Chapter 20 – Above the Raging Sea

Two days earlier:

Sitting in the throne room in the seat between the four imposing carved wooden pillars Zuko usually occupied, her face more sullen than ever, Mai was waiting. The shadow falling from the crimson canopy stretched above her head partially hid her, but the flames dancing on torches all around the room cast reddish reflections on her pale cheeks and made her silver eyes sparkle with anger.

The next visitor was to arrive at noon, Kadao said. The Fire Lady let out a deep, irritated sigh. By agreeing to marry Zuko, she had not imagined she'd one day have to assume the functions of a true monarch. If at least she could have kindled the braziers she was standing behind, it might have given her some of the authority she sorely needed to accomplish these grueling tasks.

It was hard not to give in to the terrible resentment that crept into her whenever she thought of her fleeing husband. She had barely seen him in the past ten days. He no longer would join her in the evening, and she would spent each night in an empty bed too large for her, cold despite the scorching temperatures crushing the citizens of the Fire Nation in this unusually hot summer.

Before she could help it, Mai let out a small yelp of impatience. She knew very well where Zuko had been spending his time lately. Did he think she was that stupid? She often wondered if he hadn't forgotten that she was the palace's spy master. Wu, the most faithful of them, had told her about the torches being lit after dark. Everyone could see their wavering glow through the windows of the princess's apartments. He also told her about the tall and ghostly figure that sometimes appeared on the balcony.

Mai might have won a battle, but she was losing the war. Azula reigned supreme in her foolish husband's heart. And even imprisoned, even incapacitated, she remained her most terrible rival. Mai put her hands on her long black locks, as if she wanted to pull on them until she tore her hair from her scalp, under which she could feel the first symptoms of an impending migraine.

Her plan had worked beyond all her expectations. As if that wasn't enough, Mai had to fight the guilt that had been gnawing at her since the news of what had happened to Commander Tsuneo's son. Her father, Okano, knew the Commander well and had told Mai about Kojiro's distressing state. Mai had insisted on going to his bedside despite Kadao's repeated attempts to deter her.

"Don't go, Your Highness. This is not a pleasant sigh for the Fire Lady. Don't inflict that upon yourself."

Mai hadn't listened to him. She wasn't afraid of what she would see, she wasn't the sensitive type.

Still, great horror had seized her when she'd discovered the blackened and oozing face of the once good-looking young man who had sometimes shared her games as children when Okano invited the Commander and his family to dinner. Although he was three years her senior, Kojiro had always been a considerate, attentive, and pleasant boy. If her mind hadn't been so full of Zuko since her early childhood, Mai probably wouldn't have been immune to Kojiro's charm.

Mai felt her stomach contract painfully at the memory and winced when a violent throb made her feel as if her skull was being split in two. She tried to forget the awful face of that poor Kojiro. It was partly her fault and nothing she would do could ever change this.

Never had she imagined that Azula's madness would bring her so far. If Mai had known, at that moment, what had happened to her childhood friend, she would no doubt have refrained from waiting for the princess in Ozai's apartments.

Luckily for her, it was a physically and psychologically diminished Azula who had shown up in the grim chamber of the former megalomaniac king.

Mai was lucky. The way Azula had savagely attacked Ty Lee and Suki the day after their confrontation had reminded her of just how dangerous and deadly Azula was, even while mentally unstable.

Her guilt increased tenfold when she thought back to the lie she had invented to disrupt Azula. Hopefully Ty Lee would never find out what she had told Azula in Ozai's room about the coded letter. Mai was pretty sure that the feeling of betrayal was what prompted the princess to assault the two Kyoshi warriors.

But she couldn't tell Azula about Wu, could she? Nor reveal to her what the latter had taught her: that Zuko had every intention of joining his sister on this disastrous meeting.

No, Mai hadn't planned for things to go this far.

She was finally rid of this little bitch and yet the relief and the serenity she had hoped for didn't come.

Although he knew nothing of her shenanigans, Zuko was moving away from her at a dizzying speed. The two of them had hardly exchanged two words since Azula's incarceration.

