Chapter 78
The decisive round of the U21 championship was finally upon them. Azula entered it with an impressive winning streak of ten straight, but it still hadn't been enough to secure her the tournament victory ahead of time. Aang and Katara were hot on her heels with nine points out of ten, ready to pounce in case Azula faltered. Azula was facing Katara in the final round game, and the memories of a similar situation in the Omashu tournament kept replaying in Azula's mind over and over again. She had allowed Katara to outsmart her then, and instead of enjoying an uncontested place at the top of the podium, she had ended up sharing it with Katara and Yue. It had been an unforgettable experience, but Azula really wanted to finish her stint at the junior level by claiming the title all for herself.
The background relationship drama between Yue and Ty Lee was still bothering Azula slightly, but it wasn't the kind of distraction that was comparable to say, the interference of her father. The only one badly affected by it was Yue, which was the only reason why the Agna Qel'a native could no longer finish higher than fifth in the standings. Still, despite mentally being in a good shape, Azula found herself feeling quite nervous before her final round match with Katara. She had even tried some sweet pillow-talk during the night to try and learn Katara's strategy for their encounter, but her girlfriend had remained annoyingly tightlipped. Well, she had parted her lips, but only to kiss Azula, not to share her secret plans.
There were a lot of parallels with the last year's tournament and it was making Azula feel deeply unsettled. If she were to lose to Katara and Aang won against On Ji, which he was certain to do, they would end up in the same situation as last year, equal on ten points and their record perfectly identical. Azula might have found it acceptable to share her title with Katara and Yue, but she was less eager to share it with Aang. She liked Aang well enough, but she had never quite stopped seeing him as being somewhat beneath her in more than one way, which probably wasn't fair to Aang, but Azula simply couldn't help her feelings in the matter.
Also, much to Azula's annoyance, by now their entire circle of friends knew the story of what had happened between her, Katara and Yue in Omashu. Azula was sure that someone like Toph or Jet would probably make an idiotic joke about them now having to repeat the threesome with Aang instead of Yue. That was not a joke Azula was willing to hear because it was sure to prompt her into throwing a punch and breaking someone's face. It was yet another reason why she had decided that she wasn't going to lose to Katara on this day.
Still, Azula didn't get off to a good start in their final round game. Katara had prepared a rare and somewhat risky opening sequence which included an early deployment of the Rock tile and a more central positioning of her flower tiles. Azula was taken by surprise yet again, and she failed to react accordingly, not because she didn't know how to react, but because she became angry for letting herself be surprised. Azula was forced to play defensively from very early on, and that just wasn't her brand of Pai Sho. She was struggling to initiate any sort of counter play as their match moved into the middle game.
Katara continued to press her advantage all the way, slowly and methodically. Azula's girlfriend had never been the kind of player who went for the flashy moves and spectacular finishes. She preferred to slowly choke the life out of her opponents. Usually, Azula appreciated Katara's method of execution, but she definitely was not fond of getting choked herself, at least not at the Pai Sho board. Still, as the game progressed, Azula refused to give up and kept exploring every avenue possible to launch a counterattack. She was truly desperate to avoid sharing the gold medal with Aang, and to be exposed to some crude and juvenile jokes. Also, she really didn't want the International Pai Sho Federation opening another inquiry about them possibly fixing their matches. There were still people out there who remained firmly convinced that their shared Omashu victory had been the result of foul play.
As their encounter transitioned into the endgame, Azula started to feel that Katara was becoming frustrated by her dogged resistance. It was almost as if she had expected Azula's position to have collapsed by now, but Azula had defended well, and now Katara was starting to run out of steam. Inch by inch, Azula began to overturn Katara's advantage, until she had reduced it to the point where she was sure that Katara would struggle to secure a clear victory. By now visibly frustrated, Katara attempted several things to change the course of the game, but it was to no avail. Azula's defensive structures were too solid. On the eighty-sixth move, with a heavy sigh Katara extended her hand to offer a draw. Azula was only happy to accept it and claim the undisputed title of the world U21 junior champion.
