Chapter 35
Two days had passed without a whisper of an earthy rumbling in the seaside town, but Azula was sure he was still lingering around somewhere. It was Saturday, the final full day of the Fire Lily festival. She watched workers set up a path of lanterns and lilies towards the docks in the distance, leading towards what she could only assume would be a fireworks frenzy late this evening.
Not usually one for fireworks, such loud and generally stupid things, Azula was eager for tonight. Nearly everyone would be scattered along the beach this evening for the final festivities, leaving their unsuspecting homes vacant. A collection of lovely targets for a rogue earthbender. And perhaps a firebender as well.
The princess had managed to find a stash of unattended vendor carts the night after her run in with the thief and had treated herself to day old bread, cold rice, and surprisingly fresh vegetables. Taking as much as she could carry back to her hidden spot in the tree line that night, she was pleased to be moderately well fed for the past two days. Better it go to her than be dumped into the sea as iguana seal food the next morning.
Unfortunately, her clothes were still a problem. They were the only thing keeping her from entering the town and wandering about during the day. She could see the kinds of people coming and going, by main road and sea, and she would easily stick out among the burly tradesmen and generically dressed civilians. The red institute wear was getting a bit worn from all of the travelling, training, and sleeping Azula had been doing in it anyways. And it was dirty. A change of clothes was necessary for fitting in and making her look less like, as the thief put it, a beggar. She didn't like to think what her reaction might be if someone was to mistake her for such a person.
So she hoped she might be able to snag some new clothes from the shop she had eyed a couple nights ago. The owners would likely close up before the fireworks, leaving it open for her business.
Until then, Azula roamed further into the forest to train, leaving her trinket filled boots behind. Yesterday, she had discovered an area where some older, rotted trees had fallen and were in the late stages of decay. After breaking and shifting these soft chunks of wood aside, the princess had made a small square-ish clearing. Just enough space for some basic forms and stretches, while being completely surrounded by tightly grown trees. Still, to be safe, she withheld her usual blue flames and attempted to further her control of maintaining simple orange ones.
It was a good spot for meditating too, something that she hadn't done enough of since her escape. Despite her recent three day lapse in delusions or nightmares, Azula had decided to commit to meditating for a moment at least every other day to try and lengthen that lapse. She figured the recent dry spell was due to her being preoccupied with finding the thief and obtaining new clothes. The same thing had happened when she was busy planning the escape from the institute.
Distractions can only go so far, you know.
Azula shook her head. Luckily she was able to meditate for nearly an hour that Saturday morning, after which the clarity of mind continued to benefit her throughout her light training regimen. Simple postures she had mastered by the age of nine, but the basics were always important to keep fresh and instinctual. Anything to slowly gain her strength back.
She had nothing else to do until evening and so spent another chunk of time limbering up in the clearing and thinking over how to find the thief. It would surely be difficult with the booming sound of fireworks so close by. He could be earthbending at full volume and no one would notice. Azula had to find him during that tiny window after people left for the beach, but before the show began.
Thoughts of all of the shops in the town crossed her mind, but from her limited intel, this strange person seemed almost completely interested in robbing homes. She supposed stealing small bits of food and gold could go unnoticed by a family, while businesses might have stricter inventory. Clever. Unfortunately, the town's residential areas spread quite a distance down the shoreline. It would be far too much ground to cover in such a short amount of time. There was nothing more to think of, really. She had to hope to choose the correct streets to search.
Azula slumped onto her back and folded her arms behind her head, staring at the overcast sky. After the bright early morning, vast expanses of gray and white clouds had rolled in and obscured the sun.
Annoyed at this, she sat up abruptly and decided to have a look around for a stream to wash up in. There was surely one nearby that fed into the sea, probably connected to the very one she and her mongoose lizard had crossed before arriving at the coast. She could bathe quickly and warm up with plenty of time to kill before the evening.
The forest wasn't terribly dense, but the ground was peppered with sharp rocks, making it a minefield to traverse in her bare and bandaged feet. Carefully, she walked through the trees, listening for the sound of water.
After ten minutes of wandering, the unmistakable babble of running water found its way to her ears. Azula paced down the side of the stream, trying unsuccessfully to find a spot with fewer rocks. She settled on a small boulder and slowly removed the bandages on her left leg, tucking the metal crest beneath them on the ground. She was not about to leave that particular item in a pair of boots where anyone could find it.
She looked at the strangely patterned flesh with disdain, before quickly scanning her surroundings to check if she was alone, and removed the rest of her clothes. For the first time, she noticed a massive purple bruise on her shoulder where she had rammed into the iron bars of her cell earlier in the week. No wonder it was still sore to stretch and move.
She bit her cheek. Fire Nation winters never got bitterly cold, but there was a breezy chill in the air that was enough to prickle her skin. The stream water was sure to be freezing. Even in the dead of summer, stream water was freezing, but she was dying to be clean. This is not going to be pleasant…
Azula's breath was forced out of her lungs as she strode into the thigh deep water. It surged around her legs and she reflexively crossed her arms against her chest to shiver. A strange feeling crept up the back of her neck and her breath quickened a bit, but she ignored it. Prolonging the process wouldn't do much good, so she inhaled deeply and quickly plunged herself completely into the water, intending to warm up afterwards.
