Chapter 33

Azula spent the week before the Agni Kai training harder than she ever had. She practiced with seven firebenders attacking her at once, so that only five would seem easy. To get used to fighting with one hand tied down, she did her usual gymnastics routines one-handed, and used high kicks both to defend herself and strike offensively. She also repeated cutting away her restraint so many times that the most efficient gesture became second nature.

Her trainers looked on grimly. They all thought the handicaps she'd agreed to were obscenely difficult, but agreed that she was back to her usual good form. Xi, the oldest, strictest trainer, told her, "To prevail under these conditions, you'll have to be more than back to normal. You'll have to be the best you've ever been. The best any firebender has ever been."

She was up to the challenge.

On the appointed day, Azula entered the arena, looking up at the crowd filling the stands, and the Fire Nation flags they waved. She was in a much better state of mind than the last time she'd been here, when Toph Beifong had humiliated her. She was no longer reeling from Aang's rejection, but had a solid plan to win him back already under way. She hadn't neglected her preparation or underestimated her opponent this time. She was confident, she was strong. She was the greatest firebender who had ever lived, and ready to prove it.

The Fire Lord shed her robe to reveal her fighting attire: a small red top that held down her breasts and bared her white abdomen, over red tights that had thin bands of gold running down the sides of her legs. Then she took her place in the center of the ring with her first opponent, a burly man. As tradition dictated, he was shirtless, his barrel chest uncovered to reveal dozens of burn scars. She sized him up: his scars meant either that he was bad at defending himself, or that he simply had that much practice in lethal competitions. His size hinted at the New Ozai Society's strategy: to overwhelm her with brute force. That was because Ukano knew he could not equal her speed and wit. Unconcerned, she turned her back on him to begin the match.

The announcer welcomed the crowd and read the rules: "Both sides have agreed on non-lethal combat, which means that it is not necessary to burn an opponent to prevail. Opponents can be eliminated if they are forced to their knees and yield, or if they are forced out of bounds. This match will determine the future of the Fire Nation."

At the sound of the gong, the fight began. Azula waited to see which direction the scarred man would go first, but he moved so quickly that it only looked like she hesitated. Her first priority was to get past him and free herself with the knife that had been set on a pedestal at the far edge of the arena, behind the man. He came straight at her shooting fire from his fists, and she leapt over it, her right hand making contact with his shoulder as she flipped straight over him. She landed in a crouch, then took two running steps to grab the knife.

Her opponent was on the ground, where she had pushed him, and it took him a moment to recover and turn around. That should have been enough time for her to cut the rope binding her left arm.

But the knife wouldn't cut. She sawed at the rope, only managing to fray a few fibers. She sensed the scarred man coming closer, and looked up at him. He was grinning.

She'd been set up.

"I can't believe you actually thought they'd play fair." Mai shook her head.

She tucked the knife under her bound arm, realizing she had no choice but to vanquish all five of them one-handed.

That was when the gong sounded again: her first minute was already up. That seemed a little short; she wondered if the timekeeper had been fixed against her as well.

The second challenger entered the ring. He was a little smaller than the first, but still bigger than she was. His face was as handsome as an opera star, with gleaming white teeth, and his chest was unmarked: either inexperienced or a good defender. He didn't have the same fanatic gleam in his eye that the scarred man had.

They rushed at her, and she fought them both hand-to-hand for a few seconds, using high kicks to make up for her bound hand. Fighting two opponents with one hand was more difficult than she'd imagined, and there were three more coming. To defend herself, she had to contain her opponents' fires, so that they didn't reach her skin and burn her. Aang had shown her how he controlled the air around his body, and she had adapted the idea, using her skin to repel her opponents' flame.

But it took energy to shield herself this way, and the men were bigger than she was. She would not defeat them hand-to-hand; her strengths were her cleverness, agility, and raw firebending power. To give herself a break, and fight at range instead of close up, she did a backflip, her toes connecting with each man's jaw as she leapt backward.

While they recovered, she pulled the dull knife out and began sawing at the rope again. Maybe she could cut through it eventually, if she created and seized enough moments like this. She thought she was almost a quarter of the way through the rope.

