Chapter 36 – In The Dragon's Mouth


Zuko confidently stepped forward, intimidating and magnificent in his gleaming scarlet armor and spiked helmet. The clunking sound of his armored men echoed on the tarmac from where, five years earlier, Ozai had flown with his entire fleet to annihilate the Earth Kingdom.

The same urge to kill now simmered in the young Fire Lord's heart. Though, for the moment, this violence was directed towards a single man who was now getting down from the airship, escorted by three soldiers, his hands restrained by heavy metal chains.

It had cost Zuko all the strength of his will not to immediately slit the throat of the assassin they had arrested near his tent in Shu Jing. They had questions for him and Zuko had promised himself, as compensation, that the interrogation would not be pleasant.

No need to confirm his identity: his monstrous eyes revealed his hypocrisy and duplicity to the whole world. Zuko couldn't wait to introduce him to Azula, to see her amber eyes shine the moment she would recognize him, signaling his loss.

He couldn't wait to feel her warmth either. Zuko had decided to postpone Mai's problem. Telling his sister about this secret encounter and about the baby was out of the question at the moment. He meant to enjoy their reunion before starting an inevitable argument. Something also told him that Mai wasn't done with him and that he would see her again sooner than he thought.

But as he walked towards the exit of the airstrip, his throat began to tighten, a dark feeling creeping into him. Shin was there, along with Taima and a garrison of soldiers. But no trace of Azula, nor Ty Lee. Shin had been ordered not to take his eyes off the princess. So where was she?

"Master Shin," he greeted him, heart pounding.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Shin replied less than confidently, returning his greeting. "I'm happy to see you back safe and sound. Who are you bringing here?" He asked, craning his neck to get a better look at the prisoner walking behind Zuko, his face hidden under his large pointed hat.

"A new guest who will immediately experience the comfort of our dungeons. I want you to lock him in the padded cell as soon as we get back to the palace. I'll take care of questioning him myself later after I've taken a little rest. Where is my sister?"

His eyes slid towards Taïma, whose ultramarine gaze stared at the ground.

"Zuko…" she started tentatively, "Promise me you won't lose your temper."

"What happened?" he immediately flared up. And, seizing Taima by the collar of her dress, he almost lifted her off the ground. A flash of terror passed through her turquoise eyes and Shin instinctively reacted, pulling Taïma towards him to keep her away from the royal furor.

"My Lord, Taïma has absolutely nothing to do with it. If you have to blame someone, blame me. Lady Azula has been missing for almost three days."

Zuko couldn't believe his ears. He heard a dull buzz in his head. His breathing quickened so much that he felt out of breath.

Unconsciously, he turned towards Wu. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Before anyone could stop him, Zuko rushed at him and pinned him to the ground. His fists cascaded over the narrow face he soon took in his hands and began pounding against the cobblestones. Blood spurted out and entered Zuko's eyes and mouth.

"Where is she, filthy bastard? What did you and your accomplices do to her?" he shouted in a mad rage.

The heat was starting to rise under his palms and blisters appeared on Wu's cheek, on the side where his green eye shone. He didn't even scream.

Hands pulled Zuko back and it took the combined efforts of several men to overcome his fury. Finally, he stopped struggling.

Taima walked over to Wu and knelt beside him, applying her healing hands to his blistered cheek. Shining water appeared at her fingertips and penetrated the assassin's cheek. When she recoiled, the blisters were almost gone, leaving only reddened skin where Zuko had started burning him.

"I don't think our prisoner is involved in your sister's disappearance," Shin said in a voice that shook with fear. "A maid claims to have seen her leaving the palace with her friend Ty Lee, three days ago. Our best men are relentlessly searching for them all over town. As we thought they would come back, we didn't want to alert you right away and risk having you come in too hastily. I sent you a falcon yesterday but you must have missed it."

"How could you?" Zuko hissed, barely able to speak as panic and rage compressed his chest. "Shin, I entrusted you with what I hold most precious, and you, you just-"

"I know, I'm unforgivable, Fire Lord Zuko. I will accept any punishment you wish to inflict on me. But before that, I'm imploring you, let me help you find the princess. Our investigation has already revealed a few elements you absolutely need to hear about."

Zuko closed his eyes, concentrating on regaining his composure. When he finally opened them again, his gaze fell on Wu whom Taïma had helped to get up. His horrifying face, terribly red, was as expressionless as a stone wall and Zuko tried to contain the fire that still licked his entrails.

He walked towards him and pushed him roughly towards Shin. The man lost his balance and fell to the hard floor of the yard. Zuko heard with satisfaction the sinister crack of his facial bones crashing against the cobblestones. With one hand he stopped Taïma, who was rushing towards him, and gave her an angry look. "What' s wrong with you?" the young woman's flashing eyes seemed to say.

Zuko held her gaze for a few seconds and turned to the man whose incompetence could cost him his little sister's life.

"Master Shin, take care of our prisoner. Make sure he doesn't leave his cell and nobody talks to him until I'm ready to question him. Then you will join me in the throne room where I will give you a chance to explain everything to me. I hope for your sake that your investigation will not be in vain!"

"Very well, my Lord!" Master Shin immediately replied, picking up the prisoner whom he put back on his feet and pushed unceremoniously in front of him. "Come on, you guys!" he shouted at his soldiers, who were silently waiting behind Zuko.

With a last look for the Fire Lord, Shin left the airstrip. Zuko's eyes followed him. Taima, still beside him, put a tentative hand on his shoulder. This contact melted the anger in Zuko's heart and a dull terror and crushing grief came to replace it.

"We'll find her, Zuko, I'm sure of it! It can't be otherwise."

Zuko thought of all the plans he and Azula had built between the walls of their bedrooms. His sister's disappearance threw everything into question. The Sages, Mai, the Sons of Agni and the peace no longer mattered. Zuko would know no rest until he found her and she was safe in his arms.


Ty Lee was twirling her fingers, her heart overflowing with apprehension, sitting on a chair alongside the other girls who were staring at the wall in front of them, their faces devoid of any emotion. These identical women reminded her of the army of girls the Dai Li used in Ba Sing Se when Azula conquered the city. The "Joo Dee" or something like that. Ty Lee vaguely remembered that Azula had made one of them the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrator of the City after its fall due to her unwavering loyalty to the Da Li.

The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai…

The formula meant to provoke the immediate obedience of these creatures manipulated by Long Feng came back to her, and an icy shiver ran down Ty Lee's spine. Something told her that these girls who waited here in silence were not much different from the Joo Dees of Ba Sing Se. Their aura was all grey, almost invisible. She wondered if the Sons of Agni had the same indoctrination techniques than the Dai Li.

Ty Lee felt the Servitor's gaze on her, his masked face staring at her. She tried to relax to look as normal as possible.

Why was it taking so long? What if Azula had been unmasked? It was a possibility. Azula was certainly smart, but that didn't prevent her from being recognized by someone, and her behavior in the classroom and during the inspection had drawn attention to her.

Ty Lee prepared herself to act, just in case.

No sound could be heard from the closed door that separated her from Azula, and she had no idea what was happening on the other side.

"Excuse me," she asked the Servitor, abandoning all prudence. "Do you know if it will last long? I need to empty my bladder and..."

"Silence, woman!" the man snapped at her.

The faces of the other girls pivoted, all at once.

Ty Lee fell silent and bit the inside of her cheeks, anguish riveted in the heart, trying not to pay attention to her stomach which was protesting loudly, betraying her fear.

Finally, there was a clank of metal and the door creaked open. The Matron appeared in the doorway and pointed a thick index finger at Ty Lee.

"Next! This one!"

Ty Lee stood up immediately. Despite her apprehensions, she was truly relieved to leave the oppressive atmosphere of this chilling room.

Ty Lee followed the woman through a long corridor, similar to those she and Azula had seen before. At the far end of the hallway, stood another reinforced door. They were heading straight for it.

Should Ty Lee strike now? If what was hidden behind the metal door turned out to be unpleasant or dangerous, better to neutralize this potential opponent right now. Ty Lee was almost sure this woman wasn't a bender and would not be a formidable adversary. Still, better to be careful. Although she hadn't Mai and Azula's gift for interpreting and anticipating people's reactions, Ty Lee had always boasted about her instinct.

They were only a few feet from the door when Ty Lee took a run-up, used the wall as a springboard and leapt up to face the Matron whose brown eyes widened in shock. She didn't have time to scream. Ty Lee had already blocked her chi. She tore off the crimson armband decorated with an inverted crown from the woman's arm and made a gag of it. She used it to cover the mouth of the Matron who was still gazing at her in disbelief.

"Here," she said in a voice she tried to make cruel, while rubbing her hands. "You will stay quiet while I go get my friend. If you try to complain or ask for help, this time, I'll make sure you never regain the use of your limbs!"

The woman nodded vigorously and Ty Lee left her there, face down, and hesitantly approached the armored door.

She stuck her ear to the metal panel but no sound reached her from the other side. Ty Lee didn't have the slightest plan in mind but she was sure of one thing: she and Azula were in danger now and she wasn't going to abandon her friend. So she took a deep breath and walked in.

