Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

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

292. Chapter 292: WL Fortress-Loyalty 5

The White Lotus Fortress/Loyalty to the Disgraced

5

Xin Long groaned as he rolled on his side: Azula smiled upon taking her seat against his flank, hoisting the guzheng and propping it up carefully so that it would sit right upon her lap. The dragon was curious about what she'd play today, even if he'd sneakily listened in on her practices the previous day through their mind's bond. Azula laughed as she glanced back at him, running a hand through his hair.

"If this is a complete and utter failure, I can just sing a duet with you," she proposed. Xin Long groaned and nodded enthusiastically. "Though I could also just… compose a song about you. A fickle, beautiful dragon…"

And his fickle, beautiful rider, of course, Xin Long interjected. Azula chuckled again, shaking her head as she turned towards the instrument.

"Well, then… here goes nothing," she whispered, raising her hands.

The ivory fingerpicks she wore had also belonged to her cousin. The ones she'd chosen and attached to her fingertips were the least used ones – some appeared cracked and dented, for he had performed quite often for his fellow soldiers on the road. She closed her eyes as she let herself think of him once more… as she let herself imagine he might just want to listen to her performance too, since he had never had the chance to hear Azula playing the guzheng personally…

She plucked the first notes delicately, vibrating the notes on one side of the guzheng while she tapped the string repeatedly, topping it off with a lower note right after the first, mid-range one. She picked up speed, repeating the same rhythm and melodical pattern until she was only playing two notes… and then she ran her fingers over all the strings in a smooth manner, highlighting the pentatonic scale of the instrument's tuning.

Slowly, she drifted into the true melodical core of the song. Every note resonated beautifully in the instrument itself, echoing perfectly against the walls of the refuge as well. Her focus was absolute, for no matter how soothing and smooth the music might be, she was barely reclaiming this talent after setting it aside for years. A moment's worth of loss of concentration would see her making mistakes, and she certainly wanted to perform to the best of her ability while her dragon was listening.

The noise outside the Palace didn't concern her in the slightest. The parade surely would begin at any moment, but for today, she wasn't part of it. She didn't care to be part of it, either. She couldn't celebrate the greatness of her nation when her loyalty, her devotion to her people, had been the means through which Ozai had inflicted the very worst of his punishments on her. Had she been more disloyal, had she been willing to turn her back on them, Xin Long wouldn't be stuck in this refuge now…

Other misfortunes would have surely followed, had that been the case. Other tragedies, other sorrows… she had no notion of how bad they could have been, perhaps they would have been unbearable, though they might have been less painful than the hell she had experienced during the first month of her return to the Fire Nation. But as she played the instrument, increasing the speed of her strumming, of the strong plucking of each string, she knew there was no purpose in pondering such notions now: this was the choice she'd made, the path she'd chosen to follow. It was a dark and terrible path in many ways, even if by now she'd found specks of happiness and peace amid the horrors…

Whether it had been the right or wrong choice, it was too late to regret it anymore. All she could do, as she had so far, was improve her circumstances little by little… and most importantly, improve her dragon's circumstances until he was finally free anew.

Until then, she would bring him peace however she could, even if just by plucking the strings of this guzheng.

The final note was subtle after what had felt like a torrent of sound and intensity flowing from the instrument. Azula let out a breath… and then she frowned, turning her head towards the open entrance she'd left in the dragon's refuge.

Unsurprisingly, the men standing there flinched, stepping away, turning around, failing to do so inconspicuously. Azula huffed, a small smile spreading over her lips.

"You're allowed to listen. You don't really have a choice," she called out to the guards: they flinched again but didn't respond. "I intend to stay here for most the day, the least you can do is sit down and tell me if I'm playing terribly."

Xin Long groaned as though to chide her for saying that: her performance had been beautiful! He had no idea how she could make all those sounds out of a plank of wood, but he had definitely liked it. Azula smiled fondly at her dragon… then she heard the rustling of footsteps outside the refuge, and one of the guards leaned close to the door, clearing his throat.

"It was… a quality performance, Princess," the man said, awkwardly. "If you truly wish to know."

"Ah, well then. I suppose I shall try to keep it up, then?" Azula smiled – truth be told, she had expected no response altogether, and she suspected the guards would grow sick of her performances sooner than later.

Xin Long groaned: maybe these guards would grow sick of it because they weren't her old guards, who were smart and fun… but he wouldn't. She turned her head and smiled at her dragon now, reaching her fingerpick-clad hand to caress Xin Long's horn delicately.

"If so, I guess I shall deliver, then," she said, quietly, before rearing up to play another composition.

Her fingers slid across the strings delicately, carefully, following the flow of the songs she remembered from her childhood, songs she used to perform after having practiced them repeatedly before her afternoon firebending practice. Recalling memories of such a distant past seemed rather odd now… she had as good as closed the door on so much of her childhood, hoping not to think on it more than necessary, not to dwell on any of it in favor of everything the future was expected to bring. But now that the future she fought for was as good as frozen in time, just as much of a memory as those thoughts from her childhood, it was easier to turn her head back to the past… to look at everything she had averted her gaze from, intentionally. To find that, perhaps, there was more value, more worth treasuring in that past than she had ever wanted to acknowledge…

And so she played, letting the music spur her into reclaiming memories of old, into imagining impossible futures where she performed for a larger audience than just her dragon and a group of guards who distrusted her – though their distrust didn't deter them from witnessing her performance, as some even dared crack open a few other of the entrances of the refuge for the sake of listening better to the tunes that resounded across the refuge. It soothed her to perform just as much as it soothed Xin Long to listen, and whenever she forgot the notes of certain songs, she'd either improvise and laugh about it, or stop bluntly and laugh again while Xin Long chided her for misremembering melodies.

The darkness of her situation didn't fade, even so. The loudness of whatever was happening in the city only continued to increase, as musical squads took to performing while the parade took off. Yet she closed herself off to the noise, ignoring it fully, giving herself entirely to her music for now… to the chance of spending a full day with her beloved dragon without fear of consequences. It was but a speck of peace, so small it was almost imperceptible, but one she would dearly cling to, for that very reason.

---

The blaring, almost deafening noise in the city took Rei by surprise: she shrank in place, overwhelmed by the cheering of the crowd, the rapid beat of drums, by the loud instruments strummed at perfectly rehearsed rhythms, by the magnificent firebending displays of the bending artists that accompanied the musical ones. It was all so grand, so magnificent, so new… and so unnecessarily loud, too.

"Is it always this noisy…?" she asked Song: Song had to lean in for her to repeat the question, louder still, in order to be heard. "Is it always so noisy?!"

"Oh! Yeah, well, this part is!" Song answered, with a weak grin. "They'll leave for a bit though, they'll do a lap around the city and then they'll come back again and deafen us once more!"

"G-great…?!" Rei grimaced. Song laughed as she patted Rei's shoulder gently.

The crowds, eager to catch a glimpse of the parade, seemed even bigger today than in the other parades Song had witnessed in the past… and she couldn't help but suspect that they were here for something they wouldn't get: a glimpse of Princess Azula herself.

It was, quite possibly, the first normal, general event that had taken place in the Fire Nation in the past six months or so. The defunction of the Gladiator League and all its intricacies had seen to it that the main means of entertainment in the Fire Nation had vanished, and while it meant that people might be forced to seek less violent hobbies, it also seemed to have left a strange, awkward gap in Fire Nation society. The Princess's public absence might be remedied that day, they thought… an innocent hope from her many admirers, who no doubt wanted to reclaim some normality after the chaos that had forcefully tightened into order ever since Azula's downfall had begun.

But Song knew Azula was strumming her guzheng for Xin Long, and she'd likely stay there for most the day. She wouldn't have seen them off so calmly to the parade if she were needed to fill in for Zhao at the very last minute.

Many of these people would be disappointed by Azula's absence, Song expected… and once the parade squads started to move through the streets, drifting out of the Palace one by one, the moment of disappointment loomed closer yet. Rei and Song had climbed on a small wall by a large house, sitting on it carefully to watch the parade – Renkai stood in front of them at the wall, eyes shifting everywhere to locate any dangers for his two charges of the day. However casual his outfit might be, he couldn't seem to stop acting like a guard, no matter the circumstances.

Rei was overwhelmed by the noise still, but she smiled before long at the rising enthusiasm of the crowd: she had never seen anything like this. She had never witnessed such widespread, collective excitement before. It was a thrilling, contagious experience – she felt like cheering even if she couldn't figure out a rational reason for it. She kept her silence unless she spotted something interesting in the squads that passed before them, such as one firebender who performed a fascinating trick with a dragon-shaped flame as he led his squad. She took to figuring out the numeric configuration of the squads – small ones, she noticed, were comprised by twenty-five performers, five columns and five lines, and then the larger ones were comprised by eight columns and eight lines, thus, sixty-four performers – when a sudden hitch in the crowd alerted her that something was happening now:

"… Look, look!"

"The Palanquin! The Royal Palanquin!"

"It's the Princess!"

Rei's heart jolted. She knew Azula wouldn't be there… but she could hear all those voices calling for the Princess. She could see the bright faces, the excitement, the cheers… her eyes widened as she took in their reactions, as she took in what she had always known: Princess Azula was an extraordinary figure, admired and revered across the Fire Nation. Her people didn't feel that way only for because she had been born to the Fire Lord and appointed as his heir before her marriage to Zhao, but for her deeds, for her impact upon their lives, for everything she had achieved when Rei had been too far away, too isolated to know about any of it.

She smiled over that realization. The smile waned quickly, though, when she remembered these large crowds wouldn't be likely to see her adoptive mother in that palanquin…

The man they'd see instead had showed up that morning, walked past the corridor that led to Azula's room, and simply cleaned up in the spa at early hours of the morning. He had dressed in an uncanny, atypical formal attire, with flowing reds and golds that would match the Palanquin smoothly: no armor. Once again, he wore no armor. He almost felt naked as he was brought through the gates of the Palace, the drapes of his palanquin dragged back and tied to the posts…

He had already seen Ozai that morning. They had stood side by side while a mediocre sage performed the Ceremony of the Sun. When Ozai had spoken to him, Zhao had retorted with dry responses, only confirming to Ozai that he would be in the parade later before marching off without allowing the Fire Lord to rebuke him for his mistakes, neglect or misbehavior.

And so, now he was here. Here to hear cheers that, he knew, were not meant for him. Cheers that started to dwindle when the faces he could see in that audience realized that there was no sign of Princess Azula in that Palanquin that day. The first ones to notice him seemed to freeze in place: they started talking among themselves afterwards and the excitement dwindled, turning into noise and rumors. Only a handful of fools continued to cheer… probably because they hadn't noticed it wasn't really Azula, what with how many people there were in the streets today. Zhao raised his head, turning up his chin with resentment poorly disguised as pride as his palanquin bearers continued to march into the streets.

"It's… the Prince. Prince Zhao?"

"Bullshit! Where is she?!"

"Oh, she has to be in the next palanquin, there's no way…!"

Rei gritted her teeth, clasping the wall more tightly. Song let out a deep breath as she set a hand upon Rei's.

"You okay?" she asked, leaning in so Rei would hear her. The younger woman nodded weakly.

