Chapter 16: The Reckoning

Captain Shin paced back and forth on the deck of his ship, every so often shooting a dark glance towards the shore. He didn't like this place, not at all- its lack of any sort of order offended his sensibilities both as a soldier and a man of the Fire Nation, and the fact that it was a hotbed of criminals and thugs made him worry for his ship and men. He had no doubt that they could protect the ship if someone tried to steal it, but he'd certainly prefer not having to fight anyone at all. Unlike some soldiers he'd known, Shin was no lover of carnage.

He hoped that the princess would be back soon, either with news of her mother or Ursa herself in tow. Shin wasn't much fonder of Azula than he was of this wretched port, but at least she was a somewhat known factor.

From the corner of his eye the captain saw movement along the docks. Hurrying over to the rail he ignited a flame in his hand and held it out, but now the shore was completely empty and still. Shin shook his head. He really needed to get some sleep- now he was seeing things. With a sigh he extinguished the fire and turned back towards his cabin.

The ship rocked suddenly, and Shin was sent sprawling. Hastily pulling himself to his feet, he saw several of his crew members hurrying out onto the deck. "Captain!" one of them shouted, hurrying over. "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure," Shin growled, "but I think I get the gist- we're under attack." The ship rocked again, and this time the captain grabbed the rail to steady himself and looked out into the night. There he saw it- a long pillar of stone, shooting up from the floor of the harbor and piercing the ship's side. He cursed loudly. He hadn't realized that there were earthbenders that powerful out here.

"Captain?" one of the men asked tentatively.

"Yes, we're under attack!" Shin snapped back at him, not intending to sound as harsh as he did but having no time for pleasantries. "Earthbenders are trying to scuttle the ship, but I can't see them."

"Your orders?"

The ship rocked again as a rocky pillar slammed into it from the other side. "We can't take many more hits like that!" Captain Shin said, feeling even as he spoke that the pillars were beginning to retract, dragging the ship to the harbor bottom. "And we can't fight back if we can't see them. Into the water, now!"

The Fire Nation crew dove off the side of their ship and into the harbor as one, even as another rocky pillar seized hold of its side to drag the vessel to a watery grave. Shin had never lost a vessel under his command before, and as he broke the surface, he vowed that whoever did this was going to pay.

/

Twilight was falling as Azula and her companions came back into the outskirts of the ramshackle port town. The princess looked exactly as she had ever since they'd arrived in this part of the Earth Kingdom- focused and intent, aware of her surroundings but focusing primarily on her larger goal. It was how Ty Lee remembered her acting just before an important test- or even a game- at school, or during their pursuit of Zuko and the Avatar during the War. On one hand it was a good sign, because while she was focused like this Azula's strange outbursts and conversations with thin air seemed to stop completely. On the other hand, the acrobat wasn't so certain that her friend's return to her previous behaviors was best for her in the long run.

Azula needed help- Ty Lee knew that better than anyone. She needed help to get over her breakdown and help learning how to relate to people now that she wasn't the favored child of the most powerful man in the world anymore. The problem was that Ty Lee didn't have any real idea about how to help her. The acrobat had always gotten over her own problems by always looking on the bright side of things and taking whatever life threw at her with happiness and a smile, but somehow that didn't seem like something Azula would take well to.

Ty Lee wrinkled her nose slightly as they passed deeper into town- seriously, what was it that smelled so bad around here?- but Azula seemed to ignore the scent, her eyes fixed straight ahead of her. The acrobat hurried up from where she'd been walking by the two soldiers and put a hand on the princess's shoulder. "It's gonna be all right, Azula," she said. "We'll find your mom- I know it."

Azula pulled away. "I know," she said softly. "You don't need to reassure me, Ty Lee. I know what I'm doing, and I don't need you to coddle me like a child."

"I wasn't trying to coddle you," Ty Lee said, rather indignant. "I just wanted to help."

"I don't need that kind of help," Azula snapped. She pulled away from the acrobat and strode forward more quickly, forcing Ty Lee and the soldiers to hurry to keep up. The she stopped suddenly, eyes widening and head cocked as though listening.

"There's something here," she whispered. "Someone's following us."

"If you'll forgive me, princess," one of the soldiers said, "in a place like this, I'd be very surprised if someone wasn't following us."

