It was easy for Azula to slip into the palace unnoticed. The guards were distracted with amusing themselves chasing after Mai's father, and with a headband tied tightly around her forehead, and what remained of her hair left hanging free, she would not look like the old Princess Azula in case Mai decided to sic the guards on her too.

As she tumbled over the wall, twisting to hide behind the trunk of the pink-flowering mimosa trees, she closed her eyes as she listened for the pacing of the guard. When he was out of sight, Azula dashed towards the interior of the palace, hiding in the shadows.

She had seen Mai, of course, crouching, eavesdropping. Azula should have touched her shoulder, put a hand to her mouth, and told her the truth.

If it had been Ty Lee instead of Mai, she probably would have. But Mai wouldn't believe her in any case. Still, she had been glad to see Mai. She would tell Zuko everything.

Which Azula had been intending to do all along, of course, she thought as she walked down the palace halls, carrying steaming hot towels for the families who had gathered for the celebration. In her simple clothes, it would be easy to pass her off as one of the staff at first glance though if any stayed to linger, they might notice they were a little more threadbare than they should be, a little more travel stained.

Guards were posted at the throne room and his chambers as well, so Azula was unable to sneak in through the door as she had done when they were young.

So she offered them hot towels, which they declined, and after that, Azula slipped out to the gardens again. She made her way through them until she was directly beneath Zuko's window.

Night was beginning to fall as she stared up and up, before she finally shrugged her shoulders and found the shallow indentations the stones made when they had been layered one against the other.

She climbed swiftly and silently until she clung to the sill. With a knife she had taken from Mai's father, she undid the lock, and dropped silently to the floor, seating herself in one of the chairs as darkness filled the room. The bed was in the far distant corner, and above it hung a portrait of Mai and Zuko, all in black. The artist had captured them well, Azula thought. There was a desk beside the bed, with parchment stretched across it. A neat pile of scrolls, bearing an official seal, was also on the desk.

She wondered if Zuko was ever free of his affairs of state.

It was just like the last time when she had been forced to wait for him to return. But this time there were no pretty shells to occupy her fingers, and her hair was short, and so she waited as her foot jiggled up and down.

She was already up and pacing when she heard Zuko greet his guards, and she sat back down again quickly, lounging in her seat with one leg swung over her other knee as she pretended to examine her fingernails.

The door opened, and then shut. Zuko lit a candle with a touch of his fingers, and he stretched.

He was tired, she could tell. His arm was injured too, as it moved more stiffly and did not raise as high as the other. She wondered if this was where the assassination attempt had landed it pathetic blow.

He did not notice her as he sighed, bracing himself against the desk as his eyes closed. He shook his head, as if he were ashamed or angry with himself.

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Azula said, "Hello, brother."

He swung towards her voice, fire flaming from his fists, and Azula raised her own hands in something she supposed looked like surrender. "It's only me," she added, as if that would matter or change anything.

"Azula!" he said, his voice tight and strained. The flame fluttered in his hands and she rolled her eyes. How could he be so emotional—if Mai had told him everything, he should be calling for the guard at the very least, sending a fireball her way at the very most. "What happened to your hair?"

Azula rose to her feet, hands still raised. "I cut it off, obviously. But do we really want to discuss my appearance after everything that Mai has told you?" She raised her eyebrow at him, and then shook her head as she lowered her hands. "Honestly, Zuko, your priorities could use a little work."

His face paled, his lips tightening in anger. "Mai told me everything."

"Everything she heard, I'm sure," Azula said as she turned towards the window. "I'm surprised you haven't called for your guards. I had to climb up the wall to even get in here." She looked at her hands, the nailbeds beginning to bruise.

"I could still call them," Zuko said.

She turned to face him again. "Then why don't you?"

He looked at her, his eyes soft. "Because I want to believe you're different. You saved my life once before. But you've also tried to kill me before, and I don't know what to believe anymore. I don't know what lies you've told, what lies you're going to tell because you always lie."

