You know , I am honestly amazed at the speed I churn out these chapters in comparison to some of my other active stories . Probably because I don't nitpick over every little detail and kinda just go with what feels right for the story and the characters , you know what I mean ? But I should probably come up with a proper schedule , since I honestly feel unfair to some of my other stories with the quickness of how fast I post these chapters on this one .
Now about this chapter ... like I promised , some very important stuff is happening in this one . Very important that will be leading into some even more important stuff later down the line . And this chapter is going to be a long one and the longest chapter in this fic to date .
I give my thanks to HammerTide for giving me his notes which inspired this chapter and the events that will lead to the more important stuff . Okay , now I'm just rambling at this point which I think you all have had enough of .
So let's just get this chapter started already .
Azula was running through the forest with everything she had .
Which at this point was really just a mix of adrenaline , rage and sadness all packed into one big mess which seemed to keep her moving through the nightmare forest to where she was headed .
She vehemently ignored Zuko's call to stop as she ran away from the house her mother resided in and Zuko's pathetic band of friends . She could care less what he wanted at this point , she already had and knew what she needed to know .
Her mother had willingly agreed to wipe away all memories of herself and replaced her with a new daughter . The kind sweet little girl that Zuko had already taken a liking to when they first arrived in the village . Even Zuko already liked the replacement more than her .
If Azula was being honest , what else had she been expecting when they found her mother ?
That all those times being locked up in that mad house of an asylum , when her mother had come to her right before the doctors and nurses drugged her to sleep and told her that she loved her were true ? That the woman who had called her a monster and flat out admit that she wished she ended her life before she was even born still cared for her ?
What a sick joke Azula fooled herself into believing ...
" Gah ! " Azula let out a short cry of surprise as her left arm got cut by a sharp branch , but fortunately it seemed that it didn't even break the skin or cause blood to spill as it mostly just cut her shirt so she carried on without a care for her own life at this point . She just keep on running deeper and deeper into the forest .
She had only one course of action at that point . Finally get rid of the woman who had caused the most pain in her life .
She knew that Zuko would try to stop her , he had always been mother's favorite . And he did manage to stop her from flat out killing mother .
If it meant that Azula would finally be free of the incessant voice of mother in her head than she would do whatever it took to finally be rid of her .
" Ah ! " Azula tripped on a vine and would have landed face first into the muddy water if not for her catching herself just before then with her hands .
And as she looked into the muddy water , she could see mother's face looking back at her . With those damn pitiful eyes .
" I love you Azula , I always do-"
" SHUT UP ! YOU NEVER LOVED ME ! DON'T YOU DARE LIE ! " Azula shouted at the reflection of her mother , before blasting the ghost of her mother with her blue fire .
Azula breathed in and out , her breathing was close to erratic at this point and at the moment ... there was no holding anything back .
Azula reached into her hair and reached for the item that had been holding it up all this time . The one ... last thing she had kept with her for all this time even after mother left .
It was a small golden crown . Gifted to her long ago when she was still just a child by her mother .
It was given to her during her birthday , she can't even remember which one it was but she was still young when it happened .
And she still hung on to it even after all the years , it was one of the few things Zuko let her keep in that mad house . She didn't fully know why she kept it , perhaps she hanged on to it because of a foolish hope that maybe one day her mother would come back and tell her that she really did love her . That the night she told Lo that she wished she had ended Azula's life before she was even born was just a mistake .
But such a childish fantasy would never happen . Today had already proven that well beyond any plausible doubt .
So what the hell was the point of even hanging on to this piece of trash anymore ?
Azula pours of all her strength , rage , sorrow , sadness and fire into her hands - and in a single movement snaps the crown in half .
She throws the broken pieces of her crown away , whatever value it had went down the volcano when she realized who Noriko really was .
And whatever small ounce of love she may have still felt for Ursa at that point were gone with it .
Azula didn't waste another minute as she began running again , the clouds above her crackling with thunder signifying that it was going to be raining .
She just kept on running and running ...
