Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone.
The last chapter got a bit long. Had to split it in two. This one's long too. The explanation for how Connor knows surgery is in this one, sorry for the delay. And yes for those of you who didn't look it up, humans can grow tentacles on their tongues, it's called a fringed fimbriated fold. I know this, and now all of you need to too.
I can't see views or visitors on the story stats page RN, so all I got that tells them this fic is doing good are reviews, favs and follows. I kindly ask for all three.
Chapter 11 Explanation, Interrogation, Infiltration, and Such.
Azula and her team had to catch a ride with the retreating tanks as the drill and all it's personnel were evacuated before the Earth Kingdom seized it. Everyone was quiet as they rode back to the forward-most camp. Azula hadn't actually said a word since she'd seen Connor earth bend. Once safely behind the front lines, the soldiers pitched tents for their royal guests. Not bothering to change into a night robe, Azula merely shed her mud covered boots and other garments, before she retreated to the cot she was provided with.
Her side throbbed and simultaneously itched. Looking down at the injury, she saw that the area around the scab was beginning to bruise. The long scab itself, a horrible reminder that her once flawless body would have some form of hideous scar like Zuko's, though thankfully somewhere clothing would cover.
Connor could be heard clearing his throat from the other side of her tent flap. "Azula? Are you decent?"
Azula sat up in her cot. She wasn't going to fuss about being seen unclothed in front of commoners, she'd had a hard enough day as it was. Quickly wrapping her body in sheets and blankets to cover herself, Azula swung her legs off the side. "You may enter."
Connor peeked his head through first, reeled it back in surprise, and then came into the tent. "Uh…" Connor did his best to ignore Azula's clear lack of clothing from under her covers. "You're not… Disappointed I'm an earth bender or anything?" Connor asked.
"Would you be quiet about that!" Azula hissed at him, before drawing a calming breath. "I'm trying to come up with a public story for as to why an earth bender is under my command." Azula said.
Connor looked at Azula with confusion. "Do… Do you not have earth benders in the army? Or at least in the colonies?" Azula almost chuckled, thinking it was some sort of joke. "We have people with dark skin in our army. Is it no different here?"
"Oh you're serious?" She realized. "You already understand that there is a natural order of the four elements and four people. The Fire Nation being greatest among them, would not and rightfully should not integrate lower nations customs, to include their martial practice. Having earth benders in the ranks would only lead to trouble." Azula said. "And while we do have earth benders in the colonies, they are rightfully treated as second class citizens."
"Right, so I'm about as much of a freak as usual." Connor said with an eye roll.
"Naturally…" Azula said, crossing her blanket wrapped arms. "To be fair, I probably should have seen this coming sooner. Your personality has all the hallmarks of being an earth bender. Stubborn, overly hard working, grounded. You're even built like one." Azula paused. "Though you have all the aggression of a fire bender though." She muttered to herself.
"On the upside, you have another bender on your team." Connor said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh to what end. For some reason you've only just discovered the ability today. It'll take months before you'd be any good, and that's if I was willing to find a master to formally train you." Azula huffed. "More importantly our plans have been set back. With the drill being destroyed, we've lost our most sure chance at breaching Ba Sing Se, and capturing The Avatar. So we'll need to formulate a new plan."
"I don't know, I'm a pretty quick study... Think I could knock part of the wall down?" Connor asked.
"Do you know how thick it is?" Azula said snidely.
"Fair point." Conner said. "You don't… Think any less of me now, do you?" Connor asked. Azula just raised an eyebrow at him, the answer already pretty clear.
"What do you care anyways? Everyone who's met you other than Ty Lee thinks you're just as much a savage as the tribesmen." Azula said.
"Because…" Connor's word's failed him. "Ah, never you mind." Connor said, waving off the thought.
"No, I do mind. Why are you concerned with my opinion of you?" Azula asked, eyes narrowing.
"Because it'll be a lot easier to travel with you, if you don't treat me like the rest of the earth benders." Connor said, face growing a little red. "I'm... I'm not one of them." He sounded almost pitiful.
