PAST

Everything was going Azula's way. She'd had her big spa trip just yesterday, so her skin was moisturized, her nails perfectly manicured, and her muscles limber from massage. The war meeting today, and her idea, had been a resounding success (although it had been a little awkward going back to talking about the boring old earthbender rebels after all that excitement). Zuzu had been pretty quiet during the meeting, so the spotlight had been on her, exactly as it should be. Now, it was the night before the eclipse, and she and Father were peering down at a scale model of the bunker, going over the plan one more time.

"So I will be in the large central room," Azula was saying, tapping the corresponding room of the model with a pointer. "And you and your guards will be in this room, way over to the left. Then there's Naoko to your right; one hopes that she knows there's no bar in the bunker. Shiza's across the hall from her, and then my half-siblings will take up most of the back wall. Finally, Zuzu's room is on the far right."

She fell silent. That was the only area of uncertainty in Azula's otherwise perfect life: what exactly her brother was up to. Since they'd gotten back from Ember Island, Zuko had been spending much of his time skulking around the Catacombs, asking Azula weird questions, and passing entire days at Mai's house. (But never the nights; no, his honor wouldn't allow him to impugn Mai's virtue like that, although the usually dour girl was in a good enough mood that Azula thought it likely that they were doing something.)

Father was speaking now, though, so Azula turned her attention back on him and away from the fascinating question of whether or not Zuzu had a chronic case of blue balls.

"And you know what you're going to say?" he asked. Azula nodded.

"Every word," she assured him.

"Excellent," he replied. "You and your brother are both doing very well." Azula had to force herself not to pout. This was her time; why did he insist on dragging Zuko into it? However, her disappointment was all but forgotten with Father's next words.

"Believe it or not, I may remarry soon," he said as his hand "accidentally" brushed against hers. That was her cue.

"Dare I wonder who the lucky lady might be?" Azula inquired in a sing-song tone. She slowly slid her mantle off her shoulders, letting it land in a pile on the floor. Daddy tsked at her.

"Don't be greedy, now," he admonished. "That would ruin the surprise." Apparently getting impatient with her teasing, he made a fire dagger and slashed through the rest of her outer clothing. That was the third outfit this month which he had destroyed in this manner. Oh well. She could always order more.

"Aww. Not even a tiny hint?" she cajoled. Daddy's only response was to silently gesture towards the bed, brow creased with the beginnings of annoyance, and Azula knew better than to delay his gratification any further. She freed her feet from the bundle of singed fabric, took off her undergarments and boots, and walked backward until her calves hit the bed. Briefly, she considered showing off her recent practice in acrobatics by doing a handspring onto the mattress, but Daddy pushed her backwards before that plan could come to fruition. Instead of lying on her back as she usually did, she flipped over on her stomach and knelt with her face in the mattress, presenting herself to him.

"You want it from behind tonight, hm?" Daddy asked as he mounted her. Azula gave a murmur of assent.

"I wanted to try something different," she explained. He seemed to have no problems with that, and Azula hoped that he wouldn't catch on that the real reason she wanted to do this was so that he couldn't see that she wasn't giving him her full attention. As he started to move inside her, Azula made noises where appropriate, but her mind continued to plot and plan.

He had to be considering marrying her. Otherwise, why would he mention it like that? She'd been wondering when he'd get around to it, and was more than ready to be his Fire Lady. That way, there would be no more of this sneaking around, and she could finally bear his children like all his other ladies did. Once she gave him more legitimate heirs, Zhilan and Zoren and Eri and the rest would be superfluous. She smiled into the bedding as she pictured the look of impotent fury that would be on Naoko's face as she was forced to watch Azula standing with Father in front of the Fire Sage.

Of course, this meant that she would have to be even more careful not to mess things up tomorrow.

PRESENT

She hadn't messed up. Or at least, she thought she hadn't. She had very briefly considered chasing the sky bison further, but quickly determined that this would almost certainly be a waste of resources. The bison was more maneuverable than her craft, and also had a tailwind. The important thing was, she'd followed them long enough to see that they were heading due north. Coincidentally, the Boiling Rock lay in that direction, and this was certainly where Father would put any prisoners of war. Azula wasn't sure whether or not the Avatar and his friends actually knew this, though.

When the airship returned to the launchpad, Azula ran down the boarding ramp and straight to the palanquin that awaited her. A grin of triumph nearly split her face in two as she pondered what accolades may be awaiting her back home. Would Father be waiting outside the main entrance to give her a hero's welcome? Or would he prefer a reception in the throne room? Surely, there would be a banquet; if not tonight, then within the next few days.

