Shock turned to anguish and anguish turned to rage; the Dragon of the West could not say he despised anyone like he now despised those responsible for his son's death. His father might say to him to blame the Earth Kingdom, because they were savages, with no regard for dignity and honour, but he knew that was an utter farce. It was a farce to call their enemies as a whole dishonourable when all they had done was dishonour the Earth Kingdom by savagely destroying villages, towns and conquering their country, even if it was ostensibly for the greater good of bettering the people they subjugated. He could not say he believed in that mission as he once did, but now, more than ever, he wanted to fight. Not because he loved violence, but because it was cathartic; he hated admitting it, but he wanted to see them suffer, so they could feel the anguish he had. He wouldn't take his pain out on the commoners of the city he had spent nearly two years trying to conquer; whatever he did would be a crime of war, not a crime against humanity.

The Dai Li were corrupt and vicious fiends, he already knew that well enough; that was half the reason his grandfather justified conquering the Earth Kingdom. If he had not done it, the Dai Li would have squandered the resources of their country and let the Earth Kingdom fall to the hands of thieves and warlords. Iroh could only now wish he had had the stomach to actually tell Avatar Roku about the arrogance and dishonour of the Dai Li and the elite of Ba Sing Se, instead of colonising the Earth Kingdom behind his back. Maybe if he had, the Air Nomads would still exist, and the Four Nations would be at peace, with the Earth Kingdom ruled by somebody who actually had the people's best interests at heart.

The irony of it all was that it was the Avatar before Roku who had created the Dai Li and allowed for all of his grandfather's posturing to begin with; perhaps if Kyoshi had offered her successor some of her wisdom about tyrants, who she constantly faced during her time, the Earth Kingdom could have seen brighter days rather than the foreboding darkness of their country being burnt to the ground. Sozin was as big a fool as the men he decried as thieves and bastions against the march of progress. Despite that, Iroh had the chilling feeling that he was actually right; perhaps killing them all would make things better, no matter if the Earth Kingdom became independent once again after the war.

"They are the enemy." he muttered to himself, looking upon the Earth Kingdom's empty throne, which had been broken to pieces by the ceiling collapsing down upon it, "They are the reason this war was even necessary, if ever." he told himself, knowing it mightn't be the truth, but that it would be better to declare it than stomach what he was actually going to do.

"Your highness!" he heard the shout of one of his subordinates, who was racing toward him, down through the ruins of the throne room, "They're trying to surround us!"

"They've already lost." he retorted, clenching his fist before he sent a fire stream into the Earth King's throne, "The Earth Kingdom is gone." he declared the fact of the matter; even if he preferred that it wasn't the case, it was what was necessary to end the war.

It was that or going against his father, and he knew that would lead to certain death; at the very least, the path he had chosen might have actually led to him achieving something, and maybe, once he was Fire Lord, peace between the remaining three nations. He could not restore the Air Nomads, or find the missing Avatar, but he could at least make peace, and that was enough to let him rest easy. Lu Ten had died for his war, and he was still furious; it was never necessary, and it was his fault, not the Dai Li's. But that did not sooth his hate, and he turned away from the burnt and partially melted remains of the throne, and turned his heels, his Imperial Firebenders flanking him as he made his way through the ruins of the throne room.

"We'll handle this." he assured the soldier, "Wait with the others." he warned him, noticing the limp on his leg; he was injured, and so were many of the soldiers they found in the throne rooms.

They had to deal with broken arms, legs and ribs instead of being dead, and though Iroh preferred their present state over what could have been, it was mere luck that they were alive.

"What about the bodies, sir?" he asked them, "What if they try to degrade them?"

"Would you let a man relieve himself on your father's grave, son?" he retorted with barely contained rage, the soldier understanding the meaning behind his words; to let the Dai Li disgrace their dead soldiers any more than they already had would besmirch the honour of their families, and dirty whatever dignity their nation still had.

Iroh paced past the rubble and ruins that his men had cleared to retrieve his son's body and the body of the other victims of the Dai Li attack, and he clenched his fists, hearing the sounds of fighting just outside of the throne room. He wasn't going to let any more men die on his watch, so he would go out of his way to stop the Dai Li and crush them before they had a chance. As they made their way towards the doors of the throne room, he increased his pace, and his Imperial Firebenders readied themselves, covering their palms with fire. He didn't do the same, waiting to see how the soldiers outside were faring before he threw himself into any fight.

Two of his Imperial Firebenders threw their fists forward, creating fire streams which forced the door open, as if they were being whacked by a gust of wind; a dangerous imitation of airbending, in his eyes, though he kept that thought to himself. The soldiers outside were struggling, sending fireballs all around them to attack Dai Li agents, which were on the walls and roof, as well as off down the hallway, presumably trying to encircle the throne room, just as the soldier had warned him.

"Stop those trying to get around to the other entrances!" he gave out an order, "We'll finish these ones." he stressed, his Imperial Firebenders understanding that order as they moved into form, conjuring fire streams which they sent up to strike men off of the roof and walls.

Iroh saw a group of Dai Li agents ahead of them, and instead of fleeing, like any sane man would, they rushed toward him and his guards, silent except for the sound of their robes whipping along the floor of the palace. He grit his teeth and spun his hands around, creating two fire whips which he used to slice through the stone gloves they fired his way; he'd faced enough of their agents already to know that was their most dangerous move, barring the chains they used to capture their opponents.

Unlike most earthbenders he'd faced, they preferred such articulate instruments to attack their opponents, presumably because they were intended as a police force, not as soldiers set on killing their opponents. However, he knew that they would slay him if they got the chance so he didn't give them any, spinning his hands around to create two charged fireballs, rotating around with his wrists as they morphed into disc-like shapes.

He then clenched his right fist, and threw his arm out, turning said disc into a narrow, blindingly bright arc of flames which sliced through the robes of a few of the agents, who were thrown off their feet in the process. When the others tried to get him with their chains, he threw his left arm forward, creating another arc which sliced through all but two of the chains, which both grappled onto his right arm. They tried to drag him forward, but Iroh just grabbed both of the chains by pointing his right arm towards them and gripping the chains hard; they realised their mistake, but didn't have enough time to release the chains as he threw them forward, throwing them toward him, sliding on the ground like metal dish on a polished wooden floor.

The Dragon of the West might have even scoffed at their mistake, but he kept his face straight as he raised his hands up, creating a wall of flames to stop them from getting any closer; his eyes darted up, noting that his men had already taken care of the remaining agents on the walls and roof, or that they had actually retreated. Whatever the case, he knew that defeating the remaining agents within the palace was absolutely necessary; they had to be crushed, or otherwise, they would face the threat of being hounded by a hidden terror for as long as they occupied the city.

When the flames cleared, suddenly, a number of their stone gloves were thrown his way, and he was able to neutralise a few of them with fireballs, furiously lopping them at each of the dangerous weapons, though his mantra on maintaining a steady breath and focus meant it was more than a little challenging to get them all. When he thought he had broken them all, he found his legs grabbed by another agent's chain, who must have shot it out as he was trying to destroy the stone gloves. He was pulled right off of his feet and made a grunt as his back slammed into the floor.

The agents pulled him collectively by holding the chain, going so fast and hard that Iroh barely had enough time to cut it, slamming into a few of the agents as he tried to stop himself. Suddenly, more agents dropped down from the roof, and he grit his teeth, not letting them take the chance to try and capture him, or worse, end his life then and there.

The Dragon of the West was not a man who liked to leave a job unfinished, no matter how much he wished he could just walk away from the siege and forget about it. He couldn't forget it, and he decided that was for the best; a lesson could be learned even from the most painful tragedies, and as he shot fireballs all around him, stunning agents and throwing him off their feet, he let out his rage in a scream of fury, bellowing out flames from his mouth.

They must have been rather scared, as they all stepped back away from him as he did so, but they continued to try and ensnare him, bending pieces of earth from around the palace or even the floor itself against him, but Iroh was no fool. He always had his heels ready to firebend at a moment's notice, blasting any gripping tiles or bricks apart as soon as he felt them touch him. He sent kicks and punches out in quick succession, focusing on knocking out or disabling as many agents as possible so his guards could intercede and help him defeat the rest.