Azula tried to read his expression, and shrugged. He was agitated, and probably thought she would be going back on their deal. "Fine." She said simply.
"Fine?" Conner returned.
"Fine. I won't treat you any different because you're a stone chucker." Azula said, shrugging again. There was a palpable moment of silence. Connor cleared his throat again, before Azula continued. "Perhaps such an attitude should be more readily accepted… If anything for the sake of pragmatism."
"You're just going to up and reverse your entire view on race?" Connor asked in disbelief.
"Not reverse, so much as shift. I don't see why we can't make use of people in ways that make sense. Earth benders and colonial born earth people should never hold positions in government, but at the least they can feel a sense of pride in being productive citizens. So long as they know who their betters are." Azula said.
"Right, well, it's good to know I'll at least be respected as a good slave." Connor said sarcastically.
"As such, the story should go something along the lines of you being a devoutly loyal colonist born earth person for anyone who asks about your bending." Azula held off her next comment, and instead, decided to think about how she, and by extension The Fire Nation, was going to get into Ba Sing Se, capture it, and The Avatar. Looking at Connor, she remembered something she'd heard while she was passed out over a week ago. "Surgeon under washington."
"Who taught you how to perform surgeries?" Azula asked.
Connor rolled his eyes. "We're back on the surgery thing?"
"Just, answer the question." Azula said, holding her hand to the side of her head in irritation.
Connor sighed. "My father didn't so much fight in the war, as he did fix people up during it. He was a surgeon in General Washington's Continental Army. Tried making a doctor out of me, but I wanted to work with a smith. Still learned a thing or two obviously." Connor pointed his entire hand at Azula's stomach.
"This war, this army, what is its story? I know you gave me a summary when we first met, but I want to hear the whole thing. Why was there a war for your separation from the English?" Azula Asked.
"All of it?" Connor returned, unsure if Azula was truly interested.
"As much as you can remember." Azula said with a smirk.
Connor took a breath, before sitting on the floor. "Ok, so we have to start with the French and Indian War. Basically, The French claimed English land in the colonies of America, and then built forts there. The British sent a sizable force and an Indian tribe who we were allied with, to drive the French out. The French surrendered, and then one of the Indian warriors killed their commander, and started a separate seven year long global conflict, and the British won both. The war cost the crown nearly sixty million… Let's say, gold Ban for an equivalent… A lot of money, and to pay off all the debt from the war they resorted to increasing taxes. For example, the colonies could only import sugar and məʊˈlæsɪz from Britain, and had to pay a duty for it." Connor started.
"What's mo-lass-ass?" Azula attempted to sound out the word.
"It's… Boiled sugar sort of, it makes rʌm." Conner amended. "Off topic… Anyways, the British taxed near everything they could, in extremely unfair ways, and the thirteen colonies had no representation in government." Conner said, before being interrupted again.
"Well why would they?" Azula asked. "Those ordained by birth to rule, do so. The common man has no say in how his nation is run."
Connor shook his head. "The British government is a ˌpɑːləˈmɛntəri monarchy."
"Par-la-ment-tree." Azula tried the word.
"Parliament is sort of like The Fire Nations system of court, or the ministries, but instead of the highest position like the Fire Lord choosing who is to be an advisor, the people in these positions in parliament are chosen by the common man, by who wins the majority of a vote in a specified section of land, so that whomsoever is king has people under him that more accurately represent the country, and allowing the people to have a say in how the land is run."
"That sounds dumb." Azula said shortly. "A farmer knows how to run a country about as well as a King knows how to trim Komodo-rhino claws."
"Well it sounds dumb, until you understand that parliament was a way to keep those that owned more land and who had accumulated more wealth than the king, both happy and from starting civil wars. Unsurprisingly, the colonies of America had no people representing us in parliament. We had no say in how we were being taxed, and even the Anglos born there had less rights than British citizens, god forbid you be colored, or Celtic. I'd amuse you're people, ˈeɪʃᵊnz is what we call you, would have been treated pretty badly by the British too, if any of you lived there. So the colonies protested, and for a while the taxes were repealed, but they kept the one on tea, and… Well sent a bunch of soldiers to a city called ˈbɒstən to suppress the colony. They massacred a bunch of citizens. From there it all started going downhill. Protesters tossed an entire ship of tea into the harbor, rioters burned down the governor's house, and tarred and feathered people that supported the crown."
