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.

Chapter 16 Revolution, Part Two.

Azula and her team followed The Earth King and Katara through his palace to a small room with enough cushions on the floor for all of them to sit comfortably. A squad of royal guards flowed in behind them.

"I apologize for the presence of my security." King Kuei said, as he took his seat.

"There's no need." Azula said, as her and her team sat on the opposite end of the table. "After all, our nations are at war. A little precaution in such circumstances goes a long way." Of course the only credible threat in the room to Azula and her team was the water tribe girl at the King's side. "Of course, I was led to believe that The Avatar, as a peacekeeper to the world, would be here to mediate."

"Unfortunately The Avatar had matters to attend to of a spiritual nature, outside of the Kingdom. He will be returning within a few days however." The King said.

Azula restrained her frustration. The Avatar being outside the city was going to complicate things, but if the king spoke the truth the boy would be back within reach soon enough.

The Earth King cleared his throat. "Firstly, I believe it would be best if we establish what it is both of us have to gain from this conference other than the end of open conflict."

"You're undoubtedly referring to the conquests the Fire Nation has made over the Earth Kingdom's land and seas?" Azula asked, before King Kuei laid out a map provided by one of his generals that detailed the extent of the Fire Nation occupation.

"As I understand it, the Fire Nation has had colonies on the far western reaches of the Earth Kingdom since before the war began. For now, we'll leave these regions off of the table." The King said.

"Just as I'd assume that the most recently obtained territories of…" Azula read the map for a moment. "The coastal gains of Guojia province, the southern half of Nitu province, the state of Omashu, Rei Lin province, Chin state, and Gaoling province are to be returned in full to the Earth Kingdom." Azula offered.

"Which leaves…" The Earth King took a moment to count the states and provinces. "Sixteen provinces and states claimed or occupied by the Fire Nation to be negotiated over."

"And nearly an entire ocean." Mai added.

"Can I say something?" Katara piped up. The King nodded. "If we're negotiating peace, and what's being returned to who, what about the Water Tribes? How much of our civilization has been destroyed in your nation's conquests?"

Azula rolled her eyes. "At present we're strictly discussing the Earth Kingdom's territorial losses. Whatever negotiating there is to be done with you primitives can wait until a proper representative of the Tribes is present." Azula said, before turning her attention to the King. "Now-" Azula was swiftly cut off by Katara.

"Excuse me, I know I might not appear all high born and fancy, but my father is Chief Hakoda of the Southern Tribe. My voice holds the same weight yours does." Katara said, scowling at her opponent.

Azula shrugged. "Perhaps if you were born a man your tribe would let you speak for them, but alas, not all cultures treat their women as well as the Fire Nation. In respect to Water Tribe law, I'll hold negotiations with the Water Tribes at a later date, and perhaps your brother would be willing to talk." Azula said with a smirk.

Katara made a shocked gasping sound, then grit her teeth, balling her fist, before Connor held a hand up and spoke. "Easy ladies, this is a peace talk. I understand that you're both probably in the midst of a menses period, but until you cool your emotions and detoxify, please refrain from killing each other."

Azula's attention shifted to Connor. "How do you know if either of us are having our monthly course?" She asked, propping up an eyebrow, both curious, and irritated.

"And what do you mean by cool and detoxify?" Katara asked, equally as upset with Connor, though more so confused.

Connor shrugged. "The lunar cycle is not that hard to follow." He answered Azula's question. She looked at the table contemplatively as she realized her usual course did coincide with the moon's phases. "And to my understanding, or really my father's as a physician, is that a woman's menses is the body's way of ejecting sickness and toxins in blood like yellow bile. Said bile gathering before release being the cause of cramps and changes in mood... It's why women on average live longer than men. As men have no course for ejecting toxins and disease naturally, it ultimately means we're more likely to die from illness and accumulated bile later in life."

Azula always assumed that cramps and bleeding were an ancient curse upon women from Agni as punishment for the first woman once sleeping outside in the daylight, passed down from mother to child, with sunburn being the current punishment for everyone, as most Fire Nation medical scholars would agree. Though Connor's otherworldly explanation had some amount of reason behind it.

