Hey everyone.
Here we are with another update.
As usual, thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows since the previous update.
And as always, if you find the story worthy. Please continue doing so. I hope that you all enjoy the chapter.
Revelations – Chapter Ninety-One
Mai and Ty Lee sat on the floor of the room once more while Zoi stood with her back against the wall.
Downstairs the others were concluding the cleanup.
Azula sat in a chair with Elle faithfully seated at her boots once more.
And the old sage sat in a chair before her damaged but still intact wood stove while they waited for her to clarify matters to them.
"We're inside now old woman. I demand that you give us the explanations that you said you would." Azula remarked in a cold voice with her callous eyes staring back at the crone's hunched over back.
"Yes, Wise Sage. Please tell me the meaning of all that I saw." Elle requested in a polite voice as she sat with the back of her head resting against Azula's leg.
The three noblewomen glanced back at the old woman expecting her to snap a reply at the unsocial princess.
Only for all but Azula to gaze on in humor when the sound of the sage snoring flowed into their ears.
The princess's merciless eyes twitched as she glared back at the old woman's sleeping face.
Just before a devious thought came to mind while a ball of blue fire formed in her palm.
As her two childhood friends turned to her with their eyes narrowing in reproach.
And even her captain frowned as she shook her head.
Only for all of them to sigh when the fireball exploded in the stove while a large flame now flared to life before the awoken crone's yelling face.
"Azula!" Ty Lee exclaimed with her brown-gray eyes staring at the smirking woman in disapproval when Mava was almost burned by the roaring fire.
"No good brat! And you wonder why no one likes you!" Mava shouted as she waved an indignant hand in the air while Azula smiled smugly back at her.
The others just shook their heads musing that the old woman had a valid point.
"It isn't time for your nap…grandma. Now wake up and answer my questions or I will burn this tree down from the inside out!" Azula commanded with her finger pointing back at the sage's glowering face.
Only for her amber golden eyes to glare down at her feet when she felt a dainty hand shake her sleeve.
"Don't do that Azula-sama! Think of all of the forest creatures that must call this tree home!" Elle advised in a sweet voice while the princess rolled her eyes down at her as Ty Lee smiled back at them.
"Go ahead and burn it down. Then you can resume where you left off with Silah." Mava retorted with a wrinkled finger pointing back into the princess's once more wrathful amber golden eyes while the captain clenched her fist.
And the two other noblewomen shuddered as they gazed ahead with fear in their eyes.
"I have had enough of that freak to last me a lifetime." Mai stated in a disgusted voice while Ty Lee nodded beside her.
"Y-yeah. Please don't Azula." Ty Lee agreed as the princess let out a loud scoff as she glared back at them.
"Speak for yourself Saolin. I am not done with her." Zoi muttered with her golden eyes glaring down at the floor while her fellow nobles shivered in silence.
"I…still don't understand what happened while I was out." Elle stated in a confused voice as she bit her lip while her companions remained eerily silent.
"My sentiments precisely. The next time I see her she will be screaming for mercy." Azula sneered with a burning fist clenched before her face while Elle still peered about in puzzlement.
"We just…met a passionate admirer of the princess. That's all really." Zoi stated with a hand over her mouth as her two fellow noblewomen now glared back at her when Elle's eyes grew wide in panic.
Azula now glared amber golden daggers back at the other woman's mildly amused face.
"A-another admirer of Azula-sama?" Elle questioned in a mortified voice.
"Indeed child. You have a love rival now." Mava teased with a smirk on her old lips as Azula turned red in humiliation in her seat while Elle's eyes were now aghast with horror.
And then the young girl looked as if the very life had begun to fade from her body.
"I-I have a l-love rival? Is that t-true Azula-sama?" Elle stammered in a distraught voice as she gazed up at Azula's scowling face.
"Being the goddess that I am I do have thousands of suitors. Everywhere I go men and women alike practically clamber for the chance just to kiss my feet." Azula spoke in a conceited voice as she studied her fingernails as she smiled while her pet clung to her thigh in despair.
And all but poor Elle rolled their eyes over the obvious lie.
"That's a lie and you know it Azula!" Ty Lee huffed as she tapped a foot on the floor while Azula just smiled back at her.
"Yeah. Don't worry kid. Azula's all yours. No one else has the patience to put up with her insanity." Mai snorted as Ty Lee gazed on in amusement while the princess turned to cast an icy stare her way.
Only for the two of them to sigh fondly when Elle failed to even hear those words.
"T-thousands?" Elle inquired with her amber eyes wide in worry as she held onto her princess's thigh while the older girl sighed above her.
"Of course. You're still my favorite." Azula grumbled with her arms stubbornly crossed over her armored breasts as she glared off at the nearest wall with a tiny blush on her regal cheeks.
The others observed the strange couple's interactions in amusement.
"I am?" Elle pondered in a more hopeful voice with her amber eyes taking on a happier gleam while she gazed up at Azula's beautifully proud face.
"Foolish Tiger Monkey. Take note that I am rolling my eyes." Azula scoffed as she rolled her eyes while gazing down at her young girlfriend's brightening face.
"Yay! I am still Her Highness's favorite!" Elle cried out with a fist pumping in the air while her princess coldly rolled her eyes once more.
Mai and Ty Lee found themselves unable to resist cracking a smile over the girl's returned cheer.
Only for the others to turn to Elle in surprise when she collapsed with a moan upon Azula's leg while the princess now gazed down at her in hidden concern.
"Oh, my belly hurts…" Elle moaned as she held onto her stomach as she lay with her chin propped up on her girlfriend's thigh while her cheeks began to turn green.
Just as Azula's amber golden eyes widened in alarm while the three highborn women and the sage watched in entertainment as she flailed about in her seat.
"Elle! Don't you dare even think of puking on my leg!" Azula shouted as she squirmed in her seat with the young girl still latched onto her leg while her lips pursed into a regal glower.
"The potion that you drank tends to have that effect. But it will wear off shortly. And in time you will be glad that you drank it." Mava assured in a gruff voice as she held onto her staff while Azula glared at her through the corner of her.
