The doors swung open brusquely, startling the servants within the room. They had only just finished readying their master for his grand entrance to the Ball, and they weren't expecting anyone else to join them. Judging by the Fire Lord's reaction – a confused frown –, he hadn't expected any intrusions either.
The servants turned to the door, stepping away from the Fire Lord, who had been sitting before his opulent red-and-gold dresser as his hair was brushed perfectly, his five-pronged hairpiece in place. His attire was a gold hanfu that resembled his daughter's, though it was far more opulent and of a slightly darker shade. His sleeves were so wide that they would graze the marble floor once he was on his feet.
Ozai glared fiercely at the mirror on his dresser, as the unexpected intruder made his way through the Fire Lord's suite, stomping powerfully enough for everyone to hear him. He finally halted at about ten steps away from where Ozai sat.
The Fire Lord raised an eyebrow: the mirror had revealed the intruder was none other than his son. It was almost a year since Zuko's return to the Capital, Ozai realized, and Zuko had stayed out of his way so far. Whenever they were within the same space the brat would merely hang his head in shame, or just slink away from Ozai as soon as he found a chance to do so. What could have possibly garnered this sudden change of attitude in him? He seemed enraged, too, but that was unsurprising. His son had never known how to keep his temper in check. Yet another reason why he would never accept him as his heir…
"Well, well. If it isn't Prince Zuko," Ozai said, his voice dripping disdain. "To what do I owe this… honor?"
The sarcasm with which he spoke the last word made Zuko cringe. He couldn't contain a snarl towards his father, one that scared the servants nearby.
"You owe me explanations, Father," he said, spitefully, hoping to emulate Ozai's tone when he had spoken Zuko's title. "And you're going to give them now, or else…"
"Or else what, pray tell?" Ozai asked, standing up. His flowing robes dropped down magnificently as he turned to face his son. "Will you glare me to death? That would be a most heinous crime to answer for, Zuko…"
"Stop patronizing me!" Zuko snapped. "You know damn well why I'm here. I should've done this ages ago, but I didn't dare confront you…"
"I'm curious as to what changed your mind," said Ozai, with a teasing grin. "But this is not a conversation that should have any witnesses."
He waved his hands and stared down the servants that remained near him. They were glancing between the two royals nervously, completely out of place in the midst of their conflict.
"Leave us. Now," Ozai commanded, and the servants obeyed immediately.
Despite everything, Ozai actually looked forward to this conversation. He had been imagining how it would unfold ever since Iroh's pathetic pleas to return home had been approved of by his council. Over time Ozai had grown convinced that Zuko would never have the guts to approach him, and if he didn't, Ozai clearly wasn't going to seek him out. He hadn't acknowledged his oldest child in any way in hopes he'd learn his lesson: he didn't deem Zuko worthy of so much as standing in the same room as himself, and he was sure he had gotten that point across over the past year. Whatever had infused enough courage into his son's feeble mind to finally face his father rather stirred Ozai's curiosity…
"Well, then. What is it you want to say, Zuko?" he asked, once the servants had left, closing the doors behind them.
"A lot. Too much," Zuko replied, glaring at Ozai fiercely. "But I guess I should start from the beginning: why did you do it? Why did you banish me?"
"Oh? And here I thought you understood," said Ozai, crossing his arms. "What did your behavior mean, then, if not that you had realized you had shamed yourself beyond repair? Were you only staying out of my way because my brother advised you to, perhaps?"
"I stayed out of your way because I felt…!" Zuko exclaimed, gritting his teeth as he fell silent, his fists clenched. "Because I thought you didn't want to see me. And I wasn't surprised… I had failed to bring you the Avatar. I thought you were shunning me because of that."
"Oh, please," said Ozai, rolling his eyes and looking at Zuko skeptically. "You truly were so naïve, Zuko? Here I hoped your time at sea would have hardened you…"
"Well, it hardened me enough!" Zuko asked, looking at Ozai with despair. "I was only doing as you asked! I had meant to stay at sea until I found the Avatar, and I would have done as much if Uncle hadn't asked you to allow me to return home!"
"You would have stayed at sea, you mean? Surely you don't mean you would have found the Avatar," said Ozai, rolling his eyes. "If you couldn't find him in ten years, Zuko, how were you hoping to find him afterwards? Didn't you roam the seas throughout the world, searching high and low to no avail?"
"I did," said Zuko, gritting his teeth again.
"Then, quite clearly, you weren't going to find him. You can't possibly find him," said Ozai. "Your grandfather and I both journeyed to search for him in our youth, but he is gone. The Avatar no longer exists, Zuko. There is no such entity in our world anymore."
"You say that, but…" said Zuko. "You can't know. You don't know. Maybe…"
"Maybe? You still hope to find him, even now?" Ozai asked, raised his eyebrows. "Even after seeing for yourself that he cannot be found? How gullible. I always guessed your mother had softened you far too much, but this is ridiculous…"
Zuko listened to him with wide eyes, aghast. He shook his head as he processed his father's words, but his hands were pressed into tight fists as he snarled towards his father again.
"From the start, you… you knew this. You knew I wouldn't find him," said Zuko. "You sent me on some pointless mission in order to teach me some lesson, that's all you were doing…!"
"And sadly, you failed to learn it. Have you ever tried not to be a failure, Zuko?" said Ozai, frowning. "Surely it cannot be that hard to succeed at least at something small, if nothing else…"
"Stop it!" Zuko yelled, horrified. "You did this all just to make me feel worse yet! Like… like burning me wasn't enough?! You made a fool out of me in front of the entire nation, you shamed me before everyone I knew, everyone I cared about, and you have the guts to mock me for it?! You…!"
"Oh, please," said Ozai, rolling his eyes. "You, Zuko, made a fool out of yourself without any coaxing. I didn't need to make a fool out of you. You interrupted that war meeting yourself, without any right, you pompous fool. You weren't even meant to attend the meeting to begin with, but my idiotic brother is even worse than you are… and you spoke out of turn, against one of my most respected officers, no less. Regardless of how foolish his strategy was, you had no right to dismiss him. None. And yet you did. And when the consequences arrived, you were too much of a coward to face them…"
"So that's why you did it, then?" Zuko asked, his stomach sinking. Toph was right. Everything she had told him earlier… she was right. "Because I didn't want to fight you, you banished me?"
"I'd thought you would have the courage to stand by your decision to speak against my officers," said Ozai. "But all that bravery disappeared as soon as you knew you were facing a battle you couldn't win. Had you known from the get-go that it would be me you'd face in the Agni Kai, you would have crawled at my feet and begged for forgiveness in that very Throne Room. Yet you wouldn't apologize to General Bujing, or would you? You made no move to do so. You were proud of your stupid intervention until I stepped forward to deal with you myself."
"So then acknowledging my mistake, as I did, was wrong?" Zuko asked. "I shouldn't have acknowledged I'd messed up, according to you?! How the hell is it that I was supposed to have the courage to face against you, my father, my Fire Lord, when I'm also supposed to honor you, to serve you obediently with my life?! How was I supposed to stand against you when I've been born and raised under the belief that I owe absolute fealty to the Fire Lord?! You couldn't ask me to fight you! I couldn't do it! Doing it would have been treason!"