Azula rolled her eyes. Sometimes, he could be so frank about his feelings. It made her uncomfortable. So instead, she chose to laugh. "Honestly, Zuko, if I had come here to kill you, I've done a terrible job of it." She started to pace in a tight circle, tapping her chin. "Which means I must have some other motive to be here, don't I? Perhaps it's because I am actually on your side, and I can't destroy Mai's father and the entire New Ozai Society without you. It's almost as if we're back in Ba Sing Se again, except the stakes are unbelievably higher with so many lives on the line." Her hands clenched into fists as she saw her brother looking at her like he didn't believe her. "Well, I could destroy Mai's father easily enough, but it wouldn't do me a lot of good because a new leader will just take his place—maybe someone who is even effective which would be bad news for you. Mai should have understood that before she sent the guards after her father," she added almost reproachfully. "If I had known she was going to do that then I would have said something to her." Azula paused, smiling too widely, too stiffly. "I suppose she would say I miscalculated."

"You're pretending to be on their side," Zuko said.

"Of course, I am." Azula yawned languidly. "You know how I feel about traitors. Before I knew that Mai could somehow drag herself away from you my full intention was to go and tell you how to lay the perfect little trap for them and then they would be done for and we could all get on with our lives. But of course, Mai had other ideas. Honestly, sending the guards after her father instead of waiting. You'd think she hadn't learned anything after all our time together."

"She thought she was doing the right thing. He was alone, vulnerable. She just hadn't realized he would take her leaving so seriously," Zuko said. "What's going to happen now?"

Azula shrugged. "How would I know? It's not as if I'm their leader, though I've made considerable effort to take authority away from Mai's father. But they don't trust me." She turned away, angry. She remembered when she had made her enemies trust her, like the Dai Li who were sworn to protect Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation, from her. She had lost her touch, just like she had lost her bending. Nothing had changed—except something must have, because she was standing here in this room, trying to save her brother.

"Why?" Zuko asked. "Isn't that why they approached you?"

Azula laughed. "Zuzu. Please. They approached me because they wanted to use me as their little prop to validate their position. They're not traitors if they have the royal family on their side, especially since you've always been the least regarded of us all, since you were the one who betrayed us first when you left us behind joined the Avatar. Sorry if that hurts." Her laughter died, and she frowned as she stared at the candle flame that Zuko had lit. "It doesn't help that I haven't been the little pyro they were hoping to unleash."

"What do you mean?"

Azula's mouth twitched against her teeth as she tried to smile. "I thought it would be obvious, brother, but I haven't restored my bending. They want cold blue fire and I haven't given it to them. They're starting to suspect that I'm just as helpless as I was before, but I was hoping they'd all be rotting in a jail cell by the time they did." She scowled.

"Oh," Zuko said.

The way the light hit his face, it was almost as if he was disappointed or something. "As if I care, of course," Azula said. "Who needs firebending these days? I do just fine without it, as I always do. Firebending didn't define me, Zuko."

"Azula—"

She held out her hand. "Don't even think about saying you're sorry for me or anything so terribly pitiful as that because we both know that's a lie. You're relieved that I'm still broken. But that's fine because we have far more important things to discuss."

"Azula," Zuko said, "Mai told me something else about what you said. Something about—Mom. Did that really happen—or is it just a story you told?"

Of course he would get around to that eventually. "Yes, it's probably perfectly true. And I'll even tell you where I found her after we've taken care of this problem. There were letters and everything." Her mouth grew dry and she licked her lips. She had them with her, of course, but Zuko could not be distracted. Not now, not when he needed to take care of the Society. He should have done it a long time ago.

He looked at her as if she had struck him. "You don't even sound sad. How can you talk about her like that?"

"It's not as if we were particularly close. Besides we always knew she was probably dead. Now we know for sure." How could she tell him she had seen her mother constantly, how could she tell him that she had had to bury her, again? How could she tell him any of these things? How could he know that she had cried?

"How do you know it was our father?" Zuko said, his eyes downcast as he sat down on the bed.

Azula made an impatient noise. "We can't talk about this now. We need to talk about a plan to deal with these traitors before they cause real damage. They have General Chang on their side you know. He's giving them his best lychee nuts."

Zuko shook his head. "I'm tired of thinking about them, and I don't care about General Chang. I've been in the dark about Mom for years, and you know the answers, and you won't tell me anything. It's not fair, Azula!"

"Because if I do, that's all you'll think about and you'll be an easy target! You need to focus!"

