Author's Disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to "Avatar: the Last Airbender!" Nathing.
Author's notes: The Siege, THE SIEGE… Action is personally not my forte, but I'm trying hard for you guys for this chapter. Enjoy, my lovelies….
Maraghoul: As always, heavy plot points owe their thanks to you and your messages and nudging me with bouts of inspiration. The story wouldn't exist the way it does if it weren't for you! My many many many thanks 😝
QueenTyzula: Azula is an evil cookie to manage, but I love writing half crazed characters 😝 But we know that's just rough edges….right? 😝
CharlieBarrow: Enjoy! Did you guess this one?
Harley Quinn Davidson: And more Azula for you 😝 We need our daily dose of Azula, don't we? Enjoy!
"Stoking the Fire"
Chapter forty-three "Assault on the palace"
Zuko didn't know the evening was going to go horribly askew. While bringing back a tray of leftovers from the palace's main kitchens, Mai had tagged along. For some reason, worry weighed Zuko's heart more than worry over an impending assault against his sister. His wife's past involvement with his sister suddenly assailed his senses, blinding his mind to senseless anger and worry. His movements were jerky and angry and Mai's brows furrowed. She clasped his sleeve.
"What's on your mind?" Mai asked as they neared the door of the royal apartments. Zuko nudged at the door with one shoulder and the Kyoshi Warriors inside opened for them. Mai flowed in on her husband's heels.
"Azula….all of this…." Zuko grumbled. He set the tray on the settee in front of the front room sofa and made to sit. Mai touched his sleeve again, eyes growing moist despite herself. She turned to the two warriors idling by the front door.
"Leave us," she commanded. The women bowed and exited the front door to guard on the other side. Facing her distraught husband, she laid her hand over his. His fist was bunched on his knee but slowly opened under her touch. "It's not just this coup nonsense. You're worried about….that time."
Their daughter's wet nurse was with their daughter in the other room. But Zuko got her meaning from her lame stab at subtlety.
"You might think it's stupid of me, but I do. You….and her…. And now she's coming here…." His worry for Ty Lee couldn't be in the mix, not just yet, so he focused on his wife. "If she succeeds, and does end up killing me, will you submit to her so easily? You did seek her out…."
A harsh breath hitched from Mai's lips. To imagine Zuko, so warm and utterly worn emotionally before her, as dead was unfathomable. Her other hand laid over his. She squeezed his fingers warmly.
"Stop that. Zuko, I know you're worried about….that….but you don't have to," she said. Zuko gave a harsh laugh.
"Not only could I not measure up, I couldn't give you….that," Zuko finished lamely in case the wet nurse was listening in. His hand settled over Mai's flat tummy and her sad eyes sought his.
"You gave me everything," Mai insisted. When Zuko made to scoff or argue, she took his face in her hands and pulled him down. She didn't throw her infidelity in his face or gloat about it; that time was done. She was healing and she wanted him to know that. Mai climbed into his lap and kissed him urgently, tenderly, and she wound in his arms slowly. Zuko clung to her desperately, his emotions showing in each stroke of the tongue, each swipe of their lips. The position was very intimate, but tenderness ruled their closeness, not lust.
Between kisses, Mai assured him over and over. "I love you…. YOU….. I'm yours…..my husband…. My lord. The father of our daughter….."
Zuko parted from her lips and laughed bitterly, tears lining his eyes. The pain in his golden eyes killed Mai inside. She clutched his jaw in her hands and pressed her kisses across his eyelids, kissing the moisture from the corners of his eyes. "You are an honorable man, you are…..I'm so lucky I let you back in….. I…LOVE…..YOU…"
The pain receded from Zuko's eyes and he could start to believe his wife's words. She had forgiven him, forgiven the subterfuge he and Ty Lee had paraded around her pregnancy. She had given them a beautiful daughter that Mai loved desperately.
"Mai…..spirits…. I love you…so much…." Zuko murmured against her lips. They kissed desperately, sweet shuddering kisses that heightened to lingering deep ones. Their hands clutched each other. Zuko lifted Mai by the hips but before she could protest, he was lowering her beneath him onto the sofa when suddenly, there was commotion at the front door.
"I'll just be a sec…." A familiar voice said and then Toph appeared. She made a face and had to know what they were doing as she caught their chi intertangled in one area. She coughed angrily to get their attention and their hands off of each other.
