Soleil Noir ou Le Goût des cendres

by noem1987

Quatre ans après les événements ayant conduit à la fin de la guerre de Cent ans, Azula est revenue vivre au palais auprès de son frère, le Seigneur du Feu Zuko. Entre amour et haine, comment leurs relations et les ambitions d'Azula vont-elles affecter leur destin et celui de la nation du feu ? OU : Et si les vraies motivations d'Azula n'étaient pas celles que l'on croit?

36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36 – In The Dragon's Mouth

---

Zuko confidently stepped forward, intimidating and magnificent in his gleaming armor, wearing his spiked helmet. The clunking sound of his armored men echoed on the tarmac from where, five years earlier, Ozai had flown with his entire fleet to annihilate the Earth Kingdom.

The same urge to kill now simmered in the young Fire Lord's heart. Though, for the moment, this violence was directed towards a single man who was now getting down from the airship, escorted by three soldiers, his hands restrained by heavy metal chains.

It had cost Zuko all the strength of his will not to immediately slit the throat of the assassin they had arrested near his tent in Shu Jin. They had questions for him and Zuko had promised himself, as compensation, that the interrogation would not be pleasant.

No need to check his identity: his monstrous eyes revealed his hypocrisy and duplicity to the whole world. Zuko couldn't wait to introduce him to Azula, to see her amber eyes shine the moment she would recognize him, thus signing his loss.

He couldn't wait to feel her warmth either. Zuko had decided to postpone Mai's problem. Telling his sister about this secret encounter and about the baby was out of the question at the moment. He meant to enjoy their reunion before starting an inevitable argument. Something also told him that Mai wasn't done with him and that he would see her again sooner than he thought.

But as he walked towards the exit of the airstrip, his throat began to tighten, a dark feeling creeping into him. Shin was there, along with Taima and a garrison of soldiers. But no trace of Azula or Ty Lee. Shin had been ordered not to take his eyes off the princess. So where was she?

"Master Shin"; he greeted, heart pounding as he slammed his fist against his palm.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Shin replied less than confidently, returning his greeting. "I'm happy to see you back safe and sound. Who are you bringing here?" He asked, craning his neck to get a better look at the prisoner walking behind Zuko, his face hidden under his large pointed hat.

"A new guest who will immediately experience the comfort of our dungeons. I want you to lock him in the padded cell as soon as we get back to the palace. I'll take care of questioning him myself later after I've taken a little rest. Where is Azula?"

His eyes slid towards Taïma, whose ultramarine gaze stared at the ground.

"Zuko…" she started tentatively, "Promise me you won't lose your temper."

"What happened?" he immediately flared up. And, seizing Taima by the collar of her dress, he almost lifted her off the ground. A flash of terror passed through the turquoise eyes and Shin instinctively reacted, pulling Taima towards him to keep her away from the royal furor.

"My Lord, Taïma has absolutely nothing to do with it. If you have to blame someone, blame me. The princess has been missing for almost three days."

Zuko couldn't believe his ears. He heard a dull buzz in his head. His breathing quickened so much that he felt out of breath.

Unconsciously, he turned towards Wu. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Before anyone could stop him from doing so, Zuko rushed at him and pinned him to the ground. His fists cascaded over the narrow face he soon took in his hands and began pounding against the cobblestones. Blood spurted out and entered Zuko's eyes and mouth.

"Where is she, filthy bastard? What did you and your accomplices do to her?" he shouted in a mad rage.

The heat was starting to rise under his palms and blisters appeared on Wu's cheek, on the side where his green eye was. He didn't even scream.

Hands pulled Zuko back and it took the combined efforts of several men to overcome his fury. Finally, he stopped struggling.

Taima walked over to Wu and knelt beside him, applying her healing hands to his blistered cheek. Shining water appeared at her fingertips and penetrated the assassin's cheek. When she recoiled, the blisters were almost gone, leaving only reddened skin where Zuko had started burning him.

"I don't think our prisoner is involved in your sister's disappearance," Shin said in a voice that shook with fear. "A maid claims to have seen them leaving the palace, she and her friend Ty Lee, three days ago. Our best men are relentlessly searching for them all over town. As we thought they would come back, we didn't want to alert you right away and risk having you come in too hastily. I sent you a falcon yesterday but you must have missed it."

"How could you?" hissed Zuko who could barely speak as panic and rage compressed his chest. "Shin, I entrusted you with what I hold most precious, and you, you just-"

"I know, I'm unforgivable, Fire Lord Zuko. I will accept any punishment you wish to inflict on me. But before that, I implore you, let me help you find the princess. Our investigation has already bring a few elements you absolutely need to hear."

Zuko closed his eyes, concentrating on regaining his composure. When he finally opened them again, his gaze fell on Wu whom Taïma had helped to get up. His horrifying face, terribly red, was as expressionless as a stone wall and Zuko tried to contain the fire that still licked his entrails.

He walked towards him and pushed him roughly towards Shin. The man lost his balance and fell to the hard floor of the yard. Zuko heard with satisfaction the sinister crack of his facial bones crashing against the cobblestones. With one hand he stopped Taima, who was rushing towards him, and gave her an angry look: "What's wrong with you?" the young woman's flashing eyes seemed to say.

Zuko held her gaze for a few seconds and turned to the man whose incompetence was perhaps going to cost him his little sister's life.

"Master Shin, take care of our prisoner. Make sure he doesn't leave his cell and nobody talks to him until I'm ready to question him. Then you will join me in the throne room where I will give you a chance to explain everything to me. I hope for you that your investigation will not be in vain!"

"Very well, my Lord!" Master Shin immediately replied, picking up the prisoner whom he put back on his feet and pushed unceremoniously in front of him. "Come on, you guys!" he shouted at his soldiers who were silently waiting behind Zuko.

With a last look for the Fire Lord, Shin left the field. Zuko's eyes followed him. Taima, still beside him, put a tentative hand on his shoulder. This contact melted the anger in Zuko's heart and a dull fear and crushing grief came to replace it.

"We'll find her, Zuko, I'm sure of it! It can't be otherwise."

Zuko thought of all the plans he and Azula had built between the walls of their bedrooms. Her missing sister questioned everything. The Sages, Mai, the Sons of Agni and peace no longer mattered. Zuko wouldn't rest until he found her and she was safe in his arms.

---

Ty Lee was twirling her fingers, her heart overflowing with apprehension, sitting on a chair alongside the other girls who were staring at the wall in front of them, their faces devoid of any emotion. These identical women reminded her of the army of girls the Dai Li used in Ba Sing Se when Azula conquered the city. The 'Joo Dee" or something like that. Ty Lee vaguely remembered that Azula had made one of them the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator of the City after its fall due to her unwavering loyalty to the Da Li.

The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai…

The formula meant to provoke the immediate obedience of these creatures manipulated by Long Feng came back to her, and an icy shiver ran down Ty Lee's spine. Something told her that these girls who waited here in silence were not much different from the Joo Dee of Ba Sing Se. Their aura was all grey, almost invisible. She wondered if the Sons of Agni had the same indoctrination techniques than the Dai Li.

Ty Lee felt the Servitor's gaze on her, his masked face staring at her, and she tried to relax to look as normal as possible.

Why was it taking so long? What if Azula had been unmasked? It was a possibility. Azula was certainly smart, but that didn't prevent her from being recognized by someone, and her behavior in the classroom and during the inspection had drawn attention to her.

Ty Lee stood ready to act, just in case.

No sound could be heard from the closed door that separated her from Azula, and she had no idea what was going on on the other side.

"Excuse me," she asked the Servitor, abandoning all prudence. "Do you know if it will last long? I need to empty my bladder and..."

"Silence, woman!" the man snapped at her.

The faces of the other girls turned rotated, in one motion.

Ty Lee fell silent and bit the inside of her cheeks, anguish riveted in the heart, trying not to pay attention to her stomach which was protesting loudly, betraying her fear.

Finally, there was a clank of metal and the door creaked open. The Matron appeared in the doorway and pointed a thick index finger at Ty Lee.

"Next! This one!"

Ty Lee stood up immediately. Despite her apprehensions, she was truly relieved to leave the oppressive atmosphere of this chilling room.

Ty Lee followed the woman through a long corridor, similar to those she and Azula had seen before. At the far end of the hallway, stood another reinforced door. They were heading straight for it. Should Ty Lee strike now? If what was hidden behind the metal door turned out to be unpleasant or dangerous, better to neutralize this potential opponent. Ty Lee was almost sure this woman wasn't a bender and would not be a formidable adversary. Still, better to be careful. Although she hadn't Mai and Azula's gift for interpreting and anticipating people's reactions, Ty Lee had always boasted about her instinct.

They were only a few feet from the door when Ty Lee took a run-up, used the wall as a springboard and leapt up to face the Matron whose brown eyes widened in shock. She didn't have time to scream that Ty Lee had already blocked her chi. Then she tore off the crimson armband decorated with an inverted crown from the woman's arm and made a gag of it. She used it to cover the mouth of the Matron who was still gazing at her in disbelief.

"Here," she said in a voice she tried to make cruel, while rubbing her hands. "You will stay quiet while I go get my friend. If you try to complain or ask for help, this time, I'll make sure you never regain the use of your limbs!"