"If you say so Wise Sage…" Elle trailed off as she pouted when her princess pushed her off her leg.
"Well! Little sister. I am relieved to see that you are in better spirits." Ty Lee chimed as she smiled back at the younger girl from where she sat beside her.
"Oh! That's because I know that Azula-sama is here to support me." Elle answered with a grateful smile as she gazed up over her shoulder at Azula's cold countenance.
While Ty Lee smiled at the scowling princess.
"Which brings me to my latest announcement. I have decided for the duration of this meeting that I will take on a more…forceful role." Azula announced with her palms clasped in her lap while her childhood friends gazed at her in incredulously.
And the old sage just cast an equally hateful stare her way.
"But Azula, you have already been dictating the course of the entire meeting." Ty Lee remarked as Mai just sighed from where she sat beside her.
"Elle has confided to me that she is uncomfortable with the last hour that she spent outside of my rule. And she has requested that I take on a more domineering role. And so…out of the kindness of my heart. I have decided to oblige her." Azula purred with her lips pulling into a haughty smile while the three highborn women face palmed in unison.
"Arigatou gozaimasu Azula-sama!" Elle chirped as she smiled over her shoulder up at her princess's smirking face.
"Kid. Why would you ever tell Azula that?" Mai groaned with her hand in her hair while Elle sat naively at the princess's boots.
"Oh Elle…" Ty Lee sighed in a fond voice while Elle still gazed dreamily up at the princess's smiling countenance.
"Life gets so scary when Azula-sama isn't in charge of me. That's why it's for the best that she maintains control. I trust her to make the right decision for me." Elle quipped in a naïve voice as she peered up at Azula while the older girl smiled smugly down at her.
"Whatever. Anything to be rid of you for good." Mava snapped as she waved her staff in the princess's direction while callous amber golden eyes glared back at her.
"Tell me everything that you know about Silah. And I mean everything." Azula demanded in a frigid voice with her imposing eyes staring hard back at the old woman's wrinkled face.
"Silah has most likely gone to retreat to her citadel." Mava stated as she gazed into the azure fire burning inside of her wood stove while the group gazed on with intrigued looks in their eyes.
"She has a citadel?" Zoi questioned in a taken aback voice with her golden eyes narrowing once more.
"Where?" Azula hissed with her fists balled up on the arms of her chair while Elle listened in suspense at her booted feet.
"I don't know. I would wage somewhere on an island in the ocean." Mava answered with a shrug while the highborn women exchanged a frustrated glance with one another.
"That's it? You can't give me anything more descriptive than that?" Azula snapped with her amber golden eyes agape in annoyance while she exhaled fire from her lips.
"You should be grateful that you are even getting that much!" Mava hollered back while Azula glared at her with frigid amber golden eyes.
"I'll find it. And when I do, I'll dispatch a fleet of airships to raze it to the ground." Azula snarled as she sunk back in her seat with her hardened eyes staring coldly ahead.
"Even if you could go there you would be a fool to do so. You and your people just barely escaped with your lives. And now you want to go back for more?" Mava scoffed as she sat over the burning blue fire while the princess and the captain stared ahead with vengeful looks in their eyes.
"She has a point Azula." Ty Lee spoke in a fearful voice while Azula turned to scowl at her through the corner of her eye.
"I wouldn't go with you even if you could." Mai stated in a repulsed voice with unnatural fear in her tawny eyes while the princess sat staring furiously back at them.
"You said that she and you were friends once." Zoi commented with her arms folded over her chest while she stared back at the old woman's flame lit face.
It was a question that they had all been pondering for quite some time.
"We were in a time long ago…back before she developed her morbid obsession with human puppetry. Back…when we were young." Mava confessed in a reflective voice with her glazed eyes staring ahead while the group sat in a speechless silence.
"Young? You mean that she's as old as you?" Ty Lee breathed in disbelief while the princess stared on in incredulousness beside her.
"Old like me? Yes." Mava responded without delay while the team gazed on in indescribable shock.
"How? How is that possible?" Azula inquired with her amber golden eyes wide in both intrigue and humiliation.
"You mean to tell me that we got our asses beat by an old woman? No offense." Mai asked in a stunned voice while Ty Lee sat in a floored silence beside her.
Both the princess and the captain bristled with embarrassment in their eyes at the implication that they were almost killed by an old woman.
"My time in this world is nearing its end. But I can't say the same for Silah…because unlike me she has obtained an ageless state of immortality." Mava stated in a thoughtful voice while the group stared on with their eyes widening in alarm.
And now all of the sudden all of the puppeteer's remarks about being eternal made sense.
"She's immortal? That's incredible." Elle spoke in a voice of childlike wonder with her big sister's shuddering beside her.
"Immortal…" Zoi trailed off in a soft voice with her golden eyes gazing ahead in fascination.
And yet she despite that she had taken meticulous steps to conceal her identity.
Which was something that she wouldn't have done if she was truly immortal.
"We'll see how immortal she is when I incinerate her in my flames." Azula growled in a vengeful voice with her fists clenched upon the sides of her chair.
Mai could only shudder with an even greater desire in her eyes to never encounter the artist again.
And Ty Lee swallowed apprehensively in silent agreement.
Any previous thoughts that Silah couldn't get more terrifying just went right out the metaphorical window.
"Silah has been doing this since long before you were born. Compared to her…you may as well be a child. A child with overwhelming power but a child all the same. Behave impetuously and you will seal your fate as her doll." Mava cautioned in a scratchy voice as she sat with her hunched back turned to the princess's enraged amber golden gaze.
And the two noblewomen once more found themselves failing to suppress a shudder.
Only for their young friend's innocent voice to tear them from their reverie.
"Huh? She wants an Azula-sama doll? Like my princess plushie?" Elle pondered in a sweet voice while Azula's amber golden eyes now glared down at her back.
As all but the princess gazed on in hilarity.
"That's one way of putting it kid." Mai stated with a slight smirk returning to her lips while Azula's imposing eyes glared her direction.
