A/N:
THE RATING ON THIS FIC HAS BEEN CHANGED TO M! SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCES! I hope this doesn't bother anyone much, but this chapter has a handful of allusions to some, uh… unsavory activities, I guess, and I don't think it's safe to consider it a T anymore even though nothing far off limits has been described in detail… yet. Since I know I have several readers that don't enjoy the craziness, I will be posting warnings on each chapter so that you can skip over said chapter if you don't want to engage in topics that only overage people should read about ^^U I do hope you continue reading this fic despite this change! If you do, thanks for sticking with me ^^ if not, thanks for reading so far!
Sand. Dirt. Heat. Blood.
No longer could he recall the feeling of snow under his feet. The cold environment he had been born and raised in had been deadly, but within said danger, he had felt comfortable, at ease, at home.
He was as far from home as he could be now. He had been far away for two long years already, and he could hardly remember his grandmother's face, his sister's voice, his father's embrace… his father. Was he disappointed in him? Had he been glad not to see him return home because he believed this was supposed to be Sokka's fate? He wanted to believe his father missed him… but it was so unlikely, so undeserved. He had asked for this himself, hadn't he? Hakoda had warned him, told him he knew nothing of the wages of war, and he had ignored him. He had been too cocky, too arrogant to think he could lose…
But he had lost. And against that blasted Princess, to boot.
Her face haunted his every nightmare. It was extremely ironic that he would have trouble to recall the faces of his family and friends, but his enemy's features were always there, teasing him, asking if he had already learned what his place in the world was…
He shook his head and closed his eyes, deciding he would rather think of the Water Tribe again than of that evil woman.
He kept holding on to the hopes that his tribe still stood strong after he had been taken away from it. He figured he would have seen someone else from the Water Tribe in the mainland by now if the Fire Nation had conquered the frozen tundra. Yet it was also possible that the ash-makers had been completely merciless with the Water Tribe, leaving no survivors… but in that case, he would have heard the rumors, right? From what he had seen for himself, the people of the Fire Nation still boasted about taking over the Air Nomads and Earth Kingdom, and he had heard no such claims about either of the Water Tribes so far.
It was likely the Northern Water Tribe had managed to stand their ground, they were better prepared for wars than the people down at the South Pole… but he had heard most the armed forces of the Fire Nation were up north, attempting to seize control. Why, though, hadn't they moved down South already? He wasn't leading his people anymore; he doubted anyone was, unless either Haka or Kattan had taken over his position…
If they were still alive, that was. He didn't know if Princess Azula had sent out her men to pursue and chase down the rest of the warriors. Judging by how ruthless the woman had seemed to be, he wouldn't be surprised if she had. Chances were the Southern Water Tribe had been obliterated.
But all he could do was hope that his people still stood strong somehow, resisting the Fire Nation's assaults. It was the only thing he could hold on to, as a matter of fact. It was the one thought that kept him from using his boomerang to slit his own throat…
After being taken away from the South Pole he had been thrown into Azula's Royal Barge, although he didn't see her again in the entire trip. She probably had forgotten he was on her vessel altogether. He was taken to the mainland, just as she commanded, and upon his arrival to the country he had been tossed in an internment camp amongst other people who resisted the Fire Nation's authority, most of them Earth Kingdom people who had refused to join the Honorary Fire Nation Citizen system. Sokka wasn't offered the chance to enter said system, but even if he had been given said opportunity, he would have never accepted it.
The Honorary Fire Nation citizens were people who had been born to other nations but had accepted the government of the Fire Nation as their own. As a reward for not resisting, they were given the chance to live almost at the same level as regular Fire Nation people – they were frowned upon and disdained by many original Fire Nation citizens, but their rights were almost even. There were earthbenders in the Fire Nation's army now, and even some of the former Earth Kingdom noblemen had kept their titles after swearing fealty to the Fire Lord…
Sokka wouldn't deny it was a convenient bargain for both the Fire Nation leaders and Earth Kingdom citizens, but he would never ever give up on his heritage, one of the few things he still had left, just to live a more comfortable life. Well, he hadn't been offered the chance to do so anyhow, but if he had been, he would have refused to accept it and spat on the face of whoever had asked him to be an Honorary Fire Nation citizen to thank him for his troubles. The mere thought of becoming at Fire Nation citizen filled him with endless rage.
