A/N: I had a feeling so peculiar that this pain would be for evermore. Love and be loved. Read… and review!


The Parable of the Fisherman

[Early Spring 149 AG]

Toph Beifong built a home made of stone at the end of the world. She had help of course, in deciding the interior and the exact location. She had wanted a place to disappear to where not even Aang would take the time to come bother her, not even if he flew on his precious blue dragon. Somewhere that she could just rest and no one would be within ear shot or shouting distance. Mallard Island sits so far to the east that it is quite actually one of the first places that the new dawn touches each day. As the light fades on Caldera in the west, it rises in the east for Mallard Island. This was the place that Toph built her home.

The building is a rancher style with two beds, one and a half baths, an expansive living room when you immediately walk in, and an even bigger kitchen. Toph loved to eat but hated to cook so the open floor cooking area was a bit of a waste all things considered. The whole building was made of stone, as were the floors. Understandably, the Blind Bandit wanted the whole place to be covered for her Seismic Sense.

What made this place special though is not the house at all, but rather the accompanying land it occupies. Maybe forty yards or less away from the front door is the bottomless drop off of the cliffs to the furious Great Sea below. The Cliffs of Mallard are sea cliffs located all along the eastern edge of Mallard Island. They run for about ten miles. At the northern edge they rise 400 or so feet up above the Great Sea at Cat's Eye, the little village where a great lighthouse sits. Along the southern edge, closer to where Toph's home was built, the cliffs reach a maximum height of over 800 feet above the water. A daunting and terrifying distance for anyone, but especially a dainty, elder Azula who stands at the edge and stares straight down to the bottom.

"I wonder how long it would take for me to hit the water?" She mutters to no one at all. "She plopped this place right by a killzone. Feel like if I got too drunk and wandered outside I'd just trip and fall off the edge of the world."

She clicks her tongue at the thought of it.

"Wouldn't that be quite the glorious end for Princess Azula? To die from some damn fall."

She turns away from the cliffs and heads for the home, her home now. She carries with her the sharp edge key that Toph gave her, a backpack of clothes and personal hygiene items, a black sword made from a meteor, and a box of mementos that her wife curated over decades, which she originally took from Honan Bay before disappearing into thin air. These four things are all that Azula has to her name. She walks up to the front door ready to make her newest, latest life.


[Spring 149 AG]

Surprisingly the hardest adjustment was the smell.

Toph had left such a unique, pungent smell emanating in the house that just would not go away. Azula thought that the stone walls and flooring would mean the smell wouldn't attach itself to anything, like it would with rugs or carpeting, but alas, it clung to the place like a ghost reminding her that it belonged to another.

After a few weeks though it dissipated and she was able to move on, or perhaps she just became jaded and adapted to the smell. She spent the time in-between cleaning out the place and fixing it up. She didn't want to erase Toph's ownership of it, but she figured she should make it her own since it was now. Azula built hardwood floors and got some rugs, she plastered the walls, painted, repaired the roof, and even started working on a fence so as to protect herself from drunkenly stumbling to her death. In time she plans to put down cobblestones as a walkway to the front door, which she plans to paint bright red. She hasn't pulled out any of the personal effects from Ty Lee's collection, too scared to open the box and be overwhelmed by the emotions.

In the meantime, she grows accustomed to Mallard Island and its surroundings. Toph had been correct when she said the closest village is 3-4 miles away. Azula walks to it just about every single day, taking her anywhere from an hour to two, one way, depending on the weather and her own determination. It's a quaint little town, where quiet, unassuming people live quiet, unassuming lives. She quickly earned a moniker among the people as "The Forgetful Lady." As far as they are concerned, she is an old woman, who has forgotten much of her life, and is always forgetting something or other.

To that end, Azula spends a lot of her time going to the Public Library of Mallard to read books. It's not an expansive library, but she is shocked to learn that they are surprisingly involved in the Earth Kingdom interlibrary loan system. She had seen and used it throughout her time while living in Ba Sing Se, but it is a way to request books that her library doesn't have; to be loaned out to them. Due to Mallard Island's distance from the rest of the mainland she thought such a thing was impossible. She is quite pleased with this development as she knows it opens up nearly limitless possibilities of ways to continue reading about the world, even if it takes long stretches of time for her request to go out, and sometimes longer before a text even arrives – assuming it can even be supplied.

