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...

162. Chapter 162: The Fire Lord's Shadow 4

"S-sir? This is a bad idea, I'm warning you. She won't take kindly to being woken ten minutes earlier than usual…"

"Bah, nonsense! The Princess and I have a long day ahead of us, and she needs to get up early so we can get started!"

"B-but she'll be mad! Her temper is terrifying, please don't stir it unnecessarily!"

"You seriously don't know how to have any fun, do you? I'm not going to get you in trouble anyways, if she gets mad at someone it'll be me. Stop freaking out."

"B-but sir…!"

The maid's words fell on deaf ears: Sokka smirked with malice as he strode towards Azula's room, proud of having woken up early enough to come to the Palace, as they'd agreed on yesterday. He guessed Azula would react explosively to his visit, but he wasn't too concerned about it: triggering her bad mood would both help at keeping suspicions about them at bay and it might get her mind off the troublesome trail of dead fire she'd discovered. Granted, he didn't particularly want to be at the receiving end of her hostility, but if it'd help Azula in one way or another, he'd make the sacrifice willingly.

By the time he was ready to knock on the door, the maid had scurried away nervously. Sokka breathed deeply before striking the metal loudly.

"Heeey, Azula? You in there? I'm here real early, just as I promised!"

No response. He frowned briefly, trying not to panic: that creepy fire couldn't have gotten to her just like that, could it? No, no, he had to keep his head level. At the very least he had to try twice or thrice again…

"Azula? Azula!" he called repeatedly, knocking louder this time.

He had to stop knocking when something violently crashed against the door. He inched away while eyeing it warily. Was that smoke, seeping through the door…? Had she lashed out at him with a fireball? Well, then, she was probably fine, right?

"Damn, you had me worried for a second there!" he exclaimed, goofily, knowing her firebending attack didn't bode well for his future. "Seems like you're fine and awake, aren't you?"

No response again, but he could hear sounds inside the room now. He bit his lip and waited, before leaning with a hand on the door frame now.

"Azula…?"

The door swung open and her hands wrapped around his neck.

"I'm going to kill you…" she hissed, as he stumbled back, despite her hold on him hadn't receded in the least. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"A-Azula, ack!"

The maid had still been watching them from afar, keeping an eye on the situation as best she could… knowing, of course, that this would be the likeliest of outcomes. Upon seeing her prediction coming true, she scrambled away to find help for the strangled gladiator.

Azula's grip didn't relent until the loud, running footsteps had faded away completely. She glared at Sokka reproachfully once she released him, as he dropped on the floor on his knees.

"W-why would you go that far…?" he said, between coughs. She sighed.

"Believable performances are necessary, aren't they?" she declared, shaking her head. "Are you alright?"

"No… not by far…" he answered, dramatically flopping on the floor before her feet. "You've killed me indeed, and now… I'm just dead. So dead. Dead…"

She had to bite back a small smile at his antics. She had said they needed to deliver believable performances, and what was more believable than a writhing Sokka, struggling to regain his breath at her feet after she had punished him accordingly for his crime? She kept her head held up even as a troupe of servants came rushing in, including a physician, who would check on Sokka's wellbeing after being strangled.

He sat in her room through his check-up, pouting and shooting glares at Azula, who was perfectly happy now as she ate her breakfast in her bedroom's annex dining room. As she had been incapable of keeping her smirk at bay when the others arrived, she had simply played it as being utterly satisfied by taking vengeance on her gladiator as she had.

"Just… don't be stupid enough to do something like that again. Please," Fei Rou, the Palace's head physician, scolded Sokka with sharp eyes after ensuring he was alright. Sokka smiled awkwardly.

"I underestimated her, yeah. Here I thought 'she couldn't possibly try to kill me after she's been doing her best to keep me alive over the last few years!', but uh… yeah. I pushed my luck, huh?"

"Quite so," said Fei Rou, rolling his eyes and stepping away from Sokka. "I'd better not be summoned again because she set you on fire, you heard me?"

"Yeah, yeah, no need to worry," said Sokka, smiling weakly as Fei Rou walked away.

He was the last of the Palace staff to leave the bedroom: the maids and servants who tended to Azula's morning necessities were long gone, as they would only return to retrieve her breakfast tray once she was done with it. It gave them a brief window of privacy, one they couldn't possibly make the most of… but at least it allowed Sokka to sneak into her dining room and place his hands on either of the Princess's shoulders. Azula dropped her head back against his abdomen, relaxing against him as she singled out a sweet bun from her meal and offered it to him.

"Hmm, that's generous," he said, smiling as she lifted it to his mouth. He bit on it gratefully, regaining some of the energies he'd spent on his way here from his home.

"You deserve it. Thanks for enduring me at my very worst," Azula said, with a small smile. Sokka chuckled.

"Well, now, here I thought it was just an act," he snickered. "Or… wasn't it?"

"Ah, we will never know, now, will we?" she smirked.

"Wait, wha-…?" he started, but Azula took her chance to push the bun into his mouth again, silencing him briefly and leaving him with wide eyes.

"You can sit down too, you know?" she declared, as she returned to her food. Sokka blinked a few times, munching on the bread as he took his seat.

"S-sho wait a shegond…" he mumbled, as he chewed. He finished the newest bite he'd eaten and took what was left of the bun in his hand. "You were that mad because I woke you? I've woken you up before and you'd never been upset about it…"

"Most the times you've woken me up I've been naked with you, and my mind's still numb after a healthy number of orgasms," she declared. Sokka smiled proudly. "You'd never woken me with loud banging and crying out my name like that…"

"Hmm, I thought that was right up your alley, though," he teased. Azula smiled and shook her head.

"Well, that was poor choice of wording on my part…" she admitted. He snickered as he watched her cheeks reddening.

"I'd say it was the right one instead," he said. "Just, I'll have to do the sexual version of it next time…"

"Rather than next time, you'll do it when we have a chance to," she said, smiling weakly. "Either way… I admit I'm surprised you made it so early. Good job."

"I'm surprised for it too, but I'm glad I did it. This way I get to spend more time with you," he said, beaming. "Rest assured, Princess, you will have to endure my irritating presence all day long today!"

"That's bound to be fun…" she said, rolling her eyes but smiling all the same. The grin faded quickly, though, upon remembering the circumstances that had led them here in the first place. "We'll draw a map of the places we'll have to visit. I'll mark all of them once we're flying with Xin Long, and we'll check out each place I feel the rot in."

"Alright," said Sokka, nodding. "What are we going to look for, exactly?"

"If we're to prove or disprove the theory that my father had something to do with this, we'll search for any signs of White Lotus membership," Azula said, glancing at Sokka. "I seem to recall Piandao left you some White Lotus tile, long ago?"

"Oh, yeah," said Sokka, frowning. "It's still in my room, somewhere…"

"There's a chance they'll have some of those, too," Azula reasoned. "So, if they were White Lotus, we may just find those tiles once we figure out who the victims are, and once we've found their homes."

"Sounds like a good plan," said Sokka, breathing deeply. "You're alright, though? Slept okay?"

"Hardly," Azula admitted, with a shrug. "It's not easy to sleep properly when your mind is full of dark thoughts. But no worries, I can do this. We may not even need to visit every place, as long as we find tiles in the places we do visit…"

"Seems fair," Sokka nodded, wisely. "And… have you felt the rot again anywhere in the Palace?"

"Not particularly… not anymore, at least," Azula said, frowning. "Granted, I hadn't been looking for it actively until just yesterday, but I haven't felt the source of it since I sensed it in my father's office."

"Well, good. At least it's not stalking you or something of the sort," Sokka said, nodding. "We can take off once you're done eating, then."

