Chapter 82
Given what Azula knew about the city of Gaoling, she did not expect to be impressed by actually seeing it in person, and her prediction proved to be frighteningly accurate. The commercial center of the agrarian South was exactly the kind of place where you didn't want to spend more time than necessary, and yet, that is what Azula and her girlfriends were forced to do because of the political crisis in Ba Sing Se. They had arrived three days before the actual start of the tournament, with Katara and Yue in particular being excited about going out and seeing the sights, but they had given up on Gaoling by the end of their second day of stay.
The truth was that there simply was not much to see aside from the impressive Beifong Estate, and even that luxurious manor was hidden behind tall walls and copses of trees, as if being embarrassed to find itself in this location. There was certain coarseness about the people of Gaoling, and they were considered to be quite backwards and stuck in the past in many ways. Azula received an unpleasant reminder of that when she had held on to Yue's hand for longer than was apparently acceptable and their elderly hotel receptionist had given them the evil eye, afterwards treating them with plenty of scorn and suspicion. Yet another proof of the backwardness of the people of Gaoling was that the tournament itself would be held in the Earth Rumble stadium, an arena generally used for boxing or wrestling matches. Azula found playing Pai Sho in such a place to be in very bad taste.
In short, none of the three girls were particularly happy to find themselves in Gaoling, but as long as they were together, it didn't really matter too much where they were. They had simply been happy and relieved to make it out safely from Ba Sing Se. Katara had been very concerned that Yue might face serious consequences for disabling two Earth Kingdom soldiers with a heavy dose of pepper spray. Azula had given it some thought and she had been able to reassure Katara that they had nothing to worry about. First of all, Yue had been smart enough to pull her hair back and hide it under a beanie, disguising her distinct appearance. Secondly, the fact that they had encountered soldiers was a much better scenario than running into the cops. The soldiers had been brought into Ba Sing Se to deal specifically with this one event, and then they would be shipped back out. They wouldn't be making a report about having been taken out by a girl fresh out of her teens. If they did that, the two soldiers would become a laughing stock in their barracks. No, Azula was certain that they were safe, and she was relieved that Yue and Katara ended up believing her and calming down as a result.
Azula wished that she herself could claim being calm after everything that had happened. Finding herself in the middle of that panicking crowd had felt surreal then, and it felt just as surreal thinking about it now. Azula often thought that it had happened in a dream, but unfortunately it had been very real, especially for the many families who had lost someone in either the clashes with police or armed soldiers, or being crushed to death in the stampede. The official tally of casualties was never released, but from her contacts in the Ba Sing Se Herald, Azula had learned that 245 people had lost their lives that night, during what was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration. It was an almost incomprehensible tragedy that many in the capital were still too shocked to even acknowledge. Hadn't everyone agreed that after the Great War there could never be such bloodshed again? And yet, here they were after peace of almost thirty years, balancing over an abyss of uncertainty.
Azula had wondered if this brutal suppression of free speech would not lead to even more unrest and protests, however, it seemed that the shocking tactics of the Dai Li had worked, at least for now. The citizens of Ba Sing Se were terrified more than they were angry, and they began to fall in line. It seemed that the Dai Li had achieved their goal and Ba Sing Se was now firmly under their boot heel. Azula firmly expected the military operations in Yu Dao to resume with increased vigor, once the masses of new draftees would start to arrive in a few months.
And while Azula intellectually understood the horror of so many casualties, she did not find herself deeply affected by it on a personal level, probably because she was so terrified about Ty Lee's uncertain fate. One of her friends at the Herald had managed to track down the full list of names of all casualties, and Azula had been relieved to learn that Ty Lee's name was not on that list. But that didn't tell Azula just where Ty Lee had disappeared to. The most credible explanation that Azula could come up with was that Ty Lee was still being held by the Dai Li at one of their detention centers, and that was a terrifying prospect all by itself.
