Fire Lord Zuko watches the man enter the throne room.
The old man bows deeply and makes a brief pained face from the motion of his back. He looks nervous, and Zuko feels sorry for him. Whatever he says must be difficult to voice.
"There's been another spirit attack," the man says. He does not sound timid; he just looks it.
"Yes?" Zuko replies, remaining calm. Internally, he is panicking. These attacks keep getting worse and worse. Aang cannot come fast enough. At least he is on his way.
"It didn't seem like one until the… thing vanished," says the man and Zuko cocks an eyebrow.
"Why didn't it?" the Fire Lord asks.
"People thought it was a dragon." Now he sounds as anxious as he appears. "I know that sounds insane but there was so much fire, and there are other witnesses and—"
Fire Lord Zuko holds up a hand to stop him from continuing.
"Don't worry. I believe you." His stomach does backflips.
Is this coincidence? He cannot figure out if Ryzu and Azula have anything to do with a spirit in the form of a dragon.
"It was so… real," the man says. "I know that all spirits are real but – it looked like a real one but they're all dead – and nobody knows what to do about it."
"I'll send people to help clean the town and tend to anyone wounded," Zuko replies and the man bows again, murmuring a breathy thank you.
Zuko gazes into the flames.
This is bad.
###
Aang arrives a few hours after Zuko dispatches soldiers and medics to help with the aftermath of the spirit – or dragon – attack. They nod at each other, glad to reunite.
"I heard about what's happening. It's weird. Spirits don't do that," Aang says and Zuko wants to snap that he is being awfully unhelpful. "I guess unless they're angry about something. But why would so many be angry? I… I promise I'll figure it out. I can go into the Spirit World and fix this."
Zuko hopes it will be that easy.
"Do you need to go somewhere specific for it?" Zuko asks and Aang shrugs.
"Somewhere where I won't lose my body." His lips twitch and Zuko gestures for him to follow.
He guides Aang to a private room and lingers for a moment before leaving him to his Avatar work. This will work; Zuko knows it will.
Aang is the bridge between worlds, isn't he?
###
Ty Lee watches Azula with Ryzu.
Azula sits on the floor, which is very unusual for her, and her eyes do not leave that shimmery blue creature. She gently plays with it; Ty Lee finds that to be the most transfixing thing.
"I know you're hiding behind that wall," Azula says suddenly. Ty Lee flinches, startled. "You can come in if you want. This is a very open room."
Ty Lee enters and takes a deep breath. She walks over and sits down a little way away from Azula and Ryzu. She is closer, but not too close. They both are dangerous.
She feels like an outsider, and usually she can fit in anywhere she goes. This just feels wrong. Having Azula back feels wrong, because it took Ty Lee so much effort and pain to get over her. Then the princess shows up like she did nothing wrong.
Ryzu approaches Ty Lee and Azula's gaze follows him. Ty Lee holds out her trembling hand and smiles at the dragon. She does not know if dragons understand smiles, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
He bows his head down slightly and Ty Lee reaches to touch him, kind of like a cat. She feels bad calling Azula's child a cat, but Ty Lee does not know the right words for it.
Azula approaches, probably to protect her child from horrid Ty Lee or something.
The minute she sits down, Ryzu seems to change his mind about being touched and Ty Lee suddenly feels agonizing pain in her hand. He bit her. She just was bitten by a dragon.
But that is not the strangest thing about the bite that makes her scream. Her wrist is grabbed and her hand examined.
"We need to clean this," says Azula and Ty Lee looks at her, befuddled.
She looks concerned. Azula stands and goes into the other room. Ty Lee stands and moves away from Ryzu; she never wants to be close to him ever again.
Azula returns with water and cloth. She takes Ty Lee's wrist without permission again and cleans it before wrapping the bandage. Her fingers linger when she realizes what she has done. Azula does not know why she reacted like this. She should have left Ty Lee on her own.
Is this romantic?
Is it?
"Your reflexes dulled with age, I see," Azula whispers, pulling away. Ty Lee sees it too. Their eyes meet and they avert them simultaneously.
"I guess yours didn't."
Ty Lee does not know what else to say.
Is there anything else that can be said?
###
"It is dangerous," Iroh admits to his nephew. "It is too dangerous," he adds.
The two men are having tea and discussing the spirit attacks. Azula and Ryzu came up, of course, because that is the most alarming situation at the moment. It is much, much more than the attacks.
Zuko suggested Aang interfering with Ryzu.
Iroh denied him.
But now his uncle seems to have come to his senses.
"What am I supposed to do about that? I'm very confused about the Ryzu situation and I'm pretty sure that anything I do will be wrong," Zuko says. He sees that twinkle in his uncle's eyes and barks, "Don't tell me I have to figure this out myself! You snuck her out of the house, you keep siding with her nonstop for some reason, you brought Ryzu here and I'm thinking that you should make some suggestions."