"What is it?" Zuko barely managed to sound civil. Toph would have just thrown anger right back at him if he responded that way. Toph pointed toward the front door of their apartments.
"I hate to break up your little party, but there's something we should check out," Toph said. "I'm picking up extra movement on the other side of the palace; it could be nothing, but…"
"It could be Azula." Zuko's eyes shone. Action flared in his chi. "Let's get the others and go."
"I'm coming with you," Mai said. Zuko nodded. He knew better than to argue. After poking into the wet nurse's room to command she guard Izumi, they left the two Kyoshi Warriors guarding their chambers to place the dead bolt inside and only admit them or the royal family.
Their daughter sufficiently guarded, Zuko and Mai jogged with Toph back to the Gaang's apartment.
As Toph burst into the sitting room ahead of them, Mai turned to her husband. Her hand clutched his and squeezed.
"Remember; she may be your sister but Azula is capable of anything. She almost killed you once. She won't hesitate to finish the job," she swore. A hard light filled Zuko's eyes, glossing over the faint ebbs of hesitation in his golden gaze. The images of his younger sister playing in the gardens had to be eclipsed. She was no longer a conniving little girl sidling to their father for affection. She was fully grown, fully realized, and could very well kill him. Zuko swallowed.
"I know," Zuko murmured. Mai leaned up to press her lips to his.
"Azula will show no mercy and give no quarter…be strong. For me….for me, and our daughter. She needs you. And I need you…" Mai murmured. Zuko held her hands in his. He leaned to kiss the backs of them chivalrously, love flaring in his chi toward his wife.
"I won't fail," he vowed. With a grim nod, Mai stepped into the Gaang's front sitting room.
Suki had been jolted awake by Toph slamming the front door open unceremoniously.
"What's wrong?" she gasped. Zuko nodded grimly to her.
"Azula," he said. "Toph has picked up motion that's unaccounted for…."
"I'll get the Kyoshi Warriors," Suki swore. She turned.
Sokka was sprawled on his back across a pile of cushions. Suki tossed a pillow at his face and he jolted upright, yelling incoherently. Suki raised an eyebrow and tossed his club to him. Sokka caught it barely, blinking sleep from his eyes.
"I'm up, I'm up!" he insisted. Zuko jogged to Aang's bedchamber and hammered on the door.
"Aang! Wake up!" he called. He opened the door and caught sight of Aang and Katara scrambling to throw the covers over their naked bodies, and try to reach for their clothes all at the same time. A blush slammed across his face. He closed the door and hollered through the crack. "Sorry! We think Azula is here…."
"Azula?!" Aang yelped. Passion forgotten, he and Katara dressed in a hurry. Katara tied a canteen around her waist as they made their way out the door and past the blushing Fire Lord. They tried to play off at having been found together, and luckily only Sokka was scowling. The situation didn't call for any ribbing to the situation.
Toph lifted a finger, twirling it idly as she flexed her bare feet on the stone floor. "There, I feel it again….. Fast movement. Somebody's fallen too….." she pursed her lips together. "We better stop this."
Everyone nodded.
"No matter what happens, leave Azula to me," Zuko swore. "I won't put that on any of you….."
As everyone ran out of the Gaang's chambers, Mai tucked her fingers into Zuko's. She clung to his hand part of the way before they encountered two Kemurikage, clad in grey tunic and trousers to better hide in the dark. Shawls were wrapped around the lower part of their faces, masking all but hate-filled eyes. A few of the palace soldiers were with them, and they were not trying to apprehend them. One young man turned to jab his spear at Zuko, hatred snarling his features.
"Hail Fire Lord Azula!" he was screaming. Katara flung a stream of water from her canteen, smacking the young man in the face. Zuko side stepped the spear, grabbing the end and melting the iron tip beyond recognition with his bending. A well-flung knife from Mai speared his sleeve to the wall. Just when Zuko was ready to question him, a large portion of the stone wall behind them was flung forward from Toph.
The man was crushed instantly, and his lifeless body fell to the ground. Everyone gaped at him, then Toph. She could feel everyone's stares and shrugged helplessly.
"He was trying to kill Zuko!" she explained.
"We could have questioned him!" Aang scolded. He was busy tying the two Kemurikage women together. One was conscious; the other was not. "He was a palace guard…..how many more of them are working for Azula?!"