Katara crossed her arms, remembering that it was supposed to be a full moon tonight, and that perhaps Connor, (while rudely addressing it,) was right that she was a tad bit more heated than usual when Tui (Or Yue now,) pulled upon her. "Fine. We can negotiate the end of the war on the Water Tribes after the Earth Kingdom is free."

Azula smiled slightly at that. "Right… Speaking of the water, your majesty…"

The negotiations dragged on for well over two hours, and amid the dirty looks Azula and Katara continued to shoot each other, neither the King nor the Princess had managed to budge on more than a few of the contested regions of the Earth Kingdom. Before the conference could devolve into a shouting match between the opposed princesses in the room, King Kuei stepped in.

"Why don't we all take an hour or two's break? Get some tea, maybe lunch, before we resume the negotiations, hmm?" He asked.

Azula gave the king a thin smile. Noon was approaching. "Perhaps that would be a wise decision, your majesty." She said, as she and her team stood from their seats.

Katara sighed, as she rose from her cushion on the floor, and left the room. Katara waited for Azula and her gang of misfits to exit the hall under escort, then turn towards a tea room on the other side of the palace. Seeing that the Earth King was being escorted the other direction, Katara decided to take a walk and clear her head.

Mobs of peasants and dwellers of the middle ring alike gathered just beyond the wall of the inner ring. Dai Li agents and soldiers, under orders from Long Feng despite his imprisonment, were combating the crowd, forcing them away from the wall in an attempt to ensure the stability of the kingdom before power could be returned to the Grand Secretariat.

Among the crowd were those who had organized in the rear lines of the mob. The progeny of the intellectuals, the mechanistically minded, the blacksmiths, all readied their inventions, tying spark rocks and wicks to their fingers, as they filled their pockets with nails and powder.

Long Feng, in his cell, formulated his plan for control over the city once more. Deciding to re-frame his original plan, rather than control the king, Long Feng would control what people thought was the king. He'd need to have the king killed first of course, but after that it would be as simple as assuring the public and nobility that the king, while alive, was weakened from the attempt on his life. From there, he could recall resources from the military, which was already used to being under his thumb for years, to crack down on the insurrections the city was being faced with. Long Feng smirked, before he tapped the metal door of his cell, and the slot was opened. Seeing the agent there at the door, he leaned in and delivered his message.

Earth King Kuei sat down in his private tea room, reading over the multitude of reports that he'd been given since the Di Lee office was turned over to the military. Deciding to take the hour he'd been afforded to actually relax, King Kuei called for one of his servants to bring him a pot of Jasmine tea.

Dutifully, a servant entered the room, and set a tray on the table beside his king, before picking up an ornate pot, and pouring the king his warm brew. With a bow, the servant stood to the side, and waited.

King Kuei took the cup, and thanked his servant, before sipping from the porcelain… Immediately, something felt wrong.

Below the inner wall of Ba Sing Se and the Palace ground's grand gate, working in the dark tunnels of the city's sewer by crystal lantern light, the people, with direction from a source anonymous to them, planted barrel after barrel of gunpowder, and sealed bags of a liquid fertilizer mixed with an oil fuel. A lawyer from the middle ring, crouched down, as he struck the match against the sewer wall, and lit the long and slow burning wick attached to the explosives he and his compatriots had planted.

Azula closed the door to the tea room, their escort posted outside. She turned and walked out onto the stone balcony facing the southern wall of the palace. Looking up, she saw the sun high in the sky, and smirked. It was almost noon.

"What's made you so happy, Azula?" Connor asked, as he stepped up beside her.

Azula didn't look at him as she looked out to the wall again. "Peace…" Azula said. "It's such a wonderfully naive ideal that we've been talking about all day, yet we were never going to achieve it here."

Earth King Kuei clutched at his chest as he felt it tighten, a pain stabbing through his heart. He tried to stand, but became weak in his knees as he fell over, reaching out for the servant beside him. The Servant simply smiled, before picking up the tray and all of its contents, and leaving the room, not bothering to check over his shoulder as the King's arm slumped to the ground.

"Because, for all our talk…"

The mob outside the inner wall cleared away from the Dai Li and the soldiers, as there was an order shouted from behind them. As the bodies moved, and the sea of people drifted out of the soldier's and the agent's sight, the two lines of citizens carrying tubes in their hands started them down. "FIRE" Someone called. Spark rocks were struck together, and matches were touched off, before two resounding volleys of gunfire rang out.