First, relief washed over Ty Lee when she entered a deserted room. She noticed a huge desk, strange silver instruments whose function she didn't understand, and an examination table. No trace of the High Recruiter, nor of Azula.

Ty Lee immediately turned around and walked towards the Matron.

"You will accompany me here!"

And using all her strength, sweating profusely, she dragged the inert and amorphous form of the Matron to the office. There she turned and closed the door, pushing the many locks. At least there would be no immediate threat from that side. Ty Lee quickly removed the gag from the Matron's face.

"If you cry, I won't hesitate to carry out my threat!" she warned, giving the woman a stern look. "Now tell me where my friend is!"

"You mean that lustful witch?" the woman eructed in a sonorous voice that made Ty Lee blanch. "The High Recruiter took her away to inflict on her the punishment she deserves."

"Where?" Ty Lee shouted in panic, as she grabbed the woman by the collar of her dress. "What punishment?"

"The Blue Flame Demoness can count herself lucky. The Purification ceremony will finally cleanse her of all her sins. The High Recruiter showed her leniency!"

A leaden screed sank into Ty Lee's stomach. She wasted no time asking what she called the Purification Ceremony.

"Where did they go? Where did he take her? Answer me, right now!"

"Agni is good for his children!" the woman began to recite, a fiery glint burning in her brown eyes. "He will cleanse sinners of the mud and filth that run through their veins and make them reborn, shining in His light!"

Ty Lee then discovered, next to the body stranded on the ground, a metal bar. Red marks stained its silver surface. Picking it up and taking a closer look, she saw some black hair stuck to the dried blood. The identity of the person to whom it belonged left little place to doubt in Ty Lee's eyes and she felt an indomitable fury welling up inside her. Never in her entire life had she felt such anger. She could have slammed that metal bar on the Matron's skull without feeling the slightest bit of remorse.

"Where-are-they?" she repeated, clearly detaching the syllables this time. "I'll give you one last chance to answer me before I split your skull in two!"

But the Matron's face lit up in a terrifying smile full of a religious bliss:

"Blessed are the Brothers and Sisters who will die for the glory of the almighty God! May Agni bring them the peace they deserve and cleanse their souls of their sins!"

So Ty Lee understood it was useless. She lifted the bar high above her head and, jaw clenched, paused for a second. The Matron's greyish aura suddenly turned black and Ty Lee saw in her eyes, far behind the gleam of madness that illuminated them, an ounce of terror.

"I can't!" the young woman sighed, dropping the bar to the side, tears welling up at the edge of her eyelids.

She walked past the woman and headed towards a metal shelf that contained sharp and pointed instruments of various size and shape. She noticed what must be a scalpel whose blade seemed sharp enough. With a pang, she thought of Mai as she grabbed it and wrapped it in a cloth she found on the Recruiter's desk. She stuffed the small package into her pocket. Then she knelt down beside the Matron, placed the gag over her mouth and, careful to crush her thick fingers, got up and scanned the room for a back door.

The hallway they had walked through didn't lead to any room. There were only blind walls. The High Recruiter must have vanished with Azula directly from his office. There was no other explanation. Ty Lee started searching everywhere: under the desk, on the shelves. She opened the books and leafed through them quickly. Ty Lee had explored the palace with Azula enough, to be accustomed to secret passages. It was this memory that brought her the answer she had been so desperately waiting for.

Opposite the door, on the wall, stood a huge painting which still represented the same symbol: the reversed crown, crossed by a sword. There was a new detail on this one: a flame in the background that seemed to shine intensely. Ty Lee touched each element of the painting, tried to lift it, in vain. She pressed her finger on the small drops of blood that fell under the sword blade. Nothing. Her gaze moved again towards the flame which seemed to taunt her and the solution appeared to her, obvious in its simplicity... and intolerable.

Only a firebender could open it. The High Recruiter must be one of them. The danger that awaited her on the other side suddenly seemed too heavy for her shoulders.

"I need help,"she muttered to herself, as if to cheer herself up.

Her voice sounded impossibly weak in the chilling atmosphere of the room.

Ty Lee mentally recalled the way to the exit. She would have to face the Servitor who was waiting with the other candidates in the other room. The man who opened them would inevitably stand in her way. Not to mention everyone the Matron and the High Recruiter had time to alert since they recognized Azula.

Ty Lee should be fast and not waste a second. The scalpel would be useful in close contact, but the iron bar would deter her enemies from getting too close. She leaned to pick it up and armed herself with it. There was no longer time for scruples. She slammed the bar heavily on the Matron's cranium. The latter stifled a cry of pain and immediately stopped moving.

Ty Lee knelt beside her to check on her. A tiny pulse in her neck told her she was alive. On the verge of nausea, Ty Lee didn't stay to see the blood flowing from her skull and mingling in her greyish locks. She unlocked the door, crossed the sleepy hallway and, taking a deep breath, hid the iron bar behind her back and opened the other door. When she appeared in the waiting room, all faces instantly turned towards her.

"What's wrong?" the Servitor asked sharply. "Where is the Matron?"

Ty Lee hesitated for a moment, nervously chuckling.

"So what? What makes you laugh, you filthy vermin? Haven't you been taught to show respect to your superiors?"

"Actually," she began apologetically, "I have a message for you."

"Speak!"

The Servitor advanced menacingly towards her, both fists clenched. Smoke was beginning to billow from the knuckles of his fingers. Ty Lee waited until he was close enough then, remembering the formula which assured the Dai Li agents their puppets' obedience, she recited:

"The Fire Princess has invited you... to shut YOUR MOUTH!"

And for the second time, she pulled down the iron bar right on the temple of the man who uttered a wail of pain. His mask slipped off his face and revealed a banal face with a slightly receding chin and aquiline nose. Unfortunately, the blow hadn't been strong enough to make him pass out. He hadn't even collapsed.

"Daughters of Agni!" he yelled in a surprisingly high-pitched voice.

Six girls stood up all together and immediately surrounded Ty Lee, one hand outstretched at her, one fist brought up to their temple. All firebenders…Agni…how was she going to get out of this?

Ty Lee spun around, her iron bar still in hand, attempting a circular attack like Zuko used to do when practicing his sabers skills. She didn't reach any of her assailants but it helped her in dodging the first flames one of the girls aimed at her. The fireball, deviated from its trajectory, forced two girls to move away abruptly and Ty Lee took the opportunity to sneak into the breach. Throwing her weapon to the ground, she ran as fast as possible, supported herself on the wall and performed an impressive somersault. She landed outside the circle of opponents. One of the girls tried to hit her with the iron bar she had just picked up but Ty Lee was faster. She leapt off the ground, put one foot on the weapon and sent the other right into her foe's face. Blood squirted from the girl's nose and the she fell to the ground.

Ty Lee took advantage of the confusion that reigned immediately after that and lunged forward. She opened the door and ran down the hallway that led back to the classroom, as if pursued by a legion of bloodthirsty demons

"Follow her! Don't let her get away!" The Servitor's panicked voice rose.

Ty Lee didn't need to turn around to imagine the five furies hunting her, screaming in their shrill voices and throwing flames at her. She could hear them ricochet off the walls of the narrow corridor she just entered. Despite the confined space, Ty Lee zigzagged to avoid their attacks and sometimes used the walls to gain momentum or rolled on the ground to dodge a jet of explosive flames. She finally reached the dark cellar and found herself in complete darkness.

It was impossible to spot the staircase they had taken with Azula on their way down to this hell. Panting, gasping, Ty Lee took advantage of her leading position to stick to the wall and when her pursuers burst into the cellar, she let two of them pass her.

"Where is she? Do you see her?" one of them shouted to her doppelgangers.

The one closest to Ty Lee sparked a flame in her palm and the acrobat reacted instinctively. With precise and quick gestures, she hit the girl, as she had just done with the Matron and the latter collapsed on the ground with a strangled cry. Her comrades turned to see what had happened, spouting a flame from their hand in turn, and they gathered around their friend who was lying on the ground, inert.

Ty Lee continued to walk along the wall as discreetly as possible, taking advantage that all their attention was focused on the victim. But soon:

"There! She's there! The bitch is here!"

No time to discuss. Thanks to the light of their flames, Ty Lee'd had time to see the staircase and the door frame which formed the contours of a rectangle at the very top. She ran like she had never done before and climbed the steps two by two, gasping, scalding tears in her eyes. Finally, she managed to reach the door. She was about to push it when she felt someone pulling her back. Ty Lee almost fell over, but she caught herself just in time at the doorknob.

One of the harpies clung to her neck like some absurd baby monkey to its mother's back. Ty Lee tried to cry something but no sound passed her lips as the arms tightened around her throat, like the tentacles of a sea monster.

What the hell are these girls? Ty Lee wondered confusedly as her sight blurred and the outline of the doorway seemed to fade into darkness.

All of a sudden, she remembered the scalpel. In a last effort, she plucked it out of her pocket and pointed the blade at her enemy's wrist, who cried out in pain and tumbled backwards down the stairs, her back and head repeatedly hitting the stone steps.

Her friends who were on the lower steps echoed her cries and dodged her falling body. The flames dancing in their hands went out and they found themselves in the dark again. Ty Lee heard the horrible creak of a body landing heavily on a stone ground, and she thought in a flash of Azula's body stranded on the rocks in the middle of a raging sea.

