Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

321. Chapter 321: Old Friends-War Meeting 3

Old Friends/The War Meeting

3

The same fire ever burned in the Throne Room. The brightness of the curtain of flames bounced off the golden, chiseled columns as well as the carved phoenix behind the throne itself. A sharp contrast between darkness and light allowed the silhouettes of each convoked member of the council to be perfectly recognizable while still being part of a uniformed whole, sitting around the large map they were always expected to flank in such meetings.

She hadn't set foot in this chamber for months. The last time she had done so, Azula had lost a battle she had been ill-prepared for, where Xin Long had landed in imprisonment. Her safety measures this time might not suffice to protect those she loved today, either… but even at the very last moment, before the curtains were pulled and she was ushered inside, she allowed herself the vain hope that those measures might prove unnecessary today…

Azula recognized the members of the council who had been summoned today: Colonel Shinu, Commander Gon, General Mak, Commander Gei, General Ling, Commander Tsong… War Minister Qin. All familiar faces… all highly-ranked officials, some usually stationed well beyond the Fire Nation mainland: curses, Ozai had even called in Colonel Shinu for today's meeting. It was certainly no last-minute, casually summoned meeting… it was an important one, and she had been invited to it on that very same day. No doubt Ozai didn't trust her at all… but he would have known that, with further warning, Azula might have gone to greater lengths to protect the people she had grown so close to as of late. Nothing her father did lacked an underlying purpose or motive… all of it obeyed whatever nefarious designs guided his impulses, at any given moment.

The eyes of all men sitting around the map drifted towards her little by little: the common reaction was utter surprise at the size of her pregnancy belly, of course. She hadn't crossed paths with any of these men for months, at least: even if she had seen War Minister Qin a few days ago, the man hadn't seen her. He, as well, gaped in astonishment at her womb, as though he couldn't believe the Fire Lord's announcement of her pregnancy hadn't turned out to be a hoax somehow.

No one told her to leave, however. None of the guards within the chamber reacted negatively to her presence. If her father meant to humiliate and ridicule her, it became apparent that he wouldn't go about it by giving his forces contradictory orders regarding whether she should be here or not. Azula didn't doubt that his intentions were bound to be much more sinister than that.

Her heart pounded fiercely, and she even felt a light motion within her womb: the baby was restless… or was Azula's own nervousness affecting the child? Perhaps it would be both things, in the end. Her eyes drifted past the group of highly-ranked soldiers sitting by the map – a group in which a few gaps revealed that not all expected members of the council had arrived yet – and then they rose to Ozai's right hand, the seat she was always granted…

A seat now occupied by Admiral Zhao.

It was no surprise, but it didn't hurt any less because of that.

The guards guiding her urged Azula to follow them: her seat would not be among the soldiers. No, they marched her towards the dais on which the throne stood… and Azula's heart clenched as she accepted her dreaded fate. The seat to Ozai's left… the seat typically taken by Iroh whenever he barged into these meetings unannounced: the seat of a traitor.

She knew better than to protest the situation: she didn't want to sit at the map with the others, anyway. She certainly had no intentions of arguing about deserving the right-hand seat more than Zhao did. However appalling as she found it to know now that Ozai would liken her to Iroh, that he had likely given orders for her to be treated as him… her stomach lurched, her heartburn seemed to worsen, but she marched forward regardless. Her feelings were the least of Ozai's concerns… if anything, hurting them would bring him no end of delight, for he was clearly on another of his destructive sprees at the moment, and Azula didn't even need to glance at him to confirm as much.

She climbed the steps to the dais carefully, even somewhat awkwardly. The guards accompanying her didn't help her: they only stood by in case she tripped, Azula figured, but they would do nothing to ensure that wouldn't happen. She clenched her jaw as she made her way up… until finally she reached her assigned seat. Her father's fire curtain had only dwindled on that side briefly, giving her passage across it, and Azula had the distinct feeling that the ones to muffle the flames had been the guards with her, not her father.

Even so, she didn't thank them. She didn't speak to her father at all, either: following suit with the protocol she had been familiar with since her teenage years, Azula performed a proper reverence for her father, if made awkward by her prominent womb. Ozai didn't respond to her gesture in any way, and Azula didn't expect otherwise.

Taking her seat without help was a greater challenge than expected: Azula lowered herself by taking most her weight upon her knees, a choice that saw her wincing in pain over the excess force exerted upon her hardly resistant legs. However much she had exercised through the past months, it wasn't enough to lessen the impact of pregnancy's weight gains upon her body. She succeeded at sitting with her legs crossed next, but she knew all too well that she would have to rise again and bow to her father once more, while reciting the Fire Nation Oath…

This protocol and procedures weren't reasonable demands to be made from a pregnant woman: Azula's chest ached with heartburn and resentment alike, guessing she'd be the very first pregnant woman to attend a Fire Lord's war meetings. If her father's mood had been any better, he would have surely pretended it was a great honor, that she should be grateful for his magnanimity… she tightened her hands over her lap before calming herself as best she could with a deep sigh.

She knew the likeliest reasons why she had been brought here today: Sokka was alive, and her father had learned of it. She had to act surprised, to give away no signs of being in league with him in any way. She'd have to trust that Sokka had already bested her father once before, that he could do so once again if given that chance… that he'd understand she had to say and do whatever it took in this war meeting not only to ensure her survival, but that of their child, as well. Them, her friends, her teenage daughter, even unexpected allies like Renkai… she had to do this for more than just herself. This meeting couldn't go as poorly as her last visit to this Throne Room had: she warned Xin Long mentally about what was going on, asking him to stay on his guard constantly, to threaten anyone who tried to enter his refuge, and to crouch as far away from the gleaming, cruel blade Ozai meant to drop on Xin Long's neck if Azula displeased him in any way…

She wasn't ready for whatever Ozai wanted from her, she knew that much, but she would face it and navigate these dangerous waters as safely as possible. That was all she could do for herself and those she loved, those she meant to protect, for the time being.

The last military officers Ozai had been awaiting arrived gradually after Azula took her seat. It offered her some time to rest before the Fire Lord's voice finally rose in the deathly silent Throne Room – never before had the atmosphere been as oppressive in a war meeting as it was today. Azula wondered how many of the present soldiers knew why her father had summoned them… she wondered if she was the only one entirely out of the loop, entirely out of place here. He had called her for a reason, though.

"War Minister Qin: begin this meeting at once."

The initial command was lined with urgency, impatience, anger. Azula winced – her father was in one of his most dangerous moods, which only worsened her anxiety and paranoia around him.

"Yes, my Lord," War Minister Qin rose to his feet… as did all the commanding officers.

Azula gritted her teeth as she shifted as best she could in her spot: she knew most eyes had drifted towards her anew, but she ignored them as she pushed herself to a standing position, regardless of her shaking knees. Others might have taken pity on her, they might have expected Ozai to tell her not to perform the oath herself, or not do it standing up… but not the men Ozai had summoned today, who were perpetually as fearful of angering the Fire Lord as she was. There was no compassion within him, especially as of late. Azula refused to give him more excuses to undermine and humiliate her than whatever he'd found already, whatever had compelled him to demand her presence here today…

And so, she spoke the Fire Nation Oath in unison with the rest of the military leaders of her father's regime. Her heart clenched as the words, long-memorized since her childhood, turned into hollow husks as she spoke them: never before had she voiced them with no true devotion, no actual conviction, not even a smidge of belief in that vow…

"My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lord Ozai and our forefathers before him. With my mind I seek ways to better my country, and with my feet may our March of Civilization continue."

The Fire Lord listened to the oath and held his silence, a stern frown upon his face. His heart still burned today… his fury remained far from sated, even after constant visits to the Agni Kai Arena to exteriorize his anger: he had barely slept. He had lost his temper enough times that Zhao seemed to be grandstanding again, behaving as the more level-headed of them both: Ozai had lashed out at everyone whose path had crossed with his ever since he had set that wretched letter on fire.

He hadn't even read all of it. At one point, it had become too much: he roared and scorched it at once before losing his temper further, and he wound up burning the contents of his study recklessly, too… losing important documents and information in the process, of course. War Minister Qin had fled, still intending to confirm through other means that the information the Fire Lord had received was true… and all information through the Communications Office had suggested as much. Commander Gon, in charge of that particular venture, had reached out to numerous outposts in Ba Sing Se and Omashu's vicinity… the troops Ozai had meant to send to Omashu had seen their operations frozen at once, for their strength might be better applied elsewhere.

In the end, it had taken ten days for Ozai to be level-headed once more. Ten days of unquenchable rage that only increased when he made the choice he knew was necessary: Azula would join them in the war meeting, and Ozai would unravel whatever webs of deceit she had been pulling over him this time…

For any signs of complicity, any hints that she might have already known about what would be discussed today, would mean that she had something to do with this. It would mean that she had communicated with that wretch somehow… and Ozai wouldn't stand for it. He would have her stand trial here, before everyone, no matter if she was carrying the rightful heir to the throne...

His glare followed her as she struggled to return to her seat. Her discomfort, the difficulty in each of her motions, failed to bother Ozai. He glared at her still, watching intently as the Princess returned to a proper position, the very last person in the room to do so. Only once she stopped moving did his golden glare return to where War Minister Qin still stood.

"Begin," Ozai said, harshly.

"Right away, my Lord," War Minister Qin said: his typically nervous demeanor seemed even worse than usual today. He cleared his throat, and his hands shook as he spread a scroll slowly, meaning to read from it rather than speaking spontaneously, an unusual choice on his part. "This war council meeting has been summoned urgently due to… to the latest happenings in the Fire Nation Colonies."

Azula frowned: while the topic certainly interested her, it wasn't something she instinctively could sense had any connection with her, at least, not right away. Either there was more to it than what met the eye… or perhaps Ozai's utterly incoherent changes of mood and temper could only be explained by a genuine loss of sanity.