The woman nodded vigorously and Ty Lee left her there, face down, and hesitantly approached the armored door.

She stuck her ear to the metal panel but no sound reached her from the other side. Ty Lee didn't have the slightest plan in mind but she was sure of one thing: she and Azula were in danger now and she wasn't going to abandon her friend. So she took a deep breath and walked in.

First, relief washed over Ty Lee when she entered a deserted room. She noticed a huge desk, strange silver instruments whose function she didn't understand, and an examination table. No trace of the High Recruiter, nor of Azula.

Ty Lee immediately turned around and walked towards the Matron.

"You will accompany me here!"

And using all her might, sweating profusely, she dragged the inert and amorphous form of the Matron to the office. There she turned and closed the door, pushing the many locks. At least there would be no immediate threat from that side. Ty Lee quickly removed the gag from the Matron's face.

"If you cry, I won't hesitate to carry out my threat!" she warned, giving the woman a stern look. "Now tell me where my friend is!"

"You mean that lustful witch?" the woman eructed in a sonorous voice that made Ty Lee blench. "The High Recruiter took her away to inflict on her the punishment she deserves."

"Where?" Ty Lee shouted in panic, as she grabbed the woman by the collar of her dress. "What punishment?"

"The Blue Flame Demoness can count herself lucky. The Purification ceremony will finally wash away all her sins. The Recruiter showed her mercy!"

A leaden screed sank into Ty Lee's stomach. She wasted no time asking what she called the Purification Ceremony.

"Where did they go? Where did he take her? Answer me, right now!"

"Agni is good for his children!" the woman began to recite, a fiery glint burning in her brown eyes. "He will cleanse sinners of the mud and filth that run through their veins and make them reborn, shining in His light!"

Ty Lee then discovered, next to the body stranded on the ground, a metal bar. Red marks stained its silver surface. Picking it up and taking a closer look, she saw some black hair stuck to the dried blood. The identity of the person to whom it belonged left little place to doubt in Ty Lee's eyes and she felt an indomitable fury welling up inside her. Never in her entire life had she felt such anger. She could have slammed that metal bar on the Matron's skull without feeling the slightest bit of remorse.

"Where-are-they?" she repeated, clearly detaching the syllables this time. "I'll give you one last chance to answer me before I split your skull in two!"

But the Matron's face lit up in a terrifying smile full of a religious bliss:

"Blessed are the Brothers and Sisters who will die for the glory of the almighty God! May Agni bring them the peace they deserve and cleanse their souls of their sins!"

So Ty Lee understood it was useless. She lifted the bar high above her head and, jaw clenched, paused for a second. The Matron's greyish aura suddenly turned black and Ty Lee saw in her eyes, far behind the gleam of madness that illuminated them, an ounce of terror.

"I can't!" the young woman sighed, dropping the bar to the side, tears welling up at the edge of her eyelids.

She walked past the woman and headed towards a metal shelf that contained sharp and pointed instruments of various size and shape. She noticed what must be a scalpel whose blade seemed sharp enough. With a pang, she thought of Mai as she grabbed it and wrapped it in a cloth she found on the Recruiter's desk. She stuffed the small package into her pocket. Then she knelt down beside the matron, placed the gag over her mouth and, careful to crush her thick fingers, got up and scanned the room for a back door.

The hallway they had walked through didn't lead to any room. There were only blind walls. The High Recruiter must have vanished with Azula directly from his office. There was no other explanation. Ty Lee started searching everywhere: under the desk, on the shelves. She opened the books and leafed through them quickly. Ty Lee had explored the palace with Azula enough, to be accustomed to secret passages. It was this memory that brought her the answer she had been so desperately waiting for.

Opposite the door, on the wall, stood a huge painting which still represented the same symbol: the reversed crown, crossed by a sword. There was a new detail on this one: a flame in the background which seemed to shine intensely. Ty Lee touched each element of the painting, tried to lift it, in vain. She pressed her finger on the small drops of blood that fell under the sword blade. Nothing. Her gaze moved again towards the flame which seemed to taunt her and the solution appeared to her, obvious in its simplicity... and intolerable.

Only a firebender could open it. The High Recruiter must be one of them. The danger that awaited her on the other side suddenly seemed too heavy for her shoulders.

"I need help", she muttered to herself, as if to cheer herself up.

Her voice sounded impossibly weak in the chilling atmosphere of the room.

Ty Lee mentally recalled the way to the exit. She would have to face the Servitor who was waiting with the other candidates in the other room. The man who opened them would inevitably stand in her way. Not to mention everyone the Matron and the High Recruiter had had time to alert since they recognized Azula.

Ty Lee should be fast and not waste a second. The scalpel would be useful in close contact, but the iron bar would deter her enemies from getting too close. She leaned to pick it up and armed herself with it. There was no longer time for scruples. She slammed the bar heavily on the Matron's cranium. The latter stifled a cry of pain and immediately stopped moving.

Ty Lee knelt beside her to check on her. A tiny pulse in her neck told her she was alive. On the verge of nausea, Ty Lee didn't stay to see the blood flowing from her skull and mingling in her greyish locks. She unlocked the door, crossed the sleepy hallway and, taking a deep breath, hid the iron bar behind her back and opened the other door. When she appeared in the waiting room, all faces instantly turned towards her.

"What's wrong?" the Servitor asked sharply. "Where is the Matron?"

Ty Lee hesitated for a moment, nervously chuckling.

"So what? What makes you laugh, you filthy vermin? Haven't you been taught to show respect to your superiors?"

"Actually," she began apologetically, "I have a message for you."

"Speak!"

The Servitor advanced menacingly towards her, both fists clenched. Smoke was beginning to billow from the knuckles of his fingers. Ty Lee waited until he was close enough then, remembering the formula which assured the Dai Li agents their puppets' obedience, she recited:

"The Fire Princess has invited you... to shut YOUR MOUTH!"

And for the second time, she pulled down the iron bar right on the temple of the man who uttered a wail of pain. His mask slipped off his face and revealed a banal face with a slightly receding chin and aquiline nose. Unfortunately, the blow hadn't been strong enough to make him pass out. He hadn't even collapsed.

"Daughters of Agni!" he yelled in a surprisingly high-pitched voice.

Six girls stood up all together and immediately surrounded Ty Lee, one hand outstretched at her, one fist brought up to their temples. All firebenders…Agni…how was she going to get out of this?

Ty Lee spun around, her iron bar still in hand, attempting a circular attack like Zuko used to do when practicing his sabers skills. She didn't reach any of her assailants but it helped her dodging the first flames one of the girls aimed at her. The fireball, deviated from its trajectory, forced two girls to move away abruptly and Ty Lee took the opportunity to sneak into the breach. Throwing her weapon to the ground, she ran as fast as possible, supported herself on the wall and performed an impressive somersault. She landed outside the circle of opponents. One of the girls tried to hit her with the iron bar she had just picked up but Ty Lee was faster. She leapt off the ground, put one foot on the weapon and sent the other right into her foe's face. Blood squirted from her nose and the girl fell to the ground.

Ty Lee took advantage of the confusion that reigned immediately after that and lunged forward, she opened the door and ran down the hallway that led back to the classroom, as if pursued by a legion of bloodthirsty demons

"Follow her! Don't let her get away!" The Servitor's panicked voice raised.

Ty Lee didn't need to turn around to imagine the five furies hunting her, screaming in their shrill voices and throwing flames at her. She could hear them ricochet off the walls of the narrow corridor she just entered. Despite the confined space, Ty Lee zigzagged to avoid their attacks and sometimes used the walls to gain momentum or rolled on the ground to dodge a jet of explosive flames. She finally reached the dark cellar and found herself in complete darkness.

It was impossible to spot the staircase they had taken with Azula on their way down to this hell. Panting, gasping, Ty Lee took advantage of her leading position to stick to the wall and when her pursuers burst into the cellar, she let two of them pass her.

"Where is she? Do you see her?" one of them shouted to her doppelgangers.

The one closest to Ty Lee sparked a flame in her palm and the acrobat reacted instinctively. With precise and quick gestures, she hit the girl, as she had just done with the Matron and the latter collapsed on the ground with a strangled cry. Her comrades turned to see what had happened, spouting a flame from their hand in turn, and they gathered around their friend who was lying on the ground, inert.

Ty Lee continued to walk along the wall as discreetly as possible, taking advantage that all their attention was focused on the victim. But soon:

"There! She's there! The bitch is here!"

No time to discuss. Thanks to the light of their flames, Ty Lee'd had time to see the staircase and the door frame which formed the contours of a rectangle at the very top. She ran like she had never done and climbed the steps two by two, gasping, scalding tears in her eyes. Finally, she managed to reach the door. She was about to push it when she felt someone pulling her back. Ty Lee almost fell over, but she caught herself just in time at the doorknob.

One of the harpies clung to her neck like some absurd baby monkey to its mother's back. Ty Lee tried to cry something but no sound passed her lips as the arms tightened around her throat, like the tentacles of a sea monster.