The thought of her friend, alone in the hands of the enemy, gave her the courage and strength she needed. She pushed the door in front of her and without paying attention to the man who was behind and who took it in the face, she ran to cover the distance that separated her from the room where she and Azula had entered a few hours earlier.

A miracle! It's a miracle! she thought, tears of terror and relief blurring her vision, as she burst into the waiting room and unlocked the front door.

As soon as she was in the street, in the middle of a busy avenue, she melted into the crowd and rushed into the first carriage she found and which was passing in front of her. Its occupants let out loud indignant cries, but Ty Lee ignored them and rushed to the window of the diligence to address the coachman.

"Hey, you! Take me to the Caldera, right now!"

"Hey, miss! She'll wait and pay for her place, like everyone else!"

Ty Lee grabbed onto a bar above the window and swung her legs through the opening. Her body coiled gracefully and she ended up on the roof of the carriage. She finally jumped on the coachman's knees, who pulled on his ostrich-horses' bridles in a loud protest. Her face two inches from his, she brandished her scalpel which she still held in her hand and repeated her order:

"You are going to get these people out of your carriage, and very kindly take me back to the Caldera, and without making a fuss! Otherwise, I'll cut your face to pieces. Did I make myself understood?"

Less than half an hour later, Ty Lee was at the foot of the volcano looking for the secret passage that was to lead her straight back into the palace.

Don't give up, Azula, I'm coming!


Azula awoke in darkness. Her first idea, thoughtless but strangely comforting, was that she was on the moldy floor of the hovel where they had taken refuge with Ty Lee on the outlying districts of the capital. But she remembered that, from the broken windows of this precarious accommodation, the noises of the street would reach them all night long: the laughter and barking of the last drunken customers, ejected from all the taverns, prolonging the festivities, bawling in the arteries of the city, the trot of the ostrich horses that raced on the cobblestones, carrying behind them some shabby carriage. These disturbances had even woken her more than once, making her curse and turn over on the sheet they used as a mattress, trying to get back to sleep. This time, however, there was only silence. And a dull ache in the back of her head.

Azula reached out, expecting to find the sleeping figure of Ty Lee at her side, but all she encountered was a hard metallic surface that vibrated in the silence. Panic gradually overwhelming her, Azula held out her other arm. There too, she found an obstacle. She closed her eyes to try to keep calm. The surface she was lying on was also stiff and cold. Gathering all her courage, Azula took a deep breath and raised her hand above her, searching the air for a way out. She had barely straightened her elbow when her hand was stopped by a heavy metal panel, also placed about a foot above her face.

A box.

A heavy iron box, hermetically sealed. Azula tried to prop herself up on one elbow but her head hit the ceiling of the trunk.

Azula immediately started to suffocate. Her heart raced furiously in her chest. She began to wiggle as much as the confined space allowed her to do, pounding the metal walls with her fists and feet, screaming in agony.

"Calm down!" a voice beside her whispered in the dark.

Azula screamed even louder. A rustle at her feet revealed to her the presence of a body that was obviously crawling towards her. Yet she had touched the bottom of the box while struggling a few seconds earlier. How could there be someone with her in this...

Don't say the word.

Coffin!

Tears of terror streamed down her cheeks, entering her mouth, almost drowning her.

"Don't be afraid. It will be worse if you panic. Do you remember?"

The voice had spoken louder this time. It didn't seem hostile. Azula was sure she had heard it once before.

The figure stirred a little. Azula felt it close to her face, a faint, barely perceptible veil. Her visitor couldn't be very tall judging by the ease with which they made their way up to her. Azula considered using her bending but the voice stopped her. She thought she felt an ethereal touch on her wrist, as if a ghostly hand had closed around it. She recognized the signs and sighed in relief:

It's nothing. It's just a hallucination, she tried to reason with herself. You haven't taken your medicine in days. Poppy milk blunted its effects. It's not real. None of this is real.

Azula focused on conjuring up a flame in her palm, but nothing happened.

"It's useless, you smartass!" the small voice resumed. And Azula recognized it: it was the little girl who had come to fetch her from her room that evening and who had dragged her into the underground tunnels of the palace. But her voice was even more youthful, like that of a four-, maybe five-year-old lassie. "It's useless," repeated her childish double. "They did something to you and you can't use your fire anymore."

"What? What did they do to me?" she asked, terrified. "Did they block my chi ?"

"Do you remember what we do here?" the little girl answered her, ignoring her questions.

Azula closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

She'd been here for a while obviously judging by the stiffness in her neck, the stabbing pain in the back of her head, and the numbness in her legs. If she had survived all this time, there must be enough air to last a few more hours.

When she was little, Zuko had told her horrifying stories about men, women, and children buried alive in Earth Kingdom graves. He called them "the false dead," poor human beings, too quickly buried, who woke up in their graves, imprisoned between the four planks of a coffin. The unfortunates who didn't have the chance to be earthbenders died of asphyxiation after a few hours in horrible suffering. Her stupid brother would revel in telling her how, at night, in the cemeteries around Ba Sing Se, one could still hear their mournful complaints rising between the stones of the cairns indicating the location of their tomb. Azula couldn't sleep for days after that. Mom had even scolded her for refusing to go to bed.

It was Father who put an end to this situation after she told him the true reason for her insomnia. He came to find Zuko in his room and slapped him hard. Zuko had been crying for hours after that, that baby! And Azula had returned to her own room, her heart lighter… Until Mom came and reproached her for having denounced Zuko… Azula didn't get her goodnight kiss this time again.

Was Azula several feet under a thick layer of earth, now? Was she one of the false dead too? Had she been handed over to that barbarian and unscrupulous Lu Fang?

Listening to her little companion, she tried to remember what had happened just before everything went black. It would at least have the merit of distracting her from her horrible situation and that way, she could save some air.

"Doctor Huan-Li," she whispered, groping for her little self's vanishing body. "He was there, I remember!"

"Who's that?" the small voice next to her chirped.

"You don't know him. It's this bastard, this son of a dog who tortured me in the asylum, in the beginning. He locked me up for weeks after I attacked Zuko."

"Zuzu? It was Zuzu who locked us in there! He closed the lid of the box! I'll tell mom everything when we get out of here!"

"What are you talking about, you little idiot? That was years ago! We've been out of that chest ever since. Nanny found us!"

"No," the juvenile voice sadly said. Azula felt a small hand close around her arm. "I've been there for years. I was never able to get out of the chest. Do you think Mom is looking for me? Do you think Zuzu regrets?"

Azula shivered uncontrollably and felt goosebumps forming on her forearms.

"Hush! Shut your mouth!" she cried, trying to hide the terror in her voice. "You are talking nonsense! It's that sadistic Huan-Li, that's all! He will soon come back to make fun of our misery with his infuriating honeyed voice, you'll see! He won't resist the urge to torment me!"

"Do you think we're going to die here?" The child's terrified voice replied. "That we're going to rot in this box, as the cook's son said?"

Azula avoided answering. She began to feel the lack of air around her again. Unable to control herself, she started knocking everywhere.

"Ouch!" the little girl complained. "You hit me in the eye! I'll tell Father! He'll punish you, like he punished Zuzu!"

Father.

A chest. The excruciating pain in her hip and the burning sensation between her shaking legs. Azula let out another sob. Would the creature come back and shove its dagger through her body? Was Zuzu about to find out? And if so, what would he say? Would he get mad at her? If Zuko found out, if he knew another man had her, if he...

At that moment, a dazzling light blinded Azula. She had to shield her eyes with her hands. Strong arms forcefully pulled her out of her metal coffin and she was lifted and dumped unceremoniously onto a hard, cold floor. She uttered a cry of protest and had time to take a look at the box in which she had been locked up. It was a little bigger than she had first thought, but not big enough to hold more than an adult body. As the world found its contours again, Azula glanced at a chubby face, devoured by two huge amber eyes, staring at her from the chest. The small figure sadly waved to her and disappeared into the box. Azula understood that she would never leave it. A part of her, always, would rest there in the darkness. Azula felt a great sadness come over her that added to the terror and rage that was already consuming her.

"So, Princess?" a smooth male voice simpered, coming from nowhere. "Did this stay in the dark help you come to your senses? Do you consider your new quarters worthy of your rank?"

Azula jumped as Doctor Huan-Li's hated figure appeared in the doorway. She pointed two shaking fingers to throw her famous lightning at him, but she didn't even feel the ounce of a crackle. It was as if her inner fire was gone. Definitively.

At the same time, she noticed the three hulking, masked-faced men, standing in every corners of the room, ready to pounce on her. They hadn't even bothered to tie her up. Her limbs were far too flabby to attempt an escape or a losing battle against three opponents of twice her size.

With a pang, she recalled Zuko's words in the training yard. The doctor must have read the confusion on her face.

"There is no need to tire yourself, Your Highness. The product I injected you with, which completely annihilates your bending, will remain effective for several more hours. And we have plenty of time for another injection before your strength returns."

This time, Azula was determined to stand up to him. Once the surprise effect had passed, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction to show him her fear. And so much for the voices who started screaming in unison in her head.