Iroh is calm. He is calm in a fashion that makes Zuko's stomach hurt. He never gets angry like most people. That is probably why he is more successful at raising a child than Ozai. Or most people in general.
"I was going to make a situation, nephew," says Iroh. "Azula wants to stay with Ryzu, but we are lying down in front of the lion-wolf and offering it our necks. Those who tamed dragons had places they kept them. They didn't just keep them in the garden. It is dilapidated now, I am certain, but Sozin kept his own dragon in a tower that still exists."
"She won't be separated from Ryzu. That's our problem."
"We will not separate her from Ryzu. We will separate them both from us, and keep them somewhere where they cannot easily escape."
"So, you're suggesting we lock them up in dragon prison?" Zuko has to hold back laughter.
"Not exactly but I was going to suggest well-trained armed guards and constant surveillance."
"She won't agree." Zuko shakes his head and sets down his tea.
"If you phrase it properly, she will," Iroh replies confidently.
Zuko sighs at Iroh's persistence. And his idealism when it comes to that dragon.
"There is no way we can make dragon prison sound like a vacation home," Zuko says.
"I was thinking more of an ultimatum." Iroh finishes his tea and waits for Zuko to respond.
"That doesn't sound like what you usually preach," the Fire Lord states.
"I think it is the only thing that will work. We have given her far too much power over us. We need to reclaim at least some of it for our good and hers."
Zuko agrees.
###
Azula stares at the building. It looks like it is built out of the same material the palace is made of; it looks royal, despite a few crumbling portions. She better not get crushed by rocks after complying to this ridiculous idea.
The soldiers guide her, with Ryzu in her arms, behind Iroh and Zuko as they walk up the overgrown dirt path.
"It just needs a little touching up," Iroh says, trying not to cringe.
"A little touching up? You can't honestly be forcing me to stay here," Azula says, trying not to just murder all of them and run off with Ryzu.
"It is for your own good," Iroh says.
Azula glares at him.
"No. It's for everyone's good but mine."
###
"It is cold. You will make this place habitable or I will not cooperate. You do not want to see me when I am not cooperating."
"I've seen it," Zuko says. "It's unpleasant. I'm not giving in to your demands – you're in no position to make them – but I agree that this is not an okay thing to do to a person. Uncle, you seemed pretty assured that this was a good idea."
"I said it needed touching up." Iroh shrugs and Zuko shakes his head.
"What if we stay with you until someone gets us what we need to make it decent?" Zuko offers and Iroh's expression sours. He clearly does not like that idea, but Zuko thinks it is wise.
"I accept," Azula says, and no one feels like pressuring the girl with a dragon in her arms any further.
Zuko has to admit she is more cooperative than she ever has been before, which is alarming. She has a dragon and she is not locked up, yet she has not made a violent move yet. It makes Zuko think that perhaps she has one planned for the future.
"We should find a place with a roof that hasn't caved in," Zuko suggests and Azula nods. "You walk in front."
Azula does not argue and that makes Zuko twice as nervous. He does not like the unknown, and he does not like the fact that he knows it can only be bad.
She holds Ryzu closer to her as they enter the abandoned tower.
###
"What's wrong, Aang?" Katara asks as soon as she arrives. He is pacing when she walks into the palace, and he seems to have been doing it for some time. "Is everything okay? No one is telling me what she did."
Aang stops pacing and turns to face her.
"Uh, well, huh. It's complicated." He squints. It is not easy to explain Ryzu and Azula's current situation. "But what's wrong right now is the Spirit World."
"Did you find out something bad about the spirit attacks?"
"No. I wish. It's way worse than that: I couldn't even get in or find my way. It was. . . blank there, and then my connection severed. That's not supposed to happen. I mean, half of my whole job is being a bridge between worlds." He rubs his sore neck.
She frowns.
"What does that mean?" Katara asks.
"I don't know." Aang feels very cold on a very hot day.
###
Ty Lee tosses and turns in bed. Her sheets become tangled and her legs contorted as she tries to rid herself of the thoughts that haunt her. She cannot stop thinking about the metaphorical spark she felt when Azula helped her with that bite. Every time she sees the bandage on her hand she thinks about it and feels sick to her stomach.
Of course there are still feelings. It was just unresolved. That is all. She never got a clean ending with Azula, and so it bothers her. The feelings are not real; they just will linger until she properly disposes of them.
She stares at the ceiling and sighs a long sigh. Her body is coated with sweat. Her head is racing. Her hands keep fidgeting.
Ty Lee does not think she will be sleeping tonight.
