Long Feng listened to the reports given to him by his followers. Two more nobles secretly pledging their loyalty to him.
Long Feng knew many things from his time in the Dai Li. Many secrets. Secrets that nobles would do anything to avoid spilling out.
Just hinting that they knew those secrets made for oh-so-easy blackmail.
The difficult part was getting the message out. They had to be careful not to attract the attention of the new Dai Li, whose presence was much more common in the Upper Ring than in the Lower Ring. Long Feng could only send two or three agents at a time, and they had to be careful not to arouse suspicion. They had to choose their targets strategically, hitting the nobles with the most skeletons in their closets first, making sure not to go to too many houses in a single visit. Progress was slow, but Long Feng knew not to rush. Neutral jing would win the day.
Long Feng took note that there was one apartment complex that had a much higher concentration of new Dai Li than any other in the Upper Ring. It wasn't a major target, since most nobles had large houses of their own, with vast courtyards, rather than living in an apartment building, but it was curious. There seemed to be a major concentration of new Dai Li around a certain tea shop as well. Long Feng wondered what was going on there. Were they fronts for something? He might have to send someone to check it out.
He wanted every bit of ammunition he could get his hands on to take down the king.
0-0-0
Iroh noticed Azula's mood improved significantly after receiving Ursa's care package. Part of it may have been the food. Azula used to put generic Fire Nation spices from the noodle packets over all her food, but now she could season her food properly with specific spices and herbs. Iroh himself felt happy to finally be able to cook some of his favorite foods again.
Iroh knew another part of it was Hotman Waddles. Azula never said anything about the toy, and Iroh never gave any indication that he knew about it, but Iroh knew Hotman Waddles was helping. The difference was in the lack of noise from Azula's room at night. Iroh didn't have to see her hugging the turtleduck to know that she was sleeping more soundly, and having nightmares less often. Not that her nightmares were completely gone, but they happened less.
He will admit, he was a little alarmed at first when he glanced up from the apartment courtyard into Azula's window one day and could clearly see a ginormous Fire Nation National Flag pinned to the wall. Did Ursa send one of the official Palace Flags? It was huge!
He calmed down quickly, however, reminding himself that the war was over and that being a Firebender in the Earth Kingdom was no longer a crime. Openly flying a Fire Nation flag was no longer a cause for suspicion.
Iroh was so happy that things were looking up for his niece. The past few days had been very pleasant, indeed.
So of course, it would all come crashing down at some point. After all, no one was more adept at knocking things over more than Toph Beifong.
0-0-0
Toph was a simple girl. She liked earthbending. She liked yelling. She liked getting a rise out of others. And she liked Uncle Iroh's tea.
Did it matter that she was in no way related to Uncle Iroh? No, no it did not. He was simply Uncle to everyone.
And the Jasmine Dragon was the best place to relax in Ba Sing Se. If she was going to have to be here on business for the Earthen Fire Refinery, she might as well spend some time in the one place that wasn't lousy with Dai Li.
The thing was, Toph could sense a number of Dai Li around the Jasmine Dragon. She knew because she could sense their stone boots and gloves. They were clustered around, seemingly watching the joint. What was going on?
Cautiously, she stepped into the tea shop. She felt footsteps approaching her that seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. And then a very familiar, drawling voice spoke.
"Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, how may I help… Oh, sh—"
Toph grinned. She didn't know what Azula was doing here, or whether Zuko was even aware of this, but seeing that nothing was on fire and the heartbeat of everyone around her was calm, she felt that the people in charge of Azula had everything under control.
Which meant that Toph could have some fun.
0-0-0
Azula didn't know what the blind earthbending child was doing at the tea shop, but she didn't like the look of that manic grin on her face.
"Well, well, well," said Toph. "We meet again, Hotcakes."
Azula's left eye twitched. Hotcakes?
"I must admit, it's kinda weird seeing you here… pun not intended. Last I heard, you decided to try your hand at kidnapping."
