Morality Chain
I think it's been established that even angry and sullen Zuko can be pretty dorky around people he's comfortable with, and I hope I brought it across well enough. Well, let's go.
Disclaimer: I wish there was an Azula action figure, because I would buy one.
Of course, the first order of business would be to secure proper mounts for transportation. Time was of the essence, and as long as Azula continued to travel on foot she would be at a disadvantage. Of course she wasn't going to be able to match the Avatar's flying mount any time soon, but it would still be better than nothing.
Naturally, that the resort did not have anything of the sort available.
"Not even a single ostrich-horse." She muttered angrily as they left the compound, heading southwards in the general direction of Omashu. "What sort of shoddy excuse for a hotel is this, anyway?"
Of course the Fire Nation ship would have kept several Komodo-Rhinos in its hold, but having them brought out for no discernible reason when she'd first arrived would have led to raised eyebrows. One thing she absolutely had to do was ensure that everyone on the ship was left wondering about her intentions as long as possible.
Well, no use complaining about it. They would have to make do.
"There's a village a couple of days to the south." Ty Lee said helpfully from her side as she peered down at the map. "They should have ostrich-horses there."
"A couple of days." Azula grumbled to herself. Well, we're off to a promising start.
Still, they were able to make decent time, given the cooler weather and lack of any real obstacles. As the three of them continued down the road, Azula sneaked a glance at her brother. Ho was walking slightly behind the two of them, his eyes downcast. Slowly, she decreased her pace, letting Ty Lee take the lead as she fell into step beside her brother.
"Anything on your mind?" She finally spoke up as a conversation starter. That he was brooding over something was fairly obvious – one thing that hadn't changed about Zuko was that he still wore his heart on his sleeve.
Zuko gazed down at the ground. "Just… thinking," he said. The princess didn't respond immediately, waiting for him to go into more detail. Finally, he sighed. "It's just… about what happened at the North Pole. Uncle didn't betray anyone – he had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart, and now it's all come crashing down for him. This is even worse than exile – he's a fugitive, and he's alone. I mean, I know he told me he'd be fine, but he's old and alone."
I suppose I can't fault him for being upset about the situation. Come to think of it, Zuko probably has a pretty good idea of what happened at the North. I should ask him about it. Azula paused for a moment before opening her mouth to speak, but Zuko beat her to it.
"Uncle was right to protect the koi fish!" He declared hotly.
Azula's mouth snapped shut. Then she opened her mouth and closed it again. Finally, she simply said, "The… koi fish."
"Well, the moon spirit or whatever. The point is that Zhao shouldn't have tried to kill the moon!"
"…Kill the moon."
"Yes!" He was getting more and more heated up as his rant continued. "And then the Avatar wouldn't have merged with the ocean and created the giant koi fish and destroyed our navy!" Zuko's voice dropped slightly. "And the ocean wouldn't have grabbed Zhao and killed him."
"…" Azula pinched the bridge of her nose. "Zuko."
"Yes?"
"Has the Avatar mastered earthbending yet?"
"Uh, not since the last time I saw him. Why?"
"Because something obviously hit you on the head rather hard, and I'm wondering if it was a boulder."
"Az!" Zuko snapped. "This is serious!"
"Yes, serious. Which is why we're discussing koi fish and moonslaying." She raised an eyebrow. Zuko's face rearranged itself into something remarkably resembling a pout, and the sheer incongruity of it all forced her to stifle a snicker of laughter.
"What?" Her brother demanded, and she shook her head.
"Oh, nothing. It's just…" she gave him a long sideways glance. "I've missed you. It's good to see you again."
Zuko fell silent as a smile crept across his face, and for a moment, he almost looked like the bright and eager brother she remembered from long ago. "I missed you too," he replied.
A comfortable silence descended upon them as they continued the journey.
(X)
Later that night, after they made camp, Azula settled herself back on her pack, folded her hands behind the back of her head, and began to think.
From what she understood, the Avatar would need to master earthbending next in the cycle after waterbending, which narrowed his location down to the Earth Kingdom. Of course, the fact that there was a whole lot of Earth Kingdom made things rather problematic.
The crackling of flames being summoned drew her attention momentarily to Zuko, who was standing by the edge of the campfire's light and practising his Firebending. After watching his forms – far too stiff, didn't flow right, didn't centre his weight properly – for a brief moment, she glanced to the left and saw Ty Lee.