Because of her worries about Ty Lee, Azula was aware that she was not in a good state of mind for Pai Sho, especially for her debut at a pro level. Katara and Yue were understandably concerned about whether it was smart for her to even enter the tournament. They had discussed the possibility of Azula swapping with Yue and sitting out this event, but after giving it some serious thought, Azula had rejected this idea. It would have meant that Azula had to take Yue's place in some of the other upcoming tournaments, probably the one in Agna Qel'a, and Azula knew how much it meant to her Water Tribe loves to play in front of their own fans. Thus, Azula resolved to use the remaining days before the tournament opening to sort out her head. Katara and Yue did everything they could think of in order to comfort and reassure her, and that was as wonderful as ever, but what helped Azula the most was Mai's promise to contact her father and see if he could use his considerable influence to learn something about Ty Lee's fate from the Fire Nation officials.
And Azula knew that she had to be in a decent mental shape in order to make a good impression in her first outing as a pro player. Certainly, the lineup was not as strong as in some of the more prestigious tournaments, but it was still respectable. From the elite grandmasters, Zhao Sakamoto and Long Feng were both taking part. Long Feng had even entered his daughter Joo Dee, and Azula could not wait until she and Katara could victimize Joo Dee even further. Haru Tamang was also playing in Gaoling, although Azula did not view him as a big threat. The rest of the lineup was composed from lesser known but still strong local and international masters.
Azula had done some preliminary calculations and they showed that because of the less than impressive quality of their opposition, she and Katara would have to place among the four best in order to significantly boost their ranking. This seemed possible, as long as they were in the right mental shape. The big threats really were Zhao and Long Feng, the two men Azula loathed and was desperate to destroy at the Pai Sho table. Azula hadn't seen Zhao since that fateful winter holiday on Ember Island, when Ozai had viciously beaten him before casting him out. Azula had no idea what to expect from their meeting, but she did not for a moment believe that it would be pleasant.
In a way, having Zhao and Long Feng take part in the tournament was a small blessing for Azula. The desire to destroy these two reprehensible assholes was filling Azula with such powerful motivation that it overrode even her crippling fear for Ty Lee's life. As the start of the tournament approached, Azula could not wait to sit down and start playing. It was time to leave her mark on the professional world of Pai Sho and she was determined not to fail.
Katara's brow furrowed as she contemplated the tile placement on the Pai Sho board in front of her. She had entered the endgame against Haru Tamang with a considerable advantage and her remaining tiles were dominating the center of the board. At the same time, Katara knew that even one small inaccuracy might allow Haru to block her path to victory and force a draw. Irritatingly, the winning move had been just within Katara's sight, but then a noise in the crowd had distracted her and she had lost her trail of thought. At least she still had twenty minutes of time left compared to Haru's fourteen, so she was in no hurry to find the path to victory.
The tournament had been going much better than Katara had dared to hope for in her wildest dreams. She had started off with three straight wins against some of the international masters, and she had also dealt another humiliating defeat to Joo Dee. She had drawn her fourth round game, but now in the fifth round she was getting closer and closer to returning to the winning track. She just needed to find that elusive winning move which had been at her fingertips the moment before.
Katara tried to relax, turning her eyes upward at the ceiling of the Earth Rumble arena as she pondered her move. Sometimes, it helped her not to stare at the Pai Sho board, but instead visualize the tiles in her mind. Sometimes, when she would look up at the ceiling, she would see the image of a Pai Sho board up there, the tiles moving rapidly across its surface, almost as a projection of her mind calculating all the variations. Katara had asked Yue and Azula if they ever got visions like that, and her girlfriends had shaken their heads and looked at her a little worriedly. Katara suspected that it was most likely the result of her Librium overindulgence during early teenage years, but as long as it was the only way in which her brain chemistry had been messed up, then she could live with it.
It didn't take Katara too long to spot the winning move. If she were to offer her Chrysanthemum tile as a sacrifice, Haru would have to accept or else Katara would form the harmony ring within three moves. And if Haru accepted the sacrifice, Katara would unleash a clever little combination involving the Wheel tile, which she would use to move her Orchid tile in a position to threaten two of Haru's most important tiles at once, putting them in a fork. As soon as Katara had made her move with the Chrysanthemum tile, Haru realized that Katara had spotted the combination and that future resistance was hopeless. He reached out to stop the timing clock and offered his surrender, the two then shaking their hands and departing the stage together.