"That's not true!" Zuko insisted.

Azula glared at him before finally walking towards him, until she stood so close, her shadow slanted across his face, across his hands. "I don't know for sure. If he were still around, I'm sure we could just ask him but he's in the Earth Kingdom by now. Maybe you can ask him after all this is over. I'm sure he'll tell you I'm right. He and I? We think the same." She tapped her head. "When I saw how she had died, I knew." She put her hand over her heart. "I knew, Zuko, because I saw and I realized that if I had been in his position, I would have done it too, and then I felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner."

"Don't say that," Zuko said.

Azula shrugged. "It's the truth. Can we talk about something more important, now? Perhaps the fact that you're still a target for assassination and that anything could happen because everything is ruined? Especially since it's not like I can stay here all night. It's not as if they won't suspect me if I'm not back soon or anything like that." She looked over her shoulder at the open window. She felt the urgency of her position, the need to leave right now or at least as soon as possible—but she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay, even though speaking to Zuko was turning into an exercise of frustration. Still, she forced herself to speak. "I've already been gone too long. It doesn't take this long to bribe even the most loyal guards, which is what I told him I was doing."

Zuko swore at her, but she didn't let that stop her.

"Don't worry," Azula said. "It's not like I actually had money to bribe them—but he doesn't need to know that. I'm sure he thinks we have wealth just sitting around, ripe for the taking. But when I return, I am going to push extremely hard for them to keep trying for the celebration, so you had better make sure your guards and the Kyoshi Warriors are not going to be incompetent. I know the palace best, so I will be the one making the exit and the entry plans for the Ozai Society."

She went to his writing desk, and dipped his brush in the ink, sketching a rough design of the palace and the surrounding grounds. He went to her, and stood close beside her as he watched her work. "I'm going to bring them in through what used to be the servant quarters. This will allow them to come here unseen." She gestured towards the inner rooms of the Palace. "The initial plan was to attack during the middle of the celebration, but I'm going to convince them to make their move before it even officially starts. That way they arrive triumphant before everyone, and I'll tell them I'll take the Firelord title until we can negotiate for my father's release. They'll be anxious to agree—these are men who have not fought wars before, and they'll prefer to crown a true ruler right there instead of causing a panic and riot. Nobody wants to ruin a good party." She looked up at Zuko then, as if she expected him to agree with her. But that was stupid—she could see it now, how he held himself a little distantly from her, that a coldness had seeped into his gaze. She forced herself to laugh. "I have to convince them, Zuko. It's not like any of this is going to happen, because your friends are going to prevent it. Why else do you think I'm telling you all this?"

Zuko nodded then. "It's a very convincing plan." His voice was quiet, soft. "It would have worked."

"It will work best for both of us," Azula said. "It would be better to do away with these traitors without a lot of noise and fuss. Now, no one will need to know that anything has happened until you decide to tell them. We have control of the story if no one knows what's happening, if it's all happening out of sight. And we won't have to worry about losing any of them in a mob."

"Also, it would keep the people safer if they weren't terrified out of their minds by an assassination attempt," Zuko said mildly.

Azula rolled her eyes. "That too." She pointed to a part of the palace that was very close to them. "This hallway makes a perfect bottleneck. I'll make sure the Society is stationed here and here. It's the perfect place for a trap—for you and for us. It'll look like you're helpless, but you won't be. You'll be ready, and then there'll be no where to go but right into the Kyoshi Warriors stationed at the checkpoints. They'll be ours!" She clenched her free hand into a fist, as she slammed it against the table.

"I don't see how a small team sent to assassinate me before I have a chance to properly wake up will compromise all of them," Zuko said. "Where will the rest of their little gang be?"

Azula turned to her map again, tapping her own empty quarters. "I'll tell the other high ranking officials to wait for me and Mai's father here. Send guards and you'll find them all. Some of these people will have small companies of men. Nothing like an army of course but enough, perhaps, to take frightened, surprised people. I'll order them to be stationed some miles from the palace so they can be sent to occupy the palace just in case something goes wrong." By the time they realized the trap was for them and not for Zuko, it would be too late.

Zuko almost smiled. "I know the perfect spot. Just send them, and I'll make sure the rest are taken care of."