And so, he had been measured and weighed by Fire Nation officials, the ones in charge of setting the slaves into different classes. Some slaves were set up for sale to become servants to whoever wanted to pay for them, while others were shipped off to the households of important noblemen: no payment was offered for the latter. Some of them were even shipped off to work at the Fire Lord's service, if they seemed promising enough to serve royalty. Some other slaves, the female ones, were forced to undertake some very distasteful activities, mostly involving pleasing men who paid for their services. Some slaves were found completely useless, those injured or handicapped, and they were sent to the executioner… and some were found strong enough to enter another category of service: the gladiators.
To Sokka's surprise, he had been cast into the last category, and he was more than thrilled to see the guards returning his weapons to him, the ones he had been forced to relinquish upon his capture. But to his dismay, he was informed that his new duty would be to entertain people through the most outrageous and irrational idea the Fire Nation had come up with up to date. Sure they had always been heartless, but this was, by far, the worst of all tortures. It was proof of how little humanity was left in the hearts of the Fire Nation people.
Gladiator fights consisted in confronting two slaves with the weapons of their choice in a deadly combat, where the loser paid the price with his life and the winner had a chance to fight on another day against a new opponent. The fights took place in an arena, an arid perimeter coated by sand; the glow of the sun shone upon it on every battle. The stands on the arena Sokka fought in – there were several combat grounds throughout the Fire Nation – were rustic and made of wood, and they couldn't contain more than two hundred people. At times the stands were full, at times they were almost completely empty, but regardless, the gladiators had to fight to the best of their ability under the midday sun, since all battles took place at noon. Sokka assumed it was because the Fire Nation people felt most empowered at that time, or maybe because they wanted to witness the fighters wear themselves out completely, since the sun's radiance was merciless at that time of the day… but he didn't actually know why. It really didn't matter much, since he was too invested in his struggle to survive to look for logic in a situation that didn't seem to have any.
None of the gladiators had been previously trained to make the fights more interesting: watching them despair as they tried to survive was far more appealing to the sadistic people that enjoyed the combats. Often Sokka heard that the Superior League of gladiators was far kinder to its participants; apparently, those battles didn't end based on who died and who lived, at least, not always. Truth to be told he had no idea how those fights concluded, but apparently having a sponsor made reality far more bearable for gladiators, despite they were still nothing but slaves.
Sokka didn't think having a sponsor would make much difference, for he hated being a gladiator altogether. Ever since he was thrown in the pit for the first time he had loathed everything about this job. On his first combat he had faced against a massive man who had a huge spear, a heavy sword and an axe as weapons. He managed to outsmart him after discerning his weak spots and he knocked his rival out… and even though he was sure that would be enough, it wasn't. To his horror, he was commanded by the man who ran the arena to slay his opponent, no matter if his rival was clearly out of it. Sokka had refused, but then he had been threatened by both the crowd and the owner of the arena that, if he didn't kill his rival, the dead body would be his. Completely disgusted by the act, he had been forced to slam his opponent's head with his club: blood splattered all over the sand, the red liquid had attached to his clothes and stained his very soul.
He cried himself to sleep that night, wondering what had he done to deserve such a fate. His rival on the arena might have been a man not too different from himself, trying to survive in whichever way he could, hoping to return to a family that believed him dead... and now he really was dead. And not by the hands of a Fire Nation soldier, not by execution after rebelling against the heartless regime of this country... no, he had died because of a man who had no more rights to survive than he did.
