For those who have been asking... here's Azula!
Azula ran for three days before realizing that she would be recognized anywhere she went. Especially since the Avatar and that waterbending bitch were on her trail. She sat down on a fallen log and tried to clear her mind.
It was a difficult task now that Ursa kept glaring at her. At least she stopped yelling. Azula was unconcerned. Teo could handle himself he was a smart man.
"If you do not care about him, why did you kiss him?"
"For the surprise and distraction. And if the Avatar didn't save him from falling to his death, then the Avatar is the worst airbender that ever existed and a terrible person at that. Now please be quiet or think of a way to get as far away from here as possible?" Azula paced, trying to think through the fog in her brain.
The temple was Northwest of her current position, so Ba Sing Se is East. The colonies were Southwest. Neither were good choices. She started walking away from the sun. Ba Sing Se was large enough she could hide there for a time. At least until Zuko and the Avatar got bored of looking for her again.
"You will be recognized." Ursa's voice cut through Azula's mental calculations. If the search for her was still on, then it was a good possibility that her picture would be circulated throughout the Earth Kingdom.
Azula kept silent as she followed the ancient trail from the air temple to a more civilized cluster of villages. Once the land flattened out, the road traffic would pick up, and she might be able to get herself a ride to Ba Sing Se. But she can't shake the thought that someone will recognize her.
She took a detour into the forest and picked up a heavy rock on her way. She found an intersection of two dirt roads that seemed to be traveled recently. She watched the road traffic for the rest of the day and the day after and noticed that an ostrich-horse drawn wagon passed by both evenings. It was a terrible plan, but she felt confident in her abilities.
On the third day, with less than an hour before the wagon passed, she readied herself. She took the rock she picked up from the road and held it in her hand. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she smashed herself in the face.
Her vision swam and Ursa screeched, but she did it again and again until she could feel her eyes swell shut and the uncomfortable sensation of having a broken nose. She quickly tore her dress at the collar and the hem of the skirt and put her rock to use creating bruises all over her legs. She took the knife from the kitchen and slashed the inside of her thigh, causing blood to run down her leg. She could already hear the wagon approaching. She tore off her undergarment and tossed it away. It would have to be enough. She drug her knife in the dirt and crawled through the brush to lay in the tree line near the road.
"Help me!" she pulled herself up out of the dirt to squint through her now-swollen eyes at the man that drove the wagon.
The farmer stopped his horses and looked around. "Who's there?"
"Help me, please!" Azula cried, pulling herself free from a thorn bush. She forced a sob and scrambled towards the wagon. "I-I was on my w-way h-home to B-ba Sing Se wh-when I was set upon by thieves." She wrapped an arm around her breast to try to cover her torn dress.
"Why were you out here then, Miss?" The farmer was wary. But Azula was prepared.
"My… my mother's family were from this area. D-during the war, their t-town flooded. I was hop-hoping that I could find some relatives to take me in b-but they're all g-gone."
"This whole valley here was flooded out some twenty years ago. No one's come back." The farmer hesitated then reached down to help Azula stand.
"I turned b-back and… they t-took everything I had." She leaned against the farmer and tried to sniffle, which sent blood and mucous flowing down her throat. She felt like vomiting.
"There, there, Miss. I'm sure it'll be alright. My farm isn't too far from here. My wife won't mind if you stay with us for the night. My name is Harin. What is yours?"
"Lin. Thank you so much for your kindness." Azula limped along beside the old farmer and let him help her up onto the seat of the wagon and they started off together.
"Lin, if you don't mind me asking, are you from the colonies?"
"N-no." She kept her gaze on the slowly passing ground. "My mother was raped by a Fire Nation soldier. Unfortunately, I take after him too much." She felt like she was choking on the pitiful life of 'Lin' the pitiful peasant. But Harin was buying her story. She relaxed slightly, letting Ursa keep an eye on the old man. She was exhausted, hungry and her face hurt.
"You never do things half way, do you?" Ursa chided. Azula didn't bother to answer her.
Once they arrived at Harin's farm, he helped Azula down from the wagon and helped her into the house. "Ju? Ju are you here? We have a guest!"
An older woman emerged from another room. "Harin! You better have a good explanation for this!"
"I found her on the side of the road. Been roughed up by thieves. She says her folk come from the flooded areas." Harin helped Azula sit down on one of the kitchen chairs.
"Those villages are still flooded. Those damn earthbenders. Think they know everything about how the land goes. Turns out you can't take down a dam if there's people living below the water." Ju rambled on, fussing around the kitchen before hovering over Azula.