She turned away from the writing desk and sat on Zuko's bed. "It would be easier if we could actually communicate with each other. This plan will only work if they'll listen to me, and there's no guarantee that they will. They're watching your hawk communications, you know. At least, I hope you know that. I sent you a letter and everything but they got to it before you did."

"You sent me a letter?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, telling you that I was leaving the South Pole and that if you wanted to stop me you would need to send Aang with his flying bison so I wouldn't have to walk the whole way back. I told you the route I was going to take, and you never came." Her voice faltered, and she stopped suddenly as she realized she almost sounded sad. "Not that I cared, of course, especially after I found out why."

"I'm sorry," Zuko said. "I would have come. I know how hard it is to walk the whole way."

Part of that was her fault too, so she turned her eyes away, staring at the map she had made. Trying to think of every argument she could use to convince the Society to do what she wanted. She needed to leave, she needed to go, she had stayed here too long—but she only stared at the soft wavering light from the candle Zuko had lit.

"It's a good plan," he said.

She scoffed. "Well, I'm going to be in the middle of it so if you could kindly inform Mai not to stick me with one of her knives I'd be grateful."

Zuko's mouth twitched as if he wanted to laugh.

"It's not funny, Zuzu."

"It is a little funny," he said, finally giving her one of his spare grins.

She just shook her head and stood to her feet. She couldn't delay any longer. As she went towards the window, she said, "It's going to take one other thing for this to work, Zuko. I'm going to ask you to do something you haven't done in your whole life—which is to trust me."

Zuko nodded. "I've trusted you before—and I think I can trust you again."

Azula turned around to look at him. The light was so poor that Azula couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "Well, that's a relief. But I really must be going. I'm already going to have to come up with a good story as to where I've been for all this time. Not that I'll have any trouble—I can be very convincing when I want to be. See you at the celebration."

She turned to go, but his hand caught her wrist. "Be careful, Azula. I just got you back, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

She looked down at his grip. "You needn't concern yourself, Zuko. I promise you'll find out what happened to Mom. I'll even be around to tell you where to find her when this is all over, I promise. If my word means anything to you these days."

"What are you doing?" Zuko, still holding her hand. He sounded upset, and it made her skin go cold. "Why are you always trying to push me away?"

"Do you really think that a year away could change anything between us? I am who I am, and I don't know what you want me to say." She spoke quickly, recognizing the pressure building in her throat and sinuses. If she stayed, she would tell him everything, and she could not do that. Not when it was still so fresh, so raw, when she understood so little of it herself.

"I remember when we used to be close," Zuko said, quietly. "I remember even though there was a time I tried to forget because it hurt so much to see what we had become." He raised his eyes to her, his grip still loose and she wondered why she did not pull her hand away. "Why do you think I didn't call the guards when I saw you sitting alone in the dark?"

"Because you have a terrible sense of self preservation," Azula said, and then she flinched when she remembered how he had rushed headlong into the lightning bolt meant for Katara, the flash of cold fire she had shot from her hands when she had cheated so shamefully. She pulled her hand from his quickly. "It's why you need so many people to look out for you, dum-dum." She eyed him, causally, and saw that his good eye was crying. She turned away at the sight of it. "I need to go."

Zuko did not reply for a few moments. He wiped his eye with his wrist, and cleared his throat. "And how are you going to get down? I hardly think waltzing through the front doors of the palace will do you any favors with Mai's father in case he's got a spy."

Azula wanted to ask him why he didn't know whether he had a spy or not but decided not to. It wouldn't matter for much longer anyway. "You don't happen to have some rope?" she asked instead, not fancying attempting to climb down the tower in the dead of night.

Zuko shook his head, but then he went to his bed, stripping the fine sheets. "I guess we'll make do. Sokka probably has some, but he's all the way on the other side of the palace. And I really don't think he'd want to let you use his rope."

They knotted the sheets in silence until Zuko finally asked, "Why are you wearing a headband?"

Azula rolled her eyes and scowled. "The spirit world left its mark on me. I think the spirits were trying to be funny, but it's really just stupid and silly." She shoved the strip of cloth over the crown of her head, and let Zuko take a look.

"It's just like a combustion benders eye," he said.