The more thought he gave to his job, the more he grew to hate it and to hate himself for not standing up against the chains that weighed him down. He had underestimated the Fire Nation's cruelty, and he was too scared of death to let his life slip through his fingers, to give up the fight and allow any of his rivals to slay him. Looking at himself from another perspective, he was simply pathetic. He was worthless and undeserving even of the life he had obtained.
Several times he had been on the brink of death while facing fighters far more skilled than himself, but on the very second he had realized he was about to lose his life, his mind began flashing him images of the past, of the reasons why he had to strive for survival even in the direst times of his life: he had to return to his family, to hug his sister and promise her he would never leave her again, to apologize to his father and acknowledge he had been nothing but a fool…
And one day, he would fight his worst enemy again. The next time he faced her he would be ready. The next time it would be him staring down on her weak, writhing figure, as she struggled to recover her breath on the ground. He would be the one to spare her life in fake mercy to only unleash upon her a hell beyond her imagination…
And to fulfill all these things, he had to live somehow, even if it meant he had to kill all his fellow gladiators to achieve that purpose. Although it was easier said than done...
Gladiators didn't make friends, they didn't stand together to support each other, because on the very moment you became acquaintances with someone, you would instantly condemn whatever union you could form with them. Huang Li, the man who ran the gladiator business in the Fire Nation town of Hui Yi, kept a close watch on every gladiator, for the sole purpose of providing entertainment to his crowd by forcing two friends to kill each other on the sand pit. He was a truly cruel man: he only cared for the incomes the fights provided him with. If he was feeling particularly kind, and he had achieved a full-house sale, he would hire a group of women from the nearby whorehouse so that they would take the worries out of his gladiators' minds by making use of their skills in bed. But this was still heartless towards the two different kinds of slaves; both gladiators and prostitutes hated their jobs with all their hearts, and surprisingly often they didn't engage in mundane activities, for they preferred to simply sit next to each other as they reminisced the past times, when everything had been better…
There was no top dog, no man foolish enough to bully another. They were all deeply conflicted, they missed the lives they had led before being caught by the Fire Nation and having this lifestyle imposed upon them. No one wanted to try to earn enemies just as they refused to make friends, because by the end the day, they might not even be alive anymore. Developing any sort of bond, no matter of what nature, was simply pointless.
Around six battles were fought each day; most of them took place at broad daylight. Rainy days were most welcome by any of the gladiators since they meant nobody would perish then, although it also meant Huang Li would be on a terrible mood. He was heartless indeed: no job was more suitable for a man like him than to administer the deadly business of the amateur gladiators.
The sun was quite high when Sokka was summoned by Huang Li to head into combat today. The barracks where the gladiators lived were an old and musty building; there was no distinguishing the rooms where the combatants slept, since there were no rooms at all. In the center of the building stood a fireplace where their meals were cooked by whoever Huang Li felt like forcing the job upon. Sokka would always lie down far from the fire, for he had grown to hate the element with more passion than ever during the past few years, but he also liked to spend his time on the coldest corners of the building because, at times, if he let his mind wander long enough, he could imagine he was back home...
"Hey, Dumberang," Huang Li called him. "Time to hit the sand. You're up against Ching today."
Sokka didn't even bother to correct the way Huang Li addressed him. He had grown used to being called Dumberang by this man, and he didn't want him to call him by his real name anyways. There were a few things he hadn't relinquished to the Fire Nation, his name being one of them. To imagine getting called by his name by any of these monstrous people revolted him, for even his name was another relic of the home he had lost so long ago. He only reminded himself of it when he needed to remember his purpose of returning to the South Pole, of defeating Princess Azula some day...
He took his weapons without saying a word – he could hardly recall the sound of his own voice by now. Huang Li led the way towards the arena and Sokka followed, his brow contracted as he filled himself with determination: whoever stood in his way would fall, no matter what story existed behind their eyes. Whatever he did, he would do it for the sake of returning home.
