Chapter 104
The long-awaited day of reckoning, namely the penultimate round of competition, had finally arrived for Azula. The tournament had been a mixed success for her so far, but she was still in contention for the overall victory, which was what she had hoped for before the competition got underway. She wanted her game with Ozai to come with a huge weight of responsibility when deciding the tournament victory, just so that she could test herself under the greatest of pressures and Azula had gotten her wish.
Because of the very strong lineup at the Caldera City tournament, nobody had really managed to separate themselves from the pack. Two rounds from the finish line, five players still had a theoretical chance to secure the overall victory. Piandao was somewhat surprisingly leading the tournament. Ozai was trailing by half a point, Azula and Zuko by a whole point, and Jeong-Jeong was two full points behind. Azula's game against her father was crucial. They both had to win in order to keep pace with Piandao.
Azula was fairly satisfied with her play throughout the tournament. She felt like this was her best performance in this championship cycle. If Azula had played like this in any of the other tournaments she had entered, her level of play would have been more than enough to secure the overall win. Caldera City lineup was brutal, however. Her record of six wins, four draws and a loss was not indicative of how well she had been playing, but rather of the quality of her opposition. But the most important test was still ahead of her, and facing her father had been her largest motivating factor to even select this tournament in the first place.
Azula tried not to think too much about her previous encounter with her father and the devastating nightmare she had suffered on the eve of their match. It was hard to ignore these thoughts altogether, and she was grateful for Yue to have arranged a day packed with plenty of distractions, all to take her mind off from the upcoming contest. All the prep had been done beforehand, so they had enjoyed a day completely free from Pai Sho, which was something that Azula found highly beneficial. And even though Yue was putting in all this effort to make sure that Azula didn't experience any kind of mental health episode, Azula could tell that her girlfriend was freaking out herself, desperately and not always successfully managing to hide how much she was afraid about Azula.
They had also called Katara in the afternoon and Azula had spent half an hour on the phone, doing her best to reassure her other girlfriend that she wasn't about to fall apart mentally. Katara had then called back three more times throughout the evening, sounding progressively more and more worried as time went by. It seemed like the stress was really getting to them all, and Azula decided that it was time to finally see if the lessons she had learned from "Guru" Pathik were of any use. She hadn't really practiced his meditation techniques all that much after returning from the Si Wong Desert, but now, as the hour grew late in the evening, Azula decided to give it a go, using meditation as a way to clear her mind, center herself and hopefully further reduce the chance of suffering an awful nightmare. Having spent roughly half an hour meditating, Azula and Yue had then made love to the point of physical exhaustion, after which Azula fell right asleep and woke up seven uninterrupted hours later, feeling completely refreshed and ready to take on her father.
Azula had a reasonably good idea what sort of mind tricks her father would attempt in order to demoralize her, and her suspicions were proven correct even before the game had gotten underway. On his way to sit down at the table, Ozai had brushed against her in a completely unnecessary manner, when there had been plenty of room to walk past her without initiating physical contact. As the match between them finally began, Ozai didn't even attempt to throw her off with his piercing, intimidating gaze. Instead, he kept giving her those disturbing winks and sweet little smiles, acting like he was flirting with her. It was seriously creepy, so Azula tried to fall back onto what she had learned from "Guru" Pathik to avoid being affected by Ozai's disgusting attempts to trigger her.
Azula forced her mind to go back to her time with Pathik, remembering everything he had taught her about the ways to blank her mind so that it would ignore even the most intense pain and discomfort. It took Azula a while to center herself, but once she had done so, Ozai's disgusting and pathetic attempts to disturb her became merely insignificant white noise. It was just the Pai Sho board in front of her and nothing beyond it even seemed to exist in Azula's consciousness, allowing her to maintain unbroken focus on the situation on the board.
Even then, with her secret defensive measure deployed, Azula was up against it in her game with Ozai. It had taken Azula a while to get into the necessary mindset, and while she had been busy centering herself, Ozai had jumped out of the starting blocks and raced ahead to gain initiative and his tiles were by now dominating the board. Azula had her work cut out for her if she wanted to stay in the game, Pathik's meditation techniques or not.