Mai wondered what he was doing all day long in Azula's apartments. Was he lying on her bed, breathing in her pillows? Was he thinking of the delicious hours he had spent here with that cursed whore he still had the nerve to call his sister?

She felt jealousy break her heart once again. Azula's words on the night of their fight had reached her deeper than she wanted to admit.

"You should have seen how hard he got for me... how hot his hands were when he slipped them under my robe..."

Azula may have just lied to provoke her. It was more than likely. But the moment she had uttered those deadly words in her insufferable dreamy voice, doubt had settled in Mai as vermin attacked the walls of a house and gnawed at it until it collapsed. Mai wondered how long she would hold out before the mask of indifference she wore day after day dropped. How much longer would she manage to fulfill the obligations Zuko so shamefully neglected? How many days before she decided that he definitely didn't deserve her to protect him from popular vindictiveness, from the solicitations of ministers and Sages who were freaking out about their king's disappearance.

Precisely three sonorous knocks were heard on the door and echoed in the long hall bristling with columns.

Mai sat up on her cushion and despite her exasperation, she managed to put on a fearless and authoritarian face.

Kadao entered with a man Mai vaguely remembered having met before, perhaps at a formal dinner with Zuko.

When the General introduced him to her, presenting him under a name she immediately forgot, the short man with the bald head bowed deeply and addressed her.

"Your Highness, Fire Lady… Thank you for granting me this audience."

Without even looking at him, Mai answered with a vague wave of her hand, inviting him to continue. A little worried, the man turned to Kadao who nodded to him.

"Your Highness, I come here as a delegate of my corporation. The Craftsmen's Guild has asked me to send you this letter that we have all signed to share with you our concerns about the massive arrival of migrants on our land."

The mention of migrants aroused a vague interest in Mai, who deigned to turn her head towards him. Kadao had told her about the growing insecurity and the climate of xenophobia which crept in the streets and oozed from all the walls of the capital like a disgusting and nauseating leprosy. Having lived in the colonies, Mai was not totally insensitive to the plight of these desperate men and women, driven from their homes by the violence of those who were once their fellow citizens, their colleagues, their friends, their servants, sometimes their family.

The almost sectarian movement of the Sons of Agni was growing tremendously. Just the day before, Kadao had told Mai about the gruesome murder that had taken place near the port. An overturned crown, symbol of the small group, had been branded on the forehead of the dismembered victim: a poor whore from the colonies, sacrificed in the name of the "pure race" corruption. This crime had repelled Mai, despite her contempt for those who sold their charms.

"Speak," she ordered sharply at the little man standing in front of her, his eyes wide with anxiety. "What grievance do you have with the refugees?"

The man bowed again and spoke in a less confident voice. He must have noticed how Mai had insisted on the last word, signifying her disapproval of the idea of lambasting people she considered victims.

"Very well My Lady. My colleagues and I have been facing, for several weeks now, stiff competition since the arrival of migrants, in some branches of the craft industry. The settlers of Yu Dao, who are masters in the art of metallurgy, are ruining our blacksmiths by offering their services on the black market at bargain prices. The weavers of Hu Xin sell their wares at ridiculous prices in backrooms or even on the streets and rob the tailors of their best customers. The arrival of these settlers is destabilizing our economy and my peers, and I are deeply concerned."

Mai glanced at Kadao, whose face expressed the same worry that ran through her veins, equaling the annoyance of having to sort out this kind of problem. When would Zuko finally take responsibility and reappear?

Kadao spoke up and spared Mai from having to respond. With a distracted ear, Mai listened to him to answer the man that the Fire Lord hadn't other priority than save peace and security in the Capital and to ensure the well-being

of all, natives as well as refugees.

"But, General," the complainant tried. "If at least the Fire Lord lowered our taxes, maybe we could..."

"We are emerging from hundred years of war," Mai cut him condescendingly. "Do you think that the nation can afford such lavishness for those on whom the kingdom prosperity rests? If you had, like my husband, the responsibility of an entire nation on your shoulders, you would know how futile and stupid your request is."

