Guide Me Home

The walk back to Shingyung's clinic was a blur. Mianju's half-ravaged face hung in front of Azula's vision the whole time.

A woman had died pretending to be Princess Azula.

Azula didn't even have the pain of her injuries to distract her. Shingyung had used her Waterbending healing to get Azula back in working order, and then dragged her away before the burning factory could attract the City Watch. Neither one spoke as Shingyung led down empty alleys, and Azula hadn't even noticed where they were going until they emerged from a pitch-black walkway besides a building with the characters for 'body' and 'health' painted on the sign above the door. Even that only barely registered over the sensation of drowning in her own guilt. The echoes of her failure, of how her own Firebending had set off the bomb that killed Mianju, bounced around in Azula's head. The memories of the botched mission to the factory constantly replayed, turning the silent night into an overwhelming cacophony. Azula was only brought back to reality when Shingyung yanked her through the door of the dark clinic and shut it behind them.

Shingyung.

Mysterious, annoying Shingyung.

Azula immediately spun and confronted her host with a Firebending stance.

The tall woman merely stood there with the moonlight streaming behind her, eyes hidden by shadow. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Tell me what's going on."

"And how shall I address you now?" Shingyung put her hands on her hips, and a hideous smile manifested in the moonlight. "Would you prefer Suki, or Azula? Unless you would like to lay claim to some other flimsy name? I will honor whatever will keep your spirit in balance."

The world took a quick spin around Azula's head, but it wasn't a complete shock; she had been anticipating (well, more like dreading) her identity being discovered for some time now. And coming from Shingyung, it might not even be a danger. At least, not right away. So, staying in her Firebending stance, she said, "I prefer Azula, these days. But thank you for asking."

Shingyung nodded. "Azula it is, then. I take it you're making no claim to the 'Princess' title for now? Very well." She stepped around Azula, but kept her face turned towards her guest. Shingyung was moving in the direction of the clinic's main hall, where the massage beds were lined up, and the lack of windows there left her increasingly consumed by shadow as she walked. "To be honest, I'm very glad we've reached this point, where we could have a little talk. I've been hungering for it ever since I met you, and hoping for it since we heard of the incident on Kyoshi Island."

By now, Shingyung was almost completely obscured by darkness. Azula moved one of her hands and summoned a flame in the palm. The fire glowed with bright blue light, illuminating the clinic. She relaxed out of her Firebending stance, figuring that with a flame already summoned and no great amounts of water nearby, the physical danger that Shingyung represented was minimal.

Shingyung was undoubtedly dangerous in other ways, though.

"You seem to know a lot about me," Azula said, trying her best to keep her voice neutral. "Or, at least you think you do."

Shingyung gave a little laugh. "More than you, I expect. I know about your time on Kyoshi Island. I know that your father escaped from your oh so righteous brother and freed you from being 'Suki.' Our organization took a stronger interest after that, but we were only able to find you once you made contact and inquired about a job with us. Were you trying to get revenge on Fire Lord Zuko? Or was it that Sokka boy? Everyone we could trust had already been told to look for you, so the agent you met was able to send you directly to me."

"And you were so happy to see me, that you spent all this time hiding behind a... a fake me." Azula shook away the image of Mianju that came to mind and gave a calculated little snort. "Excuse me if I find this hard to believe. What happened on Kyoshi Island hasn't exactly been taking over the rumor mill. I know, I've been listening."

"Oh, Azula. Oh, silly, silly Azula." Shingyung's voice grew even heavier with breath, and she stalked forward with what seemed like extra swaying. She stopped when she was right in front of Azula, towering above her. "You aren't listening to what I've been saying. I knew you were Suki before you knew you were Suki. I've been hoping to meet you for a year. And as for why I haven't said anything for these last few weeks..." She smiled widely, and licked her lips. "I was doing exactly what I'm doing now regarding poor little Mianju. I'm waiting for you to ask."

Azula tried to think of something to say, something that would manipulate Shingyung into revealing the truth without actually letting the other woman win the conversation.

She wound up saying nothing at all.