"Sounds as if the colonists started the war." Azula said.
"Oh, no, the war wouldn't start for another two years, but rightfully so even if America did start it, the colonies were being unfairly treated for over a decade. After the massacre the Brits sent another three thousand soldiers, and revoked the colony's charter, meaning that it was under direct rule of the king. They had no ability to govern themselves at all. All it did was scare the other colonies into calling a convention, and they started creating their own small armies."
"Your people openly raised militias? How did you get away with that? Did the British not restrict the sale and ownership of weaponry in the contested colonies? That would be like if The Fire Nation simply allowed colonial born earth people to buy your musket." Azula said in confusion.
"The early colonies and colonists couldn't afford not to have guns. The government encouraged it in case the citizens needed to go to war alongside the army, as what happened in The French and Indian War. And the colonies were mostly untamed wilderness still. It's an unwritten rule that if you're settling the wilds of America you bring a gun with you loaded for bear. Well, until the British banned their import. Plenty of people were still making their own guns at home though." Connor said, before thinking. "Actually… The morning the war started, the reason we fought, was because the British marched out to ˈlɛksɪŋtən ænd ˈkɒŋkɔːd and tried to take our guns. And those brave men who stood across the old north bridge did what no other men in the world had ever done. They opened fire on the British, and by the end of the day, had the greatest army in the world running scared, all the way back to ˈbɒstən." Connor said with a smile.
"And that was it?" Azula asked the leading question with a raised eyebrow. "The British sent four thousand men, then a few hundred civilians with no real organization defeated them? The British stopped the fighting because they were out matched and humiliated, and allowed you to rule yourselves instead of fighting yet another costly war?"
"HA HA HA! No, not at all." Connor said, still laughing. "The few weeks trip from ˈbɒstən to Britain meant that for a while the Brits had no clue what what was going on. Our colonial government didn't even know whether or not we were going to separate yet, and most just wanted full British rights. The King of England got so pissed when he found out about the rebellion that he had towns in other colonies burned down. A bunch of other fights broke out, and eventually the Spanish and French started to give us supplies because they hated the Brits as much as we did by then. Get this though. Our first president, the general who led us through the war, George Washington, used to be a British officer, and got pretty high in the ranks before he decided to fight with us. In fact he was the one who led the attack on the French in the French and Indian war. He knew how the British army worked, so he knew how to fight them."
"A traitor was your greatest military mind?" Azula asked rhetorically. "Continue."
"Washington drove the Brits out of ˌmæsəˈʧuːsɪts without firing a single shot because he'd positioned cannons on a hill overlooking the city of ˈbɒstən, and that was about when we really decided that we wanted to be our own country, that we could be our own country, and fight the Brits off if we had to." Connor said.
"And how did that go? I assume the British were exceptionally angered by the treason your nation committed?" Azula questioned.
"Oh, they were pissed beyond belief. They sent over a hundred ships and then some to New York to invade." Connor said with a giggle. Azula raised an eyebrow. Connor cleared his throat. "The British drove the Continental Army out of the city and chased them all the way to pɛnsɪlˈveɪnɪə, an entire state away. My father actually joined the army then and there. He was studying medicine in a university before he dropped out to offer his help."
"I'm assuming he gained quite a bit of experience?" Azula asked.
"That was how his career as a doctor really began actually. He started out as just a physician's mate, no older than twenty at the time. By the end of the war he was a full blown field surgeon through practice." Connor said. "Either way. Washington did something that was unheard of for an army at the time. Knowing that the British didn't expect to fight in the winter, or on holidays, Washington crossed a half frozen ˈdɛləweə river during the celebration of the birth of our ɡɒdz son ˈʤiːzəs and attacked a mercenary group the brits stationed on the other side while they were drunk, asleep, or feasting."
"So treasonous, and sacrilegious? Quite an honorable man this general was." Azula commented.