Until she lost her footing again ... and fell ...
And kept falling into a pitch black void where nobody could hear her screams .
Azula's eyes snapped open with a gasp as she found herself looking up at the ceiling of her room . She sat up on the bed and to her surprise it was actually morning instead of still night . And what's even more surprising is that nothing seemed to have been set on fire and as far as she could tell Kazumi hadn't been bursting in to put out any new flames she created while she was asleep .
So she didn't have a full blown episode in the dead night and set anything on fire while she was still asleep .
Azula's not really sure whether she should really count that as a win in her book but ... it was something at least to show that she was making some progress . At least , she didn't have another episode .
And from what she can remember , she didn't have a nightmare either but rather ... a dream or maybe a recollection from her memory ? The latter seemed much more likely .
Azula reached up and touched where the crown her mother gave her used to be . Before she broke it in half and left in the mud in the middle of nowhere in the Forgetful Forest . Its probably long gone by now .
Azula mercilessly pushes down whatever lingering thoughts or feeling she had about it down into her heart . She didn't want to think about that anymore . Not in the morning at least .
Azula had found that she had fallen into a kind of routine since she had started living with Kazumi . In a way it was somewhat similar to the one she had back when she was still living at the palace , but there was something a bit different about it - the routine she had while she lived with Kazumi had a kind of calming feeling to it , she no longer felt the urge to constantly be on point with each of her to do-things in the morning .
Perhaps the fact that she no longer had Father constantly breathing down her neck had something to do with it .
But anyway , Azula's morning started with some short morning stretches to work out any sore or stiff feeling she may feel in her bones during the night . Even if she was no longer royalty , she would not let her body fall out of shape . She had indeed fallen out of practice during her time at the asylum , considering the fact that those damn nurses and doctors kept her restrained at almost every waking moment . Which didn't provide much time for Azula to even stretch , let alone practice some of her katas .
After she finished her stretches for the morning , she put the rest of her clothes on which was of course loaned from Kazumi . The older woman had explained when Azula asked that the clothes she was given had in fact once belonged to Kazumi during her younger years . It honestly made sense since it didn't seem like Kazumi's family had been particularly large .
Azula looked herself in the mirror , she looked good . She no longer looked like that deranged princess she saw in the mirror back at the palace just before Zuko showed up to take her throne .
But there was one thing that was off to her ...
It was her hair . It was too free and flowing for her liking .
Azula had almost always kept her hair tied up and quite rarely let it down . But for the entirety of the time she had been staying with Kazumi , her hair had been very flowy . Granted , she didn't look bad with her hair free but she just preferred it to be tied up .
Her hair is too short to make braids , not sure if they would even look good if that were the case . And she's not sure if she really wants to cut her hair ... she always preferred to have her hair be at just the right length .
Azula thought back to her broken crown briefly , the one that mother gave ...
She pushed that thought down . She didn't want to even think about it anymore .
Once she made herself look proper , she exited the room to go have breakfast with Kazumi . She could already smell food being cooked from the hallway and as she entered the room , she could see Kazumi cooking breakfast .
" Ah , Azula " Kazumi gave her a smile as she entered " I'm almost done with breakfast just take a seat "
Azula gave a brief nod but didn't sit down , she went over to Kazumi and grabbed some stuff to help set the table .
" I'll help ..." Azula gave a short answer .
" Thank you Azula ..." Azula didn't look at Kazumi but she could practically feel the woman's smile radiating .
In less than a few minutes , everything was set up and the two were eating peacefully .
" So Azula , did you have a good sleep ? " Kazumi asked as she bit into a piece of meat .
Azula narrowed her eyes at Kazumi , the older woman had consistently asked that almost every morning . Though Azula was beginning to think that it was secretly code for : ' Did you have any nightmares or episodes I should know about ? '
Azula disliked being treated like a child but ... she did appreciate the concern at least .
" ... If you're asking if I had any nightmares or episodes than no , thank Agni " Azula took a bite of her rice as she pondered whether she should tell Kazumi about her dream memory last night . Eventually though she figured she had nothing to lose by telling " ...But I did have a dream last night "
" Oh ? " Kazumi raised an eyebrow at that .