Shingyung winked. "Why don't we have our little discussion in my office? We can sit comfortably there."

It was all so utterly innocuous. Shingyung's 'office' room hadn't changed since Azula had first been in there. It was still a gaudy mess of statues and tapestries, still lit by a plethora of lanterns that chased away the dramatic darkness, and smelled of cheap incense. Shingyung knelt on one of the mats as though she was having a pleasant visit with a friend or special client. The only thing missing was the bad herbal tea, but Shingyung made no mention of it. Azula was half-tempted to ask for something to drink, perhaps a cup of ginseng, just to make a show of being unconcerned about the whole situation.

She wasn't stupid enough to think such a ploy would actually work.

Kneeling on her own mat, Azula sighed. "I have no many questions, but don't even know where to start. Why don't you choose? I'll just kick you if I think you're going off topic."

Shingyung gave a graceful nodded that bounced her ponytail. "That is fair enough, I think. You've had a rough night. I suppose I should start with the heart of the matter. It is from the heart, after all, that life flows, and I have no desire for either of us to meet our deaths soon. To put it simply, my organization had a business deal with the man responsible for your whole situation. Suki, Kyoshi Island, all of it."

Azula felt her breath rush out of her. "So it wasn't them! It wasn't my friends!"

"Oh, is that what you hoped?" Shingyung gave her a pitying look. "Poor dear. No wonder your Qi is so fragile. You don't know what to believe any more. No, when I said this man was responsible, I meant that it was his skills and knowledge that were utilized. It was Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe who arranged everything. This man was quite clear on that point."

"Ah." Azula was only disappointed in herself. She should have known. She shouldn't have held on to that last trace of hope. "Why?"

Shingyung gave a shrug that only went as far down as her shoulders. "I don't have all the details. I have met this man, but we only really discussed what was relevant to my work. My master, the founder and leader of our organization, was more interested in the details. Information is his hobby, you might say, and also frequently useful to our cause. You should speak with him."

"Should I?" Azula hardened her gaze and threw it right in Shingyung's face. "Is that an idle recommendation, or an offer?"

Shingyung's smile was immediate. "Oh, I'm so glad to meet the real you. Your very presence is electrifying. If you want to meet my master, all you have to do is ask."

Azula's answering smile was as false as her memories.

Azula spent the small remainder of the night in Shingyung's office. The woman herself left shortly after promising to take Azula to her master, claiming that she had more work to do before the sun rose regarding the attack on the Bing Rong factory. Apparently, properly disseminating the news was just as important as the damage to the factory itself. By morning, Azula's sinuses were completely closed, rebelling against the perfumed smell of the room.

If only that were the extent of her bad feelings about the whole situation.

She was firmly in Shingyung's power, now. And she wasn't sure if she should be happy about that.

Azula wasn't at all rested by the time the sun came up, but she heard the sounds of movement and activity coming from the clinic proper. The employees must have begun their day already. The sounds of the activity steadily increased, although it never rose above a handful of voices and regular footsteps. The clinic must have done a small but steady business. Or rather, that was the impression Shingyung wanted to give. There was no longer any doubt in Azula's mind that Shingyung was a master deceiver. Either she had known who Azula was this whole time, or else she was lying very convincingly about it now. Neither option said much for her trustworthiness, never mind the matter of Mianju.

Shingyung had turned a woman into Azula, watched her die, and hardly seemed to care.

That was troublesome.

Still, she had answers. Azula just had to be smart enough to pick them out from between the lies.

Shingyung herself returned just as Azula was starting to get restless, and held a pale yellow tunic wrapped around some bundle. "My assistants always dress like this," she explained. "I find the color to be harmonizing. I move around enough that the guards at the city gates know me and my bribes. They won't look twice at an assistant traveling with me. And after last night, the name 'Princess Azula' is on everybody's fear-moistened lips. Rumors of the blue fires at the factory are quite fleet of foot."

As Azula put the tunic on, Shingyung laid the bag it had been wrapped around on the floor nearby. Azula nodded at it and said, "What's that?"