To her complete lack of surprise, her friend was currently engaged in toasting marshmallows.
She closed her eyes and returned to her musings. True, the Earth Kingdom was vast, but that didn't mean the Avatar would simply be anywhere within its borders. His goal, after all, would be to find someone who could teach him earthbending.
He'll probably look for the best earthbender he can find. Well, that was only natural. A fully realized Avatar was supposed to be the strongest bender in the world, and he probably wouldn't want to sabotage his efforts with subpar teachers. The Fire Nation's information network wasn't complete, of course – for one, the interior of Ba Sing Se was a complete mystery to even their best spies, but they still did a decent enough job of keeping tabs on the most powerful earthbenders to watch out for.
And one of the absolute best in the field would be King Bumi of Omashu – now kept under lock and key within the recently conquered city. Azula shook her head. No. Things in life didn't happen come along that easily. Even if the Avatar had entertained the notion of having Bumi teach him earthbending, surely he had to have heard that the city had been conquered by now.
Still, trying to get some information from the old king might prove useful – maybe she might even pick up on a lead she'd missed. In her mind, she marked off the nearest cities that had master earthbenders – still a lot more than she truly felt comfortable with, but in between these leads and keeping an ear to the ground, she ought to be able to pick up his trail easily enough.
"Oh, monkeyfeathers!" Azula opened her eyes long enough to note that Ty Lee's current marshmallow had caught fire before she returned to her trying to puzzle out the Avatar's movements.
Aside from finding the Avatar, they would have to defeat the Avatar. Zuko had helpfully supplied her with information about the group he was travelling with – two Water tribespeople. The girl was a waterbender, and if her brother's evaluations had been correct, she'd somehow convinced the idiots in the Northern Water Tribes to break tradition and actually teach her combat waterbending. The boy was apparently of no threat to anyone, and so Azula left him out of her calculations for now, with the caveat that he might potentially prove dangerous somewhere down the line – and Azula intended for this whole issue to be settled before it ever came to that. That left the Avatar himself – a master airbender and at least an adept waterbender. After a moment, she revised her assessment – he would likely have an earthbending teacher of some sort by the time they caught up with him, so they would have to watch out for that too.
Oh well. The three – soon to be four – of them could handle that just fine. Especially if she took the time to make sure Zuko's own firebending was up to snuff…
On that note, she looked over to see Zuko bringing his palm up in a slashing gesture that completed his kata. As she watched him execute his finishing strike, a frown crossed her features.
"What are you doing?"
"What?" He looked at her, confused."
"If you sweep your palm out like that when you strike, you'll dissipate the force of the fire blast. That attack is supposed to be the finishing strike against your opponent – you need as much force as you can behind the blow."
Zuko hesitated, eyes confused. "But… Uncle always told me to do it like that."
At this, the princess' brow wrinkled even further. Her Uncle had been a master Firebender back in his day, and even if he had been acting like an indolent dullard for the past three years (which she definitely wouldn't have put past him), he shouldn't have forgotten so much that he would be able to mess up such a basic attack.
Well, that could wait for later. Right now… "Well, he told you wrong. Remember that Firebending is an aggressive art. You need to have as much power behind each of your blows as possible – especially the finishing strike." She hesitated, mentally weighing the pros and cons of what she wanted say next, but finally, "Do it again. And properly this time."
A sudden silence fell across the little camp. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ty Lee looking at her, a surprised expression on her face. Zuko, on the other hand, was more or less completely nonplussed. Azula merely sat and looked at him, her face passive.
After a long moment, it was Zuko's turn to surprise her by bringing his palms together and bowing slightly. And then he resumed his Firebending stance, beginning to move through his kata again.
Meanwhile, Azula continued to sit and observe, watching him move through the basic steps as she pondered this newest turn of events. She had to admit that she herself was surprised at how easily their relationship as brother and sister had taken on the new aspect of student and teacher, but it wasn't a bad feeling.
"You're putting too much weight on your right foot. You have to balance yourself properly to prevent you from losing your footing."
No. Not bad at all.
(X)
The village was small – so small, in fact, that upon first entering it Azula wondered if they really would be able to find the mounts she needed here. But as soon as she entered the perimeter of the settlement she could spot an ostrich-horse grazing at the side of a building and she sighed with relief.
