Please read my author's note at the end. I was going to put it up here but figured it would ruin the chapter for you so I didn't.
The twins brought Azula's dirty clothes to housekeeping for laundering, then led Azula into the main floor of the club. Azula wasn't impressed with much, but this place was definitely something to behold. The club was made entirely of dark stained wood, which allowed for low, relaxing lighting provided by colorful lanterns, sconces, and a grand bronze chandelier swaying gently in the center of the hotel. The floored hotel wound several times around the drop ceiling in which the large fixture played, allowing for a dramatic and empty center and several floors of balcony room from which the guests could view the lively club. There was a spacious stage below that was silent for the moment and behind it two elaborate staircases spiraled up to the hotel rooms. A few ladies and patrons were seated on the steps. The employees and customers were milling about, battling their hangovers or enjoying their refreshments and solicitations; all in all it seemed a pleasant and safe place to be.
Then again, Azula also sensed that like her, an edge lurked below its surface. Like her, it could turn rough very quickly. Her suspicions were proven when an altercation sprung up at the table next to Azula.
Apparently one of the patrons had gotten too rough with one of the girls, and another man had come to her aid. This dissolved into a fistfight that ended abruptly with June's intervention. With stealth and efficiency the Madame grabbed the instigator from behind, then launched him across the slick mahogany bar. His round girth defied physics by zooming down the bar like a hellfire missile and mutilating several glasses in his way. When he reached the end he was unable to halt his momentum; he slammed into the floor. His shriek when June picked him up was 1 part apology, 1 part plea, and all parts terror. Soon the worthy Madame was booting him out the door.
Azula was quickly gaining respect for their boss with the whip. She was also beginning to feel more and more at home here.
"What would you like to eat?" Mila and Kila asked enthusiastically. They didn't usually play waitress, but were willing to do so for their strange guest.
Azula kind of liked her idiotic hostesses, which was saying something because idiots usually irritated the stuffing out of her. "Soup please, and some tonic water."
The twins frowned in unison. "You've got more cash than that honey."
"Yeah, that's my old pageant dress. You can just have it, we have to wear a new one every year for June's annual beauty pageant, so no charge. Just the room so far. So…why not some sea slugs, or roast duck, or maybe even some…"
Kila put a hand up to silence Mila.
Azula's face was turning green; her hand streaked toward her mouth, the other to her stomach.
"Oh, that's right you're hurling! Sorry!" Kila reached into the small pharmacy she kept in her blouse. She produced a little bottle and offered it to Azula.
Azula downed it and was shocked at the instantaneous relief that coursed through her. "What is this?" she pointed at the bottle suspiciously. "I wish I had had it five days ago!"
"Oh it's just a little something us party girls keep around. It's great for upset stomachs as you can tell. So, now that you feel better…how about that roast duck?"
Azula placed her hand over her stomach. Instead of pain and clenching and unyielding nausea she felt…hunger, deep and sincere hunger. It was the first she had felt in days. She was so overjoyed she could have cried. "Ok, I'll try the duck," she said.
Despite their extreme differences in lifestyle, upbringing, intelligence and careers, the twins and Azula were really hitting it off. They spent the afternoon having a leisurely lunch and discussing trite things. Mila and Kila told her stories of their rough but exciting life as entertainers, and Azula shared the challenges of living with a mental illness and being an animal breeder. Azula had even managed to get down some of her antipsychotics. Even though she knew it would take weeks for them to work at their peak again, the voices had dulled a little, and that in and of itself was a relief.
Her laundry had just been finished, and Azula and her escorts had just reached the housekeeping room to retrieve her clothes when loud screams broke out in the main room.
Mila and Kila dove behind two wash buckets, taking Azula with her. For the first time since meeting, Azula felt irritation with her hostesses.
"What's going on? Why are we hiding?!" She snaked out of Kila's hold and scrambled for the door, crouching next to it, her eyes peering around the corner in study. She may be insane but she was no coward.
"Get back here, they'll see you!"
"Who?!" Azula demanded.
The twins didn't answer, and she heard the crack of the whip, then screaming and the sound of rocks against wood. Footsteps and bodies slammed into the floors above.
Without a word Azula sprang up and left her quivering hostesses to their fear. She burst onto the main floor of the club, only to duck down as a whir or arrows rained down into the foyer. Everything was on fire: the stage, the long bar upon which the rioter had slid, the beautiful chandelier and lanterns. Fire Nation soldiers were everywhere, mishandling the patrons and the courtesans alike while adding to the inferno that licked at the structure and the furniture.