"We can. But you'll have to be so kind and step outside while I change…" she said, as he pouted disapprovingly. "We both know you have seen what's underneath this robe more times than we can count, but as usual…"

"We have to play it safe," Sokka recited, rolling his eyes. "Play it safe, my ass. Or rather, your ass. I really miss it, you know…?"

"And you'll have to keep missing it, at least for now," Azula said, reaching out to clasp his hand in hers. "As soon as it's safe for us to do as we please, I can guarantee I'll jump your bones."

"Heh, that sounds like fun," Sokka smirked. Azula chuckled.

"Good to know it does," she said, pushing the empty tray away from herself and leaning close to him to kiss his lips. "The universe knows we need it, after the days we've had lately…"

"Too true," Sokka confessed, nodding promptly.

Regardless of her warning, Azula began stripping naked quickly, before Sokka was out of the room. He stole a long, yearning glance at her body, heat pooling in his lower belly, but he obeyed her command all the same. Once she was by her closet, well out of view for anyone who might be lurking near the door, Sokka snuck out of the bedroom quickly, closing the door again behind himself and waiting rather impatiently for Azula to be ready.

She took ten more minutes, finally stepping out of the room clad in her gold armor and with her make-up fully done. Her hair wasn't properly brushed, though and she eyed him significantly.

"There's one thing you can do to make up for waking me up as you did earlier…" she said, before handing him the hairbrush. Sokka chuckled.

"As you'd have it," he said, bowing his head towards her.

He was quick about it, unsurprisingly: he had brushed her hair so many times by now that he could do it with his eyes closed. Azula placed her hairpiece where it belonged once Sokka was done, and without further ado, she led him to Xin Long's refuge. The dragon wasn't quite as playful today: he was as wary of the rotting fire as Azula was.

"Alright," said Azula, settling on the saddle and pulling out the map of the city she'd brought from her room. Sokka climbed after her, looking at the map over her shoulder. "Let's get started."

Xin Long bounded upwards, rushing at full speed to the heights above them. The sky spread out into the horizon of a day with perfectly clear weather, the sun shining brightly amid thin, white clouds. The irony found between their dark circumstances and their bright surroundings only felt foreboding for Azula, but she had no time to ponder the signs of the universe: she had a map to mark, and a city to scan through her resonance.

Sokka glanced down at the city from far above while Azula closed her eyes and focused. It wasn't long before she had tapped into the essence of the fire all through the city below, discovering many sources of bright flames… and there, scattered amongst them, the dark, rotting ones. She breathed deeply and lifted her map, pulling her makeup set out of her pocket. Sokka stared at her in confusion.

"You're going to mark the map with that?" he asked. "Are you sure…?"

"I can easily get more for myself later, if need be, but I didn't bring anything else to do it with," Azula stated, matter-of-factly, as she began drawing lines on her map. "Alright… this is the location from the one from yesterday."

She marked that one down and proceeded to mark everything else too. Sokka watched from over her shoulder in confusion, eyes widening as Azula kept working steadily. On and on she drew across the map, until she had traced thirty-three circles. Sokka swallowed hard.

"That's… that's as many as you feel? For real?" he asked. She nodded.

"We probably won't be able to search all of them today…" Azula guessed. "But we'll have to get started now or we'll never make any progress, so… we'll go to the northernmost victim, and keep going from there."

Sokka grimaced but nodded, arms locked around Azula's waist as they soared the skies on Xin Long's back. The dragon flew slowly but surely towards the first unpleasant burst of rot, and he slowed down at an intersection of a lonely street: the buildings in the area looked small, unimpressive. This neighborhood wasn't particularly expensive, peripheral as it was, but the Grand Royal Dome stood around ten blocks away, and its opulent architecture was visible from where they landed.

"Odd to be so near it without having to head in there, huh?" Sokka said, sighing in relief.

"We'll have to go back for your next fight, though," Azula said. "As ever, we're getting caught up in too many things, but we can't be careless about the ranking now that you've risen so high."

"Say, how about another event?" Sokka asked. "We could join that Gladiator Brawl, for instance. I saw that flier on Shoji's desk…"

"It's possible," Azula agreed, nodding as she climbed off Xin Long's back. "Though I think that's in that ring over at the Si Wong Desert. It means traveling all the way back to Ba Sing Se, and then heading south… but I suppose Song would be grateful for another chance to visit her mother, right?"

"Surely she would be," Sokka agreed. Azula sighed.

"Still… it also sounds like a crazy event. We'll have to really think about it before joining something so chaotic. I don't plan on risking your life in dangerous events again," she said. Sokka smiled and shrugged.

"I guess you wouldn't like that, no," said Sokka, smiling gently at her before breathing in and gazing about himself. "Anyways… where to?"

The source of the rot wasn't easy to pinpoint: Azula suspected this particular crime had happened several days ago, if not weeks, going by how faded the rot felt. She could make a guess at the building in question, but she wasn't sure where it'd happened, exactly. She led Sokka to the multiple-storied building, though, and they studied it carefully from the outside while Xin Long watched over them cautiously.

"Maybe we should ask someone who lives there," Sokka suggested, shrugging. Azula frowned.

"We would do best not to draw attention to ourselves," she said. "And asking around if there's any people here who may not have been seen for weeks isn't the way to go about it."

"How do you expect to get in there and inspect the victim's room, then?" Sokka asked, skeptical. "I get that you want to keep a low profile while we're looking into this, but…"

"Excuse me?"

A voice behind them startled the gladiator and his sponsor. Azula turned around quickly, her long hair accidentally whipping against a middle-aged, short woman, the one who had spoken. She had braced herself against the accidental attack of Azula's hair, but she gaped at the Princess in awe right afterwards.

"Oh, oh! I-it's the Princess! Oh, goodness, this is such an honor!"

The woman bowed and knelt before Azula, leading the Princess to grimace in frustration while Sokka smiled awkwardly. Azula sighed heavily and placed her hands on her hips, waiting for the woman to stand upright again.

"Greetings, you may rise…" Azula said, through gritted teeth. The woman obeyed promptly, gazing up at her in wonder.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" she asked, eyes gleaming. Azula's eyebrow twitched, and she glanced quickly at Sokka before gathering her courage to answer the woman's question.

"Well… do you live in this neighborhood?" Azula finally asked. The woman nodded promptly.

"I'm the landlady of this very residence, Princess!" the woman exclaimed, smiling as she gestured at the building at the right of the one Azula had deemed as the source of the rot. Azula frowned.

"We were looking to enter this other building, though…" she said, pointing at it. The woman gasped and nodded promptly.

"Oh, no worries, I shall get their landlord immediately! Wait here!"

Azula nodded as the woman scurried inside the place quickly. Sokka scratched the back of his head, wondering why they couldn't just follow the landlady inside instead.

"I suppose you'll get your wish," she said, bitterly. Sokka bit back a smile. "We'll have to ask that landlord. I guess it's a good thing, having a landlord to ask at all… it's expected that he would keep tabs on his tenants, right?"

"He'd better. Else he'd be no good at his job," said Sokka, with an awkward grin. "It's fine, though, we can just ask to see the room and not say anything compromising. Plus, you're the Princess. If someone can get away with doing as she pleases, no questions asked, it should be you."

"You may be mistaking me for my father if you think so," she said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka's smile turned upside down. "But admittedly, people ought to be more permissive with me than they are with the general populace…"

Barely moments later, the landlady and landlord showed up at the door. The landlady remained thrilled over having spoken to Azula, but the landlord seemed a little more down-to-earth than his neighbor.

"A-am I in any trouble?" the elderly man asked, walking with difficulty towards them, leaning on a cane as he looked at Azula with concern. "I'd be happy to welcome you here, of course, but…"

"I'm only here to ask about your tenants, if you don't mind," said Azula, nodding towards him.