" Well , maybe not a dream exactly ..." Azula struggled to explain properly " It was something more akin to a dream I suppose you could say ..."
" Was it a bad dream ? " Kazumi quietly asked .
Azula didn't answer right away , but rather her movements slowed down before she finally answered " ... It wasn't nearly as bad as one of my nightmares or episodes that's for sure "
Azula spoke the truth or rather she just spoke the part that she hoped would get Kazumi off her back .
Kazumi thankfully didn't ask any follow up questions after that . Whether she suspected that was Azula's intention or not was unknown to the princess .
The rest of the morning was a relatively quiet affair .
" Hah ! Hah ! " Azula let out a cry as she struck her wooden practice sword against Kazumi's .
" You don't need to strike so hard , we're just practicing Azula " Kazumi commented as she parried Azula's sword " Also you shouldn't throw your shoulder out so much , you might end up getting cramp or might actually end up throwing your shoulder "
Azula said nothing but nod as she followed Kazumi's advice .
It was later during the afternoon when Azula was practicing her swordsmanship with Kazumi . The older woman had finally decided that Azula already had mastered most of the basics and was ready for some of the more advanced forms . Though to do that Azula would need a practice partner and Kazumi just fortunately had an extra practice sword lying around .
At the moment , they were just lightly sparring though Azula wouldn't really call it sparring more so just Azula lightly smacking Kazumi's sword and the older woman advising her along the way .
Still much better than swinging at thin air at least .
" Be careful Azula , you might trip and sprain your ankle if your stance is too forward " Kazumi made another comment , giving a soft smile " Trust me , I know from experience of that happening "
Azula gave a brief nodded before she fixed it . Kazumi was always gentle whenever she corrected a mistake of Azula , pretty much the opposite of Father who would always point out her mistake in the most insulting and degrading way possible .
The two continued like this for some time . Azula taking swings at Kazumi and the older woman defending against them effortlessly , though Azula could already tell that Kazumi was purposefully going easy on her , if her grace with a sword and near effortless deflections of Azula's strikes were anything to go by than Kazumi easily outclassed Azula .
Azula briefly wondered whether she could beat Master Piandao , the greatest swordsman in the Fire Nation but that was a thought for another time .
Azula couldn't quite describe it , but swordsmanship was ... oddly calming to her in a way . Similar to firebending is but not exactly the same . There was a kind of ...calm to it that she couldn't describe . And sparring with Kazumi was oddly enjoyable in a sense , whenever she sparred with Zuko in their youth , it always felt like a heated battle for victory .
But swordsmanship was different . There was not unbearable heat or strive for total victory or dominance . There was just a simple calm breeze blowing past her as she swings her sword .
Or maybe it was just because Father was no longer there to critic and watch her every move . Maybe both , she doesn't really know .
Kazumi let out a pant as she gently set her sword on the ground , clearly tired from the sparring " Okay , I think that's more than enough for today ..."
Azula let out a tired sigh too as she set down her wooden practice sword , even she was mildly tired from all the sparring . Though she's certainly had worse sparring sessions that dragged on for far longer than the one she just had with Kazumi .
Kazumi and Azula walked over to the edge of the lake , the both of them taking a handful of water and splashing it on their faces to help get rid of the sweat that had accumulated from their sparring session .
Azula felt refreshed from the cool water of the lake , but as she looked down at the reflection in the lake ... she luckily didn't a ghost of her mother looking back at her ...
But she did see herself . With her long free hair out .
And Azula didn't like it too much .
Azula brushed some hair that had gotten in the way of her eyes , it was starting to get more than a little annoying ...
" Azula is everything alright ? " Kazumi asked looking at the young girl .