Azula saw June scamper Nyla to the center of the room, the beast sabering against the firebenders with predatory fury. The Shirshu was all teeth and strategy as she pushed the onslaught back against the stage, clearing the space before the front door. It seemed that the Madame's goal was to distract long enough for her patrons and employees to escape. Thus far it was working; throngs of frantic people were spilling through the main door.
A few of the more burly and loyal patrons remained behind to help June. These brawny men were engaged in stalemate hand to hand combat with the firebenders. A couple of them tossed the firebenders over the wide balconies above and under Nyla's waiting feet.
Azula wasn't sure what made her look at the staircase, but once she did she regretted it. He was there again, waiting for her, beckoning her. She recognized the ancient headpiece and the beard, and the focused, homicidal look in his eyes. He raised one finger and curled it back: an invitation, a dare, a command.
Azula couldn't refuse. She was sick of this; she was going to put an end to it. It didn't matter that Sozin had been dead over a 100 years. It didn't matter that she was wolfbat crazy. She'd tried everything else; perhaps if she hallucinated about killing her hallucination then the hallucinations would ….Ah screw it. Long story short she had to kill him, even if he was already dead; she had to at least try.
She beeline for the flaming and unstable staircase, and of course he fled, his back vanishing and reappearing within the crimson destruction as she tailed him.
Despite her excellent speed and agility, Azula lost him several times as she darted up the flaming staircase, in pursuit of the specter who had tortured her so over the past week. Instead of him, she was met with firebender after firebender, who she neatly kicked off the stairs, sucker-punched, or flipped unceremoniously over the balcony. Soon more than twenty men had fallen to Azula, and then she saw him in the recess of the second floor, his back turned, his form facing the wall and straight, strangely catatonic.
Infuriated, she dove for him, held his neck and buckled his knees with a sweeping kick. Sozin let out a grunt as he was flipped to his back, but once his rotation was complete the red of his uniform morphed into a drab green, his royal headpiece disappeared, and Azula was left looking at the panting face of an eighteen year old thug, as frightened as he was immature. "Please don't' kill me lady!" he pleaded, his hands on his face.
Azula jumped off of him and looked around her. The fire was gone; so were the firebenders. She peered over the balcony. June and Nyla were still there and picking up what were apparently Azula's victims; they were dressed in green and blue, not red. While there were signs of a riot scattered about: broken glass, clods of dirt, and a few dozen arrows, there was no smoke or char marks, nothing that would suggest the club had ever suffered a fire.
June had just finished tying the last thug when she peered up at Azula. The Madame rewarded her with a faint smile and a thumbs-up. "You sure you don't want a job?" she shouted.
A loud, gregarious cheer erupted behind her and Azua turned to see more than fifty people lined up on the balcony. One of the more brawny and tattooed patrons broke a bottle over his skull and screamed at the top of his lungs: "WE LOVE YOU CRAZY FIREBENDER CHICK!"
Several more followed suit. The other courtesans shook bottles of champagne, popped the corks and spewed the liquid up into the air with celebration; the patrons lifted them up on their shoulders. Several of courtesans were dancing. The men screamed until they were beat red and then chest and head bumped each other until they were dizzy.
The psychotic princess froze, unsure how to react at the rough but joyous display, a display purely in celebration of her, and what she had apparently done. Then again, she wasn't sure of what she had really done. She was still trying to take in what she had just seen, separate reality from her reality, but she was having an awful lot of trouble processing this. This reaction these people were having to her.
She had been cheered before as the Fire Nation Princess, worshipped even. Yet, there was something markedly different about all of those times and this one. Something was different indeed.
For the longest time she stood looking at them, open mouthed and studious. She just looked at the throngs of people, studying them, trying to figure them out. At last it clicked. There was joy there. On every one of their faces, they celebrated her, but they did so because they wanted to, not because they were obligated to. It was strange what a difference that made in people's praise.
Azula smiled awkwardly and waved at them. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, the hero of June's gentleman's club before June pushed her way through the crowd, slid an arm around Azula and said: "I don't think we can give this lady enough applause! Those washed Up Dai Li always coming round here, wanting me to pay them protection money. And what do I always say?"
The crowd chanted: "YOU SAY 'NO WAY' JUNE!"
"I say 'NO WAY!' Now, thanks to…"June trailed off and frowned at her. "What's your name, Honey?"
Azula swallowed awkardly. "Can I stick with 'Crazy Firebender Chick?'" she chanced.
"Works for me." June was used to secretive patrons. "Thanks to CRAZY FIREBENDER CHICK, we don't have to worry about them again!"
The bottle smashing, shameless kissing, and catcalls resumed. Azula waved again. She felt a flash of something in her chest. It was foreign. It was odd, but it also felt happy. Before she could even begin to analyze it Mila and Kila appeared and helped her through the crowd. "You should get out of here," she said. "All those guys…they think you're one of us," she giggled. "One of them might try to… you know."
