"It is aa short part of this chapter but the one which has absolutely caught me cause it does sums up the way Azula feels." I feel like sometimes it is the subtle things that are really profound. Just a little piece of carefully placed dialogue. "I think it's one way and to my taste maybe one of the best ways to reduce all the complicated and twisted emotions, feelings, expectations and relationships which troubles her to an essence." Thank you! I would agree that the root of a lot of Azula's struggles is a whole lot of hurt, emotional and physical. And you keep coming back to this essence of her with this story. "She tries to get a new point of view on her scars and she takes new one by doing so." And I think that this is super important for her. Like she needs to be able to assess her scars and damage in a more positive way so that she can move on from them and grow as a person. "So far she denies herself chances of new luck." Indeed, she is afraid to hope because she is afraid of getting hurt all over again. SO she holds herself back and so far she thinks that she has only been proven right. "But she already feels attached to people." But yeah, unfortunately for her, she has already caught feels lol. "The way her speech and appearance is proving these lessons is SO impressive in my opinion. I love this version of her character you're writing here so much." Thanks so much =D I've been having a lot of fun tying these lessons into the person that her journey has shaped her into. "I like all of your running stories but this one is my favorite story form the current ones." And thanks again! I think that this one is my favorite of the three as well. I enjoy Ten Faced too though. Kind of wrote myself into a corner with SNE xD so gonna have to figure out what to do with that one. But this one has just been so much fun. I feel like it's the kind of hero's journey that I was aiming for with Swift As Karama. Except this time it's going better lol. "This one is my little mood lifter beside the sadness in it cause you've managed the right mix to me so far." And thanks again, I'm glad that this one is a more uplifting one! And you take care of yourself as well! :D

She can't seem to get the smell of fish out of her clothing and her mongoose-lizard isn't so fond of it. Rukk isn't very helpful; the man is quite adamant that the sea never leaves you once you get it on you. She is beginning to wonder if it is her clothes that smell of fish or if it is that his scent is simply that pungent.

Though the question sits on her tongue, she leaves it there. But it itches in the back of her mind; why would he keep following her when she has only been cold to him. She has a feeling that it is a pity thing, and she doesn't want to open that door.

"So you're really not going back?" He asks, clearly bolder than she. "You're just going to leave these people who have been taking care of you for weeks and you're just going to move on without a word."

"I've been taking care of myself and I am aware that I have overstayed my welcome. How comfortable do you think they are having a firebender around?"

Rukk shrugs. "I guess no more or less comfortable than they are with a tribesman?"

"Tribesmen aren't warmongerers."

"Most firebenders aren't either."

"Perhaps I am among those that are."

He quirks a brow, "you don't really strike me as the warmongering type."

"I might be the type that has walked right into war and slaughtered Earth Kingdom folks by the dozen. Without flinching." She has come to find that the best way to tell a lie is to offer an exaggeration of the truth. They never believe her truths when she tells them like so.

Like clockwork, the man laughs. "You wouldn't even skin a fish."

"Fish have scales. Human flesh is soft." She pauses. "More pleasant to the touch."

He laughs again.

"Do you find war crimes funny?"

"When you talk of them like that, sure."

She gives a soft hum. "Perhaps you won't be abysmal company afterall."

He grins. "Well of course not. We tribesmen have plenty of charm."

"As much charm as a Unagi."

"You are merciless."

"I told you, I used to slaughter people like you en masse."

.oOo.

She wonders if he is a wanderer too. If he has nothing better to do than accompany her to Chin. She is almost there, likely it will take another day or two. The skyline of Wu Jing looms on the horizon, hanging about like a stubborn spirit, a thing to run circles in her mind.

"We can stop there for the night." Rukk suggests. "They'll probably have somewhere for you to tie up your mongoose-lizard for the night. He looks exhausted."

Azula spares the creature a glance and shakes her head. "He's fine. I've had him venture further than this. We will find a place to set up camp." Even so, she slips down and opts to walk on her own for a while.

Rukk tilts his head, "That village will be more comfortable than sleeping outside. We have enough coin…"

She shakes her head. "You can spend one more night or two sleeping outside."

