The Fire Rises

Azula floated at the center of two opposing forces, suspended perfectly between them by their complementary gravities. The energies they emitted danced over her skin, reaching within to her heart and her Qi and her drive to impose her will on the physical world.

It was bliss.

Azula opened her eyes and looked over at Aang. "How was that?"

"Perfect." He smiled broadly at her. "You're getting better at achieving that state. If we had more time to practice, I bet you'd be able to get there on your own really soon."

"As nice as that sounds, I think I would prefer to stop Long Feng first. " Azula unfolded from her Lotus Position to stand and stretched her limbs beneath her armor. She didn't need its protection here in her basement apartment of the White Lotus residence, but today was going to be her 'public debut,' so to speak, and she expected that the protection of leather and metal would be necessary. "My personal growth can wait until after we've saved the world." Aang took on a pensive expression, and Azula found herself frowning in return. "Ah, yes. We won't be able to continue these little sessions once the Earth King has me, hm? That's the trouble with deals. Most people feel obligated to keep them."

It had been a nicer couple of weeks than Azula would have expected, living as a captive in all but name in Yu Dao. While they had waited for a messenger from Azula's rebel army to bring the records detailing all of Long Feng's financial dealings in setting up his conspiracy of conquest, Aang had visited Azula daily to teach her meditations and other exercises for achieving spiritual balance. It was nothing practical, but it at least was something into which she could channel her anxiety while planning for her final encounter with Long Feng. She had other visitors in that time; Sokka and Ty Lee also came to see her every day, bringing her scraps of news and discussing the details of how they hoped to turn the colonial governors against Long Feng. Those visits were a bit less comfortable than Aang's, but she could see how Sokka was trying his best to show her respect, and leave it up to her to define the tone of their alliance.

Azula had decided to play it cool, and she could see that it distressed Sokka.

But then, not as much as she heard it had distressed Zuko when she refused to accept his own visits.

Aang broke into Azula's musings with, "I want you to know, even though we do have to let the Earth King put you on trial for everything, none of us are going to abandon you. We'll help defend you, even if the worst happens."

Azula quirked an eyebrow. "Because you feel so guilty for what was done to me? Is everyone hoping to redeem themselves by saving me from the punishment my crimes have earned me?"

"Fair question." Aang's eyes lost focus, and he sat a little straighter in his Lotus Position. "I can't speak for everyone, but I'm just trying to do the right thing and make sure you're treated fairly. But... there's something else. All of this with you, and the colonies, and what you've made us realize about how we treated you... it's connected, somehow. I get the feeling that I can learn something from it all that's really important to my Avatar duties."

Azula's lip twisted of its own accord. "How to raise an army and conquer the colonies through sheer force of will?"

Aang didn't even blink at that. "Not exactly. It's something... something focused, something that's the key to unlocking the new nature of the world. I'm not sure what it is yet..." His voice trailed off, and he seemed oblivious to Azula's presence.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs brought him back to reality, and Azula stiffened at the sight of her latest guests. Sokka and Ty Lee descended the staircase into the little basement apartment, the former looking at Aang with his own thoughtful expression. "Interesting idea," Sokka said. "That's something we'll have to think about. I already know the mistakes I made in pushing for Azula- I mean 'you,' sorry for talking about you like you weren't here- and I'm not, you know, implying that I have all the answers now or that I'm perfect or trying to diminish your thoughts- sorry if I'm being patronizing, I don't mean to- um-"

Azula cut him off with a groan. "Please stop talking. This can only get more awkward, and already I want to burn a hole in the ceiling and run away."

"Right. Sorry." Sokka glanced over at Ty Lee, and then looked back to Aang and Azula. "Anyway, we came to let you know that they're ready for us in the Convocation Center. Azula's captured records have been moved over, and they want us all safely in the building before they let the crowds into the audience seating."

Azula found herself tapping her chin as she tried to analyze the situation. "This is strange. I honestly didn't expect Long Feng to let things get this far. Any further word from him?"

Sokka shook his head. "The latest was still the tip Mayor Morishita's office got that Long Feng would present himself at the city's gate today to be taken into custody."

"Hm." Long Feng was not playing according to what Azula had expected his most likely course of action to be. She thought he would perhaps try to kill her, stuck here in the White Lotus' basement, or maybe wait for the evidence against him to be delivered and then strike to either recapture the documents or destroy them. What was he playing at by going along with this show trial? "Well, whatever is going on, we can count on Long Feng to be running another con. Whether he strikes at us physically, or has something planned for the hearing, we have to be ready for a surprise. Keep trust to a minimum."