"Initially, the reports reaching the Communications Office appeared to be nothing but rumors of merchants who were unable to enter the city of Omashu due to unnatural obstacles," War Minister Qin continued, breathing deeply. "The Fire Lord commanded a deeper investigation and reached out to Governor Ukano, who answered the Fire Lord's queries by alleging that corruption among the city guards was the source of the city's latest challenges. The Fire Lord was unconvinced by the explanation and tasked me with investigating the matter thoroughly.

"What I discovered hinted at a rebellion of some nature within Omashu, a rebellion against the Fire Nation and our Fire Lord. Reports arrived from trustworthy sources, far more reliable than Ukano himself, informing me of… of a most offensive slight against the Fire Lord in the form of the disappearance of his statue from the city of Omashu."

A rumor of noise, namely comprised by gasps and disbelieving remarks, filled the room briefly. Azula's brow drew together, her hands drawn into fists as the War Minister's words sank in awkwardly: she should rejoice in knowing Omashu, of all cities, was rebelling against her father… but it felt like she was swallowing a mouthful of ice, somehow. Had they lost control of Omashu? Was the presumed rebellion truly so effective as to take over the city…?

"By the Fire Lord's command, troops would advance on Omashu to right the wrongs wrought against his rule in this city," War Minister Qin said, breathing deeply before continuing with his recount. "But briefly before the final orders to charge against Omashu could be given, an alarming number of messenger hawks arrived with an onslaught of reports pertaining the city of Ba Sing Se."

And now Ba Sing Se? The unsettling sensation in Azula's gut worsened: she might be sick at this rate. What was going on? It seemed as though she should have guessed it already, as though her mind was mere moments away from understanding what the War Minister was trying to say… but she couldn't take the step forward. She couldn't face that reality, not just yet, not right now, not even when War Minister Qin breathed deeply before finally ending the preambles…

"It is… it is my most unwanted duty to report that the Fire Nation has lost its rule, control and command over the cities of Omashu and Ba Sing Se."

Voices rose now, calling his words folly. Along with them, some men remained astonished, frozen on their seats, shaking their heads, rejecting the possibility that the two cities their army had struggled to conquer the most had been turned against them in a matter of months, weeks for all they knew…

Ozai, however, glanced to his left. In any other circumstances, his immediate reaction would have been to silence the loudly debating council… but this time, his eyes, his attention, were exclusively set on her.

And he found her trembling, eyes wide, lips parted as she stared at War Minister Qin in just as much chagrin as everyone else in the room.

Was she faking this reaction? Was she genuinely startled to hear it? Where his daughter's emotions had usually been so contained and restrained in the past, they were utterly undisguised this time… and if they weren't an act, it meant she was as far out of the loop as the rest of Ozai's men were. If it was a pretense, though, the next information War Minister Qin would share should be the decisive factor in proving Azula's innocence or guilt…

"Reports from Omashu are confusing…" War Minister Qin attempted to continue, though the voices didn't quiet down right away. "The city appears to have been submerged in a communications void, as all our Communications Offices established within Omashu have presumably fallen in the hands of the enemy. Governor Ukano is a presumed hostage to the current occupying force of Omashu. It is unknown whether he cooperated with the enemy or not due to the difficulty in obtaining any information from this city. Ba Sing Se, however…"

"No one could have taken Ba Sing Se in a matter of months!" exclaimed Commander Tsong, slamming a fist over his knee. "My ships sailed near the city not that long ago and reported no glimpses of hostilities against it!"

"Our communication systems could have been compromised and delivering false information, yes, we suspected as much…" War Minister Qin confessed. "Our initial working theory was that perhaps a hostile force hadn't taken the cities but the communications systems, and they were sending messages without true basis because of it, but… a message sent to Governor Tiang has, regrettably, dispelled such theories."

"Is Governor Tiang dead?" General Mak began, eyes wide in fear.

Azula covered her mouth with a hand: not Tiang. Not the sole respectable man under Ozai's command… if what War Minister Qin was implying was true, was the General dead? Had the city crumbled without his leadership and fallen into a hostile army's control? How had that letter dispelled suspicions of foul play in the communications system to begin with? Had someone else answered for Tiang, or had Tiang confessed the truth, if he hadn't been killed, or…?

"According to the… to the leader of this hostile force, it seems Governor Tiang is their prisoner as well as Ukano," War Minister Qin said: this time, the gasp that shook the council was followed by somber silence. "Messages by… by other sources within Ba Sing Se, by those who escaped from the city before its takeover, have reported that the General appears to have surrendered once the Imperial Palace walls were breached."

"He held out until the last moment, then…?" General Mak said, only for Commander Tsong to scoff.

"He surrendered? He should have fought with his life!" he exclaimed. "I expected better from the conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Is it any wonder the city is no longer in our command if its grandiose leader can't be expected to fight for it to the end?"

"Commander Tsong," Ozai's voice rose: the humorlessness in it froze Tsong where he sat. "The War Minister has yet to finish offering us his report. Keep your thoughts to yourself until he does."

"Yes, my Lord…" Tsong bowed his head in a remorseful curtsy. War Minister Qin shivered as his eyes met Ozai's: the Fire Lord wanted him to keep going, of course. War Minister Qin knew he didn't want to be a witness of whatever was bound to happen once he conveyed the rest of the information they had gathered, but it was what the Fire Lord willed…

"The… the army that attacked Ba Sing Se arrived inexplicably. There was but one vague report of… of tracks across an area of a forest, but the party responsible for those tracks was never found. It is unknown how they mobilized their troops with such subtlety, but they reached the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se exactly one month ago… and within a single day, the city fell to their relentless attack. Their reported numbers were around five thousand, but their conquest of Ba Sing Se may result in the bolstering of their troops. Their carnage across the streets of the city left numerous casualties: Fire Nation soldiers and civilians paid the price of blood this rebel army wrought upon the city. We cannot presume to know the exact death toll… but it's expected to be considerable in both Omashu and Ba Sing Se."

"Are both cities under the control of the same faction now?" Colonel Shinu asked, frowning. War Minister Qin nodded.

"It appears that these attacks were orchestrated strategically in order to complicate the Fire Nation's response to the assaults on both cities," War Minister Qin explained. "The attacks were not simultaneous, however: reports of trouble in Omashu date back to the tenth month, therefore, it might have even happened in the ninth month…"

"And in all this time, we had no notion of what was happening?" General Mak said, covering his mouth with a hand.

"We had certain notions… only, we did not understand the gravity of the situation until the reports from Ba Sing Se arrived," War Minister Qin said, breathing deeply. "While the events themselves are deeply alarming… the force behind it is, perhaps, more worrisome still."

"The White Lotus?" Commander Tsong guessed, scowling. War Minister Qin grinded his teeth.

"I… I'm afraid so," he admitted.

Ozai frowned: he hadn't missed the sudden surge of outrage and anger in his daughter's features upon hearing those words. Suddenly, the meek, mellow and submissive woman he had grown used to over the past months showed signs of still having some spirit… some Fire Nation pride, as well as bearing genuine hatred for the enemies she had suffered numerous grievances over. The enemies who had almost driven a wrench between her and Ozai long ago… surely she'd regret ever attempting to stop Seethus's mission now, wouldn't she?

"And I'm afraid matters have become more complicated still," War Minister Qin said, swallowing hard. "It was known that the former Admiral Jeong Jeong, notorious deserter of the Fire Nation navy, was a leader to the White Lotus forces. However… reports indicate two other high-profile Fire Nation deserters stand with him at the leadership of this organization: former Captain Piandao… as well as a traitor to the Fire Nation's Royal Family: General Iroh, the Dragon of the West."

For a moment, Ozai thought Azula would actually speak out loud now. The way she winced upon hearing Iroh's name surprised him pleasantly… the killer hatred in her eyes suited her far better than he had ever truly realized it did. However foolish she had been, then… she couldn't have been part of this. She couldn't have involved herself in any schemes that would benefit Iroh. However twisted as her mind might be, even she wouldn't be so foolish as to make a mistake of that magnitude…

And he wasn't wrong to think so: a surging rage Azula hadn't expected to feel rushed within her body now, accompanying the heartburn with a vengeance that almost compelled her to roar with anger…

After so many years of doubting, of wondering, of not having enough evidence, she felt vindicated and outraged, all at once, upon confirming Iroh had been the White Lotus spy in the Fire Lord's closest circles all along.

And as easily as that, Iroh had finally showed his true colors. The treacherous bastard had simply been biding his time to take over the nation with his White Lotus allies… he had been behind every damn thing related to that organization to have happened in the Fire Nation Capital during the last years, and who knew if he had a hand in the Order's operations beyond this city, too. The prison's escape, the homeless people… who knew if he had even been the leader of the secret agents that Seethus had hunted down?

And of course… he had destroyed her. He had set her on this crash course on purpose, fully aware of what it would mean: now she had nothing… while he had a massive army with which he'd immolate the entire world if he cared to, for an army capable of conquering Ba Sing Se so quickly could likely raze any other Fire Nation bastions to the ground in one fell sweep.

To hell with him… to hell with all of them, no matter what Piandao had done for her and Sokka. Jeong Jeong… she had never forgiven him for the horror of that night, of watching the man she loved bleeding to his death. Now the bastard emerged anew with every intention of destroying the Fire Nation Colonies, no doubt as careless about preserving the lives of innocents as he was about preserving those of his allies, back when he had first hounded Sokka…

It wasn't so hard to figure out why Ozai wanted her here now: even if she couldn't quite imagine he'd want her advice, perhaps her father's distrust of her was so strong that he needed to verify she would stand with the Fire Nation against this attack by the White Lotus. There was no question to be asked, though: she wouldn't abandon her people, those who had relocated to the Earth Kingdom, those who had willingly joined their country… even those who had been assimilated forcefully. As long as her father allowed her to have a say upon the matter, she'd ensure none of them would fall in the hands of monsters like Iroh or Jeong Jeong. She would never…

"However… the true leader of this army appears to be none of the aforementioned deserters."

