Zuko thought that a millennia old spirit would be able to play a bit closer to the vest, but he could read Aang's face like a billboard. Iroh had hastily explained Zuko's newfound powers to Gyatso and Aang nearly as soon as the door had closed behind them. Aang had turned to Zuko sharply and demanded a demonstration. The spirit's face paled when he saw Zuko produce a flame in his hand. He was clearly not happy.
"Katara," he hissed through clenched teeth. Zuko closed his fist and snuffed out the flame, scowling at Aang.
"I've been practicing Fire Form since I was a kid," Zuko explained mostly to Gyatso. "It's helped me with controlling this."
"I don't suppose your sister would have wished for you to have this power?" Aang asked. His face had twisted as if he'd bitten into something sour. Zuko shot him a sideways glance and shrugged.
"Stranger things have happened," he said. "Maybe Azula worded her wish wrong."
"This isn't good," Aang muttered shaking his head. "She's playing a dangerous game here."
"I can control my firebending," Zuko insisted. "She wouldn't have given me this power if she didn't think I could handle it." Aang looked up sharply, his grey eyes flashing dangerously.
"She shouldn't have given you that power in the first place," he said coldly. He shut his eyes and took a breath. "There are rules-"
"Here he goes with the rules again," Zuko snorted.
"If you care about Katara at all, you should care about the rules," Aang snapped. "There are fates worse than being turned into a djinn- worse even than death. If Katara crosses that line…" Aang trailed off, letting the warning linger in the air. Zuko blinked in surprise.
"She hasn't crossed any line," he insisted, but his voice was uncertain. Aang scoffed at him.
"She's come close to it," he said. "She's risking herself for what? You? You're a mortal. You're a flash in the pan. You'll probably be dead the next time she's woken, but she is pushing the limits of the laws of the Spirit World to keep you safe."
"She's my friend," Zuko said. "Friends do what they can to help each other." Aang's head tilted to the side.
"And what does she get out of this friendship?" he asked.
"Huh-?"
"Katara is risking her safety for yours," Aang said. "What do you do for her?"
"Well, I can't say I have as much practice at risking her safety as you," Zuko snarled. "Maybe if she gets attacked again, I can ask you for tips on how not to be useful!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Aang's eyes began to glow, along with the tattoos tracing his limbs, his spine and coming to an arrow point on his head. A phantom wind began stirring the room.
"Now boys," Gyatso cut in, chuckling nervously. "This isn't a time for arguing." The wind died down, and Aang squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, the glow was gone.
"It seems to me," Iroh said, "that it would be in the best interest for all parties involved if we get Katara away from my niece. Perhaps our efforts would be best directed toward finding this Wan Shi Tong." With a final glare at Zuko, Aang took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Wan Shi Tong can't just be found," he explained. "In order to speak to him we have to get to the Spirit Library in the Si Wong Desert."
"There isn't a library in the Si Wong Desert," Iroh said with a frown. "No evidence has ever been found that there ever was. The dunes can hide many things, but a library barely appears in lore."
"It wouldn't," Aang said. "The library is in the Spirit World, but there's an entrance to it in the desert. It's nearly impossible to find unless you know where to look, or unless you're supposed to find it. And there wouldn't be much lore on it. Anyone who's ever made it out alive has been bound to keep it secret."
"Where do we look?" Zuko asked. He leaned forward anxiously, in spite of himself. Aang rolled his eye at the young man.
"Obviously, I can't just tell you," he said. "You can go to the desert yourself and hope to get very, very lucky, or-"
"Or you can take us there if I wish?" Gyatso suggested. Aang turned to him with concern.
"You don't have many wishes left," he reminded his master. "Are you sure you want to use it on something like this?" Gyatso nodded solemnly.
"It's beyond wanting to help Zuko get Katara back," he explained. "Azula Kaji has access to a powerful spirit. Whatever she does with that power will inevitably affect me and countless other people. I understand that doesn't mean much to a spirit, but it will be devastating to this world nonetheless. If there's a chance that I can do anything to avoid that happening, then I consider myself duty bound to try."
Aang's shoulders slumped reluctantly. He wasn't surprised, though. It was Gyatso's nature to put the needs of others above his own. Still, the thought made Aang sad.
"Alright," he said with a sigh. "I can get us to the library."