"With all due respect, My Lady," the little man replied in a barely audible voice, turning to her again. "We have the feeling, my colleagues and I, that the priorities of the Fire Lord lie elsewhere. No one seems to know where he is and what he is doing. With all the consideration I have for the Fire Lady, I hoped to meet His Excellency to speak directly to him about this problem which, far from affecting only my guild, is reaching all layers of our society, and..."

"How dare you?" Mai interrupted, her voice frozen, her silver eyes as cold as metal. "How dare you question the leadership skills of your Fire Lord?"

The man seemed to shrivel in place and Mai briefly felt deep pleasure at seeing fear spreading over the ridiculous face of this excuse of a man with the charisma of an oyster. She wondered for a moment if this was how Azula felt when she had the almost limitless power her father had given her over his men.

Mai immediately dismissed the unpleasant idea and stared at the poor idiot who was awkwardly stammering an apology.

"Get out!" she ordered. "Get out of here! Get out of my sight!"

"Madam," Kadao tried, taking a cautious step forward, "If you would to listen..."

"I said Get out! Kadao, I know you better and I can't believe for a second in your insubordination. Escort this... gentleman out of the palace walls. I will tell my husband about this case, believe me. You can count on a private audience with the Fire Lord, Sir. Here is the price of your insolence!"

With one last terrified look, the man stepped back and let Kadao escort him out of the room.

When they got out, Mai slumped back onto her cushion, already cursing herself for having lost her patience.

The man wasn't wrong to say the truth. Zuko had been shirking his responsibilities for too long, his mind full of Azula. If he did not quickly return to sit on this throne and assume his role as sovereign, they would soon have a riot, if not a revolution on their hands. No need to be a fine politician to see that. Mai was sure that Azula herself, had she been in possession of her mental faculties yet, would have warned Zuko.

This dangerous bitch had to be removed from the Fire Lord's heart and mind, even if it meant that he would have to endure excruciating suffering.

Maybe it was time for Mai to take new measures.

Back to present:

Night had fallen eventually.

Ty Lee was finally able to come out of her hiding place: some kind of natural alcove carved into the rock on which the huge tower was built, more than one hundred thirty feet high. The building loomed over Ty Lee menacingly. Looking up at the intimidating edifice, Ty Lee felt tiny and like if it was going to collapse on her at any moment.

It was more likely, however, given what she was about to do, that she was the one to fall first.

Ty Lee risked a step outside the nook she had been lurking in and saw that the guard had disappeared around the corner. She could still hear him whistle as he moved away from her.

She clung to the rock and began to climb. It was easy at first and she didn't face any serious difficulty until she reached the first thirty feet. Then she found herself facing a practically smooth wall with no grip to catch on to. Looking up, she spotted a crack above her head.

Gaining momentum, the young acrobat jumped with feline grace and clung painfully to the crevice of the rock. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself up with the strength of her arms. Her belly touched the stone and she congratulated herself for taking on her Kyoshi warrior armor in order to protect herself from possible scratches.

Lifting her head above her, she noticed a protrusion on which she could put her feet, ensuring herself a better balance. But it was too high and without a grip for her feet, she feared she couldn't reach it, even when leaping.

She took a deep breath and holding on tight to the crack she had just dug her fingers into, Ty Lee contracted her abdominal muscles and hung for a second with only the strength of her arms. Then she threw her feet over her head, performing a spectacular figure that would likely have made Mai wince in dread and Azula in jealousy.

She knew she had less than a second to act. She took advantage that her bare feet –which she had preventively coated with a slightly sticky substance– adhered to the wall to release the crack and straighten herself thanks to her abdominal muscles. In a moment of panic, she felt herself tilt back but she restored her balance just in time. Finally, with a slight leap, she managed to grab hold of the protrusion she had seen.

Perfect! she congratulated herself.

But she shouldn't be rejoicing too quickly. The ascent was still far from over and the feat she had just accomplished had cost her a significant amount of energy. She pulled herself up onto the salient and stuck to the wall, catching her breath.