As Azula rose from her seat, she was greeted by a fairly loud cheer by the crowd, which surprised her a little. They were in the Earth Kingdom, after all, which was at war with her homeland. Still, Kyoshi Island was a bit of a special case, with its people having very few ties with Ba Sing Se and almost seeing themselves as an autonomous region, an opinion probably not shared by the Dai Li ran government in Ba Sing Se. Also, the people of Kyoshi Island were vehemently against the military conflict in Yu Dao. Kyoshi Island thrived primarily because of its tourism industry. Moral reasons aside, a war between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation threatened their bottom line.
Azula's final tournament at the junior level was finally over and she had achieved her goal, going out on a high note. Of course, it would have been even more satisfying to have defeated Katara as a cherry on top. Katara had denied her the pristine record of eleven wins in a row, but Azula could not feel annoyed about that. She was just happy to have won, with Aang claiming silver and Katara having to settle for the bronze.
It was during the medal presentation ceremony and the following photo shoot, that Azula noticed something in the crowd that upset her slightly. Yue had been standing there together with Toph and Teo, cheering and clapping for them, but then at some point she had been approached by Suki. The two of them had spoken, quite excitedly, accompanied by wild gesticulation. Following that, Yue had simply left, which Azula found quite unexpected because the medal presentation wasn't over and they had agreed to return to the cottage together. Azula wondered if Katara had noticed this development, and one look at her girlfriend's concerned face told Azula that Katara had seen everything. Suddenly, she couldn't wait to return to the cottage and make sure that Yue was okay.
Unfortunately, before they could do that, there was still the press conference to suffer through. Azula tried to rush through it, but even if there weren't too many representatives of the press in attendance, the ones present became very chatty and started to ask her many Pai Sho unrelated questions. Azula was not at all keen on answering inquiries about what it meant to live in Ba Sing Se as a Fire Nation citizen when their countries were engaged in a direct military confrontation, as well as asking her for general comments about the Yu Dao situation. Azula had answered to her best non-committal diplomatic ability and after almost a half an hour of irritating grilling, they were finally left alone. Parting with Aang and promising to catch up with the rest of their friends at the after-party, Azula and Katara then hurried back to the cottage, running across Suki as they did so.
"What happened between you and Yue?" Azula blurted out impatiently, not even wasting any time on pleasantries.
"I told Yue to keep her girlfriend on a shorter leash," Suki replied. "She keeps sniffing around my boyfriend and I seriously do not appreciate that."
"Yue shouldn't be made accountable for how Ty Lee is acting, but I appreciate you not starting a fight, Suki," Katara said. Azula shared her girlfriend's obvious relief about that.
"No problem," Suki shrugged. "I was going to give Jet some ass kicking too, but he actually came clean about what happened, so I'm giving him a pass this time. But I'm keeping an eye on Ty Lee from now on."
"Understood, thank you, Suki," Katara replied hurriedly as together with Azula they all but ran back to the cottage.
At least the cottage was still standing, so Azula supposed that the fight between Yue and Ty Lee mustn't have been too bad. There were no signs of fighting such as stuff having been thrown inside the cottage either, but any hopes of a conflict having been averted altogether evaporated when Azula and Katara came across Ty Lee lying in the hammock out on the terrace. Ty Lee was clearly upset and had been crying, but she also looked defiant.
"What happened?" Azula asked without any preamble.
"Yue kicked me out," Ty Lee shrugged. "I guess it means that you'll get what you wanted and I'll be out of your hair as soon as we get back to the capital."
"Okay, what the hell are you talking about, Ty Lee?" Azula couldn't stop herself from becoming angry.
"Like you don't know what I'm talking about," Ty Lee replied.
"We really don't," Katara insisted. "Maybe Yue will make more sense if we can find her. Where is she, Ty Lee?"
"Upstairs, in what used to be our room," Ty Lee replied.
