Chapter 108
After a couple of easy wins over the perennial back markers in the previous rounds, Azula was once again set to face Toph in the crucial contest of the eight round. Despite feeling confident about her girlfriend's chances, Yue still felt nervous as she sat in the spectator stands with Katara, unable to take her eyes off the large demonstration board displaying the moves made by the two contestants. Yue's hand had found Katara's as soon as the match had begun, and they had been sitting like that with their hands linked ever since the very start of the game, drawing strength from each other.
Obviously, Toph hadn't been a part of their Pai Sho practice for the two previous days, since the point of those preparations had been to fine tune Azula's tactics for defeating Toph. It was hard to imagine Toph offering valuable input on how to best defeat Toph. Yue had always felt a little bemused regarding Azula's difficulties with Toph, because neither Yue nor Katara feared or respected Toph the way Azula did. Something about Yue and Katara's play styles allowed them to handle Toph with comparative ease. Yue suspected that it was because their more flowing, positional style of defensive play meant that Toph usually felt forced to come at them and attack, which was when she became more vulnerable.
But somehow, Toph always ended up provoking Azula into coming at her, which admittedly wasn't hard, because Azula loved to attack. And while Azula could play defensively with great poise when she was forced into such a situation by necessity, it wasn't her natural style of play. Azula was one of the most devastating offensive players among the Pai Sho elite, and as far as Yue was concerned, she had by now surpassed her father in that regard, with only Zuko possibly rivaling her. Attacking was Azula's strength, and to try and change her style during a tournament of such importance would probably be suicidal. During the prep, both Yue and Katara had unequivocally agreed that Azula had to attack Toph. The prep was not meant to find a radically different tactic, which would have probably confused Azula more than it would have confused Toph. The point of the prep had been to fine tune Azula's offensive strategies so as to deny Toph any chance of stubborn counter play.
As was usually the case in games between Azula and Toph, their girlfriend was quick to seize the initiative and start creating threats all across the board, with Toph defending with dogged determination. Azula seemed to be finding more success on the left flank, managing to undermine Toph's defensive structure. Toph was forced to give up ground and regroup, but as usual in such situations, she always managed to find that one optimal move that allowed her to avoid losing any tiles and kept her in the game.
"I honestly don't know if I can watch this," Katara whispered as Azula now switched her offensive to the right flank. Yue noticed that her girlfriend appeared to be both literally and figuratively on the edge of her seat.
"Is this too much for you? Do we have to leave?" Yue asked, turning to face Katara with concern, immediately fearing that Katara's old PTSD-related issues were making a comeback under all this duress.
"Oh, no… I'm not about to have an episode," Katara shot her a brief, but reassuring smile. "It's just so stressful, having to watch her trying so hard. I'm about to start chewing on my nails."
"I know exactly what you mean," Yue replied quickly. "I'd hold both of your hands, love, but that might be considered far too scandalous," she winked at her girlfriend.
"Don't worry, I'll be okay… as long as Azula doesn't drag this out to eighty moves or something," Katara chuckled nervously as they watched Azula now trying to repeat the same undermining of Toph's position on the right flank. She was having more trouble now, because Toph had truly dug in and become almost too well entrenched to dislodge. Azula kept up her efforts for about a dozen moves or so, but finding no path forward, she then decided to resume her invasion on the left flank, where she'd experienced more success.
"I feel like she should have kept digging on the right," Katara said uneasily, gripping Yue's hand tighter and tighter. "But she should have brought in the Orchid for extra support."
"Maybe," Yue nodded uncertainly. "I think this is good, though. She'll be fine, as long as she doesn't go for the center." Trying to attack Toph's central tiles would mostly likely be disastrous and lead to be crushed by a pincer move. Azula had been burned by this tactic a few times in the past, and the lessons had stuck. She was clearly trying to undermine both of Toph's flanks before sweeping inward and hitting the center with two irresistible waves from both left and right.
In the end, Azula didn't manage to score the decisive breakthrough by the time limit of forty moves, and the tournament officials stepped in to reset their clocks, giving them both another hour for the next forty moves. By the fiftieth move, Azula was still struggling to make a decisive breakthrough on the left flank, while being successfully stymied on the right. "She's starting to become a little frustrated," Yue remarked nervously, having watched Azula make a move that Yue considered a little too daring considering the stakes of the game.
"Yes, I really hope that she doesn't start to go for too much," Katara sighed, looking like she was barely able to face the display board, as if she was too afraid to see Azula's next move.