###
Azula cannot find any comfort on the sheets laid out for her, layered on each other as if they could make a comfortable mattress. The first thing she demands will be a bed here. The second thing will be for Ryzu to stop chewing on her hair.
"Stop. Stop it. Stop," she hisses.
Zuko overhears and sits up. He was almost asleep, and Azula, as with all things, ruins it.
"What's going on?" he slurs, rubbing his eyes and then lying back down.
"Nothing that concerns – stop it – that concerns you," Azula whispers, quietly enraged. She reaches up and tries to bat him away again. He is a very strong. . . creature, child, whatever he is supposed to be.
"Kids do things like that," Iroh says from the shadows.
Azula grinds her teeth and holds back a scream. "No one asked for your input. And no one ever will for the rest of your pathetic and meaningless life."
"You are right," Iroh replies calmly.
"That's not what you're supposed to say!" Azula snarls, pushing on Ryzu gently. He just readjusts his position pressed against her.
Iroh has the nerve to ask, "If you believe you are wrong, then why would you—?"
"This is beyond pointless," Azula snaps ferociously. "I certainly never chewed on anyone's hair when I was a child. Stop it."
"Children usually pet their mothers' hair. . ." Iroh thinks aloud. "It's similar to that, I think."
"Similar to that," Azula snarls. "I can safely say that I never pet my mothers' hair."
Iroh makes an infuriating hmming sound.
"Not as safely as you think," he says.
Azula has no words for that.
She does at last find a few.
"Yes, as safely as I think," she says. "I know me and I know my life and – stop it."
"You did," Iroh states.
"No, I didn't," Azula snarls.
"Do you remember every night of your life as a one or two-year-old?" he asks, as if he cares.
"Yes," Azula lies. "Of course I do."
"Alright. I suppose you are an exception, then."
"I hate you," Azula shouts. She cannot take any more of this. She cannot.
"He's agreeing with you," Zuko pipes up from the corner.
"I know. That's why I hate him," Azula growls.
"You hate him for agreeing with you?" Zuko asks.
Azula rolls her eyes.
"I hate him for sarcastically agreeing with—stop it—for sarcastically agreeing with me."
No one says a thing.
"I'm going back to sleep," the Fire Lord at last says.
Zuko turns over with his back to his sister and pulls his blanket over his ears.
###
Azula wakes after a meager amount of sleep to sunbeams on her face and body.
They are beautiful. She seeks their source and sees that the ceiling is in disrepair, letting in the light in staggered cracks in the stone. Her hair is not devoured, but her head hurts and she wonders why she agreed to staying in this place.
Is Ryzu even worth it?
He was intended to be a weapon, and she ought to use him as one.
She just wishes it were not so inexplicably hard to do it.
###
Azula finds the books and scrolls that Iroh brought with him. She hopes they will be helpful when it comes to raising Ryzu. Her son is a handful and – unlike with a human child – no one can give her any decent advice.
He has been trying to fly unsuccessfully for the past two days. Azula has no idea how to teach a baby dragon to fly. That simply was not a lesson at the Academy or in her royal training or in any other institution of education.
"Hey," says a person Azula did not expect to see again. A person who Azula did not want to see again. "I came with the builders because I'm bored."
Azula turns around. Big brown eyes gaze at her. Ty Lee, who married Azula's brother and abandoned her and betrayed her more than once. They will never have a relationship, as much as Azula would love to mock Zuko by stealing his wife.
"You are more than bored," Azula purrs. "How is your hand feeling?"
Ty Lee blinks and smiles in a daze before she remembers what happened with Ryzu. She looks at the small and forgotten scar. It only hurts when she walks on her hands, which she does less and less as she ages.
"Fine. How's Ryzu?" Ty Lee asks, looking around for the baby boy. "Why are you not holding him?"
"Why are you questioning me?" Azula says and Ty Lee flinches faintly. "You may be Fire Lady, but I am the Dragon Mother, and you should fear me more than anything else."
Ty Lee's stomach clenches. Azula has not changed one bit. She was frozen in time as Ty Lee tried to move on. Maybe Ty Lee did move on, but it certainly does not feel like it as she wrings her hands and wishes for smart words to say.
"Where is he, though? I'd love to see him," Ty Lee says, smiling as wide as she can. Azula is not swayed.
"I have allowed my uncle to watch him while I read. He is restless and I am tired," Azula says, stunned by her own honesty. Why would she not lie to Ty Lee? What reason is there for Azula to offer her even a shred of truth, or even a second of her time?
"I'll go see him," Ty Lee chirps. She reluctantly turns away from Azula and prances off to find Iroh and Ryzu.
Azula forces herself not to gaze after her.
###
Ty Lee finds Iroh by the water. The wide river was a smart choice for Sozin when keeping his dragon in lavish lodgings. The Fire Lady imagines that dragons need a lot of water. They are pretty big. Ryzu is still pretty small, but he grows faster than Ty Lee finds comfortable.