Sokka nodded. "We're all going over to the Convocation Center on Appa, but the Mayor asked the White Lotus to bring you in separately, to avoid things looking like we're all in this together. I'm going to be hanging back and playing shadow guard while everyone else gets set up for the trial, just in case."

"Good idea. But I don't think I should go in alone." Azula turned to Ty Lee and looked the other girl- her former friend from two different lives- right in her big gray eyes. "Ty, please stay with me? I don't want to be alone today without anyone I really know. I can count on you, right?"

Ty Lee's lips quivered for a moment, but then her face hardened and she gave a grim smile. "I'll do anything to help you. I won't let you down."

Azula smiled back. "Excellent. Then it's time to put all the tiles into play."

Mayor Morishita marched down Yu Dao's main avenue at the center of a phalanx of soldiers in master-crafted Yu Dao armor, and came to a halt in the shadow of the city's main gate.

Once, Yu Dao's gate had been a simple affair. The city was surrounded by a stone wall supported internally with Fire Nation metal, and the entrance had been a set of double-doors made of rich red wood imported from another colony. Those doors had been closed only at night, and were otherwise supposed to be a welcoming sign of the prosperity of the Fire Nation colonies. That had been until the war ended, until the Avatar had arbitrated an agreement between the Earth King and the Fire Lord to return the colonies to the Earth Kingdom. Until Yu Dao's Fire Nation ruling class had risen up in rebellion. Until Earthbenders arrived at the walls, and hammered away at the simple wooden doors.

Yu Dao had nearly fallen, before the Avatar, the Earth King, and the Fire Lord had come to another agreement to give the colonies their independence. Yu Dao still had to pay a price for its rebellion, and for what the Avatar said was an unfair social ordering, but Mayor Morishita had thought that his biggest problems were over.

Then Long Feng visited almost immediately after Yu Dao's independence was recognized and explained Yu Dao's role in his grand plan, and afterward the Mayor had ordered a new gate constructed.

Morishita nodded to the Gatehouse, and the soldier on station within activated the hydraulics that had been built into the new, thicker wall. The doors of the gate were still wood, but now they were covered with thick metal shaped in Yu Dao itself, and as the hydraulic pressure was eased, they swung open with a heavy creak to reveal a single figure standing at ready. He was clad in traveler's robes, and when the doors shuddered to a halt, the figure pushed back his hood to reveal his face.

Mayor Morishita gave a short bow to Long Feng. "Thank you for surrendering yourself to answer for your crimes," he said loudly.

Beyond Long Feng, a crowd of gawkers waited and whispered, and Long Feng spoke his reply so that it could be heard by everyone nearby. "I have committed no crimes but for the sake of the people of the colonies. I come to shed the light of truth on the lies of the Fire Princess." He stepped forward, and the guards repositioned themselves so that they extended their perimeter around him. Once Long Feng was even with Morishita, the whole procession started moving back into the city, while the gates groaned closed again behind them.

As they walked, Long Feng leaned over and whispered, "Everything is ready?"

Morishita ignored the twisting in his guts. "Yes. The team is on station, and the device has been activated. I got the word from the staging point of the second wave that they are ready to go on your command."

"Excellent." Long Feng's smile was like an especially slimy spider-snake, eager to swallow everything caught in its web until it hung bloated and stretched at the center. He must have noticed Morishita's discomfort, as he said, "You have a concern?"

Calling them mere 'concerns' was a vast understatement. Morishita didn't even know how he was staying on his feet, never mind projecting a calm image. "This plan of yours... when it's done, I'll have... I'll have nothing..."

"You'll have your life, your family, and your name, Mayor, and none of those are small things. Your loyalty and cooperation will be remembered, and once I have re-established my power, you will be among the first to be rewarded. All you need is patience." Long Feng's eyes grew narrow, and he added, "And if you don't behave yourself, it will be easy enough to take away everything you hold dear. You know what I can do to a person's mind, that I can make them forget even their own name. I was gentle with your daughter's treatment, but that didn't stop her from going to the Fire Nation to assassinate Fire Lord Zuko on my command. I wasn't so gentle with the Earth Kingdom rebels who just so happened to arrive on your doorstep when the Fire Lord suspended the Harmony Restoration Movement, rebels who were last seen in the depths of my Ba Sing Se headquarters. You were almost surrounded with my handiwork as you struggled to hold on to your power and money while the entire world focused on your corrupt little colony and began considering that horrifying notion of 'independence' from-"

"Enough," Mayor Morishita hissed. He glanced around to make sure that no one else had heard him, and then turned back to Long Feng. "I am, as ever," he said carefully, all too aware of the sweat beading his brow, "grateful for your advice and good will, Long Feng, sir. I was just nervous about the coming violence. My apologies."