Azula grabbed the Beifong girl's arm. "Keep quiet! Other people are around!" Fortunately, the background chatter seemed to drown out the Beifong girl's words.
"Oh, sorry, wouldn't want to get ya in trouble," said the Beifong girl sarcastically.
Azula narrowed her eyes.
Suki approached them from behind Azula and called out to the Beifong girl. "Toph! It's so good to see you!"
Azula realized that she hadn't known the Beifong girl—Toph's—name. In fact, she didn't think she knew the names of anyone in the group that brought down the Fire Nation except Zuko. They were simply the Avatar, the Waterbender, the Water Peasant, the Blind Girl (sometimes the Beifong Girl), and eventually the Kyoshi Warrior. Their names weren't important.
"I would say it's great to see you, but… ya know…" Toph waved her hand in front of her face.
"Come on, I'm sitting back here," said Suki, casually taking Toph's hand and guiding her to the back of the dining area near the counter. Azula followed along. She knew that since she was the one who greeted Toph, she was the one who would be stuck serving her.
Of course Azula just had to walk up to Toph while looking at something in her notepad. If she knew who had entered, she would have stayed far away.
Toph and Suki settled down at their table, and Azula stood beside them. Toph still wore that manic grin. "So, what's Hotcakes doing here?"
What is with this child and dumb nicknames? wondered Azula.
"Iroh's idea. He wanted to help her rehabilitate. Zuko agreed, and when they caught Azula, they shipped her over here, with me and two other Kyoshi Warriors as guards."
Toph chuckled. Turning her head ever so slightly in Azula's direction, she asked, "How's the new job treating you?" She didn't look at Azula, keeping her milky gaze aimed down towards the floor.
Azula pursed her lips. "Just. Peachy."
"I wonder who's better at making tea, you or Zuko? Of course, Uncle's is the best, but I wonder who's better between you two?"
Azula felt a twinge of possessiveness. He's MY Uncle!
"What. Would you like. To order?" Azula grumbled.
"Just tell Uncle that Toph's here. He knows what I like."
Azula gripped her notepad so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She turned from the table with military precision, and went to find Iroh.
"He's not your Uncle," she grumbled.
0-0-0
As Azula stalked away, grumbling something about uncles, Suki smiled at Toph, who was obviously a kindred spirit in the "Annoy Azula Game."
"Just so you know," Suki said in a low voice, "she's Mianju now."
"Huh?"
"Her name. She goes by Mianju. Can you imagine Ba Sing Se nobles getting served tea by the Conqueror of Ba Sing Se?"
Toph snorted. "I'd love to see that happen."
"Just letting you know. We don't want to cause a scene," said Suki. "Besides the Kyoshi Warriors, the Dai Li are also watching her."
"Yeah, I noticed."
Suki blinked. She often forgot about Toph's seismic sense, which was often more useful than actual sight.
"So, has she actually been improving? Not kidnapping any babies or trying to kill the Avatar?"
Suki chuckled. She still had no idea what the end goal of the whole Kemurikage thing was supposed to be. "I mean, she's been serving tea and stuff, so she doesn't really have time to pursue any evil plans… but, she's still…"
Suki was about to say, "pretty awful," but an image flashed in her mind of Azula reading that trashy romance novel on the couch. Of Azula unconsciously following the sun's warm spot as the day went on. Of Azula's door, shut tight, but still not enough to lock in the sound of her crying.
"You okay, Fans?" asked Toph. "It feels like you zoned out for a second."
Suki shook her head. "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess she's… kinda… mellowed out. Just a bit. She's still Azula. But on her off days she mostly reads this trashy romance novel."
Toph's unseeing eyes widened. "Tell. Me. Everything."
Suki grinned. "Okay, it's this book called Secret Tunnel of Love. I've tried to read it, but I only got halfway through since it was so bad! Azula, though, she's almost finished the book!"
"Wow, bad how?"
"The dialogue is so over the top and cringey. Like, no one actually talks like that. And there's so much description of the guy's abs. It seems like every other scene he's shirtless for no reason."