What the hellare these girls? Ty Lee wondered confusedly as her sight blurred and the outline of the doorway seemed to fade into darkness.

All of a sudden, she remembered the scalpel. In a last effort, she plucked it out of her pocket and pointed the blade at her enemy's wrist, who cried out in pain and tumbled backwards down the stairs, her back and head repeatedly hitting the stone steps.

Her friends who were on the lower steps echoed her and dodged her falling body. The flames dancing in their hands went out and they found themselves in the dark again. Ty Lee heard the horrible creak of a body landing heavily on a stone ground, and she thought in a flash of Azula's body stranded on the rocks in the middle of a raging sea.

The thought of her friend, alone in the hands of the enemy, gave her the courage and strength she lacked. She pushed the door in front of her and without paying attention to the man who was behind and who took it in the face, she ran to cover the distance that separated her from the room where she and Azula had entered a few hours earlier. .

A miracle! It's a miracle! she thought, tears of terror and relief blurring her vision, as she burst into the waiting room and unlocked the front door.

As soon as she was in the street, in the middle of a busy avenue, she melted into the crowd and rushed into the first carriage she found and which was passing in front of her. Its occupants let out loud indignant cries, but Ty Lee ignored them and rushed to the window of the diligence to address the coachman.

"Hey, you! Take me to the Caldera, right now!"

"Hey miss! She'll wait and pay for her place, like everyone else!"

Ty Lee grabbed onto a bar above the window and swung her legs through the opening. Her body coiled gracefully and she ended up on the roof of the carriage. She finally jumped on the coachman's knees, who pulled on his ostrich-horses' bridles in a loud protest. Her face two inches from his, she brandished her scalpel which she still held in her hand and repeated her order:

"You are going to get these people out of your carriage, and very kindly take me back to the Caldera, and without making a fuss! Otherwise, I'll cut your face to pieces. Did I make myself understood?"

Less than half an hour later, Ty Lee was at the foot of the volcano looking for the secret passage that was to lead her straight back into the palace.

Don't give up, Azula, I'm coming!

---

Azula awoke in the dark. Her first idea, thoughtless but strangely comforting, was that she was on the moldy floor of the hovel where they had taken refuge with Ty Lee on the outlying districts of the capital. But she remembered that, from the broken windows of this precarious accommodation, the noises of the street would reach them all night long: the laughter and barking of the last drunken customers, ejected from all the taverns, prolonging the festivities, bawling in the arteries of the city, the trot of the ostrich horses which raced on the cobblestones, carrying behind them some shabby carriage. These disturbances had even woken her more than once, making her curse, turn over on the sheet they used as a mattress, trying to get back to sleep. This time, however, there was only silence. And a dull ache in the back of her head.

Azula reached out, expecting to find the sleeping figure of Ty Lee at her side, but all she encountered was a hard metallic surface that vibrated in the silence. Panic gradually overwhelming her, Azula held out her other arm. There too, she found an obstacle. She closed her eyes to try to keep calm. The surface she was lying on was also stiff and cold. Gathering all her courage, Azula took a deep breath and raised her hand above her, searching the air for a way out. She had barely straightened her elbow when her hand was stopped by a heavy metal panel, also placed about a foot above her face.

A box.

A heavy iron box, hermetically sealed. Azula tried to prop herself up on one elbow but her head hit the ceiling of the trunk.

Azula immediately started to suffocate. Her heart raced furiously in her chest. She began to wiggle as much as the confined space allowed her to do, pounding the metal walls with her fists and feet, screaming in agony.

"Calm down!" a voice beside her whispered in the dark.

Azula screamed even louder. A rustle at her feet revealed to her the presence of a body that was obviously crawling towards her. Yet there was a bottom at her feet, she had touched it while struggling a few seconds earlier. How could there be someone with her in this...

Don't say the word.

Coffin.

Tears of terror streamed down her cheeks, entering her mouth, almost drowning her.

"Don't be afraid. It will be worse if you panic. Do you remember?"

The voice had spoken louder this time. It didn't seem hostile. Azula was sure she had heard it once before.

The figure stirred a little. Azula felt it close to her face, a faint, barely perceptible veil. Her visitor couldn't be very tall judging by the ease with which they made their way up to her. Azula considered using her bending but the voice stopped her. She thought she felt an ethereal touch on her wrist, as if a ghostly hand had closed around it. She recognized the signs and sighed in relief:

It's nothing. It's just a hallucination, she tried to reason herself. You haven't taken your medicine in days. Poppy milk blunted its effects. It's not real. None of this is real.

Azula focused on conjuring up a flame in her palm, but nothing happened.

"It's useless, you smartass!" the small voice resumed. And Azula recognized it: it was the little girl who had come to fetch her from her room that evening and who had dragged her into the underground tunnels of the palace. But her voice was even more youthful, like that of a four-, maybe five-year-old lassie. "It's useless", repeated her childish double. "They did something to you and you can't use your fire anymore."

"What? What did they do to me?" she asked, terrified. "Did they block my chi ?"

"Do you remember what we do here?" the little girl answered her, ignoring her questions.

Azula closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

She'd been here for a while obviously judging by the stiffness in her neck, the stabbing pain in the back of her head, and the numbness in her legs. If she had survived all this time, there must have been enough air to last a few more hours.

When she was little, Zuko had told her horrifying stories about men, women, and children buried alive in Earth Kingdom graves. He called them "the false dead", poor human beings, too quickly buried, who woke up in their graves, imprisoned between the four planks of a coffin. The unfortunates who didn't have the chance to be earthbenders died of asphyxiation after a few hours in horrible suffering. Her stupid brother would revel in telling her how, at night, in the cemeteries around Ba Sing Se, one could still hear their mournful complaints rising between the stones of the cairns indicating the location of their tomb. Azula couldn't sleep for days after that. Mom had even scolded her for refusing to go to bed.

It was Father who put an end to this situation after she told him the true reason for her insomnia. He came to find Zuko in his room and slapped him hard. Zuko had been crying for hours after that, that baby! And Azula had returned to her own room, her heart lighter… Until Mom came and reproached her for having denounced Zuko… Azula didn't get her goodnight kiss this time again.

Was Azula several feet under a thick layer of earth, now? Was she a false dead too? Had she been handed over to that barbarian and unscrupulous Lu Fang?

Listening to her little companion, she tried to remember what had happened just before everything went black. It would at least have the merit of distracting her from her horrible situation and that way, she could save some air.

"Doctor Huan-Li", she whispered, groping for her little herself's vanishing body. "He was there, I remember!"

"Who's that?" the small voice next to her chirped.

"You don't know him. It's this bastard, this son of a dog who tortured me in the asylum, in the beginning. He locked me up for weeks after I attacked Zuko."

"Zuzu? It was Zuzu who locked us in there! He closed the lid of the box! I'll tell mom everything when we get out of here!"

"What are you talking about, you little idiot? That was years ago! We've been out of that chest ever since. Nanny found us!"

"No," the juvenile voice sadly said. Azula felt a small hand close around her arm. "I've been there for years. I was never able to get out of the chest. Do you think Mom is looking for me? Do you think Zuzu regrets?"

Azula shivered uncontrollably and felt goosebumps forming on her forearms.

"Hush! Shut your mouth!" she cried, trying to hide the terror in her voice. "You are talking nonsense! It's that sadistic Huan-Li, that's all! He will soon come back to make fun of our misery with his infuriating honeyed voice, you'll see! He won't resist the urge to torment me!"

"Do you think we're going to die here?" The child's terrified voice replied. "That we're going to rot in this box, as the cook's son said?"

Azula avoided answering. She began to feel the lack of air around her again. Unable to control herself, she started knocking everywhere.

"Ouch!" the little girl complained. "You hit me in the eye! I'll tell Father! He'll punish you, like he punished Zuzu!"

Father.

A chest. The excruciating pain in her hip and the burning sensation between her shaking legs. Azula let out another sob. Would the creature come back and shove its dagger through her body? Was Zuzu about to find out? And if so, what would he say? Would he get mad at her? If Zuko found out, if he knew another man had her, if he...

At that moment, a dazzling light blinded Azula. She had to shield her eyes with her hands. Strong arms forcefully pulled her out of her metal coffin and she was lifted and dumped unceremoniously onto a hard, cold floor. She uttered a cry of protest and had time to take a look at the box in which she had been locked up. It was a little bigger than she had first thought, but not big enough to hold more than an adult body. As the world found its contours again, Azula glanced at a chubby face, devoured by two huge amber eyes, staring at her from the chest. The small figure sadly waved to her and disappeared into the box. Azula understood that she would never leave it. A part of her, always, would rest there in the darkness. Azula felt a great sadness come over her that added to the terror and rage that was already consuming her.

"Well Princess?" simpered a smooth male voice that appeared out of nowhere. "Did this stay in the dark put your ideas back in place? Do you consider your new apartments worthy of your rank? »

Azula jumped as the hated figure of Doctor Huan-Li appeared in the doorway. She pointed two fingers in front of her to throw her famous lightning, but she didn't even feel the ounce of a crackle. It was as if his inner fire had been extinguished. Definitively.