"Treason?" said Ozai, amused. "For fighting as you were intended to? Of course not, you foolish boy. Surely you would have wound up with an entirely scarred body, rather than only your left eye, but at the very least it would have spared you the banishment…"
"You're…" said Zuko, staring at Ozai with disbelief and taking a step back. "You would have… you would have hurt me like that? You… I'm your son! Your son, damn it! All I've ever done in my life has been to please you! Nothing ever worked, nothing was ever enough, and yet I've still done every damn thing I could to prove myself to you! And yet all you ever wanted was…!"
Zuko froze in place, looking at Ozai with disbelief before his brow furrowed slowly. The meaning of his father's words reached him then. Had he been burned to the extent Ozai had described, he surely wouldn't have survived… The corner's of Ozai's lips curled slowly.
"That's right. All I've ever wanted, Zuko… was to get rid of you, one way or another," he said, simply. "The banishment, well deserved and justified as it was, truly was but the one way through which I could rid myself of the bother you'd become."
Every little hope Zuko had left regarding this conversation slipped into oblivion by then. His entire body was shivering with rage as he glared at the Fire Lord, at the man whom he had admired in his childhood…the man who held no mercy for him, who only had ever seen him as an inconvenience. As less than a tool. As a pebble in a shoe.
"You're… you're a monster," Zuko said, and Ozai smirked.
"Funny you'd say that," he said, before his eyes gained a slightly emotional quality, just briefly, as he whispered. "It would seem your mother's influence shines right through you, Zuko."
"You're a bastard…" Zuko said now, shaking his head. "You… you've never so much as seen me as your son, have you?! You've always hated me! Why?! What the hell did I ever do to you?!"
Those questions made Ozai frown. No, that wasn't right. He had seen Zuko as his son, at the start. And for several years, too. He hadn't always hated the boy, he wasn't entirely sure if he could so much as define what he felt for him as hatred, to begin with. No, it certainly wasn't hatred. The Fire Lord knew well enough what hatred was, and he knew it required a lot more energies and thoughts than he ever spared for his first child.
As for what had Zuko done to him, though…
"You've done nothing, Zuko," said Ozai, with a sarcastic grin. "That is, in fact, the problem."
"Like hell it is," Zuko snarled. "So you wanted me to be perfect, like Azula? That's all you ever wanted, then? Because you know what? I'm damn sure that even if I had been, you still would have hated me! You still would see me as nothing but scum!"
"Harsh words, boy," said Ozai, raising his eyebrows.
But Zuko was right. It wasn't only that Zuko had never accomplished anything great, unlike his sister. It was more than that. It was the knowledge, as both his children grew, that the less talented, the less intelligent, the less capable would get everything… while Azula, the one who deserved all the opportunities her older sibling would get, was only doomed to shrink into nothingness under her brother's shadow. And it wasn't going to be that large a shadow, to boot.
He had been there before. He knew all too well what it meant to be the second child. He knew far too well what it meant to be the first. And after Ursa was gone, after Azulon was dead, he watched Zuko grew closer to Iroh, for the former General treated him as the replacement for his lost child. But it was more than that. Ozai wasn't blind to his brother's ploys, regardless of his seemingly inoffensive exterior…
"You don't give a damn about me, you don't…" said Zuko, shaking his head and glaring at Ozai. "Regardless if honor is something I have within me or something I don't have, you never meant to give me a chance to find it. You've never so much as tried to guide me in the way you have with Azula, but… but you don't give a damn about her either. You just use her to your benefit because she's not the chronic failure I am, don't you?!"
"So now you seem to understand me better than I understand myself?" Ozai asked, raising his eyebrows. "I don't care for Azula, then? I suppose I must be that heartless a monster…"
"You…" said Zuko, and Ozai laughed softly, smirking.
"You clearly don't have what it takes to become Fire Lord," he said. "Worried about who I care for… what sort of world do you live in, you fool? You think our nation runs on emotions, then? That a Fire Lord should be guided by what his heart, rather than his mind, tells him to do?"
"If you have no heart, you have no reason to do what's best for the Fire Nation," Zuko said, glaring at Ozai. "You're just trying to win a pointless war, without caring about all the lives you're sacrificing in the process! You're going to destroy the Fire Nation all by yourself, but so long as you can stand at the top of the pile of ashes you'll be content! If I don't have what it takes to be a ruler, you sure don't either!"
"Proving again that you understand nothing about ruling," said Ozai. "But that's no surprise. Your incompetence never ceases to amaze me."
"Yeah, I bet it doesn't," Zuko snarled. "Your incompetent son, who never realized all you ever wanted was… was for me to be dead. Out of the way. Gone."
Zuko looked at him in disgust, shaking his head. Ozai glared back at him.
"I'm no son of yours," he said, and Ozai raised his eyebrows.
"I'm afraid that's not up to contest," he said. "Would it be that we could choose our parentage, the world would be a far better place to live in. But alas, it is impossible. And indeed, I wish as well that I could deny our family bonds, but…"
"You've never been a father to me," said Zuko, gritting his teeth. "And all this time I just wanted to be loved by you, I wanted to be just like you… but for what? So that one day I'll… I'll treat my son as you've treated me?! So that I can be as much of a horrible father as you were?!"
Ozai's frown deepened. Without quite noticing it, his fists had clenched as well. The words were echoes of a past he had renounced, of memories long gone, of the thoughts of a young Prince Ozai that no longer existed. A Prince who had only confronted his father in the very last moment… that father whom he had grown to loathe over time, who treated him as a deficient substitute for his perfect child. A Prince who had come to understand that, in his father's eyes, he was nothing but a disappointment…
"You've hurt me in every damn way you knew how, and you take pride in it," said Zuko. "You're pleased with yourself for it! You're not sorry, not for a single damn thing! Not when it comes to me, or Azula, or my mother…!"
"Don't speak of what you don't understand," Ozai snapped, and Zuko froze briefly.
"Oh? Huh. Yeah, I really shouldn't, should I?" he said, challengingly. "It's true, I don't understand what happened to her. But you do, don't you? You… you're the only one who knows, aren't you?"
For once, Ozai remained silent. His golden eyes gleamed with fury, but Zuko didn't care. He wanted to hurt his father. He wanted Ozai to feel just as miserable as he did now, and if bringing up Ursa was the way to do it, so be it.
"What did you do to her, then?" Zuko asked, gritting his teeth. "You were standing there, in front of the fountain. The very morning after… after she was gone. The day after Azula told me that you were going to kill me. She woke me in the night, and then she was gone. For good. Why? What the hell did you do to my mother?!"
"I did nothing," Ozai retorted, his teeth pressed together. "Your mother made her own choices…"
"Liar," said Zuko. "Stop trying to trick me with this! You know what happened! You were there too, weren't you?! Did you kill her instead of me? Did you?!"
"You fool," said Ozai, snarling. "Of course I didn't kill your mother. Idiotic boy. Your mother did what she had to do to protect your worthless hide! And for what purpose? You're but an embarrassment of a son, nothing more, and even she would see that by now…!"
"Nothing more indeed," said Zuko, nodding. "I'm just an idiot you can play around with, aren't I? All you needed was to rid yourself from me and her, so you could have the life you wanted! So you could have Azula, instead of me, as the next in line for the throne. That's it, isn't it?! That's all you want. The schemes to make everything go your way are the only damn thing you care about!"