Katara and Haru did not leave altogether, remaining behind to watch the still ongoing games as they stood at a little buffet where refreshments had been made available for the participants. Katara had no intention of leaving without Azula, and her girlfriend was currently locked in a fierce battle against Zhao Sakamoto. Unfortunately, it wasn't going well for Azula, but Katara hoped that her girlfriend might be able to turn things around. While Azula was busy pondering her next move, looking a little frustrated, Katara turned towards the spectators to quickly find Yue in the stands, her white hair standing out like a shining beacon in the crowd. Katara waved at her other girlfriend, hoping that Yue would notice her, and despite Yue also being firmly focused on Azula's game, she did notice Katara, waving back as she grinned broadly.
Immediately feeling warmer from the simple gesture, Katara turned towards Haru, realizing that this was a good opportunity to ask him a few questions. Despite having suffered a defeat at her hands, the young man from Omashu seemed to be in a good mood and perhaps that was not at all surprising because he still had a positive record of three wins in the tournament, meaning that Haru was doing quite well for himself.
"Hey, I was really dying to ask you something," Katara began a little awkwardly. "Have you heard anything from Yu Dao lately?"
Haru appeared a little bemused as he looked at her. "You mean beyond the propaganda you hear in the news?" he asked. Katara nodded. She knew that when Haru fled Yu Dao, some people he knew had stayed behind. Kori was one of those people. "I'll be honest, it's getting harder and harder to get any word from my contacts back there," Haru said. Katara was pretty certain that he meant the Freedom Fighters, but this was probably something she was better not knowing or asking about.
"No news about Kori, then," she remarked, watching the older boy's face crease with worry.
"No, she's still being held by the Earth Kingdom forces," Haru replied stonily. "It's been months now and I'm becoming really concerned."
"They wouldn't do anything to her, would they?" Katara asked, patting the older boy comfortingly on the shoulder. "As far as I understand, she's too important to… you know, treat badly."
"Yes, she's quite the Pai Sho tile in the big game of politics," Haru snorted. "Ugh, I hate that someone as young as her has to get involved in this mess."
"I know exactly what you mean," Katara nodded. They had all been shocked by Jet's decision to go to Yu Dao and link up with the Freedom Fighters. It was so surreal and frightening that a friend of theirs who had just now been carelessly enjoying his young adulthood, was suddenly caught up and participating in the worst military conflict of the past twenty seven years. And Kori had been a part of that conflict from the moment it had broken out. "Do you miss her?" Katara asked. She knew that Haru and Kori had been dating on and off over the years, but Haru was also known in the circles of junior Pai Sho players as something of a flirt and a skirt-chaser, while Kori had an even worse reputation for going through a lot of boyfriends. Katara had always suspected that these rumors were exaggerated, though. Young women were in particular demonized if they dared not to stick with a stable boyfriend.
"Of course I miss her," Haru sighed. "It was starting to become really serious in Yu Dao before I had to get out. And we were actually supposed to get out together."
"What happened?" Katara asked.
"I don't know, she never showed up," Haru shrugged helplessly. "Either she had a change of heart or something… or someone stopped her. And I don't know which explanation of the two I would prefer."
"That must be tough," Katara sighed. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this, Haru."
"Eh, don't worry about me," Haru gave her a crooked smile, then pointing towards the stage where Azula was still trying to resist Zhao. "I think you should probably save the comforting for your girl, she's going to need it very soon, I'm afraid."
One look at the situation in Azula's game with Zhao told Katara everything she needed to know. In reality, Azula had already lost and good manners dictated that she surrendered, but she was still persisting simply out of spite. She put up this petulant resistance for a few more moves, eventually stopping the clock. The handshake she exchanged with Zhao was full of animosity, and there were words exchanged, clearly laced with poison. Azula then shoved Zhao's hand aside, turning around and leaving. She looked furious as she stormed past Katara and disappeared down the corridor towards the exit.
"Damn it… got to run," Katara cursed, turning to race after Azula, Haru giving her a sympathetic stare as he watched her dash away. Azula was absolutely powering down the hallway in her stiletto heels and Katara counted her lucky stars for having decided to wear sandals today, because she was forced to break into a full run in order to catch up with Azula and pull her into the nearby aisle, behind a thick pillar. From how Azula had tried to flee, Katara suspected that her girlfriend was by now in tears, and as she forced Azula to turn around and face her, she immediately realized that her guess had been correct. Azula weakly tried to fight her off, but Katara ignored her attempts, wrapping her arms around Azula and holding her tightly. "I'm here, Zula… I'm here for you. It's going to be alright," she whispered, continuing to hold Azula until she had calmed down.