The moonbeam lit up the rock like a searchlight and she prayed that she wouldn't be spotted by the sentries scrupulously circling the capital's best-guarded prison.

She looked down once and immediately blamed herself when she saw the sharply shaped black rocks against which the waves were crashing below.

She looked up to the top again and felt discouragement creep inside her for a moment. But that wouldn't be enough to deter her.

She hadn't hidden herself in one of her sisters' houses for days only to give up now. According to her sibling's report, the Fire Lord was only partially assuming his royal duties lately. Mai seemed to be in charge of the regency while she waited for her husband to recover.

Ty Lee was certain that Zuko's absence owed nothing to his physical health which had to be perfect, as always. No doubt the departure of Azula, the way he had betrayed her to ensure the safety of his friends, of his kingdom, no doubt it all had consumed him as much as the princess' burning flames had melted Kojiro's skin on his skull.

Ty Lee didn't want to think about it now. Thinking about Kojiro, what had happened to him, was too hard. She would think about it all later. Perhaps Azula had a good reason to act like she did? Knowing her friend, it was very likely that she had misinterpreted the young man's gestures. And Ty Lee knew the boys well enough to know that a guy like Kojiro for sure would have taken some unfortunate initiatives at one point or another. Azula was such a beautiful girl! She might have just been scared.

That didn't stop her from running into her brother's arms right after. And she didn't really look like a frightened virgin when she caught her, the kimono widely open, rubbing against Zuko.

Ty Lee clenched her teeth, hoping to silence the unpleasant voice that had kept trying to dissuade her since she had made her decision.

Azula, she knew, was there. Desperate, betrayed, feeling abandoned. Crazy. Probably starving herself, tortured by her inner fire that she couldn't properly control within the four walls of a prison.

This plan is stupid.

Yes, she knew it. But she couldn't help it.

She almost killed Suki and her baby. She almost killed you!

"I know!" She suddenly exploded, before putting a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening at the realization of her own stupidity. She wasn't going to get caught right now! What would Mai say when she would be told that her friend, supposedly temporarily banished by the Fire Lord himself, had been caught climbing the wall of the prison where her worst rival, the former friend she hated so much, was locked up?

Given the current situation, Ty Lee highly doubted that Mai would be particularly lenient and in a conciliatory mood. Despite the gentleness with which she had helped Ty Lee up after Azula's assault, she had been cold and distant, until her false departure. Mai had not even deigned to offer to take her back to the port.

Focus on the ascent, she urged herself, it's your priority. You are going up without rope, without security. You can kill yourself at any time.

Always these unpleasant ideas. Is this how voices would torment Azula when she was in the middle of a crisis?

From the little her friend had told her; it did not come close to the torture she used to endure night and day while ill.

Ty Lee was sure Azula wouldn't have done this if she had been healthy. She was terribly angry with herself for not having alerted Zuko or Taïma, even after perceiving the first signs of a relapse.

A few days before the incident with Kojiro, Ty Lee had started to find her weird. Azula sometimes mumbled to herself, blinked several times in a few seconds, and was subject to increasingly frequent mood swings.

After Kojiro, things got worse. And despite the seemingly serene mood she had displayed since she had been interrupted while sharing embraces with her brother, Ty Lee could see that her torment was increasing, heightened by the guilt and fear of her only friend's judgment.

Then came the cramps, the vomiting that Azula was trying so desperately to hide from her.

But everything had been rushed in the last two days before Azula's incarceration. Ty Lee was not at the palace at the time, too shocked by Hikaru's revelations, not knowing how to approach Azula. When she had seen her again, after only forty-eight hours, the princess had become unrecognizable, had turned into a murderous and uncontrollable fury.

Ty Lee feared she would never know what had happened, what plunged Azula into this abyss of madness and rage. But she was sure that the real Azula, the one she knew, the one who confided in her and asked her for advice, who insisted that she sleep in her room… This Azula would never have tried to hurt her, let alone kill her.