The moment of reprieve from active combat allowed her to think, which heightened her alarm at her situation. If the New Ozai Society would break the rules this way, by rigging the competition with faulty equipment, then what made her think they would stop there? People were killed in Agni Kais all the time, even when the parties had agreed on non-lethal combat. A burn did not have to be purposeful to be severe. It was easy to make this kind of murder look like an accident.

And once she was gone, and her gutless cousin on the throne, Ukano would reverse all the progress she'd made, and plunge the world back into war.

Burning was painful. She remembered Zuko's cries of agony when Father seared his skin. That she and her brother would both lose everything in this same arena felt fitting.

"You're about to get what you deserve, wretched girl," Father predicted.

If she died this way, beset by five firebenders, one arm tied down by her own hubris, maybe Aang would remember her fondly, and regret rejecting her. He might even mourn her as a martyr for peace.

Fuck that.

The two men were stalking toward her. She tucked the bad knife away again and readied herself to shoot rapid fireballs at the two men before they could put her on the defensive.

"My lord!"

She looked to the sideline and saw the captain, holding up his knife. He tossed it over the barrier, where it clattered on the tile at her feet.

Accepting this help was breaking the rules, but the New Ozai Society broke them first, by sabotaging her with faulty equipment. Taking the captain's knife would just even things out. She grabbed it, and sliced through her binding with a single swipe. Grinning back at the captain, she threw the rope and both knives out of the ring. Then she turned back to her opponents, flames glowing on both hands.

They ran at her, and she fought with unrestrained ferocity, all her speed and precision evident. Taking the offensive, she shot fireballs so big and fast they should have been impossible to avoid.

Only seconds later, the scarred man fell to his knees in his attempt to shield himself and his teammate from her onslaught. Aware that this posture meant his defeat, she advanced on him.

"Yield!" she demanded.

"Never," he retorted, glaring.

He wasn't exactly breaking the rules, but definitely showing poor sportsmanship. Refusal to yield meant giving up the protection of non-lethal combat rules: she now had the right to injure him. She knew he was just hoping to stay on the field and overwhelm her with numbers, as the next three fighters joined him.

The gong sounded then, and the third opponent entered the ring: a woman this time, but a tall, well-muscled one, in a black tank top. Her topknot was ornamented with a headpiece that symbolized Sozin's comet. Another zealot, then.

The fight continued, its pace increasing with the number of opponents. The scarred man was the one who took the lead, while the other two seemed content to look on, occasionally adding opportunistic attacks when they could do so without endangering their teammate. She hopped when one of them shot fireballs at her feet, trying and failing to catch her off guard. The woman tried to grab her from behind, but she flipped her, so that she slammed into the pretty boy.

The scarred fighter had to dodge an overzealous, poorly aimed attack from his teammate, creating an opening for her to force him to his knees a second time.

"Yield!" Azula growled.

He spat in her face.

Fed up, she burned him, quickly pressing a flame to his shoulder. It was only a superficial second-degree burn, and might not even add to the number of scars already covering him. He tried to hide it by not crying out, but everyone could see his reddened skin, so he could not pretend the new burn wasn't there. It was enough to eliminate him. Cursing, he left the ring.

Another gong. The fourth man came in, showing off with flips. He was about her size, and clearly quick and agile. But since she had just dispatched one opponent, she still only had three.

She focused on the one who had entered the ring second, the pretty boy. As she advanced on him, the fear in his eyes was noticeable, but he managed to parry her first couple of attacks. Then she swept his legs from under him, so that he fell flat on his back and she stood over him, a fist raised threateningly. Before she could even demand it, he cried, "I yield!" He held up his hands and retreated from the ring. Perhaps he was scared by the example of the man she had burned, afraid to mar his unblemished skin. Maybe he was just a paid fighter, not a true believer.

Before she could think too hard about it, the female firebender engaged her, and then the fifth fighter came in. He was even bigger than the first man, his broad chest covered with hair.

The three surrounded her, pressing closer. The men circled like wolves, while the woman tried to use her superior height and strength to dominate her. But the Fire Lord was too fast; she kept knocking the taller woman off balance. The gymnast tried to trip her, but she leapt onto his back, and used that boost to hop onto the woman's shoulders and grab her hairpiece. To taunt her, she crushed the ugly, offensive thing under her heel.

