A. N. : This chapter happens to be the first in my 7th notebook, and it marks the start of our slow descent into what I've come to the Big Bad arc. We're not quite there yet, but it is coming, and we are all going to suffer. (Nothing will go well.)

Azula was put aside.

No. No, she shouldn't think like that, can't think like that – Father simply wanted to discuss matters with his advisors alone, this has happened before, and Azula's failure to bring Zuko home has nothing to do with this.

Those are vacations. A short break with Mai and Ty Lee – and, unfortunately, Li and Lo – so Azula can be in perfect shape on the day of the Black Sun.

That is all.

She needn't worry. She won't commit any other mistake, and the ministers will be simply too busy preparing for the Black Sun and the Comet to even think to undermine her position.

Father knows she can and will fix this. She isn't Zuko. Two days away from court won't endanger her.

And if anything of importance happens, the Dai Li agents she dispatched to spy on the advisors will be sure to inform her as soon as she comes back. She might not be present, but she still has this tool.

Knowledge is power, after all.

Right, Azula will be fine. She will. There is simply no use in mulling this over and over – the advisors fear her too much to attempt anything yet, she took Ba Sing Se, secured the victory over the Earth Kingdom, that tiny blemish isn't enough for Father to – she will be fine.

All Azula needs to do is relax, pretend Li and Lo aren't here chaperoning her, and enjoy the journey. Sea-lion traction is so much more pleasant than steam power to travel, however slow it is, there is no stone oil stench to bother her, and Ty Lee is bouncing up and down in an attempt to see the shore sooner – her simplicity is almost calming, in a way. Though Azula could really do without the loud exclamations and excited look look, it's there !

Really, you'd think Ty Lee never saw an island in her life.

All that noise does make Mai come closer, if only to mutter that yes, it certainly is an island, making Azula chuckle while Ty Lee pouts – it will be fun, she says like she means it.

Azula doesn't remember much from the time she spent on Ember Island as a child, but nothing in her admittedly limited memory strikes her as especially fun – boring terrible plays, and nothing to do aside from playing with Zuzu –

She grips the railing. Can't even reminisce quietly without it being ruined by that miserable traitor – it is his fault she even is on this stupid ship, when she could be strategizing and researching in detail how to apply the properties of gold in her bending, his fault Father put her away –

No. She already went over this, already reached the correct conclusion, there is no meaning in doing it over and over again – in fact, it would be something akin to madness, to re-examine the same situation constantly when no variable has changed.

Azula will not let Zuko rob her of her sense as well.

She will enjoy her holiday, let her body be well-rested and ready for the day she will make Zuzu pay, let Ty Lee and Mai fool around and entertain her, and she will let this matter go.

And when she comes back, she will expect a complete report from her agents as soon as her foot touches the main island ground again.

Nothing less will drown the nagging voice of unease in her head.