She couldn't turn her back on Azula, not when Zuko himself had abandoned her, once again.

Ty Lee wasn't sure what she would do once up there. The saw she had haphazardly put in the bag she carried on her back might remain there if Azula's condition did not allow her to consider an escape.

And even if it did. Once out, what would they do? Azula was probably not in a condition to descend along the prison walls, even by the more secure paths Ty Lee had found on her last nightly visits. And where would she hide her? Without her treatment, Azula's condition would worsen, and Ty Lee knew very well that she couldn't manage her episodes of dementia. They would get caught and Ty Lee would be found guilty of high treason. Provided that Azula did not immolate her on the spot as soon as she saw her!

Ty Lee was taking reckless risks, but she had no choice: she had to see her. She had to know. To check that Azula was still breathing, she had to assure her of her support. She had to tell her... Tell her she loved her and always would. To tell her that it was not her fault, that she would heal, that she would be better and that she could count on her again, on her loyalty and her eternal friendship.

Ty Lee had made her choice a long time ago. In the asylum, ever since she had seen Azula struggling, sobbing under the weight of the nurse who held her to the ground, she had known. She had known she would be the one Azula could lean on, always, no matter what. Her mother had abandoned her, then her brother. She had been the toy of her manipulative, violent and abusive father for years.

Although Azula never mentioned it, Ty Lee had seen, at times, the bruises on her friend's body, the moments of absence in her deep eyes. Even more after the day of the Black Sun, after Azula had been missing for over a week, without them hearing any news.

When she returned, despite the calm and determination she displayed, she was no longer the same. She wasn't smiling anymore, not even that sly sneer that so often curled the corners of her lips. She would no longer amused herself making fun of Mai and her. She had stopped terrorizing courtiers and servants for fun. She only spoke of Zuko, that traitor. Nothing else mattered. Ty Lee had felt well that Mai was moving away, that she would not support Azula's decisions any longer. There again, she had let it happen, without acting.

Whatever happened on the day of the Black Sun, it had shattered Azula. And there was no doubt about what had filled her with this desire for murder, what had driven her, without scruple, to attempt to kill Mai.

Then Ty Lee would be there. She wouldn't give up on her. Even if she had made mistakes, even if she had done unforgivable acts. Even if she had burned a poor guy who'd had the imprudence to find her too pretty. She thought she could pretend to ignore that Azula was in love with her own brother, that she was ready to destroy the world in a deluge of azure fire, just to get the place she coveted in his heart. She wasn't sure if she could get used to it, but she was ready to accept.

And so much for the others' judgment.

A glimmer of determination shone in Ty Lee's gray eyes, which the moonlight turned silvery. She studied the wall. Numerous crevices, where the sea had not been able to polish its edges, would facilitate her progress.

Ty Lee pressed her back against the rock and closed her eyes, listening to the waves smashing against the rocks below in a dismal, ominous thunder. If things went badly, it was undoubtedly against these black and sharp reefs she would crash. After a last breath, silently reproaching herself for her cowardice, she turned around, opened her eyes and resumed her ascent.

"Is it still far?"

The young man stopped, turned around and gave Azula his strange, slightly asymmetrical smile.

With a hint of shame, Azula realized that she must have given her voice a plaintive intonation, like that of a child complaining to its mother of a too long walk.

"Don't worry, Princess. I'll take you to safety. We must continue."

Azula bit the inside of her cheeks to hold back the retort burning at her tongue.

That's not what I asked you, you idiot!

Azula knew that she should have shown greater gratitude for this mysterious savior? He was the one who had snatched her from that cursed cell where she had been locked up for days with her chimeras, haunted by the specters of her past and her present that had been tormenting her every hour of the day. Yet she couldn't suppress the anguish that was gripping her chest, nor could she ignore her mother's voice sounding behind her, urging her to be cautious.

Mom had miraculously reappeared the moment Azula left her cell. It had taken all the strength of Azula's will not to utter a loud cry, in both fear and relief, when she had recognized the long soft features of her face, the light gold of her eyes and the long black hair held back in a topknot.