At the same time, she noticed the three hulking, masked-faced men standing in various corners of the room, ready to pounce on her. They hadn't even bothered to tie her up. Its limbs were too fluffy to attempt an escape or a losing battle against three opponents of this size.

With a twinge in her heart, she thought back to Zuko's words in the training yard. The doctor must have read the confusion on his face.

"There is no need to tire yourself, your Majesty. The product I injected you with that completely annihilates your control will work for several more hours. And we have plenty of time for another injection before your strength returns. »

This time, Azula was determined to stand up to her. The effect of surprise passed, she would not show him her fear. And too bad for the voices that had all started screaming in unison in his head.

Hers was a bit raspy when she spoke:

"Doctor Huan-Li. You see me surprised to find you here. You, such an eminent scientist with revolutionary ideas. What could have thrown you into the arms of these backslidden fanatics? »

Doctor Huan-Li knelt in front of her and Azula had the opportunity to observe his face. The latter had remained identical to what it was five years earlier. Not an additional wrinkle marked his forehead, wrinkled in concentration above his small round glasses.

"I see you've changed your glasses?" Shame. The others showed off your little rat face better. »

The narrow-jawed face stretched into a smile. The small green eyes traversed by flashes of gold sparkled with mischief.

"I must confess that I missed your sarcasm and our stimulating discussions Princess Azula. I believe my greatest regret, after your brother fired me for 'ill-treating a vulnerable person' , was not having the opportunity to study the effects of confinement on your remarkable mind.

"When my brother comes here, he'll do more than fire you, believe me! It will reduce you to ashes without a shadow of a doubt!

- I believe indeed that the Fire Lord has developed towards you a form of attachment, let's say… unusual between brothers and sisters. It seems that mental illness affects more than one member of your family. I have to say it's quite fascinating. Would you like us to talk about it?

- What do you want to know ? If his cock is bigger than yours? Or do I like how it feels when he stuffs it inside me? I can be inexhaustible on the subject, she said in a voice that she tried to make seductive. Before you get tired of asking, know that the answer to both questions is "yes." »

"I see that the years haven't changed you much and that you still haven't learned respect. Always the same little whore with a well-hung tongue. You're lucky your brother forgave you. On the other hand, I am not surprised that the people are asking for your head when I have a glimpse of the poisonous words that you must whisper in your lover's ear in private. »

For some strange reason, this venomous exchange with the doctor seemed to cheer her up. The fear was gone, replaced by a dull, pernicious anger that made his heart beat faster and louder. It was like the heady feeling of adrenaline rushing through the body before a fight. From what the doctor had said, his mastery would return. It was just a matter of patience. The voices had died down for the moment and Azula felt she could keep her nerves under control for a few more minutes. There would come a time when they would be less vigilant and then she would strike. If she could play on her enemy's nerves in the meantime, that was always taken.

Besides, Azula sensed that those berserk weren't keeping her here for the quality of her conversation. Sooner or later, she would face her fate. We had to save time. Ty Lee was there somewhere. Azula was sure she wouldn't give up on him.

" In effect. It's nice to exchange news. Tell me everything doctor! I can't wait to hear how you ended up in this den of fanatics when you were once a talented doctor admired by your peers? What happened to your famous pseudo-scientific theories supposed to change the world of medicine?

"Exactly, Princess," smiled the doctor, who seemed happy to have an opportunity to talk about it. After my departure from the asylum, I had plenty of time to undertake work that had long since been abandoned for lack of time. The Fire Lord stripped me of my position as head of the Institute, but he didn't deprive me of the small nest egg that I had had time to amass for years. This allowed me to finance my research for one or two years. About three years ago, a small secret group of somewhat dissenting men, who called themselves "the Heirs of Agni" at the time, approached me and took a close interest in my research following an article I had published in a scientific journal about the superiority of fire over all other elements. They asked me to join them and participate in a long-term project. As I was at the end of my savings, I accepted without hesitation. Their ideas did not displease me. Unfortunately, I must confess that I had retained from this sordid affair with you a bitter memory and a certain resentment towards our Fire Lord. This suited my new friends very well who were worried about the overly progressive politics he was pursuing at the time. »

Azula listened to him, fascinated in spite of herself. So Kojiro had been right. The Sons of Agni group had begun to form early in his brother's reign and had only recently come out of the shadows, in light of rumors of incest, bolstered by the massive influx of migrants who had inflamed the spirits. Zuko, with his enthusiasm as an idealistic ruler guided by the humanist values of the Avatar, had ignored the dormant fire and let a wind of protest spread that was only waiting for its time to blow over the whole country. The fool! she thought angrily. Hadn't I advised him to take into account all sensitivities?

Doctor Huan-Li, who seemed to take great pleasure in listening to himself speak, continued:

"Thanks to their financial support, I was able to develop a very powerful serum that can temporarily remove firebending. I'm still looking for a product that will reduce the abilities of other masteries, but it's more difficult. Indeed, firebending is the only one that is purely inherent to its possessor. The other masters use the elements around them to show off their power. We, masters of fire, have our strength within us.

- Masters of fire? Since when are you a master? I have never seen you generate even the smallest spark! Azula laughed.

Doctor Huan-Li stretched out the palm of his hand in front of him and immediately a small purring flame erupted from it which danced for a moment before the stunned eyes of Azula who, for a moment, found herself at a loss for words.

"Eventually," he explained, "the idea is to find a formula that will permanently destroy the mastery. You are the perfect guinea pig. A master of your stature, can you imagine? If I manage to stifle your inner flame, the treatment is working!

"There's a flaw that bothers me in your brilliant plan," Azula began. I thought your little buddies worshiped fire and its masters. In Agni's eyes, all sons of fire are worthy of your ranks. So what interest do you have in removing their mastery?

"Unfortunately," continued the doctor, giving his rat face a look of perfectly infuriating desolation, "some among the natural Sons of fire do not seem to adhere to our ideal of purity and prefer to mingle with the profane or worse, with the barbarian peoples of others. nations. Your brother and you seem to be one of them. If we wish to win this war, we must begin by purifying our own race by suppressing the undesirables. Before cleaning other people's homes, it is essential to sweep in front of your door. But I'm not sure a woman who has no qualms about sleeping with her own brother understands that.

– I don't see what my relationship with Zuko has to do with it, nor how it bothers you! You who proclaim everywhere that the pure blood must be preserved, what better than the combination of two beings from Agni himself?

– Your ancestor Sozin, glory to him, forbade incestuous relationships and struck them down after having contributed to scientific work providing proof of the defects that such unions could cause in their descendants. He was able to prove the immorality of such loves, even among people of divine blood. It is not surprising that you suffer from mental disorders. Many of your ancestors wallowed in lust with members of their own family, he said, casting a look of deep disgust on his features. An heir to the throne from such a relationship would bring destruction and death to our beautiful nation.

- Bullshit! All you want is to install yourself on the throne, you and your degenerate friends! Don't make me believe that the morals and well-being of the people are your only concerns!

"What matters Princess," the doctor said softly, a sneer stretching his nonexistent lips, "is what the people believe. And the people are much more likely to trust men who raise moral principles to the rank of supreme values than a sovereign who shares the bed of his own sister, renowned for her belligerent views and her madness.

- You're an idiot if you're willing to believe these rumors! Azula got carried away that this discussion no longer amused. If I had such influence over my brother, he would have destroyed you all long ago!

"Again, what matters is what the people believe," he repeated, smiling. But I'm not telling you anything, am I? Now, Princess, you will excuse me, but time is running out. The Guide will soon be here to meet you, and I cannot expose him to your insolence and sarcasm. A new stay in this box should calm your fiery temper and remind you of your reason.

- Nope ! Nope ! Do not do that ! Azula begged, backing up against the wall in a feeble attempt to escape.

But already, two of the three men who surrounded her were advancing towards her, their hands outstretched in front of them.

"I have grand plans for you, Princess," he cried in an enthusiastic voice that drowned out Azula's plea as she grappled with her two opponents. The Guide is a man of remarkable intellect and takes great interest in scientific research. I do not yet know what his intentions are with regard to you, but I am sure that I will be able to convince him to let me study you in more detail before handing you over to the fate he has chosen for you. We will meet again very soon. Have a nice stay in the dark, little Princess! I know you are used to this kind of place. You should like it. »

Azula only caught a few snippets of those words. All that mattered was that they were going to lock him up in that box again for hours of torture. As the men carrying her reluctantly approached the iron coffin, the doctor added:

"Oh, I almost forgot. I had the chance to meet your father. A very charismatic man, I must say. He sends you his loving thoughts and he is counting on you tokeep quiet about your ... little secret. Needless to say, I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it at all if other people knew about it. I'll say hello to him from you! »

Azula's eyes widened. At the same instant, as she turned her head towards the casket, the bust of a shadowy creature with eyes as sparkling and piercing as two gold coins on a bed of coal, slowly emerged from the box, a row sharp teeth stretching her greedy lips.

" Nope ! No no no no ! Don't leave me with him! Don't leave me! she cried with all her might, sobs in her throat.

You're mine , the monster growled, licking his lips appreciatively, as the two men tossed her into the box and closed the tight lid on her.