Toph started laughing.
"Seriously!" said Suki. "Sometimes, he would begin the scene wearing a shirt, and end the scene not wearing one, but nowhere in the scene did he take off his shirt! It just, magically disappears for some reason!"
Toph smacked the table, she was laughing so hard. Some of the other customers looked over at them, but neither Suki nor Toph paid them any mind.
"I tried to finish it, I really did, but I just couldn't take it the sheer ridiculousness of it all. So, I put it down, and never picked it back up."
Toph wiped a tear from her eye. "And Hotcakes has just been eating this stuff up?"
Suki nodded. "Yep."
"Hoooo, boy. That was good. I needed a laugh." Toph wiped another tear from her eye as Iroh and Azula made their way over, Azula carrying a tray of tea.
"Miss Beifong! How wonderful it is to see you!" said Iroh.
"Uncle!" Toph sprang up from her seat and wrapped her arms around him. Suki noticed that Toph was now slightly taller than Iroh, and almost the same height as Azula. Azula placed the tray down on the table with a clink.
Toph sat back down, feeling around the table tentatively for the tea. Suki discreetly pushed the teacup towards Toph's fingers. Toph took the cup and drank a sip of tea.
"Perfect as always," she smiled.
Azula stomped off somewhere as Iroh pulled up a seat. Sometimes, Iroh would chat with customers he knew well, and he was always happy to engage Toph in conversation.
Suki saw Azula wander into the staff's break room. She wondered if she should follow after to make sure everything was alright. Azula had been a little more pleasant recently, but she was clearly not happy to see Toph.
Out of the corner of her eye, Suki saw Jin also start to head towards the break room. That was good. It had surprised Suki, but Jin seemed especially adept at handling Azula.
0-0-0
Azula flopped down on one of the couches in the break room and rubbed her temples.
Control yourself, she thought. Control yourself.
Sure, Uncle seemed to be more excited to see some dirt-eating child than his own niece, but what else was new? No one wanted Azula.
Azula heard the door open and saw Jin come in out of the corner of her eye. Jin looked around the break room, before approaching Azula.
"Azula?" she whispered. "Are you alright?"
Azula sniffed and turned her head away from Jin. "I'm perfectly fine. Why do you care?"
"I just wanted to make sure. You seemed pretty angry out there."
"Tell me something I don't know."
Jin sat down next to Azula. Azula glared at her.
"You know, if you need to talk about anything, I'm here."
Azula scoffed.
"Why would I ever want to talk to you?"
Jin looked at Azula with sad eyes. "It's not healthy to keep things bottled up."
"I'm not weak!" snarled Azula.
"I never said you were."
Azula glared at Jin. "It was implied."
"Where?"
"What do you mean?"
Jin shook her head. "I honestly have no idea how I implied you were weak. Where did I imply that?"
Azula scoffed and stood up. "I'm going to take out the trash."
She stalked off, not seeing how Jin looked after her with wide eyes. Azula never took out the trash.
A short while after she left the break room, Azula hauled the bag of garbage out the back and threw it into the alley. As she turned around to go back inside, she heard a gasp.
She looked back into the alley. No one was there. On a whim, she looked up, and saw the silhouette of a single Dai Li agent on a nearby rooftop. She knew there were at least ten more out of sight.
"Oh, what are you looking at?" she snarled at the agent. The silhouette moved back a little, as if surprised that she was talking to him.
Azula made a rude hand gesture at the shadow and stomped back inside.
0-0-0
Iroh hummed happily as he fixed dinner. He noticed Azula was unhappy, so he tried making one of her favorites. He was quite grateful for the cookbook Ursa sent. Once he finished, he set a plate down in front of her, but she turned her head away from it.
"What's wrong, niece?" asked Iroh.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Do you really have to ask that, Uncle?"
Iroh looked at his niece. "You seemed to be in a better mood recently. I can tell something is bothering you. What is it?"