Hers was a bit raspy when she spoke:

"Doctor Huan-Li. You see me surprised to find you here. You, such an eminent scientist with such revolutionary ideas. What could have thrown you into the arms of these retrograde fanatics?"

Doctor Huan-Li knelt in front of her and Azula took the opportunity to observe his face. It had remained identical to what it was five years earlier. No additional wrinkles marked his forehead, furrowed in concentration above his small round glasses.

"I see you changed your glasses? What a shame! The others showed off your little rat face better."

The narrow-jawed face stretched into a smirk. Small green eyes punctuated with tiny sparkles of gold twinkled mischievously.

"I must confess that I missed your sarcasm and our stimulating discussions, Princess Azula. I believe my greatest regret, after your brother fired me for 'bad treatment on a vulnerable person', was that I never got the opportunity to study the effects of confinement on your exceptional mind."

"When my brother comes here, he'll do more than fire you, believe me! He will reduce you to ashes without an hesitation!"

"Indeed, I have been told that the Fire Lord has developed a form of attachment towards you that can be considered, let's say...unusual between siblings." It seems that mental illness affects more than one member of your family. I have to say it's quite fascinating. Would you like us to talk about it?"

"What do you want to know? If his cock is bigger than yours? Or if I like how it feels when he sinks it inside me? I can be very loquacious on the topic," she said in a voice that she tried to make seductive. "Before you bother to ask, know that the answer to both questions is yes."

"I see the years haven't changed you much and you still haven't learned respect. Still the same little bitch with a loose tongue. You're lucky your brother forgave you. On the other hand, I'm not surprised our people demand your head when you give me such glimpse of the poisonous words you whisper in your lover's ear in private."

For some strange reason, this venomous discussion with the doctor seemed to cheer her up. The fear was gone, replaced by a dull, pernicious anger that made her heart beat faster and louder. It was like the heady feeling of adrenaline rushing through the body before a fight. From what the doctor had said, her fire would return. It was just a matter of patience. The voices had died down for the moment and Azula felt she could keep her nerves under control for a few more minutes. There would come a time when they would be less vigilant and then she would strike. The more she could get on her enemy's nerves in the meantime, the better.

Besides, Azula sensed those sickos weren't keeping her here for the quality of her conversation. Sooner or later, she would have to face her doom. She had to save time. Ty Lee was there somewhere. Azula was sure she wouldn't give up on her

"You're right, Doctor. It's nice to share some news. So please, tell me everything! I can't wait to hear how you ended up in this nest of fanatics when you were once a talented physician, admired by your peers? What happened to your famous pseudo-scientific theories supposed to change the world of medicine and psychiatry?"

"Precisely, Princess, I was going to tell you," the doctor smiled, seemingly happy to have an opportunity to talk about it. "After my departure from the asylum, thanks to your beloved brother, I had plenty of time to engage in works that had long since been abandoned for lack of time. The Fire Lord stripped me of my position at the head of the Institute, but he didn't deprive me my possessions and the money I had time to amass for years. This allowed me to finance my research for one or two years. About three years ago, a small secret group of somewhat dissident men, who called themselves "the Heirs of Agni" at the time, approached me and took a close interest in my research, following an article I published in a scientific journal about the superiority of fire over all other elements. They asked me to join them and participate in a long-term project. As I was at the end of my savings, I accepted without hesitation. Their ideas really seduced me. Plus, I must confess that I had conceived from this sordid story with you a bitter memory and a certain resentment towards our Fire Lord. This suited my new friends very well since they were very concerned about the overly progressive politics he was pursuing at the time with the Avatar."

Azula listened to him, fascinated in spite of herself. So Kojiro was right. The Sons of Agni group had begun to form early in her brother's reign and had only recently come out of the shadows, thanks to rumors of incest, bolstered by the massive influx of migrants who had put fire to the spirits. Zuko, with his reckless enthusiasm, guided by the humanistic values of the Avatar, had ignored the dormant fire and let a wind of protest spread and blow over the whole country. The idiot! she thought angrily. Hadn't I advised him to take into account all political ideologies?

Doctor Huan-Li, who seemed to take great pleasure in talking about his past, continued:

"Thanks to their financial support, I was able to develop a very powerful serum that can temporarily remove firebending. I'm still looking for a product that will reduce the abilities of other elements benders, but it's more difficult. Indeed, firebending is the only gift that is purely inherent to its possessor. The other masters use the elements around them to show off their power. We, firebenders, have our strength within us."

"We, firebenders? Since when are you a bender? I have never seen you generate even the smallest spark!" Azula mocked him.

Doctor Huan-Li stretched out the palm of his hand and immediately a small purring flame erupted from it. It danced for a moment before Azula's stunned eyes. For a moment, she found herself at a loss for words.

"Eventually," he explained, "my goal is to find a formula that will permanently annihilate the bending. You, Princess Azula, are the perfect guinea pig. A master of your stature, can you imagine? If I manage to snuff out your inner flame, while all my experiences in the asylum failed, then it means that the treatment is working!"

So that was it. Doctor Huan-Li had never intended to help her recover. When Zuko brought her to him, five years ago, all he saw in her was the perfect guinea pig for his mad scientist experiments. Did Zuko know? Had he given the Doctor carte blanche to strip Azula of her powers without sullying the precious soul of his friend, the Avatar? The idea was too unbearable to dwell on it now. She couldn't show Huan-Li how upset she was.

"There's a flaw that bothers me in your brilliant plan," Azula began. "I thought your little friends worshiped fire above everything. In their eyes, every son of fire is a blessing. So what interest do you have in removing their bending?"

"Unfortunately," the doctor replied, giving his rat face a look of perfectly infuriating desolation, "some of the natural sons of fire show no will to adhere to our ideal of purity and prefer to mingle with the profane, or worse, to the other nations barbarians. Your brother seems to be one of them. If we want to win this war, our priority should be to purify our own race by getting rid of the undesirables. Before cleaning up anothers' house, you have to sweep before your own door. But I doubt very much that a woman who shamelessly sleeps with her own brother can understand that."

"I hardly see what my relationship with Zuko has to do with it, nor how it bothers you! You, who proclaim everywhere that the pure blood must be preserved, what better than the combination of two beings born from Agni Himself?"

"Your ancestor Sozin, glory to him, officially prohibited incestuous relationships and condemned those who indulged in them to the death penalty after having contributed to scientific work providing proof of the defects that such unions could cause in their descendants. He was able to prove the immorality of such loves, even among people of divine blood. It's no wonder that you suffer from mental disorders. Many of your ancestors wallowed in lust with members of their own family," he said, a look of deep disgust spreading on his features. "An heir to the throne from such a relationship would bring destruction and death to our beautiful nation."

"Bullshit! All you want is to install yourself on the throne, you and your degenerate gang of sick friends! Don't make me believe that morals and people's well-being are your only concerns!"

"What matters, Princess," the doctor said softly, a sneer stretching his nonexistent lips, "is what the people believe. And they are much more likely to trust men who raise moral principles to the rank of supreme values than a sovereign who shares the bed of his own sister, who's known for her belligerent ideas and her madness."

"You're an idiot if you believe those rumors!" Azula burst out in anger. This discussion no longer amused her. "If I had such influence over my brother, he would have destroyed you all long ago!"

"Again, what matters is what the people believe," he echoed himself, smirking. "But I'm not teaching you anything, am I? Now, Princess, I hope you will excuse me, but time is running out. The Guide will soon be here to meet you, and I can't expose him to your insolence and sarcasm. A new stay in this box should calm your fiery temper and remind you of your real place."

"No! No! Don't!" Azula begged, backing up against the wall in a pitiful attempt to escape.

But already, two of the three men who surrounded them were advancing towards her, their hands outstretched in front of them.

"I have formidable plans for you, Princess," Huan-Li exclaimed in an enthusiastic voice that drowned out Azula's plea as she struggled against two huge opponents. "The Guide is a very brilliant man who is very interested in scientific research. I don't yet know what his intentions are for you, but I'm sure I can convince him to let me study you further before handing you over to your chosen fate. We will meet again very soon. Have a nice stay in the dark, little princess! I know you're used to this kind of place. Enjoy it."

Azula only caught a few fragments of those words. All that mattered was that they were going to lock her up in that box again for hours of ordeal. As the men carrying her reluctant body approached the iron coffin, the doctor added:

"Oh, I almost forgot. I had the chance to meet your father. A very charismatic man, I must say. He sends you his loving thoughts and he trusts you to keep quiet about your... shared little secret. I'm sure it's needless to say he wouldn't appreciate it at all if other people knew about it. I'll tell him you think of him very fondly!"

Azula's eyes widened. At the same time, as she turned her head towards the chest, the bust of a shadowy creature with eyes as sparkling and piercing as two gold coins on a bed of coal, slowly emerged from the box, a row of sharp teeth stretching his greedy lips.

"No! No! No! No! Don't leave me with him! Don't leave me!" she cried with all her might, sobs invading her throat.

You're mine! the monster growled, licking his lips appreciatively, as the two men tossed her into the box and closed the tight lid on her.

It seemed to Azula that long arms full of wonderful vigor gripped her the moment she touched the bottom of the box and she was alone in the dark, the ghost of her father her only company.