"Wait. You have a plushie of the princess?" Zoi questioned in a comically curious voice while the princess turned to glower her way.
"Mhm! I do. Ty Lee bought it for me from a gift shop in the Capital." Elle chirped with excitement in her voice while her princess balled up her fists in anger.
Ty Lee grinned over in the direction of her adopted sister.
"You don't say? I'll have to purchase one when we return." Zoi spoke with a smirk while Azula's amber golden eyes grew wide in rage.
"Shut up Zoi!" Azula barked with blue flames flaring to life behind her while all but her servant chortled behind their palms.
"Perhaps if we get Silah a plushie of her own that will resolve matters peaceably." Elle remarked in a naïve voice while all but Azula stared on in humor yet again.
Only to find herself jumping in a trained panic when a boot stomped on the floor behind her.
"Be silent peasant or I will burn your wretched doll in the wake of my flames." Azula snarled with blue fire exuding from her beautiful lips while her domineering eyes took great delight in how the girl frantically recoiled in horror.
"P-please don't burn my plushie. I love my Azula-sama plushie…" Elle mumbled in a still sensitive voice while her princess rolled her eyes over her.
"Enough about the spoiled princess and her plushies." Mava called out in a taunt while Azula turned to cast a piercing stare in her direction.
"Princess. I have an idea as to how we can track Silah down." Zoi commented in a serious voice once more while her princess turned to gaze her way.
"How?" Azula replied in a still aggravated voice while the captain held a hand under her chin.
"The bounty hunter June…is said to be able to trace any target." Zoi responded in a contemplative voice while Azula's cold gaze flickered in approval.
"Wise Sage? I have much that I want to ask you…" Elle trailed off with returning nervousness as she held her hands in her lap while Azula once more scowled in disapproval of her sorrow.
"Then speak child." Mava replied in a graveled voice while Elle bit her lip in contemplation.
"M-my…my mother had visions of me before she died. What…what does that mean?" Elle questioned as she audibly swallowed while her highborn friends fell silent in sympathy once more.
"When the Component Force transfers from a holder to a direct descendant…the fading holder obtains a glimpse into the identity of the child that receives the inheritance." Mava explained in an enlightened voice as Elle gazed on with her saddened amber eyes wide in awe.
Team Azula listened with a look of marvelment in their eyes.
"S-so she knew that it would go to me? And she knew about Azula-sama as well?" Elle inquired in a voice of wonderment with her eyes wide in emotion while Azula sat in a speechless silence behind her.
"Yes. She did." Mava stated in an aged voice while the group gazed on with astounded looks in their eyes.
"Before Mother died…s-she tried to deliver a message to a woman over the radio…and she recorded a note on a piece of paper. What…was she going to say? And what did her note say? And what about the malevolent woman that I saw us confronting in Mother's vision? " Elle muttered with her head hanging low over her knees while her friends' exchanged concerns look with each other.
"Don't worry Elle. I'm sure that Azula will be able to figure that out for you." Ty Lee assured as she reached over to touch the smaller girl's back while she gazed imploringly at Azula's sighing face.
"I suppose I will just have to lend you my brilliance once more." Azula purred as she lowered her palm into her girlfriend's hair while Elle peered up at her with brightening amber eyes.
"A-arigatou gozaimasu Azula-sama." Elle spoke in a tender voice with Azula's hand resting on her head while the older girl reclined over her.
"Fear not dear. I'll show you how to wage war." Azula remarked in honeyed voice with a charismatic smile on her lips while her young girlfriend gazed up at her with adoration in her innocent eyes.
She allowed Elle to lean her head into her thigh once more while her palm remained in the smaller girl's plush hair.
As both of her childhood friends shivered in renewed worry for their little sister's purity.
"Tell me child. Now that you are aware of your inheritance. What do you intend to do with it?" Mava queried in a weathered voice as she gazed back with glazed golden eyes at Elle's confuddled face.
The three noblewomen remained silence while the young girl gazed ahead with confounded amber eyes.
Just before she turned to peer up at Azula's domineering face while the princess smiled with her fingers petting her scalp.
And not even a second later Elle began to melt like butter underneath Azula's hand while the princess's lips pulled into a controlling smirk.
As the other three women let out another sigh over their princess's overbearing behavior.
"As usual. It falls on me to make the decisions in this relationship." Azula spoke in a smug voice with a conceited smile on her lips while Mai gazed at her in annoyance through the corner of her eye.
"W-whatever Azula-sama orders." Elle stammered in a mousy voice with her princess smiling over her shoulder while her big sisters sighed fondly.
"That is not an acceptable answer! I asked what you intend to do. Not what the spoiled princess intends to do." Mava lectured with a finger pointing back at Elle's overwhelmed face while Azula's callous eyes stared back at her once more.
"Um…" Elle trailed off in an overcome voice with a hand falling over her face while Azula's lips creased into a scowl.
Only for the princess to be cut off before she could say a word.
"Just let Elle answer Azula." Mai stated with a frown on her lips while the princess turned to glare a hole through her forehead.
And then Elle ran her fingers through her hair while she set her other hand on her knee.
"I…am going to do what…my mother did." Elle answered at long last while her friends and the sage gazed at her curiously.
The princess sunk her posterior back in her seat as she sighed with her hand remaining planted in the girl's hair.
"Explain." Mava urged with something similar to approval in her voice as she held onto her staff.
"My mother… dedicated her life to the path to peace. She believed in helping others in whatever way she could no matter how small. It…was her belief that by doing so…we would come together as one and overcome the damage done by the wars of the past." Elle explained as she raised her emotional eyes upward while her audience listened in a speechless silence.
Ty Lee and Mai sat in an emotional silence.
As Zoi leaned on the wall with her golden eyes expressing a rare sense of moved emotion.
While Azula sat with her callous eyes glaring ahead with suppressed aggravation in her stony gaze.