The Librarian is a 34 year old woman named Wara. She wears thick glasses and has a pleasant demeanor. She's not much taller than Azula with olive green eyes, jet black hair that is naturally straight, with very little breasts to speak of, but nonetheless is stunning in an understated way. A very charming 'girl next door' vibe to her, Azula thinks. Wara's thirst for knowledge has led her to be uninterested in any of her numerous suitors on Mallard. Eventually she became a social pariah among the townsfolk since they did not understand her.

One day Wara's thirst for knowledge and curiosity gets the better of her. The interlibrary loan system of the Earth Kingdom is a pleasant tool, but she must register who the request is coming from. In her entire life she can count on one hand the amount of loan requests that came from someone beside herself. So when The Forgetful Lady began making requests, Wara simply put herself as the requester. It mattered not who it came from, and in fact it was better that it came from her because she was known and respected by librarians across the Kingdom.

Nonetheless, after the first handful, Wara became intrigued. The Forgetful Lady was interested in some modern texts, books about current affairs. Texts that were interesting to Wara as well, but not ones she had read. She wanted to be able to discuss with the Lady, so one day when she wandered in Wara made a point to ask her something that no one else in the village had taken the time to ask: her real name.

The Forgetful Lady, with a face framed by faded black hair and gorgeous, sunrise amber eyes, stared intently back at Wara without replying. She sizes the girl up, running some mental calculations in her mind, analyzing the thirty-something year old girl who had never, ever left the island. After considering it for an odd amount of time, she gives an auspicious tone in reply.

"You may call me Mrs. Ty." She smiles with all of the grace of a woman of royalty. Or the figurehead of an empire.

"Ty Zula, to be exact."


When Azula arrives home from visiting the village that day, after giving the name to Wara, she finally allows the emotions to crash down upon her. She collapses onto the floor of the main hallway in a fit of pained gasps and tears. She bangs her fists into the hardwood floor and throws couch cushions every such way. She has languished in solidarity for so long, before coming to Mallard, and she has been fine. Somehow, though, taking on Ty Lee's family name for herself snaps something deep inside of her.

She misses Ty Lee so badly that it physically pains her. The memories of her love, of all that she lost, all that she can not have or hold, burns into her brain. In Honan Bay she had become despondent and grief stricken, spiraling after the Destruction, filled with regret and haunted by the screams she never heard but felt all the same. She thought back then that she had reached the nadir of her life, but she was wrong. The pain of losing Lonlhai, Ty Lee, and Sayaka was only just the beginning. These are the thoughts that circle her mind as she passes out from exhaustion on the floor.


The next morning, Azula does not go about her typical day. She doesn't tend her garden, chop firewood, or lay cobblestone. She doesn't walk into the village to check on her latest book request.

Instead, she sits at the kitchen table, and she writes. Her dreams overnight had been filled with reminders of all of the loved ones she has lost and moved on from over the years. In particular, she saw Mai and Zuko, and she feels a great shame in how she has left them behind. She wants to make amends, even if she could never tell them herself. So she sits down at the table and she writes. She writes to Zuko, and Mai, and others, and she apologizes. Some are pages long while others are much, much shorter. She does what she must to release the good in her, because she has reached an inevitable conclusion:

In order for her to really get what she wants, she must choose the darkness in her.


"Kyoshi in particular, from what I've heard it's got impenetrable defenses now."

Those were Toph's words. Now as she sits in what was once Toph's home, she contemplates them and how they stack up against her primary objective: to extract Ty Lee from the island and return to Mallard together. Live out their lives in peaceful solitude together. Leave the world behind and let the Chiefs and the Fire Lords and the Avatar's sort their shit out without bothering her or her wife. A quiet retirement without fanfare. The only thing standing in their way is everything.

Even if Azula had her bending, going at Kyoshi Island with fire and lightning would not exactly be left alone. Nevermind that Ty Lee might be appalled by the show of violence. For all she knows, Ty Lee may not want to leave at all, which is why she must be especially surgical in her approach. One thing becomes clear as she contemplates all of the odds stacked against her and all of the possible pitfalls:

'I can't do it on my own.'