"Got it," Katara said. She was about to rush off, but Azula reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Katara, wait," Azula said firmly. "Bring Yue downstairs with you, please. We need to talk this out, all four of us."
"Do you think that's wise?" Katara looked uncertain. Azula had to admit that she had no idea whether it was wise or not. She was terrified of this sort of a deeply personal conflict and her first instincts were to avoid getting involved. But then again, she had so very few true friends and she couldn't risk losing any of them. She wanted both Yue and Ty Lee in her life. They were too important for her to simply give up on.
"Listen, all four of us are living under the same roof in Ba Sing Se, Katara," Azula insisted. "We need to figure out how to make it work before we go back to the capital."
"Hmm, that's a fair point," Katara admitted. "I'll go see how Yue is doing, then." And with that, she ran upstairs.
"All of a sudden you remembered that it's supposed to be the four of us," Ty Lee pointed out, sounding rather bitter. "It's been just the three of you these past two weeks, honestly. Can you blame me for feeling just a bit upset?"
"Ty, this is why we tried to discourage you from coming along," Azula sighed. "We knew that you wouldn't be having a good time because Yue and the rest of us really have to focus on our prep."
"Yeah, well, I asked Sokka about how it worked for him when he was still dating Yue and was accompanying her to the tournaments," Ty Lee snapped. "He said that they were getting up to a lot of fun together, so I call bullshit on your argument."
"I'm not bullshitting you!" Azula was becoming angry, inwardly swearing at Sokka. "First of all, Sokka is definitely misremembering a lot of stuff and he's wallowing in nostalgia there. He totally became frustrated with how much prep Yue did with the rest of us. Also, that's just a dumb comparison. At a lower level like U15 or U18, you really don't need as much preparation. These days we're not preparing just for this tournament, we have our pro careers to think about!"
"Okay, fine, I don't know all the nuances of your silly competitions," Ty Lee sighed. "Maybe you're being honest, maybe not, I wouldn't know. It doesn't change the fact that sitting around here and listening to the three of you basically worshipping each other really sucked, Azula. It really, really sucked!"
Azula cringed at the accusation. It began to dawn on her that perhaps they had been neglecting Ty Lee more than had been strictly necessary. Yue wasn't always running off to find Ty Lee to entertain her as soon as they were done with their Pai Sho practice, but then again, was that actually a reasonable expectation? Most of the time after their practice sessions had ended, they continued to hang out and just talk about whatever, purposefully avoiding Pai Sho related topics, and Ty Lee would have been welcome to join in, but usually by that time she had already become bored and had wandered off to entertain herself. Blaming Yue for that seemed a little unfair.
"I'm sorry that you haven't been having fun, Ty," Azula sighed. "But I don't know what to tell you. I wish you would understand that all this practice is necessary. I just won the gold medal," Azula pointed at the silverware still hanging around her neck. "I wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't practice with such intensity."
"Congratulations," Ty Lee smiled at her and Azula was relieved to see that the smile seemed perfectly genuine. "I'm really happy for you, Azula," she added. "I don't know, maybe I have also been a little unfair, but it was really hard listening to you talk when you get into your own little world and nobody outside of it seems to matter, including me."
Azula tried to see things from Ty Lee's perspective, but she was seriously struggling to empathize. Then she recalled Sokka and Hakoda talking about ice hockey for like thirty minutes straight and how that conversation had made Azula wish to swallow a bullet. If Ty Lee felt that way about Pai Sho, then… yes, Azula could see how she might find the experience frustrating. But if she hated Pai Sho so much, then why was she here to begin with? Besides, Pai Sho was a huge and important part of Yue's life. If she hated that about her partner, then maybe the relationship didn't quite make sense.
Azula didn't get to reply to Ty Lee's words because at that moment, Katara and Yue walked out onto the terrace. At the first glance, Yue seemed to be holding together very well and it didn't look as if she had been crying. She was also not wearing any makeup, however, which made Azula suspect that she had ruined it by crying a lot before removing it afterwards and then simply not caring to reapply it.