"They really love her," she said, glancing at Song sadly. "They really…"

"I know. She should know, too, but she's too stubborn to accept it lately," Song said, with a sad smile. "How I wish she could have seen this… but that's okay. We'll just tell her all about it later, right?"

"R-right… right," Rei smiled and nodded. Song patted the young woman's shoulder enthusiastically.

"Are you okay with seeing him, though? Your father, I mean…" she said. Rei shrugged.

"It's… it's all the same to me," Rei admitted. "He's up in that palanquin… we're down here, among everyone else. He won't notice us."

"It's still the first time we've seen him since… well, since your adoption," Song remarked. Rei bit her lip.

"It is. But… I think he was gone for so long because he gave up on fighting the Princess in that regard," Rei said. "I don't think he'll try to do anything else anymore, at least not over me, so… I'm not too scared, I guess. And he wouldn't even notice us here, so…"

She happened to say the words just as the palanquin passed by in front of them. The excitement of their surrounding crowd dwindled gradually, cheers replaced by murmurs and the occasional grunt of displeasure and disappointment. Some clung to the hope, the belief, that there would yet be a sign of Azula, that she would show up in the next palanquin…

But it was obvious even to Rei, who was so new to this world, that the next palanquin belonged to the Fire Lord instead: the regal gold ornaments in it made Zhao's vehicle appear plain and meek in comparison to the grandeur of Ozai's. Yet was it truly Rei's imagination, or were the cheers over the Fire Lord surprisingly tame in comparison to those that had started earlier, when they had believed Azula would make her first public appearance in months…?

The musical squad between the two palanquins moved past them too quickly: the sight of the Fire Lord floored her, filling her heart and stomach with a much stronger dread than the one she had experienced upon seeing her own father. Even though Azula hadn't been hurt by the man lately, his regal appearance and his overblown luxury as good as transformed him into something beyond humanity in Rei's eyes… a powerful being as godly as he was terrifying. To think people revered him… as awful as her upbringing had been, respecting and worshipping the Fire Lord wasn't one of the lessons they had forced her to learn. Had it been, perhaps she would have been too blind, too foolish, to see him for what he was… to understand Azula's value, to admire her as profoundly as she did. If she, too, was as profoundly indoctrinated as so many others in the crowd appeared to be…

A single glance at them, however, revealed said reverence was not quite as uniform and widespread, or as profound as she had been led to believe: irritable murmurs spread through the crowd along the cheers, and many of the smiles she had seen before had faded into frowns.

"No way she's coming after him, right?"

"Hell no. The Fire Lord's always the last to march, she should've been up there with Zhao… or instead of him, anyway."

"Why isn't she here? What's the point of the parade if she won't be part of it?!"

"Shh! Don't say that so loudly or the guards will hear you, damn it!"

Rei bit her lip: soldiers stood at every street, marching alongside the parade, though the Fire Lord's procession was heavily escorted by two squads of Imperial Guards, too. She didn't want to imagine what those soldiers might do to anyone they caught whispering the wrong things, even in an event intended to be as joyful as this one.

The mutterings only gained strength after the Fire Lord was gone, and with him, most soldiers. By then, Rei struggled to make sense of what they were saying, but Song let out a sigh and a smile beside her.

"Well, we're definitely going to rub this in her face later. At least I know I will," Song grinned. "Look at all these people… they're so upset that she wasn't here today."

"They looked forward to seeing her more than anything," Rei concluded, with a sad smile. "So much that… that they're mad at the Fire Lord because she wasn't here?"

"And they're right to be. Odd to see that he hasn't managed to quell the voices and opinions of the masses…" Song pointed out, before grimacing. "Though not for a lack of trying, I expect. Still… it's good that his terrorizing of his people hasn't completely sapped them of their ability to think for themselves. From what Rui Shi explained to me, most Fire Nation people are raised under the belief that they should never question the Fire Lord at all…"

"I guess that's the only sense in which I got lucky," Rei whispered. "I didn't… didn't have a normal education. Didn't really have one, rather…"

They could talk much more easily by now: the loudest squads were gone now, up the avenues of the city, and while their sounds were still audible, they were growing much fainter by now. Song let out a deep breath as she clasped Rei's shoulder firmly.

"And you'll never be educated that way in the future, that's for sure," Song said. "Azula would never stand for it. She'd prefer it if you question her every word… kind of how Sokka would."

"Was he really like that?" Rei asked, amused. "I mustn't be too interesting for her if that's the case… I don't find a lot of fault in what the Princess says, unless it's, uh…"

"Self-deprecating?" Song guessed. Rei let out a soft laugh and nodded.

"Exactly," she said, with a sad smile. "She's so lonely and has suffered so much… I suppose it's easy for her to feel like she deserves her fate when she's been grieving so much and life has only punished her more. I… I can't pretend I was much better than that, myself. It wasn't until she started to help me, until she treated me like I had value that I… that I started to think that maybe I did. I might be crazy to think so, but… I don't want to question her when it comes to that."

"That's not something you ought to question, for sure," Song smiled fondly at her. "Still… a lot of Azula's current opinions seem to have come from having met countless, different people of wildly disparate backgrounds. People who had perceptions of the world that were different from her own…"

"Like you…?" Rei ventured a guess. Song laughed and shrugged.

"Believe it or not… she and I weren't all that close for a very long time," Song admitted. Rei raised her eyebrows.

"I'd have thought… that you were best friends," she said, quietly. Song laughed and shrugged.

"Maybe we did become that eventually and I didn't realize it. But I used to be as nervous as you, you know?" Song laughed. "She surely thought next to nothing of me, at first. But after some time, well… I gave them a hand at moments where they very much needed one. I helped in ways nobody else could have. We were cordial, I suppose, from a certain point onwards… and then one day, before I knew it, she was offering me kindness I'd never imagined possible from the Fire Lord's child. We had a few lengthy conversations in the past, she listened to what I had to say… she even wanted my advice sometimes. Heck, we even worked together to throw a party for Sokka on the day he became the unofficial best non-bender in the Gladiator League…"

"That sounds fun," Rei smiled. Song laughed and nodded.

"So much of it was fun. Much more fun than I can ever explain," she confessed. "You're truly not the only one who got plucked out of a life fated for misery and given the chance of a lifetime, Rei. If you truly can't tell that I was… well, not exactly like you, but much closer to your social standing than I ever was to nobility, then I certainly have done a great job at faking I'm highborn."

"You definitely have," Rei laughed. "I'm no expert, of course… but anyone like me wouldn't be able to tell you weren't born to nobility. Though… I still don't really know much of anything about you, do I?"

"Guess not," Song smiled sadly. "But it's quite alright, we'll get into that gradually, I suppose. By then you'll likely stop thinking I'm all that respectable…"

"No way," Rei laughed. "You and the Princess… a-and Captain Renkai too, the three of you are the most respectable people I know."

"Well, we've established you have been isolated for too much of your life and we're barely starting to remedy that, but thank you anyway," Song smiled. Rei bit her lip before glancing about herself with uncertainty.

"And… now what?" she asked, looking at Song anew. "Is the parade over?"

"No, not if it's like the past two years," Song said, glancing back over her shoulder. "Ugh, it's hard to see from here, so many buildings in the way, but… the parade's route will take them all the way around the city, see? All the way to the outskirts of the big crater and then they'll come back here. Then… I guess the Fire Lord will give us some speech that probably will be some sort of veiled threat about how we all should behave ourselves and stop liking the Princess better than him or he'll make the Domestic Forces attack us for alleged treason…"

"W-would he really…?" Rei asked, grimacing. Song shrugged.

"Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him. But I could be pegging him wrong, sure…" she said, sarcastically. Rei smiled sadly and lowered her head. "Oh, but I should shut up. Who knows if there will be disguised guards out here, listening in on my every word…"

"If I spot any, I'll let you know," Renkai responded to her words. Song smirked, nudging him with her knee. He didn't respond again, but she had no trouble guessing he was smiling.

"I'll have to trust you would," she said. "Though, in my experience, guards out of uniform can go unnoticed rather easily. I spent… well, my first experience in the festivals with a certain guard out of uniform and nobody ever noticed it."

"You… you did?" Renkai said, turning his head to glance at her. Song smiled down at him.

"You're not going to rat him out now, are you?"

"To whom?" Renkai asked, amused. "What for? And what connection could Rui Shi possibly have with the respectable Lady Wen…?"

Song laughed, lowering her head as Rei smiled at her: then Rui Shi was a guard… and he was likely the man Wen had talked about almost having married, from what she could tell. Just a little more information, then… at least, for now. Perhaps her companions would disclose even more secrets later on… secrets she'd be delighted to learn about, and that she'd take to the grave if need be.

As Song had predicted, the parade returned after about half an hour, finding absolutely no hitches along its path. It seemed an unsurprising development to Rei, but Song's remark about that elicited questions that were better off asked later: the loud music finally quieted down when the Fire Lord stepped up on a dais, propped up by the Palace gates, to address his crowd.

Everyone fell silent at once. The imposing man, clad in golden fineries, seemed larger than life to Rei… and yet his opulence, his elegance, could never erase the cruelty she knew he was capable of. She shrank in place, somewhat fearful that he'd notice her despite knowing it wasn't likely that he would: her own father stood on that dais as well, further back, along with other men clad in military attire.

The Fire Lord stood in place for a long moment, in utter silence. Rei watched him with uncertainty, as did the tense Song, beside her… even Renkai seemed uneasy, and unrest seemed to threaten to break in the crowd at any moment. Yet such was the tension, the tight grip that Fire Lord Ozai still held over his subjects, that no one dared say a word.

Finally, he took a deep breath:

"People of the Fire Nation!" he spoke, his strong voice thunderous as it spread across the deathly-silent crowd. "Today is the first day of celebration and renewal in our land. It is the first day of the Festivals in which we bask in the greatness of our nation, in which we return to the glory that is rightfully ours in the eyes of our people and the world that watches us with envy! No nation has risen as high as ours! Never has the world seen the strength, the resilience and the virtue that our Fire Nation has proven to embody!"

Song snarled, lowering her head: another proud speech, filled with the same kind of nonsense the Fire Lord always wanted to feed his subjects. How she wished she could inspire all those who already doubted the man to voice out their thoughts, to protest against him, to demand for him to fall silent…

"… Our standard will spread across the world! Our glory is everlasting! All doubts will be quelled, all treason punished, all fear snuffed out: ours is the path to victory, and our flames will conquer the very road upon which we shall tread! Reclaim this fire this week! Let it fill your souls with the devotion and loyalty that you have always sworn to your Fire Lord, so that our great march towards the advancement of our glorious, strong civilization continues ever forward!"

Applause and cheers followed the overblown speech, applause that rang hollow to Song's ears. She snarled and refused to clap at all, although Rei, beside her, did so quietly, as to fit in with the crowd. It seemed the Fire Lord was finished speaking by then, and even that was a laughable reality: he didn't care to address his people for longer than that. He had no interest in repenting for the wrongs he had inflicted upon them, no interest in explaining his choices and decisions… no, all he wanted was to prove his might, over and over, and if people didn't kneel for his false greatness willingly, he'd make them kneel by force…

Song shook her head as the grand ceremony ended: the soldiers in the streets would soon loosen up, so everyone could rush ahead and enjoy the festival stalls fully for the rest of the day. The Fire Lord's dais would be removed, and that wretched forgettable speech would indeed go forgotten… though, for now, Song continued to deplore it profoundly.