Azula let out a sigh as she tried to tuck away a strand that had been out of place " Its nothing its just ... I don't like my hair being like this "
During her wonderful year at the asylum , her hair had grown ridiculously long . Far longer than she would have liked . But the ever kind doctors and nurses had never once bothered to cut it during her time there . When Zuko had come crawling to her to help find their mother , he had been gracious enough to have some servants cut her hair to have her look somewhat presentable and not like a madwoman that had just been let out of the asylum .
But that had been so long ago and now after spending close to two months with Kazumi at her house , her hair had grown long once again .
" You don't like it long ? " Kazumi asked .
" No , I just don't like it to be so flowy and free " Azula answered .
" Hmmm... well if you want , I can cut it " Kazumi suggested .
Azula shook her head " No , I don't think its long enough to warrant a cut just yet " Her hair had not grown as ridiculously long as it did back at the asylum and it wasn't at such a length that made Azula's uncomfortable .
Kazumi pondered for a moment , putting a hand to her chin " Actually ... I think I may have just the thing "
Kazumi promptly got up and walked back to the house . Azula wondered what she could be searching for but just opted to wait by the lake . In less than a few minutes , Kazumi exited the house and walked back over to Azula , and the older woman seemed to be holding something in her hand .
" Here you go Azula " Kazumi approached Azula and held the item out to the young girl and Azula could see that it was ...
A flower .
Okay , upon closer inspection it wasn't actually a flower , but in fact one of those flower pins Azula remembered some girls liked to put in their hair . It served a similar function like that of her ... crown .
The one that mother gave .
Azula finds her body go cold at the memory of it as Kazumi continued to talk .
" You can use this to hold your hair and ... " Kazumi stopped as she saw that Azula had visibly gone as stiff as a statue , practically staring at the flower pin in her hand " Azula ... are you alright ? "
Azula didn't respond as she continued to stare at the flower pin in Kazumi's hand .
" I love Azula , I really do ..."
As if on cue , mother's voice starting ringing throughout her head . Like a ghost that wouldn't leave her dreams .
Azula looked back at Kazumi ... only it wasn't Kazumi standing there anymore .
It was mother . In all her ghostly image .
" I love Azula ... I really do "
" Azula , are you oka-" Kazumi tried to reach out to her but Azula smacked her hand away .
" STAY AWAY FROM ME MOTHER ! " Azula couldn't hold back anymore , she took stance and launched a ball of fire at her ghost mother .
" Azula ! " Kazumi shouted as she jumped to the side to dodge the attack .
Is she having another episode ? And why ? What caused it ?
Kazumi had many questions on her mind , but now wasn't the time . She had to save Azula from hurting herself .
" DIE MOTHER ! " Azula shouted as she felt the spark of electricity in her fingers and blasted a bolt of lightning at her mother .
Kazumi didn't move this time , instead she took stance as she prepared for the lightning . Just like before she managed to catch the lightning and redirect it towards the ground .
" Agni , why won't you leave me alone ! Just go live the life you always wanted ! You never wanted me ! " Azula shouted and Kazumi froze .
What did Azula just say ?
" You always wanted a kind , just and compassionate little girl ... well you finally got one ! You have no need to pretend you love me anymore ! " Azula shouted , tears coming to her eyes " You already told me how you wished you had ended my life before it even began ! So why don't you just leave me alone already ?! "
Kazumi felt herself go cold at that . Did Azula's mother ...seriously consider what Kazumi thinks she did ?
Kazumi shook her head , there would be a time for that later .
Kazumi rushed Azula just as she launched another ball of fire at her , this time doing a frontal roll to dodge it and come face to face with Azula . Quickly grabbing the young girl's wrist to keep her from shooting more flames .
" Let me go ! Get off of me ! J-Just J-just ... " Azula's struggles got weaker and weaker .
" Azula its okay , you're with me , you're safe now ..." Kazumi spoke in that calm gentle tone and Azula's eyes met hers .
" K-K-Kazumi ...? " Azula's voice sounded broken as she came back to her senses and that made Kazumi's heart clench as she pulled the girl in close to hug , Azula started sobbing into Kazumi's shoulder .