"Oy, Washington was good at what he did. I'll say nothing of John Paul Jones though. That man was insane." Connor said, chuckling to himself.
"He was the one who somehow captured a ship when his own sank, while in enemy waters and raiding towns the entire time, right?" Azula asked, remembering that this man was one he'd told Ty Lee a story about.
"Yup that's him." Connor nodded.
"Of course your greatest naval commander was a pirate." Azula deadpanned.
"Privateer." Connor corrected. "Little more looting, little less killing."
"Have you no shame?" Azula asked, eyebrow raised. "You're not pleading a very strong case for you and your countrymen being any better than the snow savages."
"Hey, we're from two different worlds, how we go about warring with each other is none of the other's business." Connor said with some small bite behind his words. "I'll feel no regret or shame for being born the son of Europeans, just as you shouldn't for being born a Fire Woman." Connor sighed. "Anyways, the war went on for eight whole years, and America just made it so expensive for the British that they had to give up… They're still kinda aggressive and don't treat us like a true country, but eh." Connor said with a shrug. "That's why I was trying to sell French guns. The Army and militias will buy whatever it can get because it's entirely possible the crown'll try to take back the land."
"So that's it? A war over taxes, and who rules where?" Azula asked, rather unimpressed.
Connor shook his head. "It was about more than that. The nation's founders made an entire document that outlined exactly why the British government had no right to rule over us, and later instated a government that enshrined the rights of the people of the united States of America, as above any government power, chiefly, the right of speech, religion, the press, assembly, petition, the right to keep and bear arms of any kind, the right to refuse housing soldiers in times of peace, the right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom from self incrimination, a speedy trial, by a jury of peers, to be free of unusual or cruel punishment… And a few other unspoken ones."
Azula hummed. "Well if I was a peasant, that would sound quite nice…" She said to herself, before wincing, her side flaring in pain.
"Are you alright?" Connor asked, getting to his feet.
"I'm fine." Azula lied.
"Bullshit. You were practically in agony the whole ride back." Connor said. "If you wouldn't mind, could I check your wound?"
"I'm fine Connor!" Azula said fiercely. "A little bruised is all. It's not going to kill me. I just need some rest."
Connor shook his head. "Yeah... Well goodnight princess. Yell if your pride dies, and you need help." He said, before exiting the tent. Azula nearly shouted a reprimand at him, but held her tongue, and pouted in frustration.
Two days after the failed attempt to bore through the wall, Azula, the pain in her side fading into no more than a dull ache, and her team were scouting the land surrounding the wall of Ba Sing Se on mongoose lizards. They were looking for any semblance of an entrance to a supposed hidden migrant center on the eastern lake's shore but thus far had come up short. The team of four stopped for a moment, and found that there was a distinctly recognizable tuft of white fur snagged on a broken tree branch. Azula snatched the fur, and narrowed her eyes. Looking right she saw what appeared to be a trail heading east.
Cresting a hill, the four riders came to a halt, finding The Avatar's pet bison and six women surrounding him. They approached on their steads, and Azula sent a narrow jet of fire at a tree behind the bison, the coniferous plant falling onto its side, blocking the path of the women near the giant animal.
"My my, you are easy to find. It's astounding how my brother hasn't captured you yet." Azula said to the white creature, as she let the tuft of fur go.
The leader of the girls, wearing a distinctive headband, drew a metal fan, and deployed a thin collapsing shield from her wrist, the other's behind her following suit. "What do you want with us?" She asked.
Azula sat up straighter on her mount. "Who are you, The Avatar's fan girls?" Azula asked, not intentionally cracking a pun, but all the same, finding it fitting.
Connor stifled a laugh, while Ty Lee took a moment to find the joke. "Oh, I get it. Good one, Azula."
"If you're looking for The Avatar, you're out of luck." The leader of the girls in green said.
"I knew this was a waste of time." Mai said with a sigh.
"That's alright…" Azula said, before eyeing her ace in the hole. "Connor, would you kindly introduce yourself." Connor stuffed his musket into it's saddle holster, swung a leg off of his lizard, and stepped down. He cracked his neck, and walked forward three paces to stand directly between the two groups of girls.