"He can't even try to measure up to her…" she said, before she could help herself. Rei winced. "The reaction of the audience speaks for itself, too. He's just… acting like nothing's wrong, or rather, making it clear that he doesn't care if anything is wrong. He thinks he owes his people no answers… and he's making sure everyone understands that."

"He's the Fire Lord," Rei sighed. "I guess it's what he thinks is normal…?"

"Normal for his standards, sure," Song said, shaking her head. "But… hell, if you'd been here and heard Azula's speech all those years ago, you'd be just as outraged as I am."

"Her speech?" Rei repeated, blinking blankly. "She… gave one?"

"It's a relatively long, complicated and convoluted story," Song sighed, closing her eyes as she let herself remember that unique, wonderful day. One of the very best days of her life…

The surprise over spending one whole day with Rui Shi. The nervousness as they stood together in the crowd, watching the parade… then, Rui Shi's unsettled behavior upon realizing something had interrupted the parade's flow through the city. But then all was well, or so it seemed, and the two of them had a chance to spend the day together, avoiding the Princess and her guards, enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival, basking in their love, symbolized by that beautiful fire lily Rui Shi had gifted her…

But before that, Azula had spoken to her people. It was an improvised speech, and yet one that had seemed so much more rehearsed and planned than the nothingness Ozai had only just expressed…

"You know what?" Song said, taking a deep breath before glancing at Rei. "Let's check out the festival. Once we find a nice place to eat, I'll explain everything. Alright?"

"I… yeah. That sounds fun," Rei said, smiling and nodding. Song grinned back and squeezed her hand.

"Then off we go," she said before pushing herself off the wall, landing hard on the ground, right next to Renkai.

They helped Rei down, and then they slid through a few secondary streets before finally finding their way into the main avenues where the stalls were open for business, now that the parade was finished. Rei's eyes widened as she took in all the merchandise: colorful masks, beautiful clothing items, many models of hats, toy stalls with no end of amusement for children – Rei was unfamiliar with most toys, she barely imagined what their functions might be –, accessories of all variations, some utterly ornate, others much simpler yet still stylish. There were food stalls too, and the scents that poured from them startled Rei more often than not. Some seemed delicious… others, not quite. The stalls she was most interested in, at first, were those that provided with one-time experiences to their customers – such as playful contests, spinning lotteries, games of wide varieties –, but they fell to second place quickly when she found a stall filled to the brim with books. She did her best to identify each volume, to read the titles, even if some had ideograms too difficult for her to understand right away. The old couple who owned the stall were undoubtedly amused and intrigued by the young woman, more so when she let out a happy gasp upon coming across books on science.

Around thirty minutes after Rei came across her predilect book stall, which had happened after several hours of walking in amazement across the city's main avenues, the Princess's protegee and her two companions found a small, comfortable restaurant. They finally sat down to rest after being on their feet for most the day, and Song had nearly forgotten all her grievances with Ozai and his speech as she laughed at Rei's enthusiasm over her new haul of books: they had wound up buying copies of every book she had liked, by Song's choice. They weren't short on funds at all, for the Princess had given them plenty to make use of, but they probably had spent about half their allotted budget on a single stall. Nevertheless, Song regretted nothing: Rei's bright smile spoke for itself regarding how thrilled she was about having so many new books to read, especially those about advanced science.

"I'm sorry about making you carry them, Renkai…" the girl said, smiling apologetically at the guard. He shook his head, folding his arms over his chest – the packages with the many volumes sat on the floor, next to his chair.

"It's no trouble. You don't need to apologize," he said, curtly. Rei smiled shyly and nodded gratefully anyway.

"I can't wait to see the look on Azula's face when we march into the room with nothing but books as souvenirs from today's incursion," Song laughed, sitting across Rei, with Renkai by her side. Rei shrugged shyly, though she didn't seem daunted by the prospect of startling the Princess. If anything, the girl seemed rather confident that her adoptive mother would be amused, and even proud, of her purchases that day.

"We can get real souvenirs too," Rei said. "Well, i-if we still have money? We do, right?"

"We do, though not a ton. We'll have to see if there's anything worth buying…" Song said, glancing wistfully at another table, occupied by a happy couple – the woman had a fire lily tucked behind her ear, grinning brightly as she asked her lover if it suited her. "Not fire lilies, of course."

"They were on sale in almost every stall," Rei remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, it's an old story, I think I remember most of it," Song smiled. "But it boils down to it being a gesture between lovers. Today is… well, it's supposed to be the biggest day for lovers in the Fire Nation. Men give women the flowers as symbols of their devotion, or so…"

"Ah… huh," Rei's placid reaction changed into confusion quickly as she eyed Song warily. "I… I see. Did you, uh…? N-no, well, never mind…"

"Did anyone ever give me a fire lily?" Song asked, smiling slyly at Rei, who shrank in place. Song laughed quietly and nodded. "Indeed, someone did. And… I guess I do owe you the story of that day. I said I'd share it now, didn't I?"

"Of… that day? The day of the Princess's speech?" Rei asked. Song nodded.

"Well… it's a long, complicated story. You see, it begins with… well, Rui Shi," Song said, with a sad, heartfelt smile. "You… you don't know who he is, do you?"

"N-no. You've mentioned the name, so has the Princess…" said Rei, biting her lip. "But no one's really said…"

"He was the Captain of the Princess's Royal Guards, back when I first met her," Song said. Rei's eyes widened.

"C-Captain, like… like Captain Renkai?" she asked, glancing at him. Renkai nodded solemnly.

"Though I guess Captain Renkai, as he is now, would outrank him," Song said, sighing. "He was a Royal Guard, Renkai is an Imperial one…"

"He became Imperial later, too. But… I suppose that's another story," Renkai said. Rei raised an eyebrow.

"Then you knew him too?" she asked. Renkai nodded solemnly again.

"And he was a much better guard… much better man than I could ever hope to be," Renkai said, earnestly.

His gaze flickered towards Song, who offered him a heartfelt, grateful smile for his words. Renkai nodded in her direction, as though to encourage her to share more with Rei now.

"Okay, so… I got to know Rui Shi after a while," Song said, with a weak grin. "We always got along well, but at first we were just acquaintances. After things between the Princess and Sokka took the turn they did, well… things changed between him and me, too. After a few misunderstandings and confusions… he eventually confessed his feelings for me and we started a relationship. Those were beautiful days, truly, but… when the festivals arrived, Rui Shi wanted to be with me on the first day of the week. The day of the fire lily tradition, you see… and he couldn't be. He wasn't supposed to be, at least."

"How come?" Rei asked, puzzled.

"Well, you just saw why," Song smiled. "Princess Azula used to be part of the parade, that's why everyone hoped to see her… and her Royal Guards were supposed to escort her throughout the parade and then back to the Palace. When Rui Shi asked her if he could spend that day with me, the Princess said she couldn't allow it."

"Really?" Rei said, grimacing. "That's…"

"Sad? Unfair?" Song guessed. "Maybe, but she had a point anyway. I mean, if I'd heard about what he'd asked of her back then, I would have absolutely sided with her: his duty had to come first, and I could wait until he was available. Though he wouldn't have been available at all that day, but you know what I mean… still, if you really think he should have been allowed to do whatever he wanted, rest assured, Rei: he, uh, he did, more or less."

"Really?" Renkai frowned, eyeing Song skeptically. "He… pretended to be ill, perhaps? I can't remember anything quite like…"

"Like Rui Shi skipping his duties? No, you certainly can't," Song smiled. "Because… well, nobody noticed. He… he came up with a plan. A rather clever one, and one that left Princess Azula with her hands tied, too. Turns out that he and Sokka had relatively similar heights and builds, especially back then. Sokka got more and more muscular as time went by, but still… anyway, those two decided to plot behind our backs, and Rui Shi came up with the idea of switching places with Sokka for a day."

"He… what?" Renkai dropped one of his chopsticks, astonished, as Song smiled guiltily at him. "He couldn't have. He didn't. He was…"

"The straightest arrow there ever was?" Song laughed. "Well, yes, but he had a heart too. One he wasn't afraid to listen to whenever he believed he should. It's a lesson those two unknowingly taught him… and one he decided to abide by on that day, come what may. So, after convincing Sokka, he gave Sokka his uniform and Sokka took his place in the parade. Rui Shi and I were free to spend the day together indeed, though we both suspected the Princess might be really upset about his disregarding of her orders and… well, he really thought she might fire him."

"He seriously expected that?" Renkai blinked blankly. "Weren't they… well, really close friends?"

"They were, but the Princess was a bit more abrasive back then than she is now," Song smiled sadly before raising her eyebrows in his direction. "As I'm sure you remember."

"Well… she was still abrasive when she first came home. If just with me," Renkai admitted, lowering his gaze. "Still… did she notice?"

"Oh, of course she did. But by the time she realized they'd swapped places, it was far too late for her to track down Rui Shi and make him take his actual place in the parade," Song giggled, shaking her head. "He really made a mess of everything… all to give me a fire lily."

"That's… really silly," Rei laughed, smiling warmly at Song. "I guess people in love will do silly things?"

"Oh, yes. I'm afraid that's a given," Song grinned, shaking her head. "At any rate, he and I enjoyed the festival that day, but… we also got to notice that something wasn't right, when the parade was apparently attacked…"

"Attacked? Then… it was that day. Rui Shi wasn't there when the homeless people showed up…?" Renkai frowned, eyeing Song intently. She shrugged guiltily.

"Nope. Unfortunately so," she admitted. "He was very anxious about it, too, but…"

"Homeless people?" Rei repeated.

"A group of homeless people attempted to reach out to the Fire Lord on that day," Renkai explained. "I was among his guards at the time, so I saw the commotion from a distance. They mistook the Princess's palanquin for the Fire Lord's, so they ran towards them. And… Sokka had to handle that?"

"He did, somehow," Song smiled awkwardly. "They managed to avoid hurting the homeless people, though. It must have been quite impressive, especially with a non-bender among them, posing as a firebender and leader of their forces… but anyway, after the problem with the homeless people was, uh, postponed, I guess, the parade was brought back to its starting point just like today, but the military figures, the Princess and the Fire Lord had a tense conversation right before the speech, in plain sight for us all. Nobody really knew what was going on, but then the Fire Lord started his speech… and he was saying stuff like what you heard today. It promised to be a boring, bleak, unpleasant speech for many of us… right until he announced that the Princess would be the one to deliver the full speech instead. I was confused, Rui Shi told me that it was something unprecedented… but she stepped up on that dais and addressed the Fire Nation in her first formal speech."

"That sounds terrifying," Rei said, grimacing. "H-how did she know what to say? Did she have anything in mind…?"