It seemed to Azula that long arms full of surprising vigor gripped her the moment she touched the bottom of the box and she was alone in the dark with the ghost of her father for only company.

---

Zuko sat in the throne room, his face contorted. A wall of flames danced behind him, rising very high towards the ceiling lost in darkness. Shin was there, prostrate on the ground, in an attitude of total submission and Zuko would have liked to pierce him with just one of his eyes. He thought of the cannon man he had paid to kill Aang and thought that if he had had the same power, there would already be a smoking hole where his servant was standing.

"Enough with the pretense, Shin. Tell me exactly what you know. Hurry up.

"My Lord, according to my informants, the Princess and young Ty Lee were seen leaving the palace two days ago. We managed to follow the trail to a tea room run by a man who confesses to having met them and directed them to the address of a barber. But when our men arrived there, the living room was deserted. I suppose the tearoom keeper had time to warn him by some secret means.

– Do you have any idea of the network to which these men belong? Zuko asked, frowning. To whom do they owe their allegiance? And how come Azula knows about them?

"We are still searching, my Lord. The old man I told you about has been questioned since yesterday but we can't find out more.

- Where is he ? Zuko asked abruptly.

"In the dungeons, my Lord. Unfortunately, he is very old and the interrogations tire him enormously. He seems to have memory loss as well.

"Good," Zuko said darkly, jumping up. You will accompany me to the dungeons. My dad knew some great ways to refresh a failing memory. »

And Zuko walked with a quick and sure step towards the door, between the immense marble columns, the heart and the spirit filled with dark thoughts. He didn't want to think about what Aang would say if he was here right now. But the Avatar had chosen to abandon him and had turned his back on him. He thought of the odd-eyed spy waiting in a cell next to the old man in the dungeons. It was time to put an end once and for all to the self-righteousness and the pacifist rantings that his uncle and his friend had instilled in him over the past few years.

A fire he imagined black rose in his chest and licked his organs, ready to surge. Zuko was a dragon, a dragon who had been robbed of his treasure, his princess. One could not imagine a more odious betrayal, a greater sacrilege.

What does the offended dragon do?

"He spits fire",he muttered to himself as he passed, fists clenched, as Shin stared at him uncertainly and followed him obediently.

---

The moment the lid of the box was closed, drowning out the princess's screams of agony, Huan-Li, who had been watching the scene with her hands crossed behind her back, turned on her heels and walked away.

He walked quietly, whistling, to his office a few floors above. Up there, the atmosphere was more breathable than in those grim neighborhoods where death and desolation reigned. Not that Huan-Li found cause to complain about it. Eliminating unwanted individuals was a necessary evil.

In the early days, the doctor in him grieved a little to come to such extremes and it had been repugnant to him the first time, to administer death to the first recruits whom he had been asked to "dismiss" for the good of the pure race.

But like everything, an act that had first kept him from sleeping a wink had become routine, and he felt no remorse now when he stuck a needle in the arm of a vile creature to kill him. fall asleep.

They weren't that cruel. They waited for the person to be unconscious before throwing them into the "purifiers", these gigantic ovens where the victims of these purges were incinerated.

It was necessary. Doctor Huan-Li knew he was working for the greater good. The same way he acted for the good of his patients when he made difficult decisions at the asylum on Ember Isle. Some found his methods open to criticism and even went so far as to call them barbaric. What naivety! thought the doctor, a small amused sigh escaping him. Huan-Li often considered himself lucky that Lord Zuko didn't know more about his methods when he curtly dismissed him after learning of the ordeal he had put his beloved sister through.

Huan-Li had to admit that he went a little overboard with the princess. But for great evils great remedies. The manic girl who had been brought into his care five years earlier was an extreme case of severe dissociative mental disorder. Huan-Li had never had to deal with a patient suffering from such spectacular mood swings and hallucinations. The fire that devoured the entrails of the young woman was so intense that it must have been painful for her.

Huan-Li had therefore done everything in his power to stifle this flame, to put it out. It was for his good. But the princess, of course, with her legendary cunning, had found cause for complaint and went whining into her brother's protective arms, too stupid to see the danger she posed, even after she had nearly kill him with his own crown.

Huan-Li had learned long ago that compassion was worthless with such people. They only understood firmness. He was sure that if things had gone as planned, if the Fire Lord hadn't come to pay a surprise visit to his sister on Ember Isle, Huan-Li would have been able to appreciate the effects of his punishment on Princess. A few more days and she would have been more docile than an infant. When Zuko had ordered him to evacuate the girl and the medics had brought them the princess's emaciated and shriveled body, the Fire Lord had turned pale as death. Without paying attention to the acrid odor emanating from the inanimate body, he let out a great indignant cry and threw himself on the orderly to snatch his sister from his arms.

Huan-Li grimaced at the memory. After that, he had lost everything. An hour later, he was at the door of the asylum, in the atrium, where all the caregivers and reception staff stared at him, seized with incomprehension. It had taken him months to recover from the humiliation caused by this affront.

The first few months, he had spent knocking on the door of health facilities to offer his services. But he was always told that there was little need for new doctors. He had tried to set up his own establishment with his savings. But it seemed Zuko had done what was necessary to ruin his reputation, and patients were few and far between. Nearly penniless – contrary to what he had told Azula – he had ended up accepting the only offer he had been offered: taking over the management of the infirmary of a penitentiary. Working with mentally deranged patients was one thing, treating dangerous criminals was another.

This thankless work only allowed him to earn enough to eat and stay. At the same time, his hatred towards the young Fire Lord and his sister only grew.

So the Heirs of Agni , as they called themselves at the time, had hardly had any difficulty in convincing him. Especially since their ideas were attractive and seemed to corroborate his own theories. A long discussion with the man of remarkable mind who would become the Guide had finally persuaded him to participate in their enterprise of purifying the race.

Ironically, it was because of this job he hated that Huan-Li was among the most prominent members of the Sons of Agni movement today. The Guide was then only one prisoner among others. Huan-Li had been sent to him to tend to a bad heel wound he had received during a riot weeks before and which had become infected.

Very quickly, the two men had got along well and Huan-Li had departed from his sacrosanct rule which consisted in never fraternizing with the patients. The man with dazzling intelligence and undeniable charisma had presented his ideas to him and the doctor had been fascinated by his speeches, by the always measured tone of his voice which contrasted so much with the aggressiveness and rudeness of his fellow prisoners.

The Guide had had his sentence reduced for good behavior and Huan-Li had spontaneously offered to help with his rehabilitation. Together, they had built the foundations of their movement.

The first nurseries had seen the light of day shortly after, in the greatest secrecy. The oldest of this new generation of Sons of Fire was now a handsome boy, two and a half years old, who already had in his eyes that ardent flame heralding a higher power. We would have to wait a little longer to find out if the project worked, whether or not it would give birth to the long-awaited army of firebenders. The project was still in its infancy then. The research had progressed well since then and Huan-Li was now sure of his selection method validated by the Guide. Genetic crossbreeding between races was the cause of the gradual extinction of firebending. Unnatural matings between earthbenders and firebenders in the colonies had proven it. In the same siblings, it was not uncommon for an profane to grow up alongside an earthbender and a firebender whose skills were greatly altered by the muddy blood that ran through their veins.

Such a waste !

Now hope could be reborn. His studies had proven that the product of the union of two firebenders had an almost one hundred percent chance of resulting in the birth of a flamebending child. The probability fell to sixty percent by pairing a confirmed master and a layman. Prince Ozai was rather lucky that Princess Ursa, herself a profane, had given him two such gifted children. This puzzled Huan-Li.

It was luck, sheer luck, that had given him the answer he was looking for. A year and a half earlier, around the time Princess Azula returned to live in the palace, the prison warden announced to Huan-Li his transfer to the Boiling Rock. Consulting the list of inmates who asked for a doctor's visit, a name caught his attention, as if the characters that composed it had emerged from the parchment to dance like flames in front of the lenses of his glasses.

Ozai. Fire Lord Ozai. The Phoenix King was here, in this prison.

This was the first patient Huan-Li went to see on her new assignment. Very quickly, he divined, under the bark of the bitter, broken and diminished man, a bubbling soul, an indestructible determination, an intelligence as lively as that of his daughter. The doctor chooses once again to derogate from his rule and could not help but attempt a rapprochement with the fallen king.

After a few weeks, he revealed to her that he had been Azula's psychiatrist. Ozai didn't seem moved by the story he gave her of his daughter's dire mental state right after the comet's passage, nor was it surprised. Huan-Li supposed that Zuko must have told her about it during a visit.

The former Fire Lord showed more interest in the more recent news brought to him by Huan-Li. The popularity of the Sons of Agni piqued his curiosity and it was with redoubled pleasure that the doctor explained his theories to him. Ozai was even more intrigued when he told her about the rumors circulating about the scandalous relationship that seemed to have developed between his two children. Again, he didn't look surprised, but disgust was seeping through every look.

The little whore, he blurted out once. I should have known that my lesson wouldn't be enough to clear her of her perversion.

Little by little, using treasures of ingenuity and his subtle knowledge of the human psyche, Huan-Li managed to extort the information from him which confirmed what he had already guessed by observing the strange behavior of the princess at asylum. The doctor was certain that Azula had no memory of those nebulous conversations in which she had let slip bits of the secret she was trying so desperately to suppress.