"That's what I want to know!" Zuko's mind flip-flopped with adrenaline. He exhaled harshly, calling his chi back in, extinguishing the flames along his knuckles.
Toph tapped her foot, seemingly not caring she was still in her pajamas while everyone was dressed.
"There, there, and there," she said pointing in three different directions down the hallways. "The movements moving in those three ways. I hate to enforce a cliché, but we should split up to round up the dissenters."
Zuko didn't like the idea, but they had to secure the palace. "Mai and I will go north."
"Katara and I to the south," Aang offered. Sokka turned to side with Toph.
"Guess we got the last area," he said. A wicked grin split Toph's features.
"Just stay behind me, Sokka. I'll save you."
"Of course you will…." Sokka argued as everyone split off. Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors were already at battle with grey-clad Kemurikage and palace soldiers when Zuko got there. He only darted one glance at his wife. Mai had two knives ready, and he had to trust she could handle herself.
She had proven it before.
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Azula pulled on a grey tunic and adjusted the hem over the waistband of her grey trousers. Zirin was dressing in similar garb. The gaunt woman handed Azula a grey shawl and took one herself. The pair wrapped the article of linen around their lower faces and knotted the ends around their necks. The rest of the Kemurikage had received their instructions and had gone on ahead.
Azula inhaled and exhaled excitedly. She was as ready as she was ever going to be. And Ty Lee was trapped beneath heavy dirty and slush. She would be where she left her and she'd collect her soon enough. "We should head for the throne room while the girls take out the rest of the soldiers. I want Zuzu dead before daybreak."
Zirin nodded but her mind was whirling with twinges of panic and worry. Ty Lee's words washed through her mind, despite herself.
'She may not live long enough to claim the throne….'
Zirin shuddered, hearing Ty Lee's soft voice mouth the words in her memory. She adjusted her shawl, meeting Azula's eyes. Her own squinted in understanding.
"We will….and Azula….I'll follow you anywhere," Zirin said honestly. Azula nodded her thanks, and she turned to the courtyard wall ahead of them.
"Let's do this," she said. The two women scaled the wall quickly and hopped down inside, taking off at a sprint for the corridors. As they went, Zirin tried not to think they were running into a trap, or if they would see the upcoming dawn.
No matter; if they were running into a trap, she had to make sure Azula stayed alive.
She had promised to follow, after all.
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As they rushed into battle, Zuko rode the cresting high of his battle adrenaline. His confidence spiked when Suki battled alongside him. The bodies she and the Kyoshi Warriors helped fell lay in sprawled distortions. Only one or two were killed, and the Kyoshi Warriors made to secure everyone's arms and legs. A few palace soldiers ran up to aide, and Zuko almost peeled out of his skin, certain they were on Azula's side. But General Mak was with them, and his low bow was not mocking.
"Take them to the jail," Zuko ordered. Mak bowed again and he and his men bodily lifted the restrained men and women. Suki ordered a few of the warriors to help.
Mai paused, pressing a hand to the front of Zuko's tunic. Sweat ran in rivulets down his cheek and his neck, making his pale skin glisten. His heart thudded a hard staccato rhythm against her hand. He tried to reign in himself in, but laid his hand over his wife's.
"That can't be it," Mai swore. "Azula wasn't with them."
Zuko had to admit that was true, and worry slammed through his being. "Let's find the others," he swore. Suki joined the two and they ran down the corridors. Iroh was firebending against three Kemurikage women, seemingly trapped against the wide double doors of the throne room. Mai, Zuko and Suki ran faster to help. The long stretch away of a corridor seemed to go on forever, keeping them from aiding the old lord.
Finally, they reached striking distance and two of the women turned to bring the battle to them.
"Press on! The rest of the royal family must be inside," one of the Kemurikage called to the others. Zuko flailed out desperately at those words. No one was in the throne room that he was certain of, but he didn't even know if Iroh had had time to hole up his mother, her husband or his sister in the back room behind the dais.
"Uncle!" Zuko called desperately. Iroh gave a curt shake of his head, catching his eyes and Zuko was momentarily relieved. Momentarily.
As Suki flung one of the women off of her with her fan, two more grey-clad women approached from the long corridor. They walked as if they had all the time in the world, and when one scarf was pulled low, the utter fear that slammed through Zuko shocked him.