For a while, Azula was left balancing over the edge of the abyss, in danger of losing the game by the twentieth move, which would have been a shocking embarrassment for a player of her caliber and aspirations. Ozai had her on the ropes for most of the late opening and early middle game, but Azula just about managed to evade the finishing blow. Ever so slowly, Azula began to shore up her position, plugging the holes in her defensive lines. It definitely helped that seeing Azula wriggle out of her difficult predicament was making Ozai feel extremely frustrated and he had made several sub-optimal moves, further allowing Azula to even out the playing field. By the thirtieth move, Azula had managed to neutralize most of the threats posed by her father, and she now began to probe some of the potential avenues for a counterattack, and now it was Ozai who had to defend himself.
Azula felt like she was on the cusp of gaining a decisive advantage, but as the timing clock inescapably wound down the limit for the first forty moves, she found herself starved for time. Getting into the right mindset at the start of the game had cost her a lot of time, and now it was coming back to haunt her. She now had to rush some of her moves just to comply with the time limit, and because of her less than stellar and hasty decisions, Ozai found a way to once again even out the game.
It was later in the middle game when Azula realized that unfortunately there was no path to victory for her and that the game was destined to end in a draw. Still, she was in no mood to offer the draw to her father, and he clearly felt it beneath his dignity to make the offer to her. They continued to play past the point when playing on made any sense, because they had reached a stage where they both had insufficient number of tiles to even form a harmony ring. It was only then that one of the tournament officials decided to intervene and pronounce their game a draw.
Ozai reached out to offer her his hand, but Azula refused to accept it, disgusted by the thought of willingly touching her father. Ozai reached across the table and grabbed her hand anyway, pulling her closer towards him. "If you think this proves that you can play at my level, think again, sweetheart," he gave her a forced smile. "You know that I can break you any time I want, Azula. And you know how I can break you," Ozai added, winking at her.
"If you think I'm afraid or intimidated by you, then you don't know me at all," Azula shot back defiantly. "I'm going to take you down in the finals, father. Zuko and I are coming to take your crown."
"You both still have to make it into the finals," Ozai said, still refusing to release her hand. "I think the chances of you both making it through are very low."
"Ah, planning to rig the draw already, are you?" Azula glared at him, struggling to withdraw her hand and eventually managing to tear it free from Ozai's grip. "I dare you to do it, father. There will be no greater admission that you fear your own children. I dare you to put me and Zuko in the same group, because the world will see it for what it is, an admission of fear and weakness."
Ozai literally snarled at those words, stepping up to her and for a moment, Azula thought that he was going to physically assault her right there, in front of everybody. Her father wasn't quite as brazen as to go that far, pulling back at the last moment. "I don't mind humiliating you both in the finals, should you even make it that far," he snapped, turning to brush past her as he hastily walked away.
Azula couldn't hide the smirk of satisfaction that blossomed on her lips following that exchange. Not only had she proven to herself that she could play with her father and remain reasonably unaffected by his sheer toxic presence and irritating mind games, she had actually come fairly close to winning their game. And Azula also felt quite confident about having ensured something that had worried her for a while now. She was certain that come the draw for the qualifying tournaments at the end of May, her father would have likely pitted her against Zuko in one of the tournaments to make sure that one of them was eliminated outright, and the other limped into the finals bloodied and exhausted. But by exploiting Ozai's pride and arrogance, Azula felt certain that she had made sure that come the draw next year, Ozai would make sure that she and Zuko would be placed in separate groups. The suggestion that Ozai feared his children had gotten to her father, Azula could see that plainly. He now wanted to make sure that they both made it through to the finals where he could make examples of them.
Well, the joke would be on her father. A year from now, at the end of August, Azula saw herself taking part in the world championship finals and finally proving to her father once and for all that she and her brother had firmly stepped out of his poisonous shadow and were more than capable of bringing Ozai Nakamura down once and forever.
Yue let out a breath of relief at having somehow endured until the end of the Caldera City tournament, even if at some points throughout the event she had come close to collapsing from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion. At least it was over now. This was their final evening in Caldera City, and tomorrow they would all be flying back to Ba Sing Se. Her final study year would start in a week's time and Yue already knew that she would spend the whole next week doing absolutely nothing, simply getting in as much sleep as possible, while doing as little work as she could get away with. And most importantly, she needed some time away from Pai Sho because she was just so exhausted by it all. For some reason, serving in the role of a coach and sparring partner felt a lot harder than actually playing herself, which meant that Yue was quite simply in a dire need of a break from everything.