"I can't see many mounts at all." Ty Lee said, disappointment in her voice as she looked down the row of ramshackle houses.
"Even one will be helpful." They were all in excellent physical condition, of course, but having a beast of burden to carry their supplies would be a boon to them – especially since they needed to make their way to Omashu as quickly as possible, with as few pit stops as possible on the way – which in turn meant that they had to carry as much as they could with them.
Striding up to the house, she rapped on the doorway twice, her gaze already sweeping the village, scouting for any potential signs of danger. Of course it would be unlikely that there would be anyone looking for them, at least in this early leg of the journey, but her sense of caution (some would have called it paranoia) remained as fine-tuned as ever.
A moment later, the door slid open, revealing a young Earth Kingdom girl in a hanbok. "Yes, how can I-" Her voice cut off and her eyes grew wide as she took in Azula, standing in front of her in her Fire Nation uniform. While certainly less regal than her royal armour, it communicated the essentials well enough. There was also the flame headpiece, of course, but Azula doubted the peasant in front of her would have any idea what it symbolized.
"I presume you are the owner of this house?" She asked conversationally. Well, maybe not, the girl did seem rather young…
The girl withdrew slightly. "We haven't done anything to give the Fire Nation trouble." She said, with only a slight tremor in her voice.
"Good." Azula said dismissively. "Now, I have need of your ostrich-horse. As of now, it's been co-opted by the Fire Nation."
"What?" The girl's eyes widened. "But you – I'm sorry, it's not for sale."
"Perhaps you misunderstood." She aimed a glare at the girl. "I said, I have need of your ostrich-horse. You can choose to be compensated for your loss, or not. Now. How much?"
"I, uh…" The girl swallowed. "That is…"
Azula sighed. "Ty Lee."
"Uh huh?"
"What's the market rate for a healthy ostrich-horse?"
"Huh? Uh, well… when we bought some at the circus, it was usually for five silver pieces each."
"Five it is." Azula reached into her purse. Drawing the coins out, she reached over and grabbed the girl's hand before placing the money into it. As she did so, she noted how she instinctively flinched away – the girl had probably had a bad experience with Firebenders before.
With that, she turned away. "A pleasure doing business with you." She called back over her shoulder at the dumbstruck girl.
Several minutes later, they were leading the mount away from the town, their packs now strapped securely to the creature's back.
(X)
It did not take long at all for Zuko to realize that training under Azula was definitely different than his tutelage under Uncle.
In some ways it was surprisingly similar, at least in terms of subject matter covered.
"Firebending comes from the breath! Stop wasting the air in your lungs and conserve it for the actual strike."
But she was definitely harsher, more critical. Uncle's teachings had been more focused on the forms and flows of the discipline, with at least as much of the lesson dedicated to the philosophy behind each aspect of the art of Firebending as it was to actual combat training.
Azula was different. In line with his sister's perfectionist nature, her focus was on the results – how to create the strongest, most powerful fire, how to increase his stamina for a sustained assault, how to recover from being surprised and blindsided, how to let your attacks flow naturally from one form to the other.
It was different. Harder, certainly. But in its own ways, it was also more agreeable. Azula would set standards for him to reach and surpass, readily identifiable goals, so that even in a short time he could gauge how much better he was getting.
"See that boulder over there? I want it in pieces within three attacks from you."
…
"Well, two pieces still fits what I said, so… good work. I think."
That's not to say there weren't difficulties inherent in having Azula be his teacher. For one, as a prodigy, there were several things that simply came naturally to Azula, techniques and concept she grasped so readily that she had never bothered to pay much attention to the why and how of their functions. Hence for all her skill at actually performing them, she was woefully unsuited for communicating these techniques to him.
That usually led to a frustrated Azula and an angry, resentful Zuko. And whenever that happened it could be agreed that everyone (including Ty Lee) was in for a bad day.
"Just separate the positive yin and negative yang energies! It's not that difficult!"
"But how?"
"What do you mean, 'How?' Feel the energies within your body, and then part them! Like this," as she spoke, she swung her arms in a circular motion. "There. And once the energy is separated, it'll naturally try to come back together. After that, it's easy. Just focus your mind, guide the energy, and-" She thrust her arm out, and a bolt of blinding blue arced from her fingertips, throwing up a huge cloud of dirt and soil as it slammed into the ground.
