Azula and Teo arrived in the conference room exactly twenty minutes after Hei-Won interrupted their conversation. They find the Acolyte pacing the room and the conference table stacked with various documents and scrolls.
"So, Hei-Won," Teo started, pushing himself up to the table to see the mess up close, "What is so important that it can't wait until the weekly council meeting?"
Hei-Won turned so fast, she nearly got tangled in her orange robes. Her eyes focused right on Azula. "This isn't a game, Teo. You are playing with the legacy of my people, here! This is a huge deal!"
Azula watched Teo pick up each sheet of paper on the table nearest him and examines each one. She can tell that he is purposely making her wait. The princess enjoyed watching the Acolyte's face turn various shades. "I did not realize that this temple tied into Ba Sing Se's history. That must be quite the story," Azula stated, trying for all the world to sound like she is from the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, nearly mimicking Hei-Won's accent.
The Acolyte was livid, "How dare you… you… who are you anyway? I didn't invite you to this meeting?"
"Hei-Won, this is Mai Lee, an old friend of mine from the war. Her family housed my Father and I while we travelled with the tanks and trucks to the Invasion point." Teo still looked over the papers, sorting them into neat piles as he went.
"Why is she in this meeting then?" Hei-Won demanded, actually stomping her foot.
"I invited her," Teo stopped sorting the documents and looked up at the Acolyte. "What are you mad about, Hei-Won? What could possibly be so terrible?"
"The orchards! Why are you cutting them down?" She all but shrieked, waving her arms in such a way that the stack of papers toppled over onto the neat piles Teo had made.
"We aren't cutting down the orchards, Hei-Won. We are simply starting to take care of them. We need more food and the orchards produce far more fruit than we could ever eat. If we start taking care of the land at the base of the mountain, then there will be fewer resources that need to be brought in from other places. It will save us money and I believe in two years we could have enough of a surplus to start exporting out."
"But those orchards were planted by the Nomads!" Hei-Won crossed her arms and nearly bent down to look Teo in the eye.
"The Air Nomads would have wanted them to be put to good use, feeding people that need fed rather than letting the orchards grow into forests and having the fruit rot on the branches. What's wrong with that?"
"I suppose you plan to use some sort of… machine for this work?" Hei-Won crossed and then uncrossed her arms, seeming not to know what to do with herself just then.
"For some of it, yes. But this could have waited until the meeting in two days," Teo seemed to be speaking to her as if she were a child.
"Fine. I am making a report to the Avatar!" Hei-Won brushed passed Azula on her way out.
"Tell Aang that I said hello!" Teo called after her. He then turned his chair towards Azula. "That is what I have to work with every day. She is supposed to be here as a historian, but every time we try to improve things, she causes a fuss. And I'm afraid that at some point, Aang will start paying attention to her."
"I thought the Avatar was your friend?" Azula asked.
"We are. We were, during the war. The last time I saw him was at Fire Lord Zuko's coronation. I went there to meet my Father as he was released from prison," Teo started sorting out the papers again.
"Ah, so he is not aware of the resources issue? Or that his personal cronies are causing trouble?" She watched him methodically create neat piles.
"I believe that on some level he's aware, but he either doesn't realize it or he just has other things to do," Teo pushed off from the edge of the heavy conference table, sending his chair a few feet backwards before he turned it. "I should get back to work. You can do whatever you want."
Azula considered her options. She did not know what else she could possibly do all day. On the other hand, she could not spend all her time with Teo. "I will go back to my room."
The pair parted ways and Azula sat in her room in the dormitory. It was sparsely furnished, but the bed was soft and the window had shutters that she could close to keep out the wind. She was busy running a stolen brush through the tangles of her hair, trying to free it from the braid it had been in for weeks. A peasant girl from one of the villages she had passed through had large eyes and complimented her on her hair, so Azula had let her braid it. The girl so reminded her of Ty Lee that she felt as if she were whole again and not an escaped prisoner from the Fire Nation.
She wanted to burn off all her hair. Take a knife to it. How did all those peasant women deal with such things? She needed at least four servants now, and some hair oils.
"You should be proud of such beautiful hair. Many noblewomen need more than just a brush and oils to look so beautiful."
"Many noblewomen have servants to do such things. I have a broken comb and the strength of a firebender." She muttered out loud to her mother, who stood just on the edge of her vision.
"You should not be afraid of looking feminine."
"I am not afraid. If you want me to keep my hair so badly, why don't you just take the comb?" Azula held the ivory comb out to her mother and the comb simply fell on the floor. "I thought so. Too good to help your own daughter with the tangled elephant-rat's nest that is her precious hair."