Zuko sat in the throne room, anguish twisting his face. A wall of flames danced behind him, rising very high towards the ceiling, lost in the darkness. Shin was there, prostrate on the ground, in an attitude of total submission and Zuko wished he could pierce him with his stern gaze. He thought of the combustion man he had paid to kill Aang and thought that if he had had the same gift, there would already be a smoking hole where his servant was kneeling.

"Enough with your kowtows, Shin. Tell me exactly what you know. Hurry up!"

"My Lord, according to my informants, the Princess and her friend were seen leaving the palace two days ago. We managed to follow their trace to a tea room run by a man who confesses to having met them and directed them to the address of a barber. But when our soldiers arrived there, the shop was deserted. I suppose the tearoom keeper had time to warn him by some secret means."

"Do you have any idea of the network to which these men belong?" Zuko asked, frowning. "To whom do they pledge allegiance? And how Azula is aware of their existence?"

"We are still searching, my Lord. The old man I told you about has been interrogated since yesterday but it hasn't produced any results so far."

"Where is he?" Zuko asked abruptly.

"In the dungeons, my Lord. Unfortunately, he is very old and the interrogations tire him terribly. It seems his memory fails him."

"Very well," Zuko said darkly, jumping up. "You will accompany me to the dungeons. My father knew some effective ways to refresh a failing memory."

And Zuko headed with a quick and confident step towards the door, making his way between the immense marble columns, heart and spirit both filled with darkness. He didn't want to think about what Aang would say if he was here right now. But the Avatar had chosen to abandon him and had turned his back on him. He thought of the odd-eyed spy waiting in a cell next to the old man in the dungeons. It was time to put an end once and for all to the self-righteousness and the pacifist extravagant ideas that his uncle and his friend had instilled in him over the past few years.

A fire he imagined black was rising in his chest and licking his organs, ready to surge and ravage the world. Zuko was a dragon, a dragon whose treasure had been stolen. There was no greater betrayal, greater sacrilege.

What does the offended dragon do?

"It breathes fire," he muttered to himself, fist clenching, as he passed Shin who was staring at him with fear and reluctantly followed him.


The moment the lid of the box closed above her, drowning out the princess's screams of terror, Huan-Li, who had been witnessing the scene, his hands crossed behind his back, turned on his heels and left the room.

He headed quietly to his office a few floors above, whistling a happy tune. Up there, the atmosphere was more breathable than in those grim quarters where death and desolation reigned supreme. Not that Huan-Li felt the need to complain about it. Eliminating undesirable individuals was a necessary evil.

At first, the doctor in him felt a little reluctant to go to such extremes, and it had been difficult for him, the first time, to administer death to the first recruits he had been asked to "obliterate" for the good of the pure race.

But like everything, an act that had first kept him from sleeping had become routine, and he no longer felt the slightest remorse now when he stuck a needle in the arm of a vile creature in order to put it to sleep forever.

They weren't that cruel. They waited for the person to be unconscious before throwing them into the "purifiers," these gigantic ovens where the victims of these purges were incinerated, in order to return them to the sacred fire.

It was necessary. Doctor Huan-Li knew he was working for the greatest good. Just as he acted for his patients' good when he had to make difficult decisions at the asylum on Ember Island. Some found his methods worthy of criticism and even went so far as to call them barbaric. What naivety! thought the doctor, a small amused sigh escaping him. Huan-Li often considered himself lucky that the Fire Lord didn't know more about his methods when he abruptly fired him after learning of the ordeal through which he put his beloved sister.

Huan-Li had to admit that he had perhaps been a little too zealous regarding the princess. But great issues need great remedies. The maniac girl who had been brought into his care five years earlier was an extreme case of severe dissociative mental disorder. Huan-Li had never had to deal with a patient suffering from such spectacular mood swings and hallucinations. The fire that devoured the entrails of the young woman was so intense that it must be painful for her.

Huan-Li had therefore done everything in his power to stifle this flame, to put it out. It was for Azula's own good. But the princess, of course, with her legendary cunning, had found cause for complaint and went whining into the protective arms of her brother, who was too stupid and stubbornly attached to his sister to see the danger she posed, even after she had nearly killed him with his own crown.

Huan-Li had learned long ago that compassion was pointless with such people. They only understood firmness. He was sure that if things had gone as planned, if the Fire Lord hadn't come to pay a surprise visit to his sister on Ember Island, Huan-Li would have been able to appreciate the effects of his punishment on the young princess. A few more days and she would have been more docile than a new born. When Zuko had ordered him to evacuate the girl and the medics had brought them the princess's emaciated and shriveled body, the Fire Lord had turned pale as death. Without paying attention to the acrid odor emanating from his inanimate sibling, he let out an indignant cry and threw himself on the orderly to snatch his sister from his arms.

Huan-Li grimaced at the memory. After that, he had lost everything. An hour later, he was at the door of the asylum, in the atrium, where all the caregivers and reception staff stared at him, seized with incomprehension. It had taken him months to recover from the humiliation caused by this affront.

He had spent the first few months knocking on the door of health facilities to offer his services. But he was always told that there was no need for new doctors. He had tried to set up his own establishment with his savings. But it seemed Zuko had worked hard to ruin his reputation, and patients were rare. Almost moneyless – even if he had claimed the opposite in front of Azula – he ended up accepting the only offer that had been made to him: to run the infirmary of a penitentiary. Working with mentally ill patients was a thing, dealing with dangerous criminals was another.

This unrewarding job paid just enough to eat and find decent housing. At the same time, his resentment towards the young Fire Lord and his sister only grew.

So the Heirs of Agni, as they called themselves at the time, easily convinced him. Especially since their ideas were attractive and seemed to corroborate his own theories. A long discussion with the man with a remarkable mind who would become The Guide had finally persuaded him to participate in their project of purification.

Ironically, it was thanks to this job he first hated that Huan-Li was now one of the most prominent members of the Sons of Agni movement. At the time, The Guide was only one prisoner among others. Huan-Li had been sent to him to treat a bad heel wound he had received during a riot weeks before.

Very quickly, the two men showed mutual respect and trust to each other. So much that Huan-Li departed from his holy rule which consisted of never fraternizing with the patients. This man of extraordinary intelligence and undeniable charisma had exposed his ideas to him and the doctor had been fascinated by his speeches, by the always measured tone of his voice that contrasted so much with the aggressiveness and rudeness of his fellow prisoners.

The Guide had had his sentence reduced for good behavior and Huan-Li had spontaneously offered to help with his rehabilitation. Together, they built the foundations of their movement.

The first nurseries were born soon after, in the greatest secrecy. The eldest of this new generation of Sons of Fire was now a robust boy of two and a half, who already had in his eyes that ardent flame announcing a higher power. They would have to wait a little longer to find out if the project was a success, whether or not it would give birth to the long-awaited army of firebenders they dreamed of. The project was still in its infancy at the time. The research had progressed well since then and Huan-Li was now sure of his selection method, validated by the Guide. Genetic crossbreeding between races was the cause of the gradual extinction of firebending. Unnatural matings between earthbenders and firebenders in the colonies had proven it. In the same litter, it was not uncommon for a nonbender to grow up alongside earthbenders and firebenders whose skills were greatly altered by the muddy blood running through their veins.

Such a waste!

Now hope could be reborn. His studies had proven that the product of the union between two firebenders had an almost one hundred percent chance of resulting in the birth of a child endowed with the same gift. The probability fell to forty percent by pairing a confirmed master and a nonbender. Prince Ozai was rather lucky that Princess Ursa, a nonbender herself, had greeted him with two such gifted children. This raised Huan-Li's interest.

It was luck, sheer luck, that gave him the answer he was looking for. Eighteen month earlier, around the time Princess Azula returned to live in the palace, the prison warden announced to Huan-Li his transfer to the Boiling Rock. Consulting the list of inmates who asked for a doctor's visit, a name caught his attention, as if the characters that composed it had emerged from the parchment to dance like flames before the lenses of his glasses.

Ozai. Fire Lord Ozai. The Phoenix King was here, in this prison.

This was the first patient Huan-Li went to see on his new assignment. Very quickly, he felt, under the bark of the bitter, broken and diminished man, a bubbling soul, an indestructible determination, an intelligence as sharp as his daughter's. Once again, the doctor chose to derogate from his rule and couldn't help but attempt a rapprochement with the fallen king.

After a few weeks, he revealed to him that he had been Azula's psychiatrist. Ozai didn't seem moved by the tale he gave him of his daughter's pitiful mental state right after the comet's passage. Neither moved, nor surprised. Huan-Li supposed that Zuko must have told him about it during a visit.

The former Fire Lord showed more interest in the more recent news Huan-Li brought to him. The popularity of the Sons of Agni piqued his curiosity and it was with redoubled pleasure that the doctor explained his theories to him. Ozai was even more intrigued when Huan-Li told him about the scandalous relationship that seemed to have grown between his two children. Again, he didn't look surprised, but disgust was evident in every look and gesture.

"The little whore!" he blurted out once. "I should have known that my lesson wouldn't be enough to cleanse her of her perversion."

Little by little, using treasures of ingenuity and his subtle knowledge of the human psyche, Huan-Li managed to extort the information from Ozai. The one that confirmed what he had already guessed by observing the strange behavior of the princess in the asylum. The doctor was certain that Azula had no memory of those nebulous conversations in which she had let slip bits of the secret she was trying so desperately to suppress.