The tournament could be considered a success for both Azula and Zuko. Piandao had won the whole event, easing ahead of everyone in the latter stages. Ozai had managed to hold on to the second place, but he had definitely shown some signs of weakness, especially in the drawn games against Azula and Zuko. The Nakamura siblings had finished in a shared third place, something that they weren't exactly thrilled about, but the goal of successfully standing up to their father and being able to play while ignoring Ozai's mind games and intimidation, had been accomplished. Both Azula and Zuko were rather excited about that, reasoning that it was a good sign for the next year's finals. Yue kept her excitement more tempered. Azula and Zuko still had to prevail in the short and intense qualifying tournaments, and anything could happen in those, especially with Ozai potentially rigging the draw. Also, Ozai was more than capable of attempting something completely beyond the pale just to succeed and he had proven it against Katara less than a year ago. Just because Azula and Zuko had withstood him now, it didn't mean that Ozai wouldn't come up with something new, something even more sinister by the next year's finals.
Still, Yue didn't want to think about all that grim stuff now, especially when they wouldn't have to deal with it anytime soon. Azula's next tournament would be only in November, back home in Ba Sing Se, so all Pai Sho related matters could be laid aside for some time. Not to mention that the day before their return to Ba Sing Se was a special day, because it was also Azula's twenty-third birthday. In order to celebrate it properly, Yue had turned to Mai with an idea to rent a particularly posh restaurant just for their group, no expenses spared. And Yue had to admit that Mai had made a great suggestion, choosing a small family restaurant in the older part of the town. Because it was a small and cozy place, them being the only patrons did not feel at all weird, in fact, the place had a very homely atmosphere. The owners were taking an almost obsessively good care of them, and they had even been given a little tour around the kitchen to show how their meal was being prepared, and Yue found it a very exciting glimpse beyond the curtain.
As they sat around the table, having finished off the main meal, the small group of six were busy chatting excitedly as they made good use of the two opened bottles of Pinot Grigio while waiting for the birthday cake to be brought out. The only one who was not sipping wine was Aang. The Air Nation boy had for some reason never developed a taste for alcohol. Yue didn't begrudge Aang for his choices, even if she didn't understand how anyone could turn down a glass of fine wine, but if Aang truly wanted to stick with his elderberry lemonade, who was Yue to judge. However, no amounts of elderberry lemonade had helped Aang to enjoy a successful tournament as he had been forced to console himself with a middling eight place finish. Still, because of the strong lineup of competitors, the damage done to Aang's rating was very minimal.
Yue was glad that Mai seemed to have warmed up so much more to her. She had acted very friendly when the two of them had visited the restaurant earlier, just to scout and decide whether it was suitable for Azula's big day. It felt as if Mai had finally accepted Yue as a part of her circle of friends, and considering how standoffish the tawny-eyed girl could be at times, it truly did feel like a huge step for her. Mai's designer work remained something that she cared about quite passionately, but she was still waiting for her big breakthrough. Working with Yue's father had elevated her profile, and the clothing line based on Mai's designs had sold above expectations, but not hugely so. Lately, Mai had decided to really push her visibility in Ba Sing Se, starting to lay down some ground work for the day when she could hopefully make a permanent move to live in the Earth Kingdom with Aang. Yue wished Mai only the best. She still treasured the gift Mai had gotten for her birthday the year before, and the outfit had seen much use over the previous months.
Ty Lee seemed to be doing very well in Caldera City, although it was obvious that she missed her family and all of her friends left behind in the Earth Kingdom. At least she still had Mai in the Fire Nation with her, and she was on the phone with her parents and sisters often. Ty Lee had also followed Azula's suggestion to use the monthly payments reluctantly provided by Ozai Nakamura to bribe her way into a medical school offering nursing courses. Ty Lee had managed to convince those in charge – although Yue suspected that a big pile of money had done most of the convincing – that because of her experience as a military nurse, her education could be fast tracked. With a year of intense studies already behind her, it seemed certain that this time next year, Ty Lee would be able to seek employment as a fully certified nurse. As far as dating was concerned, Ty Lee remained coy and offered no comments. Yue suspected that Ty Lee's dating experience probably saw a lot of action and variety, not that she would ever begrudge Ty Lee for having fun.