"Ah, I have a lot of tenants as well!" the landlady exclaimed, beaming. Azula smiled dryly.

"That's nice," she said, as Sokka cautiously moved to stand between the Princess and the older woman. Not so much to protect Azula, but to level her with significant glares if her patience ran out too quickly. "I would like a list of those tenants, if that's alright with you, and, uh… if it's possible, I would like to meet some of them and ask a few questions. You see, I have started a residence of a sort, of my own…"

"You have?" the woman asked, surprised. Azula nodded.

"As is natural, I'd like to ask for advice from those who actually live off this business," said Azula, before clearing her throat. "So… if you would both be willing to explain more about your duties, and how you handle your many different tenants, I'd be quite grateful."

"T-that's… yes, of course! I thought someone was in trouble, oh, goodness…" said the man, smiling enthusiastically now. "Well, now, come in, come in! We can all talk over a cup of tea!"

"Thank you for your kindness," Azula said, smiling and bowing her head in gratefulness, which startled the pair before her.

"N-no, no, there's no need to bow, just come in, both of you!" said the landlord, as the landlady laughed and entered her neighbor's building. The ease with which she trooped inside it betrayed she was a frequent visitor there.

Sokka raised an eyebrow and eyed Azula with amusement. She returned the stare, arms crossed over her chest.

"What? I said I want no attention drawn towards our actual purpose here," she said, and he chuckled softly.

"The ease with which you can come up with a story and make it sound believable is terrifying," he said, smiling warmly at her. "I damn near believed you, too."

"That's a good sign," Azula smirked, as Sokka gestured with an arm to usher her inside the building, right after the other pair.

The tea tasted better than Azula's daily batch, which she was grateful for. Drinking the accursed thing on days when she knew she wouldn't have any decent privacy with Sokka was quite frustrating, but she understood she had no choice. She was nearly used to its taste by now, but she surprised herself by discovering she had a newfound appreciation for brews with proper flavor. Goodness, Iroh would mock her to no end if he could see her right now…

"So, what is it you'd like to know?" the landlady asked, smiling brightly.

"Oh, I'm mainly interested in what kind of lives your tenants lead," Azula said, as innocently as she could. "Do you perform any background checks before allowing them to stay here, for instance? Are they from good families, or…?"

"Well, I generally do that…" said the landlady, but the landlord coughed.

"I'm sorry, I mostly just make sure they have the money to cover the rent," he said. Azula nodded.

"I understand. So, you don't know your tenants particularly well?" she asked.

"Only sometimes," said the woman, smiling. "There are some who stand out, you know? And then there's others who are completely plain, their presence is just so unnoticeable…"

"Is that so?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. "Does that happen to the both of you?"

"Oh, absolutely," said the landlord. Azula nodded.

"Are they so ignorable that, I don't know, they could vanish, and you wouldn't even know it?" she asked. Sokka looked at her with raised eyebrows, wondering if that had been too forward.

"Well, no, never quite like that," said the landlord, with a small smile. "We charge them every month, so we need to keep tabs on them through the weeks leading up to payday, you see? Even the weirdest, most secluded ones need to be checked on…"

"And… what's the assigned day for rent this month?" Azula asked, feigning her innocent curiosity.

"Mine is in a week," said the landlord. The landlady had fallen silent for a change, until then.

"Well, mine was yesterday," she said, biting her lip. "And usually I collect from everyone, but this time I… well, I suppose something must have happened to her. You know, that sweet girl, the one who brought me the medicinal herbs from that shop she works at?"

"Oh, her! She's so polite, yes!" said the landlord, beaming. "I think she's got a thing for one of mine, she kept coming over and heading up to his room, and… u-uh, I mean…"

"It's quite alright," Azula said, smiling dryly as the man blushed and eyed her warily. "I'm aware of how babies are made, there's no need to tiptoe around the subject with me."

"O-oh, it's just, it's not polite to speak of such crude things with the Princess!" said the landlord, his blush strengthening as Sokka laughed silently into his cup of tea.

"It's fine, I said," Azula smiled, shaking her head. "So… there was a relationship, then? Between your tenants?"

"That's right, but… I haven't seen her in a while. Maybe she's been living here with your boy, huh?"

"Maybe so…" admitted the landlord, nodding. "Though I admit, I haven't seen her either… but he's probably just sneaking her in whenever I'm not looking."

"Is he here right now?" Sokka asked, speaking for the first time in front of the older pair. They looked at him in surprise, probably aware of who he was, but not familiar enough with the gladiator to know he always spoke his mind. "You could just ask him directly, maybe make sure the girl will pay what she owes…?"

"Right, right… that's not a bad idea. Is he, then?" the woman asked the landlord, who shrugged.

"I think so? He's not an early riser, usually," he said. Azula bit her lip.

"Well, there's a chance this tenant of yours may have also left the payment she owed in her room, you know? Before moving in here?" she told the woman, an innocent smile on her face. The landlady stroked her chin.

"That's also possible," she said. "Perhaps I should go check now, but then, about asking this other tenant…"

"I can handle talking to him," Azula said, nodding before looking at Sokka. "Mind accompanying her? She might need help finding the money, it could be hidden somewhere…"

"It's possible," Sokka nodded, standing up and looking at the landlady with a kind smile. "I'll give you a hand with that, then, if you don't mind."

"O-oh, sure! Why, who would mind having such handsome company? Of course you can come!" said the landlady, giggling as she stood up and made to leave with Sokka. Sokka bit his lip and gave Azula a significant stare, which she answered with her own, amused, smirk as he took off.

"Would you prefer to finish your tea, or should we knock on Dong's door right away?" the man asked. Azula was about to choose the latter, but surprising even herself, she finished her cup first before standing up.

"After you," she said, wondering just how on earth she'd developed any appreciation for tea.

The landlord led her up the stairs of the old building, the floorboards creaking with every step they took. Azula frowned, sensing the unpleasant rot closer and closer as they moved up. Finally, they stopped at a door where the rot seemed stronger than anywhere else.

"Dong? Are you home?" the landlord called, knocking the door carefully.

Not long afterwards, a young man with disorderly hair slid the door open. His unkempt appearance matched the strong and unpleasant odor that emanated from his body. Azula briefly wondered if the tenant's state had something to do with the rot, but going by the man's appearance, it was more likely that he simply hadn't cleaned up in days.

"W-what is it…?" he asked, with a thread of a voice. "Did Yumiko come back?"

"Uh… no. We were actually going to ask you if you'd seen her," said the landlord, grimacing. Azula gritted her teeth as Dong's face twisted into a miserable expression, the preamble to a loud wailing session.

"I know I messed up, but she didn't have to leave me like this!" he cried. "I knew we weren't ready for that yet, b-but I still tried, and she said no, and then I said yes but she said I was rude, and I apologized but she left and…! I wanted to marry heeeer!"

Azula tried not to roll her eyes as the man broke down into sobs. The landlord beside her grimaced and tried to soothe Dong by shushing him.

"Now, now, no need to cry like that…!" said the landlord, as Azula stepped forward.

"May I come in?" she asked. Only then did Dong seem to acknowledge her presence.

"W-why would you want t-…?"

"Oh, Princess, if you wish to inspect any rooms there are far better ones, no doubt…" said the landlord, smiling awkwardly. Dong gasped loudly, falling backwards as he looked at the hairpiece on Azula's head.

"T-the Princess! Why would the Princess visit me…? Oh, is the universe sending me a sign?!" the man exclaimed, wide eyes accompanying his crazy smile. Azula cringed, inching away from him.

"I guess the universe is sending many signs, including 'don't get drunk in the morning, as you may just be randomly visited by a royal when you're moping over being dumped'… but either way, I do believe this is the room I must inspect," she finished, turning towards the landlord with her last words. "I assume he's the worst of your tenants?"

