Ok, it's been too long since the last chapter, so I don't want to waste any of your time explaining why, suffice it to say that pretty much everything in my personal life went to crap. If you really want to know the details, feel free to PM me, but I don't want to waste space on it here. That being said, everything's relatively back to normal and, the universe willing, I'll be back to updating at more regular intervals now.
Alright, enough about me, on with the story.
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Chapter 36
Breaking Point
"Why is my bedroom so cold?" was the first thought on Azula's mind as she woke from an uncomfortable night's sleep. Though ground she lay on felt too hard and uncomfortable to be a bed. It was cold and hard and rough. She struggled against her bedding to get a hand free but once she did, it wasn't soft, smooth silk that her hand trailed over, but a cold stony surface next to her head. It was a jarring reminder. That's right, she wasn't in her room, hadn't been for a long time. She was in a cell, wasn't that it. Locked up and sleeping in rags on Zuko's orders. Even though her eyes were now open, she couldn't see a thing. Her cell was too dark and... No, that didn't seem right either?
Her thoughts felt like flies trapped in the cobwebs of her mind, and the more she struggled to free them, the more tangled they became. Everything felt off, not quite real, like a dream but she knew she wasn't dreaming.
A cave, I'm in a cave.
Now it was coming back to her as her drowsiness finally began to subside. She pushed herself up off the ground, peeling one bedroll off top of her and throwing down on top of the other. Both were soaked in sweat and it was only now, that despite how cold it was in the cave, she was burning up.
She took a few steps toward the pale light filtering in from entrance, then doubled over onto her hands and knees, and almost threw up as a wave of nausea washed over her. After a few deep breaths she was able to get a hold of herself. She felt sick and weak. Walking hurt all over and made her stomach roll. She took a few more breaths before moving again, and was sure to go about it much slower this time.
"Azula!" A voice, commanding and sharp, filled the cave. Instinctively she stood to attention as her father finished speaking. "Do not keep me waiting Azula!"
She picked her feet up and moved as quickly as she could to the cave entrance. It was dark once she got outside, which didn't seem right. Hadn't she seen light filtering in from the entrance just a moment ago?
Her father was waiting outside, standing at the cliff's edge. A young man (who didn't look to be wearing any clothes) was sitting on the ground next to him. Yu seemed oblivious to the Fire Lord standing next to him and just sat there, looking out over the valley.
Ozai extended his hand toward Yu. A small glowing ball of flame swirled to life in Ozai's hand. He turned and looked to Azula with disapproval, and worse, disappointment. He said nothing because he didn't have to. It was all plain on his face. This was punishment for her disobedience.
"I think she should take her precious little peasant and toss him over the cliff."
"Yes… Yes, you're right, Azula. That does seem rather appropriate."
She'd defied him, and such things carried consequences.
Azula watched frozen as Yu exploded into a pillar of fire. It twisted into the sky, turning everything as bright as day and consuming everything around it. Her father disapeared, completely wiped away by the flames. The ground blistered and peeled away as it swirled, pulsed, and grew even larger. The only thing she had time to do was throw her arms up in front of her face in an attempt shield herself. And in a flash of light...
Nothing happened. After a moment of feeling her heart beat in her ears, she slowly opened her eyes to find nothing around her burnt, much less herself. It was daytime, Yu was still sitting by the cliffs edge (and thankfully, he wasn't naked as she had first thought, he was at least wearing some pants), but her father was nowhere to be seen, and she was lying on the ground shielding herself from pillar of fire that didn't exist. She felt her stomach lurch again, and this time she couldn't hold it back. On her hands and knees already, she scrambled to the bushes,= and offered them a most un-princess like prayer. Even in the middle of this, she already getting pre-angry at Yu, fully expected having to fend off some clumsy and misplaced attempt at helping her.
Though he ended up doing something that made her even angrier. And that was nothing at all. No childish words of concern or pity floated her way, and the hands she half expected to feel on her shoulders at any moment ever came. When she was finished, she looked to see him sitting in the same spot as though he hadn't even noticed.