"One against six. Confident you can take all us girls by yourself?" The leader said, before Connor unfastened his belt, and dropped it to the side, leaving his pistol and sword on the ground.
"Yes. Yes I am." Connor said, as he kissed his right fist, and then drove it into the ground in front of him as hard as he could, sending a shock wave out that rocked the six warriors in front of him. As all of the women in green tried their best to stay standing, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai all jumped from their lizards to engage.
Connor pulled his arm up, and ripped a section of the ground up from beneath the front most girl, sending her flying backwards into the bison's face. Mai pinned their opponents to the ground by their clothing with her thrown darts and daggers, and Ty Lee rendered more immobile.
Azula strode past her friends, as the bison took to the air and fled further east. She approached the only warrior who was not yet defeated, and smirked, as the girl drew a sword when she stood. Mai readied a dart, as Ty Lee leapt off of a tree and landed behind the woman warrior, as Connor took up the right flank, kicking a rock out of the ground, and holding it there with an outstretched hand, a fist cocked back. The girl looked between her defeated compatriots, and Azula's team. "I'm not giving up without a fight." She said, leveling her blade, and holding her shield up.
Azula hummed. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, you've already lost." Mai threw her dart, which the girl reacted to first, swiping the projectile out of the air, before Connor punched his rock, sending a shower of smaller stones at her, which she deflected with her shield. Azula kicked high, sending a stream of fire at the woman, who was struck square in the chest, her armor protecting her from the blast, before Ty Lee delivered a single precise chop to the girl's collar bone, causing her to fall over, unable to move.
Connor crossed his arms. "Well, what now?"
Azula scoffed. "Now, we take them back to camp, and interrogate them." She said, before looking down at the defeated girl.
No sooner had Ty Lee immobilized them all, did a small detachment of Fire Nation Komodo-rhino cavalry happen upon the group, the earthquake Connor had made, drawing them into what they believed to be a fight with Earth Kingdom soldiers. Instead, the cavalry was tasked with carrying the prisoner's for the princess.
Before any of the Kyoshi warriors were taken to the Fire Army camp, they were bound at the wrists, and had bags placed over their heads. Suki had been on the giving end of such a method of capture and sensory deprivation before, but being the receiver of it was an experience she never thought she'd get. "This one." Suki heard the fire bender of the little team that attacked them say. She was pulled off of the back of the Komodo rhino, and carried over someone's shoulder a short distance. The person carrying her smelled like sweat, and strangely sulfur.
Suki was unceremoniously set down on a bench. Rough hands pulled her armor off, and two more took to cutting away her warrior robes, leaving her in little more than her underwear. "No weapons." That sounded like the gloomy girl from earlier.
Suddenly the bag was taken off her head, and after blinking away the blinding light that came through the sunshade of the tent she was in, Suki saw the team of four in front of her. The three girls were standing, as the tall red haired pale faced earth bender sat on a simple stool, arms crossed, as he looked at her idly.
"How about we start with a name." The fire bender said. Azula, if the peppy girl's words were right. Suki remained quiet. Azula smacked her, taking away a smear of her war paint. Suki remained quiet. "Alright then…" Azula wiped the paint off her hand with a rag.
"Bitch, sounds appropriate." The gloomy girl interjected.
"Thank you Mai." Azula said. "Alright then, Bitch. I already know you're a member of the Kyoshi Warriors, the paint and stupid get up I remember reading about in school. What I want to know, is what you and the other girls were doing with The Avatar's pet?"
Suki just looked up at her captors, and spit in their direction. Azula rolled her eyes. "Mai, Ty Lee. Leave…" The two girls turned and left the tent. "Connor, what is a common punishment for a prisoner who misbehaves in your home land?" Azula asked.
Connor cleared his throat. "Well, usually, most prisoners are executed for their crimes, but on occasion, a good flogging, or beating isn't frowned upon." Suki resisted the urge to show any hint of surprise.
"Can you think of anything else?" Azula asked. "Wouldn't want that perfect skin to get too badly damaged, would we?"