"This is different," Azula said. "This town was teeming with life before- even though it wasn't particularly civilized. Now it's gone quiet." She raised her hands and began to circle around, looking for threats and preparing the firebending to deal with them as they approached.

Ty Lee saw the shadowy figure perched on a nearby rooftop first, but before she could shout a warning it struck. Its hands shot out and what looked like a pair of stone hands came flying straight at Azula. Her own hands shot up and blasted the strange projectile out of the sky with a burst of vivid flame- but at that precise moment, a second pair took her from the other side. Azula was sent stumbling backwards, her wrists bound tightly together by stone cuffs.

Ty Lee recognized the strange weapon, and Azula did too. "Dai Li," the princess snarled into the night sky. "Show yourselves, cowards!"

Two men in plain green-brown robes leapt from the rooftops and landed on the street. They weren't wearing their official uniforms or distinctive wide-brimmed hats, but Ty Lee recognized the cold eyes and casual confidence of the Dai Li agents anyway. She felt her body tense and clenched her fists tightly, preparing herself to block the earthbenders' chi if they tried to attack. "I guess you were right about that guy in Ba Sing Se!" she shouted to Azula.

"Of course I was," the princess said angrily. She fixed the two agents with her hawk's gaze. "Traitors. I led you to conquer all of Ba Sing Se, and this is how you repay me!"

"You betrayed us, Princess," one of the agents said coldly. "We served you loyally and you abandoned us. It's time you learned that even for royalty, betrayal has consequences."

"Oh, there will be consequences!" Azula jumped backwards and kicked one of her legs out in an arc, sending a wide arc of blue fire streaking towards the Dai Li. Both agents leaped into the air and avoided the blast, but almost before they'd touched ground, Ty Lee was on them. A series of quick jabs to the right places and one of the earthbenders was down, unable to move anything that could be used for bending.

Quickly the acrobat turned to the other man, but before she could even move towards taking him down she felt something catch her legs from behind and pull her to the ground. Looking over her shoulders she saw that her ankles had been bound together by another pair of stone cuffs. Rolling over, Ty Lee looked up at the sky in time to see that four more Dai Li agents were descending from the rooftops.

"Did you think we would be foolish enough to reveal our full strength just because you called to us?" the first agent asked Azula. The princess snarled wordlessly and prepared to launch another firebending attack, but before she could complete the motions two more agents fired their stone hands. The rocky weapons wrapped themselves tightly around Azula's mouth and ankles, bringing her crashing to the ground. She gazed up at her opponents with venom in her gaze.

Behind the Dai Li, the two soldiers dropped into fighting stances and launched fireblasts of their own. The agents dodged easily and then as one called on their own bending. The street buckled beneath them and the ground opened up beneath the warriors, swallowing them to their waists.

"Good work, men," the first Dai Li said. "We need to take the princess back to Long Feng immediately. You two finish these, and then catch up with us." He and two other agents went over to stand by the prone Azula, and then as one they bent down and seemed to pull at the earth. It rose in a wave and bore them swiftly off towards the edge of town.

The two remaining Dai Li and their fallen comrade remained behind. "Well, then," one of them said, "let's get this over with." The other nodded and they both moved to stand by the captive soldiers. The men tried to firebend at them, but from their trapped position it did little good. Ty Lee realized what they were about to do and looked away, but she could still here the crunch and the screams cut short. She hadn't known either man well, but she found any death upsetting- especially one as brutal as that.

A shadow fell over her, and Ty Lee saw the two agents standing over her. They both raised their hands, and she could feel the earth begin to tighten around her. She tried to move, but with her legs bound by heavy stone it did little good. The acrobat closed her eyes tightly and waited for the pain.

It didn't come. Instead she heard the Dai Li yelping in surprise and pain of their own, and when she opened her eyes again she saw why. Captain Shin and several of his men stood further down the street, looking strangely wet but shooting fireblasts at the agents. Both turned to flee, but one of them caught his boot on a loose stone and stumbled slightly. He'd righted himself momentarily, but that brief moment was enough for Shin's men to catch up to him and seize his arms. The captain himself knelt by Ty Lee and formed a small dagger of fire in one hand, using it to burn away the stone binding her. As soon as it was gone the acrobat leapt to her feet, and Shin went over to his two dead firebenders.