Azula looked none the worse for wear, even out of her imperial duds and clad all in grey. Her red lips smirked widely. She stalked forward, hands bearing twin balls of blue flame, as effortlessly as if she were a demon peeling from the seventh layer of hell. The woman at her side cupped her own fireball, ready to defend or attack.
Zuko forced his own fire back into existence, Mai's encouraging chi reminding himself he had to react; he had to MOVE.
"Surrender, Azula!" he yelled. "We've captured your comrades. Your little coup is over."
His words were utterly strong, but Zuko felt a cold trickle of sweat slide down his back as Azula merely laughed at him. The old sting from childhood jabbed him and he grit his teeth. His eyes narrowed.
"Oh, Zuzu, you don't know when to stop," she drawled. "I've already thrust deep at the root of your rule….didn't I?"
Her question was aimed toward Mai who flushed unhappily. The jab at his wife's infidelity with Azula coupled with his "daughter's" face in Zuko's mind…..Azula had hurt his family, yet had given him a part of it. The familiar hurt slammed through him. No, he would protect his wife and child! They were his!
"Azula!" he screamed. Azula grinned madly, raising her flaming fists at the ready. Zuko charged her and the two spun in a series of spins and kicks, deflecting and throwing fire in spurts of turn. He could hear distant shouting behind him but Zuko ignored it, feeling the fuzzy blur of his adrenaline drowning everything out but his sister's grunts and curses as they locked eyes through the maelstrom of their fire.
From far off over his sister's shoulder, he could see Aang and Katara running to join the fray. He blasted a warning fire stream in their direction, taking care to miss, and badly.
"Stay back!" he roared. Katara looked determined to help (no doubt remembering another duel, a memory that made the burn scar over his stomach concave on reflex), but Aang bodily grabbed her, pulling her from the fire's fray.
A loud Clang! sounded out of his peripheral and Zuko darted his eyes to catch sight of Suki and Iroh flinging the three Kemurikage that were originally in the hallway through the double doors of the throne room. The wide doors bannered open and one flagged, slowly closing on the back swing of the sudden motions of three bodies hitting them.
One of the women was on fire from Iroh's bending, and she flailed on the stone floor, beating her sleeve to put the flame out.
Suki was yelling at the women to surrender when a well-placed side kick caught Zuko in the gut. His stomach concaved, the old scar she'd given him flaring from the impact, and Zuko staggered back, trying to regain his rooted stance. But Azula pressed heavily, fists raised and streaming death toward him. Only through his teachings did Zuko not fall to her flames; he absorbed the fire around his aura as Iroh had taught him, and blasted it away with both hands pushed from his sides.
Zuko widened his stance, knees bent, and he advanced a step in the kata movement that was known as Bend to Agni's Will. From his slightly lowered neck, he watched Azula from under his bangs, fury in his gaze. Azula merely smiled darkly and screamed, deflecting his next blow. She easily deflected the fire to the stone wall beside them.
Zuko yelled in response, the fire echoing through his ears as he and Azula grappled within arm's length away, the flames getting dangerously close enough to singe. Azula feigned a kick to his temple; Zuko dodged. As he did, Azula spun on her other foot and aimed a well-placed knee against his side. Zuko stumbled, and tripped.
As he fell, fear flooding his senses, Azula's advance was halted as she cried out in pain. A knife stuck out of her right forearm and she gaped at it, then glanced up at the perpetrator. Mai held up another knife at the ready, and she stalked forward, kneeling for her husband.
"Get away from him!" she yelled. Azula pulled the knife out, flinching for an instant at the pain. Blood leaked from the wound and she tossed the knife aside; hard, and at Mai. Mai barely was able to keep it from striking her.
Zuko could make out Aang and Katara advancing again from the rear side of the long corridor. Zirin blocked their way and the couple met her attack. A bearded man peered from the throne room doors, tools in hand and suddenly Zuko recognized the chief detonator he and Iroh had assigned to wire the entrance to the throne room. He was just on the threshold where death would rain down and Zuko contemplated using his charge; Azula was in the right place for it, after all.
"Get back!" he barked at Mai. When she didn't obey, he grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him. Azula flew at him and Zuko blocked her way, the two stabbing at the other with fire blades protruding from their fists.