"We need to find a way how to move on from this," Azula said, looking first and foremost at Yue. "Maybe we need to change the living arrangements after we go back to Ba Sing Se, do whatever that lets us live under the same roof."
"I'm afraid that is no longer possible," Yue replied firmly. "Do you even know what Ty Lee did?"
"She was flirting with Jet, we all saw it," Azula replied. "Oh, and I am not making excuses for her-"
"Azula, Ty Lee went a little further than that. She was ready to cheat on me with Jet," Yue said, cutting Azula off. "Weren't you, Ty Lee?"
"It wasn't my proudest moment," Ty Lee replied, looking a little ashamed. Azula cursed inwardly. Suddenly, defending Ty Lee's actions became very difficult. She couldn't see herself not taking Yue's side now.
"I really don't see how we can live under the same roof after something like that," Yue frowned. "I'm sorry, but that's just how it feels to me."
"No, that's fair," Ty Lee admitted. "I'll clear out as soon as we get back."
"You can't!" Azula exclaimed aloud, much louder than she had intended, almost hysterically. "You… you're not moving out, Ty!" she added, gripped with panic.
"Azula, please," Katara moved closer to her, taking Azula's hand in an obvious attempt to ground her. "It's unfair to ask Yue to just get over it. She doesn't deserve to deal with constant discomfort when this really isn't her fault."
"I'm afraid that if Ty Lee isn't leaving, then I would have to leave myself," Yue insisted.
Azula was starting to tear up. She couldn't lose either of these two girls. She needed them in her life. Azula had lost Ty Lee once already, through the unreasonable cruelty of her father, but Azula had also been careless in that situation. Azula couldn't watch Ty Lee disappear from her life again, it would be too much. And she couldn't bear the thought of watching Yue walk away any more than she could let Ty Lee leave. Yue had done so much for her and Katara ever since coming to Ba Sing Se, and now Azula loved the white-haired girl with all of her heart.
"I c-can't watch anyone of you leave," Azula managed, crying and hiccupping at the same time. "I told you once already that I need all of you in my life, okay?" she ground out, desperately swiping at her wet cheeks. "None of you are allowed to leave, do I make myself clear?"
"Ah… shit," Ty Lee exchanged guilty looks with Yue as Katara moved to embrace Azula, holding her girlfriend tightly. "Azula, I don't want to disappear from your life either, and I won't, I promise," Ty Lee spoke up after a moment of thought. "Just calm down, please?" she begged.
Azula tried to force herself to get a grip on her encroaching panic attack. With Katara holding her and reminding her to breathe, she just about managed to stave it off. It took Azula a minute or so to get her emotions back under control. "I'll help you rent an apartment somewhere nearby," Azula then said decisively, looking at Ty Lee. "Then we can hang out whenever we want to."
"I appreciate the thought, Azula, but I actually have an idea," Ty Lee replied, smiling slightly. "Ty Woo and her girl have been looking for an apartment to rent, but they can't quite afford the Middle Ring prices. I could pitch in with the money your father is sending me, and then the three of us can rent an actual decently sized Middle Ring apartment. See, this might actually work out for the best? I'd be helping out my sister."
"I suppose that might work," Azula admitted reluctantly, although she was still afraid that Ty Lee might slip out of her life this way. "But if you need more money, I'll be happy to pitch in as well."
"I don't think it'll be needed, Azula, but thanks," Ty Lee smiled. "If this works out, then you can visit me at my new apartment and make new friends in my sister and her girlfriend. It's going to be really cool."
"I suppose… it doesn't sound too bad," Azula sighed. Of course, she had been aware that the writing was on the wall for the relationship between Yue and Ty Lee, but Azula had never quite dared to imagine the actual consequences of their breakup. She had never broken up with anyone in such a bad way that there would be deeply hurt feelings and living under the same roof became impossible. For some reason, she had completely blinded herself to such a possibility.