The captain looked at their remains for several moments, then looked up at the captive Dai Li with fire in his eyes. "You aren't a common criminal," he said. "You will tell me who sent you- I will know who was responsible for this. I cannot allow these deaths to go unavenged."

"You're a fool if you think I'll talk, firebender," the Dai Li said defiantly.

"He doesn't need to," Ty Lee said. "I know who he is- he's a Dai Li agent. Six of them ambushed us, and they have Azula!"

Shin grabbed the agent by the shoulder and slammed him against the wall of a nearby building. "Tell me where they took her," he snarled.

The Dai Li were brave, not stupid. The agent recognized the danger in Captain Shin's tone, and knew better than to cross it. "All right," he said softly. "I'll tell you, if you'll let me go."

"Let's here what you have to say, first," Shin said. "Talk."

/

Azula felt herself being hurled roughly to the earth. She twisted around and looked up- she lay on the ground in what appeared to be the forest around the port, several more Dai Li besides the ones who'd captured her standing in a semi-circle, and just in front of her was a man she recognized. He'd been balding when they'd last met and now appeared to have shaved his head completely, but she still recognized those bland features and cold, calculating eyes. Long Feng, head of the Dai Li.

"Forgive me the indignity of your current position, Princess," the minister said in his usual calm, coolly polite tone. "But I cannot allow your hands, feet, or even mouth freedom to move. Personally I have great respect for your firebending talents and have no desire to be on the receiving end of them. Unfortunately, however, you are now an obstacle, and obstacles must be removed."

Azula glared up at him, and though she couldn't speak her expression said volumes. If you want me dead, why not kill me now? Long Feng wasn't one to drag out a prisoner's suffering for his own enjoyment, after all – he was too pragmatic for that.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Long Feng said with an amused chuckle. "She is." He motioned to the shadows behind him and a figure emerged from them. Azula's eyes widened as she took it in- the dark cloak surrounded by writhing shadows, the chalk-white skin and strange violet eyes. It was the shadow-girl who she'd seen on the docks on the Fire Nation, and on Captain Shang's pirate ship as it went down.

"This is Wei Ming," Long Feng said. "She hates you with a passion, though I haven't yet figured why."

The shadow-girl- Wei Ming- knelt in front of Azula and lowered her hood with one hand, while the other reached into the fold of her cloak and withdrew a long-bladed knife. "Oh, I have longed for this," she said quietly, a half-mad gleam in her eyes. "Remove the gag," she said to the nearest Dai Li. "I want to hear her screams."

The agent looked at Long Feng and back at the girl. "I don't think that would be wise-" he began, but Wei Ming whirled on him.

"Do it now!" she shrieked. "Or would you like to join her in death?"

"I will not be threatened in that manner!" the Dai Li snapped and raised his hands to earthbend, but Long Feng stepped between them. He leaned over to his subordinate and muttered something that sounded like "humor her" into his ear. The agent nodded reluctantly and clenched one hand into a fist. The gag crumbled to dust in an instant.

Azula took a moment to spit out the sand in her mouth and then without pausing to speak she opened her mouth wide and breathed a stream of blue fire straight at Wei Ming. The shadow's violet eyes widened and she quickly brought up a hand, catching the firebending and deflecting it as she had with the lightning in the Capital, dispersing it harmlessly in the air around her.

"What are you?" Azula demanded.

"Death," Wei Ming replied. "Your death. But not a fast death, though you will soon beg for that." She knelt down in front of the princess and drew out her knife again. "No, you're going to suffer first. All your life you and your Nation have grown fat on the pain of others- now it's your turn to be the one on the receiving end." Her lips twitched into a half-smile.

Azula turned her head and looked at Long Feng. "She's crazy- you know that. You don't seriously think she isn't going to turn on you, do you? Let me out, and we can take her down together."

"At the moment, you are the greater threat, princess," Long Feng said coldly. His gaze shifted to Wei Ming. "Do it quickly, girl. We don't have all night."

"I've waited more than a year for this moment, old man," Wei Ming snarled savagely. "I'm going to enjoy it." She turned back to Azula. "They say princesses are supposed to be vain. Let's see if that's true." She raised her knife and set the point against Azula's cheek.