"Fire Lord!" The detonator yelled. "Shall I go ahead, my lord?!"
Zuko could barely hear him over his battle high. He gave a curt shake of the head. "I can take her!"
"Nephew, watch out!" Iroh yelled. Zuko gave Azula his full attention. He gave a hard side kick and was satisfied to feel his boot strike flesh. Azula staggered, holding her side. A second stream of fire joined his and Zuko felt Iroh's chi flare out. The two men advanced on Azula.
"Azula!" Zirin yelled. She blasted a large fireball the Avatar's way, and he grabbed his woman, throwing his back toward the direction of the flame to deflect it as he blocked Katara from the blast. As they were distracted, Zirin ran to Azula's side. The two women combated directly against the two lords.
With Zirin at her side, Azula felt a rush of adrenaline. Together, they pressed Zuko and Iroh back, and blue flame sparked from the princess's mouth as she screamed her rage. She was the last dragon, not Iroh, and definitely not Zuzu! She had the fury of the dragons, the blessing of the sun, and beloved of her father who Zuzu had sicced the Avatar on and taken away his bending. She would avenge him, but more importantly, she would avenge herself.
She didn't care the Avatar was close enough to attack; he was beneath her. Everyone was!
And damn everyone who would try to stop her! She would let them burn, let them all die, to never feel trapped as she had in the institution…..never again!
"ZUZU!" Azula screamed, her mind whirling with mad joy when she knocked her brother into her uncle, the two men sprawled on the threshold to the doors of the throne room. Zuko spared a glance down the corridor beyond his sister's fire; Aang and Katara were far enough back. They were, weren't they?! The detonator had said it was twenty meters to clear from impact; it was twenty, wasn't it? Twenty or twenty-five? Twenty-five or thirty?!...
Zuko was satisfied when Suki grabbed the Fire Lady and forced her further into the large throne room. They were far enough from the blast. And he could shove Iroh back if need be. He wildly caught the eyes of the bearded detonator, who was halfway across the throne room. The carved dragons in the walls watched silently upon the commotion below.
"Do it!" he shouted to the man. "Light it up!"
Suki didn't know what Zuko was referring to, but it couldn't be good. She grasped Mai's arm, trying to drag her back with her.
"No, nephew!" Iroh yelled. Zuko gave him a curt shake of the head. He rose to his feet and held his fists at the ready, as Azula advanced upon the threshold of the doors.
"Yes," he said decisively. "Get back, Uncle. It's going to go….."
Iroh made to grab Zuko, but the Fire Lord flared his chi and shoved him back with barely a touch. Iroh stumbled, then turned and ran after the chief detonator, intent on stopping him physically if he had to.
"Come at me, BROTHER," Azula taunted.
"You want it? You got it!" Zuko snarled. The siblings charged at each other as a loud cracking filled the air. It started off as a loud series of pops that steadily gained volume. Zuko grit his teeth and rooted his feet where he was, at the threshold of the wide double doors. He should have enough room to get back; he should be fine…..
Suddenly, his attention was ripped from the confusion roiling across his sister's face to the whirl of spiking chi behind him. Mai! She wouldn't….he couldn't let her…. Zuko turned and threw himself on top of her. Before Mai could protest, the entire world erupted.
The detonations set off a trigger of explosions, that began eeirily close to where Aang and Katara were (Zuko had to pray they were alright, pleasebealrightpleasebealright…..), and proceeded on down the corridor. Azula's utterly confused expression would have been amusing if the entire world weren't going to hell around them. Zirin tried to deflect the racing fire, but it wasn't enough. She was flung into Azula and the two were slammed through the air and across the threshold of the throne room doors.
The impact shuddered through the throne room and someone was screaming vaguely in the background of the high ringing in Zuko's ears. Warmth flooded his back and hip and he was aware he was the one screaming, in surprise and pain. Mai blinked against his shoulder, hands shaking against his back.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" she asked loudly. She probably couldn't hear herself and Zuko was having trouble making out sounds that weren't the high-pitched wail of the explosion. He darted a wild look over his shoulder, panting in fear. He could see Azula's leg where she was sprawled on her back, prone and unconscious. Her body was riddled with shrapnel and bits of stone and debris from the walls, and her comrade was in no better shape.