What was his problem!
Then she did feel a hand rest on one shoulder, and this one sent a shiver down her spine.
"You know." Her Other whispered in her ear. "A little shove is all it would take. Who knows, father might even consider forgiving you."
She twirled and swatted at the air, almost like she was swatting at insects, but there was nothing there. Part of her hoped this little flurry of commotion would catch Yu's attention, but still, he just sat there.
So she marched up behind him (and in no way trying to be quite) stopped and stood there for a few moments. She crossed her arms and waited.
Say something! Do something! Stop ignoring me!
Fine! If he didn't want to talk, then... but she couldn't get her feet to move from that spot. She could sense them waiting for her, like shadows dancing around the edge of her periphery that she could never quite see unless they wanted her too. She knew it was crazy, what she was seeing couldn't possibly be real, but knowing that didn't change how completely real it all felt when it happened. Like she was teetering between realities, and that's why she wanted, no, needed Yu to acknowledge her. While her confidence in reality was slowly eroding, his presence was the one constant that made her feel secure that this really was real.
She didn't want to feel her Others hand sliding over her shoulder and whispering in her ear, or her mother chastising her , or worst of all, turn around to find her father glaring down at her...
A few minutes passed, and he still just sat there staring over the valley and taking no notice that she was standing behind him. He would make a slight move his head, shift position, or look down at his hands, but other than that it was like she wasn't even there. Of course she very well could have said something, or tried to get his attention in any number of ways, but she didn't. Because, even with her whole world seemingly crumbling around her, and while she could never admit this to herself on a conscious level, taking any action to get his attention would be like an open admission to the fact that, instead of just using him, she actually needed him.
It was finally the horrible taste in the mouth that made her back away and leave. She needed water. She could see from here that the little waterfall trickling into the valley over the path wasn't flowing anymore, which made sense if it had been fed from the lake. She just hoped that Yu's... incident last night hadn't completely evaporated their only source of water.
The closer she got to the lake, the worse things looked. Trees started missing pine needles, then even further in, didn't have any at all. She hadn't heard a single chirp or animal noise all morning, and just around the clearing the grass was burnt black, and the surrounding trees were baked on the lake facing side; and speaking of the lake, it was little more than a shallow muddy crater. That wasn't good.
Luckily, after circling a little around the lake, she found a shallow puddle of relatively clean water in a depression at the lakes edge. She leaned down and filtered some into her cupped hands, being careful not to stir up any silt, though what was sitting in her hands was still far from clean. She took a sip anyway just to rinse her mouth, but as soon as it hit her lips, she couldn't deny how incredibly she was. She quickly rinsed, spat, than, foregoing her cupped hands, and leaned down to suck water directly from the little pool. Water had never tasted this good.
She drank until she couldn't breathe, then pulled her lips away, and rubbed handfuls of water over her face, scrubbing away the grim and dirt while she gathered breath, then leaned down to drink some more.
"You look like some kind of stray mongrel."
Azula jumped to her feet at the sound of her own voice taunting her. Her Other was standing behind her, inspecting her fingernails the whole time and not looking at Azula (a habit Azula herself had taken to doing as a way to make those she talked to feel ignored and insignificant. Being on the other side of it, She had to admit it was amazingly effective for how infuriating it was). Her Other looked up and shot her a look of pure concentrated disgust.
"You know, after disobeying Father the way you did last night, I was beginning to think that you were no better than Zuko. It appears I was wrong. You're worse."
Azula exploded. She blasted the ground where her Other stood with a torrent of blue flames. When it washed away her other was gone, but Azula could still feel her presence lurking nearby. She spun around, spitting, throwing and blasting fire everywhere. Throwing it wildly from her hands, it spilled into the air, washed over the ground and licked between charred trees. It was only for the sake that everything around her had already been burnt that nothing caught on fire. There was no grace to her movements, no hint at all of the finesse and refinement that would expected of a fire-bending prodigy. This was am angry, hurt little girl throwing the worlds most dangerous temper tantrum.