'Foolish girl! And what did your peace get your community but ashes and despair!' Azula thought with indescribable frustration in her hardened amber golden eyes
"No living being has the right to take the life of another. Those…those are the words that she lived by. And those…are the words that I believe." Elle declared with her hand falling from her face while her princess rolled her eyes over her shoulder.
"I see. What else does your path entail?" Mava asked as she leaned on the arm of her chair as blue fire crackled in the wood stove while the group listened in a bated quiet.
"Well, I can't answer that without involving Azula-sama because my path will always involve her. I am her sworn servant after all and I will continue to serve her for as long as I live…for all of my days." Elle explained in a devoted voice with a smile returning to her lips as she gazed over her shoulder into Azula's taken aback amber golden eyes.
The three noblewomen listened to their young friend in a moved silence.
'Azula…I am so glad that you found Elle.' Ty Lee thought with her brown-gray eyes shimmering in affected emotion.
As the powerful princess gazed down at her loyal servant with her crimson lips agape in uncharacteristic appreciation.
'My Elle is loyal to her mistress…. I couldn't ask for a better servant.' Azula thought with the aggravation in her callous eyes giving way to a pleased gleam.
And her lips even twitched into the slightest hint of a smile.
"Are the princess's ways of war and conquest your path as well?" Mava pressed in a searching voice while all eyes turned to Elle's adorably thoughtful face.
The princess's lips curled into a smug smile once more as she sat over her servant with her palms clasped in her lap.
Only her amber golden eyes to flicker with bewilderment when Elle shook her head.
"No. My path is love and peace." Elle announced with a returning smile while the princess now groaned behind her.
Ty Lee soon found herself smiling brightly once more.
And Mai just gazed at the girl with utter bafflement in her tawny eyes.
Zoi found a small smile working its way onto her lips.
"Kid. Azula and love and peace don't exactly mix." Mai informed in a deadpan voice with a fond shake of her head.
"Love and peace?" Mava repeated in a gruff voice while Azula rolled her eyes yet again.
"I don't profess to be able to change the world. Nor do I believe in forcing the whole world to do as I believe like the Avatar. But I will live as my mother lived. Helping out however I can." Elle stated in a passionate voice with a tear brewing in the back of her eye while her companions listened in a moved silence.
"You don't believe that you can create world peace?" Mava inquired in an inquisitive voice as the four highborn women gazed at their young friend in bewilderment.
Suffice to say that Elle was without doubt a strange one.
Yet they were fond of her all the same.
"I…I am just one girl that has spent most of her life lost never knowing who to run to or what to do. I could never be so arrogant as to think that I could bring peace to the entire world." Elle replied in a quiet voice with her amber eyes taking on a deeply thoughtful expression while her friends listened in a perplexed quiet.
"Elle…" Ty Lee whispered in a sentimental voice as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder while Elle gazed up with a smile still adorning her lips.
"But I will do what I can. Even if I can only help out one person. And even if it is only in the smallest of ways. If that's all I can do…then that's the way I'll flow." Elle concluded with a bright smile adorning her lips while she resolutely nodded her head.
The highborn women could only gaze on with baffled looks in their eyes while the sage seemed to almost smile in approval.
And now they began to see the difference between the Avatar and their young friend.
The Avatar believed himself to be the only one that could bring balance and peace to the world.
Elle intended to touch people's lives on the micro scale, assisting others however she can. Even if her actions didn't bring about world peace.
If it brightened even one person's day, she would do it.
"Soft hearted peasant." Azula snorted in a pompous voice with roll of her eyes while she gazed down at her loyal servant's innocent face.
"That's so Azula-sama." Elle responded in a soft-spoken voice as she gazed up over her shoulder at her mistress's icy face.
The princess's frigid amber golden eyes gazed down with the faintest sliver of emotion in her cold stare.
'So, this is Lana Turner's peace…' Azula thought with her regal lips pursing into a thin line while a flawless fingertip slid down her cheek.
A woman that believed in peace so strongly that she didn't waver in her beliefs even in the face of her own death.
A mother…who insisted that her son wasn't a monster.
Unlike…. her own mother.
'She was right though…. but…it still hurt.' The princess thought with a scowl on her beautiful lips before she scoffed under her breath.
And it was laughably apparent that Lana was wrong about Felix.
If it was any other peasant, she would call the woman a fool.
And yet…
For some inexplicable reason she has found that it was difficult to do so.
I am glad…that you will find friends to be there for you…and even happier that you will even find someone to love you. I just wish that I could be there to see it…I wish I could have met her.
'Elle's mother accepted me.' Azula thought with her lips shaking in a strange emotion while she clenched a fist before her face.
And then she crushed her palm together with blue fire blazing from her fist while her eyes narrowed dangerously.
'I am going to kill that man…Strados.' The princess thought with fire snorting from her nostrils as she glared ahead with wrathful amber golden eyes.
"Well, that's a start at least. It would seem that you are on the road to developing some independent thought after all." Mava remarked in a sage voice with a nod of her head as the others stared on in humor while Elle's eyes brightened after hearing those words.
Azula sunk back in her seat with her amber golden eyes burning in disapproval over those words as she glared back at the old sage.
"Wise Sage…I have another question. Until today…I didn't remember witnessing my mother awaken her power. Why…why is that?" Elle asked with her palms folding together in uncertainty while her companions listened in equal curiosity.
"I presume that you blocked it out. You were too young. Your mind simply could not process what had happened. You simply weren't ready to face it…so you purged it from your mind." Mava explained with a knowledgeable undertone to her voice while Elle's youthful eyes grew wide in realization.
"So…that's why I couldn't remember." Elle murmured as she grasped at her sleeves in contemplation.
"That would explain why Elle didn't remember awakening her power when she was a small child." Zoi commented with her golden eyes staring back at the girl in concern.
The princess stared on with cold amber golden eyes as she exchanged a momentary look with her close friends.
"That is correct. And even though she is older now. She is still young. She needed an emotional trigger to awaken her dormant power. And it would seem that in her case…her trigger is the princess." Mava stated as she gestured to Azula's pleased countenance while the three noblewomen turned to their leader.