It was well past the sixtieth move that Azula finally managed to achieve another breakthrough on the left. Toph was forced give up more ground as the left flank now opened up to Azula's invasion, pushing Toph's tiles to the back of the board. However, by this point there had been quite a few tile exchanges during the lengthy contest, so Azula's invading force was not particularly large. Azula would have normally used the opportunity to now sweep right and hit Toph's center from at least one of the flanks, but she currently simply didn't have enough resources with which to attack the center. Azula could only succeed in taking the center if she could support her attack from the other flank as well, but she was well and truly stuck on the right flank, with no obvious path forward.
"Spirits, I'm not sure this is doable," Yue groaned as the two contestants reached the eightieth move and had another hour added to their timing clocks for the second time. The game had lasted for three and a half hours by now, and while Azula still held the advantage, she could not find a way to deliver the decisive blow. The mental image before Yue's eyes when she considered the situation was that of a race car stuck a few yards before the finish line with its wheels spinning in the mud.
"I agree," Katara nodded reluctantly. "At this point, I just want Azula to call it a draw and stop wearing herself out. Come to think of it, the crucial thing is not to lose the game. Whether Azula wins or scores a draw, that doesn't actually matter."
Yue thought for a moment, recognizing the validity of Katara's claim. It was true that even if Azula won against Toph, if Bumi also defeated Toph in the next round – and Yue thought that it was more or less a foregone conclusion – then Azula would still be in a position where only a victory over Bumi would do. "That's true," Yue said in agreement. "The game against Bumi is in four days, though, so I'm sure Azula will recover by then. Toph will face Bumi first before Azula does-"
"Yes, and it would make more sense for Azula to call it a draw and not get Toph too exhausted," Katara finished, her eyes widening in realization. She turned to stare at the stage with a hint of desperation in her eyes. "Spirits, I wish Azula would realize that, but I think she's too overcome with the need to defeat Toph at any cost."
"Or perhaps not," Yue smiled, feeling relieved as she watched Azula and Toph shaking hands on the stage, the two girls having agreed to a truce. Despite dominating both of her games with Toph, Azula hadn't been able to land the decisive blow in either match. Toph had once again managed to confirm her status as Azula's personal nemesis, but at least she hadn't managed to completely derail Azula's chances to win the ticket into the finals.
"Thank the spirits," Katara sighed, also looking relieved. "Now we have four days to set up some kind of a trap for Bumi and hope that he falls for it."
"It's not going to be easy, but I still think Azula can do it," Yue said confidently, even if she didn't know quite yet how they were supposed to overthrow Bumi.
"Of course," Katara nodded with certainty. "Our girl will do it this year, Yue. We'll make sure of it." Yue smiled back at her girlfriend, Katara's confidence further boosting her own. Indeed, despite results not always going Azula's way, she was playing at a very high level, and even more importantly, the tournament was taking place in Omashu, and they were unbeatable in Omashu. The final round would surely be full of high drama, but Yue was confident that Azula would prevail in her quest to secure the ticket to the finals.
Azula nibbled on her lower lip as she stared at the Pai Sho board in front of her, considering her options. Truth be told, she was not completely dissatisfied with what she saw, even if not everything had gone according to plan. Together with her girlfriends, Azula had spent four long days working on her tactics to use against Bumi. In the end, they had decided to go with something highly unorthodox and attempt the White Lotus Gambit, an opening that was virtually unused at the higher levels of competition because of its low success rate. The whole point of the White Lotus Gambit was to sacrifice the White Lotus tile early in exchange for initiative and faster development of tiles, a highly risky strategy, but they had decided to bank on the surprise factor of it, hoping to confuse Bumi.
And the surprise had worked, but not in the way Azula and her girls had anticipated it. After spending whopping twenty-five minutes after Azula had offered her White Lotus tile as a sacrifice, Bumi had even pulled out his rubber ducky from the pocket of his coat and spent some time conversing with the inanimate object, before surprising Azula by refusing to accept the sacrifice, thus declining the gambit. Of course, Azula and her girlfriends had also explored this possibility, but they hadn't spent as much time going through all the variations because not accepting the gambit was just such a weird choice. Azula now got to keep her White Lotus tile, while gaining important initiative. The downside was that she soon found herself in deeply unfamiliar waters, having to improvise, and improvisation was something that came much more naturally to Bumi than to her.