As soon as her head disappeared below the surface, she froze. Transported immediately back to the day of the comet and her brief imprisonment in a block of ice at a peasant's hand. The current of the stream pushed her slightly down its path, rocks cutting at her exposed skin. She opened her eyes and expelled some of her held breath in a stream of bubbles. It was murky and freezing, her ghostly skin stood out eerily under the water. She couldn't move, limbs shaking in panic. Azula was quickly running out of air, but her body would not respond to the desperate cries of her lungs to relax and get your head out of the water..
Survival instinct kicked in at some point, but in her panic she only sucked in a mouthful of water and began sputtering, flailing her body against the rocks. Her heart beat uncontrollably and that cold sense of doom spread from her neck down her spine. Just stand up. Stand up. It isn't that deep. I have to stand.
She could not.
Pathetic. Her father's voice.
As the burning in her chest reached its peak and her consciousness faltered, she found herself being dragged out of the water. Barely breathing, something was draped over her and she was placed on her side. Stream water slowly drained from her lungs and after fifteen or more minutes, she finally opened her eyes to see… Zuko?
She coughed in surprise as more water leaked from her mouth and she tried to sit up, but a hand forced her gently back down.
"No you don't, not yet."
That's not his voice. Azula blinked again and saw that the shaggy head belonged not to her brother during his wild haired teenage years, but to an earthbending thief.
Oh come on. As much as she wanted to confront this person for following her or whatever it was he was doing out here, she couldn't do so in such a weakened state. Instead, her eyes drifted shut again and they spent the better portion of an hour waiting for her breath to deepen and regain its normal pace.
When it did, she hoarsely spat out, "So do you enjoy stalking naked women in the forest?"
He looked down at her, surprised she was talking so soon. He grinned, "Not particularly, but I did want to find out more about the weird ass beggar woman loitering in the trees."
Azula's eyes narrowed and he continued, "For a skilled earthbender like me, you were easy to find. I'm pretty good at tracking."
Another cough and a wonderfully full, fresh breath of air made its way to her lungs. First bending, now breathing. Two things to not take for granted anymore.
She didn't grant him a response, silently cursing herself for not being more discrete in her actions. I'm too rusty after Kai's prison. She clenched her jaw. But at least I trained with orange flames.
Not feeling nearly as refreshed from this "bath" as she hoped, she sat up slowly, shifting the institute clothes he must have draped over her off of her torso and exposing her chest completely to this stranger.
Even though he'd surely caught a good look at her from his spot in the forest or when he pulled her out of the stream, she didn't miss the way his eyes lingered for a moment before he turned away, searching for nothing specific in the cloudy sky, "You're, uh, probably gonna want warmer clothes than that. Aren't you freezing? That water is no joke."
She was unfazed by her nakedness in front of him. Why should she be embarrassed? She knew she was a catch in most people's eyes. Still… this commoner doesn't deserve to see me in such a way. So she dressed in her meager clothing and wrung her hair out on the ground. Her arms felt like jelly.
"I'm fine. I can recover from the cold quickly." Even as she said it, her blood warmed just a little more. Although, she was still completely shaken from the entire experience. Should have known better than to jump headfirst into the water. Not that she knew such a drastic reaction would occur. Her mind conjured images from the comet again and she made a fist. Why am I so weak?
"Yeah, sure. Why'd you go in there anyway?"
"To wash up."
"Seems like a pretty dumbass thing to do if you can't swim."
Azula's blood boiled, warming her even more, "I can swim just fine."
"I figured you would stand up, it was pretty shallow. But you were definitely drowning," he smirked and it enraged her.
"I was fine."
"You could say thanks."
Azula inhaled to calm herself but it didn't do much, "Shut up."
The thief stood up and turned to leave her, "Fine. But I did save your fuckin' life, you know."
Although this was one hundred percent true, the princess was not going to acknowledge it. She tried to stand and make her way over to the small bundle of bandages by the rocks where her crest was hidden, but stumbled, legs also like jelly, and fell flat on her face with a thud.
He turned around and looked at her innocently, "Can you normally stand just fine too?"
Her entire body ached from the exhaustion of training and nearly drowning, but she wanted to use whatever strength she had left to throttle this insolent man. I'm royalty you absolute prick. You're nothing more than a dirty peasant.
She pushed herself to her hands and knees and caught her breath, tilting her face up to glare golden daggers at the man a few yards away, "Watch yourself."
The pure vitriol in her gaze and tone of voice made him second guess his choice of words. Her eyes were strangely piercing. He was intrigued. She's… something else. Not a beggar.
In an impressive show of willpower, he watched her drag herself to a small pile of fabric slightly upstream that he hadn't noticed before. She snatched it up, gripping it tightly in her left hand and continued to walk menacingly towards him, thin lines of blood smearing across her arms and legs in tiny cuts received from the rocky stream.
An inexplicable chill shot down his spine and he distantly wondered if she was going to burn him to a crisp somehow. But instead, the woman stopped a few paces from him and said, "I need to steal some clothes."
He paused to consider before smirking again, "Heh. Now we're talking."
A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has continued to read this story. I know I've been less than regular with updates (life and work clashing horribly), but knowing there are people out there still enjoying and even commenting on this truly makes my day :)