Azula shivered. She'd been travelling all day and was now hunched over a small fire in the dead of night. Her mongoose lizard lay fast asleep, tied up to a nearby tree.
She inhaled the fresh air and played one of her hands across the fire, briefly turning it a brilliant blue. It was comforting to see that color whenever she pleased. After being unable to produce a significant flame for so long, Azula was sure she would never take her bending ability for granted again.
Her eyes drifted upwards. There was no sign of the moon, making the stars stand out brilliantly against the dark sky. She remembered that some people claimed they could see outlines of important historical and legendary figures amongst patterns in the stars, but other than for navigation, Azula had not had time to learn about such things.
Sitting alone at the fire, the princess was disappointed to find that the high she experienced from escaping the institution hadn't lasted long at all. She was, of course, elated at having gotten out so easily, but now she was feeling strangely unfulfilled. She was a little cold, wearing only her light shift after discarding most of the guard's clothing earlier, but her bending was no longer being suppressed and the time she served in the cooler of the institute had increased her tolerance for chilly weather.
Unfortunately, her time there had not prepared her feet for their sudden return to the world of footwear. Even just from the ride today, the guard's over-sized boots had severely blistered her heels and were now lying near her loyal steed.
Azula absentmindedly thumbed over a blister and stared into the flames, contemplating her next move.
She had decided to head towards the string of islands to the east. The mainland was mostly capital property and small villages where she might easily be recognized. Since the stable man hadn't been able to place her appearance without a reminder, Azula was confident she could blend in on the islands she had never been to. Well, aside from Ember Island, but she had no intention of going back to that pit of memories. Not now anyways.
Her stomach grumbled. She hadn't brought any food with her and knew she'd have to get something in the morning or else she would fall back into her habits of not eating. She needed all the energy she could get, given her current situation.
Azula slumped onto her back and stared at the stars. She'd gotten out. She'd surely make it to the islands with no issue. But then what? Find loyalists to her father? Chip away at Zuko's reign? Play nice and make friends?
The truth was that she didn't know what to do. Azula thought back to when she first arrived at the mental institute and entertained the fantasies of revenge and usurping her brother. She still felt residual anger at all of the people that played a hand in her downfall and of course she would die for the opportunity to rule, but… Something just wasn't clicking.
What's wrong with me? I'm out. I should be plotting and planning and excited to knock all of those people down.
Instead, she was a little startled to find that she didn't want to gather a group of nefarious goons to wreak havoc on the capital. After being isolated and imprisoned for almost five years, Azula was unnerved by all of the uncertainties that came with freedom. Right now for some reason, she didn't want anything to do with her brother or the people she still knew in the capital.
Why? Did that place break me after all?
She turned over and faced the mongoose lizard grumbling in its sleep a few feet away. Its dark scales were mesmeric, flecked with the orange firelight.
"What's this? Everything has gone so well for you, and yet you're going to do nothing with this opportunity? It seems you're just like your useless brother."
Her eyes snapped open at the voice closing in on her. But when she looked around, all was dark. It was as if her eyes hadn't opened at all. A stabbing pain shot through one of her fingers, radiating through her arm. Her basic reflex to recoil failed. Her arms seemed to be pinned to the ground.
"I knew I had one failure of a child, but you… I never imagined you would end up the same way."
Her hand felt the pain and Azula desperately tried to see through the heavy black curtain shrouding her vision. It was no use. She couldn't move her arms or legs. She was on her back, trapped somehow.
"Are you feeling sorry for yourself? All alone with no one to talk to?"
The pain spread down her wrist, but this time the source lingered longer and Azula could feel an accompanying heat. Fire. The darkness prevented any sight, but Azula could feel the warm trail of blood drip down her hand.
"Come now, you can talk to me."
The space was suddenly illuminated and the princess closed her eyes to save them from the change in brightness. After a moment, she opened them again and found herself on the ground of the palace's training compound.
She saw three slashes on her right arm. One on her finger, one on her hand, and one on her wrist. Out of each oozed a dark black substance that pooled slowly on the dirt.
It didn't look like blood. Blood wasn't black. Human blood wasn't black.
The pool was growing in size, moving steadily toward her face. Her heart raced in a panic. Somehow she knew it would be the end of her if the substance reached its goal.
"Isn't that right, Azula?"
Ozai finally appeared into view. Azula craned her neck back to where he stood behind her right shoulder, head cocked slightly to one side as he judged her with disdain. She tried to move away, but was held in place by some unknown force.
"What should we discuss? Your stunning collapse at the most inopportune moment?"
He slashed at her with a blade made of fire. A new wound sizzled on her forearm.
"The miraculous success of your brother?"
Upper arm.
"Your foolish encounters with that girl?"
Shoulder.
She tried to yank her wrists and legs free from their invisible bonds, but it was no use. Her limbs might as well have been encased in stone.
The black liquid leaked slowly from her stinging wounds, creeping towards her neck while Ozai bent over to stroke her cheek with his hand.
"Azula, why won't you talk to me?"
She couldn't speak. She couldn't do anything.
He brought the fire blade up to her neck. She was terrified he was going to slit her throat, but he quenched it suddenly, choosing instead to pace around her, staring into eyes that looked just like his.
"My little princess."
The black liquid defied gravity to make its way around her neck and onto her face. She stared at her father, silently pleading for help.