"Its okay Azula ... its okay ..." Kazumi repeated as Azula's cried into her shoulder .
The next hour or two could only be described as a blur for Azula . From what she could somewhat remember , after she finished sobbing for half an hour , Kazumi slowly took her back to her room so that she could at least rest a bit .
Though Azula couldn't sleep at all , she just laid there on the bed and tried her damned hardest not to think about anything involving mother or anyone from her past .
At that moment , she heard a knock on the door followed by a voice " Azula ? Can I come in ? "
Azula didn't respond right away , but rather sat up on the bed first " ...Yes " Her voice barely above a whisper but it seemed to have been heard as Kazumi entered .
" Azula ..." Kazumi said as she walked over and sat on the bed next to Azula " ...Are you okay ? "
" If by okay you mean , I haven't heard or seen anymore of voices or ghosts of my mother than you are right " Azula said snappily .
Kazumi looked at her sadly and that for some stuck a prick in Azula's heart " I'm sorry ... did I do something to trigger it ? "
" Its nothing its just ..." Azula knew that was a lie , she had attacked Kazumi with both lightning and fire , she deserved a bit of honesty if nothing else" Fine , I'm not alright ! This afternoon when you gave me that hairpin ... it reminded me of my mother and how she gave me a crown just like that when I was younger before she ... left me ..."
" Azula ..." Kazumi looked at the girl sadly .
" I thought I was making progress Kazumi , I thought I was finally getting rid of these damn voices and ghosts in my head ... but they are still there ! " Azula shouted as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration , the tears starting to sting her eyes again " I'm still at square one ! "
Kazumi thought about what to say next before she spoke " Azula its okay -"
" How is it okay Kazumi ?! When ghosts of my past just won't leave me alone ! How can I be okay !? " Azula shouted .
" I ... wasn't talking about being okay ..." Kazumi interrupted as she gently set her hand on Azula's shoulder which seemed to calm her a bit " I mean , its okay to admit that you aren't okay ..."
Azula's eyes widen as Kazumi spoke " I know from experience that healing isn't an easy process ...it hurts and it can take years at a time to truly heal ... and there are some wounds that never really do ... but its how we handle them and choose to admit that they are there that matters the most ..."
Azula didn't say anything as she furiously wiped the tears away .
...
...
...
...
...
Things were silent between the two for about a minute and it was broken when Kazumi spoke up .
" Azula ... this afternoon ..." Kazumi recollected what was said during that moment " What did you mean when you said that your mother wished to end your life before it even began ? "
Kazumi knew that she was seriously pushing it and she already had a lingering feeling in her stomach that she already knew the answer . But she wanted to hear it from Azula .
Azula herself had gone stiff and Kazumi was worried that she may have gone too far " You ...heard that ? "
Really Azula was more pissed at herself for screaming off something so personal .
" ...Yes " Kazumi nodded simply .
Azula clicked her teeth " I'm sure you can figure it out ..."Azula said before she decided to elaborate " I ... h-heard her talking to one of the servants ..." Azula couldn't stop her voice from cracking a little " She said that ... she wished she had ended her pregnancy when she was with me ..."Azula grit her teeth as she told the next part of the story " And when I confronted her about it ... she hit me ..."
" I ... see ..." Kazumi's voice was frighteningly calm but there was a sense of anger behind it " I'm so sorry you had to go through that Azula ..."
" Don't be ..." Azula said which shocked Kazumi " My own mother ... thought I was a monster ..."
" She was right of course ... but it still hurt " Azula said . But this time there was no playing off how much it actually did hurt .
Azula hadn't even realize she had started crying . Again .
And she hadn't fully noticed when Kazumi pulled her into another hug and whispered into her ear " Azula ... you're not a monster "
Azula didn't pull away , but in fact held on to Kazumi , the tears coming again as she cried into her arms .
She almost wished she could believe that .
Kazumi exited Azula's room , it took a while but Azula had managed to fallen asleep after tiring herself out with crying . Kazumi let out a sigh , she knows that Azula probably won't be too happy about that when she wakes up but there's no helping it she supposes .
