Chapter 103
It was early August in Caldera City. Yue and Azula had only just arrived in the city for Azula's final tournament of the jampacked summer, and Yue already felt a little worn out. It had been only ten days since the previous tournament on Kyoshi Island had ended and they had barely managed to unpack their suitcases back in Ba Sing Se before it was time to leave again. All the traveling and the intense practice sessions were starting to really wear Yue down. She endured quietly, however, not wanting to worry Azula. It helped that the finish line was now in sight. After the Caldera City tournament, Azula intended to take things a lot easier, significantly toning down all the prep work. Azula would only play two or three more tournaments until next May, all of them held locally in Ba Sing Se, and all the mental and physical exhaustion that was tied in with traveling and staying in hotels would be absent, allowing them to remain relaxed and well-rested.
And Yue seriously needed to take things easier, because earlier this spring she had crammed way too much on her plate. In retrospect, she probably should have taken a sabbatical leave from her studies this year, but Yue had been reluctant to do so, forcing herself through an intense marathon of studying to somehow squeak through her final exams in early June. On top of her teaching practice at the Five-Seven-Five Academy and helping Azula with her Pai Sho prep, Yue had been forced to find some less productive activities to cut from her schedule. She had already shed her part time job of giving Pai Sho lessons a year ago, not really needing the income from it now that she had her sponsorships. In the end, she had decided to cut down on sleeping and eating, which had somewhat unsurprisingly caused some health scares that had forced Katara to intervene.
At least once her study year was over it became easier for Yue to stick to the sleeping and eating schedule that Katara had persuasively convinced her to adopt. Still, assisting Azula during the tournaments was an arduous task, and the exhaustion had been building up all this time over the previous months. Also, they never got much of a break between the tournaments. Azula still needed to prep for her opponents in the next tournament and both of them also wanted to savor a lot of physical intimacy with Katara, just so that they wouldn't miss her so terribly while they were away at the next tournament. All in all, this was a very busy and draining time for Yue, and while she obviously loved to support Azula and make sure that she was always well prepared, Yue couldn't wait for this intense stretch of time to come to an end.
In all honesty, more than anything Yue was looking forward to September when her studies would resume again and she would enter the final year of her courses to become a certified teacher. The final year was largely an uninterrupted teaching practice, which was what excited Yue so much. She couldn't wait to be back at Madame Macmu-Ling's academy and be reunited with the girls she had already bonded with during her previous teaching practices. In fact, lately when Yue thought about her long-term future plans, more and more she began to see herself standing in front of an excited class full of eager young girls wanting to learn, with Pai Sho barely showing up in these prospects and hopes for the future. Yue didn't particularly wish to voice aloud what this implied about her future Pai Sho career, not wanting to distract or upset Azula, but Yue strongly suspected that her serious pro career had come to an end, or at least had been placed on a lengthy pause.
The situation was complicated, however. Katara had stated her intent to at least return to practice with them in the fall. What if Katara rediscovered her passion for the game? Yue and Azula had both freaked out about Katara possibly distancing herself from them both after dropping Pai Sho and their relationship dynamic had changed for the worse as the time they got to spend with each other became so unbalanced. But if Katara returned to Pai So and Yue decided to leave the game, then it would potentially isolate her, and she didn't want to be in that position, feeling like she was slipping away from her beloveds. And it didn't help that Azula herself didn't seem to really know what her future plans would be like. If Azula became the world champion, Yue suspected that there was a possibility that Azula could also decide to walk away from the game. But if she didn't take her father down during this cycle, Azula was likely to go on for two more grueling years, and Yue wasn't sure if it was within her to accompany Azula on this journey. All in all, the situation was very unclear and so Yue tried to make it seem as if she was as obsessed with Pai Sho as before, when it really wasn't the case anymore.
At least as far as Azula's chances of winning the world title were concerned, Azula's level of play was trending in the right direction, with the Fire Nation girl in firm ascendancy. Azula still wasn't at her absolute best shape, like when she had dominated some of the pro tournaments during the previous cycle, but she was getting there. Yue had strong hopes that with Katara joining them for prep later this year, it would give Azula that extra positive boost. Azula had won the July tournament on Kyoshi Island, which admittedly didn't have the strongest lineup and Azula herself had been on all the tournament advertisements as the major headliner, but it was still a decent field and Azula's play had been solid and confident, proving enough to secure the tournament victory.