"I don't understand why we can't…"

"I didn't ask you to follow me." She mutters. "You can return to that fishing village if you'd prefer."

He doesn't leave her but he doesn't speak with her anymore. She has half the mind to tell him to leave if he is going to be such dour company, but she hasn't been alone since the plains and she isn't ready to be alone again. Even if she is probably better off that way. Better off but cannot be all the same.

The skyline has, nearly an hour ago, disappeared behind a canopy of pine and oak. It is just as well to not have to look at it, to dwell upon it. Even still, she can practically smell the perfume of turnip. The smell of what could have been home.

She thinks that she might not be meant to have a home at all.

It is probably more beneficial to keep from staying in one place for too long. She can't afford tethers or attachments anyways, they only destroy her in the long run.

"Why are you still here?" She grumbles. When the sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs is no longer enough.

"I really don't know." He returns with just as much venom. "I guess it's because I've already gone so far out of my way."

"I didn't tell you to do that." She reiterates.

"Yes well I thought you could use the company. I'm starting to see why you have none."

"I thought that I made it rather apparent the first time we spoke." She replies quietly. "It isn't my fault that you saw something that wasn't there and decided to wager on it." She swallows. It is very nearly the same conversation that she'd had with Ojihara.

"You're right. But you can at least try to prove me wrong."

She shrugs. "That's just it, Rukk. There's nothing to prove wrong because you are right. You should…" she breaks off into a sharp cry that drowns the sound of a metallic clamp. Her vision goes fuzzy for a moment and she stoops down. Such abrupt pain leaves her body feeling flacid and her vision quite dark. She closes her eyes and takes a few breaths. Rukk's voice hovers on the very edge of her awareness. His touch is even more distant.

She inhales again several more times. With each drawn breath, her vision seems to return to her but she can't quite shake the dizzy feeling. "Hold still." Rukk instructs as though she can do anything but.

He freezes the chain and she gestures to her mongoose-lizard's saddlebags. "There's an axe in one of those." He nods and comes back with it, hacking away at the chain.

"I don't think that I can unclamp it." He mutters.

Azula wills herself to look at the platypus-bear trap. It has her ankle quite firmly locked in its rusty metal jaws. She cringes. Rust. Infection. She gives a drawn exhale, a shuddering, pained one. "I suppose that we're going to Wu Jing afterall."

Rukk's eyes light up with understanding. "That's the village you were running away from."

"Can we just…" she hisses. "Can we just go?"

He lifts her into his arms and helps her mount her mongoose-lizard. Her fingers find the stone in her pocket and close tightly around it.

"It doesn't hurt too badly, does it?"

"I've had worse." She murmurs. They don't speak again until they reach Wu Jing. Only then does she mention, "try not to make a spectacle." Not that it will matter, they will know her by the mongoose-lizard. She is the only person who prefers them to ostrich-horses.

"I take it that you know where the doctors are?"

She nods. "Wu Jing has several but Min-Min is the best."

.oOo.

Azula flexes her foot and Min-Min gives her a rather hard slap, "stop it, you're gonna to hurt yourself more."

Azula folds her arms over her chest.

"How'd you do that anyways?" The girl asks.

"Don't worry about it."

Min-Min offers her a very familiar devious grin, "you wasn't paying attention, was you? You was walkin' but not watchin' where you was walkin?"

"That's…"

"Exactly what happened." Rukk fills in.

"Actually it is his fault."

"Cause you was watchin' him 'stead 'a the ground."

Azula doesn't reply.

"We were having an argument."

Min-Min laughs, "Rikka has a lot 'a those." She inspects Azula's ankle one last time and hums to herself before mumbling, "gonna go get you some more ointment, Rim should be back with them anti-infectants." She flashes a smile and disappears into the next room.

"Rikka?" Rukk asks. "You said that your name is Cheyul."

"It is." Azula fidgets with the bandages. "And in Wu Jing it is Rikka. It will be something else when I get to Chin and that's all that you need to know."

He furrows his brows. "What are you running from?"

"Something that I can't outpace."

"How am I supposed to be your friend if you only lie to me?"

"You aren't. I made that clear plenty of times. I don't have friends and there's a good reason for that."

