Chapter 70
Yue absolutely loved her time at the Omashu tournament. Not only was she in the best Pai Sho form of her life, she was probably the happiest she could ever remember being. They were all doing well at the Pai Sho board, and now at the end of the fifth round, Yue, Azula and Katara still hadn't dropped any points, five wins each to their name. Their closest pursuer, contrary to all predictions, was neither Toph nor Teo, but Kori Morishita. Kori had won her first four games, a clear statement of intent, but then she had faced Yue in the fifth round. It had been a fairly tough back and forth trading of punches, but Yue had prevailed in the end, which was a big reason why she felt so elated. It felt like she and her two best friends were cruising towards the three medals with nobody capable of stopping them. The only thing that remained was to sort out the order among the three of them.
Still, Yue didn't want to dismiss the other challengers prematurely. Really, the only other threats to their supremacy could come from Toph or Teo. After a disastrous start, Toph had recovered with three straight wins and was half a point behind Teo and Kori. Still, despite Toph's results improving, Yue and her friends were in agreement that her level of play was still below what Toph had showed in the past. She was playing distracted, and so was Teo, which strongly hinted at some kind of relationship between the two.
Toph had kept her word and had showed up to practice with them a few times. However, despite how strongly Yue and Azula had told Katara to respect Toph's privacy, Katara's misguided good intentions had gotten the better of her and she just hadn't been able to stop herself, proceeding to needle Toph with some leading questions. As soon as Toph had realized where the conversation was being steered, she had simply stood up and walked away. Toph was clearly refusing to discuss her private life and Katara's savior complex was having a hard time accepting the fact that Toph didn't need Katara to save her the same way she had saved Azula and Yue.
On her part, Yue understood Toph perfectly well, and she was patiently trying to explain their younger friend's reasoning to Katara. If Toph was indeed seeing Teo, and they were all firmly convinced of it by this point, there was no way that Lao Beifong would accept a paraplegic boy from a relatively poor family and with no upper-class pedigree as an acceptable match for his daughter. Toph probably didn't want any rumors of a possible relationship leaking to her father, which was why she was keeping the truth even from her closest friends. And even if they had already guessed the truth, Yue felt that they should leave it to Toph to make it public once she was ready, instead of confronting her with their suspicions. Azula was firmly on her side in this, and between the two of them, they appeared to have won Katara over.
Just hanging out with Azula and Katara had been amazing so far. Yue truly loved her two best friends and the bond they had forged felt so special. Yes, she was dating Ty Lee now, and she really enjoyed this new relationship of hers. Ty was a bit of a wicked devil between the sheets and they were definitely having a lot of fun together. However, they hadn't yet built the kind of emotional connection like Yue shared with Katara and Azula, and Yue really wanted that in her life. They had gone through so much together during the past couple of years, and the love they held for each other felt deeply special. Yue didn't want to compare it to her feelings for Ty Lee, however, because they were just so very different. She simply hoped that her bond with Ty Lee would also grow and become very serious, and it seemed as if they both wanted that.
Of course, initially, Yue had enjoyed this close bond only with Katara. They had come very close to having a proper romantic relationship before Yue had ruined everything. While she and Azula had been very close and really liked each other – Yue had even kissed Azula and thoroughly enjoyed the experience – Azula had never quite opened to her the way she had opened up to Katara. And Yue hadn't actually expected Azula to ever open to her, but after Yue had come to live with them in Ba Sing Se, their relationship had deepened. After Yue had made it abundantly clear that she was no longer seeking a romantic relationship with Katara, Azula had started to entrust her with more and more emotionally sensitive matters and showing her vulnerability. To have someone who found it notoriously hard to trust others suddenly opening up to her, well, it meant the world to Yue. She was perfectly willing to admit that she loved both Katara and Azula, even if she was with Ty Lee. It was fortunate that her girlfriend didn't feel threatened by Yue's bond with the two other girls, and Ty seemed to understand where she was coming from. Yue knew that there was a part of Ty Lee that would always be in love with Azula, and that was fine with Yue.