"I don't think she did, but she sure made it look like it was a perfectly rehearsed and natural matter," Song smiled. "She started talking about duty and responsibility, always praising the Fire Nation because it was expected of her, but in that same breath, she praised slaves and honorary citizens. She made it clear that the Fire Nation couldn't take their victories for granted, that their choices had consequences and that those consequences were their responsibility, pretty much? It's difficult to remember it in detail… but in the end, she turned the speech over on its head so that the Fire Nation people wouldn't feel entitled or superior to everyone else. Rui Shi was a little nervous, he thought maybe she was basing the speech on his own lack of responsibility that day, since he had left the Princess to her own devices and taken off with me… but we learned later that it was the Princess's way to fire back at her father for wanting the deaths of the homeless people for disrupting his parade."

"D-deaths…?" Rei repeated. Song nodded.

"The Fire Lord wasn't pleased when she disagreed with his course of action. He thought he'd put her on the spot, make her give a speech she wasn't prepared for, a speech where she wasn't allowed to disrespect him or say anything that he could interpret as betrayal and treason. If she took a single step out of line, he would absolutely inflict consequences upon her… and so, Azula didn't take any steps out of line at all. Instead, she seemed to master the line and turn it against her father: the cheers from today were nothing compared to what happened after she finished her speech. The energy in the crowd… it was amazing. I couldn't even be that worried about whatever she might do to Rui Shi because… goodness, she'd given such an amazing speech that turned the Fire Nation's conquest upside down in such a way that… oh, it's still thrilling to think about it. To remember her gleaming under the sun, in that golden armor of hers, proving herself above the Fire Lord's expectations…"

"She… she's always amazing, but these stories about her past are almost terrifying," Rei admitted, with a nervous smile. "She sounds like she was… like she was some sort of a goddess, I guess."

"A goddess? I doubt she'd take that well," Song laughed. "But I suppose, in some ways, she felt like one for many people. She was well and truly beyond common mortals, in their eyes. Only those of us who knew her personally could tell that she was an incredible woman, both in her professional and personal lives. She was as human as any of us… as you well know by now, Rei. Even if she was turning tyrants upside down with her words, she was still vulnerable, she was still kind… she still loved a Gladiator with all her heart, no matter how dangerous it was for them to feel the way they did about each other."

"Right," Rei smiled shyly: even now, her place in this complex world confused her… and she wondered if Wen had ever felt that way, too. Her willingness to explain and share countless truths with Rei always seemed to be focused on anyone but herself… though, after today, Rei had learned much more about the man Wen had intended to marry. That certainly was a step forward, she thought…

"It was a wonderful day. Not that today isn't being nice, of course it is, but…" Song said. Rei smiled and nodded.

"It would be better if she were here too, at least. If… if so many people you loved and cared for were here, too," Rei concluded.

"Exactly," Song sighed. Rei bit her lip and eyed Song with uncertainty.

"Did… did Sokka give her a flower too?" she asked, shyly. "I mean…"

"Ah… well, I don't know for sure, but I think so," Song smiled. "Though I guess it must have been awkward for him to give one to her while posing as Rui Shi…"

"That's still hard to believe," Renkai said, eyes wide. Song laughed at his words, as well as his unusual display of emotions. "It's one thing to be their ally, but… this time, the way you've explained it, it was his idea? He's the one who got them to be reckless?"

"Indeed. Who'd have thought he had it in him?" Song laughed still. "Oh, he was so much more than met the eye. Though he was always wearing that uniform, so it's not like the eye could meet much, in the first place…"

"Was he handsome?" Rei asked, innocently. Song smiled and nodded.

"Ridiculously so. If I'd had it in me, I would have asked the Princess to abolish helmets in the armed forces just so I could look at his face whether he was in uniform or not," Song said, playfully. Rei laughed at her words as Renkai crooked an eyebrow in her direction.

"That… sounds quite inappropriate and dangerous. Helmets might be seen as intimidating, but their primordial function…"

"I know, I know… well, at least giving him one of those helmets that didn't hide his face would have been a nice alternative," Song concluded, smiling before letting out a deep sigh. "I… I really miss him."

"I do too," Renkai admitted, startling Song. "It was… it was good to have someone to rely on. A leader to look to, even if he never encouraged anyone to see him that way."

"I suspect a lot of the best leaders aren't all that inclined to vanity," Song said, smiling at Renkai. "You aren't all that vain yourself. A good starting point for captaincy, if you ask me."

"I can only hope so. Though… it's hard, often," he said. Song raised an eyebrow. "I'd have never felt worthy of being captain to the former third squad, for certain. Most times I just… I just find myself wondering if they'd find my performance as captain, as leader, entirely lacking and flawed…"

"A lot of good things are flawed. Most are, if anything," Song said, reassuringly. "Rui Shi wasn't a perfect leader, you've just heard about his greatest sin as a captain…"

"I suppose I have," Renkai smiled a little. Song patted his back gently.

"As you are now… I think he'd be very proud of you. He'd be happy to know that… that he judged you correctly. That he made the right choice by trusting you," Song said: tears welled in her eyes, blinking at their corners, but she smiled all the same. Renkai let out a deep breath but smiled in her direction.

"I can only hope so. I suppose I am following on his footsteps in more ways than anticipated," he remarked. "Instead of guarding the Princess, she's sent me here with those she cares about instead. I do believe she did that with Rui Shi often… with all of them, perhaps, but with Rui Shi in particular."

"You're picking things up where he left off, maybe," Song said. "Life's changed a lot for all of us, but… I think we're finding a new rhythm. A new way to move forward, even if… even if it's hard, somedays. Especially on days when it's so easy to remember everything that was lost…"

"Do you think he's okay…?" Rei asked Song, softly. "I… I don't know what happened with him, but… you said you were going to marry him. Or… was that part of your cover? You told me so once, but I don't really know if…"

"It wasn't a lie. We… we did intend to marry eventually and yes, I was referring to him when I told you that," Song confessed, closing her eyes. "But… yeah. The truth is I have no idea where he is right now. After everything that happened, we… we had to part ways forcibly. I told him to come back when he could, that I'd always be waiting, but… who knows where he is anymore?"

"Does the Princess have some idea…?" Renkai asked, quietly. Song shook her head.

"She purposefully refused to ask any questions about their destination… even asked them not to tell her anything about it," Song said. "That way, the Fire Lord wouldn't be able to track them down through whatever information she might have known… for she wouldn't have known anything."

"I suppose she braced herself for the very worst," Renkai frowned. "We wouldn't be able to contact him even if we knew where he went, though… it would be too risky."

"Yeah," Song agreed, nodding once. Renkai breathed deeply.

"I think… I think he's going to be alright," he said, insecure but still pushing forward with his thoughts. "They were strong, competent… they know how the Fire Nation forces work. They were resourceful… there's no way they could have faltered before any foe."

"That's what Azula thinks too," Song said. "If they'd been caught, the Fire Lord would have rubbed it in by now… so they're still out there, somewhere. So… they'll return once things calm down, I hope. He'll come back, for sure, and I… I'll be waiting until he does."

Rei nodded encouragingly, and Song smiled warmly at the young girl for her enthusiasm. She was kind and thoughtful, with a heart so much bigger than expected from anyone with Zhao's blood coursing through their veins. She had known kind people in her past, but Rei's innocence and good nature continued to impress her.

Their lunch ended a few hours after noon, and they returned to checking out stalls by then, for there were many more they hadn't seen throughout the city. Rei continued to be particularly keen on book stalls, and Song bought a few more books for her, as well as a lot of parchment and ink, since she'd be making plenty of use of it during her upcoming studies. Renkai remained aloof, as good as unconcerned with their purchases, mainly focusing on keeping an eye on their surroundings while following them from stall to stall… until his stoic façade fell apart when Rei spotted something that took him and Song by surprise:

"What is that one?" she asked, frowning. "I… I can't recognize those ideograms."

Song could recognize them, though… she could recognize them alarmingly easily. Her heart almost stopped as she felt an unnerving urge to step up to that stall in particular…

"Wen?"

"S-sorry! It's… oh, damn. It's a stall to… to commemorate the Gladiator League."

The words barely meant anything to Rei. They wouldn't have meant much to Song or Renkai, either, had the world been any different, any kinder: instead, though, Renkai froze in place, astounded, while Song's heart jolted and churned as she wondered if they'd have anything of note… anything worth bringing back to Azula, especially anything that could mean something to her, something related to Sokka.

Song walked towards it, as though guided by an unnatural force that pulled her in that direction. Both Rei and Renkai followed, flanking her as they approached the occupied stall: three people stood at it, and a loud man of thick build sat by the stall, no doubt attempting to sell something to those people: mementos of the Gladiator League.

"Who was your favorite gladiator, eh? I've got goods from all of them! Some are pricy, yes, but surely you would be willing to pay good money for one of Twisted Shadow's armguards! It's a genuine treasure…!"

"Don't you have anything from Queen Iron Legs? That's the one I always was rooting for: the top-ranked female gladiator!"

"The Blind Bandit would've wiped the floor with her in a heartbeat, for that matter…"

"Top RANKED, I said! The Blind Bandit didn't get to rise that high, no matter how strong she was…!"

Song had never cared much for the Gladiator League. Those words should have been utterly foreign and unknown, they should have been impossible to understand, on the most part… but they weren't. The enthusiasm, the willingness to argue, and the mention of Toph…

Her heart clenched as a myriad of emotions surged within her, even if she should have remained rational and level-headed: this stall's owner was certainly a man with very little fear of death, as far as Song could tell. The Gladiator League had been so important, at the core of so much in the Fire Nation… but the Fire Lord had shut it down abruptly, forcefully, and any attempts to request its restoration had gone nowhere. That this man was quite so fearless as to set up a stall to celebrate the defunct League and its fighters came as a surprise… and Song wasn't sure if a safe one, for the man in question.

Even so, her heart churned with the knowledge of what he was here for, of what he stood for… of yet another reminder of the world they had known and that was now utterly lost to them, by the Fire Lord's decrees. But that anyone still mourned it, that anyone still cared, proved a much more emotional revelation to Song than she had anticipated to find in today's outing for the festivals.

"Wen…?" Rei called her, bringing her back from her ruminations.

Song swallowed hard as she stepped closer still: the man and woman arguing by the stall's counter apparently had taken aback the salesman, who kept trying to say he had plenty of mementos for the gladiators in question, only to go ignored by the passionate fans.

"Uh, if you truly like the Blind Bandit, one of her fluff puffs, those ornaments she wore on her hair, happened to reach my hands and…" the man was explaining, but his words fell on deaf ears. He grimaced before smiling brightly anew, upon noticing Song stood before his stall's counter. "Ah! Another customer! Welcome, welcome, what can I get you? I have many important souvenirs from the Gladiator League, so get them while you still can! You and your friends, yes, all of you are welcome…!"

"What… what are you selling here, exactly?" Song asked, with a small smile.

