"I hope your tattoo is doing better today. My best wishes for the healing." Thanks :) It's doing a lot better now. Doesn't hurt so much. It did scab a little weird though because of the trapped moisture.
"Azula is back in her element, she's leading." In a way she needed that because it gives her something to do, but it's also a lot of pressure. As you mentioned, on top of her healing leg, she doesn't know what's going to happen outside of the palace. "And they seem to meet trouble soon, cause the Coronation square doesn't seem to be a safe spot to rest anymore." Nowhere is really safe lol. "Even without the infected it will be a tough moment for Azula to be at the place again where she nearly died." She definitely has a bit of trauma to tackle there.
"Azula's concerns about slipped aspects in her own calculation for her escape plan, the fight and the results of it." She's struggling to deal with her less than savory judgment call. "But since Azula hasn't talked about her new ability so far, the group couldn't use this knowledge and Bujing would probably use this fact as an argument to get rid of her." She very much dreads how they might react to her being infected even if she is in control. "It must be a really hard hit, cause it means for Azula, that she might be a host already." This is something that terrifies her, yes. "Very strong chapter in my opinion and your're adding so much weight on Azula's fears here." Thank you! It is one of my favorites so far.
When he retreats, Azula goes tense. But he returns and this time he has a cloth, he dabs her nose with it. She is still shaking some. She nuzzles her cheek against the grate. Her trembles intensify once more. But she doesn't move, no she remains where she is; in the same spot she had been confined to. The chains gleam in the moonlight where they lay next to her. She feels sick and uncomfortable and it has nothing to do with whatever infection may or may not be coursing through her.
She thinks that a tear or two have managed to escape.
Ruon Jian follows her stare. "This is where you were stuck, isn't it?"
She nods.
"Why don't you sleep somewhere that doesn't give you flashbacks?"
A fair question. "We shouldn't have left the palace. We weren't ready…"
"This isn't your fault. You don't have to punish your…"
"Xuia is possessed." She says flatly. "I made the call to attack. I may as well have killed her myself." She adds. "Do you know what we do with murders?" He opens his mouth but she answers her own question. "We lock them up." She gestures to the chains.
"She isn't infected, look." He points at her. Completely unaware of her own predicament, she is laughing at something Li has said.
"Just give her a few days and her eyes will go red like Lo's did." She wonders if her eyes are red.
"Why don't you join the rest of the group instead of laying here by yourself?"
"I want to be alone." This isn't strictly true, but she doesn't want to be in a group either. "I should be alone." She doesn't mention what her nose bleed might mean.
"Bujing was the one who attacked first." Ruon Jian pointed out. She heaves herself into a sitting position and with the shift, the blood pours from her nose more freely. He takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. "Someone needs to make the tough calls, right? For all we know, the infected might have broken into the palace and the same thing would have happened. At least we're trying to save ourselves now."
Azula shrugs. For the first time in ages, she thinks of her father. This wouldn't have happened if father were leading them. He would have known what to do.
"At least come sleep somewhere that doesn't make you feel miserable." He is staring at the chains again. She notices a small ring of blood rimming them from when she had jerked at them too hard. Her wrists bare light scars from her vicious tugging. She holds them out in front of her and turns her gaze to Ruon. He takes her hands and his own stare finds where hers had just left. He traces his thumb over the slightly raised skin. "I don't think I would have lasted if I were stuck like that."
"You'd be surprised…" Azula trails off. "At what a person can endure."
She wonders how much Xuia will endure before she is no longer Xuia.
Ruon carefully scoops her up and carries her away from the grate and over to Li. The old woman smiles in way of a greeting. Away from the rushing water that runs beneath the grate, Azula can now hear crickets and toads chattering away. It would almost be peaceful if she didn't dread a whisper or a wail cutting through the silence.
Li's smile fades at the site of Azula's weary and worn expression. "Sit her down over here." She says to Ruon, patting the spot next to her. Ruon does as he is told. His hand remains on her back and she doesn't have the energy to push his hand away. Deep down, Azula decides that it is nice to be on the receiving end of a comforting gesture. She can't remember the last time anyone has gone out of their way to try to console her.