After Katara and Azula had finally gotten together in November, Yue had expected a rather explosive consummation of their relationship after they both had been denying themselves for so long. It had then surprised Yue how slowly the two girls had been taking things. Yue had actually asked Katara about it a few months ago. Katara had told her that taking things slow had been a conscious decision they had made together. Katara and Azula were also both on antidepressants, and the medication probably had some mild side effects of affecting their sex drive. The two of them were definitely having sex and enjoying it, but they were simply not going crazy about it. And it meant that during the tournament, Yue was receiving a lot of invitations for a triple sleepover in Katara's room, and those were always a great deal of fun, especially when compared to sleeping all alone in her own room. Of course, Yue always made sure to ask if Katara and Azula truly didn't want time just to themselves, but most of the time it had been made crystal clear to Yue that both Azula and Katara wanted her to stay with them.
Certainly, the amount of physical affection between the three of them seemed to be increasing, while also feeling more and more natural. Yue often wondered just where it might lead and how far she herself would be willing to go. Yue had no idea how much and whether Azula or Katara had even thought about that, or did they simply act in a way that felt natural. There were things that Yue definitely was not interested in, and that was doing anything that could be construed as cheating on Ty Lee. She was done making dubious decisions in her love life, and she had sworn to herself and to Ty to be fully transparent in all of her dealings. She knew that Ty Lee was perfectly fine with her cuddling and hugging with Katara and Azula, in fact, Ty Lee often did all of that herself, mostly with Azula. But Yue didn't necessarily know how far Ty Lee's acceptance stretched, and even if she had come to realize that her girlfriend was not the possessively and aggressively jealous type, Yue was determined not to make any assumptions about getting away with something. She had made too many stupid mistakes in the past, and she wanted to believe that she had learned from them.
With the games of the fifth round coming to an end, Katara finally finished toying with Joo Dee before putting Long Feng's daughter out of her misery. Katara then joined Azula and Yue who had been waiting for her, admiring the way their friend had allowed Joo Dee to think that she actually had a chance to win the game, before executing a clever trap that snapped shut and left Joo Dee red-faced in bitter defeat.
"That was a bit cruel, Katara," Azula remarked as they made their way out of the theater house where the competition was being held. "I'm actually starting to feel a bit sorry for Joo Dee. We've humiliated her how many times by now?"
"Are you asking us to take it easy on the girl whose gossiping led to you suffering a horrific assault by your own father?" Katara asked, not a hint of sympathy in her steely blue eyes.
"I agree with Kat," Yue nodded with determination. "Forgive her if you want, Zula. Kat and I will keep destroying her every time we encounter her at the Pai Sho board."
"Uh, okay…" Azula managed. Her face looked more than a little flushed. "Honestly, that's kind of… uh, hot," she said, her cheeks pink from blushing.
Yue and Katara exchanged amused glances, but nothing more was said as they entered the establishment directly across the street, an amazing seafood restaurant they had discovered on their second day in Omashu and had been returning to since. A few minutes later they had been seated, but the thread of that particular conversation had been lost by then.
"So, Azula, about what Ty Lee told us yesterday," Yue began, unable to hide her grin. When she had called Ty Lee the previous evening, Yue's girlfriend had told her that Sokka had been staying at Zuko's apartment for the second night straight. Both Yue and Katara had been quite amused by Azula's reaction upon being told about this development. Azula had appeared momentarily shocked before going into full denial mode.
"I think Zula is still stuck processing the news, Yue," Katara giggled, poking her sullen looking girlfriend in the ribs.
"I still say that Ty Lee is pulling a prank on us," Azula said, frowning. "I don't know… maybe Sokka just gets too drunk to drive and he has to stay at the apartment?"
"Then he would just get a cab, Zula," Yue sighed, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, how can you be the only one who doesn't see how much Sokka and Zuko are into each other?" she wondered.
"Some people just seem to be hard-wired to ignore everything that has to do with the love life of their siblings," Katara grinned. "But I think your ignorance is kind of cute," she said, leaning in against Azula. Her girlfriend sighed, but still seemed happy to accept the gesture of affection.
"I still maintain that you two are out of your minds to believe Ty Lee's obvious prank," Azula huffed. "But if it's true, and I very much doubt it, then Zuko's timing is terrible. Now that he's as good as through to the qualifiers, he should be practicing harder than he has ever practiced in his entire life. This isn't the time to get sidetracked by foolish romance."
"Wow, Zula… so when you get through to the qualifiers, are you just going to cast me aside because you'll have no time for foolish romance?" Katara asked, sounding mildly frustrated.
Azula's cheeks immediately reddened. "Well, obviously not," she replied stiffly. "I just meant that Sokka is useless when it comes to helping with Pai Sho. I have no doubt that once we turn pro, all three of us will make it through to the qualifiers and then we will push each other even harder in practice."