Zuko's own attempts at lightning mostly ended up with massive balls of fire that blew up in his face – if anything happened at all. After the fifth time for the day, Azula had wearily proclaimed the lesson over and stalked back to her tent, shaking her head.
And that led to yet another problem, the tiny knot of resentment that was buried in his heart. That worried him, but not half as much as the fact that it appeared to be growing.
That wasn't right. He should have been overjoyed that his younger sister, Firebending prodigy and almost certainly one of the best Firebenders in the world, was teaching him. Under her guidance, he almost felt like he'd progressed farther in the month or so he'd been with her than the three years he'd spent on a Fire Navy ship.
But that was just it. His younger sister was teaching him, and by that very act there was an acknowledgement, stated or otherwise, that she was indeed superior to him, and to an extent where she could instruct or guide him in his own training.
Even back in the palace there had been a strong undercurrent of jealousy at her sister's skill with Firebending, but he'd managed to suppress it most of the time and she'd had the common sense not to openly flaunt her skills in front of him once she got a bit older. The issue was simply not discussed. Now, though…
With a sigh, he slumped to the ground, feeling his shoulders heave as he stared at the scorched landscape around him. Behind him, Ty Lee was busy practising her own acrobatics, blissfully oblivious to Zuko's anger.
"Circus freak." He mumbled to himself as he staggered to his feet and headed back to his own tent.
(X)
"Your form is sloppy, but passable." Azula said calmly as he swung his arms in circles again. "The only thing I can think of is that you're not clearing your mind of turmoil."
"Turmoil?" Zuko glared back at her. "I'm not in any turmoil!"
She sighed. "Zuko, even if you weren't a terrible liar, the fact is that you need to have your mind completely clear of doubts in order to generate lightning." She focused, looking intently at him. "You're worried about Uncle, aren't you."
In response, Zuko looked away, his shoulders still heaving with his deep breaths. Azula shook her head.
"Zuko, Uncle can take care of himself." At least, if the fact that he's been tailing us ever since we left the resort is any indication…
"It's not like that." Her brother shook his head. "You weren't there during those three years, Az. You have no idea what kind of trouble Uncle could get himself into. And now he's all alone, and…" His clenched fists tightened, and at an apparent loss for words, Zuko let out a roar of frustration as he sent a plume of fire into the night –
Flames that inadvertently illuminated the group of armed people rapidly approaching their camp.
Azula was on her feet in an instant, hands held at the ready. "Identify yourselves!" She said in her harshest, most imperious voice as she slipped into a combat stance.
"Identify ourselves?" the voice was rough and uncultured, and Azula's eyes narrowed. "We should be asking you that, shouldn't we, lads?"
"Too true!" another, rather nasal voice piped up. "We don't want Firebenders in the Earth Kingdom. So you lot can just go back to where you came. After leaving everything of worth behind, of course."
"Nah," a third voice chuckled. "You Fire Nation types are like ants! Always scurrying about and coming back with more numbers. I say we just finish you lot right here and now! It'll serve as a warning to anyone else who wants to mess with the Earth Kingdom!"
"Patriotic bandits." Azula muttered to herself over the raucous cheering. "Now I've seen everything." For all their bluster, they did appear to have a modicum of tactical sense, the most apparent demonstration of this being that they stayed just beyond the perimeter of the campfire's light, leaving the three of them brightly illuminated by its orange glow. Of course that also made it painfully apparent that they had never actually fought Firebenders before – staying outside of the range of the light source wasn't much use for someone who could create their own light, after all…
Azula burst into action, sweeping her leg out in a wide kick that sent a wave of blue fire rushing forward – it would send the nearest wave of enemy combatants back, as well as illuminating them enough for her to assess their numbers and disposition.
Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of two men in the back not apparently holding any weapons – well aside from the one on the left who had a rock floating above his palm.
"Ty Lee! Get the earthbenders at the back!" She didn't bother to look as she turned away, catching sight of a swarthy man rushing at her, warhammers raised. She knew Ty Lee would be able to handle them. As for herself…
Ducking under the clumsy swing, she jabbed her fist into his midsection, knocking the breath out of the man and knocking him backwards. Behind him, more yelling men rushed up, apparently secure in their belief that superior numbers would lead to victory.