By the time they reached the arena he could hear the roar of the crowd; judging by the sound, there had to be about a hundred people out there at least. Huang Li would be pleased. His weapons in hand, he walked into the sandy enclosure, his heart beating wildly as he entered the sand pit to face a battle he might not survive…
Azula tried her best to stay calm as she strode down the hallway, her feet carrying her towards her room with her usual powerful strides. All the servants nearby cowered in fear at the sight of her… The Princess was already terrifying when she was in a good mood, but right now she looked mad enough to murder whoever stood in her way. And she was, although she only wanted to kill one man, or perhaps two, and their identities were quite specific. Killing a mere servant wouldn't help her solve her problem, even though murdering somebody might just help her release her fury…
She slammed the door of her room as soon as she was inside, and she finally felt free to unleash her rage. She uttered a few cries and roars of anger as she recalled the decision her father had reached in the meeting that had ended just a few minutes ago… the thought made her entire body shiver in rage and she let out another howl of wrath, this time accompanied by the blue fire that escaped her throat along with her wails.
Oh, how she regretted not having cleared everything up when she had the chance… if only she had told her father that Admiral Chan had lied when he had claimed he had single-handedly dealt with the Water Tribe warriors that attacked the settlement…
She hadn't been too bothered when Chan stole all the credit at first, because she found it unimportant to reveal the truth at the moment. All the men in the settlement knew Chan had lied, they were perfectly aware that Azula was the one they owed their lives to… Chan himself knew it well enough, but to avoid having his titles stripped off him for his incompetence, and to ensure he would govern over the South Pole once they conquered it, he had claimed he was the one who had saved the group from being kidnapped by savages.
Azula had taken a few detours before returning to the Capital, one of them to drop off the Southern Water Tribe warrior she had brought as a slave to the Fire Nation, and when she finally presented herself before her father, he said he was glad to see she was fine and told her they truly owed Admiral Chan for keeping her safe during the attack to the settlement. The infamous man had been there at the moment, and he had the guts to smirk at the Princess, letting her realize her father hadn't misunderstood a thing: he simply had been lied to.
She didn't care much about who took the credit for beating the Water Tribe savage to a pulp, it wasn't something important to her. But she had felt she held a certain power over Chan, since she was well aware of the truth, and if her father discovered the actual story behind what happened at the settlement, Chan would pay a dire price for his deceit… But two years had passed, and her threat over the man had grown weaker, both in her head and in reality, as the events from the South Pole became fainter and less relevant over time.
But all of sudden, Chan had turned the tables and abused his power in the worst possible way he could have. She felt like hiring an assassin to take him out, but discarded the idea soon enough. She wanted to be the one responsible for spilling his blood all over the place, his blood and the blood of that disgusting son of his…
There was a knock at her door. She glared at it angrily, imagining the wooden plank bursting aflame for a moment before she decided to open it.
"What?!" she snapped to the servant on the other side of the door. The man fell to the ground in reverence, trembling.
"L-Lady Mai and Lady Ty Lee have arrived, Princess…" he muttered, terrified. He had been warned that she wasn't in a good mood, but he had a duty to fulfill… but under these circumstances, it might be the last time he fulfilled anything at all.
Azula's eyebrow twitched when she heard the news and she shook her head in irritation.
"What are they here for? I'm not in the mood for visitors! They should only drop by on the days when I expressly ask for their presence!"
"B-but y-you did, Princess…" muttered the man.
Azula frowned as she realized the servant was right. Today was the day of the week she set apart without fail to reunite with her two friends. She let out another groan of despair, resting her hands on her hips as she wondered if she should simply send the two girls home and tell them to meet her again next week… but she sighed, rolled her eyes and gestured the servant to get out of her way, which he did in a heartbeat as Azula walked down the hall to meet her friends.
Ty Lee was kneeling next to Mai, who was sitting on a couch, by the time Azula entered the room where they usually met. Ty Lee was muttering a few things to her friend's womb and, as ever, Mai stared at her with a skeptical look on her face.