"Why, lots of things!" the man declared, beaming. "Anything you could ask, I'm sure to have it! For instance, I have some bottled sand from the Grand Royal Dome's very own sand pit! And some small, pocket-sized chunks of debris from the explosion, too, those are at a discount right now…"

"Huh. I… I see," Song grimaced: she wasn't quite sure she wanted either sand or wall chunks resulting from Sokka's final battle, frankly…

"They're all very legitimate! An associate of mine has ensured to procure these rare items for me!" he said: his immediate assumption that her reluctance meant she thought his goods were fake was what convinced Song that they most likely were. "Though if you're interested in specific gladiators, I can also offer you rare treasures that belonged to them, or merchandise from their fan clubs…!"

"You came across merchandise of the sort?" Song asked, perplexed.

"Well… somewhat," the man admitted. "The truth is that a lot of people went into quite a frenzied panic after the League was shut down. Lots of them just… threw away their things, just like that! But I had a good nose for business, so I made sure to gather as many of their goods as I possibly could, contacted the fan clubs for the most high-profile gladiators, and got ahold of whatever they were tossing! A rather strong deal, believe me…"

"I see…" Song blinked blankly: the stall didn't look big, but there were several boxes piled behind the main counter that were, perhaps, hosting these treasures the salesman was so proud of.

"So! What would you like to see? Are you looking for anything in particular? A memento of the Arena or of your favorite gladiator, I presume?" the man continued, rubbing his hands eagerly. Song swallowed hard.

"I… don't rightly know, I…" she blurted out, nervous about bringing up the Blue Wolf right here and now: the common folk weren't likely to know why Azula had fallen out of favor with her father, let alone that Sokka could be blamed for it, but she still was afraid of bringing him up at all…

"Do you have anything of the Blue Wolf?"

Song froze, as did her companions: another new customer had stepped up when the other two had decided to finish their argument on who was the superior gladiator over a cup of tea. The newcomer was a stranger, a teenager close to Rei's age, with sharp eyes.

"Oh… aha," the salesman smiled slyly at the newcomer, stepping towards a small box upon his counter. "You are in luck, my friend! Quite a few people have already dropped by and taken most of what I had, but…"

"Really?" Song gasped: she couldn't contain her response, startling the salesman who smirked happily upon pinpointing what she was here for.

"Well, well! I have only two badges left, so I guess it's one for each," the man grinned, opening the small box.

Two small badges nestled there, of designs Song hadn't seen ever before: it was the silhouette of a blue wolf accompanied by a boomerang. Her smile couldn't have been more earnest as she handed the money over quickly, taking the badge with her. Azula might think she had lost her mind upon purchasing something like this… but she couldn't help herself.

"How many did you have, i-if I can ask, sir?" Rei asked, as the other teenager smiled proudly, pocketing his badge and stepping away with his head held high. "You said others have bought more of the Blue Wolf's merchandise…?"

"How many, you ask? Well over fifty, actually," the man laughed. "It's no surprise, of course. Everyone that knows anything about the Gladiator League knows by now that… well, he was the greatest of them all, in the end. Who'd have thought? A League filled with powerful benders and the most extraordinary fighter wound up being a non-bender…!"

"Do you say this about everyone's favorite gladiators, when they come here to purchase from you?" Renkai asked, skeptical. The man laughed again and shook his head.

"I have good things to say about all gladiators, no doubt, but the Blue Wolf…! That man was a true legend, the ultimate gladiator of the League!" he said, hands on his hips. "For all everyone knows, from all those rumors, he seems to be the only gladiator who ever beat Combustion Man! And I suppose you're a fan of his, my lady?"

"We all are," Song said, with a reassuring smile. The salesman let out another bark of pleased laughter.

"Grand! I wish I had enough badges for all of you, but…" he said, before smirking and leaning close. "But I might know someone who has a few to spare. The former president of the Blue Pack, no less…!"

"The Blue Pack?" Rei repeated. Song smiled.

"That's the name of his fan club," she explained. Rei hummed in appreciation. "The president, then? I… can't remember who that was."

"Well, it might jog your memory if you go visit him," said the man, biting his lip before jotting down an address on a small card. "Here… this is where you can find him. Though… make sure to go quietly, alright? Nothing dangerous happens in those meetings, I assure you, but… it's still a little dangerous that they happen at all, you understand?"

"Right. The climate in the streets lately…" Song said, with a shake of her head. The salesman sighed heavily.

"It's been a nightmare. I could only set up this stall as I did by getting one of the furthermost stalls in this street, you know? I wanted a better one, but the minute I explained what my purpose was… goodness, they almost didn't allow me to do my job! It's madness what's taken over this nation, I tell you, madness!"

"Did anyone cause you trouble? Anyone in particular?" Song asked, frowning. The salesman shrugged.

"Just bureaucrats and a few snappy officials from the Domestic Forces," he said. "But they haven't been a problem so far, and, as for this meeting place, I assure you it's perfectly secure and safe from the law and its whims. I mean, I don't believe there's any law in place that forbids discussion of the now defunct Gladiator League… but it is what it is, eh?"

"Yeah… some things are implicit, I suppose," Song said, with a sad smile. "Thank you, though… thank you for this. We'll see if we can check it out sometime soon."

"Well… that's just the address for today, lady," the man pointed out. Song blinked blankly. "That's how they avoid detection, you see… never meeting in the same places, otherwise the Fire Lord and his forces could think they're conspirators, or so."

"Are they?" Song asked. "I don't mean any harm, of course! Just… is there anyone seriously trying to rise against the Fire Lord right now?"

"If there are… it isn't them," sighed the salesman, with a shrug. "They're just reeling still from all the awful things that have happened lately. Where some move on quickly, others can't quite do that… especially those who were really involved in the business. And a lot of them are Blue Wolf admirers, so… I thought, perhaps, you'd get along with them. But as for rebellion and treason? None of that, lady, not as far as I understand it. Truly…"

Even if there were any talk of rebellion and treason, would a salesman simply reveal it to the first person he came across? Song knew that wasn't bound to be the case. Whether this was the truth or simply the full extent of his knowledge, Song couldn't help but hope otherwise… still, there was very little she could do if they truly were staging a rebellion. Azula had made it clear that she had no intentions of stirring the wasp nest that was her father's dangerous temper. She wouldn't put anyone else at risk if she could help it… but Song still wanted to know who would be at risk anyway, who comprised this strange group the salesman had told her about…

"Should we…?" she turned, glancing at her two companions. Rei smiled and nodded. Renkai shrugged.

"It may be for the best if I'm not there," he said. Song bit her lip and nodded. Plausible deniability would be difficult to argue for if he were anywhere near the meeting site, especially if the two people he had been escorting were caught in the middle of this apparent, clandestine meeting… but perhaps no trouble would arise anyway.

"Well, then… let's give it a look anyway," Song said, thanking the salesman quickly before starting on their way down the streets.

Renkai was the one who knew the streets better, thus, the one suited for guiding the others through the Capital and to the mysterious meeting location… which was, as it happened, not much of a mysterious place. Song and Rei were quite surprised to find it looked like a perfectly ordinary tea house, five blocks away from the main avenues where the festival was being held. Thus, it wasn't quite as busy as everything else was.

"I won't be joining you inside, but go ahead," Renkai repeated, nodding in their direction. "Try not to take too long, for safety's sake."

"Don't worry. We'll just look around," Song said, smiling positively. "I doubt they're a hazard in any way, but we'll be careful."

"Good luck," Renkai said, bowing his head in their direction before walking away, to stand inconspicuously against a wall of a restaurant, at the other side of the street.

Rei seemed inherently nervous, unsure about what they had to do. Song smiled at her, finding her behavior terribly familiar – she had often been the one hiding behind those she thought were stronger, those who could protect her… how curious to be the one Rei found strong and protective, instead.

"Alright, we're going to keep our connection to Azula hidden," Song clarified. "We'll talk about being fans of Sokka's, sure… but nothing that reveals we know her personally, or that we're in contact with her these days. Alright?"

"Yeah… yeah," Rei nodded promptly.

Song breathed deeply before pushing the door open slowly. The foyer led directly into a spacious room concealed behind a single curtain. Several tables had been set up for customers, but all the current occupants of the teahouse appeared to have gathered at a table close to the kitchen area.

"Oh, do excuse us, we're not in service right now…!" exclaimed a middle-aged woman draped in an apron. She set down a small wiping cloth as she stepped towards them: Song swallowed hard as she raised the paper the salesman had given her.

"I don't know if I got the address wrong, but… we were told we could come here?" she said, biting her lip. "By a salesman in the festivals' stalls, the one who sells the Gladiator League mementos…?"

"Oh… oh!" exclaimed the woman, smiling nervously. "Is that so? Uh, are you, uh…?"

"Blue Wolf fans…?" Rei asked, quietly. The woman's eyes narrowed.

"Don't say it too loudly, but… goodness, he really is just directing everyone he can here, isn't he?" the woman said, rolling her eyes. Song smiled awkwardly.

"He namely did it with us because most the Blue Wolf's goods have run out by now?" she explained. "If there's nothing to be done about it, we'll just leave…"

"You don't have to, don't worry!" exclaimed one of the people gathered by the table… a friendly, youthful voice that struck a chord in Song upon hearing it. "We've already talked about it, haven't we? We're not doing something illegal or anything…"

"Still…!" the woman exclaimed, as the young man rose to his feet and approached them with enthusiastic glee. "We don't want to get ourselves into trouble, now, do we, Shoji?"

Song's eyes widened.

She knew that young man, of course she did… not too well, true, but she still did: he had been a guest at Ty Lee and Haru's wedding. He had also been there when they had been evacuated into the tunnels underground. He was a friend of the Princess's, of Sokka's, of their friends…

He had been part of the Gladiator League.

"It's no trouble as long as we don't do anything wrong," Shoji said, with a casual smile that he turned towards Song and Rei next. "Welcome! Any fans and friends of the Blue Wolf are welcome here… uh, do I know you?"

"Oh, me? Heh, I doubt it," Song said, with a nervous smile. "I did see you a few times, though, at the Arena…?"

"Well, Shoji was as good as a celebrity himself," laughed the teamaker, patting Shoji's back. "The loyal clerk at the counter, ever so patient in his dealings with good and bad sponsors alike…!"

"I wasn't anything that big…" Shoji laughed: his attempt to recognize Song ended as easily as that, to her relief. He seemed to have assumed that he had indeed seen her at some point or another in the Arena, and as he met so many people there, it was only reasonable that he'd forget about some of them.

"But of course you were! You knew all the gladiators, all the sponsors…!" the woman continued, smiling fondly at him. "And now you're leading this little group, too."

"Oh? So it's… it's your doing?" Song asked, with a kind smile. Shoji laughed, cheeks reddening as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, not just me. The bigger instigator is over there," he said, pointing at another man who sat by the table, next to a tall, bulky woman.

"I have a few more Blue Wolf mementos, if you really want any!" he called out, with a relieved smile. "Oh, it's so good to hear from more people. I knew the festivals would be good for this…!"

"You have to keep it down, though, Yang. We both know that," the woman beside him spoke sternly, sadly. The man beside her grimaced, his spiky hair swaying as he turned to glance at her.

"I do, but… oh, I just wish we could do something bigger. Something that wouldn't be easily traced back to us," he sighed. "Something that could help her see that she's not alone or forgotten."