"I am nothing like Zuko! Nothing!" she screamed at the empty air, still pouring out equal amounts of rage and fire that only came to a stop when she didn't have enough of either left in her.
She fell to her knees, tears pouring down her face and falling on the backs of her balled up shaking fists.
"Why didn't you take me with you. I should have been on that airship, I could have helped you. We could have won this war together. After everything I've done, I deserved it! How could you leave me behind like that! How could you... how could..."
"How could he treat you like Zuko?" Her mother finished for her. Azula lifted her head and glared at Ursa as she approached. When sh leaned down to place her hands on her daughter's shoulders, Azula slapped them away.
"No!" Azula jumped to her feet, bitterly wiping the tears from her face as she put some distance between her mother and her. "You don't get to do this! I am so sick of you showing up and trying to play the perfect parent role. You want me to admit that father abandoned me! Tossed me aside when didn't need me anymore! Is that it?" She strode up to her mother and buried a finger in her chest. "Well you did it first!"
"Azula..."
"Shut up!" Azula screamed at her. Blue flames spit out from between her fingers as she balled her fists. "You keep trying to convince me about what a terrible father he was! If that's true, then why didn't you ever try and stop it! Tell me that. If you loved me so much, if you were so worried, then why did you do nothing!"
Ursa looked at Azula with pity, but said nothing. "Say something!" She screamed in her face.
Ursa wouldn't answer. She just looked sorrowfully at her daughter, but still said nothing. Azula's anger erupted like raging river plowing through a damn. "It's because I wasn't Zuko! I was so important to you, that I didn't even get a goodbye when you left. 'Everything I've done, I've done to protect you'. Isn't that what you old your precious little Zuzu! Oh yes mother, I was there, listening outside Zuko's room. I remember it so clearly because that's the night I finally found out how much I really meant to you!
She wrapped her hands around the collar of her mother's robes and pulled her face to face. "Everything to protect Zuko and nothing to protect me!"
If Ursa had a response, Azula didn't have time to hear it. A hand, large and strong, wrapped around her neck from behind and threw her to the ground. She tumbled over herself and came to a rest on her back.
"So, I was a terrible father, was I?" His voice cut into her ears. Her heart jumped into her throat and her whole body went rigid. Standing above her was a dark silhouette, only its eyes visible, piercing down at her through a shroud of black.
Oh no! No, no. That not what she'd meant. That was about her mother, not him. She wasn't angry at him. She wasn't! She tried to say something, tried to beg forgiveness. But nothing she was thinking would make it's way out of her mouth. Instead she just lay there, still and shaking, looking up at him dumbfounded.
"Tell me Azula. What, exactly, was it you needed protection from?" He asked, approaching her slowly. She was scrambling away from him, but didn't even realize she was retreating until her left arm splashed into the murky little pool of water. Splashing into the cold water was just enough to break the spell. She opened her mouth to explain herself, but the opportunity was taken from her. His impossibly strong hand clenched around her throat again and slammed her head into the puddle, pushing her head beneath the water. She tried to scream, but only a shrill gurgle escaped the water's surface. She beat at his arm and clawed at his hand, all the while desperately trying to beg his forgiveness through the water that was quickly stealing her every last breath.
Please, father, please! I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it!
She could see his him through the water, standing over her, holding her under, punishing her, and even though his visage was distorted, there was no mistaking the bright flickering ball of yellow light in his other hand.
Despite her head being held underwater, his words came cleanly to her ears. "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."
His hand crashed into the water and she felt the side of her face boil and burn. The water hissed, she screamed, though she couldn't tell which sound was which. The last of the air left her lungs and a mouthful of water replaced it. His hand let go and she wrenched herself free from the water. She rolled to her side, hacking and coughing, spitting out water, sucking in air and spitting out more water. When she could breathe, she scrambled back to the pool.
He'd burned her. Please no, he'd burned her face.
Before she could splash water on the wound, she saw in the reflection that there was no burn. She almost didn't trust her own eyes. Reaching a hand up, she winced when she touched her cheek, but felt nothing there. No burn, no scar, no pain. Her face (except for being even dirtier now), was fine.