Suddenly however, he felt all four of his limbs caught by the chains, and though he could have tried to struggle he decided to let them do whatever they were going to do, just so he could understand their intentions; it was better to see his enemies face rather than just attack them without understanding anything about them, no matter how much he wanted to destroy them.

"Oh... oh..." he heard an amused, slow laugh, and he turned his head to see a man in similar robes to the Dai Li agents, though without the conical hat they all wore, "You are weaker than I thought, General Iroh."

"And Ba Sing Se is mine." he retorted, "The war is over."

"You won't be able to see the fruits of your labour." he warned him, watching as Iroh feigned trying to escape, tugging on his chains and letting out fire from his mouth, "Oh, you're a squirmer? Father like son, I see."

Iroh's expression didn't falter, his eyes merely meeting the man's, "That was a poor choice on your behalf. Hostages are always the better approach." he warned him of a failure in his strategy; he could have actually forced Iroh to negotiate if he and his agents had captured Lu Ten, but they were pompous fools who just thought that they could shatter his will.

Though they came close, they couldn't stop him now that he was there; he destroyed the Earth King's throne himself; the leader of the agents rolled his eyes before pulling a glove from his robes, drawing it out and malforming into the shape of a pole or stake, which the General assumed would be going into his chest.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." the man mused with a smug face, before he readied the pole; when he aimed to throw it, Iroh immediately pulled both his arms across each other with as much force as he could; the chains were stronger than the footing of the agents using them, so they were thrown right it front of him, the pole skewering into his own men.

He couldn't see the leader's face, but he imagined it was one of horror as Iroh sent flames down the length of each chain, shattering them to pieces before he threw fire whips at them, cutting through their robes and knocking them back. A few were confident enough to attack him hands on with their gloves malformed into daggers, and Iroh didn't relent to slash their eyes out with a fire dagger. They screamed with pain, but their screams were nothing.

The Dragon of the West then threw his flames covered fists into a number of other agents, before he breathed out even more flames, knocking the impaled, dying agents out of the way to approach the Dai Li leader who had pulled the stake out, aiming to strike him again; a short arc of flames was enough to shatter the weapon, before he punched the man in the gut with a flame-covered fist. Winded and struggling to keep his footing, Iroh found it rather easy to grapple the man and hold his flame-dagger against the leader's throat.

"Tell them to stand down!" he gave him a single warning, and the agents all stopped attacking him, realising their leader would die if they did anything; his guards, who had already been fighting the agents, struggling to reach him, now had the opportunity to surround them, no one attacking each other for an abnormal, quiet lull.

"You can't stop now." the leader prodded him, "Do it!" he shouted, and Iroh grit his teeth.

"Oh, you think I'll play that game?" he asked him, before eyeing the agents around him, "Kill them all." he gave the order, and the Dai Li agents found themselves blasted off their feet by fire streams, thrown to the ground or into the walls of the hall.

The leader only had a moment to react as Iroh rammed the dagger into his gut, aiming right for his stomach. Usually flames would cauterise wounds, but he used it to melt the skin and the muscle so it would cut right open; the cruel, uncaring master of the Dai Li wasn't going to play fair, so he wouldn't either.

"Argh!" he screamed out in agony, falling to the ground as Iroh let go of his grip; he didn't like the smell of blood and stomach acid, but he hated the man before him even more.

"In the name of all that is good in this world, die slowly." he condemned him, before he began to spin his fingers around, "As for the rest of you, I will be merciful." he conceded his willingness to be more straight-forward, shooting a lightning bolt right into the chest of an agent who was trying to tackle him; mercy did not mean letting them live, but not letting them suffer needlessly.

The agents were burned by his guards' flames, or by his own, and a few had the unlucky fate of being shot in the chest with a lightning bolt; all of them, however, were killed or injured badly enough they would pose no threat in the slightest. He looked back down at the leader, and decided that he knew what fate he ought to face.

"This is not my grave... but it will be yours. What is your name?" he asked, and the man, barely able to breath with the acid burning through his lungs, coughed out blood and muttered slowly.

"L-L-Lo... Long... F-argh!" he shouted, before groaning in pain, "F-f-uh... eng." he finished giving his name, the Dragon of the West raising his chin up.

"One day, I will tell my enemies your pride, Long Feng, and how much you got for it." he simply admitted, "Destroy the palace." he ordered his guards, who looked at him, seeming surprised.

"Sir?" one of them asked, seeming concerned by the suggestion.

"We'll take the bodies of the dead and the injured out, and burn the palace to the ground." he declared, before turning to pace toward the throne room once more, eyeing the bodies of the dead or grievously injured agents; he had had enough of the war, and certainly, enough of the accursed Dai Li.

"I never want to see this place again."


Like every market he'd visited so far, the market of Ma'inka was crowded and full of life, and though Zuko would have preferred to avoid busy places and get spotted, he knew that very few people knew what he looked like, so that it was very unlikely they'd be spotted, unless they were wearing suspicious attire. To their luck, everyone else seemed to be dressed in the same loose tunics, shirts and baggy-pants they were both wearing, so that made it hard for them to be distinguished, in the case that they actually ended up in a fight or had to flee from anyone.

Mai was in an expectedly dour mood, though that was only because they hadn't had any breakfast yet; usually she'd at least say a few things, make some comments about his dishevelled appearance, but he got none of that. A few huffs and snappy courtesies when they got off the ferry, but that was about it. Whether that was a good thing or not, he was unsure, but she did tell him what they ought to look out for in the market, and with nothing else to do at that moment, he made sure to put all his focus into doing just that.

One of those things was information, that being of what and where the notable locations were on the island, and another one was the supplies they might need to get their job done. Getting into the navy base would be a lot easier if they had the right gear; ropes, theatre masks to disguise their faces, and a few other trinkets he thought would be of use. Piandao had given them a small purse of coins, but it was enough to cover what they needed, as well as some food, and if necessary, a trip back to Shu Jing.

He had found and bought any supplies he thought they might have needed, which consisted of two masks, some rope, a large metal hook and some fabric. All of that he would need to get into the port complex, beat and gag soldiers, and if necessary, hold Commander Zhong hostage until he gave up his allegiances and revealed his loyalty to the plot publicly. He and Mai were about to head off to go see the port complex and figure out their plan of entry, when he found the market swamped with people, all heading for the town square, where a platform had been erected. Zuko had just been thinking it was the mayor going to give a speech, but it seemed like it was going to be far more important than that.

"So... are we going to wait and find out what this is about?" he asked Mai, who shook her head.

"Isn't it obvious?" she retorted, which confused him for a moment; he only had to recall the very reason they were there to realise the possibility that his uncle had decided to step first, and reveal his father's treachery, even though he presumably wasn't anywhere near the capital yet.

"Wait... you really think so? But Uncle... he's not home yet. He won't be able to do anything."

"Well, not every general goes out and fights every battle they plan." she argued, reminding him of a basic fact about strategy; one didn't really need to be the one swinging the sword, they just needed to know how to give out the orders to make sure that was done right.

"Okay... good point." he conceded her wit, before turning his eyes over toward the podium, "Maybe this is a good distraction."

"Not for the navy base." she whispered, "That's nowhere near here. They probably already know about it if the civilian authorities are just speaking up right now." she warned him, the Prince raising a hand to his head.

"Urgh, you're making me feel real foolish today." he mumbled under his breath, realising that perhaps her unwillingness to speak reflected that she was thinking about their circumstances, and the wider threats they faced, "I'm supposed to be the one on top of things."

"When were you ever?"

"I mean I wish." he corrected her, before shaking his head, "Okay, whatever, let's just go hear if it's what you think it is."