Kazumi considered herself a calm and patient woman . She had been trained by her own mother to never let her emotions cloud her judgement or control her actions so she was not the type to anger easily even in the worst of situations .
Right now though ... Kazumi was inexplicably calm .
Which was why she was now walking to the back of the house and through a couple of trees that lead into the Forgetful Forest . She had no intention of waking Azula with what she was about to do . And while it was still technically still afternoon , she knew that it would slowly turn to evening .
Luckily she had no such intentions of staying out for too long .
Kazumi stopped in the middle of a path , she could still just barely see her house through the dense vegetation and trees . This was suitable enough .
Kazumi took a deep breath ...
Before she flicked her wrists and several shurikens appeared in between her fingers , she promptly throwed them at several bamboo branches cutting them down in a single throw .
Another flick of the wrist .
And suddenly a knife that was attached to a chain reached out from the long sleeves of her dress , with several years of practice under her belt , she easily swung the chain knife around . Cutting down several tree branches and even more bamboo branches in the process .
She ended it by throwing the knife and landing itself perfectly into the heart of a tree . The potential heart of an enemy .
Kazumi felt the sparks of lightning gather in her finger tips as she took stance , pouring every last bit of her rage into it .
She shot the lightning through a group of bamboo branches and eventually hitting a tree . The sheer force of the blast enough to make the tree fall over .
Kazumi flinched a little as the tree hit the ground , fortunately it wasn't too loud .
" Mother of Faces forgive me ..." Kazumi said in a brief prayer before she took a deep breath .
Kazumi was perfectly calm .
That was definitely the reason for why she just mercilessly struck down several pieces of vegetation and plants .
" I ... h-heard her talking to one of the servants ... she said that ... she wished she had ended her pregnancy when she had me ..."
Azula's words ringed in Kazumi's mind .
Azula's mother had wished she had ended the life of her own child before she was even born .
Kazumi didn't know whether this had been serious or just a brief moment of idiotic thinking ... but honestly whichever the case didn't matter
Because it was how Azula's mother handled the situation that mattered and from what Azula told her mother had handled it very ...poorly to say the least .
Kazumi cannot help but wonder whether the dark spirits are toying or mocking her by having her meet a girl like Azula . Who had experienced so much pain and despair in her short life . Whose mother had openly admitted that she wished to end her life before it even began ...
Kazumi knows what that's like .
To commit the most unforgivable sin a mother could do to their child .
She knows ... she knows very very well .
Kazumi stood stock still for a moment , before she moved again , picking up her chain knife and shurikens and began walking back to the house .
She suspects that she won't have to make dinner tonight . She doubts that either Azula has the appetite for it and neither does she . Her appetite had been effectively ruined by the events of today .
" Keep it moving people ! We need to get this area checked out before sundown " Shin shouted as he led his group through the path .
Shin felt a line of sweat drip from the side of his face as he felt the sun beat down on them . He took a sip from his trusty waterskin , feeling the cool water revive him a little and make the heat a bit more bearable .
Their search for the runaway Fire Nation Princess had been delayed a bit as Shin had to go back into town to send a letter of report to the Fire Lord to inform him of how their search was going . That and they needed to resupply and his men needed to spend a night living in an actual inn instead of a tent in the middle of a nightmare forest .
Fire Lord Zuko had asked for frequent updates in regards to how the search was going . Honestly if Shin could sum up their search in one sentence it would probably be - very bad , horrible , atrocious , we are all probably going to die and tell my wife I love her .
Nevertheless , they persisted . And sending the occasional report letter had helped keep his men somewhat moralized as it let them spend a night at the inn in Hira'a and let them cool off a bit .
Anything is better than spending a night in this hellish forest that's for sure .
" So what's next on the fruitless search itinerary for today , cap ? " Zheng sarcastically asked , though he sounded as exhausted as everybody else .
" Can it Zheng and keep moving " Shin gave him a glare as they continued to move through the forest .