"Do it!" Long Feng snapped.

"Don't rush me!" Wei Ming replied. Then the shadow-girl paused, and looked up into the trees around them. Her strange eyes widened in surprise, and then the fireballs struck.

The Dai Li and their companions all dodged in time, but they looked shaken. Wei Ming leaped to her feet and drew her other knife with her other hand, and Azula used that opportunity to raise her head. Captain Shin stood just beyond the circle of Dai Li, hands raised for another fireblast. His men stood behind him. Only one person was missing- Ty Lee.

And then the acrobat was there, dropping down lightly out of the trees and shooting straight towards Wei Ming. Ty Lee's fists came up and delivered her blinding fast chi-blocking jabs, but the shadow responded equally quickly, parrying each blow before it could strike a key point.

"Wow," Ty Lee breathed. "You're good- even better than Suki. Did the Dai Li teach you to that?"

Wei Ming didn't reply, but her lips pulled back in a snarl. Quick as the shadow she resembled she lunged at the acrobat, and again their blows went back and forth at a blinding speed which even Azula was barely able to follow. Finally Wei Ming pulled back and leaped into the trees. Ty Lee hurried over to Azula's side, and Shin and his firebenders moved to engage the Dai Li.

"Azula, are you okay?" Ty Lee asked in a worried voice.

"I'm fine. Get Wei Ming- the shadow. She's the most dangerous person here."

"What about you?"

Azula looked around. Good- the Dai Li were all busy fighting, and none of them seemed able to concentrate on her bindings. She inhaled sharply and focused her will, and then fire shot with incredible force from her hands and feet. The stone bindings shattered, and she leaped into a fighting stance. Her eyes scanned the battlefield until she caught sight of the figure slipping away into the trees. Her eyes narrowed. "Long Feng is mine," she hissed. Ty Lee nodded once, and leaped away in pursuit of Wei Ming. Azula gave a fierce grin and hurried after her own target.

/

The shadows were thick among the trees as Ty Lee leapt from branch to branch. She knew that the girl with the knives- Wei Ming- had gone this way, but she couldn't see her. Her dark cloak blended in perfectly with the night. Ty Lee considered herself very lucky that she hadn't gotten cut during their brief fight on the ground- those knives the other girl had were fighting knives, not throwing ones like Mai used, and they were very long and wickedly sharp. Ty Lee knew she needed to get them away from Wei Ming at all costs.

Mocking laughter echoed from nearby. "Silly girl," a cold voice said. "You think you can beat me here? The darkness is my ally- you're good, but even you can't beat someone you can't find."

Ty Lee turned towards the sound of Wei Ming's voice, but before she could react something struck her side and knocked her out of the tree. Twisting quickly in midair, Ty Lee grabbed another branch and pulled herself onto it, and looked up above her. Wei Ming crouched on the branch from which she'd fallen, a grin on her face that put the acrobat in mind of the giant eel that lived in the waters around Kyoshi Island- the Unagi.

Ty Lee had always been able to see things that other people couldn't- patterns of energy hovering around herself and others, giving clues about their moods and revealing weak-points that her chi-blocking exploited. What she saw when she looked at Wei Ming was like nothing she'd ever seen before- a shifting cloud of blackness that seemed almost alive. There was something else here besides – or perhaps within - the strange girl, Ty Lee realized, something very powerful and very evil. She was shook to her core. And then there was the look in her eyes- hate, pure and unrelenting. Ty Lee had heard people say that Mai hated the world, but she knew that really Mai just found the world dull and uninteresting. But Wei Ming really did hate it with a passion that was truly horrifying.

"What are you looking at, silly girl?" the shadow asked. "Why are you staring at me with that look in your eyes?"

"Because you scare me," Ty Lee answered truthfully.

"I scare you?" Wei Ming laughed lightly and dropped down so that she and Ty Lee were perched on the same branch. "You follow Azula around like a little lost turtleduck and I scare you? Apparently you need to pay more attention to your own life. Why do you follow her, anyway? It's obvious she doesn't care about you."

"I don't know if she cares or not," Ty Lee said angrily, "but I think she does. She just doesn't know how to show it. She was raised to think she was better than everybody else, and then had all that come crashing down. She doesn't know how to treat people as equals yet."