Her thoughts slowed upon hearing those words. Her heartbeat slowed, too… then it sped up, alarmingly so. They were the White Lotus's leaders… who else could it be? King Kuei? She had met the man, and he didn't have the backbone to orchestrate even a successful escape from his own Palace. He couldn't possibly have achieved something more significant than that, let alone the takeover of the two main cities of the Earth Kingdom…

"There have been… troubling reports about a number of matters over the past months," War Minister Qin said, swallowing hard anew. "Even before the first reports of something stirring in Omashu, the Sages in Crescent Island sent word of a rare happening in their temple: the eyes of Avatar Roku's statue lit up on the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month…"

"What?!" Tsong exclaimed, though this time his voice wasn't the only one that rose.

Outrage, dismissiveness, disbelief permeated the room to the point where Ozai's patience wore thin alarmingly quickly: he raised his voice, a snarl across his face.

"SILENCE!"

That the Fire Lord wouldn't dismiss the implications of the Avatar's statue's reaction, that he had authorized War Minister Qin to speak of such a thing… that alone gave away that it couldn't be a simple tall tale. Yet… Azula's stomach, already twisting and turning, seemed moments away from upending itself for the first time in months. She gazed at her father in disbelief, expecting him or War Minister Qin to say anything other than what she already suspected they would say…

"It is known… that the statues react when an Avatar triggers them," War Minister Qin spoke awkwardly. "It seemed a fluke… an unlikely happening, and indeed, it never happened again. It was possible, then, that something of this nature might have been a mistake by the Fire Sages… but reports from Ba Sing Se informed us that a large flying creature, potentially a sky bison, aided the enemy in combat."

"A sky…?" Commander Tsong covered his mouth now, shaking his head in disbelief.

"That bison's rider joined the combat eventually, in the Lower Ring," War Minister Qin continued. "Reports from a period of brief halt in hostilities indicate that… that the rider in question bears blue, arrow-shaped tattoos across his body, and attire matching records of what Air Nomads wore. During a direct confrontation with General Tiang… the man wielded all four elements against the Fire Nation's forces."

"No! That… that can't be possible. That can't be possible…!" General Ling exclaimed: never had this room been shaken as profoundly by fear as it was right now. Ozai's heavy scowl didn't suffice to daunt his council into silence anymore.

"The Avatar was never found anew!" Commander Tsong exclaimed. "The White Lotus couldn't have been concealing him for as long as this, surely they would have revealed him sooner…!"

"I cannot presume to know whatever those mongrels would have chosen to do with whatever resources they have at their disposal, Commander Tsong, and neither can you," Ozai hissed. The nervous commander bowed his head in submission, but his disbelief wasn't quelled by Ozai's words anyway. "The Avatar, it appears, has returned from the dead, or from wherever the blazes he was. But that isn't everything, is it, War Minister Qin?"

The spite, the vicious vitriol in his voice, chilled the blood in Azula's body: the Avatar's return was incomprehensible for her, she refused to believe it was actually happening, not when multiple generations of her family had failed to find him so far. But her father's words stopped her from reasoning with it any further. Something about that tone was unbearably familiar… painfully familiar.

"The Avatar… is reported to be part of this group. But, yet again… he is not the true leader of this coalition," War Minister Qin said.

That the hostile army might be led by a more dangerous foe than the returned Avatar confused most members of the council. That someone could outrank the Avatar in an organization was utterly perplexing, too: all three deserters, as well, boasted of important titles, renown, even royal blood in Iroh's case. No immediate thoughts came to mind pertaining who, exactly, could have proven themselves a better leader than any of the people War Minister Qin had spoken of so far.

But a latent fear in Azula's chest seemed to grow larger and larger: her knuckles had turned white over her lap as she clenched a fist tightly enough to draw blood from her palm. She refused to let the idea materialize in her mind, she couldn't so much as conceive that possibility, because if she did…

Her father thought Sokka was dead.

She had wondered endlessly how on earth could he have learned otherwise.

This couldn't be it. It couldn't be. He couldn't have done something as reckless, as dangerous, as complicating, as damning for her as…

"The man at the head of the hostile army was reported to be a warrior wielding a black blade."

A flinch.

A poorly repressed wince.

A hand rushing to her mouth as she bent forward unintentionally, as though she had just been shoved by an invisible force.

A light shake of her head.

It couldn't be…

No, it couldn't be. Someone else had… it had to be someone else, pretending to be…

"He defied the forces by the Outer Wall… and he identified himself as the Blue Wolf."

Her presence in the war meeting only made sense to the rest of the council then. Ozai and Zhao didn't react in any visible way to the latest revelations by War Minister Qin beyond frowning heavily… but the third person on that dais seemed moments away from a panic attack.

It had to be a mistake.

He wouldn't be so reckless… he wouldn't be so foolish.

He was home, she had taken him home with his father, his sister, his grandmother…

He couldn't have left them again. He wanted to return to them, they were his family, he was safe there, he was keeping them safe, too…!

He couldn't have joined the White Lotus. He couldn't have joined forces with Iroh… not with Iroh. Not after everything the bastard had done…

He had joined the White Lotus. They had talked about it… but not like this. Not… Jeong Jeong? The bastard who had nearly killed him? How could he possibly…?

He wouldn't be so mad as to declare war on the Fire Nation.

He had survived the Fire Lord's attack and deceived him into believing he was dead… he had survived impossible odds a thousand times over. And he'd done it again now… and taken advantage of this opportunity to strike back at the man who had meant to stop at nothing to destroy him. It was so like him, of course it was…

It was so like him to make the worst of decisions, the most rebellious choices, those would throw her life into utter chaos. She wanted anything but this. Anything but this, she couldn't field a problem like this one right now, while she sat in the middle of Ozai's war meeting, his cruel, oppressive presence beside her making it clear that she wouldn't leave this war meeting safe and sound after all.

He was going to punish her for this, to blame her in some capacity: he had brought her here today to hold her responsible for Sokka's choices.

"Past reports had indicated that the Blue Wolf had perished in battle," War Minister Qin said, surprising members of the council who hadn't known anything regarding the Gladiator's fate, to begin with – his words hardly registered in Azula's turbulent mind, however, for her thoughts rushed so quickly, her emotions threatening to boil over… "Suspicions that our communications system was compromised arose over the conflict in Omashu… but it seems that the sole false information we were given was that which confirmed his death. The urgent missive sent to Governor Tiang… was answered personally by the Blue Wolf himself."

Azula could barely stifle a whimper now as her entire body seemed to run cold, as her inner fire was as good as extinguished out of the unfathomable horror and fear that rushed through her now: of all the words the War Minister had just spoken, the main ones she heard were the last ones. Sokka… he had answered her father's letter directly? He had…? No. No, she could accept anything but this, anything but the likelihood that the man she loved with every ounce of her battered heart would recklessly immolate himself in a pointless attempt to destroy her father and avenge their love…

Was he utterly mad? How many deaths was he responsible for already? He had never wanted to kill again. He hated everything about the war, he had wanted it to end, he believed the path of the Fire Nation, the carnage they had sown throughout all these years, had been the wrong choice…

Perhaps he still wanted to end the war: only, he had chosen to do so by fighting alongside people Azula would never regard as anything but her enemies.

"Deception… and dishonesty," Ozai spoke: his words caused Azula's collapsing heart to shrivel even further. "Utterly unsurprising, coming from vile vermin such as he, isn't it, Azula?"

There it was. He hadn't brought her here only to reveal that her efforts to save Sokka's life would be in vain, since Ozai was guaranteed to expand and strengthen all his attempts to kill him… no, he meant to ridicule her, too. To humiliate her before his entire council… to break her again, for the thousandth time if he could do so.

"Though I must commend him… for not only is he an accomplished liar, surely a spy for the White Lotus from the very beginning, too, but he succeeded at hiding his association with that foul group from you, Princess Azula, all along?" Ozai asked, staring at his daughter insistently now: she didn't meet his gaze. "Or did you notice, perhaps, that he wasn't being fully truthful when he was allegedly dying by his allies' hands? How deeply deceived you were, wrought in a web of lies and pretenses where you fell for every tall tale without ever questioning your spineless Gladiator's true motives!"

Azula breathed out slowly: she knew those were lies. She knew Ozai understood nothing of what he spoke of…

And yet… the White Lotus?

He had joined the White Lotus…

No. It wasn't solely that he'd joined them:

Sokka was leading the White Lotus.

"Are you going to deceive yourself any further now, perhaps? To make embarrassing claims in front of my council that you could have never known, of course, for you were much too busy buying into his pretenses of feigned affection to see matters clearly?" Ozai exclaimed, almost theatrically.

At this point, everyone else in the room, perhaps excepting Zhao, felt utterly uncomfortable and out of place. Whether they had learned about the causes of Azula's fall from grace in the past or not, all rumors they had ever heard about her relationship with Sokka would have been clarified for them by now… even so, no one dared move a finger. No one said a single word. Many even averted their gazes from the Princess who appeared to have been profoundly betrayed by both her gladiator and her father in a single moment…

"Do you realize now, you fool girl, what kind of catastrophe you've unleashed upon us through that mongrel?!" Ozai roared. "How much does he know of the Fire Nation's forces?! Everything you ever told him, anything you shared with him carelessly, out of your mindless underestimations of what nefarious deeds he was capable of…! Now he's butchering our people in the Colonies, in some mad quest to avenge his injured pride, no doubt… or worse yet, in a celebration of triumph over having played you for the fool that you were for years, never imagining that he was simply setting every piece in place so that his nefarious plans, with his wretched group of craven traitors just like himself, could pay off exactly as he ever envisioned they would!"

No one else said a word still. The Princess breathed heavily, her face still hidden behind her hands as she struggled to still her raging, aching heart… as her father screamed with abandon at her. The certainty in his accusations suggested he had reason to believe the Gladiator had planned everything from the start…

But was that even possible? Could that man have been so insightful, so strategic as to puppeteer the Princess, well-known for being insightful and strategic herself, without her awareness?

