Chapter Four: Let Me Brand You
Azula hates being examined.
The doctors are all very careful, they all make sure to administer every anesthetic in their arsenal, they all try their best to not upset her or cause her any pain. But she would still easily be sore for three days afterwards, sometimes barely able to speak if there was too harsh examination of her throat. And the anesthetic herbs they were so fond of made her head fuzzy and unclear for long afterwards.
But most of all, the worst part of being examined is the comments. They all try to be so hopeful. They say, "It's not spreading as quickly as we feared." or "That lesion has definitely cleared up."
Yet, in the end, despite their forced smiles and kind bedside manner, Azula is always dying. And there was nothing that these doctors can say that will change that fact. No doctor has yet to proclaim that she has miraculously been cured.
Her fate is unchangeable.
"That looks so much better," remarks one of the doctors, and Azula cranes her neck to look at the healed bruises.
Maybe the waterbender has some worth.
xXx
Katara studies scrolls and wishes that she had Hama here to help her. While Hama is not a healer, she is a prodigious waterbender, and she certainly could help teach Katara how to at least delay the progression of Princess Azula's illness.
She is waiting for the firebending scholar that Ozai promised her, and she taps her foot as she becomes more and more impatient. The scrolls fascinate Katara, but she does not have any water to work with, and so she does the motions with her hands and hopes she is not ingraining the wrong movements into her muscle memory.
At last, the man arrives. He has grey hair, and a very stylized, pointed beard. His eyes are amber, his skin pale and wrinkled. It makes Katara angry, she must admit, to know that he studies the Water Tribes as if they are spider-flies in a bottle, and proclaims himself an expert.
He will never know the reality of the South Pole. But Katara knows that she needs all the help she can get if she wants to stay alive.
"It is an absolute honor to meet you," says the man eagerly, and Katara cannot remember ever being addressed like that. Even if she was treated well by Hama, Katara has been a slave for so many years that she is used to being looked down upon.
"It's nice to meet you too," Katara says as he sits down and opens his leather bag.
It is filled with even more waterbending scrolls.
Maybe this part of Katara's new life is not going to be so bad.
xXx
Mai and Katara do meet again, and Katara sits beside her, breathing in deeply. Katara looks worn and tired, and Mai wishes she could pity her. Or perhaps not. Mai offers Katara the expensive wine she has been sipping, and the waterbender accepts.
She has never had anything more than a few sips of the cheap kind from Hama, and Katara thinks that perhaps it could be improved by some sugar. It is bitter enough to make her wrinkle her nose, but she was not about to turn down a kind gesture from one of her captors. One of her owners, even if that word makes Katara feel sick.
"So you met with the tutor for your healing?" Mai asks and Katara does not think she cares what the answer is.
"I did," Katara admits with a small, brisk nod. "I think that maybe I can really help her."
Not that I necessarily want to, Katara thinks.
"Good," Mai says as she studies Katara closely. "You haven't started another fight yet, at least."
Katara pauses for a moment. "I know I probably shouldn't ask you for things, but... do you think you could get me into a bathroom for a bath? I want to practice."
Mai purses her pale lips. It would be most unwise to give the waterbender that much water, to give her the opportunity to attempt escape. On the other hand, Mai has to admit she almost likes this slave girl.
"I'll see what I can do," is Mai's noncommittal response.
She does not know if she is being honest or not.
xXx
"Are you going to make me guess why you're so pissed off? Or will you use your words like an adult?" Mai demands in the sitting area outside of their bedroom, private rooms and bathrooms.
Living in the lap of luxury (Azula) is pleasant for both of them, and their life has very few flaws, save for the ulcer-inducing worry about the princess and her illness. And Mai finds decent comfort in her lodgings.
There can be privacy, and she can be entertaining herself with her sketchbook, until, suddenly, that privacy is gone, replaced with the loud, angry pacing of Ty Lee's feet.
"I'm angry because of all of the time you've been spending with the slave girl! It's enough that she gets to put her hands all over Azula's naked body! And you're clearly in love with her now!" Ty Lee shouts, forgetting that Azula is trying to sleep in her nearby bedroom.
Mai studies Ty Lee, sighing. "I'm not in love with our slave girl. I haven't even gone to bed with her."
"But I bet you've thought about it!" Ty Lee shrieks.
From there, the fight is an unstoppable force of destruction. Mai does not fight back, but Ty Lee screams and rants and raves until her throat tastes of blood and metal.
And then Mai's hands are on her waist, Ty Lee's face still flushed with white hot anger. When Mai's lips push against Ty Lee's, however, she is filled with white hot longing.
They move to fuck each other, the desire impossible to deny. Ty Lee is eager, until her stomach drops, and Mai sees the look in her eyes.
"We can't..." Ty Lee whispers as she glances at Azula's bedroom. She could be dying in there; Mai and Ty Lee can't be fucking outside.