Preparations began immediately. While Gyatso and Aang discussed the best way to phrase the wish, Zuko called Sokka and let him know what the plan was.
"I'll be right there," Sokka said.
"You don't have to," Zuko told him. "I don't want to put you in any more danger than you're-"
"Look, man," Sokka cut in. "I'm already in this deep. You're my friend now, which pretty much makes you family as far as I'm concerned. Besides, how often do you get the chance to have an honest to spirits magic adventure? I'm coming with you."
"But-"
"I'll see you in twenty minutes," Sokka said. "And you'd better wait for me." Zuko's phone signaled the end of the call. He stared at it for a moment before a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
Iroh had been on a call of his own, and it ended moments after Zuko's. He looked around the room with a confused frown.
"What's the matter, Uncle?" Zuko asked, stepping forward. Iroh shook his head and searched his tousled bed sheets for the TV remote.
"I just had a call from a friend on the ethics committee," Iroh said. "She said I should take a look at the news." Across the room, the TV flickered on and Iroh searched the stations until he found one that had the words BREAKING NEWS scrolling across the top in eye catching red and black. Beneath it was Ozai, looking unusually disheveled and sneering into the camera. Off screen, a reporter gave the details of what had happened.
.*.*.*.*.*.
"All of Caldera is talking about the latest revelations regarding multi-billionaire CEO, Ozai Kaji-"
"-reporting live from outside of Sozin Inc where multi-billionaire CEO, Ozai Sozin has been arrested on suspicion of-"
"Reports are coming in that CEO Ozai Kaji has been linked to the murders of several people who caused a threat to his business including-"
"-his wife Ursa, who perished in a fire several years ago, has been scheduled to be exhumed following new revelations from the coroner's report that led to questions surrounding her death. His children have not been available for comments, and no one-"
"No one knows how long Sozin Inc has been selling military secrets to foreign governments, however-"
"Ozai's daughter, Azula Kaji, age 19 is set to become the youngest CEO in Sozin's history. The public wants to know how she plans to respond to the controversies of her father's tenure. She has been unreachable for comment. When she does speak, Channel 5 Action News will be there to…"
Azula shut the TV off and tossed the remote aside in disgust. She should have known, she chided herself. Katara had been against her from the beginning, and had managed to corrupt nearly every wish Azula had made. She had expected the djinn to do something to taint this wish, too, but she hadn't expected…this!
Ozai had been arrested mere hours after Azula's wish. He had received just enough warning to name Azula his successor, but now the company was spoiled goods. Azula hadn't known that Sozin had been under investigation for unlawful practices. She hadn't known that her father had been under investigation for ties to the deaths of several competitors and disloyal employees. She had definitely not known that he was suspected of being involved in the murder of Ursa. His wife. Azula's mother.
This complicated things.
Azula had gotten wind that an ethics committee was being assembled to go over Ozai's actions as CEO of Sozin. Though she hadn't heard direct confirmation, Azula was certain that Zuko would be presenting his own evidence to the board. Evidence that would ruin Sozin. Azula was now the captain of a sinking ship. A burning, sinking ship.
This also complicated things.
Katara had informed her that she had nine wishes left. She could wish for just about anything in the world, but Azula now knew that Katara would twist any wish Azula made and ruin it. She had tried to wish everything away- the investigations; the evidence of wrong-doing on her father's part at least; any connection between her father's illegal activities and the company. In the end, Katara told Azula that there were too many moving parts, and undoing any of it in a clean way would take far more wishes than Azula had left, and leaving something like this half-finished would leave Azula in an even worse position.
The only thing for Azula to do was to face the challenge head on and steer Sozin out of the storm her father had steered it into.
"Fine," she hissed to herself. She had spent her entire life trying to prove that she was more than capable of heading Sozin herself. Now was her opportunity. She had enough money to grease the right palms to get the investigation swept under the rug. Ozai had left her in charge, no doubt knowing that his assets would be frozen if they were in his name. He would be counting on Azula's loyalty to fight for his freedom, but his daughter had other plans.