"Unless you want to," Kila added. "It is good money."
Mila frowned at her sister. "Kila, as if! She's got a true love!"
Azula didn't say anything to discount Mila's assessment. In spite of her beliefs about herself, part of her wanted to believe it was possible.
# # # # # #
The twins did a quick touch up on Azula's appearance after her rowdy bar fight. They also added a veil and a traveling cape to her ensamble, then bid her adieu. Azula promised to visit them once she was done in Ba Sing Se. Despite her fondness for her two hostesses, she never revealed the identity of her true love. But that was no matter to the twins; they were used to serving patrons with their secrets.
The journey to the Earth Kingdom palace was an uneventful one. The four bison and their Lord landed as the sun was reaching its evening zenith. The palace staff welcomed Azula and her bison with very little questioning or fanfare. Everyone knew of the King's love for animals, especially exotic animals. Therefore, the unannounced appearance of an exotic animal breeder, as Azula introduced herself, was nothing special to the staff. They thought her clothing was a little inappropriate for her trade but she made up something about having "performed at a circus" hours earlier. They accepted it without question.
She appeared before the King's receptionist to make an appointment with Kuei, but he was rather terse with her, explaining that one "didn't just pop in on the Earth King."
Luckily General Fong had been walking by and interrupted the conversation before Azula's homicidal tendencies could rear their ugly head. He led her to a little holding area where she could wait safely while he announced her. Luckily for Azula the room was secluded and furnished with a comfortable green couch and silk curtains.
Unluckily there was a mirror there. She sat down, her back stubbornly to its silver surface. For the longest time she ignored the whispering she imagined from it. However, the voices increased in volume and desperation.
One seemed to stand out from the rest; it was also more cajoling, and sympathetic with hints of something extremely sinister lurking beneath its saccharine surface.
"You don't look so good," it kept saying over and over. The voice was strangely familiar; Azula swore she heard it before. It was female, but not mother's. Not Ty Lee's, most assuredly not Mai's and certainly not any of the Avatar's posse. She shut her eyes even more tightly and began to rock, dealing, once again with her hallucinations through study, extreme analysis.
Unfortunately it was her drive to be analyze that was her undoing. When she couldn't place the voice, no matter how much she studied its pitch, its fall, its volume, it drove her so insane that she HAD to look.
There, in the silver surface of the mirror was herself, three years younger in full Kyoshi Warrior dress. Her amber eyes were set and cold, her lips thin and even, the smallest of smiles on the surface of her red stained lips.
No wonder the voice had been so familiar.
"You don't look so good," the visage of her younger self repeated. "How about I talk to the Earth King for you?"
# # # #
Kuei sighed as the next appointment was brought before him. It involved a squabble over property lines between neighbors: a reputable rancher who provided a good slab of the economy and a dairy farmer who held fueled another good chunk of Ba Sing Se's peasant industry. There was a discord over expansion. After a lengthy and frustrating discussion, the two industry leaders left the room with the agreement to meet at a later date. Unfortunately, little came from their meeting with Kuei other than an awkward truce.
Kuei slagged with relief when his assistant confirmed that was the last audience for the day, but no more had he confirmed this than General Fong ran into the throne room and came up behind the King. He hurriedly whispered in Kuei's ear. "There is someone else to see you, my Liege."
Kuei rubbed his temples and buried his forehead in his hands. "No, General, I'm done for the day," he groaned, obviously exhausted.
"This one, I highly advise you see, Your Majesty. She is an exotic animal breeder." General Fong looked at the King, and Kuei caught the meaning in his eyes.
Kuei's heart jumped, and so did he. His exhaustion was suddenly forgotten. "Leave us," he told his court. The court obeyed and once the room was clear Kuei looked at Genera Fong. "Is it who I think it is?" he whispered.
The General nodded, a smile on his face. "Just be warned Your Majesty she looks a little different. She may be ill…."
"I will keep this in mind General. Leave us also, and send her in on your way out."
The General bowed, beaming with happiness for his old friend. As he exited the anticipated guest entered.
Kuei heard the click of heels against the marble floor long before he saw her. And when he did, she was all mystery and exotic, uninhibited beauty.
She was dressed in Water Tribe blue. A long blue cape swept the back of her. Large blue ostrich horse plumes bounced amidst her sleek dark her hair, which was elaborately braided in the front and long and sweeping in the back. A midnight veil camouflaged her eyes, and below the veil the reddest lips shimmered. It was a shade of lipstick Kuei had not seen her in before. Her blue crush velvet dress dusted the floor as she approached the King.
She stopped short of the steps leading up to the throne and adjusted her dress so she could bow.