As Azula considers every avenue and possibility before her, with all of the limitations, she keeps coming back to the same solution. It is the simplest answer to her problem, but the one with perhaps the most dangerous ramifications. It is something Azula has considered for several years now, but never seriously pursued. Now, however, Azula has no bending, no money, no powerful friends, she is at the edge of the world in a home that is miles from anyone else. To rescue Ty Lee will require nearly limitless resources to infiltrate, extract, and safely escape. There is one thing that can get her to that proverbial finish line.

The Red Lotus.

'And to get to them, I need to go through Xai Bau.'

Azula finds herself in a similar spot when it comes to getting to Xai Bau as she is trying to rescue Ty Lee. She wants to maintain her safe place, but have face time with an unreachable figure. She lacks the power or resources to get his attention. She is not a political figure and if she draws too much attention she'll surely have the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom at her door in no time. She is no Chief, no Fire Lord, no Avatar. She is only woman. However, unlike so many others who sought after Xai Bau, she has two advantages.

Azula knows some of the other players in Red Lotus, and more importantly, Azula has time. She is quite a forgetful woman, which will serve as a great cover. She is at the end of her life, and at the end of the world. No one and nothing can get in her way. The obsessive, controlling, mastermind that once ruled a criminal empire with an iron fist and violently guarded a quiet village is reawakened. Azula clears a table in the living room and removes pictures from the nearby wall. She grabs loose parchment, empty notebooks, and quills. The game is afoot. The hunt is on.

She will stop at nothing now.

She will find Xai Bau.


[Late Spring 149 AG]

Azula begins her search for one of the most powerful men in the world, who has spent his entire life successfully hiding amongst the shadows. Something that Azula tried and failed to do at every turn, he has been successful at every step of the way. That kind of secrecy is almost impossible to fathom, given her own experiences. A lesser person would take it as a clear sign that Xai Bau is too large of a figure to be tracked down, too big to ever fall.

But Azula is not a lesser person.

She knows through her own experiences that all that success must come at a cost. At her very best there were still signs that it was really Princess Azula beneath it all. As the Dragon Empress, she had been sloppy. She started by using her real name and then quickly got away from it, until the tide had swelled too great and she gave up hiding her real name. Her associates as the Empress became known associates when she was forced to move on. Asuna of Lanxi traded skeletons for marriage rights, and her tracks had not been covered enough to prevent the Kemurikage from finding her. What's more, Suki had Ty Lee followed to blow the cover off the whole thing. Then in Ba Sing Se, there was no shortage of mistakes. Akola of Ember Island became known as the Secret Weapon of the Southside, a warrior powerful enough to strike fear into the hearts of Mama's enemies - until she invoked the name herself. Finally, The Guardian took on a protege of her own image and used her powers openly to protect the village.

At every turn there were clues, breadcrumbs, tips that led others to the natural conclusion. She made mistakes, she failed in some aspects, and in others it was just pure, dumb luck. The point is that Azula was a tactician with her secrets at each turn, and they still leaked out all the same. Xai Bau may very well be smarter than her, but he could not possibly have been more vigilant than her. She is certain of it.

So, Azula begins her search as the only way she knows how: she walks into the public library and meets with Wara of Mallard. After much conversation and some light manipulation Wara agrees to assist Azula with a hunt for Azula's long lost family member. She provides Azula with every copy of The Republic Times' that they keep on record, and begins making a myriad of requests through the interlibrary loan system.

It will be slow, painfully slow, as books, articles, and texts of all kind will take weeks to fulfill, if they aren't rejected outright, which Wara warns can frequently happen. As Wara explained it, "no one wants to transport records all the way out to the end of the Earth." This makes Azula selections very limited and difficult to come by over time.

However, the beauty of it is that it is virtually undetectable. Not even Xai Bau would be monitoring textbook loaning between libraries in the Earth Kingdom. If by some chance he is monitoring them they would only come from a librarian woman named Wara, whose requests through the system predate Azula's presence on the island and thus draw no suspicion.

The whole thing is a perfect cover for Azula to search endless texts, even if it was inefficient and slow. So every day, Azula will take the one-to-two hour walk into the village, check the library for records, read and take notes, and then leave. It will keep Wara busy and keep Azula out of any crosshairs. It is extremely unassuming and no one in the village thinks much of it. The Forgetful Lady just seemed to want to read and that's all they think of her.

Azula begins her search by reading about the White Lotus and its members. If she is to find where Xai Bau is now, she must start with where he's been.