Huan-Li promised Ozai to remain silent about his crime. He went so far as to tell him that he could relate to him. Indeed, by her behavior the princess had only excited him, so it was quite natural that he had lost his temper when he discovered what sinful desires gnawed at his daughter at the thought of her own brother. Together, they devised a strategy to protect Ozai if Azula ultimately decided to report her father to Zuko.

In exchange for his silence, Huan-Li only asked for some very insignificant information about his family.

This is how he found out that Princess Ursa was Avatar Roku's granddaughter. Thus, having a bender among one's ancestors increased the chances of giving birth to another. He had finally observed that the more a subject met the physical criteria specific to the pure race, the more the chances increased of producing a child endowed with this talent, even if the parents were not benders themselves.

The Guide had been fascinated by his work which inspired him to secretly write The Book that now circulated among their followers. Huan-Li couldn't have felt prouder of himself. To be among the favorites of such a charismatic man filled him with immense pride. How far away was the frail medical student, frightened at the thought of dissecting his first corpse! It was as if this fierce and fearful young man had been part of someone else's life.

His friendship with Ozai deepened. A relation of trust was born between the two men. Thanks to him, Huan-Li was able to recruit a large number of partisans among the former followers of the Phoenix King. He became the intermediary between Ozai and The Guide. The former king told him about the underground networks he once used across the city that would become the clandestine quarters of the Sons of Agni. He provides him with the information he needed to afford the services of Ozai's most trusted men. Thanks to this unexpected meeting, fruit of pure chance, Huan-Li was able to participate actively in the advent of the movement.

More recently, Ozai had told him about the secret passages hidden everywhere throughout the palace and even drew a map of the underground galleries for him, using a quill pen and ink that Huan-Li secretly slipped into a splint he put around his ankle after Ozai pretended to have sprained it.

It soon became apparent that Ozai didn't care much about what might happen to his children. His contempt and hatred towards Zuko was notorious. It appeared that he didn't place more value on the safety of his daughter, whom he continued to refer to under nicknames as diverse as "the whore," "the little slut," "the traitor," "the trollop".

Thanks to Huan-Li, Ozai was able to reconnect with still-active members of his network. He thus learned how Azula had approached them and kept them at bay from her brother, claiming to act under the orders of her father.

Ozai flew into a mad rage that day, and Huan-Li was certain that if the Avatar hadn't stripped him of his bending, he would have started a destructive fire that could have reduced the prison to ashes.

"She considers herself smarter than she really is," Huan-Li tried to reassure him, "but let's not forget that the Princess is a mentally deranged young woman, broken by illness. She's the victim of terrifying hallucinations. which make her act insanely. The secret passion she feels for her brother clouds her judgment. Let her think she's got the situation under control. We will always be one step ahead. Trust the Guide. He has the situation in hand. Soon, with his efforts and your help, we will be able to overthrow your son and daughter. Order will be reborn in the Fire Nation. And you will be a free man."

He would never have imagined how right he was until today. The reckless and fiery temper of the princess had caused her to throw herself into the dragon's mouth! Years of illness and the inherent weaknesses of her sex had got the better of her intelligence, it seemed. Finally, the revolution would take place faster than they had thought! Huan-Li held the one that the Guide dreamed of capturing, the well-known soft spot of the Fire Lord.

Huan-Li was sure he would be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams. He was eager to tell Ozai about his achievement. Today, Huan-Li did not regret having kept his job at the prison, even after his salary as High Recruiter proved to be enough to ensure him a more than comfortable life. He was already smiling just thinking about it as he climbed the stairs that led back to his office, concealed by a secret wall.

He activated a small mechanism, using his bending and the panel in front of him vanished, as if by magic. The scene of chaos that greeted him instantly erased the smirk from his narrow face. A violent twinge contracted his body when he discovered the six people present in the room surrounding Rin, the Matron. She was sitting in a chair, unable to hold herself straight without the support of the young women, her head rolling on her shoulder like a broken doll. Lying on the ground at his feet, was another girl, her eyes wide open but inert. She was alive according to the jerky movement of her pupils. The nose of one of her comrades was profusely bleeding. Finally, another, seated against the wall, was massaging her head, tracing circles on her temples, visibly overwhelmed by a violent headache.

Three girls, all famous specimens of the pure race judging by their smooth black hair and fair skin, had gathered around them. Ryoichi, the Servitor, was the first to notice Huan-Li. He had taken off his mask and his furious eyes were glaring at the doctor.

"Here you are! We've been waiting for you for at least one hour! These two are completely paralyzed! We don't know what that witch made to them!"

"A witch? What happened?" the doctor inquired, coming to his senses, seizing on his desk a stethoscope in order to listen to Rin's heart.

"It's that bitch with her mudblood! We should never have given her a chance or introduced her here!"

"But what girl are you talking about, for Agni's sake?" Huan-Li asked authoritatively.

"I'm talking about that strange girl who accompanied the recruit the Matron brought to you earlier and with whom you disappeared all this time."

Huan-Li couldn't help but notice the hint of reproach in the Servitor's voice.

"Come on, Ryoichi!" he said, frowning behind his round glasses. "You forget yourself!"

Ryoichi suddenly looked contrite, realizing the enormity of his fault and who he was dealing with. He lowered his head and explained, ignoring the muffled complaints of the four girls who muttered a sort of litany around the amorphous body of the Matron and their comrade. He told her how this girl had entered here with the princess, both holding each other's hand, obviously refusing to part away, how she had struck a violent blow on the skull of that brave Rin, then fled, armed with an iron bar and a scalpel. How, using her air witch supernatural skills – for it could only be a witch or a demon – she had escaped the other recruits and vanished, disappearing down the street without a trace.

Huan-Li, his face contorted with concentration, approached the Matron, placing his stethoscope on her chest. Her heart was beating normally, as well as that of the other girl lying at his feet whom he examined right after. He grabbed her arms, which fell limply to her side, as if she were made of rags.

"Chi blocking! I recognize the symptoms," he muttered more to himself than to his companions.

Searching his memory, he remembered this conversation he had with Fire Lord Zuko and the former general Iroh the day of the princess's internment. The young idiot had told him about these two friends who had turned their backs on Azula at the worst moment. One of them, he said, was able to paralyze someone by touching their acupuncture points, making them momentarily unable to move or use their bending. This detail had greatly interested the doctor who had asked many questions about this advanced technique. But the two men had not been able to tell him more.

Yes. It could only be her, that Ty Lee, or something.

"She ran away, you say?"

"It's like I tell you!" the other man rudely retorted.

Panic gripped the doctor. It was an unpleasant feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

"There is no minute to waste! We need to get out of here. We'll take as much evidence as we can and get out of here!"

"What do we do with them?" Ryoichi said, leaning towards Huan-Li, pointing his chin at the two inert women and whispering: "We can't take them."

"Those who can walk come with us," he whispered hastily, advancing his face close to the Servitor's. "My men will carry Rin. She is an excellent Matron; the Guide will be displeased if we lose her. Get rid of the recruit, we don't need her and we don't want any witnesses. We have a special guest that we have to bring with us. Go on! Faster! What are you waiting for!" he said, suddenly raising his voice, making the Servitor startle. The latter ordered the recruits who were able to move to leave the room.

Barely an hour later, the Sons of Agni's main recruiting center was deserted. The most compromising documents had been taken away. Abandoned papers lay in a pool of blood near the corpse of the recruit which would have impeded their escape.

Deeply sedated, Princess Azula, whom Huan-Li had freed from her box, only to put her to sleep with the help of a powerful soporific, now traveled in a cab drawn by ostrich horses which the Servitor drove at full speed through the maze of the Capital. Huan-Li hoped that the recruits who left on ostrich horses would send their possible pursuers on the wrong track.

The Guide would be furious to learn that one of their best centers was now unusable. Huan-Li hoped that the present he was bringing him now would appease his righteous anger.


Zuko left the dungeons, ascended the spiral staircase, holding on to the walls, trying to ignore the tremors of his legs and the lingering, acrid smell of charred flesh that lodged in his nostrils. He arrived in an airy circular room. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to close his eyes for a moment, hoping to chase from his memory the face distorted by pain and the cries of the old man that still echoed in his ears. He didn't turn to see Shin emerging from the depths of the earth.

Leaning forward with, hands on his knees, Zuko vomited. A yellowish puddle spread around his feet and splashes splattered his boots. Together with red speck of blood, they formed a small constellation of yellow and red stars. Zuko remembered the bleeding jaw of the old man he had just interrogated in the dungeons. He thought he could still hear the sinister cracking of old bones as he maneuvered the gigantic vice in which he had placed the weak body, hoping to make him confess what he knew.

It turned out to be useless. Fighting the repulsion, Zuko renewed his questions again and again. Only these insane words had reached his ears: "The wounded bird! The wounded bird! It will take its flight again!"