"That sounds good to me," Katara was happy to agree. "Still, I think that Zuko and Sokka can make it work. Especially if we do our best to support them," she added with a meaningful stare at Azula.
"I'm with you all the way, Kat," Yue agreed, despite Azula still appearing dubious. As far as Yue was concerned, Sokka deserved to be happy after his previous relationships had failed through little fault on his part. Perhaps swapping teams was exactly the change of scenery that Sokka needed, at least such was Yue's sincerest hope.
Azula could not remember having as much fun playing Pai Sho as she was having during the Omashu finals. Mentally, she was in a much better place than ever before and there was very little to stress about which meant that her focus on the game remained razor sharp. Hanging out with Katara and Yue all the time was doing wonders in keeping her relaxed and happy. Even this ridiculous rumor making the rounds about Zuko possibly getting romantically involved with Katara's brother failed to seriously annoy Azula. As a consequence, Azula's results at the Pai Sho board spoke for themselves.
She had faced her greatest challenge thus far in the sixth round, going up against Yue. In the past, Azula had never experienced great difficulties dispatching the white-haired girl from Agna Qel'a. However, she had to admit that Yue had progressed by leaps and bounds ever since coming to Ba Sing Se. The match between them had been very close, and Azula had struggled like never before against Yue. Still, well into the endgame, she had finally achieved a crucial breakthrough, managing to wear Yue out in a grueling battle of wills.
The encounter with Yue had also been difficult emotionally. It hadn't been easy to find her killer instinct and finish Yue off. Azula was by now always expecting that to be the case when she was playing Katara, with her feelings for her girlfriend making it so much harder to remain focused and ruthless. But Azula was actually taken a little by surprise about how hard it had been to think of Yue as just another opponent at the Pai Sho board. The experience simply drove the point home for Azula, the point being that she was coming to care more strongly about Yue than she had ever expected herself to care. Azula wasn't exactly sure what it all meant going forward, and the realization both thrilled and confused her.
After Yue had suffered this heartbreaking loss, Azula had expected that their friend would start to slip in the rankings. However, having enjoyed a relaxing second off day of the tournament, Yue had come back to comprehensively defeat Teo Guyuk in Round 7 before facing Katara in the next round. Normally, Azula would have expected Katara to win against Yue, or at least force a draw. Azula certainly hadn't expected the match to become the fierce affair that it had evolved into. She had found it very hard to focus on her own game with Chan, constantly looking over at the table where Yue and Katara were squaring off. Fortunately, Chan was too much of a pushover to take advantage of Azula's distracted state.
Having quickly disposed of Chan, Azula then spent the next hour observing the two most treasured people in her life trying to destroy each other at the Pai Sho board, the viewing experience making Azula highly agitated. She had felt deeply conflicted about who to support. Of course, Katara was her girlfriend, so she was supposed to be on Katara's side, but when it came to the tournament standings, Azula most certainly would have benefitted far more from Yue's victory. Azula settled on a compromise of cheering for a draw between the two Water Tribe girls. She didn't get her wish. The game lasted more than four hours, which was extremely rare by itself. Towards the end, both Yue and Katara looked visibly exhausted, however, Katara was the first to blink and make a mistake. Yue had won an epic game that was referenced in the newspapers on the following day as the Battle for the North.
Still, even if Katara and Yue had ended up almost completely exhausting each other's mental and physical reserves, it once again failed to have any negative consequences on their play going forward. Even while obviously tired on the following day, Katara had rebounded with a victory over Kori Morishita in the ninth round, while Yue had beaten Toph, surprisingly comfortably. With Azula beating Teo in the same round, this all proved just how far ahead of everyone else Azula and the two Water Tribe girls were, especially when they were not distracted by all sorts of emotional turmoil and drama that had always been the case for Azula when she was still under the wing of her abusive father. With only two more rounds remaining, Azula was leading the tournament with 9 points out of 9, while Katara and Yue were both on 8 points. Their closest pursuers were Kori and Toph on 6 points, Teo lagging further behind with 5 out of 9. This all meant that with two rounds to play, Azula and her Water Tribe posse had already secured the entire podium for themselves. All that remained was to determine the order and ahead of her game with Katara, Azula was surging with confidence, ready to repeat her performance from two years ago when she had swept the competition aside by not dropping a single point during the entire tournament, scoring only wins.