Yue wasn't so certain about Azula's chances of winning the Caldera City tournament, however. The lineup was insanely stacked with Ozai and all the other best Fire Nation grandmasters taking part. Azula would also have to contend with Aang and Zuko who had accompanied them to the tournament, and from their circle of acquaintances, Haru Tamang and Kori Morishita were also in attendance. The power couple from Yu Dao had both matured into two very solid and dangerous players, capable of hanging with the best.
On their way from the airport to the hotel, Yue was struggling not to fall asleep even if it wasn't particularly late in the evening. Her head felt so heavy and she was constantly leaning in against Azula next to her in the backseat. Azula eventually became a little frustrated with Yue and solved the issue by forcing Yue to rest her head on Azula's shoulder, which only increased the risk of Yue falling asleep. It didn't help that the streets of Caldera City were as close to pristine as anywhere else in the world and Zuko was a confident driver who did not neurotically change lines for no apparent reason every fifteen seconds while leaning out of the car window to yell obscenities. It was a very calm drive and Yue actually did fall asleep, waking up only when they pulled up to a parking lot of a picturesque apartment complex.
"Alright, this is where I get off," Aang spoke cheerfully in the front passenger seat. He turned to look at Azula and Yue. "Are you certain you haven't reconsidered staying with us?" he asked expectantly, for some reason anticipating a different answer from Azula.
"For the tenth time, Aang, we're going to stick with the hotel, thanks," Azula replied irately. Yue knew that it wasn't as if Azula didn't want to spend time with Mai and Ty Lee, but Azula also felt that with five people at the apartment, it would be too much of a distracting crowd for her to really focus on the prep. Yue had vehemently agreed with Azula's decision, if not perhaps completely for the same reason. Yue felt that she and Ty Lee had largely moved past whatever bitterness may have lingered in the wake of their failed relationship, but perhaps some slight unease was still present there. When it came to Mai, Yue felt that genuine bonds of friendship had finally began to form between them, but Mai still possessed a certain talent to occasionally put Yue on edge. With Yue already feeling exhausted, she was grateful not to be placed in an environment that had the potential to prove a little stressful. "We're still going to visit, stop giving me that look as if I had just sacrificed your pet yak," Azula sighed.
"Oh no, don't say that about Appa!" Aang gasped. "That is so mean! Anyway, we'll hold you to those visits. See you at the tournament!" He then got out of the car and walked over to the trunk to retrieve his luggage, then waving them off as Zuko pulled out of the parking lot and they resumed their drive to the hotel.
"Are you doing prep with us, Zuko?" Yue yawned as an untimely yellow light stopped them at the next crossing.
"I thought that was what we agreed on," Zuko replied.
"It is," Azula nodded. "But that's for tomorrow. You're too exhausted today," she added, leaning in with her cheek against the top of Yue's head.
"I just need a brief nap," Yue replied, cursing inwardly that she had allowed Azula to notice just how tired she was. It was odd, though, because she had been sleeping a lot the previous few days, almost six full hours. It felt almost more like some kind of a mental fatigue. She didn't think that they had been overdoing prep lately, but perhaps the exhaustion of the previous weeks and months had built up and was now spilling over, at the exact wrong time.
"No, you need more serious rest than just a nap," Azula said sternly. Yue didn't even try to argue, having no energy for as little as a glare. "Hey, I'm just trying to think of what Katara would do in this situation and go with that. I think that Katara would say that we don't really need to do any prep today, so let's instead get a good night's rest and get back at it tomorrow."
"That's what I would have suggested as well," Zuko shrugged. "You do realize that the amount of practice you put in is absolutely mental, right? I've talked with a lot of fellow pros about it and nobody practices as many hours as you do."
"The results speak for themselves," Azula shot back.
"Sometimes we do play a bit better when we let ourselves rest and relax more," Yue said. "But I can't argue with Azula's methods of preparing, because it has always worked for us in the past. I'm leaving it up to you to decide how much you want us to practice, love."