"You'll pay for that, bitch," the woman promised, reaching one hand behind her back.

Suddenly Azula saw an unexpected glint of steel in the female fighter's fist. She hopped back just in time, pulling her stomach back, away from the slash of a knife. She's not supposed to be armed! An Agni Kai was a firebending competition; weapons were not allowed. The woman challenger grinned at her, and the Fire Lord knew she was vulnerable in a way she hadn't been before. Their plan was to stab her and burn her body to hide what they had done. No guards could jump in to save her without invalidating the competition.

Nevertheless, she did not feel truly scared at this moment, not the way she had earlier, when her hand was still tied behind her. She knew she could kill them all with her firebending, if she wanted to. And she would, if she felt truly threatened. It was just that the whole point of this Agni Kai was to put down this movement against her once and for all. If Azula was anything less than scrupulously fair in her comportment, it might even serve to fan the flames of rebellion. Killing her opponents after agreeing to non-lethal combat would not help her win support.

She had to make sure everyone knew that the New Ozai Society had tried to cheat.

Azula dodged the next thrust to the side and grabbed the woman challenger's arm. She elbowed her in the face, thinking with a grin about how Toph had done the same to her. Then she brought the side of her hand down hard on the female firebender's fist, so that she dropped the knife. She kicked the blade far from her opponents, so that everyone could see it skittering along the floor. The crowd gasped as they saw the illegal weapon, the evidence of cheating, even as the Fire Lord triumphed.

It's time to end this farce, she decided.

She pulled a wall of fire up from the ground, just as she had when she fought the Beifong girl. It didn't have to be very tall this time, just up to her shoulders, too tall to jump over safely. Then she drew her toe around her in a circle, pulling the wall around her so that she stood in the center of a cylinder of fire. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to connect with the flames. Then suddenly, she pushed her arms straight out, pushing the wall to the edges of the fighting area. She kept control over it, so that they could not extinguish, absorb, or redirect it when it reached them. Her opponents had no choice but to retreat past the boundary.

The three remaining fighters were eliminated all at once.

"Fire Lord Azula defeats the challengers and retains her throne!" the announcer boomed.

The crowd burst into the national anthem. Azula gave deep bows in all directions, then stood at attention, listening to the crowd sing her praises. She held both palms up at waist level, creating flames that went through the color spectrum, a little firework display to please her audience. When the song ended, she bowed again, then began walking out of the arena, waving to her admirers and blowing kisses.

It's good to be Fire Lord, she thought with satisfaction.

Watching the Agni Kai, Raiden felt sick. When he saw that the knife had been tampered with, he could not stay in his seat. Watching Azula free herself in a single cut from his sharpened blade satisfied him to no end: he was sure she would be able to win the match now that she had full command of her body, which was one of the most well-honed weapons in the world.

But as soon as he collected the rope and the two knives from where she'd thrown them—he meant to preserve the evidence of sabotage—Colonel Karai was there.

"Interfering in an Agni Kai?" The superior officer had caught him.

Raiden lifted his chin righteously. "Evening the odds. The knife provided was not supposed to be so dull."

"Regardless, you should not have broken the rules. If this match goes the way I hope it will, I'll have you court martialed for this," the colonel promised.

"You may do that. If the Fire Lord wins, though, I'm sure she will not allow you to discipline me for helping her." He would place his bet on Azula any day.

"We'll have to see what happens, then. You'll stay right by me for the remainder of the match, so I can make sure you don't meddle any more."

Grimly, they both turned their attention to the arena, where the Fire Lord had just burned one man, eliminating him.

When the fighter pulled a knife on Azula, an even more blatant violation of the rules, Raiden reached for his bow to take him out. He could not allow the Fire Lord to be harmed on his watch!

But Karai put his hand on the captain's shoulder, restraining him. He had to stand by, in trepidation and then vindication, as Azula made the knife skitter along the floor, revealing the treachery to the entire audience.

After the Fire Lord performed her cylinder of fire–an amazing feat!-Raiden joined in gladly in the singing of the anthem, while the colonel skulked away.