"W-well, right now he is, for sure," the landlord said, nodding, as Dong gasped in horror. "Oh, come on, look at your room! What's with all the bottles? The Princess is right, it's barely ten in the morning!"

"B-but Yumiko…!" he whined again, seemingly forgetting that he had only just interpreted Azula's presence as some sort of godsent miracle to help him get over his girlfriend.

"Then I will have a look at this place and hope to build my idea of what a terrible tenant would look like," Azula said, smiling as she entered the room without another word.

Dong whimpered and watched Azula with amazement as she moved past him, striding further into the chaotic room, littered with bottles and dirty clothes. As drunk as he might have been, Dong seemed to know he had no business flinging himself at Azula in an act of desperation, so he merely laid where he was as the Princess pretended to inspect his room.

Azula glanced about herself in worry, locating the rot's source right on the bed with the scrambled, stained sheets. She frowned, wondering if the culprit, whoever it was, had murdered Yumiko on this bed, whether in Dong's presence or not…

"Well, this place is dirty," she said, smiling a little and glancing at Dong. "When was the last time you cleaned it up?"

"I, uh… must have been a week ago," he said, shrugging. "I'm just, uh, not very tidy."

"I can see that," she said, snorting and shaking her head. "My nose is terribly sensitive sometimes, so… I think I perceive something that always bothers me. Are you a smoker, by any chance?"

"Smoker?" he asked, blinking blankly.

"I just sense… ashes, of some sort," she said, shrugging. "Maybe you forgot to clean after smoking a cigar or two?"

"I didn't, because I don't smoke," said Dong, shaking his head. "I haven't burned anything in here, I'm not even a firebender. Yumiko wasn't one… w-wasn't one either, Yumikoooo!"

"Oh, goodness, will he never stop?" Azula growled, rolling her eyes and glaring at the man. "So, you haven't seen any ashes in this room, then? No smoke, no ashes?"

"Uh… no," he said, abruptly interrupting his wailing to answer her. "I didn't see anything like that."

"Strange, then," said Azula.

"Might be its another tenant's doing?" said the landlord. "Smells seep through these thin walls easily, Princess…"

"No doubt they do," she said, glancing around herself with a frown.

If there were no ashes this time… either Yumiko wasn't quite dead, or the assassin had actually taken their time to sweep everything clean before Dong showed up. How, though? This man sounded like the kind of person who spent all day home, but perhaps it was only because of his grief over his failed relationship…

"Do you have a job, Dong?" Azula asked, looking at the man with a raised eyebrow. He was sitting with his mouth agape, staring at the ceiling and not listening to a word she said. "Dong!"

"A-ah, y-yeah, I mean, what?"

"A job. Do you have a job?" Azula repeated, her patience thinning by the second.

"I'm a bartender," he said. Azula grimaced. "Y-yeah, well, that's why I have so many bottles! When I'm having a rough day, the manager lets me take a few of 'em, and I just… drink."

"And as that's the kind of job you work at, I assume you spent your nights working, and your days lounging around here?" she said, gritting her teeth.

"Sometimes…" said Dong, shrugging.

"Well, I have to say… you sound like you could be a well-adjusted man if only your girlfriend hadn't ditched you as she did," Azula lied, changing her behavior entirely to put on an empathetic façade. It was a technique she didn't think she was too talented at, but Dong fell for it as easily as expected from a drunk man.

"I am, though! I totally am!" Dong whined, pouting.

"Was Yumiko well-adjusted like you, then?" Azula asked, casually. "What did she do for a living?"

"She worked at a flower shop," Dong sighed. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"Have you looked for her there?" she asked. Dong nodded.

"They told me yesterday she hasn't come to work for a while now… I guess she's just taking a lot of time off?" he mumbled. Azula bit her lip.

"Did she have any hobbies?" she asked. "I mean, maybe she got caught up in something else. I, myself, get caught up in the Gladiator Business very easily… maybe she's interested in it too."

"She never even mentioned it," Dong said, scratching the back of his head. "I don't think she cared for anything violent like that…"

Azula frowned. No apparent connection with the Gladiator Business, then. While she had already suspected the thirty-three victims wouldn't all be sponsors, confirming it now only made matters more difficult: their main lead appeared utterly irrelevant now.

"When did she dump you, if I may ask?" Azula asked, innocently. Dong sobbed.

"About a week ago?" he said, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"You can't remember with more precision?" Azula asked, frowning.

"I think it was around… nine days ago," the landlord answered now, and Azula glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "I remember she stormed out angrily, and then on the next day, around midday she… I think I saw her going upstairs? I guessed she was collecting her things, maybe. But I had errands to run, so I didn't wait to see her leave."

"Huh, did you see her that day, then?" Azula asked, looking at Dong with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head.

"Some friends wanted to go out with me, to cheer me up…" he said, shrugging. "Didn't help much."

Azula's stomach sank. There had been no one in the building who could have helped Yumiko at the presumed time of attack: no doubt the culprit had bided their time carefully, choosing to strike when the landlord was out of the building, when Dong was spending time with other people. No doubt they would have had a chance to wipe away all evidence, if that was how it was…

Yumiko was dead, most likely. The only question that remained was why she had been targeted at all.

Azula glanced out of one of the windows, and she raised her eyebrows upon spotting Sokka on the very next building, rummaging through the furniture and cabinets of a much tidier apartment. Yumiko and Dong might have started their romance because of how close their windows were, which would have allowed them to talk and flirt at leisure…

Sokka was doing his best, as was clear to Azula, but it didn't matter how deep he dug, he couldn't seem to find anything: not money to appease the landlady, not any Pai Sho tiles. There wasn't even a board for the game in the apartment, to begin with.

"I guess she's not that considerate, huh?" Sokka grimaced, after going through the very last cabinet of utensils. He was lucky that the landlady had picked through the clothing cabinets, by his suggestion. It felt utterly wrong to go through other people's possessions, especially their intimate clothes. Even if they were investigating someone who might just be dead, Sokka was uncomfortable about breaching someone's privacy to such an extent…

"Goodness, this is just so unexpected," said the landlady, shaking her head. "Oh, well. She may just have gotten caught up in some sort of rebound relationship, right?"

"Hopefully she'll be back to pay you soon, then," said Sokka, not looking at the woman as his guilt overwhelmed him for just uttering the words. No, the girl wasn't likely to ever come back, let alone to pay her rent… he sighed and shook his head, glancing through the window at an equally downcast Azula, who frowned in his direction.

Sokka waved at her with a sad smile, and she nodded in acknowledgement. What they'd found, or rather, what they hadn't found, would have to be discussed once they were back with Xin Long.

And that was how they dealt with the matter, after effectively shaking off the landlord and landlady with quick reassurances that their establishments were exemplary and great references for Azula's new project. Azula sighed as she climbed on Xin Long's saddle, and Sokka settled behind her, waving somewhat awkwardly at the landlord and landlady – who, as expected, were in awe of the dark dragon – before they shot up into the sky in a quick burst of speed.

"So? Found anything? Going by how long you spent looking through her stuff, I assume not…" Azula said. Sokka gritted his teeth.

"Nothing. It looked like what you'd expect from a room rented by a twenty-something girl who just moved into the city, or so…" Sokka said, sighing.

"I feel sorry for her," Azula said, biting her lip. "Maybe she was White Lotus indeed, but… if she was, she still got entangled in a romantic liaison with a loser like that Dong…"

"Dong?" Sokka repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Her boyfriend," Azula shook her head. "He was drunk when I got there. He seemed to think I was sent by the universe for him to get over his dead girlfriend through me."