Her knees never hit the floor.
Kuei ismounted his throne and pulled her forcefully into his arms. His hands dug below the feathers to find the back of her head, angling her mouth to him, and his kiss. With his other he inched up the veil, peeling it away from her face so he could smother her more thoroughly.
She had never been kissed this passionately before. He was literally all over her, smudging her eye makeup, biting at her neck, tasting her cheeks and the dip below her ears. His hands found the slit in her gown and took advantage of it to caress her leg. His other hand played at the small of her back, pressing her even more thoroughly into him.
The way he pulled her into him and devoured her was exhilarating, unfamiliar, and thrilling, but extraordinarily comforting. She found herself returning his actions, and as she threw her arms around him to return his affection, she searched her mind for something she could compare it to, label it with.
They stumbled back into his throne. He landed haphazardly on the elaborate chair, she side-saddle on his lap. When she fell into him, she realized at last what being in his arms was like, she at last had a label for it. Being in his arms was like coming home.
She was Fire Nation; her ethnicity would never change. Neither would her upbringing or her natural propensity for psychiatric illness or evil. She would also never be able to undo the horrible things she had done. In spite of all that, this was where she felt welcome. This was where she belonged. In the arms of a King she had once overthrown, in a kingdom she had once tormented with clever and subversive assault.
"Are you trying to trick me again, Azula?" It seemed that the King was remembering the same thing. He whispered the question near her ear before pressing his lips to her neck once more. "You don't expect me to believe that you are Water Tribe, do you?"
"No Majesty," she choked out, melting completely under his touch. Her voice was just above a whisper; it seemed his pleasurable assault on her senses had weakened her, caught her completely off guard. Kuei was pleased and thrilled with the knowledge.
His kisses descended lower and lower until he was at her collar bone. He lavished it with slow and adoring affection for some time before he peeled the shoulder of the crush velvet gown away, widening the already generous V neckline of her dress. She felt his breath on her shoulder, and then felt him stop there suddenly.
He didn't say a word, but she sensed the instantaneous change in his mood and demeanor. His eyes focused in on her clavicle, then the acromion crowning her shoulder. His eyes were liquid and just a little bit alarmed when they met hers. "Azula, you're very thin."
Azula looked down. With the exception of the hours at June's, she hadn't paid much attention to her appearance over the past week, and she had been avoiding mirrors like the plague. She immediately understood what the King was referring to when she looked at herself; she too was shocked at how tightly her skin was hugging her bones.
She looked at Kuei, speechless.
He gently framed her hips and assisted her off of his lap. He stood himself, but kept his arms at her sides. "Azula," he said. "What is going on? Why are you so thin? And why are you dressed so very…." Kuei coughed uncomfortably, trying to find the words, but he couldn't. The most he'd ever seen of Azula was when she was wearing the scanty sleeping shorts at the Fire Nation Palace. Even though she was thin, she was still a knockout, especially in a dress like this. This dress had been made to celebrate and reveal the female form in all its glory; it left very little to the imagination.
Kuei couldn't decide whether to be turned on or alarmed. On one hand, what she was wearing was very appealing, and on the other hand it was very out of character for Azula. Something was up.
At last, he stamped down the blatantly male side of himself, forcing gentleman Kuei to take the forefront.
When Azula didn't answer, and looked somewhat frightened by the prospect of explaining herself, he didn't press her.
Instead bent down and wrapped the cape back around her shoulders. "Dearest, I was about to eat. Come with me, all right? We'll take dinner in the courtyard."
A/N
When you think of June's club, try to envision an Old Western Saloon that a Chinese Opera threw up on. That's really the best way I can describe it. What happens atJune's is pretty old west mixed with some mafia influence.
The scene where Azula is waiting to see Kuei in the holding area is inspired by the movie BLACK SWAN. Please don't see that movie unless you are 18 plus (there's some really non-minor friendly stuff in there) but it deals with duality (good vs evil) within a person and also is a pretty darned good portrayal of paranoid schizophrenia.
The scene where Azula meets Kuei in his throne room was inspired by Scarlett O'Hara's famous red dress scene in the movie Gone With The Wind. In this scene Scarlett is inappropriately dressed for the social affair she's attending, but still very stunning. That's the idea behind Azula and that's why I did that to her. She's awkward, she doesn't belong. She is a creature that will struggle to find her place, despite what few good intentions do lurk within her. The reason she's dressed in something she would never wear on the show is that I wanted to do something really different that could still be in keeping with her awkward character, and with the theme of a very difficult redemption.
The idea behind Kuei, the way I see him, is that he will forgive and love her in spite of it, and maybe a little because of it. So Azula gets a man who's more supportive than Rhett was for Scarlett.
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