"Quite all right, Mayor. This is going to be a busy day, after all. We mustn't let the stress get to us."

After the others had departed, several of the Lotus Guard came to collect Azula and bring her to the Convocation Center. As they stepped out into the shining sun- Ty Lee sticking close to Azula's side- she couldn't help but notice a certain background noise that seemed to resonate up through the ground to rattle her back teeth. "What is that- that vibrating?"

The lead Lotus Guard, an older man with bare feet and a bald head, said, "The new machine presses used by the craftsmen. They've been running more and more over the last month, presumably to help fill the demand for metal parts. I suspect they are running extra hard today as an excuse to keep many of the workers from taking off to watch the trial."

Azula tried to ignore the rattling, but found that it took quite a bit of willpower. "Must be especially annoying for Earthbenders."

"You have no idea."

The Lotus Guard kept to side-streets, rather smartly hoping to avoid any large crowds. From what Azula had been told by Sokka over the last few weeks, things still hadn't calmed down after her arrival. She had idly wondered if something about her own Inner Fire being present in the city was resonating with the Firebenders who ran everything, but dismissed the idea as fantastically unlikely. It was probably just that a city which specialized in manufacturing weapons and parts for war machines was a poor place to hold high-tension negotiations meant to change the whole world order. Adding accused terrorists and a warmonger princess to the proceedings was just throwing grease on the already blazing fire.

The procession arrived at the Convocation Center without incident. The Lotus Guard led Azula and Ty Lee to a small side entrance set into the Center's outer wall, and the sounds of the crowd waiting to be let into the main building rose up in a cacophony that drowned out the vibrations of the weaponsmiths. The lead Lotus spoke with the guard at the gate, and then turned back to Azula and said, "As you can hear, they still haven't allowed the audience into the building. There is some delay in the setup. They want to bring you to a room underground where you can wait for the trial to begin in safety."

Azula frowned. "How long will that take? And what about Long Feng?"

The Lotus consulted the guard again, and then answered, "They say they will be letting the audience in within the hour, and the trial will begin within an hour after that. Long Feng is being held in a similar manner to you, on the opposite side of the Convocation Center."

Azula had a bad feeling about this whole thing, but without any evidence to go on, couldn't yet make trouble. "Very well. But I want Ty Lee to stay with me the whole time."

"Of course."

At Azula's right hand, Ty Lee shifted her weight from side to side, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. "They couldn't keep me away. But I'm glad everyone is being nice about it."

The guard at the wall stood aside, and the White Lotus escorted Azula and Ty Lee through an entrance that led into a set of stairs going down. Once again Azula was being stored underground like so much junk, and this time she couldn't shake the feeling that she was walking into an ambush.

Sokka couldn't help but think that the main conclave room was even more intimidating when it was empty.

Well, it wasn't completely empty. Down on the main floor, the governors were assembled and talking impatiently amongst themselves. Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Toph were down there, too, looking over the records of Long Feng's bribe-paying and whatnot one more time before they gave their big presentation with Azula. The Earth King was at his own table with his advisors, and even though they were keeping quiet, it was plain from their frequent glances to the room's doors that they were getting fed up with all the waiting. Still, even with the main tables filled, the massive room was left mostly empty until the audiences were allowed in. Sokka prowled the stands and tried to keep an eye on everything at once, but it was hard without knowing what he was looking for. Maybe Azula was wrong, and Long Feng was going to play this one straight in hopes that his bribes and speeches had gotten him enough support?

No, Azula was smart, and had been dealing with Long Feng directly through some really hard times. Sokka trusted her, despite his fear of her.

Down on the main floor, there was a thump like wood bumping into stone, and Toph gave a little shriek. Sokka whipped his gaze down and over to find her clutching the toes of her right foot and leaning against the table she had just bumped. Her growl echoed through the whole chamber: "This is so annoying. It's like they have one of those stupid machine presses running right here in the basement. I can't see anything!"

And with that, Sokka was overcome with a dawning sense of horror that perhaps he hadn't been paranoid enough. He drew his boomerang and tensed, sure that something was about to happen.

The room where they had stuffed Azula was tiny, dusty, and smelled like it had been a hiding place for corpses at some point in time. Ty Lee seemed to be turning a little green from it. The space was too small for Azula's entire retinue, so the Lotus Guard were left to take up a defensive position outside in the hallway while the two girls sat on opposite ends of a stained table and tried to think of something to say to each other.

