Avatar Chapter 38

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ozai walked about his chambers, careful not to disturb the dozen or so women who had kept him company last night. A few servant girls, some guards, a chef and even a set of bookish twins from the library. Obviously having intimate relations with so many women in one night was not correct behavior for a Fire Lord but when he got bad news he had two ways of getting over it, sex or incineration, and he knew his advisors would prefer the former.

And after getting word that the presumably late Admiral Zhao's invasion had gone horribly, horribly, wrong, he needed to get over it, quickly. He mentally growled, this Avatar had proven to be an even bigger headache then he originally thought, wherever he went rebels rose up, traitors revealed themselves and their carefully made plans were unravelled.

What was worse was that he had slipped through their fingers numerous times, even when he had been captured and imprisoned he had escaped with the aid of some mysterious figure the soldiers called the 'Blue Sprit', who had appeared and disappeared without a trace. This was what Ozai knew would happen, his enemies had a point to gather around now, a leader to look up to, even it was just a boy.

But boy or not he was dangerous, and he would grow even more so as he learned new elements, a primary reason for Zhao's invasion. Ozai agreed with the man that it was high time the Northern Water tribe was crushed anyway, that was why he had given the new admiral most of the northern fleet. "Though how 'crush the Northern Water Tribe' morphed into 'kill the moon' I will never know."

Ozai would have never believed that it was possible to actuality destroy the moon by killing some random fish but when it had turned blood red and then disappeared entirely, he was ready to revaluate his position. That said the logic behind it still escaped him "This is why I hate spirits, kill one and the moon disappears, anger another and it merges with some bald monk into a giant glowing fish monster, which treats my navy like model ships."

The failure was one thing, having well over half the invasion fleet either destroyed or missing was another, this had been their greatest and most costly defeat in decades, and it was all thanks to this prepubescent Avatar and a spirit fish. "Spirit fish, what kind of form is that, is there some tiny lizard on a deserted island that represents the sun? If a rock falls on it will the world plunge into darkness? Maybe this is why my brother is out of his mind, too much dabbling in spirit nonsense.

Thinking of his brother brought up another issue he now faced, Iroh had been the reason for their failure at the North Pole. "Zhao should have known my brother would not prove loyal to him…of course when a man spouts claims of being the moon slayer who could."

It was not so much the actions that bothered him, Ozai did not exactly praise the moon but he would be uncomfortable if it was gone, it was the impact these kind of things would have on Zuko, who had miraculously survived the 'accident' on his boat. "Who tries to kill a Fire Bender with explosions and fire anyway, does no one know how assassinations work anymore?"

Ozai had not believed the reports that his son had perished, Zuko thankfully took after him in stubbornness, a rare blessing. But he now realized letting Iroh accompany his son on his mission may have been a mistake. Iroh had changed since his son's death, even now Ozai could not believe he had simply accepted being skipped over, Iroh had simply accepted it and moved on.

And ever since he had become less and less the great dragon general, and more some lazy, tea drinking philosopher. Worse Ozai was starting to suspect Iroh did not have the Fire Nations interests in mind, and the fact that his son was presumably still in the company of his potentially traitorous brother was an issue, a big issue.

Ozai stroked his goatee in thought "Things are getting out of hand, Zuko has accomplished nothing and Iroh is no longer the lazy yet loyal Prince he used to be, they must be dealt with." The Fire Lord slipped into his private study and rang the servant bell on the wall. He needed to get ready for the day, and it was high time he took care of all these little issues, with Zhao gone he would to rely on another, Ozai smiled "I'm sure she will be more than happy to bring our family together."

In the throne room that day the Fire Lord looked through the wall of fire at his daughter, the crown jewel of the nation and his most dependable servant. She had grown much in the past year or so and now it was time to see what she could really do, he had no doubts.

"Princess Azula, your uncle's loyalty is in question and your brother is a resourceful yet obvious failure, you will bring them back home, alive, so they may be… evaluated."

Azula smiled up at him "It will be done my lord."

Ozai smirked "Of course it will, you may use any and all resources at your disposal, apply them as you see fit."

The Princess bowed "Thank you my lord." Azula stood up and turned for the exit, Ozai leaned back, content that this matter would be taken care of. "And with Azula gone I will have time to tackle my more personal endeavours." Ozai chuckled, he has a very important decision to make in the next few months.

Azula sat at the desk in her room, finalizing the plans for her first true mission. Her father had been clear, bring Zuko and Iroh back, preferably alive, though maimed was acceptable in her eyes. It was a seemingly easy task but Azula knew it would probably not turn out that way, besides she had other plans for her trip. Her contacts had discovered a number of interesting things lately, they had found War Minister Qin's pet project at the northern Air Temple, she had wondered why most new military tech came from him, and now she knew.

This 'Mechanist' was now out of their reach thanks to that Avatar but to their luck his greatest invention yet had fallen into their hands, she had already contacted Gaz, he would probably fall over drooling when he was given this 'Hot Air Balloon'. Another discovery was more theoretical and yet more interesting, a group of her explorers had been digging around seemingly at random and had stumbled upon a potentially historic find. The details were still few but it was some ancient burrow on an out of the way island, too far to be considered part of any nation. Normally not worth her time but the symbols in the area had peeked her curiosity, while badly worn the team was able to make out creatures that looked very dragon like. What 'dragon like' meant Azula was not sure but it was worth checking out, she still felt robbed at not having her own dragon since before Sozin's time every royal and even most nobles had at least one.

A snore came for her bed, Azula smiled. Dragon aside she had nearly everything she had ever wanted as a child, and more. She stood up and moved towards the bed, which had her lover draped over it. Ty Lee, she was the greatest of her treasures, the power, the Fire Bending, the wealth even her intellect were all fine but they came so easily, Ty Lee on the other hand was something she had to work for, and for the longest time she didn't even know she wanted her.

But she had her now, Ty Lee was hers, loyal, beautiful and obedient. Azula looked over her consort, she wore her pink sleeping robe and the golden chocker, a symbol of who she belonged to. Of course the bed appeared to belong to Ty Lee as she was spread out in every direction, and along with the now numerous stuffed animals on the bed meant Azula did not see much space for herself.

"I don't like how they all stare at me, it's unnerving." Azula was not sure how her bed became so crowded by Ty Lee's overly fluffy toys, it just sort of happened. In fact much her room was being filled with her consort's odd taste in decoration, pink, frilly and what she imagined a normal girl's room would look like. It was odd but she could tolerate it, for now at least.

Azula examined her consort, her long brown hair, cute face, toned body, wide open mouth drooling on her pillow… "Not the most graceful of highborn but at least it's not on me this time." The Crown Princess returned to her desk, they would be leaving in a few days to some isolated resort where her brother ad uncle had been spotted, and she was determined to bring them back, painfully if all went well. Azula felt a smile appear on her face, it was good to be her.