"How insightful of you to notice," said Ozai, spitefully. "Indeed, that's all I want, brat. To have my way. I am Fire Lord, and eventually I shall rule this entire world! Every nation will bow to me as they were intended to, and you, you miserable, ungrateful weakling, won't stand in my way. I will do as I wish, for I am Fire Lord! And I do not owe you, or anyone else, any answers pertaining what I've done in my past or what I'll do in my future! You are beneath me, and you will always be, you miserable boy!"
"I'm no boy anymore, Father," said Zuko, uttering the last word spitefully again. "I'm done being gullible. I'm done believing in the best of you because I know there's nothing good within you at all! You've got some nerve, trying to teach me lessons about honor and respect when you have none of the former and deserve none of the latter…"
"You…" said Ozai, his eyes blazing now. For a moment Zuko feared he would attack him. He didn't flinch, regardless. "You dare speak like this to me? You dare…!"
"I dare!" Zuko shouted. "I should have dared from the very start, but hell, I'm doing it now! Because I'm done being your steppingstone, I'm done being the idiot you look down on as though I were some sort of inferior thing! I'm done being your stupid faithful son! If you don't owe me any explanations, I sure as hell don't owe you anything either!"
"You owe me your very life, you pathetic idiot," said Ozai. "You owe me your allegiance, your loyalty, your titles, everything! You would be nothing without me!"
"I'd rather be nothing than your fool," said Zuko. "I'm through with this. I…"
"Oh? You're through with this?" Ozai asked, amused within his anger. "And what is that supposed to mean, Prince Zuko?"
"What it means is that I'm done with this stupid pretense!" Zuko shouted. "I'm not ever going to amount to anything in your eyes, so why even bother at this point? Why keep trying to mean something to you? You're only forcing Azula to follow on your footsteps, and you know what? She won't even do that. Because she's going to be ten times the Fire Lord you could ever be, and you know it!"
"Only because I made her what she is…"
"You made her what she is, and you understand nothing of who she is," Zuko growled. "You don't see people for who they are, you see them depending on what you can gain from them! And since you're never going to gain a damn thing from me, why not spare us both the trouble?! I should just get lost, so you can have everything you've always dreamt of!"
"My, is this supposed to mean you're banishing yourself?" Ozai asked, now smiling again, despite wrath still burned brightly in his eyes. "You… you foolish idiot. You're going to abandon your position, then? You'll leave the Fire Nation again? Are you going to find the Avatar now, perhaps, despite having wasted ten years of your life in the same pointless endeavor?"
"I'd rather die of old age trying to find someone who doesn't exist than to stay in this place with you another second," Zuko snarled, and Ozai huffed. "I've had enough. You're no father… you're just a monster. You're going to fail, damn you… the world's never going to follow you. When you least expect it, everything will turn around on you, and you're going to pay for every damn thing you've done to all of us! To everyone!"
"Divine retribution?" Ozai asked. "Do you truly believe in such petty notion?"
"I'll see to it myself," Zuko growled, and Ozai laughed. "You think it's so funny, don't you?!"
"The child of failures, claiming he will succeed at destroying me?" Ozai inquired. "Forgive me if I don't tremble in fear. What sort of an idle threat do you think you pose to me?"
Zuko held no answer for that question, despite himself. He spoke spirited words, but he had no way to ascertain they would come to pass. Perhaps they wouldn't. They most likely wouldn't, it was true, and yet…
"Be gone," Ozai said, frowning as he glared viciously at Zuko. "Head into the seas again if you will. Take your old ship once more, gather whatever crew you can muster, and leave this city. I will not suffer the presence of a treacherous, disloyal, disrespectful buffoon within my Palace any further…"
"You won't suffer a damn thing. You can't suffer," Zuko snapped. "You've never lost a thing you care about, because caring… that's beyond you. But don't worry, Fire Lord. I'll be gone. For good this time."
"Good riddance, then. If you do find the Avatar, though, make sure to bring him back to me," he said. "Though by now, even such an impossible feat would not serve to amend your tainted honor…"
"Like I even care," said Zuko, stepping back and looking at Ozai with contempt. "If I find the Avatar, I'd rather help him defeat you than bring him back to you."
"You…!"
Zuko gave his father one final glare before turning on his heels and storming off. Ozai watched him depart, his brow furrowed. He felt sorely tempted to send flames rushing after his son, to set him on fire for good this time, so his foul threat wouldn't be ever come to fruition. But common sense stayed his hand: it had been rather convenient for Zuko to confront him during the Ball, when all sorts of noblemen and military leaders would hear the commotion in case things turned violent between them. Surprisingly, his son had made a clever move for once, for Ozai was already subject to enough questioning as it was. He knew nobody spoke words against him aloud, but his quick ascent to the throne, accompanied by the death of his father and the disappearance of his wife, had been rather suspicious. If he dared murder Zuko now, his name most certainly wouldn't go down in history the way he intended it to.
So instead of succumbing to the urge, Ozai breathed deeply and calmed himself. There were better ways to teach his son a lesson. Fire clearly hadn't done it the last time, or else this entire conversation wouldn't have happened in the first place. But fortunately, he had another idea in mind. One that would prove to Zuko that his words had consequences he could not evade, for no apology as the one he'd given him on the Agni Kai grounds could make amends for what he'd done now. Zuko would realize, for once and for all, that there was no place for him within this Palace, within the royal life he had been born into. He wasn't worthy of it. He never would be.
With another deep breath, Ozai's resolve was solidified. He was ready to deliver the finishing blow to his relationship with the man he would no longer think of as his son.
He was barely any different from the man she remembered. The same thick sideburns, the same smirk, the same dark eyes… though his hair was slightly lighter now, Azula noticed: the graying strands on his temples testified how stressful the war against the Northern Water Tribe had become. Nevertheless, it seemed his spirit hadn't been broken while battling fruitlessly against the only nation that remained a threat to the Fire Nation to this day. He carried himself with the very same confidence that had impressed her so easily when she had been younger…
"It really has been far too long," Zhao said, smiling and narrowing his eyes a little. "You are definitely no longer the child I remember from before I set out to the North Pole. How you've grown, Princess Azula."
"It would seem you've grown older as well, I must say," Azula replied sharply, raising her eyebrows. Zhao's hand moved instinctively to his temples, and the Princess allowed herself a malicious smirk. Getting the better of the man was nice, even if it was over something as ridiculous as graying hair. "No need to be ashamed; if anything, your hair is evidence of your hard work up north. You should feel accomplished, Admiral."
Zhao didn't miss out on the undertone of her voice. He allowed himself a small smirk regardless, even though he could tell she was mocking him. Her praise to his hard work would have been accompanied by irritation had he succeeded in conquering the Northern Water Tribe, yet it was accentuated by malice and amusement instead. It barely surprised Zhao that she would act this way, but he certainly hadn't expected her to be so antagonistic towards him right away. She had been rather clever as a child, but her intellect seemed to have sharpened further over time. It was something to be cautious of.
"I would be, if only I had triumphed," said Zhao, sighing. "Nevertheless, I'm certain your father will grant me another opportunity to return North, this time with a much larger force to command."
