Chapter Thirteen: What is Perfection?

The next day Azula made her way through the lower districts. Her hands were in her pockets and her eyes scanned over the people. They were poor. She could see old and young alike walking the streets in rags.

The buildings were ramshackle. Many had broken roofs. None of them had proper windows. The guards were poorly armed, to say the least. And they were few and far between.

So this was the place where Jin lived. It was funny, she'd walked down this road many times before. But back then she'd been so dead set on burning down Ba Sing Se she hadn't noticed the people. They were just background characters in the play that was her life.

Not that Azula felt sorry for them or anything.

"Could you spare a few coins." asked that same old man.

Azula drew out a few and tossed them. "Here. Take them. Now leave me alone."

The man got to his knees and picked them up, before limping away. Azula watched him go for a moment. Then she continued on.

She wasn't really sure why she was here, so early in the morning.

Azula worked best when she had an objective. Master lightning. Take over Ba Sing Se. Corrupt Zuko. But she didn't have one now. What should she do in this miserable little section of the city.

Well, what did she want?

Jin.

'Hello there, pretty lady.' said a voice.

Several rough looking men emerged from an alley and surrounded her. They gestured. 'Hand over all your money and we'll be gentle.'

Azula almost blasted them with fire. Then she remembered she couldn't do that. She closed her eyes and drew out her sack of coins.

Then shrew threw it in his face. The man reeled backward, nose broken, as Azula surged forward and crushed his throat. Stepping aside from a knife blow, she grabbed another and snapped his neck. From there she threw the man into one of his friends.

The man stood, took a look at his two dead friends, and made a run for it. Bunch of insufferable muggers. They didn't even have the decency to stand their ground and die.

Azula walked on.

She wasn't at all sure about what path she was taking, but it was familiar. Gradually she realized it was the way to Jin's home. Eventually she came to it and halted there, waiting. Jin's house was significantly nicer than the average. She was, apparently, well to do by peasant standards.

Should she approach? Or just watch? It wasn't like she was in a rush. And what would she say if she did approach.

'Oh hello Jin." said Azula sarcastically. 'I know you've never seen me before but I know everything there is to know about you. Would you mind becoming my slave in a future loop. Even if you won't remember this conversation.

'Also I'm secretly Fire Nation royalty, blah, blah, blah.' She sighed. 'Not workable.'

No, a direct approach would not work. For now, she should focus on gathering information. Once she knew everything about her, she could get out of this time loop and arrange for Jin to become hers.

She was already close with Zuko, so it should be possible.

She noted a number of people staring. 'There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Look elsewhere.'

They took the point. Pretending to be Dai Li could get you places.

The door opened and Jin hurried out. She paused and looked into the building. "I'm going now Mom, goodbye."

An older woman looked out the door at her and smiled. "Have a nice day, dear." she said. "And be careful."

And Jin rushed off on her own. Azula watched her run and sighed. "Touching."

She turned and began to walk back to the main district, hands in her pockets. As she did, she thought about her options.

The problem was that Jin didn't know her. She did know Zuko, though. Maybe Azula could bring over to her side by exploiting her past with him. But Jin didn't know her. Then again, Jin only knew that Zuko was a firebender. If she knew he was a Prince she might not be so forgiving. Especially if said Prince had just helped take over her city.

In essence, Azula had to establish a relationship. Otherwise her hopes of manipulating the girl for her own ends were doomed. Well, barring forcing the issue. But this was more fun. So, how to go about it?

This was harder than Azula thought.

After a moment she decided she'd ask Ty Lee for advice.

In the Jasmine Dragon, Ty Lee sipped her tea. Azula sat across from her, tapping her fingers on the table and trying to think about what to say. She'd talked Zuko into not making a scene easily enough. It got easier with every loop, actually. Now she just had to ask the question.

She might as well be direct about it. "Ty Lee, if you wanted someone to join you and you couldn't threaten to murder them or their family to do it, what would you do?"

Ty Lee paused. "Um, Azula, you do realize that most people don't make friends by threatening them into submission, don't you?"

It had worked with Mai and Ty Lee, hadn't it? "I'm not most people. Answer the question." said Azula.

Ty Lee sipped her tea. "Well, you could try and approach them and make friends."

"Right. I can do that." said Azula. She paused for a moment. "How do I do that?"

Ty Lee smiled. "Try approaching them and being friendly. Introduce yourself. Make small talk."

"About what?" asked Azula.

"Well, the weather. Clothes. Hairstyles." said Ty Lee.

"That all sounds dreadfully insignificant." said Azula.

"Well, that's why it's called small talk. It's supposed to be insignificant." said Ty Lee.

"I see." said Azula.

She raised her tea and sipped it. She didn't like this variety as much as the last kind she'd tried. It was still decent, though. "So the first step would be to calculate when exactly she is most emotionally vulnerable." said Azula, raising a hand and clenching it. "Then, when she is at her weakest, I'll strike. I'll break her defenses and seize her by the throat!" A smile came to her lips.

"You aren't planning to kill anyone, are you Azula?" asked Ty Lee.