"And you think she can learn? Fool. Princess Azula was born a monster, and she will die a monster. It's in her blood- she can't help it. That's why I'm going to rid this world of her and all her kind. You'll thank me for it someday."

"Well, whether Azula cares or not, I care," Ty Lee said. "And maybe if I show her that enough, it'll help her change and be a better person. She's already better than she was a year ago."

"Really?" Wei Ming laughed again, long and cold, and Ty Lee felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "You still think that, even after she recruited you for this mission for the sole purpose of fighting me?"

Ty Lee went still. "What?"

"Oh, she knew about me from the start. We met in the Capital, you know, a few days after I killed her father. Don't say she didn't tell you? She knows that I can defeat her bending, so she went looking for the one person she knew who could do something similar- you. She doesn't care about you at all. Azula is just using you, like she's always done, and when you've served your purpose you'll be cast aside again."

"No," Ty Lee said. "I don't believe you! You're lying!"

"Am I? Azula is the liar, just as she's always been. Everything I say is the truth." Wei Ming stepped closer, maintaining her balance on the limb with ease. "We've both been wronged, but I can offer you a way out. Come with me, and we can punish Azula together, and then you'll never have to worry about being used again. Think of it- after all your life, you'll finally be free."

"No," Ty Lee said, drawing herself up. Though it wasn't really her style, she thought of Azula and Suki and tried to hold herself with something of their easy, deadly dignity. "I don't believe you, and I won't go with you. You keep talking about how awful Azula is, but even if she's really as bad as you think, I don't think you're any better. All you really want to do is hurt even more people, and I've had enough of that."

"Fool! Then you will die as well." Wei Ming drew her twin knives and lunged forward. Trapped on the limb, Ty Lee was unable to dodge very much, and she felt the knife blade graze her arm, drawing blood. But she hadn't really intended to dodge anyway. In her anger, Wei Ming had left herself open to attack, and even as hot pain lanced up Ty Lee's arm she struck two of the other girl's pressure points in quick succession. Wei Ming's arm went limp, and the knife spun from her loose grip into the night. She looked up at Ty Lee with venom in her gaze, and called her a name one didn't normally hear in polite society.

"Really!" Ty Lee said. "That wasn't very nice. I was just defending myself!"

"Your time will come, you little freak," Wei Ming snarled. "But not tonight." She launched herself from the branch and vanished into the shadows.

Ty Lee watched her go, and then leaped into the branches of a nearby tree. She had to get back to the main battle. Whatever else she was, Azula was her friend, and she needed her help.

/

Fireblasts met flying boulders in the air around Azula as she dodged past trees and Dai Li agents, following Long Feng's trail. He was fit for a man in middle age, but she knew it had been awhile since he'd done any serious field work, and she had no doubt she could catch him.

Finally she saw the moonlight reflecting off the back of that bald head, and she smiled. Bringing up one hand, the princess focused her energy and launched a bolt of searing blue fire at her enemy. Long Feng heard it coming just in time and spun around, a wall of earth rising to catch the blast. It splintered, but the fire was too weakened afterwards to hurt him.

"Long Feng," Azula said as she approached. "I should have killed you when I had you helpless in Ba Sing Se. I thought you'd be useful and were broken, but it looks like you weren't. Oh, well- I can fix that mistake now."

"We will see." Long Feng dropped into a firm stance and threw a punch forward- too far to hit Azula, but the princess was not his target. A fissure opened in the earth and shot towards her, but she could both see and feel it coming and leaped into the air. She landed lightly to one side, safe.

"You Dai Li need to learn your strengths," Azula said. "You're the best in the world at ambushes and sneak attacks, but in face-to-face battle, you're just average." Her eyes hardened. "And against me, average just won't cut it."

"Don't gloat yet, Azula," Long Feng said. "Even you can't see the future of this battle."

"No. But I can figure it out well enough." She launched another bolt of fire, and Long Feng pulled another stone shield up from the earth to block it. Then he raised his hands and sent what was left of the shield shooting towards the princess. Azula jumped on top of it and then off it, hurling herself feet first at the head of the Dai Li. Long Feng caught her foot in one hand, but she still impacted with enough force to drive him to his knees. Azula pulled back and began to move her hands through a complicated pattern, forming focused blue sparks that then erupted from her fingers as lightning. Long Feng quickly dodged, but he hadn't been the target. The tree behind him fell, bursting into flames and igniting the forest nearby.