Azula settled the cloth over it and shrugged. "Except it doesn't do anything. It would be fine if it actually did something but now it just makes me look like a freak."

"Maybe you just don't know what it does, yet," Zuko said. "Maybe you just need to give it time."

"I've given it plenty of time," Azula said, sourly, as she tightened the last knot. Carrying the twisted sheets in her arms, she threw them out the window and watched them coil as they fell, until gravity made it hang straight from her hand. She gave the end of the rope of sheets to Zuko, who twisted it around his hand, and braced his foot against the sill. Azula climbed over the ledge, hand gripping the cloth. "Don't drop me." Without waiting for him to reply, she began to climb quickly down.

There was not enough sheet to reach the ground, so she dropped the rest of the way, folding her body tightly in on itself. She stood to her feet, brushing dirt and bits of grass from her knees, and looked up towards the glowing patch of light that came from Zuko's room. She could see the silhouette of his head as he looked down at her.

And then she left, scampering through the gardens and over the high walls, and running through the street towards where Mai's father would be waiting with his friends and leaders and the rest of the New Ozai Society.

When she was a block away, she slowed to a walk so that she could catch her breath, and wouldn't appear to be someone who had been in a rush, someone who had been nervous about being gone so long. She undid the headband around her head, ran her fingers through her hair, and then secured the cloth more securely over her eye.

She went into the house. It was small, a property owned by one of Mai's father's friends. Normally it would be rented to someone but it had been empty, and it was a good place to hide since Mai had ruined using her own house as their headquarters.

A shame, because Mai's house was far more comfortable than this.

The leaders of the New Ozai Society were crowded around a lamp as they spoke in hushed tones. Azula lingered just out of sight, eavesdropping. They were not happy with Mai's father. They thought the plan was too risky and that they should wait. They thought he should have known that Mai would betray them—she was dating the Firelord they were attempting to depose after all.

Azula rolled her eyes. They were plagued with fear. They wanted to be brave and strong, but they didn't know how to do it. They were fractured without true purpose. They didn't really want Ozai back, even if they thought they did. They just didn't want Zuko on the throne.

Which, honestly, was stupid.

Bored of hearing more, she pushed her way through the entry and said, "Are any of us really surprised? Mai has always loved Zuko more than anything in the world. More than her fear of me, more than her respect for you." She glared at Mai's father. "I should have expected that you would allow her to foil our plans."

"We'll make a new plan," he said, his hands gripping the table, as if he wished he could do something mean, something violent.

"Should we lock you up in jail while we wait for you to come up with a new plan?" Azula said sweetly. "No, I think my father has been imprisoned long enough. He will be freed sooner than that, I think!"

"And how is that going to happen?" someone asked.

She turned towards him, her smile wide and curving. "By going through with a version of the old plan that's not quite so grand, not quite so public. But a great victory doesn't need to be public. They'll either be expecting us to attack during the festivities or not at all. If we wait to think of a brand new plan, that will give them time to gather their resources to hunt us down. They won't be distracted by preparing for the celebration. So instead of attacking during it, we're going to attack before it even starts. They won't be expecting us because they think they've foiled our little scheme, and they'll be preoccupied with the preparations."

She described the same plan she had told Zuko just a little while ago. They nodded their heads. Relief seeped into their eyes as they realized that this would be a secret covert mission. That they wouldn't have to be involved personally, especially when she said, "I will, of course, handle Zuko. But I'll need Mai's father with me so that the act is seen for what it is, instead of for what it might be. It's well known that Zuko and I are enemies. We cannot let this become another incident of sibling rivalry for the throne, but rather an attempt at reinstating the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation."

Azula climbed onto the table so that she stared down at them. "I am Princess Azula, daughter of Ozai and Ursa, princess of the Fire Nation! I declare that my brother's rule is at an end, and a new age will begin! The celebration of the end of the 100 Years War and Zuko's coronation is coming. We'll be ready! We'll take back what was my father's, and what should have been yours!"

She raised her fist in the air, and they followed her, cheering.

Only Mai's father remained silent. Only Mai's father looked at her as if he was beginning to see through her, and Azula willed herself to firebend, for the flare of blue fire to come from her fist.

But there was nothing but the flickering lamplight and the treachery of the New Ozai Society surrounding her.