In the past, Zuko hadn't really been a common guest at Azula's birthday parties. Now that he was present, however, he seemed to be having a good time. It really felt as if facing their father together had forged some kind of tighter bond between the Nakamura siblings and Yue found it genuinely sweet. It had also happened very naturally, because to Yue's knowledge, Azula and Zuko had never openly discussed what it meant for them both to face Ozai together. To Yue it felt as if some kind of non-verbal communication had taken place, but whatever it was, Yue was happy for them both. The Nakamura siblings deserved only the best after what they had gone through during their traumatic upbringing. Yue was delighted to see Zuko having a good time at the party, even if it was clear that he was missing Sokka badly by now.
Then again, Sokka wasn't the only one missed at the table of Azula's birthday party. Katara's absence was keenly felt by everyone, and especially by the birthday girl herself. Yue and Azula were both aware that Katara had been having a tough time of it lately, just because her girlfriends had been away for most of the summer. Yue was relieved that Katara had her temp work at the hospital's laboratory to keep her occupied, but still, during their phone calls, Yue sometimes became very concerned simply because of how on edge Katara sounded. Even if Yue understood and approved of Katara's decision to step away from Pai Sho, it was clear that not being by Azula's side throughout their girlfriend's trials was killing Katara. But at least their time of separation was coming to an end. And because of a certain surprise that Yue had up her sleeve, and Azula did not know about, they would be together once again sooner than Azula expected.
Azula seemed to be in a good mood on her birthday, but despite her girlfriend smiling a whole lot, Yue could still tell that Azula remained rather tense. Azula certainly had plenty of reasons to be happy because the tournament had gone well for her. Azula had all but made sure that she had clinched her passage into the next stage of competition. She had also proved to herself that she could stand up to her father without crumbling to pieces, although Yue was still concerned about the toll the effort had taken on the Fire Nation girl and she had resolved to watch Azula closely for any lingering aftereffects of the confrontation. Yue had a feeling that the tension within Azula was mostly due to Katara's absence and how it was affecting the relationship between the three of them. Azula missed Katara terribly, and both she and Yue worried about being parted from Katara for so long. And Azula had also expressed her concern for Yue, having at some point noticed just how exhausted she was. All three of them definitely needed some down time together, an opportunity to hit the reset button away from some of the stress that had been plaguing them for months if not more than that.
"To the end of the most intense stretch of my Pai Sho career so far," Azula raised her glass of Pinot Grigio for a toast. "I hereby solemnly swear never to attempt three tournaments in three months again, because that was pure madness," she added much to Yue's relief. Yue was glad that Azula had developed enough perceptiveness to realize that this was hard not just for Azula herself, but also for her girlfriends.
"No kidding, I don't know what you were thinking," Zuko shook his head at her.
"There was definitely thought process involved," Azula said, a little defensively. "I may have made some flawed and overly optimistic assumptions, however," she added, shooting Yue a guilty look. Yue responded by reaching out and taking Azula's hand, squeezing it supportively. Yue knew that Azula had tried to make efficient use of her summer study break. And Yue believed Azula wholeheartedly when she claimed that she simply hadn't realized just how exhausting it would be for all of them.
"We've made it to the end, and we've done so successfully," Yue smiled at her. "And now we can go home and enjoy some well-deserved rest."
"Mhm, I can't wait to be back in Ba Sing Se," Zuko grumbled, obviously missing Sokka like crazy.
"Eh, going back to Ba Sing Se is overrated," Aang sighed, giving Mai a very fond and reciprocated stare. "Then again, the new study year is about to start, and I'll have a lot of exciting new courses in the next semester. And my turbine prototype should be ready for some preliminary testing by November. It'll be exciting times, although I will miss my fire bunny, of course."
"Wait… your fire bunny?" Azula blinked. Everyone around the table did a double take, save for Mai, who had gone suspiciously red in the face.
"You were not supposed to hear that, so I suggest that you forget all about it," Mai still managed to sound very stern. "I don't know why you just blurted that out," she gave Aang a mild glare of admonishment.
"Sorry," Aang gulped. "I guess I've had too much to drink."
"Aang, you're drinking elderberry lemonade," Mai groaned.
"Hey, it's stronger than you think!" Aang protested, making everyone around the table laugh.
"Hey, Azula, I don't suppose you could try to smuggle me out of the country in one of your suitcases?" Ty Lee asked once the laughter had died down again. "I miss everyone, but my family in particular. It's funny, though… I didn't feel like I really missed them when I was panhandling on the streets of Ba Sing Se, but now that I got my family back, not having them around really hurts. I miss Ty Woo in particular. Phone calls just aren't enough, you know?"