"No, just make small talk." said Azula. Why would she ask that? It was only a metaphor. "Still, that's something for another day. What should I do for the rest?"

"Well we could work on the coup." said Ty Lee.

Azula sighed and leaned back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling. How many times were Mai and Ty Lee going to suggest that. It had been Azula's idea. She bloody well had the right to not go through with it. "No, not worth it. I've done that one too many times for my liking."

"But isn't that why we came here?" asked Ty Lee.

They had come here to capture the Avatar, but that was a moot point. "Ty Lee, how many times are you going to ask me about the coup?" asked Azula. "I've tried to dozens of times and it never sticks. If there is a way out of this, the coup isn't it."

"What do you mean?" asked Ty Lee.

Azula looked back to her friend. She took a breathe and decided to come clean. "Alright, I suppose I haven't explained it to you in full before now. I successfully overthrew Ba Sing Se, got Zuko to defect, and killed the Avatar. Then I woke up the previous morning and had to do it all over again.

"I've been reliving the same day over and over again."

"Wow, that sounds interesting." said Ty Lee, not sounding very put off. "So that's why you've been acting so weird."

Did she believe her that easily? Ty Lee really wasn't that gullible. Even if Azula was telling the truth, her story was unlikely. "Weird? I am not acting weird! I am improving myself! And my means of enforcing my will on this universe!"

Stares were attracted. Azula settled down. "Why do you believe me so easily anyway?"

"Well you've been acting a lot nicer." said Ty Lee. "And your aura has completely changed from yesterday. So you would have had to go through some huge changes."

"Yes." said Azula. "That is part of the improvement. I've come to realize that… positive reinforcement can be a useful tool."

"That's great, Azula." said Ty Lee, sipping her tea.

Azula remained silent. So did Ty Lee. "…Ty Lee."

"Yes?" asked Ty Lee.

"Out of curiosity, if you ended up in a loop like this what would you do?" asked Azula.

"Well, there wouldn't be any consequences so-" began Ty Lee.

"I'm past that stage." said Azula.

Ty Lee became thoughtful. "I suppose I could try and create the perfect day."

Azula stared at her incredulously. Had she even been listening? That was one of her only jobs! "Didn't you hear me? I already did that. I conquered Ba Sing Se, killed the Avatar, got Zuko to defect and completely won. I even heard the lamentations of that damn water peasant."

"Okay, but that might be perfect for you." said Ty Lee. "But it was probably a pretty bad day for everyone else."

Azula blinked. How could something that was good for her be bad? She was a Princess of the Fire Nation. She defined good and evil. "What do you mean? The Fire Nation is spreading its greatness to enlighten these miserable peasants."

"Well yes." admitted Ty Lee. She looked a bit awkward, going on. "But they probably don't know that. So if the Fire Nation military were to walk in, they'd probably be pretty upset."

It was like the dawn had broken over a long night. Azula arose in triumph. "That's it!"

"What?" said Ty Lee.

"That's why my plans to conquer Ba Sing Se never succeeded!" said Azula. "I may have conquered Ba Sing Se, but the masses remained ignorant of my greatness! Those miserable Earth Kingdom types would have claimed it was a hostile takeover!"

"Wasn't it a hostile takeover?" asked Ty Lee.

"Details!" said Azula, a smirk of triumph playing across her face. "Now I know why the loops have failed!

"I'll find every major and minor problem in Ba Sing Se! I'll fix all of them even as I overthrow the legitimate government for the betterment of the Earth Kingdom!

"I will tear down the walls of Ba Sing Se, and the people will cheer!"

Dead silence. Azula became aware of a great many people staring. Azula's smirk of triumph lessened as she looked around awkwardly. She going to prison again, wasn't she?

"…Um, Azula, we're in public." said Ty Lee.

"….Oh." said Azula.

At that moment Zuko leaped in front of her. Her raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "We're sorry about this. Um, this girl here has some issues. You see she suffered some severe trauma while watching a Fire Nation play about the Dragon of the West.

"After she got back to her village her family was um... dead.

"It messed up her head."

There were some murmurs of sympathy. Did they honestly believe that? These people were dumber than Azula had thought. Still, she had to play along.

"…Right, yes… um… thank you Lee. I… um… forgot my medicine." said Azula.

Ty Lee stood up. "I'll escort her back."

"Thank you." whispered Azula.

"Just go." said Zuko.

As they made their way out, Azula sighed. "That was close."

"It's a good thing Zuko bailed you out." said Ty Lee.

And then they came face to face with Katara. The water peasant blinked in surprise. "Azula?!"

The prison door slammed shut. Azula sighed. "Typical."

"Well, there's always next time." said Ty Lee hopefully.

"Shush." said Azula.

Author's Note:

So yeah, Bear Day has taken a somewhat nonstandard path with the character arc. Usually, the character starts out as a complete jerk and uses the loop for selfish gain. Then they despair. Then they go to self-improvement. Finally, they get out by trying to make the perfect day.

Azula seems to be zigzagging all over the place here.