Zuko groaned as he tried to sit up. Pain flared through his right hip and he hissed. Mai sat up, arm slung around his waist. They stood together and she took some of Zuko's weight against her.
"ZUKO!" Iroh yelled alittle too loudly. He re-emerged from the back room behind the dais, none the worse for wear. He jogged closer, Suki on his heels. A trail of blood slowly ebbed from her left ear, but other than that, she looked alright. She was ringing out her other ear with her finger and wincing.
The detonator followed on Lord Iroh's heels and fell to his knees, lowering his face in shame. "I am so sorry, Fire Lord…. I hurt you and your wife; you were too close when you told me to set the light!….."
Zuko shook his head, waving a hand quickly. "That's got to be behind us. We'll all be alright."
He staggered to the ruined outcrop of the hallway and peered down the corridor of debris. "Aang?!" he called in a flurry of sudden panic. Coughing sounded from down the corridor and through the din of dust settling, Zuko and Mai could make out the Avatar and his fiancée, alive and in one piece. Aang had bended a sphere of air around them on reflex, and it saved them from impact.
"We're okay!" Katara called out in a wavering tone. Then a note of derision. "You could have warned us!"
"I'm so sorry," Zuko stammered. The two made their way carefully across the debris and jutting pieces of stone wall. Aang hurriedly began to restrain Azula's arms to her legs with twine.
Zuko watched his sister, still sadness in his eyes. Mai clutched his waist.
"She's alive," Aang said belatedly. "But we do need to make sure she won't attack us again…."
"She'll have to go back into prison," Zuko said, shame lining his words despite himself. He was merely protecting his family, so why did he feel so bad?
"What about this one?" Katara knelt beside Zirin and ran her hand across the woman's brow, assessing her chi. "She's alive too…."
"Take them to the jail," Zuko commanded Suki. "And as for Azula….keep her separated from the others. I want her in chains."
Suki bowed her head, fist against her chest.
Everyone gathered, assessing the damage and their hurts. Katara wanted to see to Mai and Zuko herself, and when Zuko bared his upper torso, everyone gasped at the trickles of bleed leaking from cuts across his side and hip. His tunic was gashed through from the debris and a drastic red burn mark spread from his lower back down to his right hip.
"This looks bad," Katara swore. "How do you feel?"
"My honest answer? Like hell," Zuko winced as Katara waterbended a sphere of healing water over his side. He cried out in pain. Mai clutched his hand. "Ow, Katara!"
Katara tutted him. Her eyes were serious as she pressed the glowing sphere of water higher along his side towards his chest. "Your heart's in good condition…..doesn't seem to be any internal damage….. do me a favor, Zuko."
"What?"
"Next time you're going to play with explosives, make sure to tell us AND make sure we're not close by," she said dryly. Zuko pouted his lip at her.
"I'm sorry," he said again. Mai sighed heavily.
"It was a good trick. Azula was NOT expecting that. I guess she loses for thinking so little of you."
Zuko's mood perked at her words, but the aftermath still spread before everyone. Sokka and Toph leaned in to make sure he was alright, but were on their way to the prison with Suki, the Kyoshi Warriors and General Mak, to help secure and interrogate the soldiers and Kemurikage.
The hours passed in a sequence of blurred activity. Finally, Mai was alone with her husband. She helped clean out his cuts again, at Katara's suggestion. Alone, her fingers grazed the musculature along his sides and she pressed tender kisses against Zuko's shoulder as she dressed the cuts again.
"I could have lost you," she said in a small voice. Zuko's finger lifted her chin. His eyes were deep pits of worry. Love whirled in his gaze, contrasting the worry.
"I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I can't," he vowed. Mai pressed into his warm front, and twined her arms around his neck. She shuddered against him.
"I think you need to see your daughter before we join in the interrogations," she suggested. Zuko nodded and stood. He grunted as he favored his left hip over his right. The burn mark there was hideous and even Katara's salves couldn't keep the sting from biting on each movement.
Zuko was too glad to take his sleeping daughter into his arms. Mai slung her arm around his waist and leaned in close.
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As the hours wound toward dawn, the Gaang yawned through their activities at the prison.
General Mak had indeed separated each man and woman, and his soldiers had begun the questioning. Zuko quietly suggested a firmer hand, meaning torturous methods, when answers were not given or he was spit at.