"That complete asshole," Azula muttered angrily into the crook of Katara's shoulder. "I wish I could have torn that smug smile from his disgusting lips."
"I know… I hate him too," Katara whispered. She knew just what role Ozai had planned for Zhao to take in Azula's life and thinking about that still filled her with absolute disgust. After Azula had escaped from her father's abusive care, Zhao had apparently crawled back to Ozai and pleaded on his knees to be given another chance. Azula had learned that Zhao was now once again employed by her father, but he had lost a lot of trust with Ozai and could no longer boast about being her father's right hand man. "Was it just about losing to him? Or did he say something nasty to you?" Katara asked quietly.
Azula didn't reply right away. She took a moment to compose herself, parting from Katara's embrace. Once she had steadied herself, Azula looked at her with anger burning in her amber eyes. "Zhao told me that I made a mistake not marrying him, because then I would still have all of my father's riches, and my own father wouldn't have tried to rape me," she spat out irately.
"Spirits, he really said that?" Katara gasped. Azula nodded severely. "I can't believe that asshole!" Katara exclaimed, balling her fists. "I'm so glad I still have to play him! I'm going to destroy him, I swear!"
"I hope so," Azula said, looking a little less depressed after Katara's display of righteous anger. "You'll have to be careful, though. He's a clever asshole."
"We'll prepare like never before, and then I'm going to take him down," Katara said decisively.
"We should focus our prep on you from now on," Azula said, looking a little downcast again. "You can win this whole thing, but my tournament is as good as over."
"Zula, please don't be overly dramatic," Katara chastised her. "You can still place very high. In fact, you can still win the whole thing." Azula had three wins out of five so far, which wasn't a bad record at all. Azula had stumbled at the start, losing her first game that she had expected to win against a local grandmaster, but then she had rebounded with three straight wins before losing to Zhao just now. It was a solid record, considering that mentally Azula was far from her best.
"I don't know about that, Katara," Azula laughed, looking dubious.
"Well tough, because I do know that," Katara said in an imperious tone of voice. "So you're not giving up now, do I make myself clear? Yue and I are never letting you give up, do you hear me?"
"Yes, Katara," Azula replied meekly. She actually looked a little ashamed, prompting Katara to break into a smile.
"Come on, love," she spoke softly, tugging on Azula's hand. "Let's find Yue and we'll figure out a way to cheer you up."
"I don't know if I'm in the mood, Kat," Azula frowned.
"Zula, I didn't necessarily mean to cheer you up that way," Katara chuckled. "Although, I'm sure that offer is on the table as well…" she added as they looked into each other's eyes, blushing before breaking into soft laughter.
Yue was not having an easy time of things during her first visit to Gaoling. She found the experience of watching the games instead of being on the arena floor and actually playing close to unbearable, especially when she had to watch her girlfriends in nail-baiting thrillers against some of the best professional players in the world. Enduring all the ups and downs in the games by Azula and Katara was creating quite the mental strain for Yue and she was trapped in a state of near constant anxiety as she sat in the spectator stands, nails digging into her sweaty palms, teeth nibbling on her lower lip, occasionally drawing blood.
Still, as soon as the matches of the day were over, Yue always made sure to push her emotional fatigue aside, intent to never let Azula or Katara know just how tough it was to watch them play and what a mental strain it was for her. Azula and Katara had to focus on their play, and only on that, they could not be worried about Yue finding it a little tough to watch them battle. And Yue did pour all of herself into helping Azula and Katara to always be prepared ahead of their upcoming games. This involved diligent study of their next round opponents and their styles, and preparing their strategies accordingly. It was a very time consuming process and Yue rarely slept more than three or four hours ahead of a match day, but it was a sacrifice that she made willingly for her two loves.
Another part of Yue's duties to make sure that Azula and Katara were as close to their best as possible when it was time to play Pai Sho was mental preparation. This pretty much involved keeping Azula and Katara happy and relaxed. Katara was in by far the better mental state during the Gaoling tournament, but even she had her moments of worry and uncertainty that needed to be quickly remedied with words of support and encouragement. Azula needed a lot more work, however. Ty Lee's disappearance was weighing on them all, but Azula was particularly affected by it. Ty Lee had evaporated from her life once already, and Azula was finding it hard to accept that it was now happening again. Azula needed a lot of comforting and supporting, both physically and emotionally, but fortunately both Yue and Katara were more than happy to provide it. And Yue supposed that they had been doing a good job, because despite some ups and downs in Azula's performance, she was playing well and enjoying a good tournament.