Then there was clapping, and despite not looking up, she knew who it was. Strange how she could even make clapping could sound arrogant. "Such a fine little performance."
Azula didn't have the energy left to deal with her Other. She just sat at the edge of the little water hole trying to keep her stomach steady.
"Boo hoo. All this drama just because mommy and daddy didn't love you. So what. Father was training us to be above these petty concerns. He wanted you to lead, and love has nothing to do with that." Her Other leaned down and gave a condescending little chuckle into her ear. "
"You're so pathetic, I have half a mind to give up on you myself."
Give up? It was terrifying to Azula how comforting that idea felt. Just give up, give in and let go. All this pain and hardship behind, jut gone. Her entire world was taken from her, and it seemed less and less by the day that she'd even have any of that back again.
She threw up again.
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The city of Yenrai was in a panic. Rumors flew around the streets like a pack of angry dragonflies.
"I heard some bandits found some secret Fire Nation weapon!"
"Bandits! It's those rougue soldiers I've been hearing about. They've come to take our city!"
If Zuko could have picked the single worst time for his airship to come zooming up to the cities gates, this would be it. Before it could even touch down, the ship was surrounded. City guards and soldiers did their best to hold everyone back, but they're simply weren't enough. It was mostly just rotten fruit and vegetables splatting against the side of the ship, but the occasional earthbent stone or large rock clanged against its hull as well.
Zuko was on the bridge, looking out in dismay. This entire trip was getting worse and worse with each passing day. He'd half expected Aang to be here when he arrived. Whatever it was he saw last night certainly seemed like it should be Avatar stuff, but so far there was no sign. So for now, he'd just have to check this phenomenon out himself.
"Pitchforks?" He heard Mai whisper dryly behind him. "They're actually wielding pitchforks? I thought that was something they only did that in those cheesy old monster plays."
Zuko turned and headed off the bridge towards the loading ramp. After a few protests from his personal guards, Jian finally released the locks on the ramp and let it fall open. Zuko didn't come all this way to hide inside his airship. If these people were angry with him, he'd find a way to make them understand. Luckily, the cities soldiers seemed to be doing a good enough job of keeping the crowd back, and as soon as the loading ramp opened the back of the ship like the great maw of a whale-shark and the citizens saw the Fire Lord standing there, they were too confused and shocked to keep up the assault on the ship anyhow. The crowd broke into swelling noise of perplexed murmurs and questions between themselves.
One of the soldiers, a captain by the look of it, came running up the ramp. Zuko's guards readied themselves, but Zuko waved them down. The captain noticed, exchanged a look with them, then slowed himself and gave Zuko a slight bow before echoing the same doubt had felt earlier.
"No offense Fire Lord, but you couldn't have chosen a single worse day to make a surprise visit. I've got a lot of scared people here and the Fire Nation ain't exactly popular in these parts. I'll cut to the chase, I assume this has something to do with that crazy light show last night?"
Zuko nodded. "I need to speak to whoever's in charge of this city immediately."
The captain turned around and made a few hand motions to his men, and they began to split a path in the crowd. Another hand motion popped up a slab of rock at the base of the ramp. They were apparently riding into town on that.
Four of Zuko's guards accompanied him and the captain as they stepped up on the slab. Before moving, the captain asked. "What was that anyway. Lots of crazy rumors running around the streets right now and you showing up like this will probably only make it worse."
"I don't know. That's what I'm here to find out." As Zuko answered, Mai appeared at the top of the ramp.
"I'm going too." and before Zuko could say anything, "I've been on this stuffy heap of junk for days, I'm bored, and you're taking me with you."
And that was that.
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Yu's recollection of last night was spotty. Most of it was there, some of it wasn't. He remembered when it started. He'd been in the cave with Azula... he'd almost touched her when his hand was on fire. It was scary to think about, but what happened next...