"Azula is Elle's trigger?" Ty Lee questioned in a curious voice while a smile returned to the princess's lips.
"As I have said before. This one is truly in tuned with her mistress's needs." Azula boasted in a haughty voice with her palm patting Elle's head once more while her serving girl's eyes cheered up once more.
And her two lifelong friends let out another heavy sigh.
"Hm. More specifically when the spoiled princess is injured or placed in harm's way…" Mava trailed off in a suggestive voice as the young girl sat with her mouth agape in wonderment while the princess cold eyes flashed with a tiny sliver of emotion.
"When Azula-sama…is harmed…" Elle mumbled in a loyal voice with Azula's palm in her hair while her mistress stared down at her in approval.
And the three noblewomen listened in astonishment.
"Indeed. Elle's power is at its strongest when she feels that the princess's life is in danger." Mava remarked with her wrinkled hand clutching her staff while Elle's emotive amber eyes turned to peer up at Azula's stony face.
The princess's beautiful lips parted in an expression of surprise while she gazed down into her loyal servant's innocent amber gaze.
"So…Elle reacts when Azula's life is on the line." Mai commented in a fascinated voice with her tawny eyes gazing at her little sister in astonishment.
The girl had to be the only person on the face of this entire planet that would have such a reaction to Azula facing a near death situation.
"Well, I can't say that surprises me. Elle is my most loyal servant after all. She serves her mistress well." Azula spoke in a voice of boundless approval as she patted her handmaiden's head while she smiled as the girl fell into her thigh.
"P-Princess." Elle stammered in a love-struck voice with long fingers trailing through her hair while her princess patted her head.
"Aww. Now that's pink Azula." Ty Lee cooed in a gushing voice while Azula rolled her eyes with her hand still resting upon Elle's swooning head.
As Mai let out another sigh beside her.
Only for everyone to turn to the captain when she pushed her back off the wall with a smirk forming upon her lips.
"So, if I brutalize the Crown Princess it will spur young Elle to master her power?" Zoi inquired with her lips curving into a smirk as she crackled her knuckles while Azula's imposing eyes glared her way.
And both Mai and Ty Lee both watched in amusement while Elle's eyes grew wide in adorable horror.
"There's only one way to find out." Mava teased while the princess glared daggers through her skull.
"Well then. Sit still Princess. I am going to break your bones and knock out all of your teeth but don't fight back. It's for the good of the Fire Nation." Zoi declared as she pounded her fists together as she took one step forward while her princess glowered back at her.
Only for Mai and Ty Lee to gaze on humorously when Elle cried out in lovable concern as she protectively held out her arms to shield the taken aback princess.
"N-no! Don't hurt Azula-sama Zoi! She's too beautiful to lose her teeth!" Elle cried out in a devoted voice while Azula smiled down at her in recognition.
"Oh Elle…" Ty Lee sighed in a fond voice as she smiled over the young girl's adorable love for her selfish friend.
"Calm yourself Elle. I was only jesting." Zoi assured with a placating wave of her hand while Elle still frantically sat with her little body protecting the smirking Azula.
"Well done servant. Your devotion to serve pleases me." Azula purred with her palms folded regally in her lap as she reclined like a true queen over her emotional servant.
She gazed down dominantly into her young girlfriend's beyond worshipful amber eyes only for her smile to grow when the girl bowed her head in reverence.
"I…am proud to serve you Azula-sama. Now and forevermore." Elle answered with her head bent in respect while her princess's lips pulled into a wide smile.
"Do you see that Ty Lee? I approve of this one." Azula spoke in a gratified voice with her crimson lips forming a charming smile while Ty Lee nodded her head.
"I see it Azula." Ty Lee replied with a still present smile while she observed the strange couple's interactions.
Elle sat on the floor with her head bent in a profound show of deference while Azula surveyed her with cold amber golden eyes.
"There is nothing that I would not do for you, my queen." Elle murmured in a sweet voice with her hands in her lap while Azula stared down at her with stern yet protective amber golden eyes.
Before the princess casually waved a well-manicured hand to signal that she could rise.
"Your queen recognizes your loyalty. Now rise." Azula ordered with her arms resting on the sides of her seat while Elle sprang up on command.
And then she found herself unable to resist allowing her lips to pull into a fond smirk when her young servant sat back down at her booted feet.
"As my queen commands!" Elle chirped in a lovable voice as she sat with her head resting against her princess's leg once more while the older girl smirked in approval.
"See old woman. Component or not she serves me. And I expect you to tell me everything that pertains to my servant's power. Should you do otherwise…you will find yourself wishing you hadn't." Azula declared in a voice of absolute control with her imposing eyes staring imperiously ahead while her handmaiden smiled up at her.
Ty Lee and Mai just gazed at their friend in exasperation over her continued rudeness to the old sage.
"Have it your way. I will tell you everything. But only because I can see that it is a lost cause trying to separate the young Component from your side." Mava responded in an exhausted voice with the wood stove still crackling with a bright blue flame.
And Azula sunk back in her seat with a pleased smirk gracing her beautiful lips while Elle still gazed up at her in endless admiration.
"It's good to know that we could have saved ourselves this miserable trek and just dangled Azula over the water for a few days instead." Mai stated with a small smirk on her lips as Azula turned to glare venomously her way while Elle gazed on in aghast horror.
Ty Lee and Zoi just smiled in amusement over Azula's ire.
However, the princess chose to let the jab slide in favor of focusing on the matter at hand.
"You called the Avatar an unnatural blight upon this world. Tell me more about why you feel that way." Azula spoke in a sophisticated voice with her piqued amber golden eyes staring back at the elderly woman's fire-lit countenance.
Elle sat at her feet with her amber eyes gazing on with a youthful eagerness to learn all that she could.
The three noblewomen also gazed at the sage in interest to know more.
"Because the world has become far too dependent on the Avatar for its own good. People make no effort to try to help themselves because they feel that the Avatar is going to save them." Mava stated in a bitter voice while the group gazed back in a fascinated silence.