Huan-Li promised Ozai to remain silent about his crime. He went so far as to tell him that he understood him a little, that by her behavior the princess had only excited him, that it was quite natural that he had lost his temper when he discovered what unmentionable desires gnawed at her daughter when she thought of her own brother.

In exchange for his silence, he only asked for some unimportant information about his family.

This is how he found out that Princess Ursa was Avatar Roku's granddaughter. Thus, having a master among his ancestors increased the chances of giving birth to one. He had finally observed that the more a subject met the physical criteria specific to the pure race, the more the chances increased of producing a child endowed with this talent, even if the parents were not masters themselves.

The Guide had been fascinated by his work and had been largely inspired by it to secretly write The Book which now circulated among the followers. Huan-Li couldn't have felt more proud. To be among the favorites of such a charismatic man filled him with immense pride. How far away the frail medical student, frightened at the thought of dissecting his first corpse, seemed to him now! It was as if this fierce and fearful young man had belonged to someone else's life.

His friendship with Ozai deepens. A relationship of trust was born between the two men. Thanks to him, Huan-Li was able to recruit a large number of followers among the former followers of the Phoenix King. He became the intermediary between Ozai and the Guide. The former king told him of the underground networks he once used across the city that would become the clandestine premises of the Sons of Agni. He provides him with the necessary information to afford the services of his trusted men. Thanks to this unexpected meeting, fruit of chance, Huan-Li was able to participate actively in the advent of the movement.

More recently, Ozai had told him about the secret passageways hidden throughout the palace and even drew a map of the underground galleries for him, using a quill and inkwell that Huan-Li secretly slipped into a splint he put around his ankle. of Ozai after an alleged sprain.

It soon became apparent to Huan-Li that Ozai didn't care much about what might happen to his children. His contempt and hatred towards Zuko was notorious. It appeared that he placed little more value on the safety of his daughter, whom he continued to refer to under nicknames as diverse as "the whore", "the little whore", "the traitor", "the whore". ".

Thanks to Huan-Li, Ozai was able to reconnect with still active members of his network. He thus learned how Azula had approached them and kept them at a distance from her brother, claiming to act under the orders of her father.

Ozai had flown into a mad rage that day, and Huan-Li was certain that if the Avatar hadn't stripped him of his bending, he would have started a destructive fire that could have reduced the prison to ashes.

"She thinks she's smarter than she is," Huan-Li had reassured her, " but don't forget that the Princess is a mentally deranged young woman, broken by illness, she's the victim of terrifying hallucinations. which make her act insanely. The secret passion she feels for her brother clouds her judgment. Let her think she's got the situation under control. We will always be one step ahead of her. Trust the Guide. He has the situation in hand. Soon, with his efforts and your help, we will be able to overthrow your son and daughter. Order will be reborn in the Fire Nation. And you will be a free man. »

He didn't believe so well. If he had known that the imprudence and fiery temperament of the princess would push her to throw herself into the mouth of the wolf! Years of illness and the inherent weaknesses of her sex had taken the edge off her intelligence, it seemed. Finally, the revolution would take place faster than they had thought! Huan-Li held the one that the Guide dreamed of capturing, the well-known weak point of the Fire Lord.

Huan-Li had no doubt that he would be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams. He was eager to tell his achievement to Ozai. Today, Huan-Li did not regret having kept his job at the prison, even after his salary as the movement's Grand Recruiter was enough to ensure him a more than comfortable life. He was already smiling just thinking about it as he climbed the flight of stairs that led back to his office, concealed by a secret wall.

He activated a small mechanism with his mastery and the panel in front of him dematerialized, as if by magic. The scene of chaos that greeted him instantly erased the smirk from his narrow face. A violent twinge contracted his body when he discovered the five people present in the room surrounding Rin, the matron. She was sitting in a chair, unable to hold herself straight without the support of the young women, her head rolling on her shoulder like a broken doll. Lying on the ground at his feet, another girl lay there, her eyes wide open but motionless. She was alive from the movements of her pupils. Finally, another, seated against the wall, was massaging her head, tracing circles on her temples, visibly overwhelmed by a violent headache.

Three girls, all famous specimens of the pure race judging by their smooth black hair and fair skin, were clustered around them. Ryoichi, the Servant, was the first to notice. He had taken off his mask and his furious eyes were glaring at the doctor.

" Here you are ! We've been waiting for you for at least two hours! We have injuries! We don't know what they have!

- What happened ? inquired the doctor, coming to his senses, equipping himself with a horn to listen to Rin's heart.

"It's that female dog with impure blood!" We should never have given him a chance or introduced him here!

"But what girl are you talking about anyway?" Huan-Li asked in an authoritative tone.

"I'm talking about that strange girl who accompanied the recruit that the matron brought to you earlier and with whom you disappeared all this time. »

Huan-Li couldn't help but notice the hint of reproach in the Servant's voice.

"Come on, Ryoichi," he said, frowning behind his half-moon glasses. You forget yourself, it seems to me.

Ryoichi suddenly looked contrite, realizing the enormity of his fault and who he was dealing with. He lowered his head and explained, ignoring the muffled complaints of the three girls who muttered a sort of litany around the amorphous body of the Matron and their companions. He told her how this girl had entered here with the princess, both holding hands, obviously refusing to separate, how she had dealt a violent blow to the head of this brave Rin, then fled, armed with an iron bar and a scalpel. How she had, using her supernatural powers as an air witch – for it could only be a witch or a demon – escaped the other recruits and fled, disappearing down the street without a trace .

Huan-Li, her face contorted with concentration, approached the Matron, placing her cone on her chest. The heart was beating normally, as well as that of the other girl lying at his feet whom he examined just after. He grabbed her arms, which fell limply to her side, as if she were made of rags.

chi blockage . I recognize the symptoms, he muttered more to himself than to his companions.

Searching his memory, he remembered this little conversation he had had with Lord Zuko and former General Iroh the day of the princess's internment. The young idiot had told her about these two friends who had turned their backs on Azula at the worst moment. One of them, he said, was able to paralyze someone by touching their acupuncture points, rendering them momentarily unable to move or use their bending. This detail had greatly interested the doctor who had asked many questions about this advanced technique. But the two men had not been able to tell him more.

Yes. It could only be her, that Ty Lee, or something.

"She ran away, you say?

- It's like I tell you! replied the other rudely.

Panic gripped the doctor. It was an unpleasant feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

"There is not a minute to lose! We need to get out of here, take as much evidence as we can!

– What do we do with them? exclaimed Ryoichi leaning towards him, pointing his chin at the matron and the five identical girls. We can't take them.

"Those who can walk come with us," he whispered hastily, advancing his face close to the Servant's. My men will carry Rin. She is an excellent Matron; the Guide will be furious if we lose her. Kill the recruit, he won't do us any good and we don't want any witnesses. We have a special guest that we will need to bring with us. Go on ! Faster, but what are you waiting for! he said, suddenly raising his voice, startling the Servant, who curtly ordered the able-bodied recruits to leave the room.

Barely an hour later, the main Sons of Agni Recruitment Center was deserted. The most compromising documents had been taken away. Abandoned papers lay in a pool of blood, where was the corpse of the recruit they hadn't been able to get rid of.

Deeply sedated, Princess Azula, whom Huan-Li had freed from her box only to put her to sleep with the help of a powerful sleeping pill, now traveled in a cab drawn by ostrich horses which the Servant drove at a run. through the maze of the suburbs of the Capital. Huan-Li hoped that the recruits who left on ostrich horses would send their possible pursuers on the wrong track.

The Guide would be furious to learn that one of their best centers was now unusable. Huan-Li at least hoped that the present he was bringing her now would assuage his righteous anger.

_

Zuko left the dungeons, ascended the spiral staircase, holding on to the walls, ignoring the tremors that shook his legs and the lingering, acrid smell of charred flesh that had taken up residence in his nostrils. It ends in an airy circular room. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to close his eyes for a moment, hoping to chase from his memory the face distorted by pain and the cries of the old man that still echoed in his ears. He didn't turn to see Shin emerging from the depths of the earth.

Leaning forward with his hands on his knees, Zuko vomits. A yellowish puddle spread around his feet and splashes splashed onto his pointy-toed boots, forming a small constellation of yellow and red stars. He realized it must have been blood and remembered the old man's bloody jaw as he interrogated him in the dungeon. He thought he could still hear the sinister cracking of old bones as he operated the gigantic vice in which he had installed the weak body, hoping to make him confess what he knew.

It turned out to be useless. Fighting the repulsion, Zuko renewed his questions again and again. Only these insane words had come out of it: "The wounded bird! The wounded bird! It will resume its flight! »

Now the man was just a broken figure moving weakly on the stone floor of the interrogation room, as Ozai once called him. Ja mais Zuko would never have imagined using this piece for the same purpose one day. He remembered how, five years ago, he had been tempted to burn everything down. But he had postponed this task, thinking, with the support of his enthusiastic friends, of exhibiting them in a museum to bring his people face to face with the horrors committed. Old Shyu had dismissed the idea, deeming it best not to burden the Fire Nation with a wave of counterproductive guilt. So Zuko had given up, then forgotten, leaving the old instruments designed in the days of Azulon to become covered in a thick layer of dust and rust.