Ozai would need to go to prison. If he were to successfully fight the charges against him, the fact that he had been suspected in the first place would be a permanent cloud over Sozin. Any hint of controversy would stir up with it the memory of the accusations against Ozai, for years to come, and threaten the company's position. If Ozai were to go to jail, then Azula could move the company forward under the guise of steering the company away from her father's policies. The fact that he was facing a life sentence was…unfortunate, but Azula was sure that given time, her father would see that it was a necessary sacrifice. Ozai had gotten sloppy, and his mess would need to be cleaned up.
Next, his cohorts would need to be ferreted out and dismissed. Azula didn't trust any of her father's underlings to transfer their loyalty to her. She would keep one or two of them on to help smooth the transition and untangle the depths of her father's dealings, but as soon as they were no longer useful, she would get rid of them. Perhaps Katara could be useful there. Azula could have her make it so no one could lie in her presence, or something along those lines. Or perhaps, she could make use of one of the wishes that had already been granted. Azula held out a hand and called up a ball of flame. She probably wouldn't have to incinerate anyone. This display of power should be enough to make even the most stubborn of those old men cower.
There would be more work to do beyond that, but Azula's main focus would have to be damage control for the time being. She smirked to herself. Katara had done her best to ruin this wish, and for a moment it seemed she had, but Azula was more cunning than the ancient spirit had given her credit for. She had control of Sozin now. Everything else was just details.
The doorbell rang. Mai and Ty Lee, Azula guessed. She had dismissed the servants for the day after the news about her father's arrest broke, so she had sent her friends out to gather necessary supplies instead. Their faces weren't known to the public, and they could still come in and out of the building unnoticed.
"It's a mob scene out there," Mai said as she and Ty Lee set bags of takeout on the coffee table. "They've even managed to get into the basement, but the guy at the front desk called the police on them."
"How are you holding up?" Ty Lee asked, genuine concern creasing her brow. "We got your favorite. Drunken noodle with squid-crab and a side of stewed ocean kumquats." Azula waved Ty Lee.
"I just need to figure out how to spin this," she said. She told her friends what she had concluded about the need to sacrifice Ozai to save the company her great-grandfather had built. Ty Lee was predictably aghast.
"He's your father," she gasped. "The charges against him… he might spend the rest of his life in prison. Don't you-"
"He was sloppy!" Azula cut in sharply. "If he had been more competent, maybe he wouldn't be in this predicament."
"Didn't you wish for it to be best for him to hand the company over to you?" Mai asked. Azula glared at her a moment.
"Katara can't fabricate something like this," Azula spoke slowly, as if to a child. "She wouldn't have been able to make up evidence of crimes if he didn't commit them. Zuko was about to expose him, too. The proof was there, and if my dear father was careless enough to leave proof, then it was only a matter of time before he was caught.
Azula walked slowly over to the window and looked down at the street. The crowd had gotten a bit smaller, she noted. Either the building's security had finally managed to get the situation under some semblance of control, or the reporters had decided they wouldn't get anymore story fodder that day. They had gotten nothing from Zuko either, Azula had checked. Perhaps they thought both Kaji siblings were holed up in the penthouse.
"My father will go to prison for his crimes," Azula said at last. "Probably for good." Behind her, Ty Lee and Mai fell into a heavy silence. Azula knew without turning to look that they were exchanging glances.
"I…I'm sorry," Ty Lee hazarded. Azula spun around and smiled brightly at her friends.
"I'm not," she said. "This is exactly what I wanted. My father is out of the way, and he left full control of Sozin to me. I'm sure he's expecting that I'll do as he says and let him run the company through me like a good little puppet, but there won't be much he can do to stop me from prison."
"He'll probably be mad," Mai commented off-handedly.
"He'll get over it." Azula shrugged. "Or he won't. If he tries to kill me, well I have nine wishes left." Ty Lee gasped at that. Her face went pale and her hands shot up to cover her mouth.
"You don't think he would actually…" she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.
"He killed my mother," Azula told her with an off-handed shrug. "And he felt something like love for her once."
"He couldn't have-"
"He did it, Ty Lee." The sharp edge of Azula's voice returned, stopping Ty Lee's denial short. "It's still alleged, but he killed her. He probably tried to kill Zuko with her." Mai's eyes widened in shock.
"The fire-" she whispered.
"He sent me away that night," Azula told her friends. "He insisted I spend the night away. I think I've known for a while that he was involved. And if I cross him, he'll probably try to have me killed, too."