"What, then, do you have to say for yourself?" Ozai hissed at Azula. "Your actions, your obsession with that wretch, have cost us the most crucial of Fire Nation colonies: your choice to give yourself, your nation's secrets, everything you dared to that man have come at a steeper cost than you imagined, haven't they? How, then, do you expect to make amends for the madness you have caused with your foolish choices? Without you… he would have amounted to nothing. He would have never risen out of the frozen wasteland that spat him out. This is… this is all on you, Princess Azula, and hiding behind your hands will not change that!"

She shuddered. She shivered. Whatever was crossing her mind, Ozai couldn't know… but his rage only seemed to build further once she lowered her hands indeed. Her hair fell in slight disarray upon her features now, but she endeavored to sit upright, as awkward as that appeared to be for her right now. Her eyes were closed… and they remained that way as she finally spoke for the first time in the war meeting.

"I… don't know how he accomplished what he has," Azula's voice trembled as she spoke, as did her hands, as did her whole body. Fear, rage, sadness, frustration… perhaps a combination of all such powerful emotions had caused her current bodily reaction. "But I… I knew him. I know him, I…"

"Ah, so you knew him, is it? You knew him well enough to be aware of his associations with the White Lotus, perchance?" Ozai exclaimed. "Is that yet another secret you refused to disclose? Were you protecting your pet, perhaps, or…?"

"I know him…" Azula repeated… raising her voice over Ozai's.

It was a dire mistake that caused everyone to glance at her in utmost astonishment: did she have a death wish? Her position was as precarious as it could be already… and she would take the risk of interrupting the Fire Lord as he spoke?

The man himself sat in utmost outrage, jaw dropping as he no doubt readied himself for a new tirade of how much of an embarrassment, an utter shame she was for her family and her nation… but Azula finished her sentence before he could do so.

"I know him…" she said, opening her eyes…

A fire burned in them.

A fire unlike any Ozai had seen in them in months.

"And that's why I know what his next moves will be."

Of all things she might have said, the Princess had miraculously chosen the only sentence that could give her father pause. Nothing else would have sufficed… no excuses, no claims to innocence, no indications that he surely couldn't have been part of the White Lotus before…

Instead, a rage not that different from Ozai's own burned in the eyes with which she glared at the map in the center of the room… specifically, at the depiction of the walls protecting Ba Sing Se.

She shuddered, a snarl crossing her face as her trembling hands balled into fists…

The White Lotus.

He had joined the bloody White Lotus, the very bastards who had caused them unbearable grief for years. Was he conquering cities in their name? He was leading their armies against the Fire Nation colonies, causing the deaths of countless soldiers and who knew how many civilians who would be caught in the crossfire. Innocent or guilty, trueborn Fire Nation or Honorary Citizens, even slaves… he couldn't have been so reckless as to do this. He couldn't have been so foolish…

"Explain yourself."

The surprisingly level-headed sentence broke Azula out of her rampaging thoughts once more. She glanced at her father from the corner of her eyes…

He was intrigued by what she'd said. At this point, Azula couldn't have cared less about whatever his reactions might be: he could have tossed her in a cooler in the Boiling Rock and she would have thanked him for it, for no amount of physical pain could possibly compare to the feeling of…

Of betrayal. She felt betrayed by the man she had clung to, the man who had supported her and helped her in thousands of ways ever since they had known each other. The man who had taught her what it truly meant to be a leader, who had persuaded her that her nation's violence and cruelty had to be stopped, who had inspired her to take a stand for the right causes and to oppose her father to protect her people…

And now he was fighting openly, violently against her nation in all-out war.

Perhaps War Minister Qin's words were inflated, she certainly would like to believe as much… but Sokka couldn't have pushed Tiang into surrendering if he hadn't posed a genuine threat to the man. He couldn't have become the leader of the White Lotus if he hadn't proven he could be the most ruthless of them all… Jeong Jeong, obeying Sokka? The notion almost made her scream in utter frustration, her mind refused to accept that at all. Iroh… how could Sokka even stomach being anywhere near that treacherous worm?

She gritted her teeth: her chaotic, conflicting emotions and feelings on the matter didn't change the reality of her circumstances. She hadn't been brought here to be part of this meeting as a proper member of this council… but what she'd said just now, on impulse, seemed to have changed her father's tune. Her mind, completely overwhelmed by the reality of Sokka's choices, suddenly refocused on her circumstances: she had no choice but to do whatever her father wanted her to do. If she ever hoped to save her child, Rei, Xin Long, Song, Mai, Ty Lee…

What she had just said had put a stop to her father's attempts to humiliate and punish her.

The Fire Lord was listening.

Him and his entire council were listening, for once.

For the first time in months, she had reclaimed if just a smidge of the power that had been stripped away from her.

"He… he timed this perfectly," Azula said, breathing deeply as she glared at the map still. "Omashu's communications are more limited, he must have struck there first because it would be easier to control. The city is smaller, too, and far more isolated. He's bold enough to… to even answer letters addressed to General Tiang because he's taunting the Fire Nation army. He wants… he wants to bait us into suicidal charges, with soldiers rushing the walls of Ba Sing Se, the chasm of Omashu… he'll likely have earthbenders at his command if he's with the White Lotus, and if he organizes their attacks properly, he could cause a debacle resulting in thousands of dead soldiers on our side, along with the ones he has already killed. Our army cannot afford losses of that magnitude."

"You believe he's expecting us to charge recklessly? He is counting on us to make mistakes to take back the colonies in full?" Ozai asked. "What, then, would you have us do? Abandon the two most prized cities of the Fire Nation Colonies for good?"

"That's not what I meant to say," Azula said, curtly: her gaze shifted to another area of the map. "Commit the bulk of our armed forces to the North Pole."

Azula's words stunned everyone in the room into utter silence.

The first man to speak wasn't even the Fire Lord.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zhao hissed, glaring at her past Ozai's figure. "The North Pole is…"

"Is the sole bastion left that still stands against the Fire Nation besides the damnable White Lotus," Azula snapped. Zhao frowned. "Before you ask, he knows next to nothing about the battles, the tactics, the warfare happening up north because I, as well, knew next to nothing about it. He couldn't have pried any such information off me if he tried. If there aren't many waterbenders left in the Northern Water Tribe after all those years of fighting, he wouldn't know as much: he's certain to take his armies, or at least a portion of them, to offer support to the Northern Water Tribe, and he will mean to help them defeat the navy we've sent to the north. If he succeeds… then he will not only have the two victories in Omashu and Ba Sing Se to his name, but also one in the Northern Water Tribe. He will have recruited further forces in both cities he's taken… he'll intend to recruit as many waterbenders, warriors and naval forces from the North Pole as he possibly can before returning south, to our waters, and he would strike against the heart of the Fire Nation soon afterwards: if we don't stop his progress, that is the catastrophe we'll face next. Losing the battle in the north now might just be the final push so he can turn a hundred years of war against the Fire Nation. Secure a victory in the north… and after that's done, focus on retaking Ba Sing Se and Omashu. It wouldn't be convenient to do both simultaneously… but retaking either city would be far more feasible if we cut off his only potential source of allies outside that continent. We have… we have armored airships now, we didn't back during Tiang's conquest. I won't presume to say that it would be easy to strike at Ba Sing Se through airships… but it would be doable."

She breathed deeply once she was done, her chest heaving, aching, constraining her with emotions she couldn't quite untangle yet. But now that she had spoken her mind, some of the blinding fog upon her mind seemed to fade away. She realized where she sat, who sat with her, what she had just done…

Her body trembled now. She had spoken without restraint, without holding anything back, furious with him, fearful for her loved ones, knowing Ozai would punish her endlessly unless she proved herself useful somehow. Her mind was in shambles, with far too many trains of thought rushing back and forth…

But suddenly, reality seemed to take shape before her once more as her eyes returned to the map. A map that had depicted all four nations once… where the sole color left that rivaled the red anymore was the Water Tribe's blue.

The North Pole's blue.

Her eyes widened as her previous words played back in her mind once more. She had saved her life, the lives of her loved ones too, by speaking as she had…

And she had condemned an entire civilization in the process, just as well.

Her heart clenched. After feeling so betrayed, so outraged by his choices, now she was the betrayer. If Sokka was truly charging into the warpath she interpreted he was on, he might succeed at defeating the Fire Nation's navy, as he had beaten the rest of their armies so far. Otherwise…

She gritted her teeth: she was trapped in the worst of places, made all the worse now by her reckless lover's choices. Whatever Ozai said, whatever lies he was basking in to further his anger, Azula knew better: Sokka hadn't been a member of the White Lotus… he hadn't been part of them before, not for as long as he had been by her side. Yet he might have been as foolish as to join them now, if he somehow believed that they could help him keep his people safe. If he somehow believed that they would help him reach Azula again… as if Jeong Jeong and the likes of him would allow it. As if they gave a damn about what Sokka was fighting for…

Even if he was doing this for the right reasons, even if he wasn't murdering thousands in cold blood, his allies and his forces were a different matter. Jeong Jeong and Iroh were shameless, treacherous vipers who surely expected him to do the dirty work and then meant to stab him in the back once they no longer needed him… he had to know that. He had to be aware of something as obvious as that, especially after both bastards had almost killed him on different occasions. They wouldn't care for his cause… they wouldn't listen even if he explained that the reasons why he fought, that his convictions, were different from theirs…

But were they, still?

Had Sokka's time in the Water Tribe changed him?

Had his distance from Azula changed his heart once more…?

Was she blindly assuming that he would still be the man she had last seen, only for him to have become someone she'd barely even recognize anymore?

Her mind couldn't stop running in circles as everything she had assumed about the world, everything she thought she understood about the man she loved, became questionable, mutable, impossible to interpret correctly. She felt like slamming her head against a wall to knock herself unconscious, anything to get out of this place… to pretend none of this was real. Curses, she couldn't take this. After months of struggling to find stability and peace suddenly, in a single moment, every instant of calm carelessness, every apparent connection to Sokka, every bridge between their souls… all of it seemed to have fallen to shambles, reduced to meaninglessness in the face of everything she had learned now.