It was so far beyond anything he'd experienced up until now with, his odd set of abilities that it didn't even seem to make sense. What was going on? As soon as he noticed his hand glowing, he ran from the cave. His clothes didn't even survive to the forest. As he made his way through the trees, the pain in his chest built in waves. His body was putting off so much heat, trees were starting to smoke as he ran past them. By the end of the path, the last few actually burst into flames.
When he hit the water it didn't do anything other than erupt into steam. Then, a pain like nothing he'd ever felt before. Like something was trying to claw its way out of him from. Then he exploded again. Except this time, it was nothing like what happened at the hospital (which in itself had been a first). Then things got a little spotty. He couldn't see anything but a blinding white light, and he couldn't breathe. He blacked out a few times, waking back up, still covered in the white light, and then blanking out again. Only the last time, it was more bluish than white, then... He was alive, somehow, and Azula was dragging him through the mud... then through the forest... then he woke up the next morning, lying next to the cliff, naked, and covered in mud.
There were a few things in between, but nothing he could be sure of. He thought he remembered hearing Azula arguing, but it wasn't with him... so he couldn't be sure of that.
As soon as he woke up, he checked on the lake, just to make absolutely sure that what he remembered happening, had actually happened.
Yep, it had.
He was able to find a few clean enough puddles of water to scrub the mud off, then get back to change into his last pair of pants. Just in case, he was in and out as quick as he could be. Though may have risked a few extra seconds to make Azula a little more comfortable when he found her scrunched up and huddled at the back of the cave.
After that, he'd been out here, just... thinking.
He'd almost died last night. If it hadn't been for Azula, he would have. Speaking of, Azula could have been killed just as easily. Because of him! He couldn't let that happen, but at the same time, he couldn't just leave her out here alone. She wasn't well. He knew that, he'd noticed it a while ago and whatever was happening was getting worse.
So it wasn't safe for him to stay with her, but he couldn't just leave her alone either...
Of course, this was all wrapped up in the fact that his powers seemed intent on killing him. None of this made any sense. His concern about finding out who he was wasn't even much of a concern anymore. With everything else he had on his mind today, the one prevailing thought that cast a cloud over everything was that he wasn't likely to be alive much longer. He didn't want to think that way, but at this point, it seemed inevitable. And it was something he had to factor into everything else he was trying to figure out.
Though, "everything else" pretty much exclusively entailed getting Azula to the authorities and back to that hospital while he still could. Nothing else really seemed to matter anymore.
He was so lost in thought, as mulling over ones mortality can have a tendency to do, that he never heard Azula come out of the cave. He didn't notice her practically breathing down his neck. Didn't hear her yelling in the forest (though it was pretty far away), didn't hear her return, stand behind him one final time, and remain standing there for several minutes, which is where she was right now.
As she stood glaring at the back of his head, his last thoughts wouldn't make it out before getting interrupted.
With her in the condition she was in, what would happen if she was left out here completely on her own? He had to face it. Up until now, despite her worsening condition, the real reason he hadn't tried to alert anyone about her was...
"There had better be a good reason you're not talking to me!"
He almost jumped out of his skin. He twisted around to see Azula standing right behind him. He hadn't even heard her approach, and now that he saw her... she looked kinda terrible. Her hair was wet and muddy, as was the top of her shirt. Her face was a slight bit cleaner, but eyes were red and puffy, like she'd been crying.
He must have been staring too long, or perhaps because he was showing a bit too much concern (She was a bit odd with stuff like that), because she barked at him a little more angry this time.
"Stop looking at me like that and just answer the question. Why haven't you said a single thing all day!"
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Back down in Yenrai, at roughly that same moment, Zuko was in the middle of his meeting with the mayor. It wasn't going as well as Zuko had hoped, but better than he'd feared. A force of earthbending soldiers had already been gathered to head into the mountains. Zuko was negotiating, trying to convince the mayor that it was in his best interest to let him join in, along with his own firebenders, to investigate. Unfortunately, the mayor was a stubborn and suspicious old man.
"And what if this is all some kind of trick. Why should I trust you?"
Frustrated, Zuko blurted out. "If I was planning something I would have just flown over the city and bombed it from the air." The mayor's eyebrows flew up and he recoiled in his chair.'