She had played a stupid game and she had lost it. She thinks that she was trying to lose. But in some sense she has won because she has proven herself right. That small victory pales in comparison to the loss.

Rukk leaves that night.

She doesn't see him again.

She had pushed too far and he had run out of patience. Really he had no attachments to her. He was just a decent man who wanted to help. And she is just a woman with a talent for repelling people who may possibly care.

That night she learns that some games can't be won.

Shouldn't be played at all.

.oOo.

The palace glows, like a jewel in the night. Twinkling in the near distance. It has been adorned in several thousand candles that have been lit since her return.

They will go out soon.

The night isn't any manner of quiet and night provides no cover. She doesn't really need it, not when she has elected to dress herself so unremarkably. She hasn't been seen up close in so long that she is certain that her webwork of scars will keep her concealed better than any cloak.

She feels for her coin pouch and makes her way to the first food cart she sees. It is quite a pity that she won't be having her dumplings afterall.

"What can I get for you?" The man asks.

She shrugs. "It doesn't matter as long as I can eat it." She slides him a few copper pieces. "Doesn't have to be fancy."

And yet he gives her more than she has paid for. She waits for him to turn his back before setting a few more coins on the counter and hustling off. There is no dignity in not paying what is due. She takes a bite of roast duck as she carries along. She hasn't yet decided if she is going to remain in the Fire Nation or if she will flee back to the Earth Kingdom again. Perhaps Rukk had been right all along; maybe she should take herself as far as she can to some fishing village in one of the Water Tribes.

She feels a small body collide with her own. The child looks up and beams from ear to ear, "you have to move, lady, you're in the way." Her heart seizes. He looks so much like...

"Ruki!" A woman snaps. "That's not what we say when we run into someone and interrupt their meal."

"It's fine." Azula murmurs.

"He needs to learn some manners, this boy does." The woman continues anyhow.

"That isn't necessary." She says as the woman raises her hand. It comes down anyways and the child grows teary eyed. Azula has takes another bite of her roast duck, if only to give her something else to think of. How strange is it that she is no longer used to this sort of thing. She realizes that it has been ages since she has seen a parent raise a hand to their child. She can't help but feel as though she has been robbed of something. Purity and innocence perhaps. And it is all around, she realizes, the children in the Capital don't laugh quite as loud. They don't wander about on their own and when they do, there is always someone to sweep them back under supervision.

The woman raises her hand again.

"Once was good enough." Azula says cooly.

The woman's eyes narrow. "How long have you been in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Pardon?"

The woman sniffs. "We have standards in the Fire Nation. Order. Children don't run around like lunatics…"

Lunatics...she ponders the word. How many times has that been thrust upon her. She nearly laughs; indeed, most children don't carry themselves as she carries herself. "Maybe they should." She hadn't meant to say it out loud. Or maybe she did. She isn't sure.

"Maybe you should go back there."

"I've been considering it."

The woman sniffs again, "it is a shame when roots get lost."

"Hmm?" She should know better than to engage. But she is propelled by the same curiosity that had once had her making a perfect fool of herself on Ember Island so many years ago.

"You have the vocabulary of a noble but your accent is dreadful."

The child wipes his eyes and offers her what can only be an apologetic expression.

"Better to speak with strange inflections than to speak without substance."

The woman scoffs, picks up her skirts, and storms away. Last word or not, she still feels as though she has lost. And yet she at least knows that this isn't her home anymore. But the Earth Kingdom cannot be either.

It might be that she truly doesn't belong anywhere.

"Nikushimi is quite the character, isn't she?"

Azula shrugs. "I've met several." Decidedly she is no worse than her father would be were she to brazenly march up to his cell and strike up a conversation.

The man takes one final bite of his apple and burns the core. "Were they all dull minded enough to speak to royalty like that?"

She tenses.

The man laughs. "Most of us aren't as halfwitted as Niku. We can recognize our princess."

She thinks again of Ember Island. "You would be surprised."

He chuckles again.

She thinks that the conversation has concluded, but he leans back against the alley wall and lingers. His eyes land on the scar on her throat. He opens his mouth and she prepares to tell him that it is none of his business. "It's good to have you back, princess." He smiles instead.

"Thank you."