Pacing on over after the other pedestrians, they made their way toward the podium so they could actually hear the speech when it took place; in the distance he spotted a portly man wearing the gold-trimmed robes of a public official, and he guessed that was the mayor of the town. He paced on over to the podium, flanked by a few local guards from the Home Forces. He looked around, and eyed the hundred or so people that were gathered around the podium, and Zuko wondered how much warning the people had been given; obviously they were told something was happening, which concerned him a little, making him realise that they had been out of the loop ever since they left Piandao's estate.

"People of Ma'inka, I have come to inform the public of the political developments and orders enacted by his royal majesty, the Fire Lord." he began his speech, making it clear to Zuko that Mai's assumption was correct, "The Fire Lord has declared that his brother, Crown Prince Ozai, has committed treason by conspiring to murder his majesty, and his own son, Prince Zuko." he explained, the pair looking at each other with surprise; the fact that he was just mentioned in the speech was unexpected, though that meant his uncle was certain that he was alive.

"The Prince?" he heard one of the commoners beside him gasp out.

"Didn't he die in a shipwreck?" he heard another ask, and the mayor raised his hands up.

"Please, please, that is not all. The Fire Lord has also ordered that his brother be arrested, and that anyone who has assisted him to step forward willingly so they may be given amnesty." he explained, making the Prince narrow his eyes.

His uncle was giving the traitors an opportunity to switch sides, which admittedly confused him, given those people were the ones who were fine with him being murdered, though he understood his political reasoning. Without those conspirators on his side, Ozai would have much less of a chance to stand up and fight him with the sections of the military loyal to him.

"His majesty asks for you all to remain calm, and steadfast in these troubling times. The attempt to divide our nation will not succeed, I quote." he further read out the letter, before turning his eyes up to look at the crowd, "If anyone has any knowledge of those supporting Ozai and his plot on the Fire Lord's life, they are asked to come forward and inform their local representatives or military officials, who will forward such information to the Intelligence Service. That is all, thank you for listening."

Zuko turned to face Mai once more, and tilted his head, thinking that they'd heard enough, and that they needed to get moving; she nodded without a word, and though the crowd broke into chatter, he didn't listen to them anymore, knowing that wasn't his concern. Whether they thought he was dead or if they wondered what had happened to him was not really important; revealing Commander Zhong's allegiances and gaining control over his ships would be vital in ensuring that his uncle could return to the capital and formally reinstate his authority in the palace.

The thought of the Imperial Firebenders actually capturing his father seemed absurd, and even if he wanted to see him stopped, he was no fool; he knew his father would be prepared for the message they had just heard, and would have a plan to deal with it, either by simply using his own loyalists to maintain his rule in the palace, or sneaking away to somewhere else he could enact his conspiracy without the threat of getting arrested.

As the pair made their way out of the crowd and back through the market, their attention was drawn toward a few soldiers pacing by on patrol, their attire suggesting that they were guards from the port, given they were wearing navy-issue armour. Zuko knew the difference from all his tutorials about the structure and distinctions in the armed forces, which were rather interesting and told him a lot of what he knew about the various duties and roles people served. They slowed down, keeping their distance as they continued down the street, Zuko only deciding to speak once he felt he was at a comfortable distance.

"So... what do you think? Does that change anything?"

"It means that we are in the right now... I mean, if we get evidence, then we can try and get Zhong's own men on our side." she gave her thoughts, "They will follow us if they're loyal to the Fire Lord, and if not... then there's a problem."

"Something that's hard to solve when we're pretending to be nobodies." he conceded, "We don't have backup. The Order of the White Lotus doesn't have anyone here that could help us."

"Then what do you want to do?" she asked, placing a hand on his sternum to stop him, "It's your choice."

"I don't just make all the decisions because I'm the Prince." he retorted, "You're not a servant or a guard. You're my friend." he argued, crossing his arms, "So, do you want to try and do this, or not?"

"We need to do something... helping your uncle is the only way we can make sure your father is stopped."

"Y-yeah." he conceded, thinking back to what he heard during that meeting; it felt so long ago, but his father's words stuck with him, "He's not just going to stop with ruling the Fire Nation. He wants so much more... and not in the way Fire Lord Sozin would have liked."

"Uh... we're thinking about the guy who wiped out the Air Nomads, right?" she reminded him of his great-grandfather's greatest feat, thought whether it was actually necessary, or good for their nation was questionable; Zuko knew that stopping the Avatar from getting in the way of the war was necessary, but the means by which Sozin went about it were just as extreme as the measures his father was taking.

"I mean... he-" he stopped himself, unable to find a good way to argue in his favour, "No... they're actually more similar than I would have liked." he conceded, before shaking his head, "But Sozin wiped out a group of people of no importance to the Fire Nation. We're trying to rule the Earth Kingdom." he argued as he began walking, Mai trailing behind him.

"So, you think he wouldn't have done it?" she guessed what he was trying to imply; that was what he thought, though the more he pondered the idea, the less certain he became.

"I can't speak for a dead Fire Lord." he retorted, not wanting to try and come up with an answer, as it simply would give him more questions, and they weren't the kinds he wanted to consider, especially given that it was as far as anything could be from his present goals.

"Hmph, for somebody who likes rebelling against his father, you really love authority." she prodded him with an unusually snarky comment, and he held back a laugh; he ought to be getting annoyed, but he couldn't help but find her comparison humorous, even if it was implying that he was treating his father and Sozin with different standards.

"I-" he gasped, "I want to make sure that the authority is the right one." he simply gave his opinion, and she shrugged her shoulders aloofly.

"So, gonna continue to let schools spout all the inane crap they go on about?" she asked, the Prince narrowing his eyes.

"I mean, I'm not the Minister of Education. I'd have to- uh- ask Uncle about that one." he deflected her question, not sure how to address that; he hadn't really thought too much about the government's questionable policies, especially things like education, given he had had little interaction with the formal education system, being tutored and trained by private individuals his uncle or father hired for his entire life.

His uncle had had a similar experience, though he spoke fondly about when he went off and did his own things; perhaps he wasn't spying on his father, as Zuko was, but he liked to imagine they were somewhat similar when Iroh was his age. As they continued further down the street, they move over the crest of the hill, and he made sight of the walled navy port off in the distance, which was separated from the town by a few fields and surrounded by a small number of houses and shops, presumably housing those who worked at the port itself.

"Okay, well that's it." he gestured toward it, "The walls are pretty high." he conceded, before tapping the bag he had slung over his back, "But that's why I got that rope."

"You mean, that's why I told you to get it." Mai corrected him, and he shook his head.

"I mean, I thought it was a good idea." he mumbled, a little frustrated that he couldn't at least get the credit for that.

"Maybe there'll be other ways in." Mai conceded, "Other than the disguise route."

"Which we could always take. The town barracks will be a lot easier to break into." he conceded with a whisper, glancing back in the direction of the town centre.

"You say that-" she began, before shaking her head, "Nevermind... you have."

"Yeah, the palace has pretty tough security, but I figured it out. This'll be a plate of mochi in comparison." he argued, and she let out a rare Mai snicker at his comparison.

"So, are we going to check out the walls?" she asked him, the Prince nodding.

"Yeah, might as well." he agreed to her proposition, "There might even be a sewer running through. That could be useful."

"Sewers stink." she simply noted the fact of the matter, her flared nostrils telling him she certainly would prefer another route in, "But that might work." she conceded, falling silent as they continued down the street toward the port, making their way past the fields that sat in between, where he could see a shepherd tending to his flock of koala-sheep, grazing in the grassy fields.

As they got closer to the port, the slope of the hill softened, and Zuko glanced off to the sides of the road, looking for any gullies or dry-stream beds which might lead to the sewers he had been thinking about. In the highly eroded caldera, there were a large number of sewers and pipes to ensure that the soil underneath people's houses didn't get eroded, or accidentally cause them to collapse into the catacombs which lay below. He only really knew about them not because of his education on public infrastructure, but because he used them some times to hide when sneaking around the capital.

They strode off away from the main street, pacing along past a few cottages that lined the walls, toward what looked like the local cesspool, which he knew had to run off into some piping. They had to empty those things regularly to make sure they didn't overflow or get blocked. He made his way over a stone path, and glancing to the right, he realised that it was going over a pipe, as he eyed the gully that ran parallel.