Azula was starting to consider one of Aang's meditation techniques when the door finally swung open and a man in the blue and white robes of the White Lotus stepped inside.

"Oh," Ty Lee gasped. Azula looked over at the acrobat just in time to see her run a nervous hand through her short hair, look down, and whisper, "His aura is so mean- orange and red in swirls of brown. I've never- not a White Lotus guy-"

"I see." Azula nodded, and stood up to greet the guest. "Is everything ready for us?"

The man in the White Lotus robe smiled. "It is, Princess. It's time to take you where you need to go."

Azula smiled back, and then broke into a punch that lit the man's robes into a conflagration of blue flame. Azula ignored the screams and grabbed his neck before his writhing could twist him too far away, and then shoved with all her might to send the blazing body out into the hallway like a bolt from a ballista. Cries of surprise and pain answered, and Azula knew she wouldn't have long before the men who produced them began to reorganize. She turned to Ty Lee and said, "You probably just saved my life. Long Feng has sprung his trap, and we're stuck in a basement with all of our enemies wearing the uniforms of allies. We need to get out. For now, let's assume they're trying to keep us out of the main conclave. We head for there. Are you ready?"

Ty Lee took in a long, shuddering breath, and when she let it out, her face tightened and her eyes focused with the intensity of the sun on a steaming summer day. Azula was momentarily taken aback by the harsh expression, and a flash of dream-like memory showed her a younger version of Ty Lee making the same face, deciding for the first time to hurt the world the same way it always tried to hurt her. "I'm ready."

"Then let's go."

Both girls rushed the door and came out fighting.

Azula barely had time to analyze. She divided every moving object in the stone hallway into three classifications- Ty Lee, bodies in blue standing up, and bodies in blue on the ground. There were a large number of bodies already on the ground who Azula assumed were her real Lotus Guard, while the ones standing up were mostly focused on the burning body she had thrown out of her room. Azula decided that those were all targets and began making with the fire. Her every step brought on a new attack- punches and kicks alternating with each other to bring her forward with each move. She had taken out only two of the targets before the others realized they were under attack and began defending themselves with stone pulled from the walls.

The walls were precise, made with perfect corners and no larger than they had to be.

Dai Li.

Or, at least, Dai Li-trained Earthbenders. Same difference.

Ty Lee sailed into the air above Azula's head, somehow managing not to collide with the low ceiling. She landed in a kind of crouching handstand atop one of the defensive pylons and used it to swing her feet straight into the Earthbender's head. Azula ducked low and waved a carpet of flames to stream down the center of the hallway and lick at everyone's feet, and then came up with another barrage of fireballs. There were more cries of pain, the unmistakable sound of Ty Lee's fists hammering into yielding flesh, and the movement of stone. Azula dodged around one flying rock, sidestepped a sheet of stone that sprung out on her left side, and grabbed at one of the Earthbenders to swing him head-first into the wall and then pound his chest with a flaming knee. The move spun her around, so she kicked backwards with a jet of flame that prompted another scream, and when she turned again the only person left standing was Ty Lee.

Azula nodded. "We keep moving. Quickly."

Ty Lee nodded back and raised her fists as she broke into a run down the hall.

Sokka was still tensed and ready when figures in dark suits fell from the ceiling.

He immediately threw himself behind one of the audience benches and thought he heard something whistle through the air right past him as he fell. The floor was stone and no fun to make a hard landing on, but once he recovered his breath he heard cries and gasps coming from the main floor of the room. He recognized the voices.

Katara.

Aang.

Zuko.

Toph.

Other important guys.

Then there came the sound of feet landing hard on the floor. A male voice said, "We miss anyone?"

"There."

There was another whistle of air, followed by the thud of a body on the floor. "Got him."

"All clear. Lee, Earthbend us a platform for the bodies. Xiang, go get the snow savage's body from the stands. Keep it moving quickly, people. The concentrated shirshu venom will keep them out, but we have to make our connection."

That decided it for Sokka. He was just one guy with a boomerang up against a team of crazy ceiling-leapers armed with blowdarts (now that he knew what to look for, he saw the dart intended for him on the floor beside his head) coated in enough shirshu venom to knock him out on his feet. If he revealed himself and tried to fight, there were more than enough of them to keep him busy and flank him on both sides. He would be out cold just like his friends in minutes.

But those were his friends.

And these guys were apparently in a hurry.

Minutes might be enough.

Sokka stood up and threw his boomerang at the first head he saw.