"I don't know, all this attitude of working insanely hard, it seems more like something that father tried to drill into both of us," Zuko said. "But it's clearly stuck with you more than it has stuck with me."
"Not all of the values he tried to instill in us were horrible, Zuko," Azula sighed. "Try to be a little more open minded. But I'm glad that you're not prepared to work as hard as I am. By all means, I could do with a quick win against you, Zuzu."
"Hah, we'll see about that," Zuko grumbled, but their little match of verbal sparring failed to make Yue tense or nervous. The Nakamura siblings had finally reached a point where they could argue about various things, sometimes quite intensely, without coming to actual blows. It was honestly quite heartwarming to see.
"Let's just get to the hotel and settle in," Yue yawned again. "I guess I could really do with an early night, and then we can do plenty of prep tomorrow."
"Sounds good," Zuko said, nodding. "My room or yours?" he asked.
"Hmm," Azula said thoughtfully. "I guess Yue and I could let you come to our room. I remember back from Agna Qel'a how gross the room you shared with Sokka was."
"Our room was not in any way gross, that makes no sense," Zuko protested, but quickly relented with a sigh. "Alright, I'll stop by your room tomorrow morning. Are you happy now?"
"No, I'll be happy once I've crushed you at the Pai Sho board," Azula grinned wickedly. Sleepy as she was, Yue still had full confidence that her girlfriend was well capable of backing up her fighting words.
Azula frowned, deep in thought as she stared at her Chrysanthemum and White Jade tiles, having trouble deciding on her next move. It was the sixth round of the tournament and she was playing her old nemesis, Zhao Sakamoto, so she needed to remain fully focused in order to prevail, but it was just so hard to do when a couple of seats to her left, Zuko was embroiled in an absolutely mouthwatering battle of epic proportions against their father.
Azula had made a decent start to the tournament with three wins, a draw and a loss. She was a mere half point away from the tournament lead, shared by Zuko, Ozai and Jeong-Jeong. The tournament victory was still up for grabs and Azula really hoped that she could remain in touch with the leaders until the penultimate round when she would be facing her father. To play Ozai under such pressure was exactly the kind of test that she wanted to put herself through. It would reveal so much about her readiness to face Ozai in the finals.
Of course, the game against Ozai would not matter if she were to slip too far back in the rankings, which was another reason why Azula needed to focus on her match with Zhao and dispatch him as she fully expected herself to do. Zhao was hanging in there, however, exploiting the fact that she was having a hard time concentrating. Time and time again, Azula's gaze drifted over to the large display boards, showing the situation in every ongoing match, checking the progress Zuko was making against Ozai.
Unfortunately for Azula, while she had gained both positional and material advantage over Zhao on the board, because of her distracted state of mind, she had spent too much time on her first thirty moves, and now Azula had to really rush things to comply with the time limit. This led to her making some moves that were less than optimal and Zhao was able to even out the situation on the board as the game progressed past the fortieth move. In the match between Zuko and Ozai, Zuko had been dominating from the get go, but he was having trouble pinning Ozai down for the decisive blow, and as more and more tiles were exchanged and the match moved towards the endgame, Zuko's chances of winning were starting to fade.
Annoyed at Zuko's failure to put their father away in what seemed like a winnable situation, Azula tried once again to fully refocus her attention on her match with Zhao, however, she soon realized that it had followed a similar pattern than Zuko's match with Ozai. Zhao had managed to even out the playing field just enough so that Azula could no longer achieve the breakthrough in the endgame as there simply were not enough tiles left in play to realistically organize a decisive attack. Frustrated by having let Zhao off the hook, Azula somehow forced herself to shake his slimy, disgusting hand as they agreed on a draw before she turned to walk away. Zuko had also just agreed to end his match with Ozai in a draw, and he now hurried to catch up with his sister.
"Ugh, I hate that I even had to shake his hand," Zuko grumbled.
Azula was really tempted to lay into Zuko for having let Ozai off the hook, but since she had allowed the same to happen with Zhao, she couldn't quite deny that reprimanding Zuko would be the height of hypocrisy. "How was it?" she asked. "You know, mentally?"