"Oh? Did he promise you that?" Azula inquired, frowning a little and looking at Zhao with curiosity. Ozai had failed to mention this to her in their last encounter…
"He understands that, at our current strength, the fight up North isn't favorable for us," said Zhao. "But you needn't fret: I have no doubts that the Fire Nation, the nation of progress, will be able to produce new weapons to aid us in the complete annihilation of our enemies."
"Naturally," said Azula, folding her arms over her chest as she frowned a little more.
She didn't miss out on the fact that Zhao was taking in her figure now that they had fallen silent. A subtle smirk danced on his lips and Azula felt the urge to strike him. He had no right to look at her in any way…
"You are truly a woman grown, Princess," he pointed out, smiling. "The spitting image of your mother, if I may say so…"
"You already have, regardless if you should or shouldn't have. To be honest, the words seemed to have lost all meaning by now, since every single nobleman has made sure to repeat the same phrase through the night," said Azula, with a dry grin. "Quite surprisingly, I cannot remember my mother ever wearing her hair as I have mine tonight, let alone wearing a dress like this one…"
"It suits you, I must say," said Zhao. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"Thanks, I suppose," she said, not knowing how to reply to his compliment despite having spent the entire night thanking everyone else quite politely when they praised her. "I'd like to extend you the same courtesy, but for some reason you chose to wear your armor instead of clothes befitting the occasion…"
"Oh, I would have worn something more adequate, but my return home has been rather hectic," said Zhao. "Settling down again has proven more complicated than I anticipated. I had trouble finding proper clothes through everything I owned and everything I brought back from the frontlines. But seeing how I'm a military figure, wearing my armor to these events is perfectly acceptable regardless."
"Of course," said Azula.
"It is quite good to see you, though. I hadn't known if we would cross paths again any time soon," Zhao said, smiling again. "Upon my arrival to the Capital you were nowhere around… away on a journey, from what I heard."
"Indeed," said Azula, her heartbeats picking up speed suddenly. She looked at Zhao carefully: the topic of the Gladiator Business was something she was rather wary to approach when it came to him.
"It's a pity I took longer at sea than I planned," he said, changing the subject to Azula's surprise. "Else I would have reunited with you before you took off, and perhaps witnessed your ceremony myself. Your father is most proud of what you accomplished. Flames of multiple colors… it's unprecedented, isn't it?"
"As far as I'm aware of, it is," Azula said, her head held high.
"It mustn't be all that complicated for you, though, a firebending prodigy who already could bend blue flames," said Zhao, chuckling. "Surely the rest of the colors came just as easily."
"It doesn't quite work that way, actually," said Azula.
"You'll have to demonstrate it to me one day, then," he said, with his usual smirk on his face.
The time she had spent far from the man had driven her to think that maybe she had exaggerated things when it came to Zhao, that she was making an unnecessary fuss over what she'd overheard… but the tone of his voice was as infuriating as she remembered it. It was just as demeaning, just as mocking, just as condescending, just as unnerving…
And perhaps it was even worse by now. Back when he had left she had only been a child, it was true, barely thirteen years old. He had looked down on her for that reason as well… but now he might see her differently. He wouldn't treat her as a child anymore, it seemed, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing, despite how direly Azula had wanted to see that change back in her younger years. The fact was that she had been subjected to leers of this kind before, and that it would be Zhao doing it now, was more disturbing than she expected it to be.
"No need to look so apprehensive, Princess," said Zhao, amused. "You're looking at me as though I were a stranger to you."
"It has been a long time, Admiral," she said, curtly. "I'm afraid we're practically strangers at this point in time."
"You could say that, I suppose," said Zhao, smirking. "But in truth, I doubt either of us changed as much as you think, Princess."
"You'd say that," she said, reflecting his grin now. "But from what I heard, the powerful Admiral Zhao actually lost an Agni Kai against my brother while at sea… the Zhao I remember wouldn't possibly have failed to beat my brother in combat, now, would he?"
Zhao's confidence seemed to freeze for an instant as his grin grew a little stiff. Azula's own, on the contrary, became more sincere upon his reaction.
"I should have expected Ozai to tell you about that," he admitted, as Azula laughed softly. "It seems you are as close to your father as ever."
"Closer, if anything," Azula said. "Since you were at sea he needed someone else to serve as his confidant…"
"And you earned the role, it seems," said Zhao, raising his eyebrows. "Why, congratulations, I suppose. Fortunately, you can rest from that tiresome role by now, since I'm back…"
"I'm fairly certain my father can have two close advisors, Admiral," said Azula. "Or is this some sort of unspoken competition for my father's attention?"
"Of course not," said Zhao, chuckling at that. "I only meant that you have been rather busy the past years, from what I've heard… I thought you would be grateful to have one weight lifted off your shoulders."
"It's no weight whatsoever, Admiral," Azula stated. "Being trusted by my father is an honor, not a bother."
"I did not say otherwise, Princess," said Zhao, his defensive behavior making Azula smirk slightly. "Wouldn't dream of it. But seeing how you were tasked with capturing the Rough Rhinos, performing a firebending ceremony and dismantling a potential conspiracy in Ba Sing Se, you clearly deserve some time to yourself."
"How very thoughtful of you," said Azula, smiling. "But that is for my father to decide and not me. I would most certainly put my very life on the line for the Fire Nation if he asked me to…"
"Let us all hope he doesn't demand something so unreasonable from you," said Zhao, smirking. "Leave such matters to the lesser soldiers, Princess. A leader of your category shouldn't ever consider giving up her life so readily."
"Ah? Shouldn't I?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. Again, she sensed that hint of condescendence in his voice…
"Of course not. You may think it's noble, but it's foolish," said Zhao, smirking. "There is no need for you to put your life on the line as you did during that ridiculous scuffle with the White Lotus…"
"It seems my father got you up to date with everything," Azula said, frowning slightly. Just how much did Zhao know about that occasion? Had her father disclosed who had been the actual hero of that night…?
"I'd hope so," said Zhao, chuckling. "If he has missed out on anything I'll have serious trouble keeping up. Clearly, nobody in the Fire Nation has been as busy as you, Princess."
"It seems so," said Azula, with a small grin of satisfaction.
"Your father is rather proud of the woman you've become. He has reason to be, of course," said Zhao, nodding. "Your achievements are remarkable, truly."
"Thank you, Admiral," Azula said, bowing her head towards him as she reminded herself not to take the man's compliments seriously. "Welcome home."
"It is my pleasure to be back," he said, smiling at her just as someone cried out his name.
"Ah, Admiral! There you are!" Zhen exclaimed, approaching them through the masses of people assembled in the room. It seemed he had separated from his wife and son for the time being. "I wasn't sure that you'd arrived, sir!"
"Well, now you are," Zhao said, turning towards him. "And we happen to have certain matters to discuss, Zhen, pertaining the properties you managed during my absence…"
"Oh? Is anything amiss?" Zhen asked, surprised.
"It's precisely what I hoped to find out," said Zhao, with an unpleasant grin. Zhen raised an eyebrow and Azula shrugged towards him.
"Well, since you two seem to have matters to discuss, I shall be taking my leave from you, Admiral," she said, and Zhao nodded.
"May you have a pleasant evening, Princess. Hopefully we'll have more chances to catch up through the night…"
"Don't have high expectations for that, Admiral. Balls tend to unfold in unexpected ways," Azula said, smiling and walking off without another word.