"You don't think he'll succeed?" Mai asked. Azula smirked.
"Katara has already said she hates my father more than she hates me," she told her friends. "If there's any wish she'll grant without causing trouble, it will be one against my father."
"She can't kill," Ty Lee reminded her.
"But she can make things… inconvenient for him," Azula said. "And if my brother is any example, she can make him disappear effectively, too. I'm not worried about Ozai anymore. I have an empire to build."
"What about the ethics boards?" Mai asked. "You don't think they'll just let Sozin run without digging deeper into it. Not with your father's crimes coming out."
"Right," Azula snorted. "He's been under investigation before. Several times. And I'm sure my grandfather and great-grandfather were investigated, too. Let them come. I can handle it."
"Well…" Ty Lee chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. Azula recognized that look. She had something to say that she thought would make Azula angry.
"Spit it out, Ty Lee!" Azula snapped impatiently. Ty Lee flinched, and then squared her shoulders.
"I know this isn't the first investigation into Sozin, but Azula, there's never been this much evidence," Ty Lee reminded her friend. "Sozin…the company might go down if your father goes down."
Then Ty Lee seemed to shrink into herself. Her one intelligent thought of the year well spent, Azula thought with a sneer. She turned away in disgust and paced in front of the windows a few times. After a moment, her footsteps stalled, and she once again found herself looking out of the windows, over the city landscape before her.
"Maybe I've been thinking too small," Azula mused.
"What do you mean?" Ty Lee asked.
"I just became one of the most powerful business owners in the world," Azula explained. "But what does that mean? I still have to answer to people. My father tried to work around that by paying off the right people and killing off those who posed a threat."
"Allegedly," Mai muttered. Azula shot her a snide look.
"Allegedly," she repeated sarcastically. "Allegedly, my father did what he could to keep Sozin at the top where it belonged, but in the end, it wasn't enough."
"So why don't you wish for the power to keep your enemies in check?" Mai suggested. "I'm sure Katara could-"
"Could make a mess out of that wish like she has with this?" Azula snorted and waved her off. "I have money, and I have power." Flames licked her finger tips, as if punctuating her point. "Why should I waste it on running a business when I can run the country? Or the world?"
"Seriously?" Mai scoffed. "Global domination? What are you, a movie villain now?" Azula rounded on her, glaring furiously.
"I'm thinking big picture, Mai," Azula snarled. "Maybe if you didn't live your life in a drug-induced fog, you could see it, too." Mai flinched back at that, but shrugged.
"I'm just saying, it seems like a lot of work for the sake of work," she mumbled. Azula ignored her.
"Why shouldn't I be in charge?" Azula asked. "According to the legends and history books, the nations used to be united. I could unite them again!"
"How?" Ty Lee asked. She flushed a deep red when Azula rounded on her angrily, and hastily added, "It's not that I don't think you'd be good at it. It's just…people might resist. Yes, you have money and…and powers now, but what if people don't like it? Can you burn through a whole army?" Azula scowled, but she had to admit, even if just to herself, that Ty Lee had a point.
"Well," she said at last. "I guess I'll have to have Katara give me an army, then."
"But you said yourself that she messes up your wishes," Ty Lee reminded her. "What if she messes that one up, too?"
Azula stopped and thought for a moment. She hated the fact that Ty Lee was right. Katara could easily mess up her wish for an army, and there wasn't anything Azula could do to stop her. She couldn't even hurt Katara. If she were anyone else, Azula would find something to leverage against her for cooperation, but Katara was a spirit. She operated by rules Azula didn't understand. She didn't want for things like safety or security or wealth the way mortals did. She didn't care what Azula did- or tried to do to her.
Azula froze at that thought. Then, a slow smile spread across her face. Perhaps she did have something to leverage against her djinn after all.
"Katara," she called. The room filled with heavy blue smoke, causing the three girls to choke on the acrid smell. When it dissipated, Katara stood in the middle of the room, her arms folded, and her expression somewhere between boredom and annoyance.
"What is it now?" she asked impatiently.
"I've decided on my next wish," Azula said. Katara's mouth twitched up in a smirk.
"This should be good," she chuckled. "Go on." To her surprise, Azula's smile widened.
"I wish for you to bring my brother, Zuko to me," she said.