The Dragon and the Wolf

Chapter Three: Amber Eyes, Amber Flames

"Are you functional?"

Lieutenant Sen matched Azula's measured pace, step for step, and shifted his arm in its sling, frowning. "I was careless. He shouldn't have beaten me."

"You're right, but you didn't answer my question. Can you perform your duties?"

"It's just a dislocation, Princess. I'm fine."

"What I'm worried about is you keeping a cool head. Torture should never be about revenge. Or taken to a personal level."

Sen gave her a sidelong glance and his frown deepened. "Of course, Princess."

They stopped outside a metal door and two armored guards snapped to attention. Azula ignored them, turning her full attention to her torturer.

"Explain to me why we've left him alone for hours?"

"To give him time to think."

Azula raised an eyebrow. "That's exactly what we don't want to do."

"He won't be thinking rationally, my Princess. He knows what's coming but he doesn't know when. The anticipation and fear will have rattled his mental defenses."

Azula smirked at Sen's confidence. "Shall we take a look?" She nodded at one of the guards and he slid open the metal shutter on the door's small barred window. "You first."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement and stepped forward. Azula could have guessed what he saw by the look on his face, if she hadn't already figured out exactly what their prisoner was doing.

"Tell me, Lieutenant."

Sen pulled back and gulped.

"What did you see?"

"He's... sleeping. Princess."

Azula put her hands behind her back and glanced through the small barred window. The square of light only illuminated the top half of the sleeping man but it was enough. Drool trailed from one corner of his open mouth and his snoring was nothing if not genuine.

"He seems rather rattled, wouldn't you say?"

Sen didn't know how to respond so he dropped his gaze and said nothing.

"Have you ever seen this happen before?"

"No, Princess."

"You left him strapped to a chair in a torture chamber and he sleeps." She rapped the metal door but the snores didn't stop.

Sen lifted his eyes and met Azula's amber gaze. "He could be faking."

"You know he's not."

The torturer looked away in shame and Azula opened the door and stepped inside, clapping twice. "Wake up."

Sokka snorted and sat up straight, smacking his lips as he looked around the room with half lidded eyes. He pulled against the metal fasteners around his wrists and yawned. "A stretch would be nice."

"That could be arranged." Azula pointed at a machine with pulleys and ropes. "The rack is one of my favorite devices."

Sokka grinned, unfazed. "You need new hobbies. You should take up Pai Sho. Or finger painting."

"Did you have a nice nap?"

"Not really, but thanks for asking."

Azula scowled. "Enough pleasantries." She snapped off two streams of blue flame. Sokka yelped and tried to duck, but the only things that ignited were two torches set in the walls of the chamber.

Azula lifted her chin and smiled down at her prisoner. "You're right to fear me."

"Oh, I was just worried you'd hit me on accident. You firebenders aren't known for your accuracy." Sen stepped in the room, flanked by the two helmeted guards, and Sokka turned his teasing expression to the newcomer, his eyes drifting to the sling. "Hey, sorry about that, buddy. Looks painful."

Sen rubbed his right arm and scowled. "I'll show you pain."

Azula raised a hand and her officer fell silent while the two guards took up positions by the door and did their best to look intimidating.

"So."

"So," Sokka echoed.

"We'll start with a simple question. What is the Avatar's current location?"

"I was hoping you'd ask me this one." Sokka snickered and faked a serious expression. "He's on the Isle of Nun'ya."

Azula pursed her lips and questioned Sen with a glance. The torturer clenched his jaw and turned to Sokka, who was having difficulty keeping a straight face. "And where is that?"

"Nun'ya business!" Sokka said and laughed uproariously. "Get it? Get it? It's funny right?"

One of the guards chuckled as the joke sunk in and Azula spun on her heel. "Which one of you just did that?"

Both men straightened and pointed at the other without hesitation.

Sokka howled with glee, tears of mirth in his eyes. "You guys don't know how long I've been waiting to use that one!"

Azula singled out one of the guards and stepped into his personal space. The man was half a head taller than her but he seemed to shrink.

"You think he's funny?"

"No, Princess!"

She turned her glare to the other guard. "Do you?"

The man backed into the wall and held up his hands. "Not at all, Princess!"

"Lighten up, Princess." Sokka managed to strip her title of all dignity. "A little humor never hurt anybody."

The warrior didn't realize he'd been hit until the room stopped spinning.

"I take that back. Ow!" Sokka closed one eye against the pain and looked up at the fuming man at his side. "That's a nice left hook ya got there, Sen. Do you practice on your pillow every night before crying yourself to sleep?"

The torturer lifted his hand and Sokka braced for another blow.

"Sorry, didn't mean to be informal with you, Lieutenant."

Sen narrowed his amber eyes and flexed his fingers, popping his knuckles one by one. "Disrespect her again, peasant, and I'll end you."

"Wow." Sokka turned to Azula. "Where'd you pick this guy up? I thought all the really good bad guys these days were in jail or totally out of their minds."

The second hit was hard, but the third left Sokka staring dumbly at a tendril of blood and spit trickling from his mouth to his lap.

"Are you ready to talk?" Azula's voice dripped into his ear like honey and Sokka chuckled low in the back of his throat. "How many ships has Zuko sent after me?"

"Dunno." He shrugged but didn't lift his head. "I have trouble counting higher than ten when I'm wearing my boots." He snickered to himself and waited for more pain.

A perfect hand cupped his chin with a touch so deceptively soft that he couldn't help but look up into the face of the liar.

"Answer truthfully and I'll have them take you back to your cell, unharmed."