"When Azula was a child, I would tell her stories about dragons." Li smiles.
"That must have been fun. My dad used to tell me about Ember Island lore." Ruon notes fondly.
"Would you like to hear a tale about The Dragon Emperor and his ruby encrusted egg?"
"I'm not in the mood for bedtime stories." Azula lies.
Li's enthusiasm doesn't fade. "Please, let an old woman retain some of her old life and thing things that made her happy."
"Oh, alright." Azula decides not to put up a fight, lest the woman concede.
"I've never heard this one." Ruon remarks, leaving Azula with the impression that even if she hadn't agreed to listen, he probably would have gotten the story out of Li.
"It starts on a the peak of a craggy mountain…"
The Dragon Emperor extends his claw and flexes it. Azula finishes in her head before Li vocalizes the line.
Li's stories had lulled her to sleep, but she doesn't remain there. A harsh pounding in her head rouses her awake. She isn't alone in her restlessness. Bujing is awake too. She scowls to herself, of course he would be the only other person awake. She puts her head back down and pretends like she is sleeping. But Bujing's pacing is noisy and the noise is amplified by the ache in her head.
She sits back up once more and grumbles a, "knock it off."
To her surprise the man doesn't argue with her. Instead he offers a curt, "I thought that you were sleeping like everyone else."
.oOo.
He eyes the former princess. With her tired eyes and her grumpy pout she looks like a mere child. He supposes that that's what she is. He doesn't recall precisely but he thinks that she is something like fifteen years old, give or take. Maybe a year younger or older than that.
No matter, he doesn't think that someone so young has any business leading a group regardless of birth status.
He had taken to command his own military sect at thirteen and look what it has made of him. He runs his hand over his face and utters a quite and bitter laugh.
He ought to try to get to bed but his thoughts don't let him. It's a merciless concoction of drab thoughts. Most notably he fears the princess, fears and fears for her. He had never taken a shine to she and her arrogance, but it is never pleasant to see an attack.
He had little trust for her when she dragged herself back to the palace gates and that little trust diminished further when she rose up after she had been claimed.
He can't name a person who didn't succumb.
Even if the girl is parasite free, he fears what could be making her immune.
He observes the way she sneers at his response. Watches her lay back down. And, after a few hours, when she thinks that he is asleep, he hears her cry softly to herself.
He is certain that he knows why.
It is the very thing that has him awake.
He peers at Xuia.
And he finds himself pacing again.
He contemplates…
It would be merciful, but he can't bring himself to do it so he tucks his knife away and resumes his pacing. It was he who struck out and drew attention to them-to Xuia-and he isn't even man enough to do right by her.
.oOo.
Ruon Jian is still nearby. He frowns at the scarce food rations. "Good morning," he greets at her first audible stir. She rubs the sleep from her eyes and mumbles a good morning of her own. He stoops down and unbandages her leg. "Can you wiggle your toes."
This time they move for her.
"That's a good sign." He comments with a grin. At least someone is in good spirits.
Azula herself is in a dreadful mood. She is tired and her stomach is recoiling in anticipation.
"Are we still heading out or have plans changed now that we've been attacked." Xuia asks.
"Plans have been... slightly altered." Azula replies. Perhaps more than slightly depending on how her next move ends. Life has dealt her a nasty deck and she decides that she will draw the worst card from it and lay it down.
She waits for the group to assemble and get relatively comfortable before speaking. "Yesterday was embarrassment and complete failure." She lets them murmur their agreement or disapproval. "You are already aware that one member of our group had been killed…" She pauses. "But there is a second person who is also dead. Either you haven't noticed or you don't want to."
She hates the petrified look that settles upon Xuia's face.
It would seem that she isn't as ignorant as Azula had assumed.
Azula wishes that the girl would have spared her that terrified and helpless look. She wishes that the girl would have grown furious, would have spat in her direction or screamed something about how she is simply crazed and paranoid.
It would have made things easier…
She doesn't allow her former servant time to dwell on it. There is only the faintest sign of recognition as the light flickers out of her eyes. Her body drops as thunder rolls.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Exclaims the woman standing next to Xuia's still form. Azula finds herself taken by a mental image of them dragging her over to that grate and tightening the chains around her wrists.