They had decided to try a new strategy where they would try to mark spots or areas they've been in to avoid running around in circles . Though that may prove more difficult than it seems because some of the markers either got picked up by animals or disappeared entirely .
Shin was genuinely running out of ideas and hope for finding the lost princess .
And that wasn't even the least of Shin's problems , even if they did find Princess Azula there was no way in hell that she was going to come in quietly . And while Shin boasted himself as one of the best of the Yuyun Archers ... he was no bender and he couldn't scale up to Princess Azula's skill . Even if she was a little not right in the head ...
And that's not even accounting for the possibility that Princess Azula has already left the Forgetful Forest and gone Agni knows where . That's what Shin would have done first thing he got into this forest and-
Shin stopped himself before he went on a tirade . This was pointless thinking . He was a Yuyun Archer and he would accomplish his task one way or another.
Perhaps this forest had started to wear on him too ... more so than he would have liked to admit .
Shin sucked it up and continue to walk the past with his team trailing behind him . They were walking down the direction that Princess Azula had reportedly taken , though Shin seriously doubted the accuracy of the report since the Fire Lord had really only seen Princess Azula run into the Forgetful Forest a few feet before she disappeared from sight among the vegetation .
So they were essentially guessing where she went at this point . Great ...
" Let's try to move up that-"
SHHNG !
Shin felt himself stop dead in his tracks ...as he felt as though he stepped on something metal .
It had been subtle . Buried under the mud . But he felt it through his boots .
" Everybody stop ! " Shin ordered as he knelled down and picked through the mud and eventually found the metal thing he had stepped on . It was made out of gold but had been covered in mud .
It looked like a ... crown ? But it wasn't complete , as if it had been broken in half .
" What is it cap ? " Cheng asked .
" Everybody search the mud ! Look for the other half of this thing ! " Shin held the item up high and that was enough to get everybody searching .
It took more than 10 minutes of mud searching and getting their gloves dirty but finally Zheng shouted " I found it ! " As he held up what looked to be the other half of the crown .
" Give it here " Shin took the other half from him and as he pushed the two broken half's together ... they were a perfect match .
" What is it ? " Cheng asked again .
" This crown belongs to Princess Azula " Shin announced which drew small gasps from the group .
" How do you know ? " One of his men asked
" it was reported that Princess Azula was last seen wearing a crown like this before she fled into this forest ..." Shin held the broken crown in his hand with gentleness .
Cheng spoke up " If she really did make it this far into the forest than ..."
There was a high chance that she was alive . Went unspoken by the group .
" What's our next move Captain ? " Zheng asked .
Shin rubbed some mud off of the once fine crown " I need to report this to Fire Lord Zuko immediately , we're heading back to Hira'a for a few days "
A few joyful shouts came from that and Shin mildly agreed .
He was happy to finally tell Fire Lord Zuko that they had made some essence of progress . And that was enough for him .
What do you want me say ? Or more specifically what we were you all expecting ?
That in less than 15 chapters , Azula would magically be cured of all of her trauma and be living a happy free life with her new cool mom ? I am offended that you all would think such a thing would happen with a guy like me at the helm .
My own snarkiness aside , I hope you all enjoyed this chapter , it was certainly a blast to write and I think its one of my most finely written chapters of this story to date . Okay now I'm just flattering myself but you all get the idea .
I hope you all liked the hints in regards to Kazumi's backstory , I have to give my thanks to HammerTide for providing me with her backstory as a whole which I kept mostly the same ... with some of my own ideas .
So Azula has regressed a bit in terms of mental health , Kazumi is pissed and the Yuyun Archers have finally got a clue in regards to what the hell happened to Azula ... I think its safe to say that we are getting closer to the juicy parts of this story .
And by close I mean whenever I feel like it .
:P
Now one final thing before I end this chapter ... have I ever told you all that I am a huge fan of Dishonored and have a nasty little of injecting powers from their into stories ? Well ... let's just say that habit has manifested in this story which I think you will all be seeing very soon .
That's all from me , see you all in the next one .
Angel Out .