"Every proper Lady needs to be able to fix her own hair."
"Proper Lady? What next? You expect to marry me off?" Azula's voice increased in volume and pitch and she tangled her fingers into the knots in her hair.
"I would prefer for you to marry for love, but you should be prepared for it."
"Love? Love?! I am incapable of love, Mother! I'm a monster, remember?" Azula pulled her fingers roughly through the strands of hair, not stopping when whole locks come ripping out. "Why don't you go back to frowning at me disapprovingly and shut up!"
"You don't really mean that, Azula. If you did not want me here, then I would not be here."
Azula pulled her hands from her hair and set her hands on fire, turning on her heel to chase her mother around the room. "I want you gone! I want you GONE! So leave me ALONE!"
Ursa faded, leaving Azula out of breath, her hands smoking. She collapsed against the stone wall, sliding down into a heap on the cool stone floor. Her entire body felt like it was steaming like a dumpling from her internal fire. She pressed her cheek against the stone, trying to leech as much comfort from the raging fire as she could.
She woke hours later, long enough that the sky was dark beyond the shutters and the temple outside her room was quiet. She picked herself up off the floor and pulled the ineffective come out of her hair and put it in her dress pocket. Alone for the first time in weeks, Azula grabbed a fresh change of clothes and followed the signs to the women's bathhouse.
At this time of night it was devoid of others, and Azula pretended she was back in the palace, or even in Ba Sing Se as she left her dirty dress in a pile by the edge of the large, heated pool. She slipped into the water and dunked her head under the water, then just allowed herself to soak. The last time she'd bathed like this was before the comet, before she lost everything.
"Hello?" A voice interrupted Azula's bath.
The princess turned, poised to throw fire until she remembered herself. "You frightened me."
"I'm sorry, my name is Su, I live in the room across from yours I… heard you yelling earlier. Is… is everything okay?" The girl was wrapped in an old, but still delicate silk robe. He hair was braided and wound around her head like a crown. The girl's eyes were huge and green and looked down at Azula with concern.
"Oh, yes, everything is fine. I just," Azula reached into her discarded dress's pocket and pulled out her old comb. "I was having a fight with my hair. Travel is just… murder sometimes, you know?" The princess smiled in the most friendly way she could manage.
Su's face lit up, "Oh! I see. Do you need help? I always do my sisters' hair. I'm an apprentice to a barber now, actually."
"Really?" Azula asked, not really caring, but the girl was willing to tame the horrible knot that was her hair.
"Oh yeah, I know it is usually a man's job, but this is the place where everyone is equal. That's why I stay here, even though I could go back to the village I came from," Su slipped into the water beside Azula and gently took the comb to her hair.
"So I've heard. Is that because of Teo?" Azula asked, figuring that this girl might have some useful information about the inner workings of the temple leadership.
"I suppose? Indirectly. The Mechanist was adamant on making sure everyone had what they needed and did what they wanted to. He doesn't like telling people 'no'. Teo usually reins him in. Except now, I guess, he's not been here for a while." Su rambled as she worked the knots out of Azula's hair.
"I see. It has been interesting so far," Azula kept the conversation going, unsure of what else to do in the bathhouse in the middle of the night with this strange girl attending to her hair.
"Oh yeah, it's so nice here. Teo is the sweetest too. I think every girl here has a crush on him. But he seems sweet on you!" The girl giggled as she started to braid Azula's hair into two braids.
"What? No. That's…" Azula was unsure of how to control this situation. When Mai or Ty Lee said such things they would have to dodge blue fire.
"It's okay, you know. I saw the way he saved you. How romantic!" Su used a couple of hair pins to tack the braids around Azula's head.
"That glider was faulty, I could have been killed," the princess muttered.
"You wouldn't have been killed with Teo around. He is a prodigy."
Azula internally winced at the word. No good things came from being a prodigy. "I suppose everyone needs to be good at something."
"What are you good at?" Su asked as she finished with Azula's hair and set the comb down.
"I used to be good at something, but that doesn't matter any more. Now, I am good at traveling. Perhaps I am turning into an Air Nomad."
"You're so funny!" Su giggled and patted Azula on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. This is a good place for it."
Soon enough, Azula was alone again. She wrapped a towel around herself and left the bath. She dressed and went back to her room and lay on the bed. It was soft and she was finally tired enough to sleep. Ursa was gone now too, so it was quiet.
Azula fell into a deep sleep, the first uninterrupted sleep she's had since before the comet.