She felt Zhao's gaze following her as she left, but it didn't matter much. Despite her fears, it hadn't been as bad as she had initially expected. She had handled the situation well enough as it was… of course, the Admiral's comments and condescending behavior had been as bothersome as ever, and the way he had gazed at her was disturbing, despite she had been looked at in the same way by all sorts of men throughout the night. Yet it was Zhao… it was different altogether just because of this. He wasn't just any ordinary man, for better or for worse.
Though what bothered her the most was the way he had avoided the topic of the Gladiator League altogether. If her father had boasted about everything she had accomplished to date, surely he wouldn't have forgotten to mention her success in the Gladiator League, especially when her participation in it was the very reason she had been away when Zhao arrived. He had avoided it far too carefully for it to be an accident... he surely knew of it. Why didn't he say a word about it, though? It was ominous, to say the least…
She sighed deeply as she approached the food table, hoping that perhaps a bite or two would ease her growing anxiety. Perhaps a drink would help too, but surely not one of the same quality as the one she'd had a few days ago. Even saying there had been any quality to it afforded that baijiu far more credit than it deserved…
She wasn't surprised when she noticed someone in black and blue clothes approach her just as she reached the table. She would have smiled at him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it after the conversation she had just had, or rather, the part of the conversation that had gone amiss. It seemed that what she had dreaded, the very reason why she had stopped looking up to Zhao in the first place, was still exactly as it had been since before the man had left to the North Pole…
"Heeey… finally free from all the salutations, are you?" Sokka asked, trying to sound casual and failing to do so. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"Probably not, but I'll take a break from it while I can," she told him, with a curt smile as she looked at the dishes with surprise. "I'm amazed, I must admit. I'd have expected you to have eaten everything by now, table included and everything…"
"Hey, now, why would I eat the table?" Sokka asked, looking at her in utter confusion as Azula smirked.
"Of course that's what you'd object to, and not to the fact that you're enough of a glutton to finish all these dishes…" she said, though she frowned now as she detailed the food on the table. "… Or maybe you actually decided to just stick your fingers into them to sample all the food?"
"W-wait, no! You've got it wrong!"
"Way to prove you're civilized, huh?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows judgmentally as Sokka blushed.
"I didn't poke everything, she did!" he exclaimed, pointing at Toph, who was currently in the process of licking a plate clean. Azula flinched at the sight. "So if someone's not civilized, it's Toph, not me!"
"Well, that's an understatement, huh?" said Azula, looking at the girl with disgust. "Could you please stop being revolting, Dirt Worm?"
"Only if you quit being stingy, Spicy," Toph retorted, surprising Azula with the harshness in her voice. "It's not like you're going to be eating off this plate anyways."
"I don't think anyone else will be, in fact," Azula said, skeptically. "I'll have to order the servants to get rid of it after what you've done."
"Pfft, quit overreacting. You royals are all the same…" said Toph, and Azula frowned.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" she asked, and that was Sokka's cue to jump between them. He certainly didn't want another crisis to arise because of Toph's bluntness, especially not between the earthbender and Azula.
"Say, who was that guy you were talking to?" he asked Azula, blurting out the first thing he could think of. And he successfully changed the subject, for the Princess froze at the question, to Sokka's surprise.
"Uh, him?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "Well, that… that was Admiral Zhao, as a matter of fact."
Sokka blinked a few times and Azula simply stared back at him as he looked at her blankly.
"Sorry, uh… is that supposed to mean something to me?" he asked and she snorted.
"I never did tell you much about him, now, did I?" she said.
"Should you have?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, I think I've heard the name before, maybe, but I can't remember when…"
"Well, you're bound to hear it more often from now on," Azula said, staring at the table pointedly as she sought a dish of any kind that had escaped Toph's claws. She spotted the drinks soon enough, though, and that seemed an even better idea now that Sokka was asking these questions.
It seemed ominous that Azula would choose to have a drink instead of answering him, especially considering how her last drinking session had developed. Sokka raised an eyebrow but he soon smiled when she picked the very drink he had enjoyed before Toph's spectacular bout with Zuko only brief moments ago.
"Oh, I had one of those just a while ago," he said, as Azula lifted the drink to her lips and closed her eyes in sheer bliss. "It was pretty nice, I'll admit. Has a nice taste to it."
"I'm not surprised to hear you say that," said Azula. "As I've discovered, you'll drink just about anything…"
"Hey, now, you had the baijiu as well, I didn't press you other than with the first round," Sokka clarified, but Azula's glare was harsh enough for him to shut up with an awkward smile. "B-but I know this is much nicer, yeah… it's the lychee wine you'd mentioned, right?"
"That's right," she said, finishing the drink and sighing as she felt its smooth rush flowing within her: it was a liquor on a completely different league from what they'd had on the ship.
"So… you're just not going to talk about that guy?" Sokka asked, and Azula's eyebrow twitched. "I mean, if you don't want to, it's fine, I'm just curious… you seemed to spend longer talking to him than everyone else, so I just thought…"
"Uh, hey, guys…" a shy voice interrupted him, making Sokka fall silent immediately as Azula turned to look at whoever had spared her from talking about Zhao just now. To her surprise, it was no one other than Suki. "Have you seen Zuko?"
"Not really," Azula admitted. "Not since the ball began anyways…"
"Zuko?" Sokka repeated, a knowing grimace spreading over his features. Toph huffed not too far from where they stood.
"Yeah, I thought I'd seen him come here just a while ago," said Suki, smiling a little. "Do you know where he went?"
"Ah, where he went? W-well, that's a bit hard to say, you know…?" Sokka said, his eyes widening slightly as he scratched the back of his neck. Both Azula and Suki looked at him in confusion.
"Hard to say why?" Suki asked.
"Do you or do you not know where he went?" Azula asked simply, looking at him skeptically. Sokka gulped.
"Actually, I don't, but he was here a while ago, sure thing," he said, gulping. "It's just…"
"What happened?" Suki asked, smiling awkwardly. Perhaps there had been a mishap of sorts: she didn't think it was unlikely for Sokka and Zuko to have argued over something foolish even in the middle of such a fancy event.
It was easy to imagine that things could have escalated, that perhaps Sokka had flung a dish at Zuko and the Prince was now in his rooms changing. The thought sent blood rushing up Suki's cheeks as her imagination went wilder than it should have. She definitely hadn't expected to think of any man in this way again, not after what she'd been through… but Zuko was different from everyone else she had ever known. She wasn't sure she was ready to call this love yet, but so much as thinking about the man was enough to bring a smile to her face. She couldn't wait to have another chance to be with him in private, especially now that things were working out for the best between them…
"Well, truth to be told, things were just fine but then he, uh…"
"He had an argument with me," Toph declared, surprising both Azula and Suki. "And so he stormed off because he can't take it when people bite back, Fartbrain he is…"
"Fart…?" said Suki before shaking her head and frowning a little. "Well, where did he go, then? If you two argued, then…"
"He left the hall, no idea where he went next because with all these people it's hard to keep track on the vibrations of whoever I'm familiar with," Toph stated. "But at least he stormed off towards the door, if that's any use for you."
"I guess it's some use. Thanks, I suppose," said Suki, though she frowned anyways. It seemed strange for Zuko to get into serious arguments right after what had happened between them…
"You're going to look for him?" Sokka asked, and Suki nodded.