"That's just sickening," Sokka said, eyebrow twitching. "C-can I go back and clarify to him that it's never going to happen? No? Darn it…"

"You can't, no," Azula smiled, reaching out to caress his thigh as they flew through the cloud cover. "But… I do think she was killed in his house. She went there when Dong wasn't home, it seems… and I guess she just never came out again."

"Is it possible the culprit got the wrong person?" Sokka asked. "Could be that Dong was the White Lotus one instead…"

"Heh, if so, he certainly can't be a competent member of their gang," Azula snorted, shaking her head. "But, admittedly, I didn't search through his things. Not that I would have wanted to, with all those bottles scattered all over the place…"

"Yeah, sounds like he was a pain," said Sokka, sighing.

"Still, considering Dong had no stories about ashes and smoke, I don't think the assassin caught the wrong person," Azula said. "I asked in roundabout ways, pretending I could sense ashes from some sort of cigarette, but he said he hasn't had any ashes in his room, so…"

"The culprit cleaned up this time?" Sokka said, gritting his teeth.

"Considering they seem to have waited for the right moment, when Dong and the landlord were out, they may have had the perfect window to wipe everything clean, so Yumiko's death would be as good as imperceptible."

"That just makes the sloppy murders a lot more confusing," Sokka muttered, rubbing his chin with his thumb. "Why was this assassin so careful until now? And why couldn't they continue being careful?"

"It's possible they're enjoying the attention," Azula suggested. "But I guess… maybe the assassin is growing desperate?"

"It's not impossible," Sokka convened, frowning. "Though… why? Is it because of the investigations? Are we closing in?"

"We haven't been closing in at all until today," Azula answered. "No investigation had yielded any results so far, so being nervous about getting caught when they had everything to their favor would be… well, unprofessional, I suppose?"

"And that doesn't really seem to fit, does it? Whoever it is, they don't sound unprofessional in the least…" Sokka admitted, shaking his head.

"What's worse, though… Yumiko has no apparent connection with the Gladiator Business," Azula said. Sokka frowned. "Our theory was that sponsors were being targeted, but it doesn't seem like she was one. I guess the assassin cast their net much more widely than we realized."

"That doesn't help matters in the slightest," said Sokka, huffing. "What's the connection, then? We know White Lotus people used the Gladiator League to earn money and fund their rebellion, but aside from that…"

"It's far too soon to figure out whatever we're facing, truthfully. By now it's difficult to say if this is even connected with the White Lotus at all," Azula said, pulling out her map and reading through it quickly. "At any rate, ready for the second one?"

"Just a sec…" Sokka said, leaning close and hugging her tightly. Azula smiled a little. "Yeah, I definitely needed that… also, are we going to keep making up crazy stories as we did just now?"

"Oh, no, we're going to make up believable ones, rather," Azula said, smiling proudly. Sokka snorted. "Just leave it to me, else we might contradict each other by accident at one point or another…"

"As you wish," he said, kissing under her ear. Azula shivered pleasantly. "Sounds to me like you rather enjoy cooking up your alibis, huh?"

"It's an entertaining practice, to be sure," she said, smiling with malice. Sokka chuckled. "Let's see what I can come up with next, then, shall we?"

Sokka chuckled and waited for Azula to select their next stop. Within the darkness of what they were trying to unravel, the two of them clung to each other, to their banter and the natural comfort they found in being together. It seemed to be the only way to chase away the horrors they were dealing with.

The next story Azula made up was that she wanted to inspect a certain house, to see if it was fitting for her gladiator to move into. The neighbor she told as much to seemed stoked about the idea of having Sokka as his neighbor, and even asked him for an autograph, but by the time Sokka had signed it, Azula had already come right out the door: the house was empty. She could sense the rot inside, but the only thing within were tatami floors: no furniture, no hiding places, nothing noteworthy altogether. The neighbor seemed to be about to burst into tears when Azula dismissed the house as too plain for her gladiator, right before climbing on her dragon once more.

Their run through the city carried on as it had, with Azula making up whatever believable excuses she could think of at each stop, and Sokka kept nodding promptly behind her, supporting everything she said. While they had never been aloof and distant from the general populace – they were often in the Grand Royal Dome, one of the most popular places in the city –, they also had never been in such close contact with the common folk who lived in the Capital. It was odd to see so many of them were perfectly regular people, some even humble, despite the city was famous for its obnoxious nobility that scoffed at all commoners.

By the afternoon, they had already searched eight locations and were landing on the ninth as the sunlight gained an orange hue. Azula sighed, knowing this process would be painfully slow if done just by two people… but she couldn't tell the Domestic Forces to search through these suspicious places when most people knew nothing of the disappearances in question. Some of them had happened barely two days earlier, others as far back as two weeks ago. Whenever they had a chance, Azula would scribble on the back of her map the details on each victim: their apparent day of disappearance, their ages and occupations. So far, everything was so dissimilar that Azula couldn't find any potential common ground for them. Still… it was increasingly clear that this wasn't about the Gladiator League anymore: many of the victims had no relation with it, which only muddled their investigation further.

"We're getting nowhere," Azula sighed, once they touched ground at the next place. Sokka sighed, wanting to wrap her in his arms but knowing they couldn't do something like that in a crowded street such as this one. "I can't find any patterns, there are no White Lotus tiles anywhere, and every single one of these victims seems completely insignificant in the grand scheme of things. In fact, that's the only suspicious side of it all…"

"The victims are perfectly irrelevant?" Sokka asked. Azula nodded, climbing off the saddle.

"Indeed, irrelevant enough that people won't take their disappearances all that seriously until it's been a fairly long time since they happened," she said, as Sokka joined her on the street. "Or, well, unless there are witnesses who saw the murders happen before their eyes, as it was for the Fiery Nightmare's sponsor and the one I saw yesterday…"

"The victims were low-profile, and so far, none of them seem to have had families with them," said Sokka, frowning. "I guess in our current times that's not so rare, a lot of families were broken up because of the war, but… it's a bit strange, either way. Most of them lived alone."

"True," Azula conceded, frowning. "Which does make them believable candidates for the White Lotus… they'd want to blend in, playing it safe while finding ways to fund and support their rebellion behind our backs. But there's no sign of their membership so far…"

"Unsurprisingly," said Sokka, sighing. "Either we haven't searched as thoroughly as we should have, or… I don't know, maybe they kept their tiles with them at all times, and they've been reduced to cinders just as they were."

Azula frowned, eyeing him with uncertainty as possibilities and theories sprung in her mind. She narrowed her eyes before glancing at the latest suspicious building, biting her lower lip.

"Or maybe the killer is taking them as trophies," she suggested. Sokka froze.

"Woah. I… didn't think of that, but it'd make perfect sense," he said, grimacing. Azula nodded.

"Let's check this new place, maybe we'll finally hit a gold mine," she said, stepping towards it with uncertainty.

The building was a single-story house, with no fence of any kind. The windows were closed, several gables on the roof had fallen off, and although it could have had modest yards, the house was surrounded by unkempt dirt grounds, with uneven grass growing in patches all across the house's terrains.

"Well, that doesn't look good," Azula frowned, eyeing the place with uncertainty.

"Do you want to knock, see if anyone's home?" Sokka asked, moving to the front door. "Wouldn't hurt to try…"

"I guess not, but I suspect no one's been home in ages," she said, hands on her hips.

She wondered if they ought to ask anyone nearby, but they were in a commercial street this time: people passed them by on the sidewalks, many of them so involved in their own matters that they didn't even notice they were in the presence of the Princess, her gladiator, or her dragon.

"Maybe we could ask some shopkeepers," Azula said, raising her eyebrows and glancing across the street at the nearest store.

"You think they would've seen anything?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged.

"Might be," she said, but she huffed and glanced back at the house. "Something's strange here, though. It's different from everywhere else."