He ducked back down as Boomerang spun through the air, and he was rewarded with the sound of whale bone impacting against human bone. There were immediate cries of "Up there!" and "The snow savage!" but Sokka ignored them and focused on his counting. At five, he reached his hand up and caught Boomerang on its return trip, and then immediately began scooting across the floor as quickly as he could without revealing himself. It didn't take long for him to hear footsteps rushing up the stands like they were stairs, and Sokka positioned himself so that he could intercept one of the attackers coming up on the left. The assassin guy passed right over Sokka without seeing him, and Sokka didn't hesitate to grab the man by his legs and yank him down. Sokka twisted and shoved the guy up against the nearest bench, and then grabbed the hood covering his head and proceeded to bounce said head against the stone floor a few times. When the body went limp, Sokka began extricating himself, but stopped when he bumped up against something the assassin had been wearing strapped to his side.

It was a scabbard.

Grinning, Sokka unsheathed the jian sword within and stood up.

Sure enough, the other assassins were already converging on him, and one immediately drew a blowpipe and breathed out a dart. Sokka whipped the sword across his body, keeping the flat out of the blade facing outward, and was rewarded with a victorious little 'tink' that meant he had successfully blocked the shot. He just wished Mai could have seen that. She still claimed that he had been cheating back when he knocked her knives out of the air when they were on opposite sides of the war.

Of course, blocking the blowdarts from the six other guys who were now taking aim was going to be a lot harder.

Like, impossible hard.

Sokka took a defensive stance, drawing his favorite machete with his free hand. If he was going to go down, it wouldn't be while surrendering.

The assassins aimed-

-inhaled-

-and exploded into blue fire.

While Azula focused on punching out fireballs as fast as she could, Ty Lee took a flying leap that arced straight into the largest cluster of enemies. Several screams, thuds, and meaty punches later, Azula, Sokka, and Ty Lee were the only ones left standing in the rows of benches.

Sokka lowered his weapons and breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. "Woo. Thank you. I thought we were in real trouble there. You saved us all."

Azula looked around the conclave room, confirmed her earlier impression, and turned back to Sokka. "Us all who?"

Sokka blinked at her. "Everyone! You know, Aang, Zuko, the Earth..." He had turned his gaze over to the main floor, and was seeing exactly what Azula was: a few overturned tables, a big rectangular chunk of the floor missing, and no sign of life at all. "...King. Slush, they got away! Those guys in the black pajamas knocked everyone out with shirshu venom and are carting them away somewhere!"

Azula immediately began mapping factors in her head. Long Feng was kidnapping the leaders of the world. He hadn't taken them underground. Why not? Insufficient information for that, she had to move on. The trial had been delayed, the participants cut off from the crowds, and Azula herself isolated for her own unpleasant fate. That required someone with administrative influence over the conclave, to arrange things and get the assassins in position. That meant that Long Feng probably had full access to the building, so if he was kidnapping a large group of people, he would be making use of the most efficient facilities to move his victims out. "Quickly, is there something like a loading bay in this building?"

Sokka's eyes narrowed. "The guards must already have that covered."

"Forget the guards; they're probably in on it! I knew Long Feng was going to try something, but I miscalculated the scale of his plan. It's okay though, we're doing fine so far. We just have to catch up to him."

"Okay?!" Sokka's jaw fell, and he was reduced to making little gasping noises before he finally found his voice. "Long Feng just kidnapped the most important people in the world and we don't know where he went! How is that okay?!"

Azula walked right up to him and stuck her face so close to his that the tips of their noses were touching. "Stop that. I knew Long Feng would try something, and since I couldn't precisely anticipate his actions, I put you and Ty Lee into play as odd factors, friends who can help the same way I used help to defeat Shingyung. So far, that's working. Now, focus and tell me the best room in this stupid building to load thirty to fifty bodies into a cart!" She stepped back and crossed her arms over her armor.

Sokka blinked. "That's... um... the loading bay. Servants bring food and stuff in there for lunches and fancy parties." He blinked again, and his eyes lost focus. "The hallways leading back there can get pretty narrow, so he'll need to either make new passages or slow up, but I know some shortcuts."

"Good. Now run."

They ran.

Long Feng walked into the loading bay just in time to see his soldiers load the last of the colonial governors into the tank. It had taken some work to get a tank of Fire Nation styling to be redesigned to carry cargo, then fully manufactured, and finally delivered here to Yu Dao, never mind all in the timeframe while Azula's allies waited for their 'evidence,' but that was the lovely thing about gold. It bought so much of other people's effort, so long as you knew where to spend it, and Long Feng's manufacturing contacts in Yang City were especially eager to prove their worth lately. Turning his attention to another useful servant, Long Feng found Mayor Morishita where he was supervising the loading and graced the politician with a smile. "Excellent work, Mayor. I see that everything is proceeding as scheduled."