[Early Summer 149 AG]

The first breakthrough comes relatively early on. After a few weeks of sorting through the issues to The Republic Times', Azula comes across what she is searching for: an obituary of a world leader. One that Azula dealt with many, many years ago. She finds the obituary dated in the summer of 147 AG.

ZASO, FORMER WHITE LOTUS MEMBER AND WORLD RENOWNED SPIRITUALIST, DIES AT 82

Zaso of Whaletail Island, a former member of the Order of the White Lotus and a celebrated spiritualist, has died. According to his daughter, the 82-year old Guru suffered complications from a bout of illness while on an outreach mission to Yu Dao.

"My father was a friend to so many, had a willing ear for all, and was a rock for our family. He was always in pursuit of improving the world around him and we will miss him dearly. We request privacy at this time as we lay him to rest at home, as was his wishes."

The article goes on with junk about his personal life, his family, who he is survived by, and more politically correct quotes and statements from various sources remembering the man. What sticks out to Azula though is not how he lived, but where he was from and how he died.

All these years later, she always thought it was odd that Zaso had wanted to meet on Whaletail Island for their first meeting in that bar where she smashed his face into a pai sho board. In a pre-Republic City world it made sense without a central point of commerce, but Whaletail Island was forgettable even back in those days. Now it makes sense if that was where he was born and lived.

What's more, Yu Dao sticks out as the place he died. She does not buy the story that it was complications related to illness. Zaso, by all accounts, was the second-in-command of a secret society of political figures controlling the globe. Certainly he would've brought or been able to afford the most prestigious, practiced healers the world over.

Azula does not know much about Yu Dao, but she plans on becoming very familiar.


[Late Summer/Early Fall 149 AG]

Azula makes a grave mistake that costs her several months of effort when it comes to researching Yu Dao. She starts her search by looking into the history of the territory, as she recalls conversations with Lin about his friends who lived there and how it was effectively a war zone. She wanted to understand its past to see if it has prior connections to the Red Lotus dating back to possibly their origins. The few texts that come in about the area are outdated and unhelpful.

It isn't until she mentions her struggles in researching Yu Dao that Wara is able to give her clarity. She explains that it is an abandoned territory that neither the Earth Kingdom nor the Northern Water Tribe expend much capital trying to maintain. Rather, it goes through cycles of tyrants in charge. She notes that The Republic Times' doesn't do much reporting on it, but that she knows another paper that might be able to assist.

Which is what leads Azula to an article from the summer of 147 AG, being written in the Garsai Tribune, detailing a profile of the area's latest war lord.

FROM YAKONE'S PERSONAL CHEF TO SOVEREIGN OF YU DAO: WHO IS ZASE OF SHU JING?

The founder of the Daihu Jing Mercenary Group, Zase of Shu Jing, currently ruling over Yu Dao, was once close enough to infamous blood bender Yakone to be called his "personal chef," before he led an armed insurrection over the city-state.

For years, Zase was an elusive figure, growing wealthy in the chaos and opportunity of the post-Hundred Years War Fire Nation.

He was thrust into the spotlight through his group's close involvement in Yakone's cold war battles with the Earth Kingdom, securing rare victories for the criminal mastermind.

Zase allegedly served Yakone for five years before Yakone's arrest and subsequent fall from power. A little over nineteen years later, Zase led his embattled troops into a hostile takeover of Yu Dao's historically volatile land.

"The Northern Water Tribe is proud to announce that we will continue trading with the lands of Yu Dao under this new leadership," Unalaq, Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, was quoted as saying. Later he proclaimed admiration for the fire bender who took the land by force: "Under Zase's steadfast leadership and iron will, I believe that Yu Dao can reclaim much of the previous glory that litters its history."

Azula takes a moment to write a couple of notes down.

"Who did Zase replace? Was he friend or foe of the RL? This Unalaq creep is awfully excited about a murderous war lord governing a nearby land?"


[Late Fall 149 AG]

Azula spends a few weeks reading more about Zase, Yu Dao, and Chief Unalaq, but is unsuccessful in uncovering any further information to assist in her search. She runs her head into a brick wall trying to unravel the yarn of how the Red Lotus and Yu Dao may be connected. When she can no longer do it successfully, she decides to shift gears. Zase was not the only public figure she knew had a connection to the Red Lotus. Aiwei was a poor boy and didn't exactly light up the headlines after leaving her, so she does not bother searching for him. Instead, she shifts focus to a lowlife who once led the bender supremacists movement: Shulun of Ba Sing Se.