"Your belongings. I had a runner get them from your room. We retrieved all your clothes, as well as a pair of war fans." Shingyung cocked her head to the side. "Souvenirs of your old home?"

Azula finished dressing and said nothing, but she picked up the bag as they left.

There were a pair of ostrich horses outside the clinic, and they rode across the city to the nearest gate. There were many full carts being hauled out of the city, and Azula couldn't help but wonder if that was just the normal flow of trade or if the city's merchants were running for fear of 'Princess Azula.' The guards didn't interfere, so long as they were properly bribed, and they even grinned broadly and winked at Shingyung as she rode past. Yes, they knew the woman, all right.

Azula waited until they were out on the open road, heading east away from most of the rest of the traffic, to speak up again. She spurred her ostrich horse up alongside Shingyung's and said, "So, you've been in contact with the man who made me the way I am."

Shingyung looked over at Azula and arched an eyebrow. "Was that a question? It tickles me like one, yet it doesn't sound so."

Azula kept her gaze and voice even. She was not going to let herself be provoked by the other woman. At least, not yet. "And then there was Mianju, looking like and believing herself to be me. The connection isn't hard to make."

"And here I thought Princess Azula was known for her subtlety. I still don't hear a question."

"You know," Azula said slowly. "I can always light your hair on fire."

Shingyung smacked her lips, and motioned to the pair of waterskins she wore over her purple tunic. "I would quickly put the fire out, and then there would all kinds of unpleasantness. Provided one of us didn't kill the other, things would be ever so awkward between us afterward. I promise that you will get all of your answers, but you need me to take you to them. Don't think me unintelligent. Or fearful of pain."

Azula bit back a frustrated sigh. A deep part of her, a dark part, wanted to hurt Shingyung anyway, and reasoned that she might just give up everything she knew under some well-crafted torture. Perhaps the real Azula would have managed such a thing, but the Azula of the Now knew she couldn't. Just remembering the smell of burnt flesh coming off of Mianju- off of Ozai (Father)- was enough to make her sick to her stomach. She couldn't bring herself to smell it again. "Did Mianju mean anything to you at all? As something other than a tool?"

"Why, did she mean something to you? Is that why you helped her die at peace?" Shingyung's eyes narrowed, and her expression went blank. "I see. You wanted to save the poor girl. How properly symbolic. No wonder you've been flailing about. You've forgotten what it means to be the Princess Azula."

As much as Azula didn't want to light another person on fire, her Kyoshi Warrior training provided a good list of ways she could hurt Shingyung using nothing more than her hands and feet. Azula was in real danger of losing the chance to discover what had been done to her simply out of an overwhelming desire to smack Shingyong's face. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"If you really knew anything about yourself, it would be quite obvious. The true Azula was The Destroyer." Shingyung glanced over, and must have seen something in Azula's expression. "Oh, I'm not talking about any ancient prophecies or Spirit-related matters. I'm talking about your old job. Ozai built you, from the foundations up, to be his personal destroyer. He wanted to point you in a direction, set you free, and be confident that you would destroy whatever was in your path."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic about this. You're talking about what every soldier in the world is trained to do."

"Ah, but the true Azula's role was different. Soldiers are trained to follow orders, to assist their comrades, even to build over the wreckage of war. Soldiers have families they want to return to. Ozai wanted his daughter to be a force of nature. She would have no need of explicit orders, no knowledge of love or peace. This made her more effective than any soldier- any army- ever was. Or did you think you conquered Ba Sing Se simply because you were a well-trained Firebender with a bit more smarts than your uncle?"

Azula waved the point away. "So what does this have to do with Mianju?"

"You were destined to fail at saving her from the start. Ozai ruined you. You're incapable of saving anything without corrupting it and destroying everything around it. Let me guess, it was your Firebending that detonated the flare juice in poor, delicious Mianju's face?"

Azula looked away.

"Ah, quite an eloquent answer, my Princess of Fire. The only thing you're capable of saving is yourself, and you'll burn the world if need be in order to accomplish that. What was done to make you Suki has confused your mind, and so you're trying to work against your nature, but it can't be denied. To fix yourself, you'll have to embrace who you really are. Perhaps we can help."