The Mayor, however, did not reflect Long Feng's goodwill. "Er, there's a problem, sir. We got most of our targets, but our agents were chased off by Sokka Water Tribe and Azul-"

Long Feng drove his rock-covered, Bending-powered fist into Morishita's face just once, but after the Mayor's body crumpled to the ground, it did not rise again.

All movement in the loading bay ceased. Long Feng looked over at his agents, in the process of carrying Fire Lord Zuko into the tank's cargo bay, and flicked the blood off his glove. He had taken to wearing his old Dai Li weapons again, since he got the news about Shingyung. "My apologies, gentlemen, I was just taking care of a small staffing issue. Please, proceed, timing is very important to our-"

Then the door on the far side of the loading bay burst open with an explosion of blue flames.

Before the door was even finished bouncing across the stone ground, Long Feng was dashing for the tank. "Get the prisoners aboard, now! Rearguard formation!"

Azula went through the door first, and found herself at the center of a storm of fireballs and stones the size of her head. She punched a few fireballs of her own out towards the armored soldiers on the other side of the loading bay, but she didn't bother checking to see if they hit anything. That wasn't the point. Azula kept up a curving run that took her away from the door she had just blown open-

-drawing the attacks of Long Feng's soldiers-

-and back at the doorway, Sokka and Ty Lee slipped into the room. The first the enemy soldiers knew of their arrival was when Sokka's boomerang hit one of them in the face, and then both the Water Tribe swordsman and Ty Lee the Kyoshi Queen of Punching Things were amongst them. The soldiers, of course, quickly shifted their attention. That's when Azula went on the offensive. However, these soldiers were armored, so even with Azula's Firebending and Sokka's swordwork, the enemy didn't go down easily. It was Ty Lee who was the deciding factor. Even while Azula was batting orange fire out of the air and kicking back streams of blue fire, Ty Lee was twirling and cartwheeling through the fray, landing precise hits wherever armor gave way to meat.

The last of the soldiers went down with a panicked cry as Ty Lee's blow stole control of his limbs, and Azula turned-

-to find the loading bay empty, a trail of dirtied stone tiles showing the path where Long Feng's over-sized Fire Nation tank had apparently left during the fighting.

"Unagi breath," Azula hissed. She ran out through the large port into the shining sun, but there was no further sign of the vehicle in the little courtyard. The only sound she could make out was the distant buzz of the crowds still cordoned off in the Convocation Center's main courtyard, waiting to be let in for a show that wouldn't be happening. Long Feng must have taken his tank out and through one of the gates in the Center's outer wall. But how to find out where? She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to face Sokka and Ty Lee. "Long Feng got away. I think- I'm going to try following him. Maybe I can use my rocket-run technique to catch up with him if I stick to the main roads, but I'll have to find him quickly because I don't know if I can sustain- what are you doing?"

Sokka was rummaging in his belt, searching through the pouches for something. "I have a better idea," he said. "Remember how you told us to be ready for all kinds of craziness? Aha!" With a big smile, he pulled a small object out of his belt, and held it up in the sun.

It was a small wooden whistle, carved in the shape of a buffalo.

Azula smiled back at Sokka as he put the whistle to his lips and blew an inaudible call.

"There," Ty Lee shouted over the roar of the wind. She leaned over the edge of Appa's saddle, and pointed past the bulk of the flying Sky Bison to indicate movement down on the Yu Dao streets so far below.

Azula followed Ty Lee's pointing, and sure enough, there was the over-sized Fire Nation tank tearing down the street. "He's not making for the main gate. Maybe he's not trying to escape?"

Ty Lee opened her mouth to answer, but Sokka's voice cut through with a tone that immediately turned Azula's head: "Is something burning over there?"

Azula crawled across the boat-like saddle to where Sokka was 'steering' Appa atop the beast's head, and looked down in the direction of his own gaze. Sure enough, smoke was rising. Azula continued to sweep her gaze down, trying to make out the source, and-

-was that blue fire?

The building burned, pouring black smoke into the sky, but the fire that engulfed it, that danced over the whole structure, was like a thousand little pieces of the sky that had fallen down to terrorize the earth.

Blue flames.

How?

Then Azula noticed another rising cloud of smoke. Then another. Then another.

"Yu Dao is burning," she whispered.

And all the fires were blue.

As the driver guided the tank as gracefully as possible over Yu Dao's streets, Long Feng leaned forward in his passenger seat to get a better look out the forward viewport. He spotted several rising clouds of black smoke, and nodded with satisfaction. Mayor Morishita might not have been completely dependable, but aside from Azula's survival, everything was working out so far. "You know the route you need to take?"