"I really wish we could help you in some way, Ty," Azula sighed. "But I'm afraid that you'll just have to remain patient." Yu Dao was still a raging hotspot of seemingly inextinguishable flames of war.
"But you do want to get your nursing certificate, don't you?" Yue asked.
"Well, that's true," Ty Lee admitted. "Maybe they will sort out all that war mess by the next summer, around the time when I get my certificate." Yue nodded in agreement, hoping for the same, although Azula clearly appeared skeptical of the possibility of peace anytime soon.
"Well, I'm definitely coming back to the Fire Nation for the next tournament here," Aang said decisively.
"That's Fire Fountain City in October, isn't it?" Zuko asked. Aang nodded at him. "I just might join you for that, Aang. I think I heard Toph saying that she and Teo wanted to play the Ba Sing Se tournament in November, and with Azula also taking part in that, I probably shouldn't make it a crowd."
"Sounds good, Zuko," Aang said excitedly. "Also, Ty Lee, I know that you can't go back to the Earth Kingdom right now, but maybe your family could visit you here in Caldera?"
"Oh… that's not a bad idea," Ty Lee blinked in surprise. "Why didn't I think of that before?"
"You actually thought of that a few months ago before dismissing the idea because to bring them all here would be hideously expensive," Mai said.
"Oh, that's right. Thanks for reminding me why I felt so sad, Mai," Ty Lee sighed. "Although, I suppose I could bring only my parents. Or Ty Woo and her girlfriend, that would be even cooler. But they would need a hotel-"
"Don't be daft, you know that there's plenty of space at our apartment. Well, as long as you don't bring your entire family over at once," Mai said, looking a little annoyed that Ty Lee would not instantly assume that her family would get automatic invites to stay with them. Yue also noticed how Mai had said 'our apartment' instead of 'my apartment', even if Mai was the sole legal owner of the place. Yue thought that it was very sweet how Mai clearly cared about Ty Lee a lot more than she let on.
"You're the best, Mai," Ty Lee gushed, blowing a kiss at her best friend. "I'll call Ty Woo right away after we get back to the apartment. Maybe we can figure out something soon."
Shortly after that, Azula's birthday cake was brought in and everyone was served a massive slice of chocolate cake so moist that it literally melted on Yue's tongue. Seeing Azula digging into her slice with hungry excitement brought a smile to Yue's lips. She knew that her Fire Nation girlfriend wasn't usually too keen on sweets, but Azula was still suffering from post-tournament exhaustion and understood the necessity to restore her energy reserves. Despite Yue following her dietary schedule to make sure that her eating disorder didn't rear its ugly head, Yue had still lost almost four pounds of weight, but it didn't compare to the seven pounds which Azula had shed. They both were in dire need of some downtime and recovery.
"Okay, now I'm full," Zuko declared, turning down the offer for another slice. Yue felt tempted because the cake was just that good, but she was also starting to feel a tiny bit queasy, which was a strong hint that she was in danger of making herself very sick if she ate another morsel.
"I'll have just one more," Ty Lee said cheerfully, the only one to help herself to another slice. Yue smiled and shook her head as she watched Ty Lee devour yet another piece of the chocolate cake. This was the Ty Lee she remembered with great fondness, the girl with an almost unnatural ability to pack away everything sweet.
"Azula, you're the math genius among us," Zuko said a while later. "You must have run some calculations already. Do you think some of us have already done enough to make the qualifying cut in May?"
"I haven't done exact calculations, sorry," Azula shook her head. "I'm pretty sure that the three of us have done enough, though," she nodded at Zuko and Aang. "Now it's just the matter of reaching the minimum of six tournaments played and keeping in shape for the qualifiers in June."
"What about the others?" Aang asked. "Do you think Toph and Teo will make it through this year? And what about Haru and Kori, do you think they might squeeze in as well?"
"Right now, only Toph should feel certain, but I'm going to make a bold prediction," Azula replied. "I have looked at the latest games of all Teo, Haru and Kori, and I can tell you that they're all continuing to make improvements to their game. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they'll have a very strong second half of the cycle, and all of our friends and acquaintances will make it among the thirty best."