She was stuck with doing anything in her power to survive, to ensure that those she cared for survived… much as Sokka had done the same thing in the Amateur League. His choice to live on, to not let himself die, had condemned all those who had fought against him, and he had hated himself for that every day of his life. This room was no Gladiator Arena… but Azula found herself making similar choices to the ones of a helpless gladiator who had known nothing but the urgency to survive for one more day. She shivered as she wondered if Sokka would win… if, even after what she'd said, him and his forces would be able to defeat her father's…

The Avatar.

How the blazes had Sokka found the Avatar?

Nothing made sense. He had told her, on their first spiritual encounter, that she wouldn't believe the mad things he had been through… he hadn't been wrong to say as much, for she would have never believed the Avatar was still alive if he'd simply told her so. How? Was he part of the White Lotus too? It made no sense, it seemed as though nothing did…

"That is… that is but a choice you can make, my Lord," Zhao's voice rose past Azula's rampaging mind: she had missed out on whatever the council had spoken of just now, focusing on their words again almost proved too difficult anymore. "But I guarantee that the battle in the North is nowhere close to won as it is now. Committing all our forces to a single war front is as good as suicide if Azula happens to be right and wrong at the same time: what if this Avatar makes an appearance in the North Pole and destroys our entire fleet? How powerful do we know he is?"

"If he could destroy our fleet with a flick of his wrist, as you seem to believe he can, it means he will do so whenever he shows up in the Northern Water Tribe," Ozai rebuffed. "If we strike before he arrives, however… no amount of Avatar powers will be able to help those savages."

"But…" Zhao frowned, only for Commander Tsong to sneer at him.

"You're not trying to say you spent all those years trying to destroy the Northern Water Tribe only to claim it's not possible now," Tsong remarked. "Or is it vanity that concerns you? Are you upset that Bujing might be the one who will take the victory, or…?"

"It won't be," Ozai said, sharply. "General Bujing, as we all know, was sent to the North Pole solely to serve as a substitute for Admiral Zhao while he was absent. The urgency of the situation calls for Crown Prince Zhao's leadership and strategies…"

"I cannot put those into effect merely because you ask it of me, my Lord," Zhao said, growing more impatient as he spoke. "The weakness I may be able to strike at in the Water Tribe is not as easily accessed as you might expect. We would need more than just my leadership: we would need considerable resources, perhaps even those bombs you promised you'd see to developing eventually, my Lord… any less than that and our efforts to best the enemy will be as fruitless now as they were in the past."

"Bombs?" Ozai repeated… and a dangerous smile spread over his face. "Azula."

She gritted her teeth, glancing at her father, hoping the depths of her turmoil would not be obvious… that Ozai would not take advantage of it to humiliate her once more. She wasn't sure she'd be able to take it anymore, not when her heart seemed ready to fail her and leave her for dead at any moment now: she wanted to run out of the Throne Room. She wanted to be anywhere but here, in this reality, anywhere but in a world where Sokka was guiding forces to battle against her nation…

"That explosion… in the Grand Royal Dome," he said. Azula winced. "You shouted at that mongrel not to do whatever he did, so… you knew what kind of weapons he was about to use, did you not?"

"I… I recognized them from afar. I knew how unsafe they would be, yes. I did not realize he'd carried them with him into battle all along, but…" Azula said, shivering.

"Where did those blasted incendiary bombs come from, then?" Ozai asked, leveling her with a stern glare that wouldn't allow for any lies… a glare that spoke of steep consequences if she failed to answer him properly.

Her heart clenched again, a million times over, upon knowing she'd continue to condemn countless others to ensure her survival. She shouldn't do it. She shouldn't say anything. She should pretend Sokka had done it in secret, that he had never told how he'd made those weapons, but Ozai would never believe her if she said so. But if she told him the truth… how could she possibly live with herself for a day longer, if she told him the truth?

A light shift within her body: the baby moved.

She tightened her fists over her lap.

"The… the Mechanist finished his prototype bombs in secret. He gave… he gave those bombs to him in the Northern Air Temple, earlier this year," Azula said, her voice trembling as she forced herself to continue. "We were there to develop another… another kind of weapon. One that could chi-block through a substance… the pollen of a sunflower rosette shrub. I only learned of the Mechanist's furtive deals with… I only learned of the bombs after we left."

"So that nervous, fragile bastard was double-crossing us all along?" Ozai asked. Azula gritted her teeth. "Providing weapons furtively to the Gladiator, no less? Has he, as well, pledged himself to this damnable army, War Minister Qin?"

"I have not received any word of it… but I will confirm his allegiance remains ours as soon as possible, if you so wish, my Lord," War Minister Qin answered quickly.

"I believe he… he used all the bombs the Mechanist gave him in the battle against Combustion Man. An explosion of that magnitude couldn't have been achieved with less than that, so he should have none left…" Azula said: her throat seemed to close in. How could she minimize the damage? How could she keep her father from unleashing his mad destruction upon more people… when she had only just pointed him in their direction?

He could have his assassin attacking her friends, her daughter, who knew if even killing her dragon, if she had proved useless. The only way to stay safe would be to serve a purpose, she knew so, this was the only way to do so, and yet…

"But… if the Mechanist created some, he may create more of them. Perhaps he could even develop other weapons with that concentrated gas. Perhaps weapons that could be fitted on the armored airships," General Mak intervened, frowning. "One of the main reasons why we haven't seen the airship fleet taking an active role in the war so far is because the vehicles aren't easily defensible. Preparing a proper line of defense, be it with cannons that fire incendiary projectiles…"

"We could rain fire upon the Northern Water Tribe from our airships this way," Ozai reasoned.

Azula shuddered. She was going to be sick. She truly was going to be sick…

How could she ever justify what she was doing, all of what she had done so far? Survival? How the hell was her pathetic existence worth the countless ones that would be sacrificed because of what she'd done? Had her father's rage against her been quelled…? No, it had merely dimmed, but it wasn't truly gone. She had responded to his attacks in an unforeseen way… a way that was advantageous to him. She hadn't simply lost herself to emotion the way he had, at first… and she had succeeded at steering the conversation away from her failings as an heir to the Throne, as his Crown Princess…

And now she faced her failings as a human being instead.

Her heart ached so badly it was as though it might crumble into dust. All her latest choices had been for survival's sake… but they were no less unforgivable because of that.

She had condemned herself today.

She hadn't fought her father… she hadn't resisted against his punishing ways, much as she hadn't ever since Xin Long had become Ozai's prisoner.

She had sworn to Sokka that she'd fight… instead, she'd given up at once, betrayed him in countless ways, just to avoid being hurt once more.

She was weak… she was trapped. If she was the reason, the cause behind the mad campaign Sokka waged against the Fire Lord, then he would simply subject himself to no end of disappointment once he understood what she'd done. Once he knew she had doomed the world he was trying to save…

But would he save anyone at all by working alongside the White Lotus?

"We have never assaulted the north with forces of that magnitude, or that nature," Ozai remarked, frowning heavily. "It may very well be the decisive factor of our victory, as long as we make our moves properly."

"Preparing this assault will take time that we do not have at our disposal if you intend to finish off the Northern Water Tribe quickly," Zhao remarked. "If he remains our ally, the Mechanist will still need to either build new airships from scratch, which he lacks the resources to, as far as I understand… or we would have to rush the construction of the new factories meant to replace the unusable one."

"The existing airships can be modified to suit our purposes," Ozai said, simply. "The Mechanist will have to see to that. Once sufficient airships have been equipped with the new weapons he will provide for us, we will launch a final advance on the Northern Water Tribe. War Minister Qin, send word to the Northern Air Temple and travel there at once with the Air Force: whether he has any intentions of joining the Gladiator's cause or not, we will put a stop to him before he so much as learns of what has transpired in Ba Sing Se. He will provide the weapons we require from him: impress upon that man that failure to comply will be punished severely."

Azula had no recollection of ever hearing her father say such words about the Mechanist… he had likely uttered them countless times when she hadn't been there to hear them.

The Mechanist… that nervous but well-meaning man who had learned her secret and kept it quiet, if only briefly. His son, a good-natured young man who had faced numerous tragedies in his life but had kept his spirits high regardless. The refugees living with them, hoping to survive away from the Fire Nation, laughing and dancing around fireplaces in the dark nights of the Northern Air Temple…

She was condemning them, too.

The gravity of her choices threatened to destroy her. She should have never done this, she should have never had to do this…

If Sokka had simply stayed in the South Pole, none of this would be happening now.

He had been safe, at home. He had his family with him, a family Azula truly hoped would accept him… was that the problem? Had they rejected him? Had his relationship with her damned him, and he had nowhere to belong anymore? Azula could do nothing besides flinging utterly random guesses at everything she didn't understand about Sokka's latest choices…

He had survived. He had deceived the Fire Lord with claims of his death, nearly caused Azula to discard her own life upon believing he was dead… and he had survived. He had the perfect chance to live out his life peacefully, quietly elsewhere, if not with his Tribe, if they had actually rejected him…

But he had chosen this path instead.

How could he rush into this madness without thinking of what it would mean for everyone he had left behind in the Fire Nation? Had he even given them any thought at all? Or… was she simply not one of his priorities anymore, not when it came to the war? Had he done this for the betterment of the world at large? Perhaps he had… and she couldn't even blame him if that was the case. She couldn't even say for sure that he had made the wrong choice… though knowing that he was allied with Iroh certainly pushed her into believing as much.