Azula looked over again. "Help how?"

"Well, little Mianju didn't come to think she was Azula simply by being told." With that, Shingyung flicked the reins in her hand, and her ostrich horse trotted out ahead.

The first leg of their journey passed quickly over open plains and around busy trading posts, then the two women turned south to head towards the Josoo river. There was a crossing that would take them to the Chubang Mountains. Shingyung admitted that the mountains were their ultimate destination, but nothing more specific.

After her experiences in the city of Yang, Azula paid more attention to the people she observed in the road. She saw people in green, people in red, and many people in brown or black. All the merchants and businesspeople wore neutral colors of no allegiance, and they were the only ones who didn't get into quarrels with their fellow citizens of the former colonies. Azula saw brawls break out in villages, saw people block each on the road. She saw smoke on the horizon, and clothes stained with mud.

It matched the discord in Azula's own little traveling party.

She tried to wheedle more details out of Shingyung, Azula was able to get very little, none of it particularly informative. Shingyung spoke like a Waterbender would fight, never letting herself get pinned down. They stopped at every village along the way, picking up provisions, and Shingyung was always very chatty with the merchants they patronized. Azula followed along with every venture and played the part of a good servant, and after listening to just a few conversations she had to admit that Shingyung was very good. She charmed the merchants, especially the men, and got them to talk first about their goods and then the ways they acquired "such excellent quality," which inevitably turned to a discussion of the dangers of traveling through the colonies. Bandits were frequently mentioned, but also Firebender Loyalist rebels, Earth Kingdom Rejoiner militants, freedom fighter anarchists, and even the occasional corrupt militia.

And, of course, Azula herself was mentioned with whispers of fear.

"So what's the point?"

Azula had asked the question as they were leaving one village that could have been transplanted straight from the Fire Nation- soil, people, buildings, and all- straight down to forbidding anyone in green from owning a business. Shingyung, apparently in a good mood, decided to answer this time. "What do you know about volcanoes?"

Azula stared back blankly.

Shingyung shook her head, setting her ponytail bobbing. "So little regard for your own history. Well, there are two theories about them. The first is that they are the homes of Fire Spirits, and explode when the Spirit grows angry or restless. It might even be true. A growing number of intellectuals, however, focus on the more mechanical aspects. They say that pressure builds within the earth, like in a Fire Nation steam engine, and a volcano explodes when there is too much pressure trapped beneath it. Perhaps the Spirit dislikes feeling cramped so."

Azula nodded as the truth of the metaphor came to her. "You want to build pressure, so that the colonies will explode."

"Quite."

"And what will that accomplish? The Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom barely came to a compromise about the colonies as it is. Are you trying to restart the war?"

Shingyung's laugh rang out brightly. "What good would that do anyone? You must understand, chaos is not a sustainable state. All energy, whether it be within our bodies or shared across the world, naturally wants to settle into balance. Our organization creates chaos so that balance will assert itself in the specific pattern we desire. It's the same with you."

Azula raised her eyebrows and frowned.

"It's true." Shingyung tightened her reins, and her ostrich horse came to a stop and turned so that she could directly face Azula. "The reports we gathered from Kyoshi Island were clear: the fires that fell upon the village were blue. Yet, when you encountered Mianju, your fire was plainly colored, and weak in form. Seeing Mianju being a better Azula than you attacked your sense of self and identity. Your Qi went out of balance, and while such a thing normally wouldn't affect a Firebender so drastically, what was done to you in the past made you especially vulnerable. You're lucky you were able to Firebend at all. Yet, when the factory mission fell into chaos, balance reasserted itself. Your survival instinct restored your sense of Self, and Mianju's injury clearly made her lesser than you. Your blue fire returned, strong as ever."

"What do you mean by 'what was done to me in the past?' Did... the man responsible say something?"

Shingyung shook her head. "He didn't need to. The Avatar duly informed the leaders of the world that he took away the Princess Azula's Firebending when he first imprisoned her. Actually, it wasn't until we heard the news from Kyoshi Island that we even began to suspect otherwise, and we still treated it as a rumor until I saw you bending flame myself. We had made Mianju think her Firebending was taken away, but she was in truth never a Bender of any kind."