Some answers that were given at the flares of firebending from General Mak's soldiers gave frightening results. There had been soldiers who had broken under Azula's thumb and had tried to leave. She had killed several of them. They were only doing as commanded of them by the princess.
When Ty Lee's name was uttered by one woman, Zuko's eyes widened.
"She was with Azula? Where is she?!" he demanded. He grabbed the woman by her collar. The woman refused to answer until Mai aimed a knife at her throat.
"Tell us!" she hissed.
"The princess commanded we bury the lady, and the traitors. They're lying in a shallow grave not far from here…."
Zuko blanched and the horror he was feeling was reflected in his friend's eyes. The words indicated Ty Lee may not be alive. But they had to search for her. Even if it was only her body they would return with….
Zuko dressed warmly and Suki and Sokka offered to ride on lizard back with him. Aang dashed for Appa and Mai wrapped her husband's cloak around his shoulders.
"I know you have to find her…..and I want her to be safe, too," Mai murmured. Zuko bowed at the waist, but when he rose, he bent to kiss her lips.
"We'll return as fast as we can," he vowed. As Zuko mounted his lizard alongside his friends, he hoped they wouldn't be witness to his recovering his concubine as a corpse.
Dread filled Zuko's limbs, but he kicked his heels into the lizard's sides and they were off.
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Ty Lee shuddered in the slushy dirt. The man she had been leaning on when the dirt had been shoveled in had started whimpering to himself. She and the others tried to wriggle out of the packed dirt and snow, but the temperature lurched low again and the ice packed around them began to freeze. Ty Lee buried her face unapologetically against the man's shoulder, teeth chattering.
Long moments passed; possibly hours. The soldiers and Ty Lee squirmed and tried to move beneath the tamped in snow and dirt, but to move a fraction of an inch was impossible. The drop in temperature made the cold dirt as immoveable as stone. One woman began to weep and berate her fate and one of the men cursed at her to shut up.
Ty Lee closed her eyes tightly, but despite herself, tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks, freezing on her face. The group of people suddenly could hear shouting from far off and the Kemurikage tensed beside them. Two of the women adopted bending stances, and the other two, who had to be nonbenders, clutched weapons.
There was a flurry of activity just over Ty Lee's shoulder, but in her position, she couldn't move to see what was happening. There was the sound of impact; heavy thuds against flesh and screaming. Almost all too soon, the Kemurikage were felled, and a torch was lifted over the flinching people in the slush and dirt.
Ty Lee blinked at the sudden light in the dark. The torch light glinted off the breastplate of the imperial armor, and she didn't know whether to relax or flinch. But the men began to dig the people out, and for that, Ty Lee could be grateful.
As the soldiers undug all the squirming bodies Ty Lee was recognized.
"Lady Ty Lee!"
One male soldier picked her up out of the slush and spread his cloak around her.
"I'm here," she said belatedly. The man bundled her away.
"The Fire Lord is without, looking for you. He'll be so happy to see you're okay," the young man was saying. Ty Lee could barely follow. She was physically fine, but frozen through, and her heart felt like it was clearly breaking. Azula had left her ostensibly for dead, and had gone to besiege the palace. To hear Zuko was alright enough to look for her gave her pause.
Was Azula alright? Zirin? Were they alive? Or?...
The man hailed one of the approaching lizards, and a man on the back of one flung himself from the saddle toward her.
"TY!" Zuko's voice rang out in alarm and shreds of joy. Ty Lee's heart surged under his chi, and she found herself lifted into Fire Lord Zuko's arms. His arms raised her up in an embrace, one hand below her knees and lifting her from the soldier's hold. The man bowed on one knee in deference and Ty Lee's arms slung around Zuko's neck despite herself.
"I'm okay," she breathed even as tears spilled from her eyes. Zuko babbled against her, clutching her hard. Ty Lee shook, her arms twined around his neck. Azula's fate had to be known to her, and the Fire Lord was going to tell her.
End for now
End notes: The "Azula will show no mercy and give no quarter line" was given directly by my friend Maraghoul. The rest of her inspiration I used in nudges, but I outright did use that one line. Creds to her for that line of awesome.
And I did have to use my Chekov's Gun; er, Chekov's Bomb, in this case. Like it? Smash that button and do that review thing ^_^ What will happen next? Oh, a lot more! Trust me :P
Sincerely, pen
5/13/2017