"In order words you think the Avatar produces overall weakness?" Zoi pondered in a contemplative voice with a hand under her chin while the princess gazed on in mutual perplexity.
"That is precisely what I am saying. It may not be an opinion that many agree with but I stand by it all the same." Mava grumbled in a tired voice while Azula gazed on with a scheming gleam in her cold amber golden eyes.
"In other words, the Avatar is your enemy?" Azula purred as she glanced up from her well-trimmed fingernails while her childhood friends listened warily.
"The Avatar is no friend of mine." Mava stated in a hoarse voice while the princess's callous hawklike eyes now flickered with a controlling stare.
'How delightfully advantageous. I possess Elle…and her Component. And now I have the old sage at my full disposal. All of her secrets…everything that she knows. Now belong to me. And to top it all off…we have an enemy in common in the Avatar.' Azula thought with her icy amber golden eyes taking on a manipulative look while her palm fell back into her lap.
Her cold gaze glanced back down at her handmaiden's obedient back before she turned her imposing stare back to the old woman herself.
All that remains to be done was to deal with the unpredictable variables.
Those being that wretch Silah and that young girl Naoki.
Not to mention any other invaders from her girlfriend's lands.
"Don't think that I don't know what you're thinking brat! You're thinking about how you are going to use me for your own gain! I have been around far longer than you and I know how you greedy royals think! So, don't even think for a moment that you can pull a fast one on me!" Mava snapped in a rasping voice while Azula's ruthless amber golden eyes flashed with a moment of surprise.
Only to find herself recovering not even seconds afterward as she narrowed her gaze into a fearsome death glare.
The princess's eyes shook in even further fury when she heard her captain chuckling in amusement from the other side of the room.
As her two childhood friends watched from the sidelines in entertainment.
"It would seem that she has you figured out Princess." Zoi quipped with her arms crossed over her breasts while Azula turned to scowl in her direction.
"Dirty peasant. By the time I am through with you I promise that you will learn to speak to your princess with respect." Azula retorted with fire exuding from her mighty lips while her two lifelong friends sighed once more.
Only for her cold amber golden eyes to glance down at her boots when she felt a dainty hand tug on her pantleg while she now glared down into her servant's emotional amber eyes.
"Please don't fight Azula-sama." Elle pleaded in a soft voice with her hands grasping her mistress's leggings while Azula glowered down at her.
All the while as Ty Lee hid her grin as she watched the two from where she sat on the sidelines.
"It's not for you to give me orders servant!" Azula scoffed with a prideful snort of blue fire as she angrily folded her arms over her armored breasts while her handmaid still held onto her knee.
The three noblewomen observed them in amusement.
"But lucky for you…I have use for you as well." Mava stated in a grumble while the princess's cold eyes narrowed as she stared back at her.
"I demand that you elaborate further on your opposition to the Avatar." Azula commanded in a supremely authoritative voice with her palms regally folding in her lap once more.
She gazed on with hard amber golden eyes while she inwardly took great enjoyment in how her young girlfriend held onto her leg.
"Many people are capable of achieving more than they know. But they will never find out. Because they are complacent fools." Mava ranted as she sat over the blazing fire while Azula's amber golden eyes flickered with fascination.
Her four companions listened in an equally intrigued silence.
"The Avatar…makes people complacent?" Elle asked in an attentive voice while the old hermit nodded her head.
"That is right child. For instance. You would be surprised to find out that there are ways that even some select individuals who were not considered to be benders at birth can learn to bend and weaponize their own chi." Mava remarked with a deeply sagacious undertone to her throaty voice while the entire group now gazed back in disbelief.
Mai and Ty Lee sat with their mouths agape in shock while both Azula and Zoi gazed on with stunned eyes.
"How?" Ty Lee asked with sudden curiosity in her voice while her fellow noble stared on with equal interest in her eyes.
"As of right now I will not divulge that information. You serve a self-centered aspiring dictator. You'll have to figure that out for yourselves." Mava informed with a wave of her wrinkled hand while both noblewomen deflated as they turned to glare back at Azula's once more seething face.
"Thanks, Azula." Mai scoffed in a monotone voice with her tawny eyes staring back at the princess's callous face in aggravation.
Although she couldn't blame the old woman.
Azula has disrespected the sage from the moment that they first met.
'Even though she won't tell us now…if she speaks the truth. Then that means that there is a way for me to get stronger.' Mai thought with a determined expression in her eyes while she clenched a fist at her robed hip.
And then she could even the playing field with Zoi.
But more important than that.
'I can better protect my little sister.' Mai mused as she turned to gaze at Elle's sweet face with a resolute look in her eyes.
"You have no right to complain. Just weeks ago, you betrayed me for Zuko. You should consider yourself fortunate that you even draw breath." Azula hissed with fire exhaling from her nostrils while Mai recoiled in returning shame under her intimidating glare.
Only for the mighty princess's eyes to glare down once more when she felt her servant pull on her wrist.
"Azula-sama…" Elle murmured in a gentle voice with her soft hands holding Azula's palm while the older woman let out a prideful growl.
And yet despite that she didn't push her away.
"But even though most of humanity has become complacent under the Avatar Cycle. There are still select highly gifted benders who are able to rise above their limits and ascend to a level of power beyond master level bending." Mava commented with her wrinkled face staring into the fire while the group listened in amazement once more.
And both Azula and Zoi found themselves gazing on with unbridled curiosity in their eyes.
"I order you to tell me about this power." Azula demanded with insatiable inquisitiveness in her cold eyes while her serving girl listened in wonder at her feet.
"These benders are called ascendants." Mava announced in an enrapturing voice while the team stared on in awe.
"Ascendants?" Zoi repeated in a captivated voice with her golden eyes growing wide in hunger.
"Indeed. And I sense that the two of you are on the verge of reaching ascendancy." Mava remarked in an unbelievably perceptive voice while the two firebenders gazed on in an utterly enthralled silence.
The princess and the captain could only stare on with uncontrolled desire in their eyes.