Azula ignored the reference to the woman she had failed to save and thought about the rest for a long moment. "I'm not sure I believe your theory," she said eventually. "How do you know so much about Firebending, anyway? You're a Waterbender."

"My father, whoever he may be, was Water Tribe, but my mother was a colonist who was quite proud of her Fire Nation heritage. More proud of that than her profession, certainly. She sold me to the local governor, who was himself a Firebender, and while he bought me all the Waterbending scrolls I needed to train, everything that I learned of Qi and people came from the Fire Nation. When I continued on to study other Qi-related philosophies, I couldn't help but compare it all to my foundational knowledge." Shingyung shook her reins again, and her ostrich horse turned to trot up the path.

Azula hurried her ostrich horse after her. "I thought that the Fire Nation killed or imprisoned all the Waterbenders it found."

Shingyung made a hand-gesture that was both elaborate and dismissive. "Amongst the barbarian Tribes, surely. If the Avatar had been reborn amongst the enemy, he would stand against the Fire Nation. But I was loyal to the Fire Nation, or at least to my home in the Fire Nation Colonies, and as a Healer, I was quite useful to my masters. The world is a much larger and more complex place than your 'friend' Katara has seen."

"But even complexity bows to balance."

"Princess Azula was always said to be smart. I knew you'd understand."

The Josoo River was one of the largest in the main colonial continent, and as such was a prime waterway for ships heading out to the ocean. The river just so happened to empty into the sea that the sailor Meisai had told Azula about- 'the Crucible.' Instead of being a place of war and death, like it was during the war, it had become the launching point for trade and wealth. Not everyone who came to the river wanted to head south to the open waters, though, and so the crossing was established to take passengers and their cargoes to the far shore. The southeastern land beyond that had its share of settlements leading up to the Chubang Mountains, and south of the mountain range was the stretch of civilization made famous by what had once been the ever-leafed Gaipan Forest, now just another charred casualty of the Hundred Years War.

Azula was feeling more at home in the geography of the former colonies every day.

Shingyung had no trouble arranging a ferry ride for them both at the Josoo Crossing. The whole settlement was oriented around the ferries, and although cargo was given a priority over passengers, there was enough capacity for everyone. For all their problems, the colonies had been diligent about rebuilding after the war.

It was just after Shingyung and Azula debarked on the other side that they were attacked.

It started with the sounds of heavy stomping and shattering wood coming from far down the lane. Amidst the sweaty crowd of ferry passengers who were now scattering across the docks, Azula and Shingyung both turned away from their goal of retrieving their ostrich horses, immediately faced towards the noise, and took defensive stances. Of course, they couldn't be sure that this had anything to do with them, but Azula figured the odds were in her favor. She was proven right when a giant mole-like creature came stampeding down the little street, knocking over laden carts and vendor stalls, with a woman in black leather perched on the creature's back and cracking a whip in the air.

June the bounty hunter.

Azula immediately reached into her belt and pulled out her pair of Kyoshi war fans. Flames would be no good against this opponent, not with Firebending's lack of physical defense. She had memories of Suki meeting June in the lead-up to the events surrounding Sozin's Comet, along with all kinds of facts about the woman in her head, and the resulting picture was of a dangerous fighter and excellent hunter. However, as the crowds scattered and the giant shirshu dashed onto the docks, Azula got a good look at the infamous bounty hunter and was amazed at how bland the images in her head were compared to the real thing. If there was such a thing a Spirit of Sex and Leather, it had chosen June as its Avatar.

Azula and Shingyung stood side-by-side on the docks, and June stared them down. The bounty hunter flicked her long hair away from her face before she spoke. "Princess Azula. Your brother and friends are worried about you. Be a good little girl and come on home peacefully."

Azula shifted her stance slightly so that she would be ready to dodge, making her yellow robe flutter around her. "Pass."