"I'll find out where he ran off to," she said, smiling a little. "Thanks anyways. I'll be back in…"
The girl's words were lost in the sudden wave of silence that took over the room, startling the four at the food table. The people within the hall backed away from the door, the musicians stopped playing, and the couple that was dancing stopped on their motions immediately and scrambled out of the way.
"Introducing Fire Lord Ozai, sovereign of our glorious nation, and host of the Royal Ball!" a herald called out, and on cue, everyone within the crowd bowed down, fist in hand, as they performed the appropriate reverence for their Lord.
Unsurprisingly, the only one who had enough common sense to bow down just as everyone else had, amongst the three slaves near Azula, was Suki. Toph merely set her licked plate aside and Sokka watched with a raised eyebrow, staring at Ozai and detailing the man's fancy getup before he felt a hand on the back of his neck, pushing him down brusquely.
"Ow!" he exclaimed, glaring at Azula, who returned the glare as she pulled Toph down as well with her free hand. "What the hell…?!"
"Just shut up and stay down for like ten seconds, will you?" Azula snapped.
"Dammit, Jewel…" Toph growled, struggling slightly against Azula's grip, but the Princess proved strong enough to keep the earthbender in place.
Sokka pouted, knowing well enough that Azula was forcing him to bow to avoid trouble, but he didn't feel like bowing before Ozai regardless. He took pride in never being the compliant and obedient slave that could be kept in place by any Fire Nation traditions… so while he understood Azula's reasons, he couldn't help but feel slightly angry. The next time a gathering of the sort happened, he would make sure not to be around when the Fire Lord showed up, if that was what he needed to do to avoid performing reverences the man didn't deserve.
"Rise," Ozai declared, and everyone within the room stood straight again. Azula released both Sokka and Toph from her grip and breathed out in relief. At least she had avoided a potential problem from brewing over these two and their lack of common sense…
The Fire Lord progressed through the room and now stood close to the dancing area. Everyone watched him, naturally, expectant of the speech he was bound to deliver. Sokka folded his arms over his chest and glared in Ozai's direction, an eyebrow raised. Toph huffed and rested against the table, wondering whether Zuko had talked to his father about what she had told him or not…
Suki was stunned by the sight of the regal man, though: she couldn't help but notice just how much he resembled his son. Perhaps it wasn't until that moment that she acknowledged, fully, that the Prince she had become so attached to was the Fire Lord's firstborn. Yet where Zuko's skin was damaged, Ozai's was flawless. And where Zuko's eyes were often warm, his emotions plain to see, Ozai's own were cold, arrogant and unreadable. He stood amongst his subjects proudly, his head held high, his golden, five-pronged hairpiece before his small bun of hair, the flowing robes he wore opulent and elegant just as his daughter's. But even Azula was humble next to this man, Suki thought, and humble was an adjective nobody would ever use to describe the Fire Nation Princess. Ozai's countenance showed superiority, pride… he was terrifying, Suki realized. She was shivering before she knew it, just by being in the presence of the most powerful man in the world, the man that ruled the Fire Nation, the man responsible for the destruction of the Earth Kingdom and the attacks on Suki's very own hometown…
"Welcome, everyone, to this Royal Ball," Ozai said, each word echoing powerfully through the room. The steel in his voice seemed to suggest that he wasn't quite in a welcoming mood, but he carried on with his speech all the same. "As it is every year, I am pleased to host this grand event for the nobility, as the closing event for our nation's grand festivals. You honor me with your presence here tonight."
Sokka raised an eyebrow, wondering if anyone in this room would believe those words. Something in Ozai's attitude right now made him think that the man actually just wanted everyone else to disappear from sight as soon as possible…
"It has been a most fruitful week, full of delightful surprises for us all," he said, with a smile that seemed ironic more than anything. "Amongst them, the return of our esteemed Admiral Zhao, who has sailed back from the North. He has been relieved in the warfront by General Bujing, who shall take command of the navy up north while the Admiral takes a well-deserved respite from his duties."
A polite round of applause followed Ozai's words, and Zhao, who stood out at the center of the room right now, smirked and bowed his head in Ozai's direction. Azula watched him pointedly, wondering just what he planned to do with this break he had been granted. It was unlikely that Bujing would succeed where Zhao had failed, but was Zhao really hoping to gather more weapons in order to attack the North? The idea ate away at Azula, for she wasn't too sure of what that idea entailed…
Busy as she was staring at Zhao, she lost track of what her father was talking about briefly, and she was caught completely off guard when she focused on his speech anew:
"… For outstanding deeds may seem their own reward, but they shall not go ignored as long as I am Fire Lord," he said, smirking. "After having served our nation in ways that no other prince in history could have boasted of, after successfully thwarting threats to our powerful nation and after proving capable of bending in ways unrecorded so far in history, it is my utmost honor and pride to call Princess Azula my daughter."
It took Azula every bit of her willpower not to let her confusion show in her face. Just why was he talking about her in this manner? That did not seem right at all. She kept a straight and stern face as she noticed people were turning to stare at her. She couldn't afford losing her mask of perfection just now, regardless of how puzzled she was by her father's actions…
Yet that confusion was cleared up for her when she remembered their last conversation, mere moments before Ozai revealed why he was boasting of his daughter right now. The blood drained her face as she realized that he wouldn't keep his word, no matter if the stability of their nation might hinge on it…
"Henceforth, I am delighted to announce, before you all, that our remarkable Princess Azula shall no longer be known by said title from this night onwards," Ozai stated, his golden eyes meeting Azula's as understanding showed in her face. "From his day forth, and until the day of my demise, she shall be known as Crown Princess to our glorious nation."
Sokka's eyes widened and he looked at Azula with astonishment, his jaw dropping. Everyone else turned to look at her as well, but only Sokka noticed that she shuddered just as her father pronounced the words 'Crown Princess'.
It came as no surprise, though, that she would smile now, a satisfied smile to cover up her confusion, her disbelief, her concerns about this premature naming, about this promotion she wasn't certain she should have been granted yet. Nothing else in her behavior betrayed what was going through her mind, and even the shudder could have been perceived as a reaction of pure ecstasy, but Sokka suspected that was not at all what it was…
Another round of applause shook the room, but this time it was far more enthusiastic than before. Sokka glanced about himself, finding many people, familiar or not, smiling joyfully at Azula's new appointment as Crown Princess. The Admiral she had been speaking to was looking at her with raised eyebrows, apparently amused. Sokka gulped at that, unsure of the meaning of the man's stare…
Despite the general enthusiasm by this latest announcement, though, some people hadn't taken it quite so well, the two other girls near the food table amongst them. Toph had frozen cold, standing up straight now. Had her words gotten Zuko disowned? No, it couldn't have been that… surely that wasn't it, now, was it?
Suki's reaction was quite similar to hers, but all she could do was frown in confusion. Why would Azula be named Crown Princess…? Why so suddenly? And just now, when Zuko had been the happiest she had seen him… this revelation would destroy him. But where was he? Did he know this would happen? Had someone warned him beforehand…? The thought felt like swallowing blocks of ice, as she realized that Zuko's biggest concern at the time being surely wasn't related to his relationship with a slave…
"In order to celebrate this grand moment in Fire Nation history, I shall be joined by our new Crown Princess in a dance. I hope all of you will continue to enjoy this evening," Ozai said. He bore a satisfied smirk on his face as people clapped at his words again.