"Here." he concluded, before he jumped off of the road and down into the gully; looking under the road, he saw a rather large pipe that ran in the direction of the sea, which wasn't too far away.

There were metal bars lining the pipe, but being a firebender, he could melt and break them with relative ease, though it would take him some time.

"So, are you going to melt those?" Mai asked, already understanding how they could utilise the pipe.

"Not now. We're in broad daylight." he warned, "Locals will rat on us... so, we'll just have to wait until twilight."

"What do we do for the rest of the day?" she asked with crossed arms, sounding a little annoyed by the fact they'd have to waste the entire day, "Waste our money on food?"

"So... would you like to go to a restaurant?" he asked her, "I mean, we have the money."

"You're going to waste Piandao's hard earned money on a date?" she scoffed, though her nearly pleased expression suggested she actually held no issue with it.

"Yeah, I think I might." he argued as he pulled himself out of the gully and back onto the road, "What do you think?"

"That you're the most unsophisticated charmer in the Fire Nation." she retorted, before shaking her head, "But we need some food."

"So, is that a yes?" he asked her, making a smile to try and get her on side; he really wouldn't mind doing something that was less serious and let them just enjoy themselves.

"What do you think your uncle would say about this?" she asked him, and not because she thought he would be annoyed, but because the very thought of it embarrassed Zuko.

"Uh... that he was proud of me." he conceded, "I would prefer if he had pride over other things."

"Like surviving an assassination attempt?" she asked, making him scrunch his lips up.

"I mean, he did it as well... and you did too." he conceded that it wasn't as impressive when others had done the very same, and got out of it with less injuries.

"So, I guess this is your reward." she noted, before whacking him in the bicep, "Come on, I can't be bothered standing around here. It's suspicious."

"Alright, let's go have our date right now." he argued, before offering her a hand, "Mai?"

She rolled her eyes before accepting it, and he let out a smile as she decided to respond.

"You're acting way too nice for a guy who's about to beat the crap out of some traitors."

"Well, I'll enjoy a date, and I'll enjoy serving my country too."


Commander Zhao didn't imagine the Avatar would take all day to awaken, but that was what it took, and by that point he was more than a little annoyed. After receiving the news about the Prince being declared a traitor, he was of the thought that he ought to seize the opportunity to prove himself to the Fire Lord and secure their nation against the traitors; however, he knew that just abandoning his men to the spirit would just be foolish, and it would not look good on his record in future if a promotion was being considered. The Princess was intent on waiting the Avatar out, so he obliged her by waiting alongside her. The Hei Bai Spirit needed to be pacified if they were to have any hope of retrieving his men, and the Avatar was the only means by which that could be achieved.

The boy had been sitting in a tent, where Princess Azula had tried more than once to awaken him via meditation, so that she might be able to reach him, assuming he was in the Spirit World. Now, Zhao was not an expert on accessing said world, but he did know that the Avatar was the person most capable of doing so, and that it was a great challenge for anyone else to do it. Though he hadn't dared to mention his opinion, it was rather obvious the Princess was not spiritually inclined, though her desire to at least learn about such techniques suggested she might eventually get somewhere with it.

The Avatar awakening was unmistakable as he heard a frightened gasp coming out of the tent, and Zhao's eyes met those of his subordinates, who seemed relieved to note the Avatar had actually decided to awake before sundown, when the Hei Bai would once again pose a serious threat to their lives. He heard the sound of the Avatar's friend, beginning to yap on about her brother and how they needed to help him and the villagers, and Zhao stepped into the tent, intent on actually getting some answers.

"Avatar." he addressed him, both he, his friend and Azula all looking his way with slight surprise, though the Princess' face quickly shifted to one of annoyance.

"Yes, Zhao, we'll get your men back." she assured him by pre-empting the question he had intended to ask, before turning her eyes to the Avatar, "How can the spirit be stopped?"

"I..." he mumbled, "It's the spirit of the forest." he explained what they already had come to understand.

"Yes, we know." the Princess nodded, before raising a hand, "Do we have to wait for the trees to regrow for it to stop having a fit?" she asked, clearly being sarcastic, though the Commander's mind turned to the possibility that might even be the case; the area would be uninhabitable for months, if not years, and his men could be lost for just as long.

"No, no, I think I can explain to it that the trees will regrow. That's why it's angry. The forest isn't gone forever." he gave his plans out plainly, the Commander crossing his arms as he glanced back toward the statue of what he assumed was the spirit's natural form.

"So, when the sun goes down... then you'll get my men back." he concluded, the Avatar narrowing his eyes at him.

"Why- why isn't he attacking me?" he asked, "He tried to hurt me and my friends back at the village." he stressed, presumably addressing the Princess.

"Because I persuaded him to do otherwise, and then, the Fire Lord made that law." she explained, the Commander shaking his head, remembering what would come after they dealt with the spirit.

"Spirits save us from what comes next." he grumbled under his breath, knowing that his men getting ensnared by a spirit was nothing compared to what the Fire Nation as a whole was facing, "I don't imagine stopping your father will be easy, your highness."

"W-wait..." the Avatar mumbled, "Does that mean..." he trailed off, before turning his eyes away from Zhao, "Does everybody know about what happened?" he asked, his friend and the Princess both nodding, "Oh no." he gasped, his reaction unsurprising, given that a pacificistically minded Air Nomad would be repulsed at the kinds of things that were about to occur; Zhao, not a pacifist in the slightest, agreed with the sentiment, of out of love for his nation and its unity, not because he thought peace was the best way to achieve any end.

"Is there anything you need to tell us, Aang?" the Water Tribe girl asked him, "You must have seen some things in the Spirit World."

"I did." he confirmed, before scrunching his lips up, "I need to go to Crescent Island."

"Wow, I'm impressed, Azula." she conceded with crossed arms, eyeing the Princess with a surprised face, "I didn't expect you'd predict exactly what Aang wanted to do."

"Wait- really?" he looked her way, and the Princess nodded.

"Well, yes. She mentioned you wanted to seek guidance from Roku, so you had to go to a place associated with him to do just that. Crescent Island has a temple dedicated to him." she explained why he ought to go there, and Zhao raised a finger to his chin.

"Your highness, there's a fair distance between us and Crescent Island... and I imagine that those loyal to your father in the Western Fleet are going to jump at the chance to capture the boy now that the plot has been revealed." he warned her, knowing that his fellow officers, if in league with the Prince, would be doing everything they could to both earn his favour and destroy any potential enemies, the Avatar being one of them.

"That is true." she conceded, before rising to her feet, "Aang, you need to get back to the village and stop the spirit... and before the sun sets and it tries to attack us." she told him, the young Avatar nodding, accepting her request without any hesitation; Zhao, not withholding his own distaste about working with an enemy of their nation, was impressed by how malleable he was to her command, and that proved to him, in person, that her desire to use the Avatar to their advantage was not misplaced.

They all paced on out of the tent, and he heard a whistle behind him, before hearing the Princess call out, "Ty Lee, wake up!" she called on her companion, who had been taking a nap while they awaited the Avatar's awakening; the girl's head piqued up from the ground where she had been lying, and she immediately rose up to her feet.

"Aang, you're awake." she gasped, obviously surprised to see the Avatar on his own two feet, and she paced on over toward them, "So, does this mean you know how to stop that spirit?"

"Uh... I think so." he admitted, before turning his eyes in the direction of the village, before darting to the horizon, which the sun was sitting barely above, "I need to get there, and fast!" he exclaimed, pacing over to the glider staff that had been propped up against the statue, which he grabbed and released, showing off the wings of the staff before he leapt up into the air, using his bending to glide off right in the direction of the village.

"Wow." Ty Lee gasped as she watched him fly off, and Zhao turned his eyes to his men, who had already disassembled much of the encampment with the presumption they'd leave the woods before nightfall.

"We need to get after him, and if he fails, get out of here." he warned them, the soldiers nodding as they all moved to pick up their things as the Avatar's friend ran off in the direction of the village after him.