Still, Azula knew that she had to win this game in order to prevail and claim the tournament win, and she was determined not to fail at the last hurdle. Predictably, Toph hadn't done Azula any favors and she had lost to Bumi in the previous round, but it hadn't really changed anything. Bumi was leading with 8.5 points, with Azula following closely on 7.5 points. If Azula won this final round game, then she would be placed ahead of Bumi even if they were on equal points, because Azula would have done better in their head-to-head games. Azula savored the fact that her fate was in her own hands, because she knew that despite the pressure that was heaped upon her, she usually excelled in such challenging circumstances.
The fact that Bumi had wasted so much time to decide whether to accept or decline the gambit was playing hugely to Azula's advantage. She was in a similar situation than during the first game between them, when Bumi had given away a lot of time simply by forgetting to show up on time. Azula had failed to make the most of that opportunity, but she was determined not to make the same mistake twice. In the previous game between them, Azula had been too surprised by what had happened, and she hadn't been thinking clearly enough. Azula had also failed to readjust her tactics on the fly. Azula was much better prepared now, though. She quickly realized that the key to defeating Bumi was to play moves that would force the old grandmaster to spend as much time as possible to find the optimal response.
And Bumi was certainly having great difficulties coping with Azula's tactic. By the thirtieth move, Bumi had little more than ten minutes left, and his position was clearly worse than Azula's. However, Azula also knew that she had to gain the decisive advantage by the fortieth move when the clocks would be reset. She was trying her hardest to make sure that Bumi wouldn't slip out of her clutches, but the old grandmaster was playing like a speed Pai Sho champion, somehow managing to find the right move very quickly, which really frustrated Azula.
And then, on the thirty-eight move, something unexpected happened. With less than six minutes left on his clock, Bumi made his move, finding the only way to save his Orchid tile by throwing his White Jade to the wolves instead. However, having made his move, Bumi inexplicably forgot to press the button on the timing clock, something that was seemingly ingrained in every Pai Sho player since their very youth. It meant that even though it was now Azula's turn to make a move, she was on Bumi's clock. Unless Bumi noticed his gaffe, Azula didn't even have to make another move. She could just sit there and wait for his time to run out. And it seemed as if she would definitely be able to do that, because Bumi appeared oblivious to his oversight, instead paying all of his attention to his rubber ducky, quietly conversing with the bath toy.
Azula felt utterly taken aback by this turn of events. On some level, she wanted to simply sit there and accept this unexpected gift. However, Azula wasn't convinced that this was the way in which she wanted to squeeze into the finals, because of an oversight made by a more deserving finalist. Something about just sitting there and quietly waiting for time to expire felt dishonorable to Azula.
"Grandmaster?" Azula spoke up with slightly more than three minutes left on Bumi's clock. Bumi gave her a wide-eyed stare. "You forgot to press the button," she said, pointing at the clock.
"Oh!" Bumi gasped, quickly hitting the button. "How kind of you to point that out, young lady, especially when you didn't have to!" he looked impressed with her.
"Think nothing of it," Azula muttered, already focusing on her next move. Azula had something on her mind that she wasn't sure would work. It was a fairly simple combination, a threat that wasn't very well disguised, but she was counting on Bumi being starved for time. Azula made a move with her Jasmine tile, offering it as a sacrifice to Bumi's Rhododendron. However, should Bumi accept the sacrifice, Azula had prepared a move with her Orchid tile, delivering a triple threat to Bumi's position, something that he could not defend against and something that would lead to loss of crucial tiles. Azula wasn't very happy with her plan. She felt that she was really telegraphing her intentions and she expected something more subtle from herself. However, Azula was also starting to run out of time, and she really didn't have anything better up her sleeve.
Bumi stared at the offered Jasmine tile sacrifice for the next couple of minutes, his allotted time coming dangerously close to expiring. And then, much to Azula's utter shock and disbelief, he took his Rhododendron tile and accepted Azula's sacrifice. Unable to believe her luck, Azula quickly played her prepared move with the Orchid. Bumi let out a surprised gasp as he stared at his rubber bath toy. "Oh! I should have listened to you, Ducky!" he exclaimed. "She really was going for something so simple!"
Azula blinked at this strange exchange, unsure what to make of it. But then, she no longer had to think about it, because while Bumi was still pondering about his by now clearly lost position, his time ran out on top of everything else. Azula immediately jumped up to her feet and did an excited fist pump, reveling in the applause of the crowd and grinning broadly when she watched her girlfriends embracing in the stands, looking hugely relieved.