She was sorely disappointed when she saw what was actually waiting for her at the palace: utter chaos. From her palanquin, she had mistaken the shouts coming from the area as ones of celebration. It was only when she disembarked that she saw people running all over the place like panicked komodo chickens. All the excitement within her deflated instantly. She stood in the front hall for several minutes, waiting for someone to notice her, but none of them did. Not even any of the bastards looked at her as they filed in; the younger ones stared blankly into space while the older ones were trying to comfort Anshi. Her oldest half-sibling had collapsed as soon as they got into the front hall, clinging onto a pillar while weeping silently.

It took so long for anyone to react to Azula's presence that she started to wonder if she had, in fact, died in the battle against the Avatar's group and simply hadn't realized it. But then, finally, War Minister Qin ran up to her.

"My Princess!" he said, making a kowtow at her feet. "This miserable worm of a servant has failed you. Please accept this servant's apologies for his utter incompetence. This servant will gratefully accept any punishment."

He was using the old humble dialect; this had been commonplace during Sozin's rule, but these days was only utilized in times of utmost catastrophe. Honestly, Azula had little patience for it, because she just wanted people to get to the point. She would give them plenty of time to beg for their lives afterward.

"What incompetence?" Azula asked him, making sure that her voice had as deadly an edge as any sword. She felt the need to clarify with, "Aside from your usual?"

War Minister Qin rose up onto his knees.

"P…Prince Zuko turned traitor and escaped," he all but whispered. "The Fire Lord heroically tried to apprehend him, but was injured in the process."

A stab of shock ran through Azula's chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"What sort of injury?" she inquired. If he'd been mortally wounded, or even simply incapacitated for a long time, the burden of ruling would go to her. She felt relieved when Qin hurriedly assured her it was nothing life-threatening, but now she could focus fully on the first part of the sentence.

She should have known; should have warned Father! She was fully aware of how weird Zuko had been acting, and now he'd gotten away right under their noses. She'd gotten him set up with Mai, lied for him so Father would welcome him home, and this was how he repaid her?! As far as she was concerned, Zuko was no longer her brother.

It took much interrogation, but she ultimately dragged the whole story out of Qin. How for some unfathomable reason, no one had thought to escort Zuko to the bunker, or had taken the time to confirm that he'd made it to his room there. How for the entire time Azula had been holding off the Avatar, Zuko had been in Father's room insulting him. When it came to exactly what Zuko had said, or the precise mechanism of Father's injury, there were no satisfactory answers at the moment.

"Send reinforcements to the prison," she ordered. "Doubtlessly, he will want to rescue our good-for-nothing uncle."

"We already have," Qin confirmed. "Zuko was seen at the prison, but Prince Iroh escaped on his own before he even got there."

Azula ground her teeth together. "Do you have any leads on where either of them went after that?"

"None, Princess. Except that there is a war balloon missing from our arsenal." Well, that didn't narrow it down much. Those war balloons had been designed to be able to travel long distances before needing to be refueled. Those two traitors could be anywhere…and that was assuming they were together. If they weren't, the logistics of tracking them both down could prove nightmarish.

However, she soon realized it was futile to chase after them today. It would be dark soon, and the guards were exhausted from pursuing the fugitives all afternoon. What was more, it would be prudent to wait until Father had recovered enough for her to consult with him.

Qin was still waiting for her reply, so she said, "Very well. We shall formulate a plan to locate these traitors first thing tomorrow morning. At the moment, however, I must refresh myself and then pay a visit to the Fire Lord. Have you any idea of the whereabouts of my maid Shiza?"

Qin squirmed.

"Um, yes. About that…" he said.

WHAT?!

Later, she sat fuming in her bath, which she'd drawn herself with the tap at the hottest setting and then heated even further, to the point of being borderline intolerable even for a firebender. As she had listened to what the war minister had to say, her rage rose to ever higher levels. Qin had also brought in a gatehouse guard who had had a run-in with Shiza. Hobbling on a bandaged leg, the guard had explained that he'd not had the backup he was supposed to have, and that Shiza had pulled a knife on him out of nowhere. It transpired that the other guard had been ill, but had never bothered to send notification so he could be replaced. Azula had ordered that the sick guard be thrown into prison. The injured guard had gotten off more lightly, only losing his job.

After that, the trail went cold, since everyone had been preoccupied with their failed attempts at tracking Zuko down. Azula would investigate this tomorrow as well, although she had to admit to herself that a kept woman and her two bastard children were a lower priority than Zuko and Iroh. She had to put treason against the crown over her own personal hurt feelings. However, that didn't do anything to assuage her renewed anger when she'd reached her bedroom and found that her makeup knife was missing.

So Shiza had not only left her, but had stolen from her as well. Another person had taken her favor and thrown it back in her face. Had that woman even realized that she would have never have risen as far as she did without Azula's tacit support? The position of favored body servant to a princess was one of great prestige, and one that Azula had deliberately not granted to Naoko. She had made scathing comments about the Keohso bitch to Father as often as she could get away with it, yet almost never made any such remarks about Shiza.