"Are you going to chase him, Zula?" the Princess' friend asked her, and her unimpressed, unconcerned expression suggested she wouldn't.

"I'm not fussed. I believe he'll solve the problem for us, so I'm in no rush to return to Senlin village." she argued, the Commander blinking a few times; though he knew the Avatar was the person best suited to deal with the spirit, trusting a twelve year old, no matter if they weren't Fire Nation or not, didn't sit very well with him.

"A twelve year old, your highness?" he asked her, "Don't you think we should have asked him more about his plan?"

"Well, I understand that the spirit is angry, and that he is the one who can calm it. The forest being burnt to the ground is the obvious reason for its anger, so he will address that, and hopefully, the spirit can understand him." she gave her thoughts, before she paced over to her komodo rhino, "Now, are you going to come with us or not?"

"Yes, your highness." he assured her, before moving to mount his own steed.

He climbed onto his komodo rhino's saddle, before he raised a hand up, eyeing to the west, where he could see the sun dropping below the trees, "Come on!" he whipped the reins of his steed, which began moving on after that of the Princess, "The sun's already setting." he stated the fact of the matter, and as they made their way out of the blackened grounds of the clearing, the group approached the woods, Zhao noting the smokestacks from Senlin.

They were in luck that the village was as close as it was to the clearing, which explained why the spirit had chosen to attack it first, instead of going for the closest Fire Nation base, located near the coast, where he knew the perpetrators of the arson would be, presumably ignorant of the consequences of their actions. As the sun disappeared from view as they made their way into the woods, he felt a chill down his spine, not from any spirit or anything of the likes, but simply the wind blowing into the woods, whipping up dead leaves on the ground and the flames that the Princess was using to light their path.

The Commander's eyes darted around, just hoping the spirit wouldn't come for them first, unsure what he, or even the powerful Princess could do in the face of a violent, infuriated spirit like the Hei Bai. The good thing was that with little exercise that day, his men were able to keep up easily, running after him on foot down the path, some of them lighting torches in their hands, not because of the growing darkness of twilight, but because they were afraid the spirit might attack them.

As they made their way closer to the village, he could hear some odd noises in the woods; it sounded like whistling, or some kind of bird-call, and he tensed up, unsure if that was the spirit making it. When he glanced up and saw a flock of birds flying above them, he realised that he was just being paranoid, but he could hear something else; a thumping noise off in the distance, akin to what sound the komodo rhinos would make as they trotted along, each footstep going after the other in a quick rhythm.

The Princess obviously thought what he was, as she intensified her blue torch, aiming toward the woods, "That has to be it." she declared, "We need to keep moving!" she shouted at them all, and Zhao whipped his steed's reins, prodding it to continue forward even faster than before.

Quickly enough, they approached the clearing which contained Senlin village, where he could see the Avatar standing guard, and off to the right, the spirit, which seemed to have just come out of the village.

"Aang, don't get any closer!" his friend tried to warn him as she stood behind, obviously not wanting him to go anywhere near the spirit; he didn't need her pleading, and strode closer, pulling out what looked like a nut or a pebble out of his pocket.

"I know what you are!" he called out to the spirit, "You're the spirit of the forest, and you're angry because the Fire Nation burned it down." he acknowledged what had transpired, offering what Zhao realised was an acorn, "I was sad and upset too, and this... this is what my friend showed me. The forest will grow back... you don't need to be angry." he told the spirit, which looked at the acorn as he threw it down onto the ground, and after a few moments, it picked up.

Suddenly, the spirit shifted from its monstrous, multi-armed form into that of a large panda, and looked at them for a moment before turning around to pace back into the woods; following it, bamboo sprouted out of the ground, presumably from its power, and it formed a small grove. Out of that grove stepped a few peasants, as well as the Water Tribesman and his own men, who were all dazed. The Avatar had actually done it, and Zhao let himself smile, glad that things had taken a turn for the better.

"Sokka!" the Water Tribe girl shouted out the boy's name, rushing to hug him, and the villagers came out to see their own loved ones; the deary, sweet scene didn't make Zhao feel any better, but simply made him feel less regret for his actions.

His men were safe, and now, he had to face what every other member of the armed forces would be facing at that very moment. The question of where their loyalties lay, and where the loyalties of their comrades, superiors and subordinates did. Iroh was indisputably the Fire Lord by law, but the law could be ignored by enough people that that fact would not matter; Ozai did not need the Fire Sages to approve his ascension, or his brother to die or abdicate. All it would take was enough people to believe he was the Fire Lord for it to merely become fact.

"Sir..." he heard one of his men who had been taken by the spirit address him, clearly confused by what happened, "Did... did you find a way to get us out?"

"No, that was the Avatar." he conceded; his pride made him want to just claim credit, but it was not because of him that they were free, but because of the Avatar, the only person that could stop spirits like the Hei Bai.

His eyes turned to the Princess, who looked on at the embracing villagers with an uneasy expression, and he understood why; she held the same fears he did, even if they weren't for the same reasons. Ozai was her father, and fighting against one's own father was something no honourable individual took lightly.

"Finally." she uttered a single word to express her feelings, before forcing her steed to turn around, "Commander, we'll be leaving at once. We must ensure that none of my father's supporters cannot prevent the Avatar from reaching Crescent Island."

"Yes, your highness." he accepted her command, though he was unsure if she actually had the authority to force him to do that; it was within the realm of her orders, he assumed, and with that, it made her word as if it were the word of the Dragon of the West himself.

"Azula." the Avatar addressed him, "I learned that I needed to get there by the Winter Solstice... and think that's really soon."

"It's tomorrow." the Water Tribe girl spoke up, making Zhao's eyes widen; they had to get all of his ships out in such a short period of time that he realised it might actually be a real challenge to achieve.

"You are right to be so urgent then, your highness." he conceded that the Princess was right; if the Avatar going to Crescent Island would help him master the elements, which the Fire Lord assumingly believed would allow him to stop Ozai in the worst case scenario, then ultimately, Zhao was obliged to assist him out of a desire to protect his nation, beyond any orders he had from the Princess.

He then reached into his pocket, realising that he ought to be more forthright; he had gone to the prison rig the Avatar and his friends had broken into, out of a desire to make sure the troublemakers were stopped, initially with no idea that the Avatar was involved. He found what he believed to be the personal possession of one of his friends, and had intended to use it to try and bargain the Avatar to compromise and give into his demands in exchange for its return, and now, he realised, he could do so, but with the intention of ensuring the Avatar was actually an ally of their nation.

"Avatar..." he spoke up, before eyeing his Water Tribe friends, "I believe that this belongs to one of your friends." he admitted, revealing what he assumed was a necklace to mark betrothal; whether it was the girl's, or the boy's which he intended to give to a girl, he could not be sure, but he understood enough about Water Tribe culture to know its purpose.

"My necklace." the girl exclaimed, before she raced toward him, "Give it back!" she demanded, the Commander raising a hand up to warn her to stop.

"Now, now, don't get so hasty." he warned them, "I want some assurances here."

"Assurances?" the Avatar raised a brow, "It's her necklace. Just give it back."

"I want you to tell me, Avatar, what you actually intend to do. I've heard all the speels about balance and the four nations before when I read some scrolls, but that's not you. Each Avatar is a different person... so tell me, boy, what are you going to do about the war?" he asked, the Water Tribe girl turning to face her friend.

"Just tell him, Aang... he's obviously working with Azula... even if he isn't nice." she argued in his favour, which wasn't unsurprising; he had something she held dear, though why exactly, he could not be sure.

"This isn't necessary, Zhao." the Princess warned him sternly, obviously not happy with the scene he was making; the Avatar wasn't going to just stand by, however, and stepped closer to him, putting on a smile.

"I just want to make sure the Fire Nation doesn't hurt... no, that nobody hurts anyone. The war has been terrible, from what Katara, Sokka and even Azula have told me. It's just made people's lives suck, and even if Fire Lord Sozin had some idea that he thought was good a hundred years ago, that doesn't mean it's the best way. I don't think the Fire Lord thinks that either."