"That question would be better asked if I let her rot away and infect everyone else." Azula clasps her hands behind her back. Though she begins to think that the question isn't about what she had just done but the manner in which she had done it; unflinchingly and unblinkingly as ever. "It was a mercy kill."
Though she is mostly trying to alleviate her own unease.
"You all have an hour, I will let you know where we are headed then." Azula says. "Dismissed." She ascends-with some degree of struggle-the stairs and makes her way into the coronation building in hopes of remaining undisturbed.
The building is as eerily vacant as the palace. Just as vacant and just as vast and sparsely furnished. She beings to wonder why everything in the Fire Nation is so large and open. The little furniture that does decorate the room is coated with dust. The floors and the, save for the places on the floor in which most of her group had slept, have a layer of filth upon them as well.
And the red, gold outlined, carpets have faded in color as did the curtains on the window. The only thing that remained vibrant was the curtain hung in the doorway that flashed the gold embroidery of the Fire Nation insignia.
In the corner of the room, haphazardly discarded is her ceremonial robe, the very same one she had worn during her coronation. She picks it up and wraps it around her shoulders. It had fit loose before, now she has to hold it on. She makes a mental note to scour the place for edible food before they leave. From her pocket she draws the fire lord's crown. It glistens as she turns it over in her hand. She thinks it rather pathetic that she has clung to it as though it means anything anymore. No less, she has already given her first official declaration and delivered her first public execution, she may as well wear the crown that gives her such authority.
With the headpiece fashioned into her disorderly bun, she stands herself in front of the mirror. Her cheeks have grown hollower still with stress and such thin rations, they are smeared with mud and dirt. There isn't an inch of her that doesn't host at least a little grime. She is terribly pale and with dismay she notes the faintest hue of pink in her eye.
She shudders, hoping that she is only imagining things.
But she hadn't imagined the wisps…
She leans closer to the mirror trying to catch a flash of silver-blue in her own eyes. She sees nothing other than the soft pink where white should be.
Her belly lurches twice over; she is a hypocrite. She dropped Xuia in an instant for the infection that worked its way in and yet she stands before the glass riddled with disease herself. She swallows, deciding that this coronation is worse than her first.
Again she thinks of her father.
He would know what to do…
He would have the guts to do it...
She takes a deep breath and brings a healthy burst of lightning to her fingers and holds it to her head, toying with the idea of letting it go. Her reflection stares back, eyes full of fear and loathing.
"I don't know why we didn't just sleep in here!" She jolts at Ruon's exclamation and the lightning dies on her finger tips.
She gives the mirror at her palms a final glance. Perhaps not tonight, but eventually. As long as she takes herself out before she kills everyone else. "I wouldn't have been able." She answers.
"I would have." Ruon shrugs. "What are you doing in here anyways."
"Just making my leadership official." She gestures to her regal attire. "Something to do with a sense of normalcy, or whatever Li was trying to do with her bedtime story." She decides that it is better to omit her death wish.
"Well, happy coronation day." Ruon Jian says. "I think that the crown suits you."
Azula gives a soft hum, "it does, doesn't it." Which is just what she had said of the Fire Lord title when father handed it to her. Just what she had told herself before making a mess of things the first time. "Hopefully this time my coronation won't end with me bound to a grate."
She can see it on his face that he isn't certain of whether he is supposed to laugh or not. In the end he gives a nervous chuckle. "I think that this crowd is fine with you keeping your crown."
"I just killed Xuia."
"They need to know that they have a leader who will do what it takes to keep them alive." Ruon shrugs. "I don't know many people who can do what you do."
You don't know any other morally bankrupt lunatics, she thinks to herself. "Yes, I suppose that you are right."
He finds a spot on the wall and leans against it. "So..." he begins with a sly smirk, "did you give everyone an hour of preparation for their sakes or because you have no idea where we're going from here."
"I know where we're going." Azula rolls her eyes.
Ruon quirks a brow.
"We're going to Capital City Prison."