Of course, Yue always remained mindful not to overdo the prep work. They were all experienced players by now, if not at the professional level, but they still understood that it was important to find the perfect balance between preparation and relaxation. The latter proved to be somewhat challenging in a city as dull as Gaoling, but Yue had been able to find a couple of decent restaurants, a bowling alley and a reasonably clean movie theatre focusing on art films. She had also rented a car and organized several road trips for them, and the picnics had been greatly successful in helping Azula and Katara unwind. And of course, there was another method that was highly effective in reducing stress, one they gladly practiced in the privacy of their hotel bedroom, but even there they always kept the mantra of moderation being the key in their minds.
As the final round of the tournament was upon them, Yue felt as if she could look back at the previous two and a half weeks as a job well done. Yue thought that she had helped Katara and Azula get as far as they could in their current shape. And that was… very far indeed, in Katara's case, to the very top. Indeed, after ten rounds played, Katara was in the tournament lead with 8.5 points, her only loss coming against Long Feng a few days ago. Zhao was hot on Katara's heels, however, with eight points out of ten possible. Azula was tied for the third place with Long Feng, both of them on seven points. After a couple of early losses, Azula had scored plenty of impressive wins before losing to Katara in the previous round. That outcome meant that Katara's match with Zhao in the final round would determine the tournament winner, while Azula's contest with Long Feng would decide the third place on the podium.
Yue's biggest concern ahead of the final round games had been to make sure that Azula and Katara did not play their games while feeling full of anger. When having to deal with people like Zhao Sakamoto and Long Feng, anger came naturally to all three of them. They all hated Zhao for how he had treated Azula in the past, and for what he had told her after their match here in Gaoling. They all hated Long Feng because of his involvement with Ozai Nakamura, and for his role in the unrest and political instability wrecking the Earth Kingdom. As far as Yue was concerned, the best method to work out some of the anger was sex. Yue felt positively exhausted this morning, but with Katara and Azula looking quite mellow and relaxed, Yue felt vindicated in their exploits of the night before.
Zhao was a wily customer and his style of play matched his character, an underhanded bag of tricks. Katara was playing with rare focus, however, and she seemed to be simply cutting through all of Zhao's little bullshit tricks and distractions. When Katara played like this, zeroed in on her goal and going straight for the jugular, Yue had a feeling that Zhao was not going to last long. Long Feng's game with Azula was following a different pattern as a result of Azula's mind games earlier in the tournament. When Azula had destroyed Joo Dee a few rounds earlier, she had made some comments within the earshot of Long Feng. Feeling like his daughter's honor had been slighted Long Feng had become incredibly salty and had lodged a complaint with the tournament officials. The complaint had been turned down, because it had just been Long Feng's word against Azula's, but they had both been given a warning, just to stop any further altercations. Still, Azula had achieved what she had wanted. Now it was Long Feng who was playing angry, going after her aggressively from the first move, but Yue could see perfectly well that Azula only appeared to be struggling. No, she was already preparing her counterattack.
Caught in Katara's iron grip, Zhao was struggling like a trapped animal, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Katara in hopes to stop her assault. It was to no avail, though, and eventually Zhao ran out of tricks to attempt. Even in a clearly lost position, Zhao continued to oppose even if it was utterly futile. Yue's dislike for the man increased at that, because he was clearly demonstrating disrespect towards Katara. Only when Katara was about to form the harmony ring did Zhao finally concede. He looked absolutely disgusted with having lost to a twenty year old girl in her first professional tournament. But this was humiliating only to those who were still ignorant of the very clear signs that Katara, Azula, and hopefully Yue as well, were about to take the Pai Sho world by a storm.
Meanwhile, Azula had feigned being on the ropes so well, that when she launched her counterattack, the effect was similar to a wicked and unexpected uppercut punch. Long Feng could only watch in disbelief as his seemingly impenetrable attacking tile structure collapsed under a two pronged counter assault, Azula executing a classic pincer move and proceeding to grind down Long Feng's trapped tiles into dust. Long Feng slammed his fist down on the timing clock as he surrendered, then storming off without shaking Azula's hand, leaving her sitting at the board and grinning like a cat that had devoured the canary.