"Yessir," the driver said. "We're moving out towards the perimeter of the city, and then we'll circle around to our rendezvous. That will keep us away from the Terror Teams while they do their thing."

"Good work." Long Feng allowed himself a smile of satisfaction. On second thought, who cared if Azula survived? When Yu Dao was burned to the ground under azure flames, the people assembled out in the tent village would carry the tale to all corners of the world. Azula would once again become the most hated figure since Sozin. Perhaps worse. Meanwhile, Long Feng would take his prisoners and set up a new base somewhere isolated. While the world hunted Azula for him, he could 'reeducate' the Avatar, the Fire Lord, the Earth King, their friends, and all those other fools. They would emerge and return to their lives, confirming Azula's guilt to the world, and quietly introduce a new ally who would help bring order not just to the colonies, but to all the lands of the earth. Long Feng would need a new name, perhaps a change in appearance, just in case, but with the backing of such a prestigious group, he would still be able to achieve all his dreams.

Who needed the colonies anyway? In Long Feng's new world order, he could return them to both the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. It would make ruling them easier. So much work had been put into the conspiracy, but it wasn't for nothing. Without the journey, Long Feng never would have come so far.

He would have to make a point of thanking Azula, if he saw her again before she died.

Once they knew where to look, it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on. The streets of Yu Dao were filling with people, all of them wearing the classic Firebender armor that had become the icon of the war and the rule of Fire Lord Ozai. The soldiers were attacking indiscriminately, tossing bombs of some kind into any nearby building to set it ablaze with blue fire. Those citizens who hadn't gone to the Convocation Center came out to defend their homes and businesses, but the soldiers were ready for them. Swords and spears were hefted, and war once more broke out, this time in the streets of the oldest and most supposedly civilized of the colonies.

Azula, Sokka, and Ty Lee looked down on it with identical sick expressions. Appa groaned as if in sympathy, and Azula shut her eyes against the tragedy. "This is my fault. He's doing this because of me."

She felt strong arms encircle her, and Azula opened her eyes to find Sokka holding her, looking into her eyes with a clear gaze. "It's not your fault. We tried to stop him, and you-"

"I miscalculated," she said. "I didn't realize he would go this far. I suspected the Mayor was corrupt, but I didn't realize that he would let something like this happen." Azula hugged Sokka back, and then gave a heavy sigh and pulled away. "This is my responsibility. And I will make good on that. People will be hurt, but a miscalculation is not the end of the world. I am." She stood, ignoring Ty Lee's oddly surprised expression, and settled into the most stable Firebending stance she could manage on the back of a flying Sky Bison. She crouched down, marshaled all of her grief and guilt and anger and hate and poured those emotions into her Inner Fire. Then Azula sprang up, thrust a hand into the sky, and let it all out in the biggest burst of Firebending she had ever attempted.

The blue flames rose and exploded, filling the sky above Yu Dao. The inferno expanded to both Azula's left and right, almost like wings, while the core of the blaze continued to shoot upwards.

The shape, to those watching from outside the city, would almost look like a bird with massive beak and wings.

A bird made of fire.

The people had emerged from their tents when the first shouts of "Fire!" had broken out. Some watched in shock as the smoke and flames reached up above Yu Dao's outer wall, while others rushed to the city with the vague notion of somehow helping. Those people found the gate locked against them, and even when a group of Earthbenders worked together to raise and hammer away with a stone battering ram, the metal doors and metal-reinforced walls resisted all attempts to breach them.

Back at the tents, one man said to another, "Surely, it must be the work of the Fire Princess. But I thought she came to conquer, not burn?" And the reply was, "Fires burn only at her will."

Not far away, two women stepped away from their children for a moment to confer, trading comments of, "We have to get out of here before she can hurt our kids," and, "But where can we go that will be safe from her?"

In another place amidst the tent village, a man walked over to a woman with hair that was short enough to make her gender a tough guess, and said, "Is it time?" And the reply was, "We wait for the signal she described to me."

Then the phoenix rose above the city, a legendary icon clothed in azure for the first time in all of history. The short-haired woman said, "There's the signal." And then she began shouting, "People of the colonies, your Princess needs you!"

Sokka watched the bird of fire fade into the air, and decided that he was done trying to figure things out for the day. This was getting too confusing. So instead, he squeaked, "What are you doing now?"

Azula just shook her head at him. "You'll see. For now, we need to get the city's main gate open. Head for there."

"Why?"