"What's the matter, little girl doesn't know it's past her bedtime?" June shifted in her saddle, and the shirshu responded by hunching forward and tensing its legs. "I know they've told you about me. You can't run. Stop being a little Prissy Pants and give it up. You're going home with dignity or in a sack, but you're going home."

Azula kept her gaze on June as she whispered, "Shingyung, flank her."

The Waterbender giggled, then broke out into a run towards the river. She was fast enough to leave a purple blur in the air and managed to get as far as diving off the docks before the shirshu flicked its barbed tongue out for the first time. Fortunately, June was still focused on Azula. She brought her war fans up to block it, but before the mental commands even got all the way to her arms, the tip of the tongue was past her defenses and struck her right in the center of the chest.

With a metallic clunk, the barb bounced off.

Azula smirked. The only reason she was still wearing Shingyung's ugly yellow robe was so that she could keep her armor on without drawing attention.

Her smirk didn't last long. The shirshu flicked its tongue out again right away, and although she was prepared for its almost blinding speed now, Azula still was hard-pressed to react. Each time she blocked with one of her Kyoshi war fans, she took another step back and to the side, trying to get out of the animal's targeting range. Despite being as blind as a mole, though, it didn't seem to have any trouble tracking her. Azula knew it was only a matter of time before she missed blocking one of the strikes, and she bet that the next time, the shirshu wouldn't aiming at the center of her armored chest.

Time to change the dynamic.

The next time the shirshu tried to hit her with some high-velocity aggressive licking, Azula chose to block with her right forearm. The tongue bounced hard off the vambrace she was wearing, but before the animal could retract it back again, Azula quickly swung her arm out in a tight cyclone so that the tongue wrapped around her armored limb, then she tightened the knot by yanking her arm back up close against her chest. She was sure it wouldn't hold for long, so she slammed her other vambrace-covered arm down on top of the wrapped tongue, clamping it in place.

Then she employed a trick that Meisai had shown her, but that Azula hadn't found a use for until now. She exhaled deeply onto the metal of her vambraces, pouring her Inner Flame out with it and instantly heating the metal to high enough temperature to get it glowing.

Okay, that turned out to be a lot more effective than even Meisai had claimed.

The shirshu let out a shriek so loud that it left Azula's ears ringing.

It yanked its tongue back hard enough to both break Azula's hold and pull her completely off her feet. She dropped her fans, and somewhere during the tumble her robe touched the still-hot metal of her left vambrace and was catching fire. Azula quickly pushed herself up off the dock and yanked the robe over her head, then looked around in anticipation of another attack.

Instead, she found the shirshu rolling on the ground in agony some distance away, while June was on her feet beside it and reaching out to her pet. "Nyla! Nyla, let mommy have a look!"

Might as well make use of the distraction. Azula dashed toward the bounty hunter, planning on hitting hard and fast enough to knock June unconscious with a single blow, but before Azula could even register it, June turned and cracked her whip out into the air between them.

Azula's face suddenly burst into stinging pain, and a mist of red exploded into the air around her eyes.

Her hands instinctively jumped up to cradle her injured face, and her running collapsed into a tumble. Azula bounced once off the wood of the dock before coming to a skidding halt, but she didn't feel any pain. The sticky wetness in her hands was too distracting.

Then a high-heeled boot suddenly stomped down on Azula's arms, the bones not breaking only because of the vambraces, but still tearing Azula's hands away from her face. Before she could so much as hiss in pain, a thick leather cord wrapped around Azula's neck with enough force to pinch the airflow off completely.

Choking...

Azula flung her arms out, trying to produce enough fire to chase off the attacker- it must be June- behind her, but she couldn't so much as produce a wave of extra heat. Without breath, there was no fire. Her lungs burned in an all-too familiar way, her vision started to disappear into a dark tunnel that she regularly saw in her nightmares.

Just like Ozai. Just like on Kyoshi Island.

Father...

The cord got even tighter, and Azula felt like her head was going to explode. Above the roaring of her own blood, Azula faintly heard June's voice in her ear. "I didn't want to make this personal, Princess, but you had to go and hurt Nyla. We're both tough girls, Prissy, but what kind of a monster hurts something so precious? This will be one Dead bounty I'll really enjoy."