It was a truly sensational outcome that was sure to cause massive ripples across the Pai Sho world. Yue had hoped that Katara and Azula would acquit themselves well at the highest level of competition, and she knew that they were capable of great things, but she hadn't quite expected this. Yue only hoped that she could measure up when she made her debut next month in the Ba Sing Se Open.
Yue had to wait for several hours before she could finally get her hands on Azula and Katara again. There was the victory ceremony, the press conference, the interviews, the photo shoots with the tournament sponsors and other dignitaries, far more than at the junior level. From the way some of the sponsors were salivating over the two girls, Yue wondered if perhaps some sponsorship deals might be heading their way. It wasn't a common practice even in the professional world of Pai Sho, because Pai Sho players weren't really household names or celebrities. Even Ozai Nakamura was known as a businessman first, then as a politician, a lobbyist, and lastly as the Pai Sho world champion. Still, Yue was aware that the three of them were a lot more marketable than some boring middle aged men. There was a source of income here that they could potentially tap into.
It was only late in the afternoon when they were back on their way to the hotel, traveling in style, sitting in the back of a classy limo provided by the tournament organizers. "Is it sinking in, Kat?" Yue asked, smiling at the still slightly glassy eyed Katara.
"I think it's slowly starting to," Katara nodded. She was looking a little discombobulated, like trapped between states of utmost joy and disbelief.
"We'll help it sink in, don't worry," Azula said, leaning in against Katara. "The way you destroyed Zhao was just amazing," she blew a kiss at Katara. "You deserved to win this tournament and there can be no doubts about that."
"Thanks," Katara smiled at Azula, then looking at Yue sitting opposite to them at the back of the limo. "I have no doubt in my mind as to who my MVP of the tournament is, however," she grinned at Yue.
"Oh, I agree completely," Azula nodded, giving Yue a grateful look. "Don't think we haven't noticed just how hard you've been working for us, Yue." They both reached out at the same time to pull Yue over to their side of the seat, almost causing Yue to drop her champagne flute as she let out an undignified squeak.
"We'll find a way to repay you for what you did for us, Yue, that's a promise," Katara spoke softly as Yue was suddenly enveloped in tight, almost suffocating hugs.
"Well, I only did what I thought you two would be doing once it's your time to sit out a tournament," Yue managed, feeling overwhelmed by the gratitude expressed by her girlfriends.
"Of course," Azula nodded. "I have some experience helping Katara that year when she won the U21's in Agna Qel'a. It's a really tough job to sit in the stands and watch, but it's so satisfying when your girl comes through to win, isn't it?"
"It really is," Yue giggled. "Spirits, I'm so happy for both of you!"
A few minutes later they arrived back at the hotel. Intent to continue their celebrations at their fancy and rather splendorous hotel suite, the threesome wasted no time in returning to their lodgings, but on their way, they were stopped by the rather unpleasant receptionist. "Azula Nakamura?" the older woman asked, giving them a disapproving stare. Azula walked up to the receptionist, replying with a shrug. "Someone tried to get through to you on the phone. They left this number to call back," she said, tossing a scrap of paper at Azula who deftly caught it. "I couldn't make out the name, Mai Syun, or something?" the receptionist added.
Azula immediately appeared agitated, all but running towards the elevator, Yue and Katara struggling to keep up with her. They knew why Azula was so excited. After all, Mai had promised to call as soon as she had any news on Ty Lee, and they were all dying to know what had happened, although Azula was certainly taking it the hardest. Yue supposed that she couldn't blame Azula for suddenly forgetting about everything else as she rushed into their suite and headed straight for the phone, calling the International House of Lesbians in Ba Sing Se.
"Aang, hi, is Mai there?" Azula spoke hastily once her call had been answered, tapping her foot nervously. "Mai, you called earlier, does that mean you have news?" Azula asked impatiently once her childhood friend had taken over from Aang. "Yes, the tournament has finished, although I don't know what that has to do with anything. Wait… you did what? We'll have a talk about that, you bitch! Well, at least give me the news now!" Azula looked livid. Yue cringed at the exchange. From what she could understand, Mai had been sitting on some news because she hadn't wanted to distract Azula from her tournament play, but Yue was surprised that Mai hadn't considered how poorly Azula would react to truth being hidden from her.