"Oh… I didn't actually think about that once during the game," Zuko replied. "I guess that must mean the training worked, right?"
Azula shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll find out when I play him myself." Azula and Zuko had reached the exit to the hotel car park, Azula starting to look around for Yue. She was supposed to meet them by their rented car, but at first Azula failed to spot her girlfriend, then noticing her standing next to a grey Honda Accord and speaking to none other than Haru Tamang and Kori Morishita. Azula immediately changed her course, making a beeline towards the small group, with Zuko having no choice but to follow.
"Hey, sorry for running off," Yue waved at her and Zuko. "I just saw these two and came over to offer my condolences to Kori."
"Yes, I obviously share that sentiment," Azula looked at the girl from Yu Dao. "I'm sorry that you have to go through something so horrible."
"Yeah, that's really rough," Zuko nodded awkwardly. "I was really shocked to hear about your dad, Kori." Indeed, a few days ago, news had arrived from Yu Dao that Mayor Morishita had died while in the captivity of the Fire Army. The details on what exactly had happened were murky and unclear, but needless to say that Kori was both in grief and extremely pissed, mainly at everything and everyone connected with the Fire Nation. Azula only hoped that as an exile living in Ba Sing Se, it didn't include her.
"I appreciate your concern," Kori nodded curtly. Azula had already remarked on certain steeliness about Kori's countenance when they had met the previous time, and that impression had only strengthened. It was no wonder that she had become so hardened, of course. Kori had seen actual war and it had changed her. The loss of her father would more than likely only strengthen her resolve to fight, and if necessary, lay down her own life for the cause of independence. "Those Fire Nation butchers will be made to answer for their crimes, of course," Kori added angrily, as if to underline the point.
"I don't suppose you know more than what was reported in the news," Azula remarked. Kori shook her head. "It seems a little strange that the Fire Army would just kill him like that. Your father was an important man and a valuable prisoner of war. It doesn't make any strategic sense."
"I understand what you mean," Kori nodded stiffly. "But not every decision is guided by sound logic and strategic reasoning. And war makes beasts out of the best of men, especially a war that lasts this long and that's now being fought over the ruins of a formerly great city."
Azula responded with a nod, acknowledging Kori's point. The conflict for Yu Dao seemed to have long since outgrown its supposed initial premise, which was the struggle for independence. Independence was something that was barely even mentioned anymore, and it seemed as if the sides no longer had any idea what they were fighting for aside from the sake of fighting. And the fact that Azula now strongly suspected that her father had some kind of involvement in stoking the fires of this bloody conflict, it all left a particularly bitter taste in her mouth. She truly hoped that some of the digging around she was doing behind the scenes would lead to tangible results, something with which to put pressure on influential people and force them to stop this madness.
Toph and Teo had done some more spying in Gaoling back in July. They had brought back more photocopies of various documents from the strongbox of Lao Beifong, mostly invoices of arms sales. Azula had once again passed them over to her old contacts at the Herald, waiting for them to do their own research and get back to her. Toph had also told Azula stories about how her father was acting more and more anxious and agitated. They had found some prescription meds on the nightstand in the bedroom of Toph's parents, medication that Katara had identified as a particularly strong tranquilizer. It seemed that Lao Beifong was slowly starting to crack under the pressure of being complicit in the Yu Dao massacre. That was an encouraging sign to Azula. She hoped that with time Lao Beifong would deteriorate to such a state where Toph applying some extra pressure to her father would force him to crack and tell her the whole truth of his involvement, hopefully implicating Ozai as well. But that was very much a work in progress for now, there was still much to do before they had anything concrete with which to go public.
"It just pisses me off," Haru added, unusually angrily. Azula supposed that he was well within his rights to be mad about the murder of his girlfriend's father. She'd certainly be motivated to hunt down and destroy anyone who would dare to hurt Hakoda… but perhaps the same didn't quite apply to Arnook Taqqiq. "Kori and I, we're actually engaged, but we've been holding off from getting married because we wanted Kori's dad to be there. And now he won't be able to share that moment with us."