The old trader was the first to experience their effectiveness in five years, and Zuko had to recognize the great effectiveness of these instruments.

When it turned out that the man would no longer be of any use to them, Zuko unleashed a firestorm on him, momentarily turning him into a human torch. He had watched the poor fellow struggle with surprising vigor for such an old man, had listened to his screams and had finally extinguished with a gesture the flames which had begun to lick his body and had had time to destroy his clothes and to cut into his parchment-yellowed old man's skin. Zuko had ordered Shin to stay outside the whole time. However, the cries, the smell and the smoke which escaped from the interstices of the armored door where he had locked himself with the old man must have revealed to him what was happening as surely as if he had attended the scene.

Zuko vomited a second time and pushed Shin away when the latter, full of concern, rushed towards him to support him.

"Sir! Not feeling well?

"Leave me, Shin!" Go get someone to clean it all up. I'm going to change and then we'll go to that barber. There must be evidence, traces. Meet me with a garrison of our best men in the great hall in half an hour. And I want Minh too! I have to change.

"Good Lord," the man immediately obeyed, bowing.

Zuko watched him go. Leaving the room, Shin gave him one last look and Zuko didn't like what he saw there: terror, bewilderment, but also a distant accusing gleam.

How had Azula changed him? Was he also becoming a monster? Had she forged him like Ozai had forged her? It occurred to him that Azula knew very well what she was doing by acting with him as she had done for the past few months. What if it was all done on purpose? What if this disappearance was just a set-up to force him to prove his loyalty to her?

I need to be sure you're sincere, she moaned, slipping away as he tried to caress her.

He promised himself that if he found her, he wouldn't let her get away again. He would force her to confess all her plans to him. He was stronger than her now and no longer feared her trickery.

But what if Azula was really in danger? If it had been taken from him? He swore to himself that he would keep her jealously close to him. He wouldn't leave her again. So much the worse for what will be said! He would be near her day and night, sharing her bed every night. What if this proximity led them to forbidden lands? Well, too bad… Anyway, there was no one left to doubt the true nature of their relationship. Why not embody it? Why deny themselves a pleasure that everyone already suspected them of indulging in secret?

Anyone foolish enough to protest would suffer the same punishment as the man who lay miserably in the basement, no doubt still moaning in pain in his quavering voice. Aang was no longer there to coerce him into making decisions that undermined his authority. His ancestors had not bothered with scruples when they had taken all the powers and no one had found fault with it.

Her sister was right, right? He was the Fire Lord, he could have anything he wanted. And if what he wanted was his own sister, well, why not? His ancestors had always helped themselves without asking the opinion of others. Why should he have acted differently? In the name of an obsolete humanist philosophy, of an ideal society that did not exist?

It was the moment that the memory of Mai and the little bulge on her belly chose to invite itself into his memory, like light through the cracks in a cracked wall.

Zuko let out a loud cry of rage, both hands gripping his hair and tugging at it. Was he going crazy, like Azula? Could it be that somehow she had contaminated him? Could madness be contagious?

He had just tortured a man! A poor eighty-year-old guy, probably doddery, toothless and helpless. He caressed himself night after night thinking of his own sister and no longer felt the slightest disgust at the idea of sleeping with her, only a vague guilt.

I should have when she wanted it. I shouldn't have pushed her away. She would be with me right now.

If he hadn't refused her in the bathroom on the evening of the political summit, if he had allowed himself to be seduced by her enchanting promise, Azula and he would have had only to hide their secret. It would have been easy for them to find themselves in a dark corridor, in a hidden room and let themselves be overwhelmed by desire. Azula would have been happy, wouldn't have gone crazy, and none of this would have happened. The guilt he should have struggled with was nothing compared to the torment he was enduring now. He had lost everything anyway: Mai, his friends, his uncle, the trust of his people. So why ? Why have you forbidden this pleasure? When he had only wanted that, to feel the warmth of her mouth on his erect member. Azula, on her knees in front of him, offering proof of her total submission.

You will have everything you want , she had promised Ba Sing Se.

Did Azula include herself in the offer she made to him then? Was she already, at that time, consumed by these same monstrous desires? However, it was she who had intrigued to bring him closer to Mai. He remembered it perfectly. Azula had always enjoyed playing dangerous games. Was she playing one right now?

And his mind turned and turned like this for all the time it took him to reach his apartments and get changed. He still hadn't found any answers when he reached the hall where his men were waiting for him. Dressed in a simple tunic and a breastplate, Zuko accepted the fireproof leather leggings and ordinary soldier's helmet Shin handed him. He wanted to remain incognito.

His mind still tormented, as he equipped himself with his two favorite swords, he did not see the breathless and disheveled young woman who had just burst into the room.

"Lady Ty Lee? Shin exclaimed, gasping.

Zuko looked up in disbelief. A saber slipped from his hands and fell with a clang on the ground.

"Ty…

- Zuko! Agni be praised, you have returned! screamed the acrobat, throwing himself on him and clinging to his neck. Quick ! There is not a minute to lose!

– Ty Lee, where is Azu…

- I'll explain to you on the way! Come ! We do not have the time ! »

She was already walking away in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the palace. Zuko's heart sank painfully at the thought that his princess was in danger. He feverishly picked up his saber and rushed after Ty Lee, followed by his men who stomped behind him in a great metallic crash that echoed and vibrated for a long time between the tall black marble columns.

---

The place was grim, deserted. If order reigned in some rooms of the secret bunker, others were in a state of total desolation. Obviously, we had left the place hastily. In the room that looked like a doctor's office, where the girl's body had been found, rolls of parchment and metal instruments littered the floor.

Zuko was barely recovering from the terror that had seized him when he discovered the body of the young woman with dark hair, bathed in a pool of blood. He turned the corpse over, stared at it intently, unable to collect his thoughts. It had taken Ty Lee's assurance for his clouded mind to confirm that it wasn't Azula's body.

Now that he was watching two of his men cover the body with a thin gray blanket, it seemed obvious to him that this girl had nothing to do with his sister. Apart from the straight black hair and her pointed chin, this girl looked nothing like Azula.

He'd ordered the place searched from top to bottom and stayed in the closet with Ty Lee telling him, his throat full of sobbing, how she and Azula had gotten into this trap, what they had been up to. found out and how she fled realizing that it was her only chance to save the princess.

Drowned in a flood of information, Zuko pointed a finger at her to silence her:

"Shut up for a minute Ty Lee, will you? And let me think!

"Good," replied the young girl, whose gray eyes had just widened in surprise and fear.

Zuko advanced towards the secret passage his men had opened with their firebending. The darkness had engulfed them for fifteen minutes already and Zuko couldn't stand still. Shin had insisted that he stay here with Ty Lee and two of his men while he and his soldiers descended into the belly of the earth to uncover some dastardly secret.

At first, Zuko had been indignant, but as his head was spinning, he had complied and was now waiting feverishly for us to come back up to inform him of what we had discovered down there.

As he grew impatient, Minh, a young officer whose dedication and professionalism Zuko had always appreciated, emerged from the secret passage.

"Lord Zuko," she said, beginning her report. We found empty cells down there. Obviously, they took the prisoners with them. Trays were found with food still fresh. The others are still scanning the place in search of another passage by which they could have exited.

Everything seemed to indicate that the fugitives had taken an underground passage to leave the bunker.

"Everything suggests that they took Lady Azula with them," Minh continued.

"Princess Azula," Zuko corrected, gritting his teeth. I expect all of you to refer to my sister by her princely title!

– Forgive me my Lord, replied Minh bowing, I will not make the mistake again. »

Zuko waved his hand vaguely, letting the young woman know she was forgiven. He often forgot that since Azula had been stripped of her title by the Council of Elders, both servants and soldiers had been told to stop calling her "princess" and refer to her only as a simple lady of the Court.

Zuko promised himself that if he found his sister, he would give her back her title and all her privileges. Agni, after the horrors that Ty Lee had just told him about this place, he was ready to grant him everything his heart desired. As long as he found his sister safe and sound, nothing else mattered.

"Fire Lord," Minh said, seeming to think she could speak safely again. I also came to tell you that we had searched the basement from top to bottom and that it seems harmless. You can come down and join us now.

"Very well," Zuko replied, relieved to have something to do. Come with me Ty Lee, he ordered his friend.

Ty Lee seemed happy that he asked her to come. Obviously, she had feared his reaction after his story. He moved closer to her seeing her jaw tremble a little and her eyes mist up.

"Zuko, I'm so, so sorry!" »

Zuko put a warm hand on his shoulder. The anger he felt subsided a bit.

- It's not your fault Ty Lee. I know how Azula is. When she's decided to do something… She's the most stubborn person I know and yet I spent years traveling with Toph! he tried to joke.

But in this gloomy play, his attempt at derisory humor immediately vanishes.

"I'm glad you followed her. If we find her safe and sound, it will be thanks to you. Come, follow me.

"Thank you Zuko," Ty Lee stammered.