They were quickly disabused of the notion by several swift blasts of fire – while some had shields with which to absorb the weaker blasts, most of those rushing forward fell back, clutching burnt faces and chests.
During a momentary lull in the fighting, she glanced over to her left to see Zuko fending off three others considerably well, and then her attention was diverted once more by a broadsword slashing down at her. Dodging to the side, she launched a firebomb at his chest, already turning away to her next foe as the explosion consumed him.
Suddenly, she became aware that the members of the bandit gang who were capable of doing so were retreating. Briefly, she considered a parting shot of lightning to the back, and even more briefly thought about chasing them down, but in the end those people really won't worth the time and effort.
She turned to regard the bodies lying strewn across the ground – five of them all told, two of them the earthbenders Ty Lee had immobilized. The acrobat was standing over their still forms, as if unsure about what to do.
Azula shook her head as she stepped over, daggers of fire already flaring in her palms. "Look away." She said softly to the acrobat, who complied. Even in the dim glow of the fire, she could see that Ty Lee was chewing her lip.
She stood over their prone bodies – they were both lying facedown, which she supposed was a small mercy. With a deep breath, she plunged the daggers deep into their necks. There was the sound of sizzling flesh, and the one on the right jerked slightly, but it was over mercifully quickly.
"Azula!" She heard her brother's shocked cry and looked up to meet his gaze. He was looking at her, an expression of disbelief on his face. "You didn't have to –"
"Yes I did." She said softly as she stepped away from the bodies. "Ty Lee's chi-blocking doesn't last that long, and we don't have any way to restrain them that'll last – at least not unless we bring them along with us, which is out of question. Furthermore, we 're still in Earth Kingdom territory, so it's not like any of us can just drop them off at the nearest guard post. And anyway," she spat. "They're bandits. They don't deserve any mercy. And you can't tell me they wouldn't have done the same to us had our situations been reversed."
Zuko made no direct reply to this, but he lowered his gaze to the ground. Azula gazed over at him. "What?"
When he looked up again, she could see sadness in his eyes, mixed with something else Azula couldn't readily identify. "You've grown colder."
"And you've grown more sullen." Neither of us are the same person we were from three years ago, brother. I almost wish we were, but… She stepped past him, back towards her tent before she noticed a tiny black bundle on the ground. "Zuko?"
"What?"
"Your topknot." She stated flatly as she reached down to pick it up. "It's been… uh." Evidently one of the bandits' swings had come a little closer to him than he would have liked.
Zuko ran a hand over the remains of his hair. "No big deal." He muttered sourly. "My hair always grew quickly anyway."
"If you say so." She said. "Anyway, pack up. That gang may be back with reinforcements, and even if they're gone for good, I don't think any of us want to spend the night next to a bunch of corpses."
The others complied, and soon they were on their way again.
(X)
"Omashu always seemed untouchable." Azula said as she gazed proudly at the city spread out before her, the flags of the Fire Nation clearly visible even at this distance, and in the gloom of evening. "It was always only a matter of time, of course, but no matter how far the war spread, it always held out."
"Until only a while ago, right?" Ty Lee spoke up. "There were flyers everywhere announcing it."
"Right. When we finally amassed a big enough army to crush the defences, King Bumi surrendered without even a fight." Silently, she wondered at the man's motivations, but since it had delivered the city to the Fire Nation relatively intact, she supposed she couldn't complain.
As she gazed over the stone bridge leading to the city, she could see a crowd of people slowly making their way down it, and she frowned. What was going on?
"Hey, Az." Zuko came up beside her, a layer of peach fuzz already covering the top of his head – he was right, his hair did grow quickly. "Who's the person you wanted to pick up from here?"
"Why, Zuzu, you haven't guessed yet?" She injected just the right amount of mockery into her words. "We never did have the widest of social circles even as kids, so how many people could there possibly be to choose from?"
"Mai?" Ty Lee brightened up. "It's Mai, isn't it? She's in there!"
"Her father's been made governor of Omashu." And I wish I could say I had something to do with that. Azula's gaze travelled to the evacuating crowd again. "And so his family naturally followed. Anyway, let's go. I want to know what's going on in that city." With a quick tug at the reins of the ostrich-horse, she set off down the trail that led towards the city's entrance.
Chapter End
Next Chapter – in which I demonstrate that I am an unashamed Bumi fan.
Thanks for reading. Please review.