The next morning, Azula rose with the sun, feeling refreshed and rested. She dressed in the green and brown colors that were prevalent throughout the Earth Kingdom. The temple was buzzing with early morning activity, people baked bread, gathered laundry, and made small deliveries, useful tasks that the community needed to survive as a whole. Azula wished he had something to do. Teo had yet to give her any assignments. She supposed he was just being kind after her disastrous first flight, but honestly she was just bored.
She grabbed a piece of fruit and a steamed bun from the dining hall and started wandering in the bowels of the temple, past the common rooms and recreation areas and the personal rooms of those that had been at the temple since the flood. She came to the large, ornate doors that marked the inner sanctum of the temple. Usually such doors were locked, but a sturdy wooden wedge was shoved underneath one of the heavy doors, revealing the workshop inside.
Every surface was cluttered with… things. Drawings, blueprints, spare parts, books, canvas, metal scraps, there were things here that Azula had never seen before and could not fathom their purpose. She crept further into the room, catching sight of Ursa frowning at her from the edge of her vision.
"You shouldn't spy on him," Ursa urged and Azula swatted her away. The princess was going to see what Teo was really like. People were only truly themselves when they thought they were alone.
Teo sat in his chair, wearing a thick leather apron, sturdy gloves and the goggles he used when flying. He held a metal pipe in one hand and tightened a vice with the other. He seemed intent to do… something. Too focused on his work to notice his workshop has been breached.
Azula had never been fond of tools. The only time she had been interested in the making of things is when she watched Master Piando craft swords. But that was before she had blue fire and lightning, and now swords could never have the same reach as lightning.
Teo inserted a strange, curved auger into the inside of the pipe and turned the handle, sending small metal shavings into the air. The sound of metal scraping on metal reminded her of the drill as it collapsed around her.
Her first true failure. Ursa pressed in close, almost suffocating her as she felt her feet sinking in the mud, her dreams of pleasing the Fire Lord crumpled along with the equipment the Avatar ruined. She had failed each one of her tasks after that. Even bringing Zuko home had failed since he betrayed them… betrayed her… in the end.
The scraping sounds stopped and Teo took a file to the end of the pipe, carefully rounding the sharp edge. The sound of the file set her teeth on edge, though perhaps it was easier for Teo since he expected the noise. Or maybe it was since he was creating the racket; it was less of a torture on his ears. Soon enough, the pipe was flipped and the file continued to scrape. Azula devised three new forms of torture by file by the time the noise stopped.
The aural assault ended as the pipe was removed and Teo fished a rag through it to clean the inside. The pipe itself was only the length of a handspan and it had a notch cut out of one end. The pipe was set aside and a wooden carving was brought out. How the two pieces fit together was another mystery, but Teo managed and held the strange device in his hand. It looked too strange as his fingers wrapped around the wooden handle and he peered along the barrel.
It had to be some kind of weapon. But what did it do exactly? Nonbender weapons were always so simple and effective. But this one had such small moving parts. Another curved mechanism slipped inside as the pieces were glued together, the scent of the glue making the princess gag.
The object went back into the vice as Teo seemed to work on a more delicate operation, weighing out a portion of black powder and rolling it into paper. Was he making explosives? Black powder was a Fire Nation invention, though its use was spreading to the Earth Kingdom in the time of peace. The smell was metallic and made her think that the entire room was going to explode. The temple was going to come down around her if she so much as moved near the stuff. Only the most insane firebenders used explosives to augment their bending.
She wasn't sure what Teo had done next, but the loud click followed by thunder that echoed in the depth of the high ceiling caused her to scream. Her face stung as warmth washed down her cheek. Someone screamed. There was a shout. Azula ran from the workshop back to her room. She huddled in the corner, holding her wounded cheek. "He is trying to kill me. First the glider, now… now this!"
"He did not even know you were there, Azula," Ursa said, kneeling down beside her and draping cold fingers across the back of her neck.
"Zuko put out a reward on my head. Teo is just trying to claim it for himself. Of course they need the gold, look at this dump! No one has anything to themselves. It is just… a… a painted shanty town!"
Azula ignored her mother and stood, her hand still on her cheek as she paced around the small room. "They are just as bad as those traitors in the Republic. Peasants pretending to be something more."
The door opened, revealing Teo sitting on the other side. "Mai Lee? Are you alright?"
"Coming to finish off the job?" Azula snarled and grabbed the front of his chair, pulling him into the room with her. She leapt over him and slammed the door shut, putting herself between him and the door.
"What? No! I came to make sure you were okay! I didn't know you were in the workshop until after you ran out!" He turned his chair to face her.
"It's so convenient, isn't it Teo?" Azula lunged forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. "The glider accident yesterday, there were too many witnesses. But today, you just missed me." She let her skin heat until she could smell the sleeves of his shirt singe and gripped him tighter.
"If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you as soon as I recognized you. Or I would have sounded the alarm that you were here and had any of the three nations come to lock you away." He sat still, his eyes locked onto hers.
"Maybe you just don't have the stomach for it. What do you know about killing?" she sat down on his lap, the odd angle of his chair allowing her to pin him down more effectively.