He keeps fluttering his wings, but not making much progress.
Iroh watches him as he calmly observes the river. Ty Lee studies him and Ryzu before she gathers the courage to approach.
"Hi. It's so good to see you." Ty Lee hugs Iroh and hesitantly turns to the small dragon.
Ryzu looks up at her.
His eyes are gold. His eyes are gold and they look like Azula's. His eyes are gold like the ones she wants and wants her babies to have.
Ty Lee feels a warmth spreading through her.
She kneels before Ryzu and grins.
"Hi, little guy. Nice to meet you without you biting me."
###
"My room doesn't have a full ceiling," Ty Lee says, walking into Azula's sparsely furnished chamber.
"You cannot stay here," Azula replies. She does sit up, at least, and smooths her hair with her hands. "But you can stay for a moment. Ryzu has finally fallen asleep and I could use—well, I can't say intelligent—company."
Ty Lee smiles. Azula smirks.
"It's a really pretty night," Ty Lee says, gazing at the crescent moon over the indigo river.
"Are we talking about the weather? After all of those years you slowly fell for me," Azula purrs.
Ty Lee knows what it means. Azula fell for her too, but Azula will never say it, and Ty Lee is not brave enough to say it for her.
"What should we talk about, princess, uh, Dragon Mother."
"I am considering Dragon Queen," Azula suggests. "Do you like it?"
"It's perfect," Ty Lee says, walking towards her doom. The dangerous death that Azula represents has such sweet and warm breath. "I love it, Dragon Queen Azula."
Azula leans forward. She very much likes having someone properly kneel to her. When Ryzu is grown, she will conquer the world, and no one seems to respect that. Save for Ty Lee, the woman Azula can never forgive. Or at least, she thinks she can never forgive.
"I think I know the perfect thing we can talk about," she whispers, smirking. She looks so evil, but Ty Lee cannot bring herself to care. "Exactly nothing."
"What?" Ty Lee asks.
Before she knows it, Azula's lips are against hers.
And. It. Feels. So. Right.
###
Ty Lee screams when she wakes up; something is chewing on her hair.
"Ryzu, stop," Azula orders and the chewing ends. Ryzu releases Ty Lee and taps on Azula's leg with his claws. Azula lifts him up into her arms and looks down at last night's horrid mistake.
"We shouldn't have done that," Ty Lee says, sitting up and standing up and wondering if she should just run. "Right? We shouldn't have, right?"
"Stop saying 'right.'" Azula sets Ryzu down on her bed and rubs her temples. "I think it was what we wanted to do, and I miss being able to do whatever I want to do."
"I do too," Ty Lee says, leaning against the rough stone wall. "Please don't tell Zuko."
"Oh, you only just think of him," Azula remarks. Her smirk transforms into a smug smile. "I suppose I am flattered by that."
"I love him, I think," Ty Lee says, gulping.
"You think? That does not sound so sure," Azula purrs. Her voice is sweet but her words are sour. Ty Lee thinks she is suffocating, even with the wide open windows that let the smooth morning air flood the room. "Admit how much better that was than anything you have done with ZuZu."
Ty Lee plays with her messy hair. She does not know how she can hide the aftermath of sex from the world, and everyone around her is so moral now. Of course they will tell Zuko at the first opportunity. Oh Agni, she is so afraid.
"Azula… Dragon Queen Azula, I will always love you, but I can't love you like—"
"Oh, I don't love you. It's fine," Azula says and Ty Lee's jaw drops. "Why are you startled by that? I don't know how I could love someone who has screwed me over so many times."
"But I didn't mean it," Ty Lee whispers, her lip trembling uncontrollably.
"And I didn't mean last night. I am tired and needed someone, I suppose. Single mothering and all," Azula replies, cracking her knuckles. She could not love Ty Lee's bright red cheeks more. The only thing better is all the moaning. "We both didn't mean it, and so it does not count at cheating."
"I guess," Ty Lee says. She does not think that is true, but she does not want to prolong this conversation.
What is she supposed to do?
###
Azula continues studying the tomes and scrolls. They give extreme details of the care and keeping of dragons, but all of it has been instinctual for her. None of this advice is useful at all. Dragons were separated from their mothers in order to be raised by humans. Fire Nation humans. Azula's ancestors.
They must have taught them to—
Azula hears the fluttering of wings and the scratching of claws.
"You are going to hurt yourself. You are my world and my future and my revenge," Azula says, kneeling in front of her son. He keeps trying, and she has found nothing. "You have to learn to fly."
The moment Azula sets him on her lap, she looks up at the book she opened and sees the article. Yes.
Ryzu will fly.