Together, after exchanging a last frantic look of anguish, they crept in following Minh in the secret passage which led down into the darkness.

_

Azula was slowly emerging from the mists of her torpor. Her mouth was pasty, and her head ached, like when she woke up from drinking too much. Bits of recent memories flooded his numbed memory almost immediately. The distant voice of her conscience seemed to taunt her. How many more times would she wake up in an unknown place after being hit or drugged? She felt like the lead actress in a bad play whose author would find it difficult to renew himself and would recycle the same gags over and over again. In the tales Mother read to them, the princesses were poor idiots who always managed to find themselves in desperate situations, passively waiting for the intervention of a handsome prince charming who would come to save them.

But Azula had little hope for this. The only two people who could take risks for her were far away now. She had no idea what they had done to Ty Lee. And Zuko must have been on the other side of the country, playing kind-hearted hero in that stupid bogged down village. Besides, why would he bother to help her? If what Ty Lee told him was true, he already had everything he needed. He would go to console himself in the arms of his whore and soon forget her.

Bitterness was about to overwhelm her when a familiar voice spoke to her:

"Focus on the real problem!" You are in danger! What did I teach you, Azula? What do we do when we find ourselves in a weak position? »

Seized with terror, Azula jerked her head up in the direction of the voice. This abrupt movement revealed to him that she was firmly attached to a chair, her torso barred by ropes, her feet bound and her hands tied to the armrests.

The owner of the voice was invisible but she could feel his presence in the shadows in front of her.

" Dad ?

"What a disappointment you have become to me, my daughter," Ozai's voice growled in the darkness. These years have turned you into a rag. All those hours spent teaching you power and strength...and why? For this result? for this princess parody? Where did the powerful and cunning warrior I raised and was so proud of go? Do you see what your brother has done to you? A weak, intellectually diminished being. A whore, willing to compromise her virtue, defile her body, roll around in vice to get a crumb of attention from a brother who despises her and a mother who fears her! You're even worse than a whore! At least they benefit from it! In truth, you are a beggar! »

It must have been a hallucination. It had to be a hallucination. Father couldn't be there! The terror that had gripped her by the throat prevented Azula from speaking. She was preventing him from breathing. Was Ozai released from prison? Was it Huan-Li who brought him here? What if he was the famous Guide that Huan-Li was talking about with so much fervor just now?

Father, please! she thought, unable to speak.

"I was right to punish you like I did!" he replied to her feeble plea. If I had not taken your virtue, you would have given it to your wretched brother, to this traitor, to this brood a long time ago. And why ? He fucks another one right in front of your nose to humiliate you, he forces you to take reckless risks for him. Since when do you rush into a mission without having carefully studied and prepared it? Did I teach you?

"No, Father," she answered in a very small voice. Whether he was real or not didn't change the pain his words inflicted. Father was right. Her heart had softened for Zuko and she now found herself at the mercy of mortal enemies who would stop at nothing to annihilate her.

She perceived a movement in front of her, and a sound of friction, like the sound of a long cape being dragged on the ground. His heart clenched violently in his chest. She tried in vain to gather her bound limbs towards her. Was he going to hurt her? Was he going to touch her? Was he going...

"Poor fool. You're just a failure, the disgrace of the family. You richly deserved the humiliation I inflicted on you on the day of the Black Sun. I should have broken you after that. »

Azula stopped fighting the tears that had formed in her throat and released the sob that was stuck there.

"Zuko…" she called softly in the dark.

There was only silence after that and she knew her father was gone.

His hallucinations were getting worse. It really wasn't the time: his situation was desperate. She needed to be fully lucid if she wanted to pull herself out of this mess.

Azula gave herself a few minutes to cry and then she tried to come to her senses. Lets go ! she said to herself, trying to find a little optimism. The situation could be worse: at least she was no longer locked up in that horrible metal coffin where that sadistic Huan-Li had put her. She was in a square room, not very large but with a very high ceiling. The walls were bare except for two torches that framed an armored door barred with multiple bolts. Obviously, they were still underground. She could feel it in the natural darkness of the place.

If she was here, surely they hadn't decided to kill her yet. It was a reason for hope. She remembered Huan-Li's foolish words. He wanted her to conduct experiments on his firebending. For that, he needed her alive.

She would find a way to escape. Her father's voice rose in her head, but this time she was not afraid, because it was not a hallucination but a simple memory:

"Remember what I taught you. What do you do when an enemy has you at his mercy?

– I make sure to submit it to mine. I reverse the balance of power. »

The memory of that conversation flooded Azula's memory with force. By closing her eyes, she could almost visualize the Council room where Ozai locked himself with her, for hours on end, to show her his maps and tell her of his plans. They discussed with passion military tactics, mastery of fire. How Azula loved those moments! How important she felt! It was so much better than practice in the yard, where Father pretended to correct his position to brush her buttocks or her breasts. Here he spoke to her as if she were his equal. He had never done anything inappropriate in this room.

It was here that he had told her that she would one day become the Lord of Fire, that she would rule the nation and the entire world.

Azula had for a moment let herself be caught up in these dreams of grandeur. That's what had driven her to chase Zuko, to make sure he never returned home, covered with honor, the Avatar chained in the hold of his ship.

She had found her brother, hiding with his uncle in this seedy shack in the Earth Kingdom. And seeing him again had moved her more than she could have said.

Bringing Zuko back was no longer just a way to secure the fame and power his father had promised him. Bringing him back could mean the end of Father's lustful stares at her girlish forms. Bringing him back meant having someone to talk to, an equal she could finally be herself with.

When the opportunity presented itself in Ba Sing Se, Azula had already made up her mind. She wanted her brother with her. She wanted him with her, Mai and Ty Lee. So much for the throne. If she managed to rebuild their broken relationship, there is no doubt that Zuko would accept her to reign by his side.

The few months the four of them had spent in the Fire Nation had been the happiest of his life. Although it hurt terribly to see Zuko hugging Mai and kissing her neck. But that would only be a passing fancy. Azula was much prettier than Mai, and Zuko would eventually notice. Of course, we would have to hide from Father, but Azula was an excellent concealer and an outstanding liar! Her achievement in Ba Sing Se had boosted her self-confidence tenfold. A bright future was finally dawning!

But Zuko had ruined everything! Father had discovered the pot-aux-roses and had punished her severely.

What had possessed her to want to play this power game again in the state she was in? To try again to intrigue, to manipulate everyone around her? She was no longer the young prodigy of the past, the child genius of Ozai. Since the day of the Black Sun, she was just a broken doll, unable to contain her emotions. His attempts to seduce his brother all failed in the most humiliating way. Each time he ended up pushing her away, or else she gave up, terrified of what was going to happen. The memory of what Father had done prevented him from fully enjoying these moments of intimacy with Zuko.

Azula had learned that the man alone should experience pleasure during the act. That's what Li and Lo had taught her when they'd started talking to her about it. Ty Lee claimed otherwise, but that didn't really matter. She was not a princess. When Zuko caressed her body, buried his face between her breasts, brushed her inner thighs and rubbed against her, she felt something, like a quivering, a desire. And it had burst in his chest like a flower that opens in the sun and reveals its colors in the bright light of day.

And the urge to experience that thrill, again and again, had guided his every action. She was only a vile being, devoured by vice, a monster. And Father was right. He had been right to break her desires before they made her unable to act intelligently, with composure. It was always the thought of the Black Sun that came between her and her desire when things got out of hand. Father had burned that lesson into his body, into his head, and onto his skin. And she should have worked to hold her back, no matter what, even after time had faded her wound on her hip.

Tied up on this chair, in this sinister room, Azula understood that she had been wrong to fight all this time against the memory. Father had given her a unique chance to become stronger. But she hadn't been able to grasp it and her defeat against Zuko and Katara had destroyed her. Of the once feared and respected Fire Nation princess, only a few scattered shreds remained. Desperate, devastated, she had naively, stupidly clung to the proofs of affection that her brother had kindly granted her.

Azula promised herself that if she got out of here alive, she would never let her feelings and lust dominate her again. It was unworthy of her, unworthy of a princess of her rank. Yes, the lesson had been painful and a small part of her – she was ashamed to admit it – was a little angry with Father for having been so severe and so brutal. But now she knew he had acted for her good. She understood him for the first time in her life. If she got out of here, Azula would do anything to regain her pride, her lost pride. Zuko had deprived her of her crown, her reason, her intelligence and her dignity. He had ruined his existence.

Because of him, she had lost three years of her life in a grim asylum. He had kept her in the golden prison of his palace for two years. By her fault, she had again lost her reason, had had an almost fatal fall. She wasn't even able to face a simple imperial guard in combat with bare hands. He had taken everything from her! All taken! And she, she had forgiven him everything, had agreed to humble herself for a few crumbs of love and affection.

If she got out of here, she would give Zuko the chance to prove his loyalty to her for the last time. She already knew what she would ask him. But if he failed, if he refused to defile her precious, pure little soul… Then she would take back what was rightfully hers.

Azula was there in her thoughts when the sound of a bolt being slid echoed in the small room where she was sitting. She raised her head, ready to face her enemy, whoever he was.