Zuko tried to correct himself. "No no no! That's not what I meant to say. I just meant..."
"Look, here's the deal," Mai's voice piped in as she sat up from the couch she'd been lounging on. Up till now, she been so quite, both Zuko and the Mator had almost forgotten she was there. She stood up and effortlessly flipped the knife she'd been playing with into her sleeve and continued.
"You have some kind of fire related problem going on out there, and you're sending earthbenders to deal with it. Now my stupid boyfriend shows up with firebenders to help you deal with the issue and you turn him away? Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me either way. For all I care, you can send your earthbenders out to get roasted alive and have to deal a city full of angry citizens. Or you can accept our help and once we deal with the problem, you can even take the all credit for yourself and look like a hero."
She sat back down, flipped out a knife and started cleaning under her fingers. "But hey, whatever, I don't really care either way."
Both Zuko and the mayor were silent for several seconds afterword. The Mayor let a few individual syllables fall from his mouth before stumbling into an actual response. If anything, it was Mai's hint that he could tell his people that the Fire Lord was here on his demand, that sealed the deal.
Zuko got his permission on the condition that he brought at least a handful of elite earthbenders with him anyhow. Apparently the Yenrai mountains were a maze of treacherous passes and dead ends that would be almost impossible to navigate safely without earthbender help. Though Zuko suspected it was less to do with that and more that it would make the Mayor look good to have people see his earthbenders escorting the Fire Lord out of town."
"Then it's settled." The mayor said with a gleam in his eyes, "I'll have my men meet you by the gate tomorrow morning..."
"I'll be heading into the mountains in an hour." Zuko said as he turned to leave. "Make sure they're waiting for me at the gate."
"But..."
"Sorry, but there are other issues that require my full attention, so I would prefer to deal with this as fast as possible." Zuko was already out the door with Mai before the Mayor had time to respond. Once they left his office and were being escorted out, Zuko whispered to Mai.
"So what was all that about."
Mai shrugged. "When your job as a child is to sit in a chair and be quiet for hours on end while your dad conducts meetings, you learn a few things about diplomacy." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Remind me to give you a few lessons sometime."
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(a slight bit earlier)
Azula was sitting on her knees, staring at her own hands laid palms open in her lap.
She 'd been like this for the last hour. She wasn't angry or sad or crying. She just... didn't have it in her for much of anything right now. She wasn't sure if she had it in her to for anything anymore. Afraid to stand up, afraid to sit still, afraid that if she turned around or lifted her head to look up, another someone would be standing there, waiting to tear her world apart again. But she couldn't just do nothing.
Why not?
So she put her feet under her, lifted herself off the ground, and headed back to the cave. She could feel them all around her, just waiting for her to say something, or think something, any excuse they could use to invade her reality again. She could hear their voices whispering at the edge of her consciousness, telling her what to do, and what not to do, arguing with one another, vying for control.
When she made it back to the cave, Yu was still sitting in the same spot, still not noticing her, STILL!
She didn't want to go back in the cave. She still couldn't bring herself to ask for his help... So she wandered past him and down the path a bit with no real destination in mind. She stopped for a moment to catch a breath as she headed down toward the dead waterfall. A thought, scary in how soothing it felt, entered her mind.
How wonderful would it be if she really were in a cell somewhere? If all this really was just some escapist fever dream she'd constructed for herself. Then at least maybe there was hope. Maybe...
She edged herself closer to the edge of the cliff. Put one foot over the edge and looked down. Then fell back against the mountainside and clawed at the sides of her head as though trying to physically rip those thoughts out.
She ran back up the path until she found herself standing behind Yu once again, who was apparently still lost in his own thoughts. Who knew he had enough to even make that possible, she joked to herself, which was when she realized the other voices had subsided. For a few minutes, that was enough. Just standing here, close to someone she knew wasn't some hallucination, or waking nightmare, honestly seemed to be helping. However, she needed more than just a temporary reprieve. She couldn't fight this on her own anymore. She needed someone real to talk to, someone she knew was there, flesh and blood, without a doubt real!