Mai hesitates, trying to think of a solution before the fire in her lower belly dies.
"Why don't we wake her up to something fun," Mai says and Ty Lee smiles at the concept.
Azula is roused from unconsciousness by pressure on the bed on either side of her.
"Azula," says a quiet voice from above the princess. Her eyelids slowly flutter open, unsure what is happening to her right now. Her throat and insides are still sore from the invasive tests. "Azula, wake up."
Ty Lee. At Azula's right is most certainly Ty Lee.
"She's awake," says a voice at her left and Azula turns yet again, her head fuzzy from the sedatives the doctors certainly gave her an improper dose of.
Mai. At Azula's left is most certainly Mai.
The princess furrows her brow and studies the two girls sitting smugly at either side of her. Oh, Agni, Azula hopes she is not about to be smothered to death. Although, perhaps that sweet release would be better than suffering through another overly invasive set of tests.
"I'm completely hallucinating from drugs, aren't I?" Azula whispers, relatively confused by this. But lips against hers silence her from answering anything else. Mai's lips; Azula can identify them.
The fingers trailing along her arm, giving her goosebumps, are not Mai's. But the hand sliding down Azula's loose nightgown most certainly are. There is the brief sensation that perhaps she is going to be dissected, but then Ty Lee helps her sit up, their lips grazing against each other.
Mai moves carefully, trying to avoid the very prominent bones on Azula, despite Ty Lee having just grabbed her by her collar, dragging her closer. Their lips collide, and it is like fire, because this is what they both want, but they feel the need to do it through the vessel of Azula, else they feel like slimy traitors.
Azula does realize that, as her headache starts to ease and she presses herself against the pillows that line the headboard of her bed. This is something that has happened before, and she wants to tell herself that it is unnecessary, as she is enraptured by their hands on each other, their lips on each other, in front of her, pretending to be a personal show.
Ty Lee kisses Mai as she undresses her, inviting herself to the temptations of her wife's breasts. The roughness between them makes Azula angry in ways she cannot explain. The way Ty Lee grinds so forcefully against Mai, or how Mai digs her fingers into every part of Ty Lee's body without worrying about leaving bruises.
While Azula does like watching it, her fingers caressing the inside of her own thigh, she does find her stomach twisting more angrily by the second.
After Ty Lee's orgasm, Mai does notice it. And she thought that the acrobat was the emotionally sensitive one. Mai moves to Azula smoothly, gliding over the silky sheets, and she undoes the princess's bra. Ty Lee is so quickly beside her it is almost like a blur, not wanting to be topped by the woman she just spent so long arguing with, even if she is still in a haze from coming.
They are both on Azula, not reluctant at all, and the princess cannot help but moan, caught between genuine pleasure of two different lips on her shoulders and small breasts, and the very unfulfilled desires that were struck up within her like matches and flame.
Azula spreads her legs as her back arches, and she does experience pleasure from them. And the pleasure she does give to Mai, although she feels as if doing Ty Lee's work is somehow beneath her.
She can feel what she has missed, even though the oral sex is magnificent.
She can feel that she is so unable to fulfill or experience so many desires and sensations, because her body is broken and hates her.
Afterwards, Azula is exhausted and frustrated by the fact. She wants to be awake, she wants to revel in the fact that she owns them both and feel powerful for it like she did in the beginning of their relationship. But she falls asleep, no matter how hard she fights.
Mai and Ty Lee are wrapped in each other.
"I told you I'd rather have you than the water slave," Mai whispers and Ty Lee kisses her, leaving the taste of Azula on her mouth.
"I know," Ty Lee whispers as she nestles into the warm arms of her cold wife.
xXx
"Why are you married to two people? It's not customary in the Fire Nation, as far as I know." Katara asks abruptly during one healing session. Azula looks hazy, out of it. But Katara is curious.
"Because I'm sick. And I'm also the last of my line."
"So, you're sterile or something?" Katara asks bluntly and Azula contemplates punishing her. But the healing is feeling magnificent right now, and she does not want to put a stop to it by hurting her slave girl.
"That's none of your business, slave," Azula says sharply and Katara frowns. "Don't act so indignant. You know that you belong to me."
Katara averts her eyes and clenches her jaw.
She thinks she hates her job.
xXx
The first moment Azula sees Katara in a light other than a nuisance or another hopeful cure her father is wasting resources on, is the moment she sees her surrounded by her element. Azula did not bother knocking as she wandered into the room, and found that Katara was in a position to very easily slay everyone in this palace.
Waterbenders are not weak, and Azula knows it. Unlike the airbenders, who have been gone for so long that only memories remain, most people have heard of or even fought them. They are dangerous; that is why Azulon decided that they had to die.
It is the opposite element of fire, after all.
Azula is captivated by her nudity, by the water dripping from her body. And she hates, desperately hates, how much she wants the slave so abruptly. It is just a visceral bodily response, Azula tries to reassure herself. Even though she must admit that the healing sessions have introduced a certain level of intense intimacy.