"Oh, that would be amazing!" Aang exclaimed. "Although I hope that I won't have to battle any of my friends in the qualifiers. Fighting Yue for that single ticket hurt a lot," he sighed, looking at Yue. Yue on the other hand was feeling conflicted for a different reason. These Pai Sho discussions occasionally still instilled a powerful hunger and desire to return and become an active part of the competition, to make a glorious return and take the Pai Sho world by storm for the second time. But then Yue remembered about the countless hours of prep, of all the associated stress, the sleepless nights, and her desire of making a comeback faded as quickly as it had emerged. Maybe in a few years she would feel differently about Pai Sho, but right now she didn't want to think about it beyond being Azula's coach and sparring partner, which was intense and exhausting enough.
It was an hour before the midnight when they finally decided to cut the birthday celebrations short and return to either their hotel lodgings or Mai's apartment, respectively. Before departing from the restaurant, Yue excused herself for a visit to the ladies' room, and on her way back she slipped into the owner's office to borrow their phone for a quick call to the hotel, all to make sure that Azula's final birthday surprise was prepared for their imminent arrival.
After they had returned to the hotel, Yue first had to deal with a minor scare because Azula suddenly decided to invite Zuko to their room for another round of drinks, and Yue definitely could not allow that to take place. Somehow, Yue had managed to dissuade the two siblings from this idea, claiming that she was feeling incredibly exhausted and wanted to go to bed as soon as possible. When they finally made it all the way up to their suite, Azula was about to barge straight in, only for Yue to stop her on the doorstep.
"Love, I actually have one more birthday surprise for you," Yue whispered to her girlfriend. Azula immediately looked very curious. "But for it to work, I'm going to ask you to keep your eyes closed as we go in, okay? Also, I'll keep the lights turned off until everything is in place, can we do that?" she asked.
Azula was clearly beyond intrigued by now. "Alright, this sounds fun," she grinned, closing her eyes and letting Yue take her hand. Yue then opened the doors and led Azula over the doorstep and further into the room, not stopping until she had Azula in the middle of the room and facing the bed.
Yue left Azula standing there as she quickly dashed over to the light switch. "Okay, you can open your eyes, love," Yue said, flipping the light switch at the very moment as Azula opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Katara lounging on the bed, dressed in a particularly sexy lingerie of Fire Nation red, featuring a garter belt and stockings, the full set. Katara had also adopted a particularly stunning position, arching her back and puffing out her chest, her smile more seductive than Yue had believed her being capable of. All in all, Yue was just as stunned and aroused as Azula was by the birthday surprise which she had arranged.
"Katara!" Azula exclaimed, once she had regained her ability for speech. She all but ran up to the bed and pounced on Katara, landing on top of her girlfriend. "I can't believe that you would arrange something like this for me," she said in disbelief, facing Yue and somehow managing to resist the clearly overpowering desire to kiss Katara.
"It was clear what you wanted the most for your birthday, and since Katara and I could give it to you, why wouldn't we?" Yue managed, trying to keep herself in check, which wasn't easy when Katara was wearing something like that.
"Best birthday gift ever," Azula sighed happily as she and Katara began to kiss, slowly at first, the making out gradually becoming more and more intense. Azula then pulled away from Katara's lips, leaving them both gasping for air. Azula turned towards Yue again. "You're not joining us?" she asked.
"Tonight, Katara is your gift to enjoy, Azula," Yue smiled. Of course, she would have loved to join in, but she'd had so much alone time with Azula already. It felt fair to let Azula catch up with Katara, especially since it was her birthday.
"But what if we want you to join us?" Azula asked, facing Yue with a hungry stare. "Don't we, love?" she looked down at Katara, trapped underneath her.
"Always," Katara breathed out.
"I told you so," Azula grinned at her, then pausing for a moment as she considered something. "Do you have another set of this lingerie?" she asked. Yue nodded, feeling heat hitting her cheeks. "Well, what are you waiting for then?" Azula urged her. "Since it's my birthday, I'll tell you what I want as my perfect birthday present. I want you in the bed next to Katara, wearing the same set of lingerie. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Azula," Yue nodded. Her legs were slightly trembling from excitement as she dug out the lingerie from amidst her belongings and started to undress as quickly as she could. It truly seemed that this would be a birthday to remember for years to come.
Next chapter: we'll check in with our girls three months later in November, to see how their relationship is progressing.