"I apologize, Grandmaster, I did not mean to show any disrespect," Azula then caught herself, turning around to address Bumi.
"Oh, nonsense, it was a deserved win, young lady," Bumi gave her a largely toothless smile. "And I must commend you on great sportsmanship, pointing out my mistake like that. Not everyone would have done what you did."
Azula blushed at the compliment. It wasn't as if that decision had come easy for her, but honor was a concept that was still important to her. "I hope you are not too disappointed, Grandmaster," Azula told the eccentric old man. "You would have been a worthy finalist, more than capable of defeating my father."
"Eh, maybe so, but you did beat me fair and square, youngster," Bumi shrugged off her comment. "Anyway, I think that a marathon of six weeks is something for people younger than me, so I'm actually quite relieved that you proved capable enough to deny me the ticket into the finals. I want to thank you for that, young lady."
"Are you quite serious?" Azula gasped. "You didn't actually want to qualify for the finals?"
Bumi shrugged. "Eh, being the world champion is overrated, if you ask me," he said. "If I have to spend six weeks in the same room with your father, I might very well go insane, wouldn't you agree, Ducky?" he said, turning to his rubber toy again. Azula had to bite back the obvious comment that she didn't see how Bumi could go any more insane than he already was, but the point of not relishing Ozai's company was well made. "Besides," Bumi gave Azula a conspiring wink. "September is prime fishing season on Serpent's Lake. If I have to choose between spending more than a month being glared at by that idiot Ozai and relaxing with my fishing rod, I know what I'm choosing."
"Uh… then I wish you excellent time fishing?" Azula tried, still finding the entire conversation more than a little bizarre.
"Thank you!" Bumi beamed at her. "And I wish you the best of luck in the finals, young lady," he said, taking her hand and shaking it. "I think that your old man is in for a surprise when he faces you, but something also tells me that you're going to need all the luck you can get."
Ozai Nakamura was not in a good mood as he stood on the balcony of his Fire Fountain City hotel suite, cigarette in his hand as he listened to Zhao Sakamoto delivering him the latest news from the Pai Sho world championship qualifying tournaments all across the world. Together with Long Feng, Zhao had convinced him to make the draw for the qualifying tournaments slightly more transparent, and now, as the results came pouring in, Ozai felt as if listening to his two lackeys had been a terrible idea. Oh, he had still manipulated the outcome of the draw as much as it had been possible, but not as much as he would have liked. As a result, come the end of August, marking the start of the main world championship event, Ozai realized that he was going to find himself in a less advantageous position than two years ago, because only Zhao had made it through to the finals, with Piandao slamming the doors in Long Feng's stupid face.
"Next time we're meeting up with Long Feng, I'm going to put out my cigarette in his eyeball," Ozai snarled before taking a long drag. "He's such a useless son of a bitch. Could I have made it any easier for him to qualify?" he asked of Zhao.
"Maybe if you had put him in with Gyatso," Zhao shrugged. "Then again, we couldn't have known that Gyatso was going to throw his games just to let his scrawny ass foster kid get through, so that's neither here nor there."
"I should have just forgotten all about this transparency and fairness, and instead rigged the draw as I've always done it, screw the protestations," Ozai said tersely. He knew that he probably wouldn't have been able to get away with it, though. The previous time he had tried that, Bumi, Gyatso and Pakku had all threatened to boycott the final event, so Ozai knew that his actions, and those of the International Pai Sho Federation, were being closely watched. Another attempt to heavily rig the draw would have probably ended up causing an even more severe reaction. The younger crop of players coming through the ranks would have probably joined Bumi, Gyatso and Pakku in their boycott. Even more frustratingly, his useless, no-good children were a part of this bunch that not only dreamed to steal his title, but were also considering wide sweeping reforms for the entire world of professional Pai Sho. Well, they had another thing coming if they thought that Ozai would just step aside. Ozai would intimidate and destroy them all, just as he had done with Azula's Water Tribe whores.
"You're assuming that Long Feng would have done any better if you had given him five of the worst players in the entire draw," Zhao smirked. "You know just as well as I do that his tournament results as of late have been less than stellar. Can you remember the last time when he actually won a major event? Or even placed on the podium?"