"Ty, I'm obviously mad at you right now, but anger isn't something I'll want to hold on to, especially when I know that I made a lot of mistakes myself and didn't treat you as well as you deserved it," Yue said, looking a little less upset as she spoke. "Give me some time, and I'll be fine with you visiting the estate."
"Thanks," Ty Lee nodded appreciatively. She let out another weary sigh. "We should have just kept things casual, really, instead of trying to create this serious bond that just wasn't there, I guess," Ty Lee mused. "Our auras were just a bit too different. I saw it early on, but I simply didn't want to believe it."
"Auras, of course," Yue snorted, looking a little amused despite everything.
"Are we alright?" Katara asked. Her voice was still tinged with concern. "Is there more air we need to clear?"
"I don't think so," Ty Lee shook her head. "I just wanted to apologize to all three of you, but to Yue in particular, of course. I definitely didn't handle this well. I guess I just proved all those people who think I'm immature as being right. Maybe I'll learn from this, but probably not," she snorted.
"Don't sell yourself short, Ty Lee," Katara said, trying to sound encouraging. "Mistakes have been made on all sides and we all could have done much better," she added in an obvious attempt to reconcile them all. Azula thought that this was the very essence of her girlfriend, always trying to be the eternal peacemaker.
"Some relationships just don't work out, Kat," Yue smiled at Katara. Azula found her expression to be a little bittersweet. "The only thing that hurts and which I'll regret is this ungraceful ending. But I think we've said all that needs to be said about it by now. I just… need to be by myself for a while, okay?" Yue said, turning around to leave.
"Ugh, I really hate feeling guilty, it's making my aura all grey and muddy," Ty Lee groaned, trying to sink as deep as possible into the hammock. "I wish the feeling would just go away, but it won't, will it?"
"It will go away with time," Katara smiled at the other girl. Azula had sensed that Katara had been livid with Ty Lee earlier, strongly taking Yue's side and Azula could understand that. But Ty Lee looked genuinely remorseful and it was no wonder that Katara was having a tough time staying angry. "That's how we learn from our mistakes, Ty Lee. And all four of us have a lot to learn from this experience." Ty Lee grumbled a little unhappily, continuing to hide in the hammock as Azula allowed Katara to lead her away from the terrace and back inside the cottage.
"Thanks," Azula said quietly. Katara looked at her with an unspoken question in her eyes. "For stopping me from freaking out," Azula elaborated.
"Oh, that's what I'm here for, love," Katara smiled at her. Her expression then clouded a little. "I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but I really don't feel like going to the after-party anymore."
Azula nodded in complete agreement. Not attending the after-party having won the tournament was a bad form, but she had already set the precedent for that at the age of thirteen. Only back then, she hadn't attended because her father had not allowed her to do so, deeming the others kids unfit to associate with his precious and perfect daughter. Right now, however, she wasn't in a mood for celebrations. "No, screw the after-party, we're not going," Azula shook her head. She then looked upstairs, where Yue had retreated to her room. "I doubt Yue is in any mood to have fun, either," she said.
"Absolutely not," Katara shook her head. "Let's make it a quiet evening just for ourselves."
"Yes, although I'm tempted to call the airline and ask if we can swap our tickets to an earlier flight," Azula said. "At this point, all I want to do is to get back home and turn a new page on this… whatever this was."
"Again, I agree completely," Katara smiled. "Let's call the airline and see if we can swap our flights."
In the end, Azula hadn't been able to arrange swapping the flights so that they could go back home a day early. However, she had managed to change the afternoon flight to a morning one, which still meant that they could cut short the by now not particularly pleasant stay on Kyoshi Island. Having to get up at five in the morning meant that they would have to retire early as well as cut down on any serious alcohol use, so the couple had decided to simply whittle away the hours of the evening by sitting in front of the downstairs TV and idly watching some news reports for the lack of better choices.