"Well," Kori frowned bitterly. "I guess we have no reason to wait now, do we?" she asked, looking at Haru. "Maybe after the tournament…"
"We'll talk about it," Haru smiled softly at his girlfriend. "In any case, I refuse to get married in the Fire Nation on principle."
Kori nodded at her boyfriend. "True, not after we had such dreams to one day having a marriage ceremony in independent Yu Dao," she said. "I suppose we have to keep that dream alive, for as long as it might take to get there." Haru reached out to take her hand at those words.
"I'm honestly surprised that you haven't pulled out of the tournament, Kori," Yue said, Azula nodding in agreement. She was quite amazed that Kori could even focus on Pai Sho after suffering such a loss, and while Kori had been angry with her father over his waffling on whether to support the independence of Yu Dao or not, Azula had always retained the impression that the girl from Yu Dao had truly cared for her father.
"The Dai Li have frozen most of my family's assets," Kori let out a sigh. "I actually can't afford not to play. Hopefully one of us will make it into the top six, because prize money and donations is pretty much what we're surviving on these days."
"I think you both are looking good for top six," Zuko remarked. Azula agreed with this assessment. Kori and Haru had really emerged as mature and dangerous players as of late, challenging the established elite and looking certain to make the qualifying tournaments in less than a year's time.
"We'll see," Haru replied, managing a small smile. "Anyway, we should be off. Kori has a radio interview with one of those stations looking for sound bites of someone not from the Fire Nation ranting about how horrible the oppressive regime of the Dai Li really is."
"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to delay you," Yue apologized profusely.
"Don't worry about it," Kori shrugged. "It's not like I'm looking forward to becoming a Fire Nation propaganda mouthpiece. But if it helps drumming up support for Yu Dao… anyway, we must be off," she said, waving at them as they got into their car and drove off, Azula, Yue and Zuko following their example to make their way to the restaurant where Yue had arranged a table for them.
"Sometimes I think about how crazy it is that the war is still ongoing," Yue mused as Zuko began to drive. "It's barely in the news anymore, so it feels like people have either forgotten that it's even a thing, or they have simply normalized it for themselves."
"Or maybe they're just too comfortably numb to care," Zuko remarked.
"Oh, was that your own joke or did you steal that one from Sokka?" Azula laughed at Zuko's reference to a hugely popular rock song. "Oh wow, you stole it, how embarrassing, Zuzu," Azula's laughter intensified when Zuko failed to respond promptly.
"Well, all laughter aside," Yue spoke up seriously, forcing Azula to tone down her amusement. "I was just thinking about Jet. He's been in Yu Dao for years now. Do you think there's even a remote chance that he might still be alive?" she asked.
"I'd like to give you a very hopeful answer, Yue," Azula sighed, feeling her mood darkening. "But the truth is that Jet is probably no longer with us…"
"Damn it, how are we even still alive?" Jet yelled as he leapt head first into a trench to cover himself from incoming fire. Moments before, he had heard the unmistakable metallic tingle of a bullet grazing his combat helmet.
"Don't be so dramatic, boss," Pipsqueak said, picking Jet up from where he had fallen in a heap and propping him straight up against the side of the trench. A quick survey of his group suggested that everyone was more or less intact, and more importantly, still alive. Smellerbee's whole face was covered in mud, making the whites of her eyes look almost as if they were glowing. Longshot appeared his usual unimpressed self. Pipsqueak seemed to be the worst off, having caught a few grazes on his upper arms, but fortunately having avoided any major injuries. The Duke seemed unharmed, but the wild and shifty look in his eyes indicated that he was close to losing it. And Jet could understand it. The situation in Yu Dao had gone to hell in a hand basket without any prior notice.
Months earlier, when Mayor Morishita had fallen into the Fire Nation custody, some of the Freedom Fighter cell leaders had demanded his extradition to be punished – meaning shot by a firing squad – for collaborating with the Dai Li officials. The Fire Army commanders had very reasonably enjoyed a good laugh about these ridiculous requests of some rebel peasants and had refused to turn the mayor over. Jet was sure that the story would end there, but unfortunately some particularly bloodthirsty rebel cells had united to carry out a remarkable operation to reach Mayor Morishita in his comfortable prison cell and then brutally stabbed him to death. Jet had been told that they had symbolically inflicted a stab wound for every Freedom Fighter killed during the conflict. That had seemed more than a little excessive.