"Who is the cutest baby in the world even if he's not born yet?" asked Ty Lee, making Mai sigh.
"I don't think he can hear you," muttered Mai, irritated.
"What are you doing, Ty Lee?" asked Azula, making her presence known. Her foul mood surprising both girls: they were used to seeing Azula suffering from strange mood swings once in a while, but when she was truly upset she definitely wasn't fun to hang with.
"I was just talking to… are you okay, Azula?" she asked, not worrying about getting herself into a dangerous situation by asking this question.
Naturally, Ty Lee's inquiry made Azula's frown deepen. She walked towards one of the windows in the room to catch some fresh air, hoping to calm down through breathing deeply, so that she wouldn't end up venting the entirety of her stress on her friends.
"How's the pregnancy coming along, Mai?" she asked, attempting to change the subject even though she was unable to forget about it altogether.
"Everything's fine as it is. I'm only on my fourth month, though…" said Mai, but she was also eyeing Azula with concern.
"Good," muttered Azula, still glaring at the horizon, her mind clearly anywhere but within the four walls that stood around her.
"Azula…?" asked Ty Lee again, forcing the Princess to frown once again.
"What?" she said, turning to face her friend, her enraged eyes trying to send a message that clearly spelled 'Quit pestering me'.
"There's something wrong with you," said Ty Lee, staring at her with genuine concern. "I've known you for long enough to realize something like that."
Azula's frown deepened and she folded her arms as she replied:
"Your mind-reading skills amaze me, Ty Lee. I should give you an award for being able to tell something bothers me. You're truly remarkable for sensing my annoyance…"
"I… I don't appreciate the sarcasm, you know?" muttered the girl, a little flustered.
"Indeed, you don't and neither do I," grunted Azula, confusing Ty Lee. "You can tell something bothers me, yet you pester me about telling you what it is that bothers me when explaining this is the last thing I want to do."
"Well, for all you know it might help if you talk to us…" said Ty Lee, shrugging.
"I don't think so," muttered Azula, irked. "I'm too upset to think about this rationally…"
"Come on, give it a try" Ty Lee encouraged her, smiling brightly. The joyous look on her face made Azula feel like punching her. How could she smile like that when so many things were at stake in her life? Well, Ty Lee knew not of these matters, and she probably wouldn't understand if she explained them anyway. She didn't understand a few things about it herself, to be honest… why had she let Admiral Chan get away with stealing all the credit of her grand endeavor? If only she had been smart enough not to give him an edge on her…
"I don't feel like it, Ty Lee. And I'm not in the mood to deal with your happy-go-lucky attitude either," grunted Azula.
Ty Lee's face fell and she stared at her friend with concerned eyes.
"T-then… you want us to leave? If that's what you want, I guess we can go…"
Azula sighed, knowing her friend was pulling her ace on her by letting her cutting words get through and ending up on the verge of tears. She sighed and rolled her eyes as Mai smirked, used to seeing Azula give up on arguments for the sole sake of not having to deal with Ty Lee's emotional outbursts.
"I didn't say that…" muttered Azula. "We meet every week, that's how it's supposed to be or else I'll probably end up losing my mind to the pressures…"
"What happened to you?" asked Mai this time, raising an eyebrow.
Azula sighed and fixed her gaze on the floor, trying to keep her anger in check. But explaining the source of her fury promised she wouldn't be able to stay as calm as she wanted to be.
"Do you both recall what happened to me about two years ago, when I returned from the settlement down at the South Pole?"
"Oh, back when Admiral Chan stole all the credit for defeating the warriors of the Water Tribe?" asked Ty Lee, all trace of her previous dejection gone completely.