Ty Lee and Yue had both agreed with the call to fly back to Ba Sing Se earlier, but aside from informing them, both Katara and Azula hadn't heard a peep out of their two friends. They both stuck to their own rooms until late in the evening, when Yue suddenly emerged and walked down the stairs to join them in front of the TV. Katara immediately reacted to Yue's presence by pulling her close and embracing her comfortingly, Azula quickly joining in for the group hug. Yue was clearly still dealing with a lot of emotional turmoil because her reaction was to burst into tears, but as they continued to hold her, their Water Tribe friend eventually calmed down and began to relax.
"I think I'm going to be alright now," Yue said as Azula and Katara both released her from their grip. "I really just need to be distracted from my thoughts," she added, then nodding at the TV screen. "What have you been watching? Is there nothing more exciting on other than the news?"
"The choices are very limited, they only have like four channels here, I'm afraid," Azula replied. "The other choices we have are a documentary on the evolution of pottery, a game of college basketball or the Miss World beauty pageant."
"Eww," Yue grimaced. "Do you think TV programming will ever get better?"
"Who knows, although I seriously doubt it," Azula laughed. "You know, when I was at one of the TV stations back in Ba Sing Se to give an interview, I saw this one guy, I think he was a writer, trying to sell his idea of a TV show to some executive type. It was a story about a bald teenage boy with an arrow tattooed on his forehead. He apparently had a flying bison and a pet lemur, and he was on a journey to save the world from someone called the Fire Lord."
"How original," Katara laughed. "With ideas like that, it's no wonder there's never anything fun to watch on the TV."
"Yeah, I agree, that would have never made for a decent show," Yue nodded in agreement.
"Well, it seemed as if that executive type thought so as well, because he sent the poor writer packing," Azula chuckled. "Anyway, I guess we're all in agreement that the nine o'clock news is our best sad option tonight."
"Sure," Yue shrugged, letting out a yawn. "At least once the news is over it will be time to retire anyway. I never thought I'd say this while being on Kyoshi Island, but I can't wait to go back to Ba Sing Se."
"Kyoshi Island is an amazing place, though," Azula said as she put her arm around Yue's shoulders. "We should come back here another year and create some better memories."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, actually," Katara echoed Azula's thoughts, wrapping her arm around Yue's waist. Katara felt an intense wave of relief at the almost happy smile that soon appeared on Yue's lips.
"I think they're going to talk more about Yu Dao," Yue then pointed out even though neither of them had been focusing on the news for a while.
"We should probably pay attention to that at least," Azula said. The news was broadcasted by a local Kyoshi Island studio. Because it was so far from Ba Sing Se and out of reach of the Dai Li censors who were desperately trying to control the media narrative back in the capital, the Kyoshi news station could easily get away with a more neutral stance instead of tooting the Earth Kingdom's war horn. As a result, they seemed to be offering reasonably balanced and objective takes on the situation, at least as far as Katara could tell.
"Well, that doesn't sound good," Katara remarked after they had been listening to the news anchors for a while. "This is the first time I hear something about the Earth Kingdom army preparing for some kind of a big push. I don't think there has been anything about that in the Ba Sing Se media, has there?" she asked.
"Oh, it's been getting really bad back in the capital," Azula sighed. Katara was aware that Azula had called her mentor at the office of the Ba Sing Se Herald a couple of days ago, but if she had discovered any worrying developments, she hadn't shared them with anyone. Katara reasoned that perhaps Azula hadn't wanted to distract both her and Yue. "All the Yu Dao related articles and news reports now first have to be approved by a special committee in the war department. It's just the Dai Li way of cracking down even further with the censorship. They have already stopped the Herald from publishing several articles and some of my colleagues have been called in for a chat with the Dai Li agents, just to make sure that they're handling sensitive issues of state security in a responsible manner."