"Why don't you ask the feral earthbending child you adopted?"
Iroh blinked. "Is this about Toph? I think it is more accurate to say she adopted me."
"Oh, shut up. It's not like you don't have precedent for cozying up to the dirt-eaters."
Iroh frowned. "Azula, I must ask that you don't use such language—"
"Why shouldn't I?" screeched Azula. "After all the loyal Fire Nation soldiers they killed? Buried alive to suffocate in the dirt? After all the reports of firebenders permanently crippled by crushing their hands between rocks? Even their own citizens! We didn't do that to our earthbending citizens in the colonies!" Azula slammed her hands on the table and partially stood up.
Iroh was quite shocked. Azula always put on an air of nonchalance, so seeing her so passionately angry was quite a surprise.
"How can you stand to be here, playing tea party with the Earth King, when they took your own son? How could you not burn down this city to avenge him?" Azula spat.
Her words pierced Iroh's heart like cold fire. For a second, he was back in the fields of the Agrarian Zone, cradling his son's crushed body. Emptiness seeped into his bones, replaced momentarily with white-hot rage.
But Iroh controlled himself. Azula was also in his care, and she was obviously hurting and lashing out, just like Zuko did. So, he controlled himself, and looked his niece in the eye.
"What is hurting you, Azula? I can't help you if you don't tell me."
Azula flipped her bowl of noodles onto the floor. "I don't want your help. You're even worse than a dirt-eater! You're a Dragon who decided to wallow in the mud." Azula stood up from the table and stomped away to her room.
Iroh heaved a heavy sigh. He would spend long hours that night trying to puzzle out exactly what was setting off Azula. Could she be feeling replaced by Toph? Even if that were part of it, Iroh knew that the answers would not be simple, since Azula's issues ran much deeper than simple homesickness and jealousy.
He took a bite of food. It was wonderfully seasoned and cooked to perfection. It tasted like ash in his mouth.
0-0-0
"Sir, I have an urgent report," the former Dai Li agent said to Long Feng.
Long Feng nodded.
"I scoped out the tea shop like you asked. It is the one that belonged to the Dragon of the West, when he was hiding out here." The agent looked up. "The reason there are so many Dai Li around it is because Princess Azula is there."
Long Feng frowned. "What?"
"I saw her with my own eyes. She appears to be an employee there. It's likely that she stays in the apartment complex that is also under heavy surveillance."
"Are you sure of this?" demanded Long Feng.
"I swear on the graves of my ancestors, I know what I saw. I will never forget those piercing eyes."
Long Feng shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. He turned around to face his earthbent desk, slowly and carefully. Letting out a roar, he bent the earth to overturn the desk with a deafening crash. He turned around to face the agent, huffing.
"I will not have her wiggle her way into my plans again. We must be vigilant. There is no telling what she might be trying to do."
The agent bowed. "As you wish, sir."
The agent left Long Feng with his destroyed desk. Long Feng quickly began retooling his plans. Now he would have to account for Azula.
Was she trying to take down the Earth King too? Maybe if she weakens him first, Long Feng can swoop in as the "savior." At the very least, he could try to provoke her into doing something that would put the new Dai Li's focus on her, rather than him. The one thing he absolutely would not do, however, was try to ally with her.
Princess Azula had no allies. She only had enemies or followers. She had been his downfall once, and he would not stand for it to happen again.
Author's Note:
So now Long Feng knows that Azula's in the city. In case it wasn't clear, Azula never saw the agent that reported to Long Feng (he was the one who gasped). The agent on the roof that she snapped at is one of the new Dai Li that serves the Earth King.
I hope it's not coming across as bashing Toph and Suki! That is absolutely not my intention! Toph's adverse affect on Azula's mood is mostly unintentional (because Toph just wants to get a rise out of her, not cause her to feel replaced or have a breakdown). Suki has many complex feelings about Azula, and is trying to parse through them.
Please let me know what you think! Comments are appreciated!
:D