"Azula…" Sokka called out, but the Princess stepped away from him in a heartbeat, striding towards her father, who awaited her at the dancing area.
Ozai's smile was full of malice, and Azula was quick to recognize it as the same smirk that had graced his face when he had been granted the very hairpiece that crowned his head tonight. She had smirked as well that fateful day, feeling as though an accomplice to his ploys, regardless of not having had a direct hand in helping her father to obtain the throne… tonight she felt less than elated about this, though she smirked still. It felt as though she had been kicked in the stomach, not so much because of being declared Crown Princess, but because Ozai had ignored her request. He had done as he had seen fit, as he always did… her warnings had served no purpose. And in the process, he had surely granted her enemies in places where she'd had allies, if only briefly. This title was something she had worked for ever since she was a child, and reaching it was meant to be a joyful occasion… but it wasn't. It couldn't be, at least not right now. Not while she knew that even her most reasonable requests would be overridden by her father's demands if so was his desire.
Ozai nodded in her direction, and Azula breathed deeply as the music began. As she had done during the ceremony, she flowed move to move flawlessly as her father mirrored her slow and careful movements, right in front of her. Repeating the dance routine she had learned as a child in school was almost a second nature by now, and doing so with her father was quite easy too, since she had always been his first dance partner in every Ball ever since he had become Fire Lord. Her exterior, as it was meant to be, remained flawless. The same couldn't be said for the turmoil within her mind, regrettably.
She remained oblivious to everything outside of the dance, ignoring all the smiles, all the whispers and the frowns. She wanted to escape, to hide away if for the night, in order to avoid her brother, her uncle, her father, Admiral Zhao, everyone… she wasn't up for this, not anymore. Not after this announcement…
Thunderous clapping followed the end of their dance, as Azula and Ozai bowed to one another. A plump noblewoman approached the Fire Lord then, and with a smirk he nodded, allowing her to be his next partner. Knowing her part to play in her father's spectacle was over, Azula backed away from the dancing area, but she didn't get too far before she was showered with congratulations coming from all directions. Praises, compliments to her accomplishments, her beauty, her well-deserved new status… she smiled and nodded at them all, uttering no words as she felt her mask was threatening to fall. All she wanted right now was a moment alone, a chance to compose her thoughts, to reassemble herself before she fell apart in front of everyone…
"Now that was unexpected," she heard next, as someone blocked her path, stopping her from making her way through the masses. Azula raised her gaze to find Admiral Zhao again.
The condescending smile on his face was almost the last straw by now. It came as no surprise, but it angered her beyond belief all the same. Until then she had been confused, stunned silent, blown away by her father's actions… but now that Zhao stood before her, all her mixed feelings seemed to gather and morph into nearly uncontrollable rage.
"Ozai had told me he meant to proclaim you Crown Princess, but I did not expect it to happen so soon, let alone this way," Zhao stated. "But naturally, congratulations are in order. It seems you deserved it."
"I appreciate that, Admiral," Azula stated, with a cutting grin. "If you'd excuse me, though…"
"I'd actually meant to ask if perhaps we ought to take the next dance," he asked, smiling. "I know you accustomed to only dancing with your father, but surely…"
"Truth to be told, I'd rather decline your request, as rude as that might be," Azula said, sighing. "It would seem my shoes are not fit for more than one dance…"
"Is that so, truly?" said Zhao, raising his eyebrows. "Well, then, perhaps you can don your usual boots, if you still wear those. With as long a dress as you're wearing, nobody will notice, and you shall be free to dance again."
"That is very thoughtful of you," Azula said, raising her eyebrows. "But…"
"It's merely one dance," said Zhao, looking at her with a grin. "Surely the only one we shall have, too. You might be married by next year, after all, and by then you will only be meant to dance with your husband, so…"
The words were as though he had twisted the dagger that her father's announcement had driven through her chest. Her brow drew together slowly, dangerously, to the point where Zhao fell silent, perhaps by instinct, upon noticing that he had probably said the last words Azula wanted to hear.
"Well, that is to say, it's bound to happen," said Zhao, with an insecure grin. "No need to look at me that way, Princess. I'm merely…"
"I quite appreciate your kind offer, Admiral. I'm rather ashamed that I've refused you so rudely," she said, through gritted teeth. The steel in her eyes was such that Zhao found himself unwilling to press her on any further. "So I'll ask that you forgive me for excusing myself so suddenly, but excuse myself I must. Do continue to enjoy the evening and seek another dancing partner if you're so eager to test your footing skills."
"Princess, if I've offended you in any manner…"
"Good night, Admiral," Azula said, curtly, bowing her head shortly before turning on her heels, doing her very best to don a calm façade as she held back from storming down the hall.
"Azula… Azula!" she heard a familiar female voice calling her from one side of the hall: Ty Lee, no doubt. She wanted to congratulate Azula as well, surely… but the Princess wasn't up for that right now. She didn't want to deal with most anyone at the moment.
So she made her way through the crowd and outside the room, making a point to evade the spot where she had seen Iroh last. The two people she most certainly did not want to deal with at the time were her brother and her uncle. She had no idea what an encounter with them would result in after this turn of events, so evading them would be for the best. At least until she had a chance to calm down, to talk to her father, to figure things out…
There was only one place in the Palace that might provide some solace tonight. Hopefully she would find peace there, even though she doubted she'd find any at all, in her current state of mind.
Zhao had watched Azula leave, taking notice of the girl in pink that had been calling out for her. He seemed to remember she was one of the Princess's friends from many years ago… it was odd that she would earn herself leers of many kinds from the nearby attendants to the Ball, perhaps because she wore an outlandish dress, or because she had brought an Earth Kingdom man with her to the event. Was he at least an honorary citizen? Or was he, perhaps, a slave…? That certainly would explain the glares…
"Uh, excuse me…"
An unfamiliar voice behind him startled Zhao. He turned to find a dark-skinned man in black and blue clothes, with bright cerulean eyes and a worried expression on his face. Only a glance gave away that he was a Water Tribe man, which made Zhao scowl instantly. There was virtually no reason for a Water Tribe man to be allowed into the Palace, none that Zhao would consider justified… but if everything Ozai had told him about the Princess's endeavors was true, then he wouldn't need much guesswork to clarify this savage's identity.
"Princess Azula was talking to you just now," Sokka said, frowning a little. "Could you tell me where she went?"
Zhao's eyes widened as he regarded the slave with utter contempt. Who did he think he was? How dared he speak to him? He scoffed in his direction, making Sokka flinch. It seemed, for a moment, that Zhao was about to tell him to bugger off, or that he had no place in this celebration, or to never speak to him when he was such a low-born fool… Sokka expected all three things to happen simultaneously, even, but surprisingly, Zhao said nothing.
The Admiral merely stared at Sokka with disgust, as though he had some unpleasant contagious disease, before shaking his head and walking off towards the dance floor. Sokka frowned and watched him leave: just how hard it could be for the man to answer a simple question?