A stranger knocks at her door.

While waiting for a report to come in about him, Azula is sitting alone at home when a knock comes at the door. It is a dreary and overcast day. She has lived in Toph's old home along the sea cliffs for almost eight months and never once has someone knocked on the door. It's nearly four miles from the village, no one would dare come to her, let alone late in the evening, shortly after sunset, when the twilight is just beginning.

The knock comes again.

Cautiously, apprehensively, she rises from the chair in her kitchen. She slowly steps towards the door, but grabs a kitchen knife to be safe.

Knock again.

Azula's heart races, fear spiking as she stops on the otherside of the door. She does not know who knocks, she does not know what to expect. She wonders if Death has come at last.

Knock.

She grabs the handle, and pulls it back only slightly. Enough to peak out the door. She spots a thirty-something year old woman with large brimmed glasses.

"Oh! Mrs. Ty! Good evening!" Wara greets her through the tiny slit in the door. "Sorry to come out here and surprise you like this."

"Wara?" Azula asks, confused. "Is there anyone else with you?"

"Hmm?" Wara replies, furrowing her brow. "No? I came alone, if that's what you're asking?"

"What are you doing here, Wara?"

"Yes. Well. Again, so sorry for this late intrusion. It's just, I found the article you were looking for just as I was closing up the shop. And as you may recall, I'm out the next two days for some personal time off. But you seemed so concerned about this one, so I thought I would bring it out to you so you didn't have to wait any longer!"

Wara beams at Ty Zula, but the older woman doesn't respond in kind. The door stays almost entirely shut.

"I see. Well, thank you but I'm not in a position to welcome guests."

Wara is disappointed to hear this, she was quite thirsty and was hoping to stay for a bit before turning right back to go back to the main village. Ever the polite woman though she replies, "Oh! I see. Well, then, I'll just give you this-"

"Leave it on the ground outside the door."

"Ah. Of course. Surely, no problem."

Wara does as she's told, dropping the copy of The Republic Times' that she'd found on the ground and stepping back. Ty Zula doesn't open the door any further to collect, so Wara decides this has been awkward enough and she should head out. She turns, takes a few steps on the cobblestone and then stops. She spins around to find Ty Zula still looking at her through the gap in the door.

"I am sorry for your loss, Mrs. Ty. I'm sorry to say that I found that Shulun man you were looking for in the obituaries. He died in the summer of 128 AG, a little over twenty-one years ago. You had thought he was still alive, but it appears he's been gone for a long time."

"I see." Azula replies, the disappointment evident in her voice.

"He seemed to have been an influential figure at one time. Was he your husband? Or lover?"

Azula is perturbed by the dead end. She does not share with Wara but she answers the question all the same.

"I'm a gender betrayer, Wara. No man has ever been 'my lover.'"

Supremely embarrassed and flush in the cheeks, Wara utters a quick apology before turning to leave at once.


[Winter 150 AG]

Azula pins up her latest target of attention onto the board. It's a clipping from a newspaper with a profile photo of a young man, in his twenties, with amber eyes, light skin, and dark hair with white streaks along the side. His name is Zolt and he is the latest in a long line of her successors, staking a claim as master of the criminal underworld. Under the photo are some summarized thoughts written down.

'So young when he rose up. Who helped him?'

'Advanced lightning ability.'

'XB would've targeted him.'

She sits alone late in the middle of the night when the clock chimes. The sound of time passing alerts her that it is officially a new year. There's some sadness in another year passing in her solitude. However, Azula finds some solace in the new opportunities. This will be the year when she gets her wife back. When she tracks down Xai Bau and takes her place as one of the Founders of the Red Lotus.

This is the year that the Dragon Empress returns.


[Spring 150 AG]

For only the second time since moving to Mallard Island, Azula receives a knock on the door. She is busy chasing ghosts in text books about old members of Fire Nation army. At some point she'd come to another dead end, so she went back in her mind to her early days. She recalls burying a man alive for the Red Lotus and wonders if he could be another lead for her. The knock scares her and concerns her. She finds a ceramic bowl and hides it from view as she approaches. It is eerily quiet and each step is fraught. A voice calls to her from the other side.

