Azula could have gone to class, but she had more important things to do. First Mai, then Ty Lee. Both were a complete surprise and surprises meant you were vulnerable. Azula needed to research, she needed to be prepared.

The teacher's faculty room was a short way from the nurse's office and Azula walked into the room without even knocking. It was still the middle of the day so most of the teachers were busy with class, the few who weren't hung out here.

The student files would be the fastest way to find out anything. It'd be everyone's test scores and physical exam records. Anyone who was remarkable in any way, Azula would be able to find them. The only problem was getting them. Only teachers were supposed to read those files, but Azula figured she could get around that little rule.

There was Ms. Sung, Azula saw, hunched over her desk looking at a paper. She was reading intensely, her glasses nearly falling off her face before she pushed them back up. Ms. Sung taught arithmetic and beyond her given subject, was an idiot. Azula began to approach her.

The puppy-dog eyes was an old and tired technique, Azula wouldn't bother with that one. Besides she had an advantage most other kids didn't. She was royalty. A couple thinly-veiled threats if Ms. Sung didn't help her and perhaps a hint that Azula would tell her father who her favorite teacher was... Ms. Sung would be eating out of Azula's hand. The thought of it made her smile.

Azula stopped when another teacher - bigger and leaner than Ms. Sung would ever be - walked in front of her, blocking her way.

"What are you doing here?" The woman rumbled. Her voice was a deep bass and so forceful, Azula was tempted to salute.

An interruption, but not permanently. Azula could handle this.

"I just wanted to ask Ms. Sung some questions." Azula replied innocently.

"You're missing classes." The teacher stated flatly.

Azula couldn't tell who exactly this woman was, she was standing too close and was too tall. Her face seemed far away.

"I know, but I really need to talk to Ms. Sung." Azula stretched out the "really" the way only a seven year old could. It didn't take much to get her way at the Academy.

The woman stared at Azula for a while and then turned to her colleague. "Hey, Sanda," The big teacher grabbed Azula by the arm and yanked the seven year old to follow, "This kid says she wants to talk to you."

Ms. Sung looked up from her paper and it took a moment before the horror sunk in. "Lian! Let go of that girl!"

The teacher looked at Ms. Sung and then back down at Azula who was staring daggers at her. Lian ignored the angry eyes of the seven year old and turned to Ms. Sung. "Why should I?"

The teachers had all the power at school, Azula had recognized that fact. Other than your own skill, they were the extra factor to getting top score. Azula had long ago decided that if she was to be the best the Academy had ever seen, she had to maintain a certain level of affection from the teachers. She had to keep them happy. Not this one, Azula thought bitterly as the woman tightly held onto her arm, this one would die.

"She's the princess." Ms. Sung hissed.

"Oh the princess is she?" Lian said plainly, not the least bit alarmed. The teacher looked down at Azula, "So you're a princess, are you?"

The commoner would be trembling for forgiveness soon, Azula thought, but she would not give it even if the woman begged.

"My father is Prince Ozai and my grandfather is Firelord Azulon and if you know what's good for you, you'll let me go." Azula declared.

That gave the tall woman pause and Azula couldn't help but smirk.

But then there was a great WOOSH and Azula screamed in pain as her arm felt like it was being torn out. Tears immediately sprung from her eyes and she yelled savagely, incoherently. She was dangling in the air and her feet kicked out trying to reach the older woman, but it was too far. She had not fully appreciated how tall the woman had been until she was looking eye to eye with the crazed teacher. The ground was so far away, it hurt just to look at it.

With nowhere else to look, Azula stared into the face of her attacker and immediately regretted it. The woman had pulled her hair in a ponytail so tight, it looked to be a blade coming from her head. The woman's skin was unwrinkled but weathered, rough and beaten like leather. Her skin looked tough enough to stop a blade, but the long scar across her chin showed that wasn't true. That wasn't the only mark of battle as Azula saw to her horror. Lian was missing her right eye and hadn't bothered to replace it or cover it. She had the decency to close her eyelid, but Azula saw how nothing seemed to be holding the skin back. The lid just formed over, but went flat where it should've curved. The remaining eye was worse, Azula felt her body go stiff as she finally met the teacher's single piercing gaze. Lian's eye shone golden and gleamed with the intensity of a madman. That single eye carried the look of a person that simply did not care what happened and that scared Azula more than anything.

"As you can tell, girl. You can't threaten me with any sort of punishment I haven't already experienced." She gave a sharp laugh, "And besides, I know your father and your grandfather." Lian bared her teeth in a terrible smile. "Azulon is my brother. Which makes you my great niece."