"A new mission." he rephrased what he was saying, "You think we need a new mission."

"Stopping my father, for the meanwhile, is that mission." Azula spoke up, "That's the obligation of all loyal citizens."

"I don't think everyone is going to think that just ending the war is a good idea, Princess. Even if many will follow their Fire Lord's command... it's been a hundred years... things cannot change that easily, even if his majesty believes they ought to." he warned her, before turning his eyes back toward the Avatar, "So, you don't want to destroy our nation?"

"I never did." he assured him, "I just want to help make peace... and make something better than what we already have." he explained his intentions, "I don't know what that will be... everything's so different."

"The world changes." the Commander stressed the fact of the matter, "Our nation has had its victory, and I warn you, it will not be taken from us so easily."

"Yes, it will not." the Princess agreed with him, before pointing to the Water Tribe girl, "Are you appeased now, Zhao?"

He raised his chin up, before nodding, deciding that further agitating her or the Avatar would just be foolish; he wasn't angry with the Avatar, or with anyone specifically at that moment. The emotion dominating his mind was fear, something that he wished could remain as foreign to him as regret and self-doubt. He was afraid where their world would go, how his nation could be weakened or corrupted because of well-intentioned but short-sighted actions made by the Avatar, or even the Fire Lord himself. He wished that things would remain as they had, but the world, as he had just said himself, always changes, no matter if he preferred that it wouldn't.

He offered the Water Tribe girl her necklace, and she snatched it from his hand before walking back to the Avatar and the Water Tribesman; Zhao scrunched his lips up, "You must really like your betrothed." he observed what seemed obvious from her attachment to the necklace.

She turned around, looking his way with confusion, "My what?"

"Betrothed." he repeated himself, "Your arranged marriage partner... that's who would have given you that necklace, right?"

"N-no..." she shook her head, looking at the necklace for a moment before she tied it around her neck.

"That's from our mother." the Water Tribe boy spoke up, narrowing his eyes at Zhao, "Who your people killed."

"I don't see how that's my problem." he retorted, before turning his eyes to the Princess, "Are we leaving?"

"Are- are you just going to let him leave after saying that?" he heard the Water Tribe boy address his friends, presumably talking to his sister.

The Princess shook her head, "Learn when to hold your tongue. One day, it's going to get you killed." she warned him, before pulling on her steed's reins, "Ty Lee, let's go!" she called on her friend, who was on a komodo rhino just behind the Commander.

"Yeah, that was pretty mean." she bluntly acknowledged Zhao's words, before turning to face the Avatar's group, "Good luck, guys!" she waved to them, and they waved back, the two Water Tribesmen unenthused as they did so.

"Did somebody beat you as a child, Commander?" the Princess turned her head to address him, "Or did you like doing the beating?" she asked, the Commander narrowing his eyes, turning them away as he recalled his childhood, which seemed so far from the present that it was like it had not happened.

The Princess' question stung, and that was because, despite her rather snappy way of dealing with others, she seemed to be able to read people, including himself, with great ease; when he had been a young boy, about the Avatar's age, he was bullied for his relative weakness as a firebender, because he had always been behind on his sets. That had ended with him becoming so angry and hateful towards his bullies that he challenged them to Agni Kais, beating each of them in his rage, and proving his ability as a firebender. Nobody harassed him after that, and if anyone dared to annoy him, instead of calling for Agni Kais, he would make them ask for them instead by insulting them. He had never lost one in his years of service, or even before that as a cadet.

"Yes... but I always come out on top." he assured her, "They learnt not to anger me."

"Oh, well, I hope one of my father's cronies has the misfortune of doing just that, because it would be a sight to behold."

"You- you want to see me angry?" he asked, genuinely confused as to why she would want him to become infuriated; he only became angry when he was being made a fool of, and that rarely happened once he had become an officer.

"I don't trust you because you're always seething, Commander." she retorted, "Once I see that real face, then I can gauge who you really are."

"I-" he gasped out, realising that for once, he felt like he was the one being interrogated and buttered up; he didn't want to be annoyed by her comments, and he realised why she was making them, "Do you really sympathise with that Water Tribe girl?"

"Do you know why I am going to be an orphan, Commander?" she snapped back at him, and his eyes widened, realising what she was implying with her words.

"Wh-why?" he gasped, unsure if he actually wanted to hear the answer.

"Because my grandfather was a big enough fool to think that he could just use the blood of Avatar Roku to his own ends." she warned him, making the Commander blink a few times, unsure why she was talking about Avatar Roku, before he remembered; it was big news at the time, but being so long ago, Zhao only faintly remembered it- the marriage of Ursa, a descendant of the last Avatar, to the second son of Fire Lord Azulon.

"Your-" he mumbled, before turning his eyes back toward the village, eyeing the Avatar and his friends as they rode away, "So, Prince Ozai has brought this upon himself." he concluded, knowing that the blood of Avatar Roku was the one most powerful weapon Ozai had intended to use, which was really going to be his undoing; whether it was Princess Azula or her elder brother, it seemed that they were never destined to be pawns of Azulon or their father.

Blood was not the most powerful thing one could wield, but descent from an Avatar made her far more dangerous than any ordinary firebender, and the very fact that the only recent descendants of any Avatar were two members of the Fire Nation Royal Family indicated that the Avatar's will, even if unconscious, would peter down through the generations, and affect their nation at its very core. No matter whether Zhao thought it was a good idea for such a pairing to go ahead, it was clear that trying to meddle with bloodlines to create the perfect heir had obviously backfired, and it would only be a matter of time before that backfiring ended up burning off Prince Ozai's face.

"I am what he fears most... because I am everything he wishes he was, and everything he seeks to destroy."


The ride back to her ship was boring, and Azula wished only to return to it so she could get some sleep; she had spent the last day trying to awake the Avatar to no avail, only for him to wake at sunset. She didn't blame Aang for those circumstances, knowing that the young Avatar was simply learning his abilities, and had little control over them. Being stuck with Commander Zhao was something she hadn't exactly enjoyed, though the man was interesting and intelligent enough that she could tolerate his presence. He obviously didn't trust the Avatar, and wanted to protect their nation, like any patriot; there was also the fact that he had his own plans, such as that to take the Northern Water Tribe, though he hadn't mentioned it during their time together, and with good reason. She imagined the Avatar and his friends certainly wouldn't approve of it, and now that her uncle was Fire Lord, she would be amazed if he did.

The Commander hadn't mentioned it on their trip so far, and she hadn't brought it up, knowing that agitating him about it would only give him questions about which side he ought to be on. No matter if she didn't trust him, keeping him on the side of the Fire Lord would be necessary to continue receiving his support. He had intelligence and a number of ships patrolling about, meaning that they could track both the Avatar and any of her father's supporters who had the confidence to go after him.

More concerning to her than anything was the fact that Zhao actually knew about her ancestry, when she didn't; she had just assumed that the fact about her mother's ancestry had been common knowledge around the time of her marriage to her father, but had mostly been ignored, if not forgotten, perhaps because the great promise of the Avatar's bloodline had fallen through with her brother's relatively unimpressive firebending. The fact that many people knew about it when she did not frustrated her, and only further established her uncle's claims as fact. She had not asked about that, deciding that making desperate questions would simply make her look like a worried, pedantic teenage girl and not the focused and determined Princess she was; she had goals to achieve and duties to fulfil, and thinking about her purpose for existing would only serve to distract her.

Ty Lee had provided a good enough distraction from those concerning thoughts, talking about some things she had done at the circus; random stories that didn't really mean anything, but at least humoured her and kept her mind off of the things that rightfully ought to worry her, like the fact her father's treachery had been revealed. Her friend seemed to understand her unease and concern about the fact, and put a surprising amount of effort into her detailed stories about her escapades.

"So, so, you know, Zula, I didn't think that a platypus bear would let me sleep on it, but it turns out feeding circus animals does wonders." she beamed at her, finishing off her tale about a platypus bear that she had befriended when the circus was moving between settlements.

"And did that platypus bear do you any favours, or did it continue stealing your food?" she asked her friend, the acrobat grimacing slightly before she turned her eyes away.