Azula wondered with a note of contempt why Ursa always appeared to her in places like this.

A tunnel... it's no wonder for someone who has been hiding for years. What cowardice!

She guessed more than she heard her mother's disapproval behind her, who let out a deep exasperated sigh.

Azula felt deep irritation towards her mother. She had abandoned her at her worst, as she always did, and reappeared seemingly magically when she was escorted by a stranger to whom she was particularly reluctant to show the extent of her madness. But that did not prevent her, every now and again, from taking advantage of the fact that the man was focused on the path ahead. Azula would let a hand wander in the void in order to offer it to Ursa. Her mother squeezed it gently, spreading a soft warmth that Azula could have taken for the true heat of a human body.

It had become difficult to discern hallucinations from reality. At least with her mother, it was easy. The real Ursa would never have taken her hand in hers to reassure her like this. It was heartwarming anyway, and even more so when you entered a dark tunnel at the heels of a strange guy whose intentions were still unclear.

The latter was digging in the rock, opening them a path in the dark, lighting himself up with a small gas lamp he held in his hand. He hadn't asked Azula to help him by producing her own light. Yet her azure flames would have shed a much brighter light than the poor flickering glow that danced in the copper lamp. He must fear an accident. After all, the condition he had found her in her cell probably didn't instill confidence. Who would want help from a notorious arsonist maniac in such a closed place?

Azula closed her eyes, hoping to forget where she was for a moment. The tunnel was large enough to breathe, but whenever she realized there wasn't an opening to the outside, it seemed to her that her lungs were contracting into her chest and the air seeped in her throat as if she had inhaled through a straw. She therefore agreed to rely on the man.

And she was right because it quickly appeared to Azula that this man was an accomplished earthbender. At once, that realization made her less confident than she was when she had decided to follow him, convinced that she would easily beat him if he was proving himself to be a threat.

She followed him for a long time. Sometimes they would hear loud voices or noises from the other side of the stone walls, and she understood that these were the sounds made by inmates and prison guards. The man was spawning them a way through the thick walls of the great fortress. Azula couldn't help but marvel at his ability to control the rock and open passageways without collapsing the structure or entire walls. More than once, she feared he would break through the wall, sometimes barely thicker than a septum separating them from the cells where prisoners as mad as her would moan or howl insults at their guardians or fellow inmates.

At least Zuko had had the decency to offer her a private cell.

"He did it in order to protect the other inmates. It has nothing to do with you."

Azula turned to glare at her mother who was walking quietly behind her, pretending she hadn't said anything.

The princess managed to hold back the incendiary retort burning at her lips but as she no longer looked in front of her, she struck the earthbender who had stopped abruptly head-on.

"Can you be more careful, poor idiot! How..."

But he interrupted her.

"Shhh! Listen, Princess!"

A little irritated but her curiosity piqued, Azula joined him. She pressed her cheek against the wall, mimicking him, pricked up her ear and made out, behind the wall, the very clear sound of furious waves crashing violently against the rock.

"We're close," the man announced, fixing her with his singular gaze. "I will open one last passage and we will be on the eastern facade of the prison. We will be about thirty feet above the sea. I hope you don't suffer from vertigo?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," she replied. "But why don't you take us lower?"

Although she wasn't afraid of the altitude, Azula wasn't fond of the idea of them hanging on the slippery wall of the prison, several feet above the raging sea. Especially in the state of weakness she was in. She was hardly able to propel herself as she had done to save herself from certain death in the Western Air Temple. And she was far too exhausted to climb by herself.

"Unfortunately, that's impossible," he replied. "Lower down, the base of the prison is surrounded by a stainless-steel shield intended to protect the walls from erosion. I can't get us through that."

"So, you are not a metalbender or whatever?" she asked, a little impatiently, thinking of the little blind girl she had seen bending the strongest alloys as if they were simple blades of grass.

"No. There are very few metalbenders among us." He replied.

Azula thought she heard a note of bitterness in his voice, but it could just as well have been her imagination as the man's green eye lit up when he gave her his curious smile once again.