Mai had let Katara into the bathroom, and Katara was overwhelmed by how deep and beautiful the bathtub was, and how every fixture was somehow gilded. But Azula walking in, Katara did not expect, and she quickly covers most of her body in the water, her cobalt eyes wide and intimidated.
But Azula is silent. "Who let you into a bath? Filled with water...?"
Katara does not know what to say. Her heart is thudding out of control with panic as she tries to think of a response.
"I let myself in," Katara stammers and Azula smirks and shakes her head.
"No, no. Don't lie to me, slave. You will regret it," Azula says softly as she crosses the room to stand near Katara. The waterbender is forced to be looking up at her as she tries to cover her body, cover how defenseless her naked skin feels.
"I'm not lying," Katara snaps, doubting that the princess even knows.
"Yes you are." Azula kneels so they are eye level. "I always can tell. You could say I'm a people person. Even if you aren't really a person... Which means, I can very comfortably do things to you that would be so sick to commit against another human. Like perhaps a little mark of ownership..."
Azula's fingertips light, just slightly, as she seems to be contemplating something very dark. Katara clenches her jaw, not knowing what action to take.
"I am a person," Katara snarls as she rises, not giving Azula enough time to get back up. The realization that she was about to be scarred and branded by this girl pulsated through her veins, and she acted without thinking.
She knows she will deeply regret the water she seizes and cracks through the air like a whip. And Katara honestly expected Azula to react quickly, like she did during their first fight. But Katara only just realizes how weakened she is, how slow her reactions are, and the fact that Katara has just slashed open the side of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation's face.
Katara slips, falls, smashes her own head in the shock.
xXx
When Katara wakes up, she is in a bed, dressed, and not imprisoned or chained to a rack for torture. Nor is she branded by Azula.
Azula was branded by her. Tui, La, every spirit Katara is screwed.
She sits up and finds a note beside her bed. It is from Mai, asking her to come join her before Katara will have to face Fire Lord Ozai and face penalties for what she did to his daughter. Katara suddenly is grateful for her friend as she rises from bed and goes to meet her.
But when she gets to Mai's room. Azula is waiting for her. A slender mark on her face that looks as if it will heal, and certainly not scar. But her eyes are murderous as she sits on Mai's lap.
Katara breathes in slowly and carefully. She is quite unsure what Azula wants from her, or why Mai had invited her here, only to have Azula sitting, waiting, with a smirk on her face that looks... sadistic, almost. Something seems off immediately, and Katara's first thought is that it is a trap.
Mai does not look apologetic.
"Are you in pain?" Katara asks Azula, hoping and praying that Azula just wants to be healed, and that Katara is not about to be subjected to torture or punishment for her encounter with Azula. It probably was out of line for a slave, even though Katara refuses to think of herself as a slave.
"Maybe," Azula says softly, her voice utterly serpentine. "I was thinking perhaps you could ease that pain, a little bit. Given the fact that you decided to cut my face open. My father will certainly exact some brutality, but I... I think that I deserve my own revenge. We should be even, at least, if you're going to be healing me for years."
Katara glances around for water like a fool before realizing what the princess means. Mai still looks impassive, and Katara glares daggers at her. Why Katara thought that she had a friend among the royals, she has no idea.
Azula kisses Katara within seconds, not giving her much of a choice. Her hand slides behind the back of her slave, directing her in a dance of twisting feet to the bed. When Katara hits the mattress, she gasps, suddenly realizing how real this is.
She looks around for a stray glass of water, for a plant, for anything she could harvest an attack from. But right now, there is nothing. And right now... Katara must admit she is a bit curious about how this is going to play out.
Azula's lips touch Katara's again, and now the waterbender feels a tingling sensation inside of her. So long as Azula does not overstep any bounds, Katara does not see how this can truly... hurt.
"Do you ever desire this?" Azula whispers as she straddles the wide-eyed girl beneath her. It makes her feel powerful. When she has felt nothing but weakness sexually because of her illness, she now is strong.
"With... with a boy," Katara replies, swallowing forcibly. Azula smirks.
"And what can a boy do that I can't?" Azula asks mockingly and Katara does not know if she is asking or not.
"Certain... things," Katara whispers, swallowing.
"Would you like me to find something to penetrate you with?" That, Katara is entirely uncertain about. Trying to figure out if Azula is being genuine or not is difficult.
"Yes," Katara answers and Azula laughs, in a way that Katara is unsure if she finds off-putting or not.
"Mai, help me with this," Azula orders, still stunned that Katara actually seems to be playing along and not viciously resisting.
Katara again gives Mai a look assuring her that Katara thinks she is a complete traitor, but Mai, again, does not seem to care. But the two princesses do, indeed, find something to penetrate her with.
And Katara watches, rapt, in anticipation of what she thinks she is going to allow them to do to her.