"... All our attempts at coming to an agreement on where borders should fall, and the planning both parties have done in the shadows, I think, that deep down, we were never really in control. Not The King, not Long Feng, not the Dai Li, not even me…"

The fuse ran out, and the barrels blew.

Connor and Azula could only look on, as in the distance, two separate walls belonging to the Palace and the upper ring, seemed to collapse in on themselves. Sections from both, falling down, and then inward, creating two wide V shaped openings. There were screams, and shouts, and chanting coming from the distance, but none more loud than that of a cry of jubilation.

"... It was always going to be the people of this city that decided when they would rebel, whether they were ruled by the Earth King or the Fire Lord. Instigated by us, or their own neglect, it makes no difference." Azula said, as Mai and Ty Lee came out onto the balcony to observe the dust cloud created by the falling segments of the wall rising into the air. Connor could only watch in a combination of shock and awe.

"Azula, what did you do?" Connor asked.

"I played more or less the same role as any other concerned citizen would, and spoke ideas into being. What the people of Ba Sing Se did with those ideas was entirely up to them." Azula said, as she turned and made her way to the door.

Connor looked between Azula and the city. "The peace talks were a farce then?" He asked, sounding hurt.

Azula looked over her shoulder and shrugged. "When you told me the King was willing to negotiate, I decided I'd be willing to come to the table, if only because he is the legitimate ruler of his country at present. When the time comes, I'd be willing to sit down with the new ruler, and talk peace with them as well." Azula turned to face Connor. "Don't be so upset. This is what you wanted."

"I wanted the people to be free from tyranny... King Kuei was never a tyrant, Long Feng was, and the rebellion should have stopped when he was arrested." Connor said, as he Mai, and Ty Lee followed behind Azula as she exited the tea room.

"Yeah Azula, you've met the King, he seems really concerned about his people. Shouldn't we like, call off the rebels?" Ty Lee asked.

Mai rolled her eyes. "And tell them what? That their political voice is going to be respected by a guy who spent their tax money on his stupid pet bear?"

"If it makes you feel better, I can put a good word in for the king before he'll no doubt be dethroned, but whatever happens to Ba Sing Se, happens. We helped start this revolution, but we're not going to be able to stop it on our own. My main concern is still capturing The Avatar. And if you recall, he's going to come to us now." Azula said with a smirk.

The inner ring was being well and truly sacked. As Dai Li and guards of the nobility tried to fend off the encroaching army that had surged through the breach in the ring's defenses, they found themselves outdone by smoke and fire from simple hand cannons made in sheds and forges across the city. Shortly thereafter the fighting made its way to the palace, before it too was claimed by the rebellion.

Azula was greeted by the revolutionaries in the main hall, a few who'd recognized her stopped the rest from attacking the princes on sight. There were praises for all she had done, pushing people in the right direction, and providing information to those who would not have acted without it.

Over an uproar of cheers there was the sound of a war cry, and before Azula could turn to acknowledge the water tribe girl that had rushed through the hall to attack her. Ty Lee had already moved. In two swift moves, Katara's chi was blocked and her body immobilized from the shoulders down.

As Katara crumpled to the floor, the water from her pouch spilling onto the stone, she looked up at Azula. "You killed the Earth King!" She shouted. Azula was actually quite surprised by this. She had well and truly believed the Earth King would be deposed by the peasant revolt, but didn't think they'd have killed him so quickly. "You poisoned him. You used the peace talks to take advantage of us!"

Connor looked at Azula, aghast. Azula put a hand to her chest. "I did no such thing." She sounded almost offended by the accusation. "Have you considered the possibility that Long Feng might just have agents in the Dai Li still loyal to him?" Azula asked.

"But, they arrested him…" Katara tried and failed to find more of a reason to blame Azula. "I can't trust you."

"Well you're right about that." Azula said.

"And all this time, it was you behind the riots and the fights?" Katara continued.

"The uprising was mostly my idea. But the petitions, the protests, the riots, the revolution itself. That was all the people of Ba Sing Se, acting out against a weak ruler. And now, they shall replace him to their liking."

"You're turning it into a puppet state?" Katara asked, looking around at the mob in the hallway.