Azula had never faced Katara in a competitive game after they had officially gotten together. As the game between them began, Azula had to concede that facing someone she knew so intimately, both emotionally and physically, came with its own challenges. It suddenly became that little bit harder to be ruthless. Azula had to really force herself to bring her best effort to the table, and Katara appeared to be facing similar struggles. They were both off to slow starts in their game, but eventually, they seemed to get over their discomfort and got back into the groove.
Before the match, Azula had been hyping herself up, really trying to focus on once again achieving the impressive feat of winning all eleven games. She wanted to put herself in the mindset where she was aggressively playing for the win, because she believed that it was the key to beating Katara. However, as their encounter progressed through the middle-game, a cautious and tentative affair, Azula ended up falling prey to the mistake she had been so determined to avoid. Azula was well aware that a draw would be enough for her to secure the tournament win. Given how Toph had played in the tournament thus far, Azula felt confident about beating the younger girl in the final round. But Azula also knew that trying to play for a draw with Katara was simply asking for trouble. And yet, Azula was struggling to pull herself out of this dangerous mindset, especially as the game followed a tranquil, almost sleepy pattern.
And then, of course, Katara suddenly turned on the heat, having successfully lured Azula into this placid, serene feeling of inevitable draw. As Katara began to develop her tiles more actively, daringly sacrificing some of her pieces with the intent to gain initiative, Azula was left scrambling. Trying to readjust strategy on the fly was never an easy task, and Katara had disguised her intentions very well. Azula somehow managed to wrap her brain around this new reality on the board, but by the time she regained her footing, Azula's position had deteriorated severely. Azula then tried various attempts to counterattack, but Katara saw them for what they truly were, a distraction. Her girlfriend simply decided to ignore Azula's counter-play and instead went straight for the jugular. Seething in annoyance at having her perfect record broken, Azula stopped the timing clock half a dozen moves later.
"Ugh," she grunted as they shook hands, Katara beaming with joy. "Nice bluff," Azula managed a compliment. Katara had deceived her well, but honestly, much of this defeat was due to her own complacency and she knew it.
"Sorry, but I'm not going to hide that I really enjoyed beating you," Katara couldn't stop grinning. Azula was unable to remain upset for too long. She loved the sight of her girlfriend being so happy too much.
"You don't need to hide it," Azula shrugged. "It was a deserved win." Katara smiled brightly at her as Yue caught up with them, having defeated Kei Lo a good while ago and then observing Azula facing off against Katara with bated breath.
"Wow, that was… pretty intense," Yue looked almost more excited than either Azula or Katara. "I thought you were going to play out a draw!"
"But a draw didn't suit me, I needed to win," Katara pointed out. "Did you think I would go easy on my girlfriend?" she grinned. "Yue, you've told me in the past how I needed to become more ruthless."
"Yes, but I almost didn't believe that you would take my advice to heart," Yue laughed.
"Well, it seems like she did," Azula snorted. Of course, it figured that Katara would have grown a spine just at the right moment to undercut her, and that smarted a bit. On the other hand, Azula was pretty damn proud of her girlfriend for outsmarting her. Not many people could claim to have outsmarted Azula Nakamura.
"Sorry," Katara giggled again. "Let's go and buy Azula a chocolate sundae so that she stops sulking."
"I'm not sulking!" Azula sulked. "Although a sundae does sound nice," she admitted. Shortly after, they were on their way to leave the theatre, only to run into someone familiar in the foyer.
"Hey guys!" Suki exclaimed, walking towards them and waving her hand. She was wearing skinny jeans and a rainbow patterned tie dyed hippie shirt with such vibrant colors that it almost made Azula's eyes hurt. "Hey, I know that you don't have to make yourselves available to the press until the final round, but umm, I was wondering if I could get a comment or two. I mean, that was a hell of a game, and now we're facing an unprecedented situation in the tournament."
Azula exchanged a look with her two friends. She was keen to get out of here, however, she also liked Suki and hanging out with her last year in Agna Qel'a had been pretty fun. Katara looked happy to go along with the request, only Yue seemed to be waffling a bit. Azula had been told the story of their past fling and she thought that it was a bit silly for Yue to still feel apprehensive of Suki after so much time had passed. "Fine, let's do it," Azula shrugged. "Fire the questions away, Suki."
"Umm, I was hoping that we could maybe pop upstairs and do a quick interview thing," Suki said, looking both hopeful and apologetic. "All my gear is up there. Trust me, it won't take more than five minutes."