"Exactly," said Azula, bitterly. "I took a detour on my way home to drop off a souvenir at a slave internment camp; Admiral Chan beat me to the Capital and fed a pile of lies to my father. I didn't bother correcting him; I didn't believe it necessary back then, for I was certain Chan's conscience would reprimand him for being unable to stand his ground against savages while I did it without a hitch. The other soldiers who were present at the settlement during that event have grown to admire and respect me. Chan, though, never truly did. I was sure he would realize one day just how low his actions were…"
"But he never did, right?" said Ty Lee, sighing.
"Of course not," muttered Azula. "My father told him, back when he lied about what happened in the South Pole, that he would reward him with anything for saving my life. Chan said he had nothing in mind at the moment, and I was certain that meant he didn't dare ask for compensation when he knew he wasn't worthy of it. And I was proven wrong today. It has been two years since then, and finally he came up with an idea for my father to thank him for what he didn't even do…"
Ty Lee gulped when she saw the furious way in which Azula's eyes gleamed now, and she started to regret asking her friend about her troubles now… but Mai wasn't giving up halfway through the story.
"What did he ask for?" she muttered, wary of the answer.
Azula bared her teeth as she replied, enraged:
"His blasted request was that his useless son would be allowed to take my hand in marriage."
Ty Lee's jaw dropped, shocked by the revelation as she was, and even Mai, who always had a very bleak expression on her face, couldn't help but stare at Azula, dumbstruck.
"T-that's just… b-but that can't be…" said Ty Lee. "Isn't that the same boy we met at Ember Island?"
"Yes," grunted Azula. "I don't see how he would agree to marry me when I deliberately burned down his house, but I guess the thought of marrying the Fire Lord's daughter is appealing enough for him to forget about that…"
"But… this isn't definitive yet, is it?" asked Ty Lee.
"It might as well be," grunted Azula. "I just came from a meeting with my father and Admiral Chan. They're both extremely enthusiastic about deciding my future for me, without even taking my opinion upon the matter into account."
"But… did you tell your father you didn't want to marry Chan's son?" asked Ty Lee.
"I wasn't allowed to intervene," she muttered bitterly. "I could only listen and hold back from frying Chan's head with lightning every time he opened that foul mouth of his to stroke my father's ego and convince him this was the best idea they've ever had."
"That's so sneaky… it's really low," muttered Ty Lee, understanding now why Azula seemed so disturbed. "I thought he was more honorable than that…"
"Of course not," replied Azula. "Honor has become little more than a myth these days, especially amongst the Fire Nation military. They're too busy trying to attain the highest ranks to care about how they reach their goals…"
"Disgusting," muttered Mai, and Azula couldn't have agreed more.
"But… I don't know what you think, but arranged marriages aren't always so bad," muttered Ty Lee, trying to give some hope to Azula. "My parents get along great and it was an arranged marriage."
"Well, I can't say the same about my parents," grunted Azula. "My mother was too feeble to fight back when she was forced to marry my father… she didn't want him, yet she accepted the marriage proposal, probably because her family would be honored by her decision. Still, she only ever made herself unhappy, henceforth making him unhappy also. She was always too weak to stand up for herself… and I'm nothing like her. I won't let the same thing happen to me."
Ty Lee seemed a little relieved to see Azula refused to surrender to her father or Admiral Chan, but there was a simple question that still needed to be answered, and Mai took it upon herself to ask it.
"And how, exactly, will you fight against what they're imposing upon you?"
Azula's frown deepened. She had been too busy basking in her rage to think things through… she knew she would have to, eventually, but she didn't know if she was emotionally steady enough to start pondering these matters. But she took a deep breath and faced her challenge head on, just as she faced everything in her life.
"Well, there's a very simple solution," she muttered. "I could take it upon myself to slay both men from the Chan lineage and…"
"No killing," said Ty Lee, grimacing. "It's awful to think about killing them… and can you imagine what would happen if you got caught?"
Azula had stared at her with disapproval at first, but Ty Lee's second argument made more sense than she thought it would.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're probably right about that," she muttered, sighing. "Well, then… is there any other way?"