A palace celebration followed the Agni Kai, filled with ministers and off-duty servants. Emotionally exhausted, Raiden piled a plate with finger foods and helped himself to a double sake. He was just beginning to feel the alcohol relax him, when an ebullient Azula called for him.

"Captain! Are you trying to earn another award? The Golden Arrow wasn't enough for you?"

"Just trying to make the fight fair. Congratulations, my lord." He bowed modestly.

"I did fight well, didn't I?" she preened. She allowed him to praise her best moves for a few minutes, and then spotted someone over his shoulder. "Excuse me, Captain, I must discuss my legal options with the royal attorney. I'm afraid we may have some difficulties enforcing the Agni Kai agreement." Apparently she wasn't even taking a night off to enjoy her victory, but was moving right on to retribution. Recalling how he felt when Karai had kept him from shooting that cheating firebender, Raiden could not blame her one bit.

In his next paycheck, the captain found a bonus equal to half a year's salary. There was a note included.

Dear Captain Raiden,

Apparently I cannot award military medals for assistance during an Agni Kai, as it is supposed to be single combat, and prior cheating by the opponent does not render assistance permissible. Kindly accept this cash gift in lieu of Yosor's Medallion.

Sincerely,

Fire Lord Azula."

Raiden would have preferred a medal, not because of the public recognition, but because of the moment when she would have placed it around his neck. He admitted to himself that what he truly longed for, was for Azula to look into his eyes and say, "Thank you," the way she had when he had cut his hair. This money seemed cold, in comparison. The Fire Lord seemed to consider his actions simply as examples of laudable service, which deserved reward, but not personal acknowledgement.

Nevertheless, he appreciated the windfall. He paid to have the roof of his parents' house repaired, and sent a satisfying sum to an Earth Kingdom charity caring for war orphans. Then he took Naoki and Takeo out to an expensive dinner, and presented Piandao with a bottle of aged whiskey and a box of fine tea. The remainder he stowed in a savings account.

When he visited the estate with his gifts, Raiden told Piandao about how Colonel Karai had restrained him during the Agni Kai, and implied that he hoped to see the New Ozai Society prevail. The captain wanted to tell the Fire Lord about his commanding officer's disloyalty to her, but, ever the politician, Piandao advised him against it.

"That man's father is the current head of the influential Saowon clan. If the Fire Lord angers them by firing him, the clan will withdraw their support, and she needs every internal ally she can get right now."

Raiden sighed, and resigned himself to submitting to a commanding officer who was actively preventing him from doing the right thing. It was easier than it should have been: he was used to it.

In the days following her Agni Kai victory, Azula spent a lot of time with her lawyers.

First, she insisted on making a new will. Being named in an official document as the Fire Lord's heir was an honor a traitor did not deserve.

Fire Nation tradition did not demand that the eldest child inherit the throne, as Azula's own position made clear. It was just as common for a Fire Lord to choose a younger child, a grandchild, or a nephew, if the eldest was disappointing in some way. It was one of the reasons the dynasty had lasted so long: because in each generation, the strongest, rather than merely the oldest, had ruled. When the chosen heir wasn't really strongest, or when a powerful clan saw a succession dispute as an opportunity to seize power, that was when regime change happened, usually in upheavals that lasted years and cost thousands of lives.

Sozin had had two aunts, and two uncles, who had all married into various noble families, producing dozens of descendants. There were many possible heirs, all of them relations so remote that Azula didn't know any of them personally. But upon her coronation, the new Fire Lord had needed to name someone in her will. It was one among an overwhelming number of decisions she had to make in those first couple of days after her father's death, so she didn't spend much time on this choice. She had simply followed the line of Sozin's eldest uncle's eldest child, and named Itoko, without considering his character or even inviting him to the palace. Though her advisors had urged her to get to know all of her cousins, so that she could pick the strongest of them as her heir, she hadn't bothered. She had assumed it wouldn't matter, since she had plenty of time to win Aang back, and then produce an heir and a spare of her own, for nurses to raise.

