The Crossroads of Destiny

61. Decay

The Earth Kingdom needed to be cleansed by fire.

That is the only way to do it. When forests rot, fires burn and allow the new, fresh foliage to grow. Ba Sing Se was the first step towards the ultimate reign of the Fire Nation, and a memory that will never be lost. Names and dates can be forgotten as they decay in the collective knowledge of the world, but actions like that? Those are never lost to time.

But... with that came countless predicaments. Mostly Zuko, and the fact that family trees need to be pruned sometimes, and Azula acted impulsively.

Those emotions are bad. Zuko has never been worth her spit, but, Azula has found that she has been having a harder time erasing people. It concerns her deeply, because her father has pried enough about Ty Lee, pried enough about if she is loyal to him or to herself (because, in his opinion, if she were loyal to him she would have conquered Ba Sing Se months ago, of course).

She knows it anywhere because she hears it in her sleep as well as when she is awake and that concerns her so deeply. Azula just turns around to face Ty Lee.

Azula does not think she can even fathom what this feels like. The world around her has rotted and disappeared and she feels quite oddly like a very new person, reborn without even knowing she had been a corpse. This is what life feels like; this is what happens when you finally move past just following the steps and burn the textbook altogether.

The lightning is long gone, and Azula is attempting to clean herself off, but feels somewhat reluctant to scrape the mud from beneath her fingers. That dirt and filth is the blood of the Earth Kingdom and it is very attractive on her hands, she thinks.

Her Earth Kingdom clothes will be preserved, of course, but she has never felt something so liberating as removing them and changing into something a bit more regal. Her crown is stuffed beneath her shirt, poking out while pinned in place by her bra.

Admittedly, she has forgotten about that, almost like she didn't think for a second about a blue throne room while briefly presiding over that green one. She is in red, and everything around her is dull and ready to be broken. Vibrant. She thinks she is vibrant.

While she is trying to make this ancient fountain work, she is suddenly joined by someone, and she at first does not like it, until she looks up and finds a person she is almost happy to see.

As if she just knew, Ty Lee materializes right when Azula is trying to hammer right in the thought that friendship and attraction are a waste of time.

"Hi," says a quite small voice behind Princess Azula. "That was..." Well, Ty Lee clearly has no words for it. "That was really awesome. Zuko looks... like he has some feelings going on."

And you look like you have some feelings going on too.

Ty Lee wanted to say happy, but that would not be too accurate. She doesn't think Azula or her brother can feel happiness. Or at least the kind Ty Lee does.

And honesty aside, Ty Lee wants to say what Azula wants to hear, and she doubts the princess really was doing a favor for her brother. Until suddenly she can smell the Earth Kingdom and the old buildings that are standing for no good reason. They are old and worthless in a world forged from metal.

Stone may be strong, but it breaks down. Little drops of water or grains of sand in the wind can destroy the strongest rocks. Metal cannot be broken like that. And so Azula prefer metal, because she really does not like the sensation of little moments from this girl prying into her and eroding what she is.

"He should feel very lucky. I'm regretting it already," Azula says slowly, squinting at the half-broken fountain that was not doing a very good job of washing her off.

"Why?" Ty Lee asks, batting her eyelashes, her tongue touching her lower lip. She knows how to play the game. She knows how to figure people out by looking nonthreatening and like a curious little pet.

"It's going to cost me an arm and a leg when my father finds out. I imagine he will not like the news of Zuko returning without handcuffs or a body bag when he gets it." Azula pushes herself up and sits on the edge of the fountain.

It is precarious. She could fall flat on her face, or remain balanced, or perhaps just get soaked.

"You have your uncle though. I mean, he's worth like ten Zukos," Ty Lee says turning up her palms. "And Ba Sing Se is worth so many Zukos that I don't think I can count that high!"

"Yes. That is true." Azula would really love to say that her father was calculated.

He is not. It's kind of funny, because Azula has no idea where she inherited or learned how to be purely analytical and beat her emotions into submission. Of course, they like to simmer inside of her and try to break out, but she controls herself as well as she controls anyone else.

Her father acts on his emotions perhaps more fiercely than Zuko. Because Zuko has no power to back any of his rage or fear, but father has an empire.

Zuko is emotional. Zuko is tangled in way more than what any military victory is worth.

Azula looks up at Ty Lee. "I'll find a reason."

Ty Lee smiles at that, because she really does hope it will work out for her. She hopes that maybe this is enough to satisfy Azula's power-lust for at least a little while. Because Ty Lee really misses that girl who showed her the army bunker and would even cave in to holding Ty Lee's hand and pretend that she didn't like it, even if she did.

"You want to go catch our ride to the Fire Nation?" Ty Lee asks, extending a hand.

Pleading inside of her for Azula to take it like she did in Ty Lee's imagination.

Azula grabs her wrist and helps herself down, before moving to walk away.

Look back, look back, look back...

And there is a glance.

She looked back!

Ty Lee likes Ba Sing Se a lot, yeah. But snagging a princess is way more difficult. Especially princesses as impenetrable as her.

The word impenetrable somehow makes everything uncomfortable, and so Ty Lee scurries after her, talking as loudly as she can to drown out her own thoughts.