group split up, its various members being led by military guides to buildings near the palace, where they could rest and prepare for tomorrow's assault on it. Azula was the last to leave, standing back in the tea shop and watching the others go. Finally she turned to leave herself, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Zuko.

"What do you want, Zuzu?" she asked him. "I imagine this is where you threaten to incinerate me if I do anything to hurt your friend the Avatar? You don't need to."

"No," Zuko said, shaking his head. "Mom told me what you went through, to get her out of there- she said you were half dead when you fought Jian Chin, and that fight nearly did you in. You didn't have to do that, but you did it anyway. I'm not ready to put everything between us to rest, but for this I'd just like to say thank you." Then he pulled away and was gone.

"Well," Azula finally muttered to herself, "maybe things can change after all." Then she turned and walked off to find one of the guest houses for herself. She needed to be rested, because tomorrow was going to require all of her strength to survive.