They simultaneously swelled in pride over their unrivaled their bending like never before.
And the two noblewomen could only shudder as they gazed at the two from the sidelines.
'Joy. That's the last thing we needed. Now Azula's ego is going to soar even higher.' Mai thought with annoyance in her eyes while Azula's lips were already creasing into a proud smile.
Just before the two women sighed when the princess pounded a powerful fist on the arm of her chair while she smiled even more arrogantly than ever before.
"As it should be. This is even more proof of my divine right to rule. Very soon I shall conquer this world as an ascendant and dominate the Earth!" Azula exclaimed in a supremely hubristic voice with a domineering smile gracing her lips while her fists now burned in blue fire.
She sat on her simple wooden chair as if it was an extravagant throne with a devilish smirk adorning her beautiful lips.
The three noblewomen gazed on in an awkward silence.
And the sage rolled her eyes.
Only for the sound of enthusiastic clapping to soon resonate into the air while the tyrannical princess seemed to swell even further under her girlfriend's praise.
She now gazed down at her young servant with smug amber golden eyes that greatly delighted in the girl's limitless worship.
"You go Azula-sama! You can do it! I believe in you!" Elle cried out with a lovable look of adoration in her eyes while her big sisters shook their heads.
"And you peasant. You will bow at the foot of my throne." Azula sighed as she sunk back in her seat with her fists relaxing on the arms of her chair while her loyal follower hurriedly nodded in agreement.
"M-my Fire Queen." Elle stammered as she gazed up at Azula like a love-struck puppy while the older girl smiled down at her.
Only for their moment to be swiftly interrupted by the sound of the old hermit scoffing.
"Don't get too full of yourself. You're not there yet. And you should both know that Silah is already an ascendant." Mava scoffed in a rasping voice as the team now fell into a horrified silence.
And just like that the princess and the captain were staring on with a look of renewed frustration towards the demented puppeteer.
"I command you to tell me how I achieve this state." Azula snarled in a forceful voice only for her amber golden eyes to boil in fury when the old woman scoffed once more.
"That I will also not disclose." Mava answered in a taunt while the princess's glacial eyes burned in great anger.
Only for her captain to speak before she could get the chance.
"I take it…that you won't tell us any of this information unless we can do something to appease you." Zoi stated in a calmer voice with her arms folded over her chest while Azula's amber golden eyes bubbled in ire once more.
"You deduce correctly. You need me more than I need any of you. It makes no difference to me either way. But that is not the case for you." Mava spoke in a fearless voice with her glazed eyes staring ahead while the team listened in a taken aback silence.
"You dare to threaten me?" Azula questioned in a wrathful voice as she clenched her fists at her sides.
Yet as much as it infuriated her to admit it.
The old hermit was right.
"You're certainly a shrewd one. But now I believe I understand what you were trying to say about the Avatar Cycle holding humanity back." Zoi spoke in a reflective voice while the others turned to gaze at her in curiosity.
And Azula rose a brow as she gazed at her warrior through the corner of her amber golden eye.
"Do you?" Mava asked in turn while the captain stoically nodded her head.
"You told all four of us that we could break past our limits and achieve strength previously thought impossible. What you are saying is that benders and nonbenders alike will become exponentially stronger if they forgo their reliance upon the Avatar. And therefore, strengthening humanity as a whole." Zoi declared with her golden eyes gazing back at the hermit's impressed countenance while her companions listened in a taken aback silence.
"Impressive deduction. At least one of you can talk without spewing insults." Mava hummed in an approving voice with her hand grasping her staff while Zoi turned to cast a victorious smile in Azula's glaring direction.
And suffice to say both Mai and Ty Lee were awed by the old woman's beliefs.
Despite the harm that the Fire Nation was undoubtedly causing.
The sage believed that people would be stronger as a whole if they were no longer reliant on a savior.
"And that's not all is it? You're telling us this so we can become stronger to face something other than the Avatar. Isn't that, right?" Zoi pondered as she straightened while her princess turned to the sage with her elegant brows rising in growing interest.
"You perceive correctly Zoi Song." Mava responded in a graver voice than before while the team gazed on in fascination.
"D-does this have to do with what I saw in my vision?" Elle asked in a fearful undertone once more while her princess sat protectively above her.
"Everything and more." Mava answered in a deathly serious voice as Elle trembled once more with her amber eyes staring on in unhidden fright.
All four highborn women gazed on in growing concern for their young friend's wellbeing.
"What is the name of this force that threatens my servant's life?" Azula demanded in a frigid voice with her callous eyes staring imperiously ahead while her lips pursed into a regal scowl.
Only to find herself gazing down with narrowed amber golden eyes when she took note that her young girlfriend was trembling like a leaf.
Elle's amber eyes grew as wide as can be as she recalled the sensation of terror that flowed throughout her body when she gazed at the inhuman eye.
And then just like that she felt as if a presence was almost sweeping over her.
"It's…it's about the e-entity that I felt in my vision, isn't it?" Elle inquired in a shaken voice with Azula staring down at her with bewildered amber golden eyes.
"Entity?" Ty Lee questioned with her brown-gray eyes agape in worry for her little sister while she reached out to place a calming hand on the younger girl's shoulder
Mai frowned from where she sat beside them.
And Zoi stared on with an intently focused golden gaze once more.
Azula gazed on with her domineering amber golden eyes taking on a ruthlessly defensive countenance.
As the old hermit gazed back with eerily glazed over golden eyes that somehow rendered all of them into a speechless silence.
"Yes, Elle. I speak of the being called the Elder One." Mava announced in an ominous voice while the young girl sat with her amber eyes agape in fright.
And the four highborn women were struck into a baffled state of quiet beside her.
Not a single one of them understand what the old sage spoke of.
But one detail was clear.
They had dangerous enemies upon their horizon that were beyond their understanding.
AN:
Thanks for the review Agent Banana. That is an apt way to describe the new war between Silah and Azula.
It should be stated that Azula is a better person than Silah, but I realize that isn't saying much at this point in time.