"No time. Tell me how to get the gate open. I saw that there was something mechanical to it when I was first brought in."

Sokka stared at Azula for a moment, but things were moving too fast for him. He needed confirmation that he wasn't going insane. He looked over to Ty Lee, trying to figure out what question he wanted to ask her, but she just shrugged and said, "It's easiest to do what Azula says."

And, of course, she was right. He tugged Appa's reins, steering the big guy over towards the city's main gate. "Okay. I trust you. The doors of the gate are governed by a hydraulic system. They put pressure on the doors to keep them shut. The metal casing protects them from damage, but the doors themselves are made of wood. The hydraulic pressure is enough to withstand some really heavy duty battering rams, and it's governed by a set of controls set directly into the wall. The City Watch are the ones who run that, and-"

"-and they're probably the first ones Long Feng subverted, if he's not just in control of the whole city," Azula finished. "So we have to take the controls and hope they're not sabotaged, or we could-" Her eyes went a little wide, and she gave a deep frown. "Yes, that should work. If I can get it right."

"Get what right?" With the gate directly below them, Sokka steered Appa into a spiraling descent.

"No time. I'll wait for you to catch up."

Even more confused, Sokka turned just in time to see Azula hop off the saddle into the empty air.

The rushing air battered at Azula, but she kept her body straight so that she would fall at maximum speed with minimum drift. Her stomach flipped and clenched and behaved in ways that did not make her feel good, but she kept her focus on the fall. Just another second...

Now!

Azula exhaled with all her lungpower, concentrating on her limbs, and strong jets of blue fire shot out of her fists and boots. The jolt shook her in the air, and Azula almost let the force tip her into a spin, but she angled her hands to stabilize her rotation, and she was able to stay upright.

Then the roof of the building she had been aiming for rose up to meet her, and Azula came to a hard, hammering stop that she felt in every single one of her bones.

Wow. That actually worked.

Now for the hard part.

It took an effort of will to ignore the world around her- Sokka and Ty Lee's calls, Appa's groan, the noise of the crowd on the opposite side of the gate, and the sounds (oh, the sounds) of Yu Dao being ransacked and burned to the ground. Azula had to shut out the stench of the burning buildings, the smoke on the wind, and the urgent need to do something. Yet, somehow, she managed. She forced it all away, and made her entire world into the glow of her Inner Fire, the rhythmic thumping of her heart, and the dance of Qi throughout her body. She breathed in and breathed out, a steady drumbeat to drive her march to the Void. The name was misleading, because for all that there was nothing in it, she was not alone in the Void.

Suki was there. Azula was there.

And She was there.

She would never be alone again, and that was the greatest of comforts as She pulled Suki and Azula away from each other. It took a strength She had never before called upon, a strength that had nothing to do with muscles and bones because Her body had no place in this Void. It was an effort of will, but also an effort of energy. She had to exert energy on the energies to separate the energies from each other. Contradictions like that were a part of what made the Void such an uneasy space. She held Suki and Azula back from each other, feeling as though She was holding the world up with Her hands, but the space between the two was no longer a Void. Energies escaped and crackled between the twin goddesses, streaming and building and joining together in an embrace that made many into one. She held Suki and Azula apart for as long as She could, letting the energy build up until She burned in its center, and then, finally, allowed Herself to rest.

Suki and Azula came crashing together, clasping hands and yanking each other into an embrace.

She was at the center, and when all of that energy had no place to go, She offered it a conduit.

A conduit to the physical world.

In that physical world, the woman who called herself Azula thrust an arm forward, pointed a pair of fingers at Yu Dao's gate, and-

-unleashed the lightning.

The doors were metal wrapped around wood. The metal drank the electricity like a flower in the desert, taking it all within where it found the wooden center. The wood did not take as kindly to the energy; it wanted to burn, but there was simply too much to merely birth flames. This was full-on combustion, and it combusted with the force of the eternal relationship between Yin and Yang.

The doors were consumed, exploded from within, and crumbled to so much junk.

Sokka brought Appa down for a landing just as the scary, rampaging crowd began streaming through the space where Yu Dao's fancy gate used to be. It was all the people, or at least a good chunk of them, from the tent village, being lead into the city by- were those the Rough Rhinos, riding an actual set of rhinos? And Meisai was with them?!

Sokka looked over to Azula, who was watching it all, still smoking slightly from her Lightningbending, with an eerie calm that almost made it seem like she had been expecting all of this. When she finally turned her attention to Sokka, he found he had only one thing to say. "What the slush?!"

Azula regarded him, and the corners of her mouth shifted upward. "I brought an army."

"...of course you did."

TO BE CONTINUED