In the end, it had all led to nothing. She wished that Mai and Ty Lee were with her right now, particularly the latter. They would never abandon her. To make sure of that, she would have to tighten her grip on them. She no longer had the luxury of overlooking problematic behavior, no matter how minor. There would be no more favors.

She sulked in the tub until her skin grew wrinkly and she got tired of having to constantly reheat the water. A maid much less skilled than Shiza was there to wrap her in a robe and comb out her hair. While Azula sat at her table, resolutely not wincing as this imbecile attempted to work through the knots, a messenger came to deliver the news she'd been waiting for: Father had woken.

She had the servant redress her (the armor wasn't fastened quite as snugly as she preferred, but that couldn't be helped right now), and set off for her father's rooms. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited her in front of the grand double doors to the antechamber. In addition to the usual guards, an all-too familiar third person was sitting there.

"Princess Azula. Took you long enough," Naoko said as she staggered to her feet. She did not bow. Her lipstick was smeared, but whether that was due to her wrapping her lips around a bottle or around…something else, Azula couldn't be certain.

"Go be drunk somewhere else," she snapped. "I need to talk with my father." Naoko let out a shriek of elation that Azula was halfway convinced had ruptured her eardrums.

"The Fire Lord has no time for lying little girls, honey," the taller woman replied.

"Remember your place," Azula growled. Lying? What could she mean by…

Zuko had told Father about the Avatar.

It appeared that she was in deep trouble. Naoko smirked as she watched Azula put the pieces together.

"Oh, I remember my place," she went on, her words so slurred that it was difficult to understand them at times. "My place is by the Fire Lord's side, since I didn't lie to him. He specifically ordered the guards not to let you in. You can go ahead and try if you don't believe me, but I…"–she covered her mouth with her hand as she belched–"…guarantee you it won't work."

All right, this was getting ridiculous. Squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high, Azula strode to the doors and briskly rapped on one.

"Father? It is me," she announced. "I am here to inquire after your health."

No answer. Perhaps he had fallen asleep again and couldn't hear her.

"Father?" she tried again, knocking as loudly as she could. Still nothing. "Father, allow me to explain!" She tested the doorknob, and found it to be locked.

Up until now, the guards had kept their silence, probably because they hadn't wanted to cross her. But finally, one of them spoke.

"Um, Princess, the Lady Naoko is correct," one of them said. "The Fire Lord expressly stated that he was not to be disturbed." He tactfully left off the obvious last two words: by you.

Azula was perfectly capable of taking both guards on at once; she was certain of that. And she knew how to pick a lock from her days of sneaking various disgusting creatures into Zuzu's room when they were children. But this wasn't poor, hapless Zuko. If she defied Father's orders, the thought of what he might do to her was not something she wanted to consider. So she silently turned and walked away, Naoko's triumphant laughter ringing in her ears.

Despite the uncertainty of what her future might hold, the ghost of a smile crossed Azula's face. Naoko thought she'd won the struggle for Father's attention permanently. That bitch had always seen herself as so clever, plotting everything out with her own father, but she lacked one important thing: common sense. As usual, she refused to acknowledge what was right in front of her eyes. Father had not given her the room next to his in the bunker because he loved her; it was simply a matter of insurance. No matter how carefully they planned, they would have no way of knowing the enemy's exact strategy. Thus, Father had planted decoys at every possible entrance to serve as meat shields if need be. It certainly would have been unfortunate if any of them were to die, particularly the bastards. Father had invested much time and money into their training, so them all perishing would have been a massive waste of resources. But when it came down to their lives versus Father's, the choice was clear. Anshi was smarter, and she had seen what Naoko could not. She'd known all along that she was potentially leading children to their death.

But Azula was the one who mattered; the one who had been given the active role in thwarting the Avatar. And she knew that Father knew that. His current favoring of Naoko was not meant to be a reward for the older woman, but rather a punishment for Azula. She would be patient, and would wait a week or a month or even a year; however long it took for Father to get tired of Naoko again. Naoko could be pretty and witty and sharp-tongued all she wanted, but no one out-Azula'ed Azula. What was more, Azula was the one who had time on her side. Naoko would be turning twenty-one soon–practically ancient by Father's standards–and her heavy drinking wasn't going to help her get any younger. Already, the effects were beginning to take their toll on her skin, no matter how clever she thought she was at hiding it.

And regardless of whether Daddy had taken her back to bed yet, Father would need her help during Sozin's Comet. Azula had been the one who came up with the idea and would see to the logistics, after all. He'd return to her eventually, and she'd welcome him with open arms when he did. The whole world was theirs for the taking.