"What about the Blue Wolf?" grunted another of the men sitting by the table. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with reaching out to the Princess, if she's still alive, for starters, but…"

"Oh, don't start with the conspiracy theories already…" the teamaker huffed, leading Rei and Song closer to the group clustered by the table.

There were about seven other people inside aside from Shoji and the teamaker. Not as many as Song would have hoped to se, but it seemed safer to her this way. Rei followed Song nervously, and the healer smiled fondly as they approached the rest of the group.

"At any rate, will you introduce yourselves, young ladies?" the teamaker asked. Song cleared her throat and bowed her head curtly.

"I'm Wen. And this is Rei," she said, with an easygoing smile. "We weren't able to watch the Blue Wolf's fights all that often, but we've heard so much about him… and then, well, suddenly he was nowhere to be found anymore? The League is gone, and so…"

"It's a miserable life all over again," growled the man the teamaker had cut off: he was thin and had a very awkward posture as he sat carelessly on his chair, slouching as he clasped his teacup in one hand. "That damn League kept me afloat more times than anyone can imagine, damn it…"

"It did for most of us," Yang said, gritting his teeth. "We're lucky Haiyan's still working, but… I'm out of a job all over again, heh."

"Means you're allowed to lead the Blue Pack once more, though. That should count for something," said a young woman in the group, with a sad smile. Yang returned it halfheartedly.

"Not sure I'm leading it at all, if that's what we are now," he said: his eyes rose towards Shoji, who was busy fetching chairs at the nearby tables for Song and Rei.

"Oh… thank you!" Song smiled. Shoji grinned back before setting another chair by Rei, who bowed her head in gratefulness.

"Don't worry about it. The more, the merrier!" he said, beaming. "I do wonder if we'll see more people…"

"She's bound to show up, isn't she?" asked the slouching man. "She always does when we meet up, but… never knows what's going on anyway."

"She? Who are you talking about?" Song asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Eh, someone with a bit more insight in what's going on in the high spheres of power than the rest of us," Yang said, sighing heavily. "Though she doesn't always get more information than the rest of us do. We all found out about… about the wedding around the same time. And then the baby…"

"I still call bullshit on that," the slouching man declared, stubbornly.

"You can't call bullshit on a Fire Lord's announcement," said another man at the table, a much more put-together one. "Not on that one, anyway. What'd you think is going on, he's faking that he's going to have a grandchild? What for?"

"To find excuses to keep hiding the Princess," the slouching man declared. "Did you see her today at the parade? No, you didn't! And why? Because she's pregnant? That doesn't make any sense, she's not moribund…!"

"She was recovering from a bad wound, though," Shoji pointed out as he took his seat, biting his lip. "Even if they made their comeback shortly after the attack on the Capital, I could tell she wasn't fully back to herself yet. I have no idea what really happened to her back then, but it was affecting her badly, and… and maybe she wasn't fully recovered when she got pregnant, I guess…?"

"Well, what I call bullshit on is that the kid could ever be Admiral Zhao's… oh, excuse me, Prince Zhao's," said one of the women by the table, rolling her eyes upon speaking the man's name and new title: Rei flinched, surprised to hear such hostility and scorn towards her father from a total stranger. "The only thing that makes sense is…"

"That the Blue Wolf and the Princess had an affair," Yang declared, proudly. Haiyan, beside him, sighed heavily as many other members of the group eyed him skeptically… while others nodded in agreement. "I know some of you guys think that there's no way, but seriously! What other explanation fits as seamlessly as this one, huh?"

"The Fire Lord's pissing himself because he can tell we look up to his daughter way more than we could ever give a shit about him," the slouching man declared. "Beats me how, beats me why, it suddenly hit him that she was a hazard for him and he decided to take away everything that makes her dangerous. See? The League's gone and that's how she became a hit with us common folk in the first place. He probably had the gladiator ki-…"

"Don't even say it," Yang hissed. The man shrugged. "Your explanation is very rational, but it doesn't make enough sense to me. What about the Dome burning down that day? There were witnesses who saw the Fire Lord right outside it after it burned, other witnesses who claimed they saw the Princess going in there, Fire Lord Ozai, Prince Zhao – well, Admiral Zhao, at the time – Combustion Man, and of course, someone was brought to the Dome in a secretive carriage… and it looked like the Blue Wolf!"

"And you think they fantastically escaped from the burning building somehow?" the slouching man asked, rolling his eyes. "If Combustion Man died in the fire, there's no fucking way he could've made it. Not even if the Blue Wolf had the firebending sword…"

"Combustion Man…?" Rei repeated: her eyes widened slowly. She had learned many new things as of late… but she had no idea Hakkai, her father's gladiator, was dead. Song swallowed hard and clasped her hand under the table as the slouching man nodded in her direction.

"Guess you haven't heard most the rumors, huh?" he asked. "People are selling fake chunks of metal and claiming they're from his prosthetics. No idea if there's any official information but everyone who knows anything about what happened that day agrees that Combustion Man's dead. It's everything else that's confusing."

"And you think there's no way the Princess and the Blue Wolf could've escaped?" asked the woman who seemed a faithful supporter of the concept of their relationship. "Those two were incredible! They pulled off so much insane stuff that yes, I absolutely believe the dragon could have scooped them up and out of that Arena before they died, which is what everyone's saying…!"

"And even if that happened, the airship that came back to the Palace probably was carrying their corpses," said the slouching man, to nothing but rejections and dismissiveness. "I'm serious! Fire Lord just wanted the Princess dead…!"

"She's his only true heir!"

"What does that bloody matter to a guy like him?" asked the man. "He's faked up some marriage between her and his pet military officer, it's pretty damn clear he's done it to make him his heir, right? Might as well just find someone who looks like the Princess, pretend she's her…"

"That's absurd! Everyone would be able to tell it's not her!" rebuffed the woman again. The slouched man waved a hand in his direction as the teamaker laughed while bringing two new, steaming cups for Rei and Song.

"Don't mind their arguments, they're always bickering about the same things…" she explained, taking her seat at the table anew. Shoji chimed in next.

"It's pointless to elaborate on what's going on when we don't have remotely enough information to reach any conclusions," he said.

"And if Shoji doesn't know what's going on, fat chance that anyone else would," sighed the teamaker. "Out of all of us, no one was closer to the Princess and the Blue Wolf than him…"

"Oh, you're making too much of it…"

"You're friends with their friends! That counts for plenty!" the teamaker declared. Shoji laughed and shook his head.

"Oh? What do they know?" Song dared ask, glancing at Shoji intently. "If you really are friends with their friends… is there any chance that you'd know a little more about what's going on than, well, everyone else?"

"I'm afraid not," Shoji sighed, with an apologetic grimace. "While I do spend as much time with lady Ty Lee and her husband, Haru, as I can…"

"The Emerald Rockman," chimed in the younger woman who had spoken supportively to Yang earlier. Song smiled and nodded gratefully, despite already being familiar with Haru's gladiatorial name and his relationship to Ty Lee.

"The truth is they haven't seen the Princess in forever, either," said Shoji. "Lady Ty Lee admitted she saw her one time, at some point after that day when the airship was sighted, but she didn't tell me what happened, which is quite strange from lady Ty Lee. Usually she was quick to share every tale she came across, so…"

"And they weren't even invited to the wedding, were they?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow. Shoji sighed and shook his head.

"Nope. Not her, not their other friend, lady Mai…" he said. "Not even lady Mei Xun could get in, though, so what hope was there for anyone else…?"

"Lady Mei Xun…?" Song blinked blankly. "That name… seems familiar. Was she involved with the League too?"

"Oh, no, she wasn't," Shoji smiled sadly. "She's Captain of the Capital's Enforcers."

Song froze on the spot: the Enforcers. Azula mentioned them sometimes, yet another of many ventures that had fallen out of her control completely. It hadn't truly crossed her mind just yet that anyone among the Enforcers, let alone the only person of their group she had ever met, might be in touch with the group of secretive supporters of Azula and Sokka… she had to be the person they had mentioned earlier.

"She should be arriving sometime soon, if she has the chance to drop by. And she should, considering how little work the Enforcers are given lately…" Shoji sighed, arms folded over the table. "Anyway, the wedding was a mystery and it was so sudden that theories of all sort have come up… and since most people claiming it was real and that it really happened are highborn, nobody really believes them".

"Like Hina," Yang said, bitterly. "That asshole says she was invited… as if. The Princess would never let her be a guest in her wedding…"

"She probably invited herself somehow," Haiyan said, shaking her head. "Poaching someone else's invitation, I don't know."

"Either way, the bitch had the gall to claim the Princess was as good as a case of the living dead that day," Yang snarled. "I've had patience with her for as long as I could, but… I just couldn't hold back anymore when she mocked her that way."

"She's not really one of us anyway. No big loss there in finally speaking your mind to her," said the woman who supported Sokka and Azula's relationship enthusiastically. "Though that just continues to make me think there was something going on between the Princess and her gladiator. Hina was probably just bitter that he'd never look at her the way he looked at the Princess. And hey, I'm not the only one who thinks something was going on: Yang thinks so too, as does Mei Xun herself…"

"T-the Enforcers' captain thinks so…?" Song asked, with an awkward smile. The woman nodded.

"Sure does! She says that once she started thinking they had something going on, everything about them started to make sense, and I agree. If there was something happening between them, the Fire Lord would've absolutely gone out of his way to put a stop to their relationship…"

"It's such a childish, romantic notion," the slouching man said, rolling his eyes. Yang scoffed.

"We're all in agreement on the fact that they were very close. That much is obvious. I got to see them once, you know? They were talking quietly together, pretty intimately if you ask me, and I think they were even holding hands, back when so many awful things started happening with sponsors dying left and right…"

"Sponsors…?" Rei gasped.

"Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Yang raised his eyebrows. "Why, that's a surprise! I wrote so many chronicles about it, I thought every Arena had distributed those issues…"

"We were relatively new to the Gladiator League when it got shut down," Song chimed in, with a sad smile. "I did hear some things about it, but… I don't think I know the full details."

"Nobody does. As usual in this nonsense city," sighed the slouching man.

"Well, I still think, and I agree with Chinatsu, that their relationship is the only true explanation for all of what happened," Yang said, firmly. "And Shoji… you should be the one to tell us whether we're crazy or not!"

"I… I don't know," Shoji smiled awkwardly, averting his gaze from the others.

"Well, you did have a lot of chances to see them up close. Surely you'd know better than the rest of us," said Chinatsu. "You're just too shy to tell us what you saw, but seriously…"

"You were even invited to that wedding, lady Ty Lee's and the Emerald Rockman's! They were there too! You should just open up and tell us everything…!" Yang smirked, reaching over the table to nudge Shoji, who squirmed out of his reach.

"I-I don't have anything to say…!" Shoji said… and of course, convincing no one that he'd never noticed anything noteworthy in the closeness between those two.