Yue and Katara exchanged worried glances as Azula listened to Mai on the phone, her expression darkening gradually. The two Water Tribe girls walked up to Azula, ready to support her as soon as the conversation ended. Once Azula was done with the call, she immediately slumped into the nearest chair, looking stricken from the obviously bad news she had received. Yue and Katara exchanged more worried stares as they waited for Azula to speak, and after a few more moments to gather her wits, she did so. "Well, at least Ty is alive, although… who knows for how long," she half-said, half-sobbed. Yue and Katara both immediately reached out to take Azula's hand each. "She was caught and handed back to the Fire Nation officials, who immediately enlisted her in the military and shipped her to Yu Dao, right into the meat grinder…"
"By the spirits, no!" Yue exclaimed in shock. Katara also looked completely stricken by the news. "That's awful! Kat, while you obviously deserve all the celebrations in the world, out of respect for Ty-"
"Oh, of course," Katara nodded right away. "We're cancelling all celebrations. I think what we should do right now is to get back to Ba Sing Se and reconsider our options…"
"So, I know I'm a bit late to the party, but just who is this Kori chick?" Jet asked, checking his Ingram automatic pistol for what must have been the tenth time already. Together with Smellerbee and Longshot, they were standing in front of the bunker of the Freedom Fighter cell he had been assigned to, while the cell leader, a bit of a soft-faced boy going by the call sign of Sneers spoke to their Fire Army liaison. Jet had been rather amused to find that Smellerbee and Longshot had kept their street gang nicknames, now using them as military call signs.
"Oh, she's just the daughter of Mayor Morishita," Smellerbee rolled her eyes. "And a hardcore Freedom Fighter at heart, I guess. Getting Kori out of the Dai Li clutches would be a big win for the rebellion."
"Really?" Jet wondered. "Don't tell me that she's as tough in a scrap as you are. Or is she some kind of a genius military strategist?"
"Hah, she's neither of those," Smellerbee snorted. "She's a pampered rich girl. But she can really help us if we can smuggle her out of the city. She's rich and has connections, and the kind of visibility none of us have. Sneers and the other cell leaders think that she could be the public face for our push for independence."
"Sounds good," Jet nodded. "So, this isn't just one cell leader going gung-ho to rescue his girlfriend then. I mean, I got that sort of a whiff a little earlier from his speech." Longshot made a disgusted sound at that, rolling his eyes, while Smellerbee burst into laughter.
"You'll come across a lot of guys who think that Kori is their girlfriend," she laughed. "Kori loves putting herself out there. Being locked up is probably pure torture for her because she can't date. Oh, how my heart bleeds for her," Smellerbee added, not looking at all upset.
"Hey, I appreciate the hustle," Jet shrugged, earning himself a punch in the shoulder. Their banter ceased the very moment as the bunker doors opened and Sneers came out, accompanied by the two last members of their cell, Pipsqueak and the Duke, bearing the two call signs that were the worst possible representations of reality.
"Alright, guys," Sneers said, trying to project confidence. "Our Fire Nation pals won't have our backs on this one, but they have agreed to create a diversion in the marketplace. It should divert the Earth Kingdom forces from guarding Kori's bunker, making our mission of infiltration a lot easier."
"Sounds good, boss," Jet nodded, smirking as he chewed on a stem of grass. He wasn't thrilled about the Freedom Fighters working so closely with the Fire Nation military, but upon learning the real situation on the ground, Jet had been forced to admit that there were not many other options. They would get nowhere without the support from the Fire Nation, whether it was information or actual supplies, including the Ingram automatic pistols and Sten submachine guns they were all sporting on this mission. At least Jet could take heart from the fact that nobody among the rebels held any illusions about the Fire Nation actually caring about them or wanting Yu Dao to become independent. This was merely a temporary marriage of convenience while the Earth Kingdom was in ascendancy.
"Okay, we move out in five," Sneers said. "I'll give you more detailed instructions on the way. It's time to kick the Dai Li where it really hurts."
Next chapter: Let's see how the girls do at the next tournament. Also, it's been a while since we've had some bonding between Azula and Ursa.