Sokka had watched from a distance as Azula exchanged words with the Admiral again; he had started to make his way towards her, for he had seen how tense she was, and he had hoped to help appease her somehow… but she had disappeared just as Zuko had, moments before he could reach her. What were the odds that they might have gone to the same place? She might have meant to talk to her brother, perhaps, after what Ozai had just announced…
Sokka returned to the buffet table, his appetite uncharacteristically numbed right now. Toph still looked concerned after what had just happened, but not more than Suki did. She bit her lip and looked at Sokka worriedly. He only gave her an insecure grimace.
"I should find him," said Suki, swallowing hard, and Sokka nodded.
"It might be for the best," he told her. "Whether he knows what happened or not, he probably could use the company right now."
Suki tightened her lips into a line, nodding in agreement before walking off in Ty Lee and Haru's direction, meaning to talk to her before starting on her quest to find Zuko. Sokka frowned as he watched her go. The evening seemed to have gone downhill after Toph had argued with Zuko…
"I'm thinking Spicy might need company too," said Toph, and Sokka looked at her in confusion. "She was trying real hard to control her body just now. I don't think she's okay…"
"No, she didn't look like she was," said Sokka, gritting his teeth. "But I don't know where she went, so it might be she doesn't want to be found right now…"
"If someone's going to have a chance at helping her feel better, it's you," said Toph. "C'mon. It's not that hard to guess where she went."
Sokka raised his eyebrows before frowning with understanding. He nodded at Toph, who folded her arms over her chest again as he took off as well. The earthbender was left behind, wishing she could be as skilled at controlling her emotions as the Princess was, for if she were, she might be able to ignore the anxiety that was eating at her right now…
Sokka reached Xin Long's refuge to find one of the ground doors was ajar. He approached cautiously, glancing into the building to make sure he hadn't come to the wrong place, and indeed, he hadn't.
It seemed Azula had set aside all concerns about her dress as she sat on the filthy refuge grounds, her legs crossed and her elbows resting on her knees, as her hands held her forehead. Xin Long was sitting before her, his snout pressing against her fingers to no visible response from his rider.
"A… Azula?" Sokka whispered softly, sliding inside quietly, a frown on his face.
Azula barely reacted at first, although Xin Long looked at him and growled in acknowledgement before turning to Azula again. The Princess sighed and lifted her head, looking at Sokka from below with a frown.
"Is something the matter? If you already ate all the food there's nothing I can do about it at this point…"
"I didn't, and that's not it, Azula," he said, kneeling beside her, frowning still. "Are you okay?"
It took Azula a lot of willpower not to respond sarcastically, not to lash out to him undeservingly for his question. As she looked at him with hard eyes she realized that, of all the people in her life, he was likely the only one who wouldn't care whether she was Crown Princess or just a Princess. He wouldn't abandon her or treat her any differently for it, nor would he expect her to be forced to marry some fool just to produce heirs. Sokka was someone she could count on, he had proved it enough times by now. Despite all their problems, she found she trusted him now. Even if she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about this yet, his company was the only one she didn't feel like rejecting right away.
"I'm… well, I guess you can gather that just by looking at me, can't you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka bit his lip.
"Yeah, I guess. I just thought… I figured I'd offer you my help, if there's anything I can do to make you feel better. I can't blame you if you're overwhelmed by all this, not at all, so if I can help you out somehow, I'd gladly…"
"Would you, now?" Azula asked, rubbing her forehead.
"If you just want me to leave you alone that's fine too," Sokka said, defeated. "I'd rather not bug you. I mean…"
"Anyone's bound to bug me just now," Azula said, simply. "Surprisingly enough, though, you're not the person I'm most irritated by tonight."
"I guess that's good news for me, eh?" he said, with a weak smile. "Still…"
"Still, you're willing to do whatever might make me feel better, right?" Azula asked, and Sokka nodded. "No matter just how unreasonable it is?"
"No matter," Sokka confirmed, before doing a double-take. "Uh… wait, unreasonable how?"
"Unreasonable as in… I need to get out of here," said Azula, sighing and standing up. "I've had just about enough of keeping a straight face in front of all these nobles, of smiling politely no matter how many idiotic comments they send my way…"
"Can't blame you for that… say, how about you head out with Xin Long for a while?" Sokka suggested, rising to his feet beside her. "It's bound to help a little, if anything. You'd put a lot of distance between yourself and them that way, right?"
"Yeah… my problems sure will look smaller from up there, won't they?" she said, mostly to herself, with a hint of irony. To think she'd given Zuko advice on how to be Fire Lord only two days earlier and yet this was happening now…
"Well, you can also not do that, you don't have to listen to me if I'm being too ridiculous…"
"No, I think I'll do it," Azula said, closing her eyes, and Sokka raised his eyebrows. "But I… I don't think I'll want to come back down here until everyone's gone."
"Eh? Well, again, can't blame you for it," said Sokka, sympathetically. "Should Xin Long spend such a long time in the air, though? You might catch a cold that way…"
"No need to say that twice," Azula said, bitterly. She had no trouble remembering her last cold, and just how it had spawned…
"Maybe… well, this is just a thought, but you could come to my place for a while," Sokka suggested. "If you want to get away from this, well, it's about as far from the Palace as can be. I promise not to bother you too much if you don't want to be bothered, and Xin Long can bring you back home whenever you feel like it. In the meantime, though, my place would be yours. How about it?"
"Your place is mine indeed, seeing how I'm the one who bought it," Azula said, and Sokka froze upon realizing she was right about that. Surprisingly, she smirked at him after that. Well, if making fun of him would cheer her up, Sokka would allow her to do it gladly…
"Well, you know what I meant," he said, with an uncomfortable grin.
"Truth be told… it's not a bad offer, gladiator," said Azula, looking at him earnestly. "Though saying I can come back here whenever I feel like it… I won't feel like it until the Ball ends, and that's bound to be at dawn, knowing how all other Royal Balls usually develop."
"Huh… if you want to stay till dawn then you probably should pack your sleeping gown," said Sokka, chuckling, until he froze upon realizing how inappropriate that might be. "Uh, well, I'm just messing with you. If you'd rather not come because it's not convenient, that's fine too, I just figure…"
"If I'd stay until dawn, maybe I should have some sleep at your place after all," Azula said, looking at Sokka with raised eyebrows. "So, the only question to be asked… is whether I can stay at your place for the rest of the night or not."
Sokka's eyes widened and he looked at her in confusion. That was definitely not a question he had foreseen.
"Uh… wow. I guess you could, but… are you sure about that? I mean, I'd love to have you, but… don't you think it could cause trouble? If people knew you'd come to stay over with me…"
"Well, then, as long as nobody realizes where I went, I should be fine," said Azula, with a shrug. "It's not the first time I've disappeared from a Royal Ball anyways. They'll do just fine without me."
"Oh… well, if that's how it is…" said Sokka, biting his lip before smiling. "It's fine if that's what you want to do. As I said, anything I can do to help you, I'll gladly do it."
"Good. I meant to hold you to that," said Azula, nodding.
It didn't take them long to saddle Xin Long and to set out of the refuge through one of the topmost doors, hoping that doing so would serve to camouflage Xin Long in the dark night. Fireworks were being launched through the city, which came as no surprise, since today was the last day of the Fire Nation festivals. The last fireworks of the festivals' week usually relieved Azula, since they meant everything would return to normal in the morning… but what was normal at this point? Her life had taken the most drastic change in a single night, whether she liked it or not. And it still remained to be seen whether it would be a good change or a bad one…