She finally swallowed her pride and spoke up.
"There had better be a good reason you're not talking to me!" She spit out, finally getting his attention. He jumped about a foot in the air, so she'd startled him. That made her slightly happy. At least until he turned around, and after a few seconds of saying nothing, got a sort of worried concerned look about him which reminded her that she probably looked terrible.
"Stop looking at me like that and just answer the question. Why haven't you said a single thing all day!"
He seemed more somber than usual, and after a moment, said "And here I thought you weren't a big fan of me talking." before turning around and clamming up again.
"I'm not. But what I like even less is when I've come to expect a certain behavior out of someone and that behavior suddenly changes. It makes me nervous."
"Of course it does" was all he responded with and went right back to starring out over the valley.
She was already feeling a bit better. A bit more "attached" so to speak, but it would be a lot better if he would just start talking to her! That was the whole reason she was over here. She was too worn out to carry this on her own. For the first time since she'd met him she actually wanted him to run at the mouth, and he wouldn't say more than a few words.
She walked over next to him.
"Move"
"What?"
"I want to sit down, now move over!"
He looked a little confused, but moved over to give her enough room to sit as well and she did. In another first... she now realized she couldn't think of anything to say. Casual conversation had never really been her strong point. What is it normal people are actually supposed to talk about. Luckily she didn't have to. After a few awkward moments, Yu finally said something.
"You know what the worst thing about being fire proof is?" He said holding his hand out in front of him, sort of examining it like it was something new. "I'm always cold. I figure it's because whatever keeps me fireproof, also keeps heat away. It's not too bad I guess. Colds never really bothered me all that much, but it's annoying to huddle around a fire and not be able to feel it. It's just so stupid when you think about it. My two biggest problems are catching on fire and being cold."
While he examined his outstretched hand, she couldn't help but look down to his other arm, the one closest to her. She wondered, purely out of curiosity, if she touched him, would it feel cold? She reached over to put a hand on his forearm before stopping herself. What was she doing? He'd just end up getting the wrong idea. In fact... she wasn't sure why she'd sat so close to him in the first place.
She scooted herself away a bit and let him finish talking. Except it seemed he was again done talking. Ok, great. So it's my turn again. If I can just get him rambling about something… Then it hit her. That second day together, when she was trying to learn anything useful about him (what waste of time), she couldn't get him to shut up...
"Didn't you say your first memory was something about waking up in a forest or something?"
"Well, was it? Might prove a good clue about who you are, don't you think."
"Oh, yeah, I guess. The problem is those first couple of days were kind of fuzzy, but..."
Azula let him trail off, listening to him, but not entirely paying attention. Finally, this was what she needed. Just the hum and drone of another voice helped her feel anchored. With everything else happening around her. He mother, her father, that other her all trying to get to her, confuse her, torture her. This was the one thing that let her know, with absolute certainty, that this was all real.
Too bad that would all come crashing down with Yu's next sentence.
"...so anyway, once someone finally showed me where I was on a map, I was able to backtrack a bit. Oh, what was it called, Wu-something, Wu-hong, no? Hoo-..."
Azula's blood suddenly felt like Ice. Her body tensed and for a moment or two, it felt like her heart stopped. Yu continued trying to sound it out, but Azula didn't need him too. He hadn't even noticed her get up and slowly back away from him.
"Woo Long Forest." Azula eked out, her voice sounding weak, even to her own ears.
"Yeah! That was it." Yu pounded his fist into the other hand. "How did you know?"
When he turned around to look at her, she was looking back as though looking at a ghost. Her eyes wide, her face flush of all color, her hands shaking.
"Azula...? What's wrong?"
How did she know? How could she not. It was her plan after all. Beginning from the coast and not stopping until Ba Sing Se was in ashes, leaving nothing but a burning swath of destruction in it's wake for all the Earth Kingdom to see. Every last bit of the attack on the Earth Kingdom, had been her idea. Including the very spot it would start.
Woo Long Forest.