"Fool!" he snapped. "If you start a forest fire here you'll kill us both!"

"No I won't," Azula said. "I can protect myself from fire. Can you?"

"I don't need to," Long Feng replied smoothly. He held his hands out over the earth, and stone pulled itself free from the ground and wrapped around his body, giving him the appearance of some crude statue come to life. Eyes narrowed, the minister shot forward across the ground and caught Azula's throat in one hand, pinning her up against a tree. He began to squeeze.

"Aren't you going to gloat?" Azula gasped. "Tell me how you've triumphed and how feeble I am before I expire?"

"No," Long Feng said. "I'll just tell you what you told me a year ago- you weren't ever a player. Not in this game."

"You could have at least come up with your own line," Azula gasped out. "But it doesn't matter, because you still didn't notice me doing this!" One hand came up, trailing sparks behind it- weaker than she would have liked, but still strong enough- and hit Long Feng's armor right over the heart. The lightning bolt exploded, sending the Dai Li hurtling backwards, his armor shattered. Slowly he got to his feet, still smoldering. Azula dropped to the ground across from him, massaging her throat.

"Clever," Long Feng said. "But this isn't over yet."

"Oh, it is," Azula said. "Look at you- you can barely stand. Give up now, and I might just let you slink back to whatever hole you've been hiding in."

"No you wouldn't," Long Feng said with a dark half-smile.

"You're right." Azula shrugged. "But this ends now." She once again began to move her hands through the pattern to summon lightning, and Long Feng braced himself to resist.

Then something leaped down from the nearby trees and pulled itself into a standing position. Both Azula and Long Feng paused to look at it, but what was relief to one was horror to the other. Ty Lee had triumphed over Wei Ming, it seemed.

"Still like your odds?" Azula asked as her friend prepared to spring.

"To win?" Long Feng asked. "No. To escape? Most definitely." He held both hands down to the earth at his feet, and it opened beneath him. The former Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se fell into the makeshift tunnel and vanished, the earth closing behind him.

"Is it over?" Ty Lee asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Azula said, allowing just a hint of exhaustion to show. "But we won this round. Now then, let's find Shin and his crew. I need to know how many of my men are still standing."

/

A big chapter here, both in terms of length and events! In the show, Azula and Long Feng never had any sort of direct confrontation, seeing as he gave in after recognizing he'd been outplayed, but here they finally had a chance to have it out. Long Feng is good, but Azula is better in the arena of physical combat as well as politics, and now the Dai Li's plans look to be falling apart. One-on-one duels are something of a motif for Azula in Path; she'd previously faced Ilook and now Long Feng, and she has two more in store for her before the fic ends. I don't think it'll be too hard to guess who they'll be with.

For the Trilogy, I decided that Ty Lee's aura reading is real rather than just a bit of quirkiness on her part (considering how much of the Avatarverse deals with chi, spirits, and spiritual energy, it didn't seem like much of a stretch). Here, it let her catch a glimpse of the force empowering Wei Ming, which I don't think will be much of a spoiler to say is the same spirit Azun was dealing with last fic. Next chapter will have some significant revelations concerning what is going on with Wei Ming and her abilities, but one thing we can confirm here is that she's not immune to chi blockingJ. Her conversation with Ty Lee was an important moment for both of them, and is as much about two fundamentally different ways of viewing the world colliding as it is about these specific characters – Ty Lee's good-natured optimism vs. Wei Ming's spiteful nihilism. That said, this is a very important moment for Ty Lee because even in the face of another layer of Azula's deceptions, she's articulated her reason for staying by her friend – not from fear or manipulation any more, but out of genuine faith that Azula is capable of becoming a better person. Of course, she's still going to have some rather pointed questions for Azula about how much she knew before long…

And with the ship destroyed, Azula, Ty Lee, and Shin won't be returning to the Fire Nation the way they came. They're stuck here in the eastern Earth Kingdom with no choice but to see their mission through to the end.

-MasterGhandalf