Song knew, however, just what Shoji had seen during Ty Lee and Haru's wedding. She had seen it too, after all… and she remembered that beautiful day fondly, no matter how painful it might be to think of it. The Princess and her gladiator completely enraptured in their enthusiastic, ridiculous dancing while Shoji's own friends performed to their best… Mai's relentless teasing attempts to unravel the truth about Azula and Sokka's secret wedding, too, and the way they had talked quietly as they sat side by side, teasing each other often, laughing together, even picking out each other's foods… they had been at their happiest in those days, and Shoji wasn't quite so blind or ignorant as to not guess how close they might have been. Anyone who had seen them that night would have suspected something…

But Shoji was relieved from having to speak about his suspicions when someone else opened the door. The teamaker leapt to her feet in a rush only to slow down halfway to the front door when a tall woman, taller yet than the already tall Haiyan, stepped into view.

"Ah, I see you're all here already," she said, smiling affably as the group waved in her direction. Rei froze on the spot, astounded by the build of the woman and her considerable height – she almost bumped into a few dangling lanterns in the restaurant, and had to lower her head in order to cross the low threshold into the main room. "And… two new faces?"

"We're guessing we'll see a few more before the day's out, looks like Shengli's sending people here because he ran out of Blue Wolf merch to sell," smiled Shoji. "Welcome, Captain Mei Xun."

"Thank you as always, Shoji," she said, breathing out and picking a chair of her own.

"Any news?" asked the slouching man. Mei Xun sighed and shrugged.

"The Princess, as I'm sure we all know, wasn't in the parade today," she said. The slouching man scoffed. "There's no actual information regarding why she wasn't there, not even an insinuation that there's complications in her pregnancy…"

"It's all a bullshit coverup," the man growled. "I tell you, the Fire Lord's trying to get rid of the Princess, he's probably fucked her up worse than he did Prince Zuko…!"

"That's an awful thing to say!" Chinatsu chided him, but the man continued anyway.

"And now he's just shitting himself because he knows that, if we all see what he's done to the only royal worth supporting, we're going to riot and burn down his damn Palace," he finished, folding his arms over his chest. "It's only fair!"

"It's hardly fair," said Shoji, grimacing. "If the Princess had been hurt at all, she'd still be in there and she'd get hurt too if you did something like that…"

"I don't even think she's there. He either killed her or sent her to prison," the man declared.

"I sincerely doubt that," Mei Xun said, raising her eyebrows. "I've made sure to stay in touch with my contacts in the Domestic Forces and they've shared no information regarding any highly-sensitive prisoners being transported in and out of any prisons since… well, since the Gladiator."

"Then… you're sure he was in prison?" asked Chinatsu. Mei Xun sighed.

"They told me they weren't confirming or denying anything, but from the sound of it, yes. Everything is murky and sketchy, but…"

"And is he dead?" asked the slouching man again.

"Nobody can know that, Jinai," hissed Chinatsu. Jinai waved a dismissive hand in her direction.

"I sincerely don't know. But… I did hear troops were sent to the South Pole," Mei Xun pointed out. Everyone by the table fell silent instantly. "I barely managed to hear of it, I've found very little information on the subject… but it appears to have been a large fleet. I think it's safe to say that the Fire Lord would have no reason to attack if… if he'd been killed already."

"Shit," Jinai blurted out, finally broken out of his reiterative conspiracy theories. Shoji swallowed hard.

"And you don't know if he's…?"

"No, there's not much, if any, information about this," Mei Xun confessed. "As for the Princess's absence… I have the feeling it's a political ploy. They want to keep people guessing… they want them to talk, as you do, Jinai. They want rumors and fear, they want to rile up people so that they rise up and do something… only for them to reveal the Princess is safe and sound when it suits them. Then, all attempts by rebel leaders would be quashed out of… well, near-embarrassment, I'd say, over attempting to commit civilians and whatever forces might join them, into a meaningless crusade for the Princess's safety when she was perfectly fine all along. No doubt she'd deserve to be saved from the Palace, but… but my only source near her has said she wants no heroics, no attempts to save her at all…"

"I still think that's nonsense. The old Sage's going bonkers," said Jinai, shaking his head. "Doesn't matter how proud she is, she's not stupid. She'll want help."

"There's not a lot we can do for her, even if she does," Haiyan remarked, lowering her gaze miserably to her teacup.

"Have you managed to speak with the Head Sage since the last time…?" Shoji asked Mei Xun. She shook her head.

"I did, but he revealed nothing this time. It sounds like he's seen the Princess, but… I don't know. Maybe she asked him to stay quiet about whatever she went to him for," Mei Xun said. Chinatsu gasped.

"Bet it's because he knows the baby's the Blue Wolf's!" she exclaimed. Mei Xun, despite expectations, actually smiled at those words.

"I don't know if he can know that for sure, but… we all hope it is, I suspect. The Princess more than anyone, I imagine," Mei Xun said.

Rei bit her lip as she sat tight, tensely, on her seat: the likely news the Head Sage had kept hidden from Mei Xun was that of Azula's adoption of Rei… news so confusing and odd for these people that they probably wouldn't believe it, to begin with. Information that was, ultimately, quite irrelevant for them, in the larger scheme of things…

"It's likely that she'd rather it were his, yeah…" Shoji said, breathing deeply. "If it's all true, of course. Which, as much as you don't think so, Jinai… it could be. I don't presume to know anything for sure, but it's really the explanation that fits best. Still… we're just here to cope, right? To… to remember, while everyone else moves on. The League meant a lot to us… they meant a lot to us. I never was an impartial party whenever they were involved in something, I even was scolded for that a few times…"

"The chairman can piss off with his whining about your professionalism," growled the teamaker. "We all know he was ready to jump off a cliff if the Princess asked him to, and he did it out of sheer greed, not out of true devotion like you, Shoji!"

"W-well, I wouldn't have jumped off a cliff if… uh, well, maybe I would have…"

"So, he had no right to complain! You were always the best staff member in that whole place, and I'll stand by that forever!" the teamaker declared, patting Shoji's back gently. "And that's why you're the rightful leader of our little group, for sure."

"I'm really not that big a deal, it's probably better if Yang is…" Shoji said, glancing at him. Yang chuckled.

"It's your time to shine! I'm happy writing chronicles about how you gathered the Princess's supporters and became a community leader of some sort…!"

"T-that's too much!" Shoji exclaimed, as the others laughed at his bashfulness. "I'm… I'm not sure we can do a lot for them, in the end. But I guess, if nothing else… I think we should toast to them. The way we always do. Toast and hope… hope that the greatest team the Gladiator League ever saw is still out there. Even if they're apart… we can hope that it won't be for long. And that one day… one day, a new Dome will stand again where the last one fell. That we'll see him again, with his black sword, with his blue armor, with that thumbs-up gesture…"

"Oh, I loved that one," smiled Chinatsu. "So cheeky, and I keep hearing he was actually just trying to reassure her, you know? Not being all stuck-up and arrogant like… u-uh, sorry."

"It's okay," Shoji smiled, as the others laughed at her enthusiastic interruption. "Anyway… that he'll be back with us, standing before the crowd that loved him, raising his hand towards the Princess, just as she reaches her own towards him."

Song's heart clenched. She couldn't have known that Shoji spoke of something that had genuinely happened… but the expressions of desolation and nostalgia in everyone else's faces suggested that it had.

It was Yang who took a deep breath, picking up his cup and raising it in the air:

"To the Princess and her Blue Wolf!"

The others chorused the sentiment: Song and Rei joined in shyly, but they did nonetheless. Of all things Song had experienced during the Fire Nation's festivals, this gathering stood out as an odd, unique moment of cherishing her closest friends with near-total strangers. Of once again witnessing personally just how many people they had impacted with their choices, with their presences, with their lives… she glanced at Rei once they drew back their cups to find her eyes glowed with interest and amazement. She wanted to know more, she always did… no doubt she was marveling over the very same things Song found utterly fascinating about this group of people.

Song and Rei didn't stay very long after that, but the group left a profound impression upon them. An impression that they intended to share with the Princess as soon as possible: they had found exactly what they had been looking for. It was already late afternoon once they took off back to the Palace with Renkai: fireworks blasted behind them as they entered the premises of the crowded, highly decorated Palace together.

They avoided all nobles, everyone who was there for the usual feasts the Fire Lord would throw after every day's events during the festivals' week. A few people still glimpsed them, standing out among the ornate clothes of the highborn with their own, common attires, but Song, Rei and Renkai slowed down for nothing and no one, speeding their way to the Princess's room, hoping to find her there.

A servant was carrying a large pile of clothes out of the bedroom when they finally reached the corridor. Princess Azula stood by her bed, leaning against a bedpost as another two servants filed out after the first one. Her expression was nonchalant, if slightly triumphant, but it switched to a smile quickly once she glimpsed her returning companions.

"We're back!" Song announced, with an awkward smile: only one servant was left inside the room… and he closed the cabinets he was vacating before filing out quickly, too. "And all that stuff is gone. Which, I suppose, is fine by you…?"

"It most certainly is," Azula said, climbing down the dais of her bed quickly to offer Rei a hug. "You were out quite late in the end. Here I was expecting I'd find you'd returned from the terribly crowded festival even before I was finished playing for Xin Long…"

"Were you with him all day?" Song asked. Azula nodded but sighed.

"Right until the guards let me know I was expected to be back here before the Fire Lord's important guests started to arrive," she said. "Clearly, he wants me well out of sight and out of mind for everyone and I can't even pretend it bothers me. I don't want to be anywhere near his nobles if I can help it."

"I suppose," Song smiled awkwardly. "But… what's going on with the servants? What were they doing, exactly?"

"Those are Admiral Zhao's cabinets," Rei pointed out, pulling back from Azula's embrace slightly, though her arms remained locked around Azula's frame. Azula hummed.

"They are. Apparently, this is the shape of his latest tantrum and… it's a thousand times more agreeable than I anticipated, frankly," she said. "They've been taking his clothes, his personal items, everything he owns, to who knows what room by his request. He only showed up briefly to instruct them and to inform me that this was what he wanted, to which I evidently put up no resistance, so…"

"So… everything was alright? Even if he did show up?" Song asked. Azula shrugged.

"Here, sure. In the parade, beats me. You two were the ones who saw that," she smiled. "Was it enjoyable, or…?"

"It would have been better if you had been there, too," Rei said, with a growing smile. "Everyone thought so."

"Oh, sure…" Azula sighed dramatically, at which Song fixed her with a skeptical stare.

"Be as incredulous as you want to be…" she said, slipping a hand into her pocket. "But if you want evidence that people miss you, and by that I mean the both of you… here it is."

Azula seemed skeptical up until Song deposited the Blue Pack's badge and insignia upon Azula's hand. Rei watched from quite the privileged position how the Princess's eyes widened gradually, profoundly surprised by what Song had just given her.

"The… Blue Pack," she said, glancing at Song warily. "Where did you get this?"

"I bought it. At a small stall, and I suppose a dangerous one, at that," Song admitted. Azula's jaw dropped. "The guy at the stall said it was all perfectly legal, though I'm sure he was selling a lot of fake stuff. Bottled sand from the Grand Royal Dome, debris from the explosion? All of it sounded hard to believe, but then someone came by to ask for Blue Wolf merch and he only had two badges left, so… I got that one for you."

"And then we met a group of people who knew you! Well, some of them did," said Rei, with a small smile. "One of them was called Shoji, and…"

"Shoji?" Azula gasped, eyes wide again. "Is he… is he alright?"