"Uh... I mean, it let me play around with it. Plus, nobody wanted to mess with me when I was sitting next to something that could bite their hand off." she argued, before shaking her head, "It would have helped a lot if it was around when those firebenders attacked me."

"Soldiers aren't well trained to deal with such beasts." the Commander spoke up, before narrowing his eyes, "So... uh, am I going to be told what actually happened back in Tetsuwan?"

"The earthbender revolt?" Azula raised a brow, the Commander nodding.

"Yes, that. I heard from the reports that you were able to secure the withdrawal of our local troops." he noted, "I had not expected such diplomacy to be possible."

"Ty Lee is the reason that was possible." she conceded, before shaking her head, "The Avatar and his friends made that revolt... and though I am frustrated with the results, something of the likes was eventually going to happen."

"Are you saying the prisoners would have been freed?" Zhao guessed, the Princess raising a finger up, which already had a flame on it.

"The Fire Lord would likely prefer that bender prisons like that be closed down and replaced with something less abrasive. If anything was ever going to incite a revolt, it was the conditions those prisoners faced. Absolute force can only be matched by hatred and revenge."

"The prisoners were being suppressed fine until the Avatar got involved." Zhao argued, and she shook her head.

"That's beside the point. Do you think that they would accept being prisoners when there was no chance their country would win the war? As soon as Omashu fell, they'd be wiser to rise up and try to kill the guards with their bare hands than tolerate another day toiling under Fire Nation boots." she argued, "Without hope for liberation can only come desperation."

The Commander's eyes narrowed, and his face shifted from one of annoyance to one of fear as his mind must have turned to the circumstances they faced, "And we are the desperate ones now."

"No, we aren't desperate. My father is." she retorted, "My uncle commands the support of our people, no matter what a few disgruntled officers, ministers and noblemen say." she argued in favour of her uncle's widespread support, "Who had heard of my father before he joined my father's war councils?"

The look on Zhao's face said it all; her father had been a nobody, even if he was the son of the Fire Lord. He might have been doing work behind the scenes, serving his father in official duties, but he was not the one everyone looked to with awe. He was just the lesser son, and that very fact explained his hatred toward Iroh; she did not believe his actions were justified, but his feelings certainly were.

"And who had heard of the Dragon of the West, the conqueror of Ba Sing Se, the vanquisher of the Earth Kingdom?"

"Every single person in the world... if they're not living under a rock, that is." Zhao conceded, before his eyes darted ahead, "Ah, finally." he mumbled, his words a reaction to the view in front of them; they had finally reached the coast, and with it, the Fire Navy port they had been riding towards, where a number of ships sat alongside her own vessel and the Commander's battleship.

"It's about time." the Princess grumbled under her breath, before she whipped the reins of her komodo rhino, "Get to your ship, and make sure the Avatar doesn't get caught." she told the Commander, who nodded, seeming a little uneased, though now, it wasn't about the Avatar.

"So... how many of our own ships am I going to have to sink to stop your father?" he asked her a simple question that was rather hard to answer.

"The quicker he is captured and his supporters rooted out, the faster this will be over. The Fire Nation will not fall by its own hand." she assured him, "We cannot."

"That would make us as pitiful as the Earth Kingdom." Zhao conceded, before shaking his head, "There is no greater shame."

"The point I was trying to raise, Commander, is that by trying to destroy the Earth Kingdom with force, we have only incited their people to hate us, and when they have no better option, they will fight us. Now, I don't want to have to fight a two front war against my father, and let all the work of my ancestors just crumble before us. My uncle will hopefully find a way to settle some kind of deal with what remains of the Earth Kingdom, and with any luck, the Earth Kingdom will find less reasons to hate us, and more to admire our glory. Just as they always should have."

The Commander's eyes widened, and Azula noted that Ty Lee was impressed a little as well, "You raise a good point, your highness. Having the respect of the lesser nations would certainly make it easier for us to attain the glory and authority we have sought for the past century."

"Coercion is only one means to power, Commander. Another, is making your enemies your friends, and their enemies yours." she explained, making Zhao scrunch his lips up, presumably thinking they were the enemies of the whole Earth Kingdom, even if that really wasn't the case.

"Who are the enemies of the Earth Kingdom, if not us?"

"Their leaders." she argued, pursing her lips upward, "They mightn't have much authority right now, but if we were to withdraw and let them rule themselves, they would simply return to their barbaric, backwards way of life. Ruled by petty kings and warlords with no aspiration to better anything but the number of coins in their pockets." she argued, "Those people were the ones who stood in our way to begin with, but they used the masses as their shields."

"Well... I must say, your idea is more than enticing, Princess Azula." he conceded her wit, "The Earth Kingdom needn't be our enemy... or at least, the unwashed masses we have been trying to rule. They aren't united like we are... the only thing that binds them is their element and their useless king."

"While we are bound by our goal to build a better world." Azula contended, a fact that had been skewed by her ancestors to their own ends of destruction and malice, but she knew it could just as easily be wielded to make the Fire Nation better than it had ever been, "The Fire Lord is simply the one that is best placed to achieve that world, and I trust my uncle will do just that."

"That's a pretty good argument, Azula." Ty Lee smiled at her, "I hope that others can see that too."

"The issue remains that there is no monolithic opinion about what that better world will look like, your highness." Zhao added, his gaze turning away as he seemed to mull over what he ought to say.

"Some opinions are better left unsaid." she suggested, not wanting him to make a fool of himself, or start an argument that she didn't want to have; facing her own opinions on that future would only make her feel more frustrated, knowing that not too long ago, she would have likely agreed with the Commander's opinions for the most part.

Glory for their nation, and peace for the world, achieved by subjugating all their enemies and liberating their peoples from the lesser ways they lived. Even if she didn't like the cultures of the other nations, or think their rulers were anywhere near as worthy as someone like her uncle, she knew that it was narrow-minded and foolish to try and destroy everything they stood for and believed in.

There were only two ways she could see going forward, and that was the four nations becoming just that once again, or such divisions being abolished entirely. Of course, the latter was Sozin's aim after all, but he had always seen their own nation as being the one to replace the others, rather than their nations actually becoming one. Part of her wished that her uncle could just rule the world and be done with it, but she knew that such dominion would not last long; the four nations were four for a reason, even if only one Air Nomad remained, the fact of the matter was that their nations had become as distinct as they had for a reason.

"We've already won, your highness." Zhao simply admitted, "The only fight that remains is what to do now that the world is at our feet."

She knew he was right about that, and even if there was a diversity of opinions, the fact was that their conflict really didn't involve the other nations, despite her uncle's intentions to enlist Aang's support against Ozai. The Fire Nation needed a path forward, and she was sure that it would be decided soon enough, and she could only hope that it didn't lead to the destruction of all they had built.

As they continued riding down the road towards the port, Azula took note of the soldiers that were mustered by the gates that led into the port; they were a mixture of benders and non-benders, standing ready to defend the base, though from what or whom, she was unsure. She recalled that Zhao had sent messengers back to the port, so, perhaps, they had feared that the Hei Bai would travel as far as to attack the port, which didn't seem unreasonable.

They looked at the Princess and her companions, realising that they had returned from Senlin, and a few of them paced forward; one of them saluted the Commander, presumably being one of his subordinates.

"Commander!" he addressed him, "We thought the spirit might have got you all."

"No, it didn't." he assured him, "The spirit has been dealt with, and the men it took are back with us."

That roused a few cheers from the soldiers, who were clearly happy to know that they were no longer in danger; Azula gestured for her guards to continue forward, knowing that they couldn't waste any time celebrating. They needed to follow Appa and make sure that Aang and his friends were not attacked by her father's forces. As she made her way past the soldiers, they stepped out of her way, obviously recognising her from her headpiece and armour.

She rode on into the base, she took note of a line of men taking up boxes of supplies onto one of the ships in port; Ty Lee was eyeing off to their right, her attention drawn by a group of troops going through their sets. Azula knew it was unusual for them to be doing that after dark, but it made perfect sense why; if her father's supporters came to seize the port, then the defenders, having sworn their oaths to the Fire Lord, would be obliged to resist. A fight was inevitable at that point, though it was really just a question of when the fight would take place.