June yanked the whip-garrote, and Azula was pulled up to her knees with an arched back and she couldn't breathe she couldn't breathe she couldn't breathe-

Azula tightened the muscles running all through her body, threw her legs forward and upward, and flipped her whole body into the air to kick June right in the face with both of her armored boots.

The whip slackened so quickly that it practically exploded off of Azula's neck. She gasped for air with huge heaves, finding the taste of it ever so sweet. She had to stop getting herself asphyxiated; it was a very bad habit. Azula still hadn't gotten tired of breathing when she stood up and turned to find out where June had gone. The bounty hunter was sprawled on the dock, her face hidden by her hair. Azula stomped over and grabbed some of the long glossy locks to lift June up and hold her face up against Azula's own.

The bounty hunter's nose was crooked and gushing blood, and her face was already becoming blue with bruises. "Stay away from me," Azula hissed. "I may be a monster, but I'm a monster who gets more dangerous by magnitudes if you back me into a corner. Come after me again, and it will be the last thing both you and your ridiculous animal ever do." Azula kept a growl in her voice as she spoke, trying to make her delivery as intimidating as possible. She had to keep June from coming after her again, and-

"Oh, warnings won't be necessary."

Then, following the sound of Shingyung's voice, there was a sharp crackle of ice and a noise like a cleaver burying itself into a slab of meat.

Azula dropped June, and her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the ice-spear jammed clean through the bounty hunter's chest.

Azula wasn't even sure how the transition came about. One moment she was staring at June's lifeless body, and the next she was yanking Shingyung by her stupid purple dress and holding an orange flame under her face. "You killed her!"

Shingyung's expression remained calm, and her blue eyes held no fear. "Well, you did tell me to flank her. And how else could we keep her from continuing to hunt you? Her shirshu can detect you anywhere in the world, and she's too professional to let a beating discourage her. What you should be saying is, 'Thank you, Shingyung, you restored balance to my life by doing what was needed but beyond my own capabilities.' I'll settle for you letting go of my tunic, though. This is a most impolite way to carry on a conversation."

Azula moved the fire in her hand even closer to Shingyung's face. "I should kill you now."

"The Avatar would probably thank you for that. But he won't give you the answers you want about your own life. By all means, burn my face off if my existence has no worth to you. Just like poor little Mianju."

Azula tried. She really did. But in the end, she let the fire go out, and released her grip on Shingyung. She just stood and stared as the shirshu nuzzled June's bloody body, letting Shingyung's words pass over her: "We need to scavenge some supplies, but we'll just have to buy more ostrich horses at the next village, unless you care to try to steal a pair here..."

Soon enough, Shingyung led Azula away.

That night, Azula had trouble getting the campfire going. She had to stop and meditate for a while before she could so much as sustain a candle flame, and the flame was a sputtering yellow. Shingyung shook her head in the light of the campfire. "You're losing yourself in the noise of life. At least let me heal the wound on your face."

Azula crouched as far away from the campfire as she dared. "Don't touch me."

"Oh, are you still upset about the bounty hunter? I'm sorry, if I knew it would destabilize your humours you so much, I would have simply crippled her, and then had my organization dispatch assassins against her later. You shouldn't have to see that which upsets you."

Azula sighed. "I didn't want her dead at all. I don't care what I see."

"Oh. Yes, I see now." Shingyung stood up, and started walking to Azula. "You're in denial about your nature. You've killed on Kyoshi Island, killed back in the factory, but now you suddenly think you value life. It's okay to admit it, my dear. Mianju's death is making you regress back into Suki."

Azula looked up sharply to find the other woman towering over her. "What?"

"It's true." Shingyung tilted her head and put her hands on her hips. "I truly believe that there is something symbolic about it, and symbols can be powerful things. Nature and reality have been known to bend the will of symbols. Your body is trying to turn you back into something that can't be blamed for Mianju's death, for all the deaths you've rightly caused in your quest to survive. And that process is killing your Firebending. Here, at least let me heal your face. Azula's face."