"Mrs. Ty? It's me, Wara." The familiar librarian's voice sounds.

Relieved, Azula steps forward and opens the door a crack so she can look outside. The woman is alone yet again, no different than she'd been when she last visited.

"Yes, Wara? Why are you here?"

"I was just worried about you. You haven't been to town in a few days. And, well, you're older so I thought-"

"Maybe I'd tripped and fallen off the cliffs?"

"No! No! I mean, yes, but that was just what I was afraid maybe might've -"

"Relax, Wara. I'm still here."

"Yes, yes, I see that now. But, that's not the only reason I came out."

"Oh?"

"I know you're already at your max capacity for loans, but I think I might have something that could help! This one is a few years old, and I've noticed a pattern with your selections lately. Well known figures from the Fire Nation, in particular the post-War days."

"Yes, yes, of course," Azula doesn't like how close she is to the trail. She doesn't want this poor, hapless girl to wander into something bigger than herself. "I'm in search of-"

"Your family member, I know," Wara cuts her off, but doesn't convince her. Wara has always been dubious of this search for a 'family member.' However, she didn't want to spook the old lady and decided to stay close to the hunt. "And, well, you haven't asked for this book yet, probably don't know about it, but I think it'll hit a lot of your intersecting points."

She reaches into her satchel and produces a copy of On Ji of Ba Sing Se's The Last Dragon: The True Life of Azula of Caldera. She hands it towards Azula who looks down in pulse-pounding anxiety for the meaning of this gesture. The cover art is a drawing of half of a woman's face, one bearing a striking resemblance to Azula as a teenager, and the other half of a black dragon with blue outlines. Azula reaches out and takes the book.

"Do you know about her? I'm sure you must've heard about her at some point in your life, either just in your time or as you've been searching for your family member."

Azula is unsure if Wara knows more than she says or truly does not know. She measures her words as she replies, "I've heard of such a figure, but afraid I don't know much."

Wara is truly ignorant, at least so far. She suspects that the woman in front of her is more than she lets on. However, she has no reason to believe that Mrs. Ty, living out at the edge of the world where the sun first greets the Earth, was once the fabled last dragon. She smiles and tries to explain.

"Well, I haven't read it myself, but from what I've heard it's a fascinating if not droll read. The people I trust who have reviewed it have said that the author really drags things out at times, trying to paint a contextual picture for the reader. But the main focus, the woman it's about, they say she's still alive."

"I see. Yes, I think I heard something about a dead woman brought back to life."

"Completely absurd. But supposedly she did some good in the world."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, from my point of view, again having not read it myself, I think the biggest was her funding of the Cabbage Corporation."

Wara expects a reply or comment but gets none. Mrs. Ty just continues staring at the book, waiting for Wara to say she's 'known all along.'

"They were a major power house corporation, until a few years ago anyway."

This sparks Azula's attention. "Hm? Cabbage Corp has gone under?"

"No. No no no, not at all. They're still one of the most powerful organizations on the planet. No, but Future Industries, from all that I've heard and read about Republic City, is the real power now. About five years ago they passed a million yuan and really never-"

'A new power rises.'

A new thread appears before Azula as Wara keeps talking.

'The Cabbage Corp was always loyal to me and Ty Lee. If Xai Bau couldn't worm his way into their leadership, then naturally he would look for that influence in a power that could usurp them! A business to rival and surpass them and then crush my route of recourse!'

Azula is inspired. She looks up as Wara keeps going. She smiles widely and then launches herself at the young woman, bursting out from the inside of her home.

"Oof! Um. Mrs. Ty? Are you OK?"

"Thank you, Wara! I've had a block of sorts the last few weeks, and you just unblocked it for me!"

"Uh, you're welcome?"

"Can I keep this?" She asks about the book.

"Hmm? Oh, sure. I don't have any interest in reading it."

Azula turns to leave and closes the door behind her. Wara catches a glimpse of the inside, the first person to see the inside of the home in many years. In the background she sees a wall covered in papers, pages, pictures, and lines of red string connecting them all together.


[Summer 150 AG]

A knock comes at the door.

Azula has become more used to Wara's trips out here. She would even go so far as to say that they are friends. The knocks do not frighten Azula anymore, not like they used to do. These last few months in particular, Wara has made it a habit to come out. Azula has stopped herself just short of inviting the girl in for tea and a review of the diagram she has built in search of Xai Bau.