Ozai simply looked on while the substance plugged her airways and the voice of her mother split through the air.
"Monster."
Azula lurched awake suddenly, coughing and sputtering. She panicked at finding herself on the ground and not in a cold cell lined with padding and red carpet, slowly understanding that this was her new reality. Without realizing it, after the adrenaline of the day had finally worn off, Azula had fallen asleep suddenly beside the fire.
She wiped her mouth and stood, angrily sending a wild ball of blue flame into the early morning sky, where it quickly fizzled out. Her right shoulder ached from her collision with the bars yesterday. She clenched her teeth and rubbed at it, her other fist still flaring with hot fire at her side. The newly awakened mongoose lizard slithered its tongue out in confusion.
They were supposed to stop. It was supposed to stop once I got out.
The princess took several breaths to calm down. Her stomach grumbled again and she was reminded of the task at hand.
She proceeded to remove all traces of her presence in the little clearing. She approached her wary lizard after putting the over-sized boots on, wincing at the raw blisters, and calmed the beast with a hand to its snout. Azula untied it, hopped on its back, and set off in the direction of the rising sun. She didn't look back at the site of her newest nightmare, somewhat convinced her parents would be standing in her wake.
When the sun was directly overhead, Azula couldn't take the rubbing of the metal boots against her skin anymore. She halted the lizard at the side of a brook, where they could both get some water and rest before continuing on.
She hopped off the lizard's back and led it to the water where it plunged itself straight in, lapping at the small bubbles tumbling over rocks. Azula thought it had the right idea. She could at least rinse her face to wake herself up and recharge.
The trees in this area shadowed the brook entirely, darkening the water. Although Azula had never been to this part of the forest, she had a feeling they were nearing the coast, perhaps only a couple hours away.
Azula moved several feet upstream from her frolicking lizard, halting before a smoother stretch of water. She cupped her hands beneath the glassy surface and had to stop herself from jerking back at the freezing temperature. The princess braced for the cool shock as she brought the water to her face, but paused, catching a glimpse of her appearance in her hands.
She let the water fall back to its source and settled on her knees, leaning over the brook and staring at a face she hadn't really seen in years.
The water was almost black from the trees overhead, creating a highly reflective surface. Azula stared. And stared. It was a strange feeling. Thinking about it, this was the first time she was looking at herself since she shattered her vanity mirror just before the war ended. Her poor excuse for a bathroom at the institute didn't have any mirrors and prior to her room being covered by white padded material, the walls were a smudged looking metal, not reflective and shiny like steel.
She blinked. Sure, she was still attractive, but her face had thinned over almost five years. Her cheekbones were more pronounced, her jaw pointed and sharp, and her eyes stood out prominently above light blueish-purple shadows. She touched her chapped lips and thought they seemed naked without their usual red coloring. She looked older and exhausted. And if this was what she looked like now, she couldn't imagine what it must have been like when she had refused to eat for weeks at a time.
Nearly five years gone, just like that.
Azula shook her head and splashed the water on her face.
She sat by the side of the brook, running her fingers through tangles in her hair, which was also much longer than it used to be, and decided to change the dressing on her leg. The saddle on the mongoose lizard provided a couple of pouches to store her few belongings. She walked slowly to where the creature stood, still standing happily in the water, its thick tail floating back and forth on the surface, and retrieved the roll of bandages, ointment, and her highly prized metal crest.
Realizing she was still wearing the blister-inducing boots, she settled down near the water's edge and gently took them off to inspect what new red sores had developed on her heels and toes. Azula unwrapped the bandages around her left leg and frowned at its appearance. Stupid marks.
She stuck both of her feet into the water, immediately substituting any pain from blisters with ice cold shock.
Minutes later, her leg was securely wrapped again after a hefty reapplication of the medicinal jelly. She figured it wouldn't hurt to rub some of the strange cooling ointment into her blisters and did that as well. The princess redid her hair, tying it up with the guard's elastic black armband and thinking bitterly about a pink ribbon still stuffed in the lizard's saddle.
Azula grumbled to herself and instead focused on the little royal crest in her hand, deciding to pin that into her hair as well. She figured it was safe enough to wear it in the middle of this forest. Once she reached the coast, she'd take it off again, not wanting to take any chances of being recognized just yet.
Although the canopy of trees was somewhat low and thick, Azula thought this would be the perfect time for a little training regimen. The small amount of stretching she had been able to do at the institute wasn't enough. Her body felt considerably less muscular than it had been in the past and the princess wanted to fix this with a few of her old routines.
About an hour later, an out-of-breath but satisfied Azula pulled herself back onto the patiently waiting mongoose lizard and jammed the guard's boots as best she could into the saddlebags. She hoped she could get a little money for them or at least trade them for a better fitting pair.
Setting off, Azula figured it would be a relatively quick ride before she reached the coast. Then it was just a matter of finding a seaside town to get food and new clothes. She hoped her current unconventional clothing and bandaged leg wouldn't arouse too much suspicion from local peasants. How pathetic it would be, to be discovered only one day after escaping.
As she dug her knees into the scaly hide of the lizard to speed it up, the princess still felt a sense of unease regarding the numerous uncertainties swimming about her mind, but was calmed by the little metal flame pinned neatly in her hair and the pleasant ache in her muscles from training. She would figure it out. She always did.