"If the people of Ba Sing Se wish to be so. If not, who am I to stop them?" Azula asked rhetorically. "This city is far too large and populated to occupy or force into compliance for any period of time. Better that the new government be one The Fire Nation can actually get along with. Azula said, before looking away from Katara. "Comrades!" Azula started, addressing the mob. "Take her down to the catacombs."

As Katara was picked up and carried away, Azula smirked. It was now only a matter of time before The Avatar came running to rescue one of his own.

"Oh, and by the way…" Azula spoke to the revolutionaries. "You might want to start taking care of all of those Dai Li agents."

Long Feng looked up at the door to his cell as it was opened. Before he could get a word in, three civilians entered and grabbed him by the arms, pulling a bag over his head. His hands were cuffed with iron, and he was marched down a hallway, and up a flight of stairs. He was shoved against a wall, and without being pressed further he turned and shouted at the people who'd bagged him. "What is the meaning of this!" He shouted through the bag.

"Long Feng, for your crimes of political corruption, tyrannical rule, kidnapping, brainwashing, and murder, you have been sentenced to death by a firing team. Please face the wall." Someone to his left spoke.

"WHAT! This is a mock trial! A rabb-eroo court! Who do you think you are! My agents will-!" There were three bangs, and Long Feng's word's were cut short, as iron bullets penetrated his torso, causing him to slump against the wall, bleeding onto the floor.

The upper ring minister rolled up Long Feng's personal record from the Dai Li office, and sighed. "Bring in the next agent." He said dully.

Later that night, Azula filtered through scroll after scroll with her team, reading over everything the Dai Li had on people of interest to pass the time.

"Apparently The Avatar went to the Eastern Air Temple. Wherever that is." Connor said, reading a message addressed to Aang, that he found in the trash.

"Oh, I have a feeling he'll be back sooner than he should." Azula said idly as she pulled out a scroll. "Well hello." She said, unrolling it, finding a most curious inscription. "Facially scarred Fire National invited to the upper ring, serves tea with his uncle at The Jasmine Dragon. Name: Hong Lee." Azula read only the short blurb at the top of the page. "It looks like Zuzu's in Ba Sing Se." Azula said, before looking over at Connor. "He is a wanted fugitive… Connor, would you please take a few ruffians, and capture my brother and uncle. Preferably alive." Connor pulled his attention away from what he was reading, and gave Azula a nod.

As Sokka shrugged his musket onto his shoulder, and started to step up the ramp onto his father's captured Fire Navy ship, he heard Appa groaning from above, and turned to see him land, with Aang sitting on his neck. Aang turned to face him, and Sokka's heart sunk. "This can't be good news."

Author's note:

Connor's understanding of periods and medicine is period correct, which is to say dated by our modern view. Though you can see where the logic is. I only bring it up because I can't see Katara and Azula sitting in a room together for any length of time at this point without both of them getting heated and then one of them attacking the other, and I needed a reason to break that up. Leave it to Connor to be an insensitive ass, and assume it's a mood swing and not just the two personalities at odds... Never mind that he's actually spot on in his outdated method of assessment because this is Avatar and the moon as a spiritual entity does in fact correlate to people's biological functions, unlike in real life.

Long Feng's coup could have easily been done without Azula, and realistically we'd have seen the king be killed and his generals with no leader defer to the guy who they've already been reporting to for years now, and if they don't comply they'd probably be killed too... Of course with the revolution going on, there wasn't much of a chance for the plan to go beyond getting the king out of the way, or for Long Feng himself to last long.

I know he shows up only a handful of times, and I love hating him as a villain, but being real, he wasn't going to personally interact with our protagonists all that much. He's the leader of a shadow government, and Azula's crew is a shadow rebel group, they're not supposed to meet often.

That said, the past few chapters, and the upcoming one hold massive implications for the future of the world of Avatar, and we've officially crossed into "canon divergence" territory, as opposed to the previous "canon adjacent," which we've been skirting on for a while now. This will invariably affect the world in my planned sequels.

For those that care, I'm posting the last chapter of the first "book" of this story on Monday, and beginning a proper weekly update schedule, every Saturday morning until this story is finished. Hopefully I'll be able to continue that trend with the next two stories I have planned. Please, share this with anyone who you think might be interested, and feel free to follow, favorite, and review. That M rating really screws with the viewership.