"I think we can spare a few minutes, Suki," Katara smiled.
They made their way upstairs, where Suki had set up shop in a small booth next to the main press box. There was a lot of equipment inside the booth, and some guy was busy working on something that looked like a large and cumbersome magnetic tape recorder. Something about the young man felt oddly familiar to Azula, but she couldn't be certain as he worked with his back turned towards them. "It seems like you have some help this year," Azula remarked.
"Haha, yes, I managed to recruit a volunteer," Suki laughed. "He's also my boyfriend, so… that's my secret of recruiting."
At this point, Suki's boyfriend must have noticed their presence because he turned around to look at them. Azula recognized him instantly, gasping in surprise. "I don't believe it!" she exclaimed. "It can't be… I mean, what are the odds?"
"Oh," Jet, for it was him, blinked as he also recognized Azula. "Hey, I know you! Azula, right? Sorry, I'm so bad with the names." He then froze, frantically thinking about something. "Wait a moment… you're the Pai Sho player Suki keeps mentioning? How did I never make the connection? I had no idea you were the same Azula."
"Azula, how do you know this boy?" Katara asked, sounding tense. She seemed to be glaring. Azula felt more than a little confused about Katara's reaction. Could it be that Katara was jealous? That seemed very sudden, but Azula still found Katara's reaction very flattering.
"Well, we went on a date once," Azula replied truthfully. Katara looked incensed. Azula supposed that she should probably clarify that statement. She opened her mouth to speak up again, but Suki cut her off.
"Seriously, Jet?" Suki frowned at her boyfriend. "Why am I learning only now that you dated Azula Nakamura? I mean, I hope that dated should be in the past tense."
"We went on one date three years ago, during the tournament in Ba Sing Se," Azula explained quickly before more wrong assumptions had been made. "It didn't go well. When Jet stepped out to get popcorn and sodas for us, my father's thugs showed up and nearly killed him."
"What the fuck?" Jet looked shocked. "Those were your father's men? I thought I had gotten mixed up in some turf war without my own knowledge! Fuck me… why would your father do that? Is he insane?"
"Uh, you could say that?" Azula shrugged. She really didn't want to discuss Ozai, but she supposed that Jet had the right to know the truth. "I underestimated how far his possessive jealousy would go. I'm really sorry for endangering your life like that. I should have never agreed to go out with you."
"Yeah, so… lots to unpack there," Jet still looked freaked out. "I mean, it's not your fault. That's all on your father. Damn it, what an asshole!"
"That is a crazy story and it probably shouldn't leave this room, considering the power and influence of Ozai Nakamura," Suki said. Azula nodded in firm agreement to that. "And I'm sorry for becoming jealous, babe," she smiled at her boyfriend. "I really had no right. I mean, you're not the only person in this room I have dated in the past," she added. Suki wasn't mentioning any names, but Yue immediately betrayed herself by blushing crimson red. Azula frowned at that, her protective instincts kicking in. It just didn't feel like Suki had needed to bring that up. Yue didn't deserve to be embarrassed for something that had happened years ago.
"Wow, really?" Jet immediately noticed Yue's reaction. "Alright, you go babe, that's seriously hot."
"Ugh, shut up you cad," Suki rolled her eyes at Jet. "Anyway, is everything set up for the interview?"
"Give me a few moments, I'm having some issues with the extension cord here," Jet replied.
"So, Jet?" Azula decided to ask, having noticed that Katara no longer looked angry at her. That story about Jet getting beaten within an inch of his life had cooled everyone's jealousies almost instantly. "You probably spent a lot of time recovering from those injuries. Are you, uh… alright, physically?" she asked, needing to know that her actions hadn't led to more tragic consequences.
"Yeah, took me a couple of months to recover, but now I'm as good as new," Jet looked up from the tape recorder, winking at her. "Decided to quit as a waiter and find something a bit more rewarding, ended up working as a sound engineer in a recording studio."
"That sounds really exciting," Yue spoke up. She had kept quiet thus far, standing a little behind Azula and Katara.
"Oh, you bet it is, I get to work with some of the upcoming bands, it's all crazy fun," Jet nodded. "Also, I met Suki because of this new job. She needed some recording equipment for one of her gigs, and I was only happy to help a girl out."
"Oh, I bet you were," Azula smirked. "Suki, I don't know how you got this guy going steady with you, but I'm impressed."
"Uh, no comment," Suki blushed. "Also, I think we should be ready to proceed with the interview. Aren't we, Jet?"