"That is just so creepy," Yue shook her head, looking a little spooked. "Are you sure you're going to be safe, Zula? Are they really going to be fine with someone from the Fire Nation working at the paper? I'm a bit worried about you." Katara gave an emphatic nod at that, agreeing with Yue.
"Don't worry, my mentor told me that they're taking steps to shield me from any repercussions," Azula explained. "I won't have anything to do with foreign affairs or internal politics anymore, they're moving me to the culture and arts section," she added with a sigh. "I guess I'll get to attend a lot of plays and expositions, which isn't necessarily bad. I think I'll do just fine writing reviews. It's funny how the Herald thinks that my mother being an actress and me saying that I enjoy theatre are considered good enough credentials to do the job," she added, rolling her eyes.
"Haha, Azula Nakamura, the famous art critic," Yue giggled. Katara was so relieved to hear her friend laughing again. All she had needed was a good distraction and it seemed as if she and Azula were being successful in providing it.
"I can actually see that," Katara grinned at her girlfriend. "You would also make a fine, if brutal food critic."
"Oh, I should have gone for that," Azula smirked. "Anyway, I heard something else worrying from my mentor and even these Kyoshi news anchors are staying quiet about that. Or maybe they just don't know about it yet," she shrugged. Katara and Yue both stared Azula down with expectant stares. "Right, it's about an article they made the Herald pull. The Earth Kingdom military are planning to institute a compulsory conscription."
"Do you mean like a draft?" Katara gasped. Azula nodded at her. "But that's crazy! It hasn't been done since the Great War and that was like… thirty years ago? I thought the Earth Kingdom military was so large that they wouldn't need a draft!"
"Yeah, we're so used to military service being voluntary in the Water Tribes that this feels really insane," Yue said, shaking her head.
"Notice how lately they have stopped providing the casualty reports from Yu Dao?" Azula asked. "I understand that it's really bad. Reclaiming a few meters of the city literally costs the lives of dozens of Earth Kingdom soldiers."
"And they plan to solve that by throwing fresh recruits at the problem?" Yue gasped. "That's madness!"
"Obviously, which is why the Dai Li can't let the news slip out right now," Azula said. "Rumors are making the rounds, though. I don't think they can keep it under the rug for much longer. And that means we could see some very ugly riots in Ba Sing Se itself."
"That's scary," Katara shuddered. "Azula, you said that the Earth Kingdom is planning this big push. I wonder how the Fire Nation will react to that."
"Yeah, and of course, we're worried about the mood in the capital turning against the Fire Nation expats," Yue nodded. "I really hope it doesn't get worse for you, Zula. Those Dai Li assholes would probably be only too happy to stoke the hatred and keep banging the drums of war."
"Oh yes," Azula said. "We'll have to watch the situation carefully. It's a good thing that I'm at the Herald, though. Even if I can't do the job I actually signed up for, at least it still let's me keep an ear to the ground and I know all about the latest rumors and developments. It really helps."
"I really didn't think that this conflict would ever get this bad when we first heard about some rumblings from Yu Dao," Katara sighed. "I hope it doesn't get any worse than this."
"I mean, it probably will from what Azula told us," Yue said. "I'm just wondering how bad it could get?"
Azula frowned, looking almost as if she didn't want to share her worst suspicions. "I don't know, the Fire Nation might at some point issue a call for all of its citizens in the Earth Kingdom to return home, although I doubt that, because that would be bad for business," she mused. "I would ignore that order, obviously. Although, I suppose, the Earth Kingdom could issue its own order to extradite all Fire Nation citizens within its borders. Again, unlikely because bad for business, but they could apply it selectively. I have to keep my head tucked low because they would definitely not hesitate to kick me out. And I think that applies to our entire family," Azula shrugged.
"You can't go back to the Fire Nation," Katara immediately began to panic merely from that possibility alone.
"She won't," Yue spoke up decisively. "If that becomes an issue, we're smuggling Azula out to the Water Tribes."
"Oh, that's a great idea, Yue. What would I do there?" Azula rolled her eyes.