Azula remained quiet. She could barely see, but she could tell that she was alone with the old woman.
"I can bandage you up, girl. You should stay here till the swelling goes down. Where did you say you were headed?"
"I was going back to my aunt in Ba Sing Se." She tried not to flinch as Ju cleaned her cuts with whatever alcohol she had on hand.
"Such a terrible place, but I suppose if that's where your only family is. Our son was killed in the war. Didn't even get to the fighting. He died in a training accident, my Liu did." Ju bandaged Azula's head. "Now this is gonna hurt some. Your nose is broken." Ju grabbed either side of Azula's face and squeezed, popping her nose back into place.
Azula cried out, the pain was worse than it was when she broke it. "T-than y-you." She tried to breathe slowly through her mouth until the pain subsided.
"Here. Drink on this." Ju set the bottle of alcohol in front of her.
Azula picked up the bottle and took a pull. Homemade spirits! It tasted awful, but it had a pleasant burn.
"Good girly. Let's get you washed up."
The longer Azula stayed with Harin and Ju the more she wished to leave. Though they were nice enough, neither of them had anything good to say about benders of any kind. They blamed firebenders for the war, earthbenders for ruining the land, airbenders for dying and waterbenders for being snobs. Azula didn't think that even she had that much hate.
But the old couple did feed her and clothe her for three days, until she could see again. Since they believed benders attacked her, they were more than willing to give her some of their son's old clothes, mend her dress and part with some extra food for her journey.
Traveling from village to village was not so bad. At first, no one wanted to look at her. A man with bruises was a person to look at, but a woman with bruises was swept under the rug, ignored and forgotten in the smaller villages. Her days went by in a blur as she looked over her shoulder. No bounty hunters yet.
"Something doesn't seem right." She breathed as she came upon another nameless farming village. She looked through the bag Ju gave her to find that she was out of coins. She thought back to what she'd told Teo as she stood in front of the village's small tavern. Could she really be a whore?
"Azula don't even consider it!" Ursa fumed, stomping her delicate feet in the muddy street.
"I don't see any way for you to make any money." Azula ignored her mother and veered away from the tavern, walking along to the small market. There had to be something she could do. She was tired from walking and pretending for a man was the last thing she wanted to do.
She stood in front of a small apothecary. She fished the vial of opium she stole from Teo from her bag and stepped inside. The place was filthy. Several disgusting peasants sat in chairs, waiting to see the pharmacist. No one tended the shelves, and Azula saw a small boy slip some crystal candy into his pocket.
A frazzled woman emerged from the back of the shop and rushed around the waiting room. She stopped when she came to Azula and frowned. "New patient?"
"No. I was hoping to exchange this for some coin." She held up the drug.
"Oh my. I'm afraid I don't have what that is worth." The older woman frowned, then her head snapped over to the thieving child. "You put that back young man or so help me!"
The boy dropped his pilfered candy and ran out of the store.
"I'm sorry miss, I just don't have the use for it, nor the money to give you a fair price."
Azula expected resistance. She called forth tears and made herself cry. "I was robbed and beaten on the road. They took all I had except for this. I need to get to Ba Sing Se!"
"Oh… I'm so sorry sweetie," the older woman patted Azula's arm. "I'm just so busy… look, if you're not in such a hurry… I need a shop girl to fill in. My regular girl is visiting her sister, who just had a new baby. I can't pay you much, but you'll have room and board and a bit of coin to continue with your travels."
Azula considered this and nodded. It was a much better offer than the tavern. And she could sell the drug once she got to Ba Sing Se. "Yes, thank you." Azula bowed humbly to the woman. "Thank you so much."
"What's your name, sweetie?"
"My name is Di." Azula straightened.
"All right, Di. You can call me Madam Tin."
Azula ignored Ursa's voice in the back of her head. She did not want to hear the woman gloat over her supposed victory. She listened to instructions and immediately took over the details of running the shop. By the end of the day, she collapsed in the small room above the shop. She was too tired to sleep. Too much had happened in such a short period of time. When had she ever thought she'd do peasant's work for a pittance of coin and bread?
"Is this what ZuZu felt like? Living in that hovel of a tea shop when he was exiled?" She turned to see if Ursa was still there but the apparition finally went off to wherever it was they lived when they weren't bothering the princess.
Her mind wandered back to the temple, to Teo. Surely they were still looking for her. They must have had their hands full with the mess she left behind. Hopefully the mess she left wasn't Teo's body at he bottom of the mountain. Her gut clenched slightly at the thought of him dead. Why?
Because he tried to help her instead of attacking her.