"Take a few meals away… Put her in a hole?" Connor suggested. Suki remained impassive.
"This will go a lot easier if you cooperate." Azula said, leaning in towards Suki, before grabbing the girl by the chin. "If you answer my questions truthfully, I'll see to it that you and your warriors are given preferential treatment as prisoners of war." Suki remained silent, before Azula leaned in closer, and whispered in her ear. "Of course, you know that if you refuse, I can't promise you any protection… You know how men at war get. So far away from the comforts of home." Suki drew a short breath. She focused on the giant still gazing at her, as Azula pulled away, her implied threat lingering. "But that wouldn't really be a problem for a bitch like you would it?" Azula turned and started walking towards the tent flap. "You know what I want out of her." She said, before leaving Suki with Connor.
Suki swallowed, as she remained in a deadlock with the freak sitting across from her. "So…" Suki started, believing she could reason with the freak, or at the very least relate to him as an Earth Kingdom Citizen. "You're going to have your way with me then?" Suki asked, sitting up as straight as she could. Connor blinked once and raised an eyebrow. "I knew that Fire Nation soldiers weren't opposed to the idea of taking Earth Kingdom women, but I didn't think that any Earth Benders would join them." Suki said. Connor stood up, as Suki swallowed a lump in her throat. "Why are you even with them?" He took his bag off his back. "Look, you can… You can do whatever, I don't care… I'm… I'm more than ready, but leave the other girl's alone." Connor eyed her, and scoffed, with a small smirk.
"kraɪst ɔːl ˈfʌkɪŋ ˈmaɪti, aɪm nɒt ˈɡɒnə reɪp juː." Connor spoke in what sounded like gibberish, before he pulled out a bottle of dark liquid from his bag, and a blanket, which he tossed at her. "Now I don't know what idea the crazy bitch put in your head, but nobody is raping nobody while I'm around." Connor shivered, before he uncorked the bottle, and took a swig.
"Then what exactly are you going to do?" Suki asked, putting the blanket around her shoulders as best she could while bound. "Whatever tricks you've got aren't going to work on me."
Connor shook his head after his drink. "Do I look smart enough for tricks?" He asked, before taking another sip. "Don't answer that... Look, Azula wants me to get information out of you, and I'm gonna try being polite about it. Drink?" Connor asked, holding out the bottle towards Suki. He'd already sipped on it twice, so whatever it was likely wasn't poisoned.
"What is it?" Suki asked, still skeptical.
"Oh it's this crazy thing called a truth potion." Connor said sarcastically. Suki gave him a look of deadpanned disbelief. "It's alcohol. I'm assuming you've had some before."
"I drink wine when the occasion presents itself." Suki said. "You're going to try getting me drunk, so I'll tell you whatever you want me to."
Connor shrugged. "Worth a shot… Get it." He giggled. "Course if you think you can handle your drink, we can make a game out of it. Make things fair."
Suki raised an eyebrow. "What kind of game?"
"We ask each other questions in turns. If we don't answer, we drink." He said, pulling out a small cup, and pulling his stool closer so that he was about an arm's length away from her. "Either way, both of us are probably going to get drunker than a sailor. You can ask the first question." Connor poured a shot, and held it up.
Suki hummed, before looking Connor up and down. "Where are you from?"
Connor chuckled mirthlessly. "You wouldn't believe me." He prepared to drink.
"I'm from an island with a giant sea monster in it's bay, believe me, I'll believe a lot." Suki said.
Connor shrugged. "I'm from a country called The united States. You won't find it on any map. It's a land from another world." Suki barely held a snicker. "See, told you."
Suki shook her hands. "It sounds like a lie, but I've heard weirder." Suki took the glass from Connor.
"Alright, then, who's this Kyoshi?" Connor asked.
"You don't know?" Suki asked, only getting a shaken head from Connor. "She was The Avatar before Avatar Roku. She was a great warrior and created our island so we would be safe from invaders." Suki passed the glass back. "So why are you fighting for The Fire Nation if you're an earth bender?"
"Not from the Earth Kingdom. Remember?" Connor said with a smirk, as he passed the glass back.