"You will climb onto my back, Princess, and hold onto my shoulders, I will carry you until we find a safer place on the other side."

"Certainly not!" Azula shouted in indignation. She couldn't stand the idea of him touching her. "You are an earthbender, right? You should be able to create a safe path along the wall, aren't you?"

"The prison is closely watched. If we create a path large enough for you to walk around, we'll be immediately spotted. The coast guards are scrutinizing the maritime facade of the fortress. We will be more discreet if we progress against the wall."

Why didn't you take us to another side then?"

"Because the other facades are even more watched."

Azula frowned. She didn't like the idea at all. But she didn't really have a choice.

"Very well," she sighed. "Open that stupid passage and get down so I can climb on your back."

The man complied. He made the wall disappear in front of them as if by magic and a breeze of sea air immediately rushed through the tunnel along with the deafening sound of the indomitable waves crashing against the rocks. Azula took a deep breath and felt herself moved to tears when she saw the silvery light of the moon reflecting on the rippled surface of the black water below, and the millions of tiny stars that riddled a deep black sky.

For no reason, she thought of Zuko, and it seemed to her that an iron hand gripped her heart.

She looked away from the magnificent sight laying before her and found that the man had knelt down to allow her to hang onto his back.

Reluctantly, she wrapped her slender arms around his neck and clutched at him, like a baby monkey on its mother's back. She felt perfectly ridiculous and closed her eyes so as not to meet the disapproving gaze of her mother who was watching the scene, from a little behind. She tried to keep enough distance so as to not press her breasts against him. But when he got up without difficulty despite his frail stature, carrying her with him as if she weighed nothing, she got scared and pressed herself a little more against him.

He walked around the wall and Azula winced in terror when she looked down at the void below. Nothing held them back but the stranger's hands firmly clinging to the rock.

The opening he had created for them to pass had already closed and he started to protrude grips for him to hang on and hoist themselves up at regular intervals. Apparently, they would have to climb a bit before they could find a safer path to descend. He began the ascent. Azula tightened her arms around his neck and closed her eyes to avoid looking down. The sound of waves crashing against the prison was scary enough.

She wondered if Mom was still following them. She risked a glance beside her and spotted her, a few inches above them, climbing quietly, her crimson dress fluttering gracefully around her ankles. She climbed without using any grip, as if she was sliding on the wall. Azula shuddered.

As if she had read Azula's mind, her mother turned her head towards her. Azula jumped violently and almost let go of her carrier's shoulders.

The visage staring at her was no longer her mother's gentle, benevolent face. Instead, there was only a grim, charred face, with half-melted features. A hideous grin was stretching out, as on a corpse face, revealing festering gums and porcelain-white teeth. Two eyes as bright as the sun sparkled in its sockets, but one was hazy, as if covered by a thick layer of cloud. Under the dead flesh she could guess the contours of a once firm and square jaw that seemed to have sagged under a fiery heat. This grotesque head was topped with Ursa's very hairstyle, and its crown sparkled in the palling moonglow. The creature opened its mouth. Azula saw things swarming on its tongue and in the back of its throat and a voice went from beyond the grave spoke to her:

"Hello, Miyu! May I kiss you?"

Azula let out a howl of fear, let go of the neck of the man who shouted something, and her body toppled into the void.

In her panic, she gave birth to two sprays of blue fire that crossed the night like lightning, but Azula couldn't control them and they vanished almost immediately.

The last thing Azula saw was the pale quarter of the moon, from which she was moving away at a dizzying speed. And on its silvery half-darken surface, a grimacing face watched her fall with a satisfied, cruel smile. She wondered where she had seen that smirk before, and the answer flashed in her mind just before her body hit the rocks: it was her brother's smile.

I hope you enjoyed. This chapter is shorter than usual but it was necessary. I couldn't see myself adding a section after this event.
I realize this is the third time in a row that I have left you on a cliff hanger. Don't worry, I don't intend to make it a habit!
I am curious to know your impressions on the chapter and your assumptions on the continuation.