Nothing made sense. She wanted to believe it wasn't him, that he wouldn't have done something so dangerous, so damning, so mortifying… and yet the feats this conqueror had achieved would only be likely coming from someone like Sokka. Taking both Omashu and Ba Sing Se in a matter of months… not even renowned leaders in Earth Kingdom history had accomplished something as extraordinary as this. Yet, upon hearing he was the man behind it… if it was him, it hardly sounded impossible. If anything, Azula feared that no one but him would have been able to deal such a devastating blow against the Fire Nation…

"Reports of the battle of Ba Sing Se are difficult to unravel, but it seems another… another royal traitor was sighted among the enemy forces," War Minister Qin chimed in. "The banished Prince Zuko, or a man bearing a scar like his, was sighted in the battlefield…"

"Entirely unsurprising," Ozai hissed: he had known of this as well already, and word of his son's open betrayal of his people didn't affect him as badly as knowing his mortal enemy was leading that army…

But Azula's heart clenched upon hearing this next revelation, too: Zuko had joined him? Was it possible that Sokka hadn't been rejected at all, but that the battle in the South had been so harsh, so terrible, that even Zuko had taken the mad risk of abandoning his family to fight in this war? Was his family even alive, still...? That thought hadn't occurred to her thus far… but could they have taken off on this campaign to avenge whatever horrors Ozai's forces had inflicted upon the South Pole?

"Commander Gon: spread wanted posters for the Gladiator and the Avatar across all Fire Nation-held lands," Ozai hissed, glancing at the man in question. "As well as posters of my treacherous brother and Zuko… I suppose luck has finally shined upon Iroh. His prized toy is finally in his reach to mold and twist into whatever he wills it, if there's anything in that fool he can make use of to begin with. But I would sooner raze this entire world to the ground than allow either of those pathetic cowards to ever bear this crown, let alone sit on this Throne."

"I… I will see to it. They will be marked as urgent criminals that must be captured or killed on sight," Gon bowed his head promptly. "I will expand the campaign to capture the Deserter as well… and I will add former Captain Piandao to the list of wanted criminals, too. Is there any other high-profile traitor that must be hunted down, War Minister Qin?"

"I can't say for sure. There may be others of renown who weren't identified in the bustle of the battle, but the enemy army packs dangers we can scarcely imagine. Their earthbenders could tear down the walls of Ba Sing Se with next to no effort…"

"Another reason to take the battle to the North Pole at once," Ozai remarked, frowning. "If their main source of strength is earthbenders…"

"Those earthbenders are certain to stay in the Colonies instead of traveling to the north for that very reason," Zhao pointed out.

"We can bolster the defenses of the western Colonies," Colonel Shinu said, firmly. "By holding Ba Sing Se and Omashu, I fear their position is strong in the majority of the continent, but Pohuai Stronghold still stands as the main point of entry for both Omashu and Ba Sing Se into the western lands of the Colonies. If their earthbending forces do not travel to the North, and instead stay behind to attack and seize more important settlements in the continent, my forces will hold them off."

"I will see to the bolstering of your numbers in whatever capacity is possible, Colonel Shinu," Ozai said, frowning heavily. "We will focus our naval forces in the North Pole… we can certainly see to transporting and gathering many of our ground forces to Pohuai Stronghold, too. Your position is key: we cannot allow their forces to reach the city of Yu Dao, let alone Garsai, or else… or else the entire continent will be lost to us."

"The very weakness of the Earth Kingdom army was their lack of organization, the poor central leadership that never orchestrated defenses properly," General Ling remarked. "The current leadership of this army presumably understood as much, and their relentless progress may have been so successful because they are remediating the mistakes of the past…"

"But if they split their forces, as they may have to in order to attack in both the North Pole and the Colonies, at the very least their greater leader won't be able to be in two places at once," General Mak said.

"They cannot leave Omashu or Ba Sing Se unguarded, either," Ling nodded.

"However dangerous as they may be, if they lose the next fights, we will be able to turn around this upset once more," Colonel Shinu breathed deeply, glancing over at the Fire Lord… at the Princess, too. "As long as you're sure, of course, that this is the course of action that we must follow, my Lord. If you would rather commit everything to…"

"I would rather not. The north is a hazard but devoting ourselves exclusively to defeating them would be folly," Ozai said. "We will commit the bolstered navy and the Air Force there. At best, perhaps you can afford to send some squadrons of Yu-Yan archers to support the push in the north. Once the Water Tribe is conquered, those same forces can move on to attack whatever armies they send against Pohuai Stronghold, if that happens to be their next move."

"The Yu-Yan archers…?" asked Shinu, frowning.

"They would be a considerable asset if they attack from the air," Ozai reasoned. "Their arrows do not miss their mark. They will expect fire to rain upon them: they won't expect arrows. You needn't send all of them, and those you send shall return to service in Pohuai Stronghold shortly after the battle is won, as well."

"I… I see. Yes, I understand. Then, I shall briefly exchange a group of Yu-Yan archers for more ground forces," Shinu said, nodding. "If their goal, as the Princess says, is reaching the Fire Nation mainland, they would likely intend to go through us, first."

"Would that really be necessary?" Tsong said, glancing at the map. "There are other shores from where they could launch a large-scale water-based attack…"

"Would they even have ships?" asked Shinu. Tsong frowned. "I can't presume to be sure… but perhaps the Princess's guess pertaining the North Pole is correct because of that, too. Our ships may be better armored, but the Northern Water Tribe has ships they could use for the purposes of transporting their troops, too. We destroyed the Earth Kingdom's navy long ago, so their better bet to reach us is…"

"With the Northern Water Tribe's fleet," Ozai hissed.

He hadn't truly processed the fact that his daughter had genuinely pointed them in the right direction until then: everything suggested that the Northern Water Tribe would be the primary source of future resources for the Gladiator and his forces… even beyond Zhao's delusions of magical fish swimming in ponds in a frozen wasteland, any damage they could deal against the north now would be certain to put a stop to the growth of the Gladiator's army. He would fail to attack the Fire Nation as quickly as he would likely have meant to if he had no ships to transport his troops…

Azula wasn't working against him.

Her advice wouldn't have been so sound, so reasonable, if she had been.

She had seen through the Gladiator as clearly as possible, even from a distance, in a matter of moments. However he had deceived her for as long as he had… she hadn't asked Ozai for mercy. She hadn't pleaded to convince him of her innocence… her immediate reaction, no matter how distraught she had been upon the initial revelation of her accursed lover's betrayal, had been to deal with the problem, to focus on countering his choices and ensuring to save the Fire Nation from yet more defeats they could not afford in this war.

"Then our response will not be what the Gladiator anticipates," Ozai said, and now the wrath he had barely been able to restrain had seemed to be repurposed into determination instead. "Instead of pushback to retake Omashu or Ba Sing Se, we will ensure to cut off his final opportunity to gain more allies and resources than he already has at his disposal. We will see to the reconquest of the cities he has taken after the Northern Water Tribe is defeated."

"What of Gaoling, my Lord?" asked General Mak. "We will defend Yu Dao and Garsai through Pohuai Stronghold, but Gaoling is vulnerable to whatever attack his forces could mount from Omashu. We do have a strong enough naval base in Whaletail Island, but if you wish to commit the bulk of our naval forces to the north…"

"I'm afraid Gaoling offers us very little of value at this point in time," Ozai admitted, scowling heavily. "It may very well be taken: if Ba Sing Se and Omashu already fell while being the more defensible cities of the Colonies, there's little chance that Gaoling would withstand an assault any more successfully. Once we have outdone the Gladiator's forces in the north, we may return to Gaoling with a naval assault and retake the city far more safely than by splitting our army countless times to no avail."

"Very well, my Lord," General Mak bowed his head.

"Colonel Shinu, ensure to prepare as many Yu-Yan archers as possible for upcoming hostilities," Ozai said. "We will bolster recruitment efforts so that more of them may be trained quickly, too. A well-placed arrow through the heart of whoever leads an army can very well see the entire force falling to shambles."

"I will see to it, my Lord," Shinu nodded. "We will organize a thorough defense of the northwestern Earth Kingdom. Whatever they may prepare for us next, we will be ready."

"See that it is so," Ozai said, firmly. "As for the north… this will be our final push against those savages. We will ensure to defeat them now… and the one to deal the final blow against them must be you, Prince Zhao."

To everyone's surprise, Zhao's expression didn't suggest Ozai's assessment was correct by any means. If anything, his apprehension was clear even before he dared speak.

"You wish for me to lead the siege once more?" Zhao asked. Ozai raised an eyebrow.

"You have always been the expert, the better learned member of our forces when it comes to the Northern Water Tribe," Ozai said. "It is only expected that you would be the one to conquer the north… or do you disagree now?"

Zhao's brow drew together heavily: yes, everything Ozai had said was true, but the source of his apprehension wasn't whatever the Fire Lord was interpreting. No… what instilled trepidation within the Crown Prince's mind was the other person sitting on that dais, by Ozai's left side.

She had reacted emotionally at first, and then she had dropped that immediate assessment regarding knowing whatever the Gladiator would do… was it possible that she could see through him as successfully as she claimed she could, or was this, yet again, part of whatever mad schemes they had developed together? His lips drew into a snarl as he pondered the possibility again and again. She had wanted Zhao away from her, and he had generously complied, hadn't he? She had Rei, she had her room to herself, she had that wretched child growing inside her, she had whatever the blazes she could want, and they would only ever cross paths by chance, or on miserable moments such as this one: was she conspiring to have him killed, regardless of all the space he had given her, regardless of the distance that he assumed would ensure the two of them would be at greater peace in their unwanted circumstances?

Of course she could be… of course she was. Azula was greedy… greedier than her father, than her mother, than any other Fire Lord to sit on that throne. Giving her even a smidge of control or power meant she would reach for more at once… she had successfully pitted him against Ozai in the wake of the revelation of her pregnancy, hadn't she? She manipulated her father constantly, without his awareness… the fool had changed tunes so quickly it seemed he barely remembered just how outraged he'd been over the last ten days anymore. For all this time, Ozai had been more beast than human in his every reaction, in his every outburst, and Zhao had witnessed plenty of those explosions personally while trying to assess the situation and organize this blasted meeting by Ozai's command. But with just a few words from his precious daughter, he had seemingly calmed down at once? When she was supposed to be the person he least trusted in this damn room, too…

Ozai was a fool. Committing to this cause was folly.