Ozai thought for a bit, but unable to come up with a satisfying answer, simply grunted before putting out his cigarette. It was true that Long Feng had been gradually slipping over the past few years. The internal politics of Ba Sing Se occupied a lot of his time and gave him few opportunities to practice Pai Sho. Also, there were reports that Long Feng was perhaps starting to crumble slightly from all the pressure heaped upon him, both internally from other, power-thirsty members of the Dai Li cabal, as well as from the general public, becoming more and more exhausted by the seemingly never-ending conflict in Yu Dao. The steady stream of coffins heading back to grieving Earth Kingdom mothers was seriously souring the mood across the vast nation, and to say that the Dai Li backed government's popularity was in the shitter was almost an understatement.
"I hate to say it, but you're probably right, Zhao," Ozai said. As much as it annoyed him not to have two lackeys feeding him cheap points during the finals, Ozai had to admit that expecting Long Feng to make it through to the finals had been overly optimistic. And he had actually come reasonably close, winning one of his games against Piandao himself. Unfortunately for Long Feng, Ozai had not realized that placing Kori Morishita in the same group with Long Feng was not a good idea, because Kori was burning with desire for revenge against the leader of the Dai Li, and she had absolutely destroyed Long Feng in both of their games, putting a stop to his hopes and dreams. Piandao had then made good use of his opportunity, defeating Kori to claim the ticket to the finals.
"I don't think that you can rely on Long Feng's help going forward, at least when it comes to Pai Sho," Zhao said. "But you can always rely on me to be there."
"Is that so?" Ozai smirked at his right-hand man. "You didn't need my help at all in order to qualify?" Zhao gave his boss an uncomfortable stare before nodding reluctantly, knowing full well what Ozai was talking about. Zhao had been struggling mightily with that young upstart, Haru Tamang. It was only late in the tournament that he had managed to surge ahead and secure the victory. It helped that Haru had become caught up in a violent confrontation with a group of Earth Kingdom thugs, taking issue with his pro-independence stance towards Yu Dao. Little did Haru and everyone else knew that these thugs were actually on Ozai's payroll and their true intentions for assaulting Haru weren't his political views.
"I may have needed your support, Ozai, but I will repay you for it during the finals, you know that," Zhao replied. "And I think that you will need my support more than ever, because let's face it, this is going to be a difficult year, unless you find some way to neutralize your own children."
"I have some ideas about that," Ozai said, frowning. He had to admit that both Zuko and Azula making it through to the finals was a development he hadn't anticipated. He had tried to avoid it by arranging particularly difficult groups for both of his children, but they had prevailed in the face of even the greatest adversity. Under any other circumstances, Ozai probably would have been proud of them, but they had turned on him, and by now Ozai had to acknowledge that even Azula most likely had moved past the point where he could break her psychologically and force her to flee back and straight into his arms.
When Ozai had faced both Zuko and Azula in a tournament more than a year ago, he hadn't been able to prevail against either of his children. They had put up fierce resistance and he had found it challenging to contain both of them. Zuko and Azula had probably made improvements to their game since then, so as much as Ozai didn't like to admit it, he felt slightly concerned. Ozai knew that in order to prevail, he might have to employ schemes that didn't necessarily have to do with Pai Sho. And really, he was in this situation because Azula had actually managed to manipulate him into not pitting her against Zuko during the qualifiers, a decision that Ozai now regretted bitterly. Having just one of them at the finals would have made things so much easier as they would have felt isolated and more susceptible to his mind games. But now, it seemed that Zuko and Azula were actually getting along, despite all of his efforts to turn them against each other. If his children managed to work together in order to overthrow him, Ozai was worried that they would become that much harder to dispose of.
"You're worried about the way they made it through against such odds, aren't you?" Zhao asked perceptively. "Zuko made it look very easy against Pakku and Jeong-Jeong. But Azula actually winning against Bumi, now that I didn't expect," Zhao admitted, looking impressed.
"Let's not overestimate them, Zhao. The finals are a grueling marathon and it will be their first participation in the event. They're going to be overawed by the occasion," Ozai said, sounding far more confident than he felt. The level of play both Azula and Zuko had demonstrated throughout the qualifiers was definitely a cause for concern. Ozai hated the thought that he would actually be forced to sit down and spend the next month doing hard practice in preparation for the finals.
"Well, those Water Tribe girls rose to the occasion two years ago, and that was their first time at the finals as well," Zhao said. "I would not count on Zuko and Azula being overwhelmed by the occasion."
"Perhaps not," Ozai said, smirking as he thought of something. "But let's not forget the most effective strategy that has always worked on Zuko and Azula." Zhao gave him a questioning stare. "Why, I'm speaking of turning them against each other. If all else fails to work, I'm sure I'll be able to manipulate them into renewing their old rivalry."