The other two were deep in thought as they tried to find a solution, but nothing came to their minds. Azula decided then to analyze the situation step-by-step: it would be simpler to find the pieces of the puzzle first and put them together afterwards.
"My final objective should be to prove to my father that my marriage to Chan will damage our lineage," muttered Azula. "To accomplish this, I must prove he's not worthy of my hand in marriage, of course. How can I prove this?"
"How about you challenge him to an Agni Kai?" asked Ty Lee.
"He's a non-bender," muttered Mai. "Non-benders can't fight Agni Kais"
"Oh, but I'm sure he could. He wouldn't survive, of course, but it could be done…" said Azula, a vicious smirk on her face now.
"Well, the mean smile is back," said Ty Lee, slightly relieved. "That's a good sign… but we said you shouldn't kill him, so no Agni Kai."
Azula sighed and stared at her nails as she pressed her mind to develop a ploy, any sort of ploy…
"The problem is that Chan is useless," she muttered. "He lives by his father's glory, holding no talents of his own. He's not a good warrior, he's not a good soldier, he's not good at anything, I think."
"Well, that should do it," said Mai, shrugging. "If he's so useless, the Fire Lord should understand your refusal to marry him."
"That won't be enough," muttered Azula. "I have to diminish him until there's nothing left of him. I ought to humiliate him completely to prove how pathetic he is."
"If that's what you're after, then… you should hit him where it hurts," said Mai. "Being a nobleman's son, he must have a hobby of some sort, right? Even if he has no talents, there has to be something else…"
"I've heard he sponsors a gladiator with his father's money, but that really doesn't count, does it?" asked Ty Lee, raising an eyebrow. Azula frowned at her words.
"Probably not. I don't see what we could do with this…" muttered Mai. "Isn't there anything else?"
"I don't know, to be honest," muttered Ty Lee.
"Your gossip skills are finally being put to the test and you're failing?" asked Mai, disappointed.
"H-HEY! I'm not a gossip!" squealed Ty Lee, blushing.
"Yeah, you're not a gossip," said Mai sarcastically. "And I'm an Air Nomad."
"Quit it!" yelled Ty Lee, extremely embarrassed. "I only hear information and pass on whatever I find interesting! It doesn't make me a gossip!"
"It sure does," said Mai, her face still unexpressive although she was having a lot of fun by teasing her friend. "You're not just a gossip, you're the queen of gossip. Don't you agree, Azula…? Azula?"
The Princess had ignored the last portion of the conversation between her two friends as an idea started to take shape within her mind. The emotion in her eyes was no longer anger but cleverness as she paced around the room, as she finally concocted her plan, the pieces of the puzzle coming together far quicker than she imagined they would.
"Are you okay?" asked Ty Lee, but Azula lifted a hand on her direction in a gesture asking her wordlessly to keep quiet.
She began chuckling and she nodded once her plan was ready. Oh, it was risky… it was dangerous. She was bound to end up buried in an avalanche of trouble if something went wrong at some point. It was going to be very difficult indeed. But she loved the idea, and up until now, she knew of nothing that could prevent her from making a place for herself in that strange world that didn't stand too far from her grasp…
"I think I have it," she said, smirking. "I think I know how to prove my superiority, how to crush him completely and blow his pride to smithereens."
Both Ty Lee and Mai were glad to see Azula back to her usual defiant and determined self, but they couldn't deny it was still a terrifying sight. What had she come up with this time?
"Nice to know, I guess…" said Ty Lee, gulping.
"Well? What is it?" asked Mai. "What are you going to do?"
Azula's smirk widened as she turned to face both girls, her eyes blazing with malice. And once she delivered her statement, both Mai and Ty Lee stared at her in disbelief, their eyes so wide Azula could have sworn they were bound to fall out of their sockets. Yet it was natural for them to react like this when they heard her declare, proudly:
"I'm going to sponsor a gladiator."