"Good to go," Jet nodded, finally switching the recorder on. It made a satisfying little click, which apparently was a good sign.
"Alright," Suki said, picking up the microphone and testing it. "Right, we're looking good here. Okay, let's start with the central game of the tenth round, Katara Enuaraq versus Azula Nakamura, victory for Katara Enuaraq in fifty-two moves. Katara, many of us in the press box were surprised at how quickly your game turned. Was the slow start always a part of the plan?" Suki asked, extending the microphone towards Katara.
"Well, when you play your sparring partner of many years, they become well aware of your normal strategies," Katara replied. "I knew I had to try and surprise Azula with something new. I honestly wasn't sure if it was going to work, I mean, she is terrifically good. I'm just happy that it worked out well for me in the end."
"It certainly did," Suki asked, smiling as she turned towards Azula. "Let's hear the thoughts of Azula Nakamura regarding her game with Katara Enuaraq," she said, passing the microphone over to Azula.
"Well, there's not much to say, really," Azula replied. She definitely was not keen on discussing her defeats with the press and the public. Perhaps it was something instilled into her by Ozai, but she still couldn't stop feeling as if it would make her look weak. "Katara was the better player on this day, and her win was well earned."
"Still, Azula, between the tournaments in the Fire Fountain City and here in Omashu, you had an uninterrupted streak of twenty victories. That is an unprecedented feat at a junior level," Suki said. Azula knew that she was on a long victory streak, but she hadn't been aware that it was some kind of a record. If anything, it just made her a bit more upset that it was now broken. "You must take some pride in that," Suki added.
"It's a nice little detail, I suppose, but it's not going to mean much to me unless I manage to claim gold here in Omashu," Azula replied, trying to project almost arrogant confidence.
"That leads us to the discussion of another interesting aspect of this tournament," Suki said, having taken the microphone back from Azula. "Before the final round, Azula Nakamura, Katara Enuaraq and Yue Taqqiq are all tied on nine points out of ten. We are looking at a possible scenario where these three prodigies finish with the same score, and because their records are identical, nobody is quite certain by which criteria the eventual placing will be determined. Let's hear their predictions, starting with someone we haven't heard from yet. Yue, you are playing On Ji Takeda in the final round. What are your thoughts before the decisive round?"
"Honestly, the only thing on my mind is winning my final round game," Yue replied, bashfully at first, but then quickly regaining her confidence. "On Ji is a talented girl and I have no intentions of underestimating her. As for what happens after that, well, that's outside of my control so I won't concern myself with it."
"Well said," Suki nodded, turning back towards Katara. "Katara, you are playing Teo Guyuk in the final round. A tricky opponent, wouldn't you say?"
"Certainly, I have a lot of respect for Teo, but at the same time, I'm feeling confident," Katara replied. "I agree with what Yue said. We're simply focusing on winning our games. Working out the standings afterwards is the work of the tournament officials."
"Azula, you are playing Toph Beifong in the final round," Suki turned towards Azula. "Our listeners might recall the tournament in Ba Sing Se three years ago, where you faced off against Toph in the final round, and Katara played Teo, same as this year. You both lost your final games that year, letting the title slip away. Do you have any fears of history repeating?"
"As a matter of fact, I don't," Azula replied. "I'm a keen student of history, and I am well aware that history repeats only for those who are not smart enough to learn from it. I have learned from history, and so has Katara. We are all going to win our next matches and the tournament officials will have a lot of fun figuring out the final standings."
"Excellent," Suki grinned, giving Jet the thumbs up as he stopped the recording. "Great answers all of you. Our listeners will eat it up. Azula, you're a natural around a mic, you know that, right?"
"Thanks," Azula smirked. She did like to be the center of attention, so Suki's flattery sat very well with her. "So, we haven't really studied the tournament rules that closely. Are there really no ways to break the tie between us?" she asked.
"Well, there are several ways to do that, but none of them work if you have perfectly identical records, and it looks like that might be happening this year," Suki replied. "None of my reporter colleagues seemed to know just how the officials are going to handle this issue, unless one of you slips up tomorrow."
"Trust me, Suki," Azula grinned confidently. "None of us are going to slip up. Like I said, we're not missing out on this opportunity to give the tournament officials a persistent headache."
Next chapter: final round of the tournament, so who's winning this year? Make your predictions here. Also, the after-party, and possibly the private after-after-party…