"Why?" Sokka asked, returning to her side quickly. "Does it feel different, resonance-wise?"

"Very much so," Azula said, frowning. "It's… widespread. I can't pinpoint a specific source, but it's also… it's much more faded. Whatever the assassin did here, it wasn't quite as strong as what they did everywhere else."

"So maybe they didn't kill someone here?" Sokka said, glancing back at the house. "But they still used that rotting fire…?"

"It's possible," said Azula, nodding now. "But I don't know if it's worth checking on our own. I think it's safer to ask questions first."

"Oh, well… as you wish," said Sokka, glancing back at the house with uncertainty before following Azula to the shoes' store she'd set her sights on.

The store clerk jumped and bowed as elegantly as she could when Azula entered the establishment. After the usual pleasantries, Azula was ready to get to the point:

"What can you tell me about that house across your store?" she said, gesturing at it. The young woman blinked blankly.

"W-well, I… I can't really say much, I don't know anything about it," she said. "I thought it was abandoned, my parents told me as much when I was younger… you know, I inherited their store, and all. But, uh… truthfully? I don't think it's that abandoned…"

"What do you mean?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"I've just… seen people, on occasion, showing up there," she said, shrugging. "Sometimes I see them going inside, sometimes I see them leaving… I can't remember what any of them look like, if you hoped I could identify them."

"You never knew any of them?" Sokka asked. "Did any ever enter your store, by chance?"

"Well… no," said the girl, frowning and shaking her head. "At least, if they did, I never saw them heading inside the house later, or leaving it, or… well, I admit I've never paid too much attention. I just guessed, well… maybe it's some clubhouse for a gladiator fan club or something like that?"

"A slightly wishful possibility," Azula said, frowning and glancing at the house from over her shoulder. The girl swallowed hard.

"Why are you asking about that house, though…?" she said. "I-I mean, not to pry, but it's just been abandoned like that for years now, and…"

"That's precisely why. I've been out through the city, determining what places are at high risk of criminal activity," Azula declared. The girl flinched. "I never thought I'd find a potential criminal hub right here, in a commercial district…"

"I-it might not be anything that serious…" the girl started, but Azula's harsh glare silenced her.

"Thank you for your assistance," Azula said, stepping outside again. Sokka followed her without question.

She didn't cross the street right away, though. She frowned, staring at the place with irritation and unease. It wasn't anyone's real home, possibly… maybe it was a reunion place. Maybe this was the link in common between all the suspects…

"We could visit Dong again tomorrow," Azula said. Sokka cringed.

"Why would we want to do that? Didn't you say the guy's a drunk?"

"Because the drunk had a relationship with one of the victims," Azula said, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's better than what the others seem to have, which, as you know, is nothing. It's possible Yumiko vanished once a week, or at a specific interval, without explaining anything to him… for whatever reunions she'd have here."

"Wait, White Lotus meetings?" Sokka inquired. Azula breathed deeply but nodded.

"Possibly. We still have no evidence of it, but… it's the main idea that comes to mind," she said, frowning at the house. "Maybe we could head inside, after all…"

"You finally want to try doing that, just when I start thinking it'd be safer not to," Sokka sighed. Azula smiled at him.

"For what it's worth, this place seems safer than the rest, somewhat. Which is why the whole situation is weird… but it's worth checking either way. I'll keep my resonance active throughout, in case the damn thing shows up, for once."

"And I'll stay right beside you all the time," Sokka grumbled, as they crossed the street. "No point in separating here."

"Good," Azula said, her hand brushing against his lightly as she strolled powerfully towards the front door.

She had been ready to kick the door open, but a simple twist of the doorknob was enough to prove there wasn't even a lock in the house. Azula's paranoia only increased with that.

"What are the chances that we're walking into a trap?" Azula mused. Sokka grimaced.

"There's a strong likelihood of it, I won't lie," he said.

"It's like that thing lured us here," Azula muttered. "The murderer… it's as though it had set things up ideally just so we'd come here, and it'd take us out once we do…"

"Why, though? Are we a real threat for some reason?" Sokka asked, confused. "We're nowhere close to figuring out what's going on…"

"And yet we're closer than anyone else," Azula said, stepping back and closing the door brusquely as she glared at the building. "It's cowardly, maybe… but to be honest, I'm not comfortable entering this place just with you."

"I'd think it's caution, not cowardice," said Sokka, sighing and looking at her in concern. "Maybe we should call it a day, Azula. We've been on our feet since early in the morning, asking questions all over the place… we could use a break."

"I guess we could," Azula sighed, shaking her head and leading Sokka to where Xin Long waited, perched proudly on a rooftop while watching Sokka and Azula as a guardian would. "I only hope there really was a trap, or else backing out will feel beyond foolish once we figure out the truth…"

Sokka smiled and patted her shoulder gently as the dragon landed before them. Xin Long shot up into the sky once both Azula and Sokka were safely on his saddle, and they returned to the gladiator's house, their heads hung.

"We'll look through the rest of them tomorrow," Azula told Sokka, glancing at him from over her shoulder. "Or, well, as many of them as we can…"

"It's so many," Sokka groaned, jumping off the saddle after Xin Long landed safely. "And, well… I'm not sure we'll find anything if the first nine places didn't have anything useful."

"We can't just assume that," Azula sighed. "I know it's a pain, and I'd rather be doing less depressing things, too, but… if there's the smallest chance that we'll discover this assassin made a mistake worth exploiting, I'll take it."

"I guess you will," Sokka sighed, but he looked at her pleadingly from the ground, while she remained on the saddle. "You stayed here until late yesterday… can you afford doing it today as well?"

"I…" Azula started, frowning. "I'm not sure. I mean, I doubt I'll get in trouble, but… I'm not sure I'm in the mood for fun today, if that's what you had in mind."

"What I had in mind was keeping you in my sights and being sure no creepy invisible fires came anywhere near you," Sokka answered earnestly. Azula actually smiled fondly.

"Well, really… now I will end up in the mood, what with you saying that sort of thing…"

"A nice sentiment, but I know you don't mean it," he said, smiling and placing a hand on her thigh. "Just for a little while, Azula. The less time we're apart, the less we have to worry about each other. And I'm pretty sure you're worrying a lot about me, considering what you've said…"

"No doubt I am," Azula conceded, sighing. "I'm just not sure, but… well, I doubt my father will keep such close tabs on where I spend my evenings, right?"

"Right!" Sokka exclaimed, smiling enthusiastically now. Azula smiled and stroked his chin with her fingertips.

"What a mischievous gladiator," she said, climbing off Xin Long's saddle before instructing him to wait in the backyard. The dragon huffed but complied, rolling into a small ball and resting with his tail waving slowly in the air.

"Admittedly, I thought it'd be harder to convince you, but I'm glad I succeeded," he said, beaming and wrapping an arm around her waist as he led her towards the house. Removing themselves from their very unpleasant mission, and properly enjoying their physical contact, was a good way to improve their sour moods.

"You're home, Sokka?" Song asked, from the kitchen. "I think I made too much food for dinner, but I'm planning on using some of that as leftovers, okay? So don't finish everything while I'm not watching."

"Heh, do you expect you'll be able to control your gluttony?" Azula smirked. Sokka pouted. The Princess's voice surprised Song.

"Ah, Princess?" she said, rushing to the kitchen's open door now and smiling. "Ah, then never mind the leftovers, if you're here for dinner then I cooked the right amount after all!"

"The first good thing to happen today, seems like," Azula laughed. "Thank you, I think I'll be happy to stay."

"Yes!" Sokka exclaimed, beaming as he hugged Azula tightly. Song chuckled before giving Sokka a stern glare.