"I don't know, but we'd figure it out together," Yue said with determination.
"What is this 'together', you have your lives in Ba Sing Se now. You are both financially secure and you have to focus on your studies," Azula protested. "I won't stand for you casting all of that aside."
"It would probably be only temporary, Zula," Katara spoke soothingly. "We can always pick up where we left off later. I mean, these would be extraordinary circumstances."
"And if the worst comes to pass, we can all just move to Agna Qel'a permanently and start new lives there," Yue agreed without much thought. "If you think we'll ever letting you out of our sight, you have another thing coming," she added, wrapping her arms around Azula's waist and pulling her into a hug so tight that it made Azula groan.
Watching Azula and Yue share affection like that was the second favorite thing for Katara to experience, only losing out to herself sharing affection with either of the girls. She quickly rectified that, making it a group hug. "Agni, save me from overly affectionate Water Tribe girls," Azula whined, smothered by their affectionate assault.
"But you know that Water Tribe girls are the best," Yue giggled.
"Exactly, and since you're stuck with us, that makes you an honorary Water Tribe girl yourself," Katara grinned.
Azula was about to protest at that when Yue released them, her eyes shining brightly. "Oh, now you've given me an idea, Kat," she said, crawling closer and starting to whisper into Katara's ear. A smile began to form on Katara's lips, widening all the time. "Azula, we'll also want your Minolta camera," Yue said, done whispering into Katara's ear.
Azula gave her girlfriend an uncertain stare. "Please, Zula," she smiled encouragingly. "I promise that it will be fun." Azula frowned but did as she was told, returning with the camera. As soon as she was back, Yue and Katara grabbed a hold of Azula and pulled her down to sit with them on the living room carpet.
"We're going to redo your hair and turn you into an honorary Water Tribe girl," Yue announced excitedly. "That means… hair loopies!" Azula immediately made an almost panicked leap to escape, but Yue and Katara managed to hold her down, and eventually Azula stopped struggling, letting out a resigned sigh as the two Water Tribe girls set to work, first undoing her top knot, then working a side each and finally fixing her hair halfway up, similarly to how Katara wore it most of the time.
"Alright, now we need a mirror," Katara said once they were done and had pulled Azula back up to her feet. Together with Yue, she led Azula up to the large wall mirror and made her face the reflection.
"I look absolutely ridiculous," Azula stated, not sounding at all impressed.
"That's nonsense, Zula," Yue cooed, standing side by side with her. "You look absolutely gorgeous, even more so than usually!"
"Oh, Yue is definitely right," Katara agreed emphatically as she wrapped her arm around Azula's waist. "I have the prettiest girlfriend and I couldn't be happier." Azula's expression softened considerably at those words.
"Okay, and now we get to take pictures for posterity," Yue laughed.
"No way will I allow my shame to be immortalized!" Azula protested.
"But Zula… pretty please?" Katara begged. Azula still shook her head. Katara leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Please, love. It will make Yue happy and help ease her pain about the breakup," she whispered.
Azula relented immediately. "Alright, fine, if you want it so much," she sighed. Yue didn't have to be told twice and good ten minutes later they had a couple of dozen different shots of Azula with hair loopies, together with Katara, Yue, or both of them.
"Thank you so much, you two," Yue said earnestly as they began to wind down their entertainment. It was getting close to ten in the evening and it was time to retire for the night.
"It was our pleasure, Yue," Katara smiled at her. "I really wanted us to have a happy memory from this tournament as well. I hope this helped."
"It really did," Yue nodded, embracing them both one more time before running up the stairs. "Goodnight, you two."
"Can I get rid of these ridiculous loopies now?" Azula gave her girlfriend a desperate stare as soon as they had been left alone.
Katara fought hard to suppress a giggle. "Yes, love," she smiled. "You can get rid of the loopies now."
Next chapter: Let's skip a couple of months ahead to see how life has changed at the International House of Lesbians following the breakup between Ty Lee and Yue.