"Well, yes. But he's as good as the ringleader of a very small and tight group of people who are still reeling after the Gladiator League was abolished. All of them, it seems, were big supporters of you and Sokka," Song said, with a sad smile. Azula glanced at her in disbelief. "And it goes beyond the Gladiator League, too… someone showed up a little after we arrived. Captain Mei Xun, of the Enforcers…"

Azula gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth. Song smiled warmly as Rei let out a small giggle.

"They're all worried about you," Song said, rubbing Azula's right shoulder gently. "They really want to know if you're okay, more than anything. A lot of them have crazy theories on what happened… and to be honest, some of them are not that far from the truth. I think they're also in touch with the Head Sage…?"

"It sounded like it, at least," Rei nodded. Azula closed her eyes as she ran a hand over her hair.

"That's… that's it, then. The people he said were… were arranging some sort of group to support me from the shadows, I guess?" she said. "But… if Shoji is the ringleader it sounds like a very inoffensive group, for sure."

"They have no idea what they could do for you, seems like," Song said, with a sad sigh. "They wish they did, but they don't."

"Some of them were sure you and Sokka had a relationship, and they sounded very supportive of it," said Rei, with a shy smile. "But that group isn't even all of it, Princess: we saw so many people during the Parade who were just….! The only one they wanted to see was you!"

"Absolutely. It was all they cared about," said Song, nodding. Azula let out a soft huff before shaking her head. "Deny it all you want, it's still true…"

"I'm not denying it, I just… I can barely believe they'd be so reckless," Azula said, detaching from Rei's embrace as she paced in the room, towards the adjacent dining room. "Or that you two would be that reckless, too. At least it was only Shoji, though…"

"And some guy called Yang…?" Song said. Azula stopped cold and glanced at her over her shoulder.

"Really? Was his wife there, too?" she asked. Song nodded. "D-did they say anything about… about the Rehabilitation Center? Is it still functional?"

"Wait, she's the one in charge of the…? Huh," Song blinked blankly. "Well, it sounded like it was fine. I think he said she's still working, so…"

"Then my father didn't defund it or something… good. Oh, I'm… I'm glad," Azula said, smiling as she almost collapsed on a chair. Song and Rei smiled at her as they approached her, just as Renkai filed into the room, carrying the large haul of goods they'd bought in the festival. "And… did you guys buy a whole stall, by any chance?"

"Nearly," Song smiled proudly as Rei blushed, biting her lip. "She wanted a lot of books… so now she has a lot of books."

"Goodness. I told you you'll end up being the one tutoring us someday, Rei," Azula smiled at the youngest of them all, who laughed and shook her head. "A good investment, all in all. Then… it sounds like you guys had a really good time today?"

"It was a lot better than I expected. Especially because we got to prove you wrong," Song smirked, taking her seat beside Azula. "People love you, damn it. They miss you. They're so worried about you, there's this crazy conspiracy theorist in their group who's so convinced your father only did everything he did because he's freaking out about how popular you are…!"

"Though that man was a little strange," Rei pointed out, smiling as well as she grabbed a chair of her own. Song nodded.

"True. And there's so many who really are convinced you and Sokka had a secret relationship, and to my surprise, they all sounded completely supportive of the idea," said Song. "Even the Enforcers' lady, which, I admit, I'd never have expected her to be on board with your relationship with Sokka. Not when, well…"

"When… what?" Rei blinked blankly. Song smiled awkwardly.

"Well, Rei, that… wasn't the first time I crossed paths with her. Or with Shoji," Song admitted. Azula hummed.

"The Wen persona continues to work wonders, then," she said. Song nodded.

"Shoji noticed I was familiar, but I deflected it. Mei Xun didn't really think much of me, I think," Song smiled. Azula smiled too.

"All the better, if so. Though I doubt she would have been trouble if she'd noticed who you are. Her job was to take care of… of people in worse positions than yours, so…"

Song nodded, but Rei's confusion only continued to increase.

"How did you meet her at all…?" Rei asked. Song grimaced as Azula laughed quietly, covering her face with her hands.

"It happened when… when a certain happy couple was off in a careless, romantic escapade," Song pointed out, glancing at the laughing Azula. "Haru, a friend of ours, the one they mentioned today? He took Sokka's place briefly, pretending to be him during a week when Azula was supposed to be publicly on vacation and Sokka wasn't supposed to be with her, but of course he was…"

"So… Haru was pretending to be Sokka while Sokka was actually with the Princess?" Rei asked. Song nodded as Azula hid her face even more than before, shoulders still shaking at the memories. Song smiled and shook her head.

"Thing is, Haru and Ty Lee were very enthusiastic about celebrating that they'd get married quite soon after that week," Song said. Rei hummed.

"I suppose I understand what that means," she said. Song sighed.

"Well, what happened was that Mei Xun arrived to check on Sokka, who served as the swordsmanship instructor of the Enforcers, and when I opened the door, everything she could hear was two people going at it, and she assumed it was Sokka with someone else," Song said, with a grimace. It was Rei's turn to cover her mouth hastily. "I tried to defuse matters, I did, but…"

"She was… so pissed at him after that," Azula laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. "Sokka was always panicking about seeing her, and he was so angry because Haru and Ty Lee had smeared his good name…"

"They really shouldn't have," Song smiled sadly. "They had no excuse for that. But… that's why I thought she'd never be okay with it, you know? I figured she thought Sokka wasn't that great…?"

"Sokka said he'd settled things with her eventually," Azula admitted. "He told me he wasn't sure if she'd figured us out, but… going by what you've said, maybe she did. Maybe she assumed I was taking a vacation with Sokka in his room… or she realized that the ones in the room weren't us and that we were together elsewhere anyway."

"Either thing means she knew, though. And that, no matter how mad she was at Sokka at first, she got over it and supported you afterwards," Song said, with a reassuring smile. Azula grinned too and nodded.

"Fine, fine, I suppose that's how it is," Azula said. "I guess it's strange how, after all this time it almost feels like that life no longer belongs to me. It wasn't even that long ago, but it feels like it was sometimes. But then… then something like this happens, and I remember I used to be someone. I used to matter quite a lot, I suppose…"

"To a lot of people," Song said, clasping Azula's hand. "And you still do. That's what matters most."

Azula breathed deeply and glanced at Song with uncertainty. Her friend's enthusiasm wasn't all that reassuring, somehow. Even now, when her life was finally finding a new course, some stability, there were deep gashes, scars upon her soul that these revelations couldn't heal. If anything, they might bleed her out all the faster…

"The conspiracy guy and the Enforcers' Captain said some things that…" Rei said, biting her lip. "That made me think, though."

"About what?" Song said.

"About the Princess's isolation," said Rei. "About how the Fire Lord's keeping her hidden away, so no one sees her… they're even thinking you could have been killed, or severely wounded by the Fire Lord. The conspiracy theories are… are gaining strength and the rumors must have only gotten worse after you weren't seen today."

"In the parade?" Azula said. Rei nodded. "Well… it's a tactic of intended to break the Fire Nation's few rebels as effectively as possible, at my father's convenience."

"That's more or less what Captain Mei Xun said," Song pointed out. "That the Fire Lord would keep you hidden until the opportune moment arrived."

"He's banking on letting those theories gain strength, on people talking and discussing my circumstances to sow disquiet, fear and dissent among our people," Azula said. "Then, when they're completely certain that he's doing something awful to me, he'll pull the rug from underneath their feet by revealing I'm alive, safe and sound. My public appearance tomorrow is bound to serve that purpose."

"Can't you do… something?" Rei asked. "Something to prove to them that… that the Fire Lord can't control you as much as he tries to?"

"Heh… that would be suicidal," Azula said, with a grimace. "And I'd love to communicate with whatever admirers I have to make sure that they don't do anything reckless or stupid, but… if I so much as try, and my father finds out, I'll condemn them and myself to who knows what other living nightmares he can cook up. I can't really do anything other than abide by whatever he wants from me."

"I suppose…" Rei sighed, but she shook her head rapidly. "Still, we proved the truth, didn't we? You're valued, Princess. You matter to your people, so…"

"So, I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss their loyalty towards me?" Azula asked, glancing at Rei. "I… I guess not, but ultimately, I don't know if I want them to be that loyal to me at all. I've seen where that loyalty has taken those I cared for, and…"

"And it's not your fault, or their fault, that any of that happened," Song said, firmly. "You didn't deserve the nightmares you've been dealing with: never let yourself think you did. It's not their loyalty that's the problem, Azula, it's…"

"It's my father, I know. And trust me, I blame him plenty as it is," Azula said, with a shrug. "But unfortunately, I can't guarantee the safety or the wellbeing of anyone who's loyal to me. Maybe I could have, once, but nowadays…"

"Even if you can't, they still care. And I think they always will," Rei said, smiling a little. "I'm sure a lot of those nobles in the banquet are waiting eagerly to see you…"

"And they'll wait forever, as far as I'm concerned," Azula declared.

"Well, those of lower birth feel no differently," Rei said, and this time, Azula's heart clenched. "You're their Princess. And they'd rather be loyal to you, they'd rather support you than… than your father."

Azula opened her mouth for a moment but closed it again soon afterwards. Rei was wise beyond her years in many cases, but this time Azula couldn't quite find wisdom in her words. Wistfulness, yes, and hope… all of which was better to keep in Rei's heart than to smash it with a strong dose of reality, of rejection, of blunt honesty: these people didn't deserve to be dragged into the turmoil and chaos of Ozai's cruelty, and if they gained more notoriety, they were certain to become new casualties along the way. Azula wouldn't let that happen…

And yet Rei's words, and Song's reassuring smiles, and even Renkai's diligence as he set up Rei's books in the now liberated storage space after Zhao had moved out, suggested that she had no power to change what was brewing beyond the Palace's walls. Rei's idea for her to show some form of rebelliousness, some willingness to stand up for herself publicly, wasn't without its merits… but how? It wasn't bound to work if she left behind some sort of message to decode for her admirers… not when Ozai might notice it before anyone else did and accuse her of treason for the thousandth time.

It was pointless to dwell on it, to feel lifted high and dragged down over the same piece of news… but Rei's words continued to round her mind, whether she wanted them to or not. She was valued. She mattered to people. She was loved… she was cherished.

They were loyal to her, indeed. Whether the extent of her disgraces would earn her further loyalty in the future, or if she'd lose it forever, remained to be seen… but even so, the beautiful sensation she had felt when she and Sokka had stood in the Grand Royal Dome for the last time returned to her impulsive, vulnerable, sensitive mind: the heartwarming sensation of having touched countless lives with their choices and actions, the knowledge that she had done something right to earn their support and cheers, to be deemed worthy of the faithfulness they still felt for her…

She didn't know if she remained worthy of it anymore, that is, if she ever had been. But even if she didn't want to acknowledge it – for she certainly felt selfish for appreciating it – Azula cherished the testimonies by both Rei and Song. On most days she found herself regretting so many of the choices she had made… but on that day, she could only be grateful to know that the Fire Nation's people stood with her still, and that they meant to continue standing beside her, regardless of the hardships she had faced and the many more that might await her on the road ahead.