Now, she knew she had made a mistake the first time by choosing her heir so mindlessly, and not verifying the decision by getting acquainted with him. She considered Zuko: since she had pardoned him, he was the logical choice. If he had responded to her generous forgiveness with a grateful visit, then she would have named him. But he had ignored her speech, so presumably he wanted nothing to do with the country of his birth. Besides, the prince was a young, presumably still single man, so his sister would have to choose a second heir to follow him as well, leaving her with the same dilemma, even if she could get over her pride. Ultimately, the reason she had not put more effort into her first choice was still valid: as soon as Aang came to his senses, she would marry him, and fill the royal nursery with exactly two children.

So she did basically the same thing again. She followed a diagram of Sozin's extended family tree, and disinherited the entire branch Itoko came from. Then she chose the next heir by rules of primogeniture. Zeitakuna was an aristocrat on the island of Shuhon, with a vast estate, three children in their twenties, and a reputation for throwing extravagant parties. As a temporary placeholder, he would do.

Next, she set herself to the task of legally destroying the New Ozai Society and its members.

Fulfilling the agreement from the Agni Kai took some work. The very night of the Agni Kai, she ordered guards to the group's headquarters, where they took possession of the building. It was surprisingly bare, which made her think that the organization had hidden its assets.

So she had to tell her men to track down and question the members from the list Ukano had provided. It was surely incomplete, though. Ukano had omitted some high-ranking members, in the hopes that someone could continue their work, even if their coup failed. But she interrogated and bribed a few of the men who were listed–they were mostly poor and young—and they gave up the location of a secret warehouse. The guards who raided it found it full of weapons, mostly appropriated from the army, as well as several members they had not yet discovered. They also found a document for the bank account that had been used to pay the metal-armed combustion bender who had tried to kill her.

Once she had a more complete record of the organization's members, she put them all on a blacklist, ensuring they would never be employed by the government. A few had to be fired. Then she gave the member list to the newspaper to publish. It wasn't her fault if the traitors were shunned, or lost their jobs, once everyone knew who they were.

Those New Ozai supporters who had money to spare suddenly found that they had tax bills that they could not afford. Azula wasn't greedy about it. She didn't impoverish anyone, or take their home. At least, not their primary home. Vacation homes and townhomes and yachts, she appropriated. She left the traitors with exactly as much wealth as the average Fire Nation family had in savings. If that meant her enemies lost 95% of their money, then maybe they shouldn't have hoarded so much in the first place.

Besides, I need funding for the educational and cultural investments my administration will make, which will benefit everyone. Surely taking it from my enemies is for the good of the realm, she rationalized. And if it happens to satisfy my petty heart, all the better.

As a bonus, she found that this example made the aristocrats who had not conspired against her more loyal, and motivated them to be more generous with their wealth.

She checked with her inner Aang, wondering if he would support her measures. He didn't approve of revenge, she knew, and one could fairly call her pursuit of the New Ozai Society vindictive. On the other hand, she was being fairly moderate about it, judging by the way her family historically dealt with dissenters. She could have charged Itoko with conspiracy and thrown him in jail. She could have executed the entire New Ozai Society. Despite the evidence of the group's involvement in the assassination attempt, and her own threat of slow, painful death to conspirators, she let the investigation lapse, rather than following through. She was merciful. Taking her enemies' property and leaving them with their lives was generous. After all, they had used their wealth to pay an assassin and attempt a coup, so seizing their assets was just the same as disarming them.

The Fire Lord was not naive enough to believe that this work was enough to prevent determined terrorists from attacking her ever again, or even that this particular threat had been completely neutralized. The New Ozai Society did not disappear, but went underground. All she could do was cripple it and disgrace it with her characteristic precision and effectiveness. The group wasn't going anywhere, but it certainly wasn't growing either, not anymore. Public opinion now held them in contempt. They were extremists, they were traitors, they were cheaters who had disrespected tradition. But the Fire Nation's history showed that it could have overlooked all of that. The country could not, however, ignore the New Ozai Society's worst shortcoming: they were losers.

Author's Note: Tell me what you thought of that Agni Kai! I appreciate every review!

I'm still looking for a beta reader, if anyone would like to read new chapters more quickly, and even see how the story ends! Let me know in a review or PM if you're interested.