Azula rises from the kitchen table and without a second thought walks to the door. It's a warm summer afternoon, the sun not yet setting. She feels close, and she thinks that Wara may be bringing her something of note. She opens the door and Wara is standing on the other side.

"Did it finally come in?"

"You bet your ass it came in, Mrs. Ty!" Wara shares her enthusiasm.

Wara produces a biography of Hiroshi Sato, founder of Future Industries. The biography is two years old and is considered apocryphal by most standards because Hiroshi quickly commissioned an autobiography to be written. The version Wara brings was threatened with libel lawsuits and an onslaught of negative press by Future Industries. From these facts alone, she can tell that there must be some deep truth buried within these pages that Hiroshi didn't want to get out.

"You're close, aren't you, Mrs. Ty?"

Azula looks at her dear friend. She won't invite her for tea just yet, but maybe when her wife comes home.

"I can almost taste it, Wara."


[Late Summer/Early Fall 150 AG]

The sun rises on another gorgeous day over Baochou Village. A 75 year old man goes about his daily routine. He feeds their cat, does his morning stretches, showers, and then heads down to the post office. Retirement has suited Lin, as he and Ai Zhou have enjoyed the lap of luxury quite well, most especially when they can spoil their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He arrives at the post-office and collects his mail. Tax-collecting information, various bills, one letter from their daughter, a postcard, and some other junk mail. He is walking back home and idly sorting through all that he has gathered. His daughter is doing well and requests his presence in Caldera in a few months for some formal dinner gathering or another. The junk mail he rips up as he goes back. Finally, he examines the postcard.

The front is a beautiful picture of sea cliffs, with huge text emblazoned above it.

Greetings from Mallard Island!

He flips the card over. There is no return address. It is just addressed to Lin. All it says is a cryptic quote that almost no one else on Earth could decipher.

Have you heard the Parable of the Fisherman?

Even in his old age, Lin knows what this must be. He reflects on the words he had told Ai Zhou twelve years ago.

"Worry not, my Dear. If she needs me, she'll reach me."


[Late Fall/Early Winter 150 AG]

Two months later, Azula is eating alone at a public table in the village. She loves this part of the day, when the sun is high but the weather is cool. It's a perfect mixture of warmth, light, fresh air, and breeze. She looks around and sees a man lost in town, stopping a stranger and asking for direction. He is short and portly, more so than she remembers. He is balding and the hair he does have is a faded grey. Despite his unassuming appearance, Azula feels the whole world come to a halt around her as she watches him. He is jovial and friendly. The stranger points him further up the street, in her direction. He thanks them and they depart.

Azula just watches Lin. The first time she has seen him in almost fifteen years and he is just as beautiful as the day she lost him. He walks in her direction, his head up, reading storefront signs, trying to get his bearings right. She feels a warmth she hasn't felt since the fire coursed through her veins. Just as he is about to walk past her, he finally peels his eyes off of the skies and looks down at her. They make eye contact and he doesn't take another step forward, coming to an instant stop.

They look at one another and behold each other with admiration and respect and a sense of happiness that can't be replicated. He takes the last couple of steps forward and stands above her at the public table. She does all but crack an open mouth smile, while he has no such restraint.

"Excuse me, Miss, but I'm looking for someone I lost a great deal many years ago. Could you tell me if you've seen her?"

Azula shakes her head bashfully at his game. She cuts through some of it.

"Hello, Fisherman."

He smiles his classic, everlasting Lin smile.

"Hello, Empress."


A/N: lsakdjflj LEAVE MY NAME FOR AZULA ALONE! (1) FMTomiko didn't stop me so no one was going to muhahahha! (2) This chapter is dropping during Tyzula Week 2023 so LET ME HAVE THIS. Is it insane? Yes. It is ridiculous? Yes. Do I love it? Also yes. Mrs. Ty Zula. I'm out my cot damn mind. HAPPY TYZULA WEEK 2023 TO ALL THOSE WHO CELEBRATE! I'll have a one-shot dropping at some point related to the prompts, but I won't say which one and I'm not 100% certain when it will be. This chapter's OST is "Don't Forget the Rules" by Charlie Clouser.

Love always. Lin forever!

Notorious