Now the man was just a broken figure, weakly shifting on the stone floor of the interrogation room, as Ozai once called it. Zuko had never imagined he would use this room in turn for the very same purpose. He remembered how, five years ago, he had been tempted to burn everything to the ground. But he had postponed this task, thinking, with the support of his enthusiastic friends, of exhibiting them in a museum to bring his people face to face with the horrors they committed. The old Shyu had dismissed the idea, deeming it best not to burden the Fire Nation with a wave of counterproductive guilt. So Zuko had given up, then forgotten, letting the old machines be covered witha thick layer of dust and rust.

The old shopkeeper was the first to experience their effectiveness in five years, and Zuko had to recognize they still worked very well.

When it became obvious that they were wasting their time, Zuko unleashed a firestorm on his prisoner, momentarily turning him into a human torch. He had watched the poor guy struggle with surprising vigor for such an old man, had listened to his screams and finally extinguished the flames which had begun to lick his body and had had time to destroy his clothes and to attack his yellowed skin. Zuko had ordered Shin to stay outside the entire time. However, the cries, the smell and the smoke that escaped from the interstices of the armored door where he had locked himself with his victim must have revealed to him what was happening as surely as if he had attended the scene.

Zuko vomited a second time and pushed Shin away when the latter, full of concern, rushed towards him to offer support.

"Sire! Are you sick?"

"Leave me, Shin! Go get someone to clean up this mess. I'm going to change my clothes and then we'll go to that barber. There must be evidence, traces. Find me with a garrison of our best men in the great hall in half an hour. And I want Minh too!"

"Very well, My Lord," the man immediately obeyed, bowing deeply.

Zuko watched him go. Leaving the room, Shin gave him one last look and Zuko didn't like what he saw there: terror, bewilderment, but also a distant accusing gleam.

Into what kind of monster did Azula change him? Had she forged him like Ozai had forged her? It occurred to him that Azula knew very well what she was doing by acting with him as she had done for the past few months. What if she had done everything on purpose? What if this disappearance was just a setup to force him to prove his loyalty to her?

"I need to be sure you're sincere," she had moaned, slipping away as he meant to caress her.

He vowed that if he found her, he wouldn't let her get away again. He would force her to confess all her plans. He was stronger than her now and no longer feared her trickery.

But what if Azula was really in danger? If she had been stolen from him? So he would jealously keep her close to him. He wouldn't leave her again. No matter what they would say! He would be near her day and night, sharing her bed every night. What if this proximity led them to forbidden lands? Well, never mind… Anyway, there was no one left to doubt the true nature of their relationship. Why not make it true? Why deprive themselves of a pleasure that everyone already suspected them of indulging in secret?

Anyone fool enough to protest would suffer the same punishment as the man who laid miserably in the dungeons, no doubt still moaning in pain in his quavering voice. Aang was no longer there to force him to make decisions that threatened his authority. His ancestors had not bothered with scruples when they had taken over all the powers and no one had been bold enough to complain about it.

Azula was right. He was the Fire Lord, he could have anything he wanted. And if what he wanted was bedding his own sister, well, why not? His ancestors had always taken whatever they wanted, without listening to the others' opinion. Why should he do otherwise? For the sake of an obsolete humanist philosophy, of an ideal society that did not exist?

Suddenly, the thought of Mai and the soft swelling of her belly flashed through his memory, like light through the breaches of a cracked wall.

Zuko let out a loud cry of rage, both hands gripping his hair and tugging at it. Was he going crazy, like Azula? Could it be that somehow she had contaminated him? Could madness be contagious?

He had just tortured a man! A poor eighty-years-old guy, probably senile, toothless and helpless. He would stroke himself night after night thinking of his own sister and no longer felt the slightest disgust at the idea of sleeping with her, only a vague guilt.

I should have indulged when she wanted it. I shouldn't have pushed her away. She would be with me right now.

If he hadn't refused her offer in the bathroom on the evening of the political summit, if he had allowed himself to be seduced by her enchanting promises, Azula and he would only have had to hide their secret. It would have been easy for them to meet in a dark corridor, in a hidden room and let themselves be overwhelmed by desire. Azula would have been happy, wouldn't have gone crazy, and none of this would have happened. The guilt he should have struggled with was nothing compared to the torment he was enduring now. He had lost everything anyway: Mai, his friends, his uncle, the trust of his people. So why? What was the point of depriving himself of such happiness? When he needed nothing but to feel the warmth of her mouth on his erect member. Azula, on her knees in front of him, offering proof of her total submission to him.

You will have everything you ever wanted, she had promised in Ba Sing Se.

Did Azula include herself in the offer she made to him then? At the time, was she already plagued by these same monstrous desires? However, she was the one who had plotted to bring him closer to Mai. He remembered it perfectly. Azula had always enjoyed playing dangerous games. Was she playing one right now?

And his mind kept harassing him for all the time it took him to reach his apartments and get changed. He still hadn't found any answers when he reached the hall where his soldiers were waiting for him. Dressed in a simple tunic and a breastplate, Zuko accepted the fireproof leather greaves and ordinary soldier's helmet Shin handed him. He wanted to remain incognito.

As he was equipping himself with his two favorite swords, he did not see the breathless and disheveled young woman who had just barged into the hall.

"Lady Ty Lee?" Shin exclaimed, gasping.

Zuko looked up in disbelief. A saber slipped from his hands and fell with a clang on the ground.

"Ty-"

"Zuko! Agni be praised, you have returned!" screamed the acrobat, throwing herself in his arm and clinging to his neck. "Hurry up! There is no minute to waste!"

"Ty Lee, where is Azu-"

"I'll explain everything to you on the way! Come with me! Time is running out!"

She was already walking away in the courtyard in front of the palace entrance. Zuko's heart sank painfully at the thought that his princess was in danger. He feverishly picked up his saber and rushed after Ty Lee, followed by his men who stomped behind him in a great metallic crash that echoed and vibrated for a long time between the huge black marble columns.


The place was grim, deserted. If order still reigned in some rooms of the secret bunker, others were in a state of pure desolation. Obviously, the place had been evacuated in a hurry. In the medical office, where they had found the girl's corpse, rolls of parchment and metallic instruments littered the floor.

Zuko was barely recovering from the terror that had seized him when he discovered the body of the dark hair young woman, bathing in a pool of blood. He'd turned the corpse on its back, stared at it intently, unable to collect his thoughts. It had taken Ty Lee's assurance for his clouded mind to confirm that it wasn't Azula's body.

Now, as he watched his men covering the body with a thin gray blanket, he fully realized his mistake. Apart from her thick black hair and pointed chin, this girl looked nothing like Azula.

He had ordered his men to search the place from top to bottom and waitied for them in the doctor's office with Ty Lee who told him, emotion breaking her voice, how she and Azula had fallen into this trap, what they had discovered, and how she ran away realizing it was her only chance to save the princess.

Drowned in a flood of information, Zuko raised a hand to her to silence her:

"Shut up for a minute, Ty Lee, could you? And let me think!"

"Okay..." the young girl replied, her gray eyes widening in surprise and fear.

Zuko advanced towards the secret passage his men had opened with their firebending. The darkness had engulfed them for fifteen minutes already and Zuko couldn't stay quiet. Shin had insisted that he stay here with Ty Lee and two of his men while he and his soldiers descended into the earth depths to uncover some heinous secret.

At first, Zuko had been indignant, but as his head was spinning, he had complied and was now waiting feverishly for them to come back to inform him of what they had discovered down there.

As he grew impatient, Minh, a young officer whose dedication and professionalism Zuko had always appreciated, emerged from the secret passage.

"Fire Lord," she said, beginning her report. "We found empty cells there. Obviously, they took the prisoners with them. Trays were found with still fresh food. The others are still looking for another passage they could have used to escape. Everything suggests that they took Lady Azula with them."

"Princess Azula," Zuko corrected, gritting his teeth. "I expect all of you to refer to my sister by her princely title!"

"Forgive me, my Lord," Minh replied obediently, "I won't make the mistake again."

Zuko vaguely waved his hand to let her know she was forgiven. He often forgot that since Azula had been stripped of her title by the Fire Sages, both servants and soldiers had been ordered to stop calling her "princess" and refer to her only as a simple lady of the Court.

Zuko swore to himself that if he saw Azula again, he would give her back her title and all her privileges. Agni! After all the horrors Ty Lee had just told him about this place, he was ready to give her everything she desired. As long as he found his sister safe and sound, nothing else mattered.

"Fire Lord," Minh ventured, apparently thinking she could speak safely again. "I also came to tell you that we had searched the basement from top to bottom and that it's safe to join us now."

"Very well!" Zuko replied, relieved to have something to do. "Come with me, Ty Lee," he ordered his friend.

Ty Lee seemed glad that he asked her to come. Obviously, she had feared his reaction after she told him everything. He closed the distance between them. Her jaw shook a little and her eyes mist up.

"Zuko, I'm so, so sorry!"

Zuko brought a warm hand to her shoulder. The gesture softened his anger.

"It's not your fault Ty Lee. You know Azula. When she's decided to do something… She's the most stubborn person I know and yet I spent years traveling with Toph!" he tried to joke.

But in this gloomy atmosphere, his attempt at humor felt derisory.

"I'm glad you followed her. If we find her safe and sound, it will be thanks to you. Come with me."

"Thank you, Zuko!" Ty Lee stammered.