She made her way toward a long stone pier which jutted out from the coast, alongside which half a dozen ships were docked, one of which was her own; she had to lead her guards back into the ship, dismount their steeds and check if the ship had all the supplies they would need before they would depart. It would not be a long process, and she would make sure that it ran as quickly as it could; the slower they were, the more of an advantage those already out at sea could take.

Zhao and his men were still following behind her, though now at a distance, and intending for their own vessel, a large battleship docked relatively close to the shoreline. The vessel was impressive, but it was no bigger than the ones she'd seen at the capital's dockyards when she had visited once on official duties. The Fire Nation's ships made any other nation's look miniscule, and even their small ships, the steamers that most navy ships would have placed aboard, were as large as any Water Tribe vessel, and nearly as large as the Earth Kingdom's pitiful ships that they had for the most part vanquished in their long war.

She knew that her enemies had access to the same resources, so the only way to outwit them would be to attack first, attack hard and encircle their ships. If they could not flee, they would have to negotiate; the Princess did not expect to be sailing right into a battle, but sooner rather than later, she expected her father's forces would come for her, just as they had come for Zuko and Mai.

"That was a trip." Ty Lee mumbled, making Azula shake her head.

"Did you forget your time hiding in the Earth Kingdom? This was nothing compared to that."

"But it just felt so long... we really didn't do much." she noted their lack of activity during their time trying to find and then awaken Aang.

"I tried." she mumbled, before turning her eyes away, "But maybe I just don't have it in me."

"I don't think anyone should expect you to have Avatar powers, Zula... even if your great-granddad or whatever was the Avatar." she argued a rather obvious and sensible idea, and the Princess pursed her lips, wondering whether she really didn't have any kind of access to the spiritual abilities of her ancestor.

"I mean... it's just meditation." she admitted, before narrowing her eyes, "And Uncle can do it."

"He can go to the Spirit World?" she asked her, perplexed at that revelation.

"Uncle can do many things. He went there after..." she trailed off, not wanting to actually say it, "You know what."

"Y-yeah... to look for your cousin?"

"I think so." she nodded, not having gotten a specific explanation from her uncle, who was rather secretive about his experiences concerning the Spirit World; what was certain enough was that he had the ability to reach it, whether through meditation like Aang had, or some other means.

As they approached the lowered entrance into the hull of her ship, she saw a few of the sailors and her personal servants ready to greet her; they seemed glad that she had returned, and obviously, were there to lend a helping hand.

"Your highness." Kang, the head of her little entourage of servants, addressed her, "Would you require anything of us this evening? A spa? Fresh robes? Perhaps some dinner?"

The Princess narrowed her eyes, before she nodded, "Yes." she agreed, "Yes to all of those." she stressed, the servants bowing to her, "Spa first, I assume?"

"Yes." she confirmed, "I need to relax." she conceded her tiredness and desire to unwind after a rather stressful day of waiting for Aang to wake up.

"Oh great, I was wondering if we were gonna have some spa time, Zula." Ty Lee grinned at her, the Princess remaining straight-faced as she rode the komodo rhino into the hull of the ship, riding it toward the pens where it would be staying.

When she reached the pen, she dismounted the steed, her two feet falling on the ground for the first time since she left their campsite around the Hei Bai's shrine. Azula let out a sigh, and reached for the komodo rhino's lead, pulling it into the pen, before she reached over to the saddle-bag. She was about to pull her things from the saddle when she recalled the fact she had servants standing right by her.

"I need my things taken to my room." she called out to the servants, two of them pacing over toward her komodo rhino while she stepped out of the pen, eyeing her guards as they dismounted their steeds.

She noted that Ty Lee had already led hers into its pen, and had stepped out with her small travel bag over her shoulder, "So, Zula, straight to the spa?" she asked, the Princess nodding, before she turned her gaze over to the pier, watching as Zhao and his men made their way on by, heading to the nearby battleship, which had its bow down, awaiting its commanding officer's return.

She wondered if the Commander would remain as steadfastly loyal to the Fire Lord as she hoped he would; she didn't trust him that much, but she had the hope that at least if somebody like him could remain loyal to her uncle, others who were just as nationalistic could tolerate doing so. Her eyes were drawn suddenly to a fire stream, which burst out of nowhere, the Princess raising her hands up at once to block the sudden attack. Ty Lee stepped back beside her, immediately moving into form as the Princess did the same, waiting for her attacker to do something else.

"Show yourself!" she shouted out, and suddenly the flames were parted by a darkly clothed figure that had their face covered; they shot a flurry of fireballs at the Princess, who deflected the attacks as her guards rushed to her aid.

It seemed, however, that the attacker was no goon; he threw two walls of fire up to block the guards to either side, throwing some of them off their feet before he kicked his foot forward, sending a fire stream toward her. Azula held her hand out, parting the attack with her firebending, the flames licking around to either side of her, forcing Ty Lee to stand behind her out of fear of getting burnt. She grit her teeth, not wanting to waste any time fighting a foolish assassin.

She raised her left foot up, using it to bend the flames that were coming towards her, before she bent them down into the floor, creating a massive blast of fire which burst out in all directions; Azula was able to bend the flames away from her and Ty Lee, but a shout of pain from opposite indicated that the assassin wasn't as lucky.

Despite whatever injuries he sustained, he didn't waste a moment, rushing forward to try and attack her face-on, the Princess charging two bolts of fire in her palms, releasing them as the assassin tried to slash her face with arcs of fire. Her bolts got him in the arms, breaking his movements and allowing her to kick him down with a fire stream to the chest. The attack was potent enough to throw him through the air onto the opened part of the hull between the pier and her ship.

They somersaulted back, rising up to their feet as Azula rushed forward, not wanting to give them a moment of relief; they reached forward, creating a fire whip which grappled her hands as she readied herself to knock him right off the pier with a well-aimed fire blast. The whip coiled around them, and she spun herself around, sending out a fireball from her right sole, whacking the assassin in their mask, and breaking their stance.

They stumbled back a few steps, and Azula spun her fingers around, Ty Lee realising what she was about to do as they looked at each other for a split second; she raised her hand up, wanting to warn her, only for the Princess to charge and release a lightning bolt into the air, her hand unexpectedly caught by the assassin, who proceeded to jab her in the gut with a kick.

"Too slow." he mocked her with a smug tone, before he tried to hit her again, only for the Princess to meet his fist with her own foot, whacking his hand away before she wrung herself free; she could see Zhao, his men, as well as her guards, all moving in to surround the assassin, who raised up walls of fire around himself.

"No." she retorted with a snarl, before spinning her fingers around, "You are." she gave the man his sentence, before shooting another lightning bolt, this time lower and while facing him, the bolt must have got him in the gut, and she heard him hit the pier, the sound of some bones breaking in the process.

A few moments later, the flames withered away as she bent them, and she saw his body slumped over, his now revealed face showing glazed eyes; he was already dead from her lightning bolt, and with a raised chin, she kicked his body off of the pier, letting it fall into the water. She turned her eyes to her left, seeing Zhao look at her with a face of awe, before noting that all his men seemed to feel the same way.

"Get on your ship, Commander." she ordered him, before turning around, eyeing her guards, "You all as well. We need to leave this damned port." she reiterated her orders before she paced toward Ty Lee, who was looking at her with an uneasy look.

"Azula..." she mumbled her name, and the Princess shook her head.

"What, did you think helping the Avatar would make me care about the lives of traitors?" she questioned her friend, whose gaze turned away from her.

"I don't feel like dinner anymore." she mumbled, and the Princess' stern expression faltered for a moment, feeling a tinge of guilt, though not for killing the assassin.

"How about the spa?" she asked, offering her a hand, "I know you could use it." she gave her opinion, her friend's almost sickened face turning slightly brighter, obviously knowing that the most relaxing things were also the best distractions.

"I can."