"But that still means you don't get second servings… or third. Or fourth. Or…"

"I get the idea, Song, it's fine…" Sokka pouted. Azula chuckled as she poked his arm, wrapped around her as it was.

"Is that the secret to your build? Eating unreasonable amounts of food that translate into muscles?" she asked. Sokka bit his lip before shrugging and smiling.

"Must be! See, that's why I have to keep eating that way!"

Azula laughed against his chest as Song rolled her eyes and returned to cooking. She was smiling too, though, happy to have company again, even if they surely would focus on each other as they ever did. Rui Shi would come by in an hour or so, though, and by then all of them could have dinner together. The last time all four had enjoyed a meal together was after Sokka and Azula's last scare, and it had been a great way to lift their moods. As Sokka had been slightly downcast lately, Song guessed this would be a good idea for everyone, especially for him.

Sokka and Azula surprised Song by offering to help in the kitchen. Azula hardly did anything aside from asking questions, curious and confused over many things in the cooking process, but Sokka actually tried to be helpful. Naturally, Song had to rush to fix a lot of things before Sokka ruined them beyond repair, and the gladiator merely laughed awkwardly about it while Azula scolded him for his carelessness. All the same, Song found it was amusing to work with the two of them like this; she had expected them to lock themselves up in Sokka's room, so this was a nice change of pace, for once.

Rui Shi arrived when the meal was almost ready. By then, Sokka was sitting next to Azula again, chatting casually while Song finished arranging every course. She raised her eyes with delight when Rui Shi knocked, and she rushed to the door with a spring on her step.

"How shameless of her, showing off her happiness that way…" Sokka huffed playfully, smirking with mischief. Azula eyed him with amusement.

"You'd prefer it if she were blatant about it the same way we are?" she asked. Sokka laughed and shook his head.

"Goodness, what a messed-up house this would be if that were the case," he conceded, smiling at her as Rui Shi and Song strode back inside the kitchen.

"Princess," said Rui Shi, looking at Azula with confusion. "I guess it's good to know where you are, but I'm surprised you'd be here…"

"Am I expected elsewhere?" she asked, grimacing as she dreaded Rui Shi might bear some bad news.

"Well, some members of the Domestic Forces came by the Palace to ask about you," he said, taking his seat and urging Song to sit beside him. "But as we didn't know where you were, we couldn't help them. I thought you were investigating with them, weren't you?"

"I… was. Until yesterday," Azula said, with a dry grimace before glancing at Sokka with uncertainty. "I've picked up a different line of investigation now. If it yields any results, I'll inform the Domestic Forces immediately."

"A… different line of investigation," Rui Shi repeated, skeptical. Azula scowled.

"And why are you using that tone, Rui Shi?"

"Just… I didn't know that's what they called it these days, is all," he said, shrugging. Azula scoffed as Sokka smiled a little.

"I don't have to report my daily activities to you, Rui Shi, but if you really want to know, I spent the entire day searching for clues through the city. Yes, Sokka came along too, but that doesn't mean…"

"That doesn't mean you were doing an inappropriate tour of the city together, no. I'm sure it doesn't," Rui Shi said, with a small smirk. Azula glared at him and shook her head while Sokka stroked his chin beside her.

"Say… that's hardly the worst idea, you know?" he said, smirking and causing the other three to jump.

"The hell?!" Azula said, looking at him in disbelief.

"I mean, if we're going to be traveling all across town through an entire, exhausting day, might as well sneak some spice into it and make it worth our while!" Sokka declared, beaming. Azula's body seemed incapable of processing the ridiculousness of his proposal, and she just caught herself laughing in disbelief. Rui Shi had rolled his eyes at Sokka while Song smiled and covered her face with her hands.

"Please don't ever tell us about it if you actually do that, okay?" Song said, with a small voice, as Sokka laughed much louder than Azula now.

Their heavy, difficult day had ended on a good note. Azula hardly felt heavy-hearted by the time she went home, after a long and deep kiss with Sokka right beside Xin Long – it only ended after the dragon interrupted them by smacking Sokka's rear with his tail, chuckling mischievously about their subsequent, embarrassed outrage. Still, upon returning to the Palace, it was difficult for the Princess to keep her spirits high. She kept using her resonance, constantly checking if there was any rotting fire nearby, but she still couldn't find anything. Whatever that thing was, it hadn't been in the Palace recently.

She decided to stop by the spa for the first time in quite a while, relaxing there and enjoying a full treatment for once. As she hadn't been intimate with Sokka in some time, there was no risk that any servants would spot red bruises on her neck or any other marks that might give away their relationship, so she enjoyed the pampering to the fullest and returned to her room feeling refreshed, even if still quite paranoid.

Her eyebrows drew together when she entered her room to find a messenger hawk perched on her windowsill. She strode towards it, expecting it to carry a message from the Domestic Forces, but upon reaching it, she realized she'd seen that specific bird before…

"Hawky?" she said, smiling a little as she reached for the message the bird carried on his back.

She unfolded the small note and grinned fondly as she read it:

You're home safe, I take it? Just checking, you know, for good measure…

She wasted no time answering his message, quickly picking up ink and brush and returning Hawky to Sokka with a small answer.

The gladiator had been lounging in bed, sleepless and sighing, wondering if Azula would answer at all, just when his bird returned. He bolted to his feet and unfolded the note, beaming upon reading her elegant handwriting.

All is well, I merely stopped by the spa for a while. I hope Rui Shi and Song won't keep you up at night.

He smirked as he composed his answer, and Azula laughed upon reading it only a few minutes later, rolling her eyes at his reply.

It's okay: I'll just take revenge somehow if they do. You know me, I'm inventive, I can come up with something. Also, using decent ink again? What happened with writing with your makeup?

The teasing and taunting each other through messages didn't stop, even though both of them were careful to never write anything too incriminating on their notes. Azula hardly noticed how late it was as she kept scribbling messages, sitting by her window and waiting for the messenger hawk every time. Sokka as well had climbed off his bed, and instead sat at the dresser, always wondering what Azula might say next.

It was helpful to stay in touch this way, both because they enjoyed their ridiculous conversations and because they could confirm the other was safe. The only downside was, of course, that they might not sleep at all through the night, at this rate, but at the moment that seemed to be the least of their concerns.

Azula finished sending Hawky with another taunting reply and sighed before relaxing momentarily on her desk. Even while they were apart, she felt better about life just by reading Sokka's messy handwriting. The rot seemed so insignificant when faced with the gold fire burning in her chest…

But it wasn't that insignificant, and Azula reminded herself of it quickly. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and grimaced, trying to snap out of her drowsiness and to use her resonance again, just in case. She'd been thoroughly distracted by Sokka's letters, but if nothing had happened until then, nothing was likely to happen by now…

She closed her eyes and scanned carefully, feeling her mind shutting down as the urge for sleep grew stronger. But she just had to make sure all those bursts of fire around her were what they were supposed to be, it was a quick thing, and really, she couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary-…

The rot.

She jumped to her feet with a start, eyes wide, when she felt it.

It was nearby, terrifyingly close. Her entire body shook as she glanced at the door, all thoughts of messenger hawks and sleeping off the rest of the night well and truly forgotten. It was in the Palace… and it felt strong. Either it was the actual assassin, here to take down another victim, or it had only just killed someone and left its strong trail behind, while Azula had been distracted.

The thought nearly made her sick. She gritted her teeth and slid out of her room as quietly as she could, trying to ignore the cold marble against her bare feet as she followed the unsettling rotting fire. She controlled her breathing, keeping it slow even though her heart was racing. She could feel it near one of the open gardens, so she had to get there as soon as possible, before it vanished… or before it killed again.