After the emotional rollercoaster that had been the Omashu qualifying tournament, Katara was relieved to return home to Ba Sing Se. It had been a long day, getting up early to catch their flight back to the capital, and upon arriving at the International House of Lesbians, Katara had been happy to take things easy. After a lazy afternoon, come the evening Katara was lounging on their queen-sized bed and playing with Shaw. Yue had settled in comfortably next to her in the bed, her nose deep in one of her romance novels, as they waited for Azula to come upstairs and join them. Their Fire Nation girlfriend had been insistent on putting down some notes for her future Harmony Ring articles before she forgot her own story ideas.
Katara was happy that she and Yue had managed to convince Azula into taking the rest of the week free from Pai Sho. It hadn't been easy, and Azula had wanted to resume practice as soon as possible, but Katara and Yue had stood firm, insisting that they all needed a little break. Azula had done marvelously well to qualify from a group with both Bumi and Toph. Katara and Yue both agreed that Azula's success deserved to be celebrated, and definitely not by throwing themselves straight into more and more grueling practice sessions.
And besides, even if they took the rest of the week off to recover, they would still have a whole month left for intense Pai Sho practice before the three of them would have to depart again, their destination the Fire Nation resort of Ember Island, hosting the world championship finals for the first time ever. Katara also didn't believe that their prep had to be particularly intense this year. Azula was well familiar with each and every opponent that she would face in the finals. Azula knew Aang's style of play inside and out, and she had a good record against their Air Nation friend. Zhao was someone that Azula was by now defeating regularly at the tournaments, and Piandao was also well known to Azula and she didn't fear the former world champion.
As far as Azula was convinced, the fight for the title would be between four contenders, Azula herself, Piandao, Zuko and Ozai. Azula wanted to focus her practice on Zuko and Ozai in particular. While she was well familiar with Zuko's style, Azula hadn't actually played her brother all that often in competitive tournaments, and when they had met, neither of them had held a distinctive advantage. Azula wanted to correct that by really studying Zuko's style down to the tiniest detail to identify any potential weaknesses. Of course, she wanted to focus on Ozai as well, but at this point, Azula felt that Ozai presented more danger to her when it came to psychological warfare. Azula didn't think that her father had evolved his game in any meaningful way over the past five or six years. With his multiple world championship titles, it stood to reason that Ozai didn't believe that he had to constantly reinvent his style. Still, he remained a ruthless competitor, capable of exploiting the tiniest weakness, and he deserved diligent preparation.
As Katara yawned, starting to feel a little sleepy, the doors to their shared bedroom opened and Azula strode in. Both Katara and Yue immediately looked up at their girlfriend, Katara noticing that Azula for some reason had a rather intense and determined look on her face, not at all the appearance of someone exhausted after a long day involving a grueling flight. "The three of us need to talk," Azula said, sounding deeply serious.
"Uh, is something the matter, Zula?" Yue asked worriedly, echoing Katara's thoughts.
"You better believe there is," Azula nodded seriously. "It concerns the bet we made. You didn't think I was going to forget about that, did you?"
"Well, you did win it fair and square," Katara laughed. "Yue and I only got Piandao right. You guessed Piandao, Zuko and Zhao."
"Yes, and Toph guessed two out of four, so we definitely lost that bet," Yue nodded. "I guess tomorrow we're buying you dinner, love."
"I feel like I want to trade that dinner in for a different kind of favor," Azula replied. There was a burning intensity in her eyes, the kind that never failed to ignite a certain kind of heat in Katara's lower abdomen, while at the same time making her legs feel a little weak.
"I, uh… think that could be arranged," Yue appeared similarly affected as she shot a quick look at Katara. "What do you think, Kat?"
"I do think, Yue," Katara nodded, hoping not to appear too eager. "What did you have in mind, Azula?" she smiled at the Fire Nation girl.
"Oh, let's just say that the long flight from Omashu gave me enough time to come up with certain… ideas," Azula smirked wickedly as she walked up to the nearby cupboard and began to rummage through the drawer where they stored all of their sex toys. "Mhm, I think this will do nicely," she hummed to herself before turning to look at her Water Tribe girlfriends.
Katara felt her mouth go a little dry in anticipation of Azula's plans. This was shaping up to become a long night, but Katara wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Next chapter: our girls arrive on Ember Island for the most important tournament in Azula's life as she finally gets to take on her father in the world championship finals.