"Do you have genuine reasons not to go, Crown Prince Zhao?" Commander Tsong's voice rose anew. Zhao scowled in his direction. "There are other naval officers here, if you'd rather stay since you're Crown Prince these days. I know you're the expert, but…"

Tsong had been one of the bastards constantly badmouthing him, pretending his rise through the ranks of the Fire Nation navy obeyed no true cause other than Ozai's favoritism of his best friend. It was unsurprising that he'd taunt him now… that he'd readily offer to take on the duty of conquering the Northern Water Tribe in Zhao's stead, too. Anything the sniveling snake could reach for, he'd sink his fangs into it and never let it go.

"I am apprehensive indeed," Zhao spoke up, turning his eyes towards Ozai. "But not unwilling to lead the forces in the north once again. It's merely the knowledge that the… the weapons you intend for the Mechanist to prepare will likely take some time to be finished. The modifications to the airships, as well. As far as I understand, that man hasn't always delivered his great technological advancements on time…"

"He will do it this time," Ozai said, firmly. "War Minister Qin, you will stop at nothing to ensure he complies. He has a deadline, too: I intend to see these improvements finished in less than a month."

"Understood," War Minister Qin nodded.

"You will be stationed in the North in the meantime to begin preparations for the final assault, Prince Zhao. I will send word once the aerial reinforcements are ready to bolster your forces," Ozai said, glancing at Zhao anew. The Admiral gritted his teeth. "Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

There were countless things he wanted to say, yes… but here? Now? Should he speak his mind in front of all the council, even in front of the woman who caused him all the grief she cared to? He didn't think so. His glare found her features anew: Azula wasn't paying attention until she raised her gaze towards him. Whether she hated or merely resented him, Zhao certainly couldn't tell right now. But even that reproachful stare could be a matter of deceit…

A taunt to persuade him to go to the north so that he could be murdered in cold blood by her accursed Gladiator.

His fist tightened. He still remembered all too well how many times he had underestimated her… and today, it seemed this entire damn room wanted him to make that mistake again. For the thousandth time, he felt trapped, manipulated, handled by the woman who should have never been brought into this room, the woman he should have categorically refused to marry regardless of whatever Ozai wanted.

But even so… if he outsmarted her for once, he might actually succeed at conquering the North Pole at last. Not only would he be able to slay the Moon Spirit and put a stop to waterbending for good… he would also test Hahn's claims of whatever immortality that oasis could provide. If his story was legitimate… even if the Gladiator showed himself, Zhao's success at reaching the oasis before the bastard appeared would provide him with the opportunity to strengthen himself further. Control over that oasis would mean he could even ensure his soldiers wouldn't die… which meant that, however deadly that man might be, ultimately, he would be the one slain on the battlefield.

Yes, Azula wanted him dead and well out of her way, he knew that was the true reason why she'd brought up the North Pole at all… but Zhao could ensure that her Gladiator was the one to bite the dust instead, so long as he made the right moves once he reached the warfront against the Northern Water Tribe.

"I will do as you ask… my Lord," Zhao said: his eyes bore into Azula's with defiant fury once more before he turned them on Ozai. "I will conquer the Northern Water Tribe, I will destroy those savages, and I will bring you the corpse of the Gladiator myself. His days of delusional glory will end, and I'll be proud to see to it personally."

"I expected nothing less," Ozai nodded in Zhao's direction – Tsong's obvious disappointment over not having the opportunity to substitute Zhao as the leader of the incursion was plain on his face, but it faded quickly as Ozai turned towards him anew. "Commander Tsong, you will bolster the fleet as well. General Ling, I would have you supporting Colonel Shinu: provide troops to strengthen Pohuai Stronghold. War Minister Qin, continue to send word to our forces in the Colonies: scout aggressively. The more we learn of whatever this White Lotus force is planning on doing next, the better our chances to counter their efforts. Whatever happens, we must not allow them to conquer the remaining strongholds we still have in the Earth Kingdom."

"Yes, my Lord," War Minister Qin, General Ling and Commander Tsong spoke at once.

"Commander Gon: we require thorough communication. Impress that upon every single Communications Office all across this world," Ozai said, harshly. "And be quick to spread word of the traitors we are hunting. Ensure to convey, too, that any cooperation with the White Lotus army on any capacity will amount to treason against the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord: any towns or villages willingly accepting their control will be punished for their fickle loyalties. We cannot keep tabs on everything happening in that continent… but we can very well limit the control those bastards hold within it. We will disrupt their trade, end every merchant deal with either Omashu or Ba Sing Se: I will have destabilizing groups attacking whatever trade routes they attempt to establish between those two cities. The trek between them is long, so success in sabotaging their trading carts and wagons would be an easy matter. Whatever blows we can deliver against their stability will cause further strife to add to the greater toll of damage they'll face once Crown Prince Zhao conquers the Northern Water Tribe."

The Fire Lord breathed deeply: where he had entered this room today with a murderous intent, with wrath he could do nothing with, he had repurposed it effectively now. His golden glare fell upon the map, upon the city where his most loathed enemy now lay in wait, comfortably sitting upon a throne he would never be worthy of…

He would pay a lethal price for what he'd done. Him and every fool who followed him… such as Zuko.

"The Fire Nation will not falter," Ozai announced, rising to his feet. The council watched him intently as he spread his arms, bolstering the fire upon doing so. "Our victories will never be stolen from us by lesser leeches, by backstabbing scum, by the pitiful roaches attempting to overthrow our rightful rule across this world. We are the heirs of Sozin's conquest! This world is ours for the taking, and fire will rain upon every fool who dares contest this truth. The Fire Nation will not falter… our March of Civilization shall always continue. Go forth… and ensure that my will is done, each of you."

A shudder rushed up Azula's body upon hearing those words. How many times had she been present in these meetings, listening to similar warmongering words, believing in them wholeheartedly and supporting her father's delusions of grandeur? How many times had she held her silence, whether before or after her conscience began to speak up against her father's madness?

Even before her fall from grace, she had hardly put a stop to him. She had gone about it in roundabout ways, and now none of those efforts mattered anymore: the airships she had tried to stop her father from using in the North would be headed there now, and she had no means through which to prevent that, no ways to communicate with Sokka and tell him what was going to happen. Their brief windows of spiritual communication had come through at points where they both had seemed to be in a similar space, emotionally… now, though, she had no doubts that Sokka was thriving in having taken away one of her father's greatest triumphs while Azula sat here, helpless, useless, causing more trouble than she'd ever be worth, all in a bid to survive at all costs…

She was unforgivable. Her choices were cowardly, spineless… even years ago, it had been Sokka who had stood up to Ozai: Sokka who had stopped her father from executing the White Lotus prisoners, Sokka who had made Ozai hold back his forces from attacking the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka who had saved the rebels from the slave riot… all while she stood there, unresponsive and useless while innocent men were burned to death.

And now another destructive war meeting was over… and she still did nothing other than sitting in place as an applause followed Ozai's final speech. The rumor of voices took wind afterwards, as the military officials rose to their feet and began speaking among themselves – save for War Minister Qin, who had countless duties to tend to at the moment, including an urgent trip to the Northern Air Temple. Zhao scowled anew in Azula's direction, but she ignored him this time as she breathed deeply, feeling short of breath even so: she had to get up and walk to her room. That was it. That was all she'd do. She hadn't done anything her father would consider dangerous or terrible… only things that Azula would never forgive herself for. Therefore, she would be free to leave, just as others were already leaving. Whatever came next, she'd figure it out later… or maybe she wouldn't. It had been quite some time since she had last felt this dreadful urge to simply let herself die… and she had earned that painful sensation, that awful conviction more than ever before on that day. She shivered as she struggled to gather her strength and rise to her feet, legs more unstable than before…

"You handled yourself with far more dignity than I thought you would."

Her heart almost stopped when her father spoke to her anew, directly.

She blinked once, then twice… then she glanced at him. He hadn't helped her stand up, of course he hadn't, but he stood beside her… and she didn't see the same overt hostility in his eyes as before. It should have been a good thing… but it didn't feel like one, not when she knew what the cost of her prolonged survival would be. Azula gritted her teeth, though, and nodded in his direction.

"War meetings are no place to make scenes. I've always known as much," Azula said, her voice muted and neutered.

Ozai scoffed: derision, then. Better than hostility, she supposed. Better than outright aggression, than blaming her for actions that were not her own, that could have never been her own. She would have never worked alongside the White Lotus in destructive attacks against the Fire Nation's occupied cities in the Earth Kingdom continent, she could barely fathom that Sokka had made such a mad choice…

"It's good to confirm you still know as much. I suppose some of your education didn't go to waste after all."

Had Ozai not walked away right then and there, Azula might just have flung a fistful of flames in his direction.

The curtain of fire was snuffed out by the Fire Lord that marched off to the backdoor of the room, as he ever did. Azula was left to stand where she did, a rush of violent anger stirring in her chest… anger at her father. Anger at every fool in this meeting… anger at Zhao, who continued to glare at her as though he expected her to explode, and she damn sure was ready to do exactly that.

But the rage she felt spurred her to march away, walking far faster now, disregarding all the discomfort caused by pregnancy, her back's pain… none of it registered in her mind anymore. A fire unlike any she had known in months rushed through her bloodstream, reminding her painfully of some of the very worst days of her life, the days when she had no choice but to struggle and fight against her father to save Sokka's life at all costs…

She marched past every soldier, every military officer without a word. She waited for no guards, caring little if they followed her. She stormed past the room's curtain and rushed down the Royal Gallery, fists tightened, tears burning in her eyes, a dangerous snarl upon her face. Everything burned inside her, every damn thing, more painfully than ever before, for she knew she was mad at herself, at her weaknesses, at her craven bullshit more than anything: she should have stood her ground. She should have fought her father right then and there, damn everything…! Her brother might have done it. No, her brother would have done it, he was reckless enough to take a stand against their father even if it was a completely self-destructive choice: why couldn't she do the same? She had done it to save Sokka before, so how had she lacked the strength to try doing so now? Why was she such a fool…?