Why was it here now? Her father would be sleeping, and going by how his wild inner fire was unusually calm right now, he was still safe and sound. Was this thing here to get her? Or was it looking for someone else? The thoughts tumbled through her mind in a rushed craze, nearly making her lose control as she finally reached the corridor that would lead her to the source of the rot…

She was careful, pressing her body against the wall, her feet making no noise as she approached the location she'd pinpointed. Someone like Toph still would have sensed Azula… but whatever that rotting fire was, it seemed to be unaware of her presence. She could sense it shifting slowly, though… it was as good as inner fire this time. It wasn't just some residue, like everything in the city. It was real…

She swallowed hard and glanced around the corner that led into the long corridor of the gardens.

Her eyes widened when they fell upon a hooded figure there: it was real, corporeal… and not invisible. At least, it wasn't invisible right now, if anything. She gritted her teeth, her trembling easing slowly. It was humanoid, so… it wasn't a spirit, it couldn't be. Spirits surely didn't bend, and if they did, it wouldn't be in such a disgusting way…

But then, that meant this hooded figure was a bender. Whoever was behind that cloak was the assassin… and for reasons unknown, they were standing here, in the Palace, gazing up at the starry sky. What on earth was this strange being playing at?

Whatever it might be, Azula couldn't simply sit back and wait for it to strike, not when she had finally ambushed it, for a change.

The assassin only reacted instants before Azula's fire blast struck it from behind. He managed to jump out of the way, and in the process, he turned towards Azula. With that, she saw the shape of his body and ascertained it was, indeed, a man. But a thick mask covered his face, and most his body was clad in multiple layers of torn but thick black clothes. He would blend easily in the night if she didn't take him down now, this very second…

"Princess?!" exclaimed a guard at the wall. Azula had as good as forgotten there were soldiers nearby: the burst of blue flames immediately gave away her identity to them.

She had to keep this assassin busy, she couldn't let it escape, let alone could she let that happen before other people saw him, too. She needed people to vouch for her, to tell her father she wasn't insane by the time she…

Well, that had been forward of her, no doubt. How could she be planning on talking to her father when this accursed assassin was still standing before her, a gloved hand stretched out menacingly towards her?

Azula stopped where she stood and, fortunately, hesitating wasn't a mistake. The assassin's hand produced the damned thing, at last: the rotting fire.

Azula's eyes widened as she saw a stain of darkness expanding before her, a black, putrid substance rather than actual flames. There was no light to it, nothing but an unpleasant appearance concealing what, as far as she could see, was gas: the smoke spread out from his fingers, and it was directed towards Azula…

She gritted her teeth and used a fistful of flames to push the rot away. It helped, but it failed to defeat it. The smoke simply spread around the blue flames and, to Azula's chagrin, when the assassin closed a hand into a fist, his smoke muffled out the remnants of Azula's blue flame. She gritted her teeth before attacking again, aware that the outcome was likely to be the same this time around. But if just for now, if just to keep the bastard distracted until the guards reached them…

Blasts of orange flames attacked the hooded assassin now, too: the guards had rushed to join the fray, and they had seen the intruder by then. That, if nothing else, would be a relief, but now, as they surrounded the assassin together with Azula, they had to figure out how to stop this madman without falling prey to his smoke…

"Desist immediately! This will not end well for you!" one of the guards exclaimed, a non-bender armed with a spear.

The assassin seemed to ignore him, which prompted the man to attempt to stab at the enemy: again, raising a hand was enough for the assassin to summon the black smoke that, within seconds, turned half the spear to ashes.

Azula shouldn't have stopped to watch, she knew as much, but her entire body shuddered upon seeing it happen with her very eyes: had he done that exact same thing to all those people? Had he melted every living, breathing person through that sickening fire…?

By now, all soldiers and Azula herself hesitated. That was what enabled the assassin to wave his hands around himself and summon a cloud of smoke that no one would dare approach…

Azula gritted her teeth and punched flames into the smoke. It amounted to nothing: even when the other soldiers joined her, the thick shield of smoke was too strong for anything to penetrate it. It seemed as good as solid…

And suddenly the fire broke through. Azula gasped and deflected the flames of one of the soldiers, noticing all their fire had torn through the smoke at last.

But there was no one left where the smoke cloud had stood anymore.

Her chest heaved, her legs trembling. What had just happened? Had the accursed thing just vanished? Was it capable of invisibility, after all? Could it be gone already? She gritted her teeth and used her resonance, but after the fight, the area of the Palace was coated in the rotting fire's signature sensation, and she couldn't quite pin down the assassin's location anymore…

But if she focused she might feel it. She closed her eyes and forced her resonance to the utmost extreme, driving herself as hard as she might… finding a burst of rot beyond the Palace yards: it was speeding away through the city so quickly she lost it within seconds.

"It's gone… he's back out in the city, he's… send word! Call the Domestic Forces, rouse them now!" Azula shouted, as the startled guards looked at her warily. "That menace is loose in the city, and it must be stopped!"

"Yes, Princess!" the men exclaimed, some with more enthusiasm, others responding warily, clearly too scared of what they'd seen to jump headfirst into fighting this threat. Under any other circumstances, Azula might have scoffed at their fears, but not tonight. Not after this.

The men scrambled away at haste, nervous about fulfilling Azula's orders and about dealing with the assassin that had slipped past their surveillance. With the rare powers he seemed to hold, however, Azula didn't think the assassin could have been stopped even if the soldiers had sensed him before she did.

Other soldiers reached her a few moments after the first ones had left. They had seen the fire from the walls, but they hadn't joined the fray – not that they had even understood what kind of conflict had been unfolding, to begin with. Azula's frown and mild trembling startled them when they reached her.

"Princess, are you alright? What happened?" asked one of them. The Princess turned her cold glare towards them.

"You," she said, eyeing the one who had spoken. "Find an Imperial Guard, make them wake my father immediately. I must speak with him, now."

"I… y-yes, Princess," said the soldier, nodding promptly and rushing off. The ones who accompanied him watched Azula with uncertainty.

"Return to your posts, or rather, spread out and cover the stations of the guards I sent off earlier," she commanded quickly. The men seemed moments away from claiming they could do something more meaningful than that, but they bowed their heads towards her and rushed away to follow her orders.

Her mind was racing, but, most of all, her rage was burning painfully inside her. It had been impossible to fight it, and she still understood nothing of what had happened: was his fire invisible? Was the smoke simply its product? Had the accursed assassin propelled himself into the air, using a literal smokescreen…?

The thoughts kept bothering her as she made her way to her father's chambers. She would wait for him outside his room, knowing better than to disrespect her father's boundaries, but she would make sure to speak with him immediately. For better or for worse, the assassin's existence had finally been unveiled, and she would do her damnedest to chase him down. All that remained was to find out whether her father had anything to do with it or not…

She didn't have to wait long for Ozai to show up. The Fire Lord was elegant even in his sleeping robes, albeit the frown on his face didn't bode well for whatever sorry soul ticked him off right now. He glared at Azula, holding her responsible for his interrupted rest.

"Why did you demand for me to be woken, Princess Azula?" he said, his voice a low growl. Azula knew she had no time to waste:

"An assassin broke into the Palace tonight," she said, curtly, directly, her golden eyes steeled against her father's: his frown receded slightly, giving room to surprise and confusion.

"An assassin?" he repeated. "Azula, what…?"

"I fought him, other soldiers joined me, but it was impossible for us to defeat him," Azula continued. "The fire he wielded, it was… it was smoke, or it was invisible, I have no idea which one it was yet. But he vanished in the middle of our fight, and I could sense him heading into the city, so I sent the guards to inform the Domestic Forces of what was happening, and…"

"You… sensed him?" Ozai repeated, eyes wide. "How did you sense some assassin, Azula?"

"It's… it's a skill that can be learned," