The person accompanying Azula and Professor Stibbons to the Unseen University turned out to be Sally again, and with her was another officer, introduced as Sergeant Angua. She was tall, had extraordinary golden hair and wore her badge of office on a collar around her neck.
It was nearly four o'clock in the morning and Ankh-Morpork's streets were relatively calm. Azula dropped into combat stance at one point as two men in stripy clothes moved through an alley, but the Sergeant explained that it was just thieves. Azula decided this would make sense eventually. Even more alarming was a swish of black between two rooftops, which was causally written off as an Assassin.
Why they called it 'Unseen University' Azula couldn't fathom. It was absurdly easy to see: a great rambling complex of high-walled stone buildings topped by the Tower of Art, which soared higher than any building she had ever seen. And it looked none too stable either.
They were received in a room that was amply furnished with large, soft chairs and warmed by a great fireplace. A number of very fat men with beards were standing around, some of them eating pastries. On one wall was a large, black circle of polished stone or glass, mounted on a brass frame of some kind.
"Aha! Your mystery stands before us, Mr. Stibbons," said a deafeningly loud and boisterous voice. A giant, white-bearded man in ornate robes pushed to the fore and proffered his hand to Azula, "Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor."
Azula, startled, stretched out her hand and Ridcully swept it up and kissed it.
"Honestly, Archchancellor, she's fifteen!" Sergeant Angua snapped.
Azula grimaced and Ridcully stood back and then took Stibbons aside. The spoke briefly and then Ridcully turned back. "Well, er, Princess," he said, "we're extremely interested in how you came to be here. Perhaps it will surprise you to know that you did not arrive here by normal means."
Something in Azula's look caused Ridcully to say, "Or perhaps not. Nevertheless, do you understand where you are now?"
"Ankh-Morpork," Azula ventured.
"Capital!" Ridcully was acting as if Azula needed her spirits raised. It would have raised her spirits far more for him to come to the point.
Stibbons took over at this point, "You stated, in your interview with the Commander, that you are from the 'Fire Nation?'"
Azula frowned, wondering at the deliberate voice in which he named her homeland,"I had to go into exile. My family…" She hesitated.
"Yes, well," said Stibbons quickly, "I should tell you that there is no such country on any map we have here."
Azula stared, and then demanded, "What are you saying? Am I in some other…world?"
"Uh, yes," said Stibbons bluntly. "But I think I may know why: chelonic entanglement!"
"What does that mean," Azula said crossly.
Stibbons opened his mouth, but Ridcully boomed, "Ye gods, Stibbons, don't start up again! It barely made sense the first time. Just show the girl, will you!"
Stibbons sighed, and gestured toward some other wizards, who began moving the large black glass into the centre of the room.
"The Scope will allow us to demonstrate your situation," he said wearily.
After some clattering and clanking behind the large glass, it suddenly came alive! An image came into focus. It was a map, except it wasn't; there were clouds moving across its face. But seas and continents lay across the image, with strings of islands threaded between them.
Azula suddenly felt extremely uneasy. The idea that she was in some other place had some appeal, given all the treachery and loss she had incurred. But as she gazed at the map, she sought for familiar landforms, and found none. The Bay of Azulon, Ba Sin Se's walls, Whale Tail Island…nothing.
"What are you trying to show me?" Azula demanded, "This is some part of the world I have never seen, but what does that have to do with how I came to be here?"
She was pleased to see Stibbons looking nervous, "Uh, well, you spoke of a giant turtle, did you not? It might have brought you here?"
She nodded.
Stibbons adjusted something on the great glass, and the image began to shift. At first it seemed that the map was being squashed, but after a moment Azula realized that it was tilting. The idea that the world was flat was an archaic notion in civilized society, and she almost snorted.
And then, as the plane of the map – of the world – tilted, the underside became apparent. The flat world was sitting on the backs of four elephants. And they, in turn, stood on the shell of a turtle.
Her jaw opened and closed, and she looked to Sally for a moment. The girl looked back at her, and gave a wan smile. She said, "Welcome to the Discworld, Princess Azula."