He grinned at the irony and drooled a mouthful of bloody spittle into her manicured hand. Her expression didn't change but her fingers laced into the hair on his chin and suddenly tightened. She pulled him forward against his bindings and held him there with the metal pressing into his chest and forearms and his facial hair slowly ripping from the strain.

He laughed, half-strangled. "Ok! I'll shave!"

She gave one last tug before letting go and he sank back into the hard metal seat like it was the most comfortable piece of furniture he'd ever been in.

Azula cleaned her hand on one of the door guards and turned to Sen. "Proceed."

The torturer pushed a lever forward and Sokka watched as his legs straightened out in front of him, lifted on a built in footrest. "Hey, that's pretty convenient," he joked and Sen turned a wheel, elevating the entire seat. Sokka nodded, impressed. "Can you make it recline next and get me some fire flakes and maybe a book to read?"

Azula took something from a nearby table and leaned toward him with an enigmatic smile. "While it's true that the point of an interrogation is to get someone to talk, you're not saying anything I want to hear right now."

Sokka opened his mouth to protest and Azula slid a wooden stick between his teeth and looped two small ropes around his ears to hold it in place.

"We don't want you biting your tongue off," she explained while the guards removed his boots and socks. Sokka pulled back his lips in a feral snarl and glared.

"Don't give me that look. You brought this on yourself."

He snorted.

"What did you think would happen when you became my prisoner, hmm?"

He lifted his shoulders and tried to say something sarcastic around the wooden gag.

"You think you're brave, don't you?" Azula placed her hands behind her back while one of the guards reached into a bucket and spread the greasy contents over the bottom of Sokka's bare feet. The warrior scowled and wiggled his toes.

"Cooking fat," she answered his unspoken question. "I suppose growing up in a frozen wasteland you're used to eating things raw, but in the civilized parts of the world we know how to roast our meat evenly." He gave her a dark look and she smiled. "Someday I might do your people a favor and wipe them all out." He growled and she walked behind him, whispering into his ear. "Don't worry, I'd let you watch."

He turned his head away from her and she nodded at her torturer. Sen held up his left hand and a flame came to life, drawing every eye in the room. Smoke curled around his fingers as the fire danced in his palm, reflecting in two sets of smoldering amber eyes and one of cool blue.

"Why did you let yourself be captured?" Azula asked the question as Sen inched his hand toward Sokka's left foot. The warrior pulled against his bindings but there was no where for him to go. "Did you come to assassinate me?"

The muscles in the back of his neck bunched, and he twitched, shaking his head in a near imperceptible manner.

"So if you didn't come here to kill me, what are you after?"

Sen passed the flame below the prisoner's heel and the yellow-orange heat licked at the grease and exposed flesh. Sokka bit into the wooden gag and closed his eyes.

"No one's coming for you."

His nostrils flared as the fire made another pass. Azula stepped to his side and cocked her head, studying his shifting expressions as he burned.

"You know that, don't you? You know you're alone."

He swallowed and opened his eyes, blinking away tears as Sen held the fire in place.

"So if you're not expecting a big rescue, why are you resisting? What can you hope to gain from your defiance except more punishment?"

The cooking fat sizzled, blistering calloused and tender skin alike, and Sokka's breath came faster. He met her gaze and shifted his jaw, wordlessly asking her to remove his gag.

"I'm warning you. Whatever you have to say better be good."

He nodded with enthusiasm and she traced a finger back through his sweaty hair, catching the loop and freeing it from his ear.

He dropped the wooden stick and let it dangle from the other loop. "I just wanted to say..." he paused, catching his breath as Sen pulled his hand back to give him a reprieve. "I don't think my feet have ever smelled this good." She backhanded him and he dropped his chin, laughing into his chest. "Oh c'mon, that was pretty funny."

"I don't know whether to be impressed or disgusted."

He snickered while sweat mixed with tears and blood and trickled down his face. "Be impressed. Not just any idiot can make jokes while being cooked alive."

"So you openly admit you're a fool?"

"Well, not when you put it that way." He lifted his head and gave her a pained yet cocky smile. "I prefer to think of myself as an idiot savant."

"Looking at your current situation, I'd say you lean more toward the former."

"No, I really am a genius. It just took me a few years to realize it."

"I think I prefer the fifteen year old fool who thought he could outsmart the entire Fire Nation."

He grinned. "No you don't. All women prefer confident men."

She raised her eyebrows and Sen cleared his throat. "Shall I continue, my Princess?"

"I dunno, Sen," Sokka mocked, fire flashing in his ice blue eyes. "Do you think you could do a better job of it? Feels like you missed a few spots."

"Gladly." The torturer's hand burst into angry flame and he grabbed the warrior's foot, engulfing it. Sokka locked his jaw and screamed through his teeth, thrashing against his bonds.

"Lientenant!"

Sen let go but the fire remained, devouring animal fat and human flesh alike. Azula reached out and the flame came to her, shifting from a hungry orange to an emotionless blue before dissipating.

Sokka tore his eyes away from reddening flesh and blackening toes and met Azula's neutral gaze with gratitude. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then made up his mind about what he wanted to say.

"Aren't you tired of running?"

Azula stared him down as he panted and sagged in his bonds. She leaned toward him, letting him see that she was not at all affected by his guileless words or the mysterious look of genuine concern on his face. "Aren't you tired of chasing?"

He lifted an eyebrow and tried to sit up. "Me, tire of the chase? Never."

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, looking over his burned and blistering feet. "You won't be chasing anyone." Sen met her gaze and she gave him a nod. "Lieutenant, finish your work. Inform me if he decides to loosen his tongue, though I doubt you'll get anything useful out of him."

She closed the door behind her, but there was no way to shut out the screams.