"Yes, but surely you can't believe what The Fire Nation is doing is right?" Suki asked, not allowing Connor to let go of the glass.
Connor shrugged. "Such is war. The Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom can squabble over land all they want. I'm on the side that's paid me to help it… I'm a little lost, who's supposed to be asking this next question?"
Suki looked down to the shot, and decided to take one and get the ball rolling. She drank it, and handed the glass back to Connor, who refilled it. The drink burned her throat going down far harder than any wine or beer she'd had before. "That is nasty. What is it?" Suki asked, as Connor swirled the cup of liquor.
"Rʌm." Connor said, passing her back the cup. "It's made out of the distilled black crud left over from boiling sugar cane." Suki eyed the liquid with suspicion now more than she did before. "You've never heard of it?" Connor asked.
"We don't get many Fire Nation commodities on Kyoshi Island." There was a pause where Suki thought of her next question, as she passed Connor back the glass. "So… Which one of those girl's are you trying to sleep with then?" Connor narrowed his eyes. "I'm just saying, if you're holding out for someone that would explain why you wouldn't take me." Connor drank the shot, before refilling the glass and passing it to her. "Figures. My bet's on the girl with the braid."
"Alright since we're gettin' personal, you wouldn't happen to have a boyfriend who'd be upset if I did decide to keep you for myself?" Conner asked.
"What ever happened to the "no rape," promise?" Suki asked, eyebrow raised. Connor was silent for a second. Suki smirked, he was bluffing.
"Answer first, before you get one out of me." Connor said, pointing at the cup.
Suki held her chin up, before drinking. She sputtered, before passing the cup back to Connor. "Like I'd tell you."
Connor filled the glass, and shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't be the first line I've ever crossed... Not that you'd know what it's like having to cross lines you don't want to... I can see it in your eyes. You haven't ever cut a man down, have you?"
"Maybe not, but as a warrior it's something I have prepared all my life to do... And what about you? How many have you sent to an early grave?" Suki asked. Connor drank. "Right…" Suki muttered.
"No, that drink was to clear my head..." Connor refilled the glass and passed it to her. "I beat two men to death in an ally fight before I came to the Fire Nation, and shot a third upon my arrival... After that, I stopped counting." Connor shrugged. "Always had a temper... Dad said I got it from my mom. Mom says I got it from My dad." Connor looked at Suki. "Truthfully... I think that I just got a little bit of the Devil in me." Connor said in English, using the moment to vent to someone who would never understand. "And he loves a good 'n dirty fight, never mind who gets hurt..." Connor took a swig right from the bottle. "And... Every day that goes on, I think to myself; what's so wrong lettin' him out?... Why be ashamed of who I am?... Why not embrace it?... Put the will of a fighting man to good use..." Connor took one more swig, before speaking in Common. "Anyways... This boyfriend of yours?..."
Azula lay quietly on her cot, in a night robe. She wasn't asleep, but had nothing better to do while the warriors were being interrogated. It had been a few hours, and the only one who'd not given her a full report was Connor, who she'd figured was still in the tent with their leader. Who knew how long he'd be in there for? She didn't take Connor for the predatory type, but wouldn't put it past the loud mouthed brute to despoil a woman, given his enjoyment of physical violence and other simple things, though his shyness around nudity contradicted that thought. Perhaps it was some sort of hierarchy system as the Fire Nation had which compelled him to not view nakedness. Whoever was of a higher social and therefore economic standing would be able to afford more clothing, and should not be seen without it. Though in the case of his society it is the lowers who are to look away in shame, rather than the highers which would hide theirs.
The flap to her tent fluttered open, and Connor stumbled in with a groan. He looked at her, and approached slowly with a giggle. Azula sat up, and held two fingers pointed out at Conner, prepared to burn him, only for the giant to trip over his own feet and fall to the floor, a near empty bottle rolling across the wooden slats of the tent. "You drunk oaf." Azula said with a sigh. "Did you get anything out of the girl?" Connor nodded with his eyes closed. "And what did you learn?"
Connor palmed around for his bottle. "That she can drink." Connor slurred.