"Azula," he said in a much more calm manner than anyone else in such a position, "Azula please. Let me go and we can talk about it. Have I ever given you a reason to not trust me? I need your help. The Earth King is sending his delegates to try to negotiate. My father is still stuck in Republic City and can't get back in time. I'm the only person in the world that doesn't want to hurt you."
"Why? Why don't you want to hurt me?" She leaned in close to him, her hands had already burned through the long sleeves of his shirt and were now touching bare flesh.
"I have no reason to! You were used by those fighting in the war just like the rest of us. You were a weapon, I was an excuse. Others our age were forced to be parents, providers, soldiers, healers, fighters… it wasn't even our war. We just inherited it because none of your ancestors could stop it themselves." He reached up and took her arms, grabbing her by the wrists to pull her hands off of him.
"Why stop the war? It made us powerful!" She leaned her weight forward, making it harder for him to remove her hands.
"As a nation, yeah, but… but you? You have power but what did it get you? Stop and… and think!" He gasped and let go of her wrists and punched her in the stomach.
Azula rocked backwards, her scalding hands ripped away from blistered flesh. He hit her! He hit her hard! With the breath knocked out of her, the fire inside her waned. Ursa fluttered around her, both fretting about her and admonishing her for acting in such a way. "Stay out of this! If I couldn't take a... a punch then what use would I be." She growled at her mother as she fought to regain control.
Azula couldn't get enough air and her heart was pounding. She blinked and found Teo out of his chair and sitting on the floor with her. He held one of her hands in both of his.
"Azula, everything will be okay."
Where before she was hot, she now felt ice cold as Ursa held tightly against her back, whispering in her ear.
"Everything will be okay."
The room was dark when she noticed it next. Losing time was not a new occurrence, but it was still jarring to the exhausted princess.
"Azula, look what you've done!" Ursa snapped, causing Azula to look around the room.
She and Teo were sprawled on the floor, she half in his lap as he was propped up in the corner between the bed and the wall. His shirt was torn and bloody, holes where her hands burnt through, blisters already formed and looking angry. He needed a healer, but if she took him, there would be questions.
"Wake up." She tapped his face, hoping to rouse him. "You need a healer."
Her efforts were met with a groan and some stirring.
"Now Teo!" She was familiar with burns, even though it had been a long time since she, herself, had been burned. If left untreated, they could be debilitating.
Teo opened his eyes and blinked, "What?"
"I burned you. But at least I know you won't kill me, since you had your chance earlier." She took the torn edge of his shirt and started to rip, pulling the worn fabric away from his body.
"Hey! Stop, oww!" He weakly pushed her arms away. "Back of my chair, there's a bag."
She watched him a moment and then moved towards the compartment built on the back of the chair. She found a small bag filled with bandages, some herbs and a small vial. "Do you get injured enough to need to carry all this with you?"
"Not usually, but it comes in handy. How're your first aid skills?" He asked, shifting into a slightly better position.
"Rusty. I'm usually the one causing the damage." She knelt grabbed the water basin that sat against the wall and knelt down beside him. She knew enough to make a poultice with the herbs he set aside.
"Azula," he watched her apply the cooling paste to his shoulder as much as he could. "Who were you talking to?"
"I was speaking to you," she continued the delicate work, trying to ignore Ursa, who had been whispering the proportions of the poultice to her.
"No, before I came in."
"No one. Myself." She applies the bandage with a little more force than necessary since he is annoying her.
"Alright. Would you hand me that vial?" he held his hand out.
She picked it up and placed it in his hand, then stepped around to work on his other shoulder. "Opium is quite powerful to have on hand in case of an emergency."
He put the vial to his lips and drained it. "And it came in handy, didn't it?"
"Tell me about the Earth Kingdom delegates." She finished bandaging him, then looked around the small room. His chair filled up most of the floor and now she had no idea how to get him out without raising suspicions.
"We have two weeks before they get here. Father is in a hospital in Yu Dao. He had a breakdown from working with the council, Aang, Zuko and Earth King Keui."
"A breakdown?" She sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at the wall.
"He's brilliant, but he has problems. Sometimes he sees things that aren't there. Or he gets so focused on something he won't eat or bathe or sleep. Other times he'll just sleep." He took a deep breath and grabbed the edge of the bed to pull himself up on it.
She watched him struggle to hold himself up as he got his useless legs underneath him enough to fall forward onto the bed behind her. He panted and his arms trembled from the effort and pain. "I know I'm not the only crazy person in the world."
"It is possible to be functional," he still lay on his stomach, his head turned towards her.
"You just said the Great Mechanist was in a hospital. How is that functional?" She moved so she could mostly face him and so that he wasn't staring at her bottom.
"Stress, tight deadlines and working with a group of people that refuse to get along will set anyone off," he said, seemingly content to just lay there on her bed.
"I suppose." She stood up to put the water basin back on its stand and cleans the dried blood off her face. The cut on her cheek is shallow but will likely heal without scarring. Teo's snoring made her jump and she was tempted to roll him off the bed. Instead, she rolled him onto his back and pushed him far to the side against the wall, then slipped under the blanket.