But the truth was that, above all else… she was mad at him.

Sokka.

She blasted the door to her room open violently, without registering that Renkai wasn't back yet. She almost shrieked as she slammed it closed again…

She only screamed afterwards, fisting her hair with one hand, slamming her knuckles hard into the wall with the other: a burst of pain rippled through her bones, warning her of her own fragility, but she barely felt that pain when the one dwelling in her heart was so much louder.

How could he be so foolish? How could he be so reckless? How the blazes had he dared break his vows to her in such a way…?

Of all the times to play the rebellious fool, he had to pick this one. Of all moments to mount any manner of opposition against her father, he had chosen to do so when they were as distant from each other as could be: what on earth had he been thinking? How could he be so maddening…?

What was she going to do? Her impulsive words had unleashed a catastrophe today with what she'd done in that Throne Room, that was for sure… but she had no way to put a stop to it now. Her father would have likely humiliated her beyond belief, who knew to what extent, had she acted any differently… and would that have saved the rest of the world? Would he have focused his wrath on her? He never cared to do so, he always refused to, in fact, always preferring to unleash his rage upon all those she held dear if she angered him…

She gasped at that thought, rushing to the carpet and carefully leaning down beside it. She rolled it away quickly before making to bend into the mechanism, but she remembered to knock on the trapdoor before doing so. Five knocks? She thought they'd agreed on five, hopefully Rei and Song would conclude that anyone knocking had to be her…

She tapped the trapdoor and then she cast fire into the mechanism – it served as little source of relief to exteriorize some of her anger with her flames. The trapdoor unlocked, and Song gasped as she gazed her from within the tunnel.

"Azula…! Azula, that scream just now… was that you?" Song asked: Rei, beside her, gazed at Azula with fearful eyes. Azula gritted her teeth, crawling back slowly and giving them room to climb up again. "Azula…"

"You're… both safe," Azula said, breathing heavily. "Did anyone enter the room at all while I was gone?"

"Not that we noticed…" Rei said: she had no recollection of ever seeing the Princess in such a dark mood, and frankly, neither did Song. "What… w-what happened? If it's okay to… t-to ask…"

Azula breathed heavily as Song finished climbing out: she offered Azula her hands for support, helping her stand upright anew… but the Princess's foul mood didn't change in the slightest because of the gesture.

"Azula?" Song said, her voice firm, as though intending to call Azula back from whatever dark recesses her mind had taken her into.

"I've… I've done it. I've fucked up and there's… there's no point in pretending otherwise," Azula said, shuddering as she pulled away from Song, shaking her head. "I've… I've…"

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Song asked. "What was the meeting about? Azula…"

"The meeting's subject…" Azula said, gritting her teeth as she climbed the dais that led to her bed: her hand fell upon the bedpost, offering support when her body seemed moments away from failing her. "Ba Sing Se and Omashu have fallen."

Song's jaw dropped. Rei's lips parted: she had already heard of both cities, but she knew next to nothing about them… only that they were in the Earth Kingdom, and that Song's mother lived in the first of those two cities. Her eyes shifted towards the healer, who covered her mouth with a hand as she shook her head.

"H-how…? Azula, is the Palace…? I-is my mother…?"

"I don't know," Azula answered, truthfully, snarling as she clenched the bedpost firmly. "But for all he bloody holds dear, if he let anything happen to your mother I swear I'll seek him in the afterlife if that's all I can do and I'll put him through a world of pain… which sounds meaningless to say, doesn't it? But it's… it's all I can do, all I can say, all I can think of vowing because…! Fuck… fuck him. He's such… such a fucking asshole!"

Another punch, this time into the solid bedpost: her hand hurt, and she wanted it to. Tears had already started streaming down her face, though… and the mix of emotions with which she spoke daunted Song at once: she recognized something in the Princess's tone, somehow. A part of her, deep in her heart, already knew what the Princess meant, even if she had no idea if that could be possible. She frowned heavily as Rei backed away, carefully tidying up the rug and trapdoor anew.

"Who… who do you mean? Azula, don't… don't say it's… don't tell me it's him," Song said, paling slowly. "You… you're not talking about…"

"Who else… who else has the bloody brains, the wit, the charisma to charm his enemies, including myself, into trusting him blindly?!" Azula roared, looking at Song anew: her eyes were more alive than they had been in months… but that felt like little relief when they burned with a fire of frustration and anger Song hadn't seen from her ever before. "I don't… I don't know how he did it, damn him, I don't know why…! He should've fucking stayed in the South! I took him there so…! S-so he'd be safe! So my father wouldn't destroy the entire world trying to kill him and now…!"

"Sokka…" Song said: Azula covered her mouth with a hand, shaking her head as she let out another roar of frustration moments later: fire sparked out of her mouth with her breath as she stormed through the room, fisting her hair anew.

"All my father wanted was… was to test me for the thousandth time! To reveal to me that he's… that he's been up to this madness for who knows how long, and to find out if I knew about it, if I was part of whatever this mad conspiracy of his is supposed to be! T-to bring up that he's been working with the White Lotus, leading their blasted forces while…!"

"What?!" Song gasped. "That's not possible. Not the White Lotus, Sokka wouldn't have…!"

"He answered my father's letter… a letter meant to Governor Tiang. And he answered it himself," Azula said, shaking her head, her voice hitching with emotion. Song's eyes widened. "My father… I don't know what the hell he did with it, but he says it was him who sent it and I… I can believe it, truth be told. It sounds just like him to do something like this. And my brother… he's there too, they say. And the… fuck, nothing makes any sense, but… the Avatar? T-the Avatar…"

"The Avatar? That's… that's even harder to believe than the White Lotus thing," Song said, eyeing Azula warily as the Princess slowed down next to one of the windows, right by her desk. "Can you… can you slow down, please? Azula, I know whatever happened in that room was terrible and you're grappling with the reality of it all, but…"

"I told him… I told him to stay there! To wait for me!" Azula shouted now. Song gritted her teeth: her efforts to reach in, to make sense out of this complicated situation, would only go to waste while Azula was impossible to reason with. "He said he'd wait… h-he said he'd wait until our next lives if need be, he told me… w-when he told me he still fought for me, I thought he meant he was still in the South. I thought…!"

"I did tell you it could have meant more than that," Song said, eyeing Azula warily. "I knew you weren't exactly thrilled about the concept, that you didn't want him to come here to save you because…"

"I never asked him to save me!" Azula exclaimed, tears spilling down her cheeks. Song froze in place. "All I ever needed him to do was survive! That was all…! T-that was all he had to do… not join fucking Iroh and the bloody White Lotus in whatever this madness is supposed to be!"

Song's eyes widened: the more Azula explained, the harder it was to see the other side of the situation. Yes, she believed Sokka had good reasons to seek to save Azula, whether she was asking for it or not… but the White Lotus? The group that had nearly killed him and kidnapped Azula? And worst of all… Iroh? The man responsible for the disaster that had seen all of them torn away from each other? Had Sokka genuinely joined forces with those men…?

And what on earth was this supposed to mean for Azula? She had returned from that meeting safely, it seemed… or as safely as could be, considering her emotions appeared to be all over the place. But it was hard to believe that Ozai had simply called her to a public war meeting just to casually inform her of what her lover had done…

"I… I needed him home. I needed him safe in the South Pole, damn it, the child…!" Azula's voice hitched upwards as tears spilled down her face, which she with her hands. "What the hell am I going to do now? Where the hell am I going to…? H-how could I…? I can't… I can't send it to him anymore. I can't do a damn thing anymore because he's gone to war, like a fucking idiot…! And… and he's winning. He's winning! He's…! He defeated my father's forces twice! And hell knows where he'll stop, if he'll ever stop… hell knows how far he's going to go. He doesn't have a single ounce of sense, he's just…!"

"Azula…" Song breathed deeply, stepping forward and placing a hand upon one of her shoulders: the Princess snarled, rubbing her eyes, but the tears couldn't stop running down her cheeks. "It's… it's a lot to take, okay? I… I still don't understand anything, and I get that we're in no good position to take a stand in any way, but… he's alive. Now you know it for sure, your spiritual bond isn't the only thing to confirm it. It's not what you wanted, I get that, but…"

"He's alive…" Azula sobbed, snarling. "For now, he is. But he's… he's not safe, he's leading an army and my father wants him dead more than anyone else in this world. What the hell am I supposed to do if… if anything happens to him now? I can't do anything for him, I haven't been able to… I… I've done something awful. I might have even…"

"Azula…"

"My father… he wanted to humiliate me. He fucking did his best to do so," Azula said: Song frowned. She had thought the Princess's words were meant to hint at remorse for her past actions and choices… not the more recent ones. "He… he wanted to hold me responsible, I suppose, to pretend that this is something I should have seen coming, that Sokka was part of that fucking Order all along… I know he wasn't. Of course he wasn't, he couldn't stand them any more than I could, but he… h-he's mad. He's reckless, he… he had no clue of what this was going to mean for me. I'm already in the worst place I could be, my father's going to blame me for anything he does in the future! I… I had to survive by any means I could think of, damn it, and so, I…!"

"What… what do you mean by that? What did you do?" Song frowned.

"I… I…" Azula shuddered, fisting her hair again: the words didn't seem to be about to leave her lips as Song clasped her shoulders firmly.

"Azula…" she said, sternly. "What did…?"

The bedroom door swung open.

Rei, still standing in the middle of the room, winced at the sight of the man who had shoved the door violently – she took two steps back instinctively once she glimpsed the scowl upon his face. Azula and Song glanced in his direction too, startled by the sound… by the door's harsh swinging inwards until it slammed against the wall.

Admiral Zhao stood by the room's threshold.

The cold glare in his dark eyes spoke for itself: he was out for blood.