"What?" Azula asked, seeming to not understand. "She drank? Wait, why was she drinking with you? Did you get what I asked for or not?" Azula asked. "Please don't tell me you just got drunk, and had sex with a prisoner, without at the very least getting some form of information out of her?" Azula said, rubbing her temples, as she put her feet on the floor near Connor's head.
"Didn't sleep with her." Connor slurred, as he opened one eye and looked up at Azula. "Waitin' for the right girl…"
"Yes, well, I'm sure whoever that might be would just adore you for acting so gentlemanly." Azula said snidely, as Connor giggled to himself and closed his eye again. "So what did the girl tell you?"
"Suki… Kyoshi warrior. Crossed the pass to come help Avatar. Got a boyfriend named Sokka, from the tribes. Saw them a few days ago. They're in the city… Lost his pet." Connor said, before rolling onto his left side, and curling into a ball, hugging Azula's ankle. Azula would admit that his ability to speak in common while drunk was quite well preserved.
Azula pulled her leg free, and sighed. "All of this is either not relevant, or something we already deduced."
"Oh, yeah, boat ride, cross the lake, secret cave or something in the eastern half. Was guarding it before she left." Connor said, hugging her ankle again. "Ticket lady's an old hag."
At this Azula smiled. "Thank you Connor…" He hadn't let go of her ankle. "You may go now."
"Don't wanna'. Floor's comfy." He slurred.
Azula rolled her eyes. "Connor, I can't have you sharing a tent at night with me and me alone."
"Right, right, people talk…" Connor said, as he let her go, pushed himself off the floor, and stood. "Night, Az…" Connor said, only pronouncing half of her name, before turning. He stopped just before the tent flap, and looked over his shoulder. "Oh… Make sure those girls stay safe. They're... They're good people, and I promised Suki none of them would… You know…"
Azula did, in fact, know. "I'll ensure their guards from her on out will fear for their lives even thinking about ravishing them." Connor nodded, and then left.
Azula looked down at the bottle on the floor, and picked it up. The cork was missing and less than an eighth of the fluid remained. "Mao ne te, Geh ae ye, Rruumm." Azula said, sounding out the large bold "Mount Gay Rum" on the paper label. She sniffed the bottle's rim, and immediately her nose was filled with the strong scent of alcohol, far more pungent than any wine she'd known. Placing the edge of the bottle's opening to her mouth, Azula curiously sipped the dark liquid, and after swallowing, coughed twice. It was an unexpected, but pleasant burning sensation, not unlike that of sake, if stronger, though far sweeter. Connor mentioned something about pure sugar being used to create this drink hadn't he?
Looking at the closed tent flap, Azula eyed the bottle, and sipped from it again…
Author's note.
Something I saw posted on Reddit and the fandom wiki was a question about the possibility Suki was tortured and raped as a POW...
There's evidence that supports ATLA doesn't really have any sort of agreed upon international laws of war, let alone civil, or even human rights respected by any of the nations during war save maybe the Air Nomad monks. (And they're all dead) Additionally Suki was in a mixed gender prison that looked like some shit you'd see in south or central America. It's entirely possible, more so likely that rape is a fairly common thing within the Avatar universe, however it being a "kid show" they aren't going to go out of their way to make a point about it... I however will.
Simultaneously I'll also make a point that Suki isn't going to be treated in such a way. Because for her case specifically, Azula had better things to do than see to it Suki was tortured, and she handled herself in prison perfectly well it seems. Or at least didn't seem to have been traumatized by anything of that nature.
Also Azula really only took Ba Sing Se because the plot demanded it. So here's my version with historical inspiration. (quickly looks up Chinese rebellions.) "Jesus that's a lot of rebellions."
Mount Gay Rum is a French Barbados rum company that has been in business since the 1703. This bottle was distilled in Barbados, sent to France for sale, purchased by the crew of the soon to be wrecked ship before they left France, put into storage in the Fire Nation, before Connor stuffed it in his bag when he set off back in chapter five.
Next time on Gunsmoke and Hellfire. The team goes undercover as upper middle class citizens. Connor has a bad dream. And Azula writes an angry letter.