Together, after exchanging a last look of anguish, they followed Minh in the secret passage which led down into the murk.


Azula was slowly emerging from a deep torpor. She felt a sore taste in her mouth, and her head ached, like when she woke up from a drunken night. Bits of recent memories inconsistently flooded her numbed mind. The distant voice of her conscience seemed to taunt her. How many more times would she wake up in an unknown place after being struck or drugged? She felt like the main actress of a bad comedy whose author would have difficulty renewing themselves and would recycle the same jokes over and over again. In the tales Mother read to them, princesses were poor idiots who always managed to throw themselves in desperate situations, passively waiting for the intervention of a charming prince who would come to save them.

But Azula had little hope of seeing such a scenario come true. The only two people who would risk their lives for her were far away now. She had no idea what they had done to Ty Lee. And Zuko was on the other side of the country, playing the charitable monarch in this stupid bogged down village. Besides, why would he bother to help her? If what Ty Lee told her was true, he already had everything he needed. He would console himself in the arms of his whore and forget her.

Bitterness was about to overwhelm her when a familiar voice rose in the dark:

"Focus on the real problem! You are in danger! What did I teach you, Azula? What do you do when you find yourself in a desperate situation and your enemies have subdued you?"

Seized by terror, Azula jerked her head up in the direction of the voice. This abrupt movement revealed to her that she was firmly attached to a chair, her torso barred by ropes, her feet bound and her hands tied to the armrests.

The owner of the voice was invisible but she could feel his presence in the shadows in front of her.

"Father?"

"What a disappointment you are for me, daughter!" Ozai's voice growled near her. "These years have turned you into a failure. All those hours I spent teaching you power and strength...and for what result? For this parody of a princess? Where is the powerful and cunning warrior I raised and was so proud of? Do you see what your brother has done to you? A weak, intellectually diminished creature. A whore, willing to compromise her virtue, to sully her body, to wallow in vice in order to get a crumb of attention from a brother who despises her and a mother who fears her! You're even worse than a whore! At least they benefit from their disgusting sacrifice! You know the truth? you are a tramp!"

It had to be a hallucination. It had to! Father couldn't be there! The terror that had gripped her prevented Azula from speaking. It was preventing her from breathing. Had Ozai been released from prison? Was it Huan-Li who brought him here? Was Father the famous Guide that Huan-Li was referring to with such fervor?

Father, please! she begged him internally, unable to say the words out loud.

"I was right to punish you like I did!" he replied to her futile plea. "If I had not taken your virtue, you would have given it to your pathetic brother, to this traitor, a long time ago. And for what? He fucks another one right in front of your nose to humiliate you, he forces you to take reckless risks for him. Since when do you rush into a mission without having carefully studied and prepared it? Is that what I taught you?"

"No, Father!" she answered in a very small voice. Whether he was real or not didn't change the pain his words inflicted on her. Father was right. Her heart had softened for Zuko and she now found herself at the mercy of mortal enemies who would stop at nothing to annihilate her.

She perceived a movement in front of her, and a sound of friction, like that of a long cape being dragged on the ground. Her heart clenched violently in her chest. She tried in vain to gather her bound limbs towards her. Was he going to hurt her? Was he going to touch her? Was he going to-

"Poor foolish girl! You're just a failure, the disgrace of the family. You richly deserved the humiliation I inflicted on you on the day of the Black Sun. I should have broken you after that."

Azula stopped fighting the tears that had formed in her eyes and released the sob that was stuck there.

"Zuko…" she called him softly.

There was only silence after that and she knew her father was gone.

Her hallucinations were getting worse. It really wasn't time for that: her situation was desperate. She needed to be fully lucid if she wanted to pull herself out of this mess.

Azula gave herself a few minutes to cry and then she tried to come to her senses. Come on! she said to herself, trying to gather a little optimism. The situation could be worse: at least she was no longer locked up in that horrible metal coffin where that sadistic Huan-Li had thrown her. She was in a square room, not very large but with a very high ceiling. The walls were bare except for two torches framing an armored door barred with multiple locks. Obviously, she was still underground. She could feel it in the natural darkness of the place.

If she was here, she could safely assume they didn't mean to kill her yet. It was a reason for hope. She remembered Huan-Li's insane words. He wanted her to lead experiments on her firebending. For that, he needed her alive.

She would find a way to escape. Her father's voice spoke in her head, but this time she was not afraid, because it was not a hallucination, but a simple memory:

"Remember what I taught you. What do you do when an enemy submitted you?"

"I make sure to submit him in turn. I reverse the balance of power."

The memory of that conversation flooded Azula's memory with courage. Closing her eyes, she could almost visualize the Council room where Ozai locked himself with her, for hours on end, to show her his maps and tell her about his plans. They discussed with passion military tactics, firebending. How Azula loved those moments! How important she felt! It was so much better than practice in the yard, where Father would take advantage of correcting her stance to brush her buttocks or her breasts. In this place, he spoke to her as if she were his equal. He had never done anything inappropriate in this room.

It was here that he announced her that she would be the next Fire Lord, that she would rule the nation and the entire world

For a moment, Azula had let herself be caught up in these dreams of grandeur. That's what had pushed her to chase Zuko, to make sure he never returned home, covered with honor, the Avatar chained in the hold of his ship.

She had found her brother, hiding with his uncle in this seedy shack in the Earth Kingdom. And seeing him again had moved her more than she could have said.

Bringing Zuko back was no longer just a way to secure the power her father had promised to her. Bringing him back could mean the end of Father's lustful stares at her girlish forms. Bringing him back meant having someone to talk to, an equal with whom she could finally be herself.

When the opportunity occurred in Ba Sing Se, Azula had already made up her mind. She wanted her brother in her life. Alongside Mai and Ty Lee. So much for the throne. If she managed to rebuild their broken relationship, there had been no doubt that Zuko would accept her to reign by his side.

The few months the four of them had spent in the Fire Nation had been the happiest of her life. Although it hurt terribly to see Zuko hugging Mai and kissing her neck. But that would only be a passing fancy. Azula was much prettier than Mai, and Zuko would eventually notice it. Of course, they would have to hide from Father, but Azula was an excellent concealer and an outstanding liar! Her achievement in Ba Sing Se had boosted her self-confidence tenfold. A bright future was finally dawning!

But Zuko ruined everything! Father had discovered the trickery and had severely punished her.

Why had she tried to play the game of power again, in the state she was in? Plotting, manipulating everyone around her... She was no longer the young prodigy she used to be, the golden child of Fire Lord's Ozai. Since the day of the Black Sun, she was just a broken doll, incapable to contain her emotions. Her attempts to seduce her brother all failed in the most humiliating way. Each time he ended up pushing her away, or else she gave up sleeping with him, for fear of what would happen. The memory of what Father had done prevented her from fully enjoying these moments of intimacy with Zuko.

Azula had been taught that only the man should experience pleasure during the act. That's what Li and Lo had taught her when they'd started talking to her about the subject. Ty Lee claimed otherwise, but that didn't really matter. She was not a princess. When Zuko had caressed her body, buried his face between her breasts, brushed her inner thighs and rubbed himself against her, she'd felt something, like a quivering, a desire. And it burst in her chest like a flower opening in the sun and revealing its colors in the daylight.

The urge to feel that thrill, again and again, had guided her every action. She was just a vile human being, devoured by vice and lust, a monster. And Father was right. He had been right to shatter her desires before they made her unable of acting intelligently, with composure. It was always the thought of the Black Sun that came between her and her desire when things got out of hand with Zuzu. Father had branded this lesson in her body, in her head and on her skin. And she should have remembered that, no matter what, even after time had faded the wound on her hip.

Tied up on this chair, in this sinister room, Azula understood that she had been wrong to fight against the memory all this time. Father had given her a unique chance to become stronger. But she hadn't been able to seize it and her defeat against Zuko and Katara had destroyed her for good. Of the once feared and respected Fire Nation princess, only a few scattered shreds remained. Desperate, devastated, she had naively, stupidly clung to the proofs of affection that her brother had kindly granted her.

Azula vowed that if she got out of here alive, she would never let her feelings and lust dominate her again. It was unworthy of her, unworthy of a princess of her rank. Yes, the lesson had been painful and a tiny part of her – which she was ashamed of – resented Father for having been so harsh and so brutal. But now she knew he had acted for her own good. Finally, she understood what he intended by punishing her that way. If she got out of here, Azula would do anything to regain her pride. Zuko had deprived her of her crown, her reason, her intelligence and her dignity. He had ruined her existence.

Because of him, she had lost three years of her youth in a grim asylum. He had kept her in the golden prison of his palace for two years. By his fault, she had gone crazy again, had an almost fatal fall. She wasn't even able to face a simple imperial guard in combat with bare hands. He had stripped her of everything that mattered! Everything! And she, she had forgiven him, had agreed to humiliate herself for a few crumbs of love and affection.

If she got out of here, she would give Zuko the chance to prove his loyalty to her for the last time. She already knew what she would ask him. But if he failed, if he refused to soil her precious, pure little soul… Then she would have no choice but taking back what was rightfully hers.

The sound of a lock being slid echoed through the small room where she was sitting and cut her off from her thoughts. She raised her head, ready to face her enemy, whoever he was.