Of course, the friendly ties between the Freedom Fighters and the Fire Army had been instantly severed. Many of the Freedom Fighters were completely unaware of any such op being carried out, and they were caught similarly unaware when the Fire Army soldiers suddenly opened fire on them. There were reports of entire cells being wiped out to the last member, and despite how horrific that was, Jet couldn't really pin it all on the Fire Jerks. Some of their own had thrown their entire cause under the bus, and now the Freedom Fighters were doomed to extinction, being actively hunted by both sides in this war. In an ultimate twist of irony, some of the surviving cells had actually gone over to the Earth Kingdom, which Jet found particularly insulting and ridiculous because the Earth Kingdom was the side that actively fought against the independence of Yu Dao, which was the entire point of the existence of the Freedom Fighters. It really was like the Duke had told him a few days ago. This war had dragged on for so long that nobody knew anymore what they were even fighting for.
"You know what I don't like?" Smellerbee muttered irately. "I don't like being shot at." Jet laughed at the absurdity of that statement. Even Longshot gave Bee a grin and thumbs up.
"No kidding, Bee," Jet snorted. "Anyway, where are we at, any thoughts? What should we be doing?"
"You're the leader, Jet," Bee glared at him. "You decide and we'll follow."
"Even if I tell you that we're running back to hide in the soft bosom of the Dai Li?" Jet asked.
"Nah, say that again and I'll shoot you in the face," Bee threatened, not entirely jokingly. Jet decided that it was a good thing that he had no intentions of actually suggesting going back to the Earth Kingdom. He'd probably be facing a court martial as soon as his identity had been confirmed.
"I think we're all in agreement that we can't really survive between a rock and a fiery place, right?" Jet asked, feeling quite proud of his earth and fire pun. Everyone nodded as one. "Then we only have one option left, and that is to somehow escape from the city before our luck runs out." And they really were ridiculously lucky for not having died in the first few hours of the hostilities between the Fire Army and the Freedom Fighters. Jet had been having casual sex with a rather fetching Fire Army supply officer. Even if they had both agreed that it was just some blowing off steam without any feelings, she had apparently become fond enough of Jet to run to their safe house and warn them that their sister cells had executed Mayor Morishita and that they should brace themselves for harsh reprisals. Bee had later laughed about how Jet's horniness had actually saved the day, and Jet had felt rather proud of that fact.
"Last I checked the city was surrounded on all sides by the Earth Kingdom army," Bee groused.
"Not to the North," the Duke opined.
"Well duh, there's a mountain range in the way, that's not exactly helpful," Smellerbee rolled her eyes.
"True, but I think I'd rather take the mountains over Yu Dao right now," Jet argued. "At least nobody would be shooting at us in the mountains. I hope."
"I know there are some pastures up there," the Duke said. "I've seen shepherds with flocks of sheep wandering about. Perhaps they could help us."
"Or maybe they'd let us join them," Jet said. "I've always wanted to be a shepherd. Okay, that was a lie, but it's definitely preferable to being yet another rotting corpse in the street."
"I think we should be looking to join the flock of sheep, not the shepherds," Bee rolled her eyes. "We really were as gullible as sheep if we ever thought that we could make a difference here."
"I like sheep," Pipsqueak said. "Sheep are fluffy."
"That they are, Pip," Jet nodded with a smile. "Anyway, I think we have a consensus, we're fleeing north to see where that takes us."
"Let's just focus on getting out of this city in one piece," Smellerbee sighed. "I hope this trench at least leads in the right direction."
"It seems to do so, let's check it out," Jet said, dropping on all fours to crawl along the bottom of the painstakingly dug deep trench. "Everyone, follow me. And feel free to start practicing your bleating as you crawl…"
Next chapter: Azula finally faces Ozai at the Pai Sho board. Also, Azula celebrates her twenty-third birthday, and Yue has a very special surprise in store for her.