Azula needs someone to struggle against, someone who can push her to become stronger and that is Silah.
Also, it presents an opportunity for Azula to grow more as a person. Because Silah will not hesitate to massacre Fire Nation people, Azula must prove herself worthy of being their ruler and make a stand to protect them from Silah.
Otherwise, how can she call herself their ruler if she allows a psychopath to slaughter them in mass as she pleases?
In this chapter we learned that, Silah is an old woman. That means that Silah is at the very least the same age as Mava. But unlike Mava, she is not encumbered by the debilitation that comes with aging. Somehow, she is able to move and fight as if she were as young as Azula.
This is something that we will touch on more later, as we learn more about Silah, how her power works and who she was before all of this.
I would like to take a short moment to clarify the difference between Elle and Aang on the matter of peace.
I want to be clear that Elle is not trying to claim that she is better than Aang and that she wasn't calling Aang arrogant. She just has a very different view on the matter. She was more stating that it would be arrogant of her to believe that she could take on such a role.
Aang believes that he is the sole answer to all of the world's problems and he feels that as the Avatar to take care of everyone's problems. And regardless of whether he is right or wrong, he truly feels that it is his duty because of his upbringing as the Avatar.
Elle is not like that. Because Elle sees herself as a lost little girl who never could figure out what to do for herself. She can't even conceive stating that she could ever so something as huge as usher in anything resembling world peace, no matter how much she desires world peace.
Because in Elle's eyes, if she can't even figure out what to do for herself. How can she figure out what to do for everyone else?
Elle is very much a person that is lost, and in desperate need of direction; which is why she takes so much solace in having Azula there to guide her.
Lana taught Elle to help people and animals in whatever way she could, even if it was in the smallest of ways. More or less, Lana just believed in doing her part to try to brighten everyone's day in whatever way she could.
It was Lana's hope, that if she lived a life like that. That it would rub off on other people that met her, and that eventually it would spur society to come together as one.
So, you can say that Lana believed in a more cumulative effect, that there will only be a semblance of peace when enough people come together in unity. Whereas Aang and every Avatar before him believes that they can bring about such huge change on their own.
We see examples of this belief in the little ways that Elle has interacted with Team Azula. When she puts extra effort into pleasing Azula with her drinks and food, remembering Mai and Ty Lee's likes, checking on Mai when she is upset, giving Zoe her shirt to use as a sling, giving her gold to the beggar and more.
None of those actions would bring about world peace. In Elle's eyes, even if world peace is never achieved. As long as she can brighten the lives of a few people around her, that is enough for her.
And that is why Elle would consider it arrogant of herself to think that she could do something so monumental on her own.
I also want to clarify a little bit more on the subject of how the Avatar holds humanity back.
I want to be clear that Mava does not mean that the existence of the Avatar keeps people from building greater and better technology. That isn't what Mava meant when she said that it hinders human development.
She was saying that the existence of the Avatar promotes weakness in the long run, when she said this. She was mostly referring to the ability of benders to push themselves beyond their limits and also nonbenders as well.
Regardless of how you feel about the Avatar, I don't think it can really be argued that having a powerful being like that continually reincarnate and always be there to take care of people's problems wouldn't create weakness in the long run.
What Mava is trying to explain is that people don't feel the need to try as hard as they should when they feel like they have someone to save them. I mean, the entire culture in the world of Avatar is rather absurd. Everyone is literally told to leave it to the Avatar.
Upon further contemplation, I actually find that mentality disturbing. Because if the Avatar were to be bested, whether in canon or in my story. Most people would be helpless. We saw this when Sozin overwhelmed the world with his conquest.
And that by removing the Avatar from the equation, Mava feels that people may discover that they are capable of more than they thought when they have to search for an answer to their plight on their own.
Mava is also telling us, that the mentality that the Avatar is the only one who can save the world creates a mental barrier that obstructs many benders from discovering their hidden potential.
In the end, Mava considers Aang himself a good guy who has the best of intentions. But she feels that the Avatar cycle must be shattered, and that it isn't up for debate. And she feels that once it is broken that it is likely that many benders will discover their inner potential.
Mava also alluded to the possibility of even those who were born as nonbenders such as Ty Lee and Mai being able to bend their own bodies chi offensively. This would mean that even if they cannot produce an element, that it is possible for them to do more than they are now.
This also falls in line with Mava's logic regarding people not discovering their true potential.
So, if you are wondering if Mai and Ty Lee will discover how to do just that, we'll touch on that more as we go further along.
And finally, Mava is also telling us that the preconceived notions that the only the Avatar is capable of certain feats of strength is incorrect.
Essentially, what Mava is telling us is that it is possible for a person other than the Avatar to break a barrier and become capable of doing things that were previously thought impossible. Such as fighting one on one with the Avatar in the Avatar State.
This highly specific group of people are what we will call ascendants. You may have some questions about this.
Well, like any other series. We need to have ways for the characters to grow and reach new levels. I don't agree with this mentality that the Avatar must ALWAYS be the strongest period. One of the strongest, but not the strongest.
By breaking out of that line of thinking, those with the talent are able to reach a new level so to speak.
This is why Azula was able to fight against a not fully realized Avatar in the Avatar State. She is on the verge of evolving her chi to a higher level. And as we saw with Zoe in the fight against Silah she is close to that as well. Not to mention that Silah is already there.
I also should state, that the former Earth King that Silah slew was also considered as an individual who rose above the rest of his bender class.
As for where characters like Ozai, Rieko, Naoki, Team Avatar and others will stand in the power bracket. We'll out who has the potential and the determination to reach higher levels as we go further along.
Of course, we know that Azula's ego is going to swell to even further heights now that she has been told that she can become an ascendant.
But even so, it sheds light on Mava's goal. Which as Zoe stated seems to be to spur as many benders as she can to reaching their true potential.
And next chapter, Mava will reveal more on the nature of the being called the Primordial One.
Anyhow, that will be it for now.
Stay tuned for next time.
For chapter ninety-two! Primordial!