Azula didn't move to stop her. Shingyung streamed a tail of water from her supply with a twirling motion of her arm, letting it bunch up around her hand. It began to glow as Shingyung put her hand over Azula's face, and once again that icy clarity flared through her skin and bones. It felt so good that Azula just closed her eyes and sighed as Shingyung moved the glowing water down along her Qi-paths. Too soon, Shingyung finished, and flicked the water away to splatter on the dry ground.

Azula opened her eyes, looked to the campfire, and took a measured breath.

The fire flared blue, grew in size, and shaped itself like a dagger pointed to the heavens.

"Now you're ready to finish the journey," Shingyung said.

"This is the place."

Azula looked up from the rocky path to the cave nested in the wall of stone above. "It looks natural."

Ahead on the path that would theoretically take them to the very peaks of the Chubang Mountains, Shingyung gave a heavy nod. "I would hope so. Our Earthebenders spent enough time crafting it. Come, the death of your uncertainty lies within."

They climbed up off the path to the cave, and squeezed through the gaping maw. Within, the cave continued its natural look as it extended deep into the mountain, but there was a strangeness to it that Azula couldn't immediately identify. Then, as Shingyung lead her further into the cavern, down the sloping ground and around stalagmites, she realized what was missing. Filth. The cave was completely devoid of dust, dirt, animal remnants, or even the lowest level of fungus. It was as clean as a healer's clinic.

It grew dark quickly, the more they moved away from the outermost chamber and entrance, but just as Azula was considering summoning a fire to see by, they reached a sudden sharp corner in the stone tunnel and emerged into a new area. The walls, ceiling and floor were smooth and met at perfect right angles, and glowing green crystals- all identically shaped- jutted out of the walls at regular intervals to provide illumination. Rooms branched off from the hallway at regular intervals, empty and echoing.

It all felt oddly familiar to Azula. Odd, and more than a little sinister.

Shingyung continued on without hesitation. Azula followed closely, and considered getting vengeance for June and Mianju now that she had more or less reached her destination. There was no one else in this cave, it seemed, and Shingyung didn't look to be paying any attention behind her-

Then Azula became aware of distant sounds echoing through the stone passageway. They grew louder as she continued along after Shingyung, until Azula was able to place the source of the noise to a certain room a short way ahead of her. It was clearly the sound of female voices giving short, sharp cries, like what could have been heard every day back in the Kyoshi Warriors' old training dojo. Before it burned down in azure flames.

Azula slowed as she approached the room, and angled her head to see into the doorway as soon as possible.

Inside was a nightmare.

Around two dozen women, every single one of them looking as much like Azula as Mianju had, were drilling in a basic Firebending kata. All the women moved slowly, and their legs and arms shook as though strained, but they kept up the exercise, snapping through punches and kicks. All of their perspiration-soaked faces were void of expression, and they each had their dark hair tied up in a classic Fire Nation topknot.

A vacuum formed in Azula's lungs that made her gasp, and she backed away from the room in abject horror. She only stopped when she bumped into Shingyung. Azula immediately spun to face her and took a defensive stance, but Shingyung just tilted her head. "Do you have a question for me?"

"What is that?!" It had all come out in one breath.

Shingyung shrugged with just her shoulders. "None of the girls we've recruited are Firebenders, and if they're going to successfully impersonate you, they have to move like the original you. The man I told you about, Dong Min, helped to develop a system by which a subject's limbs are broken, and then while they're undergoing accelerated healing with regular Waterbending sessions, they're taught to walk and fight again through extensive training in certain martial arts. We've managed to get the turnaround down to a single week." A ghost of a smile passed over Shingyung's face. "At the rate we're losing 'Azulas,' we have to keep the production line running."

"You're telling me..." Azula had to stop to get her breathing under control, but she couldn't keep the emotion out of her voice. "Someone is mass-producing me?!" Before she got an answer, a shadow moved in the corner of Azula's vision, and she turned instinctively to see a man in a dark green robe- a man she recognized despite having no memories of ever meeting- step smoothly down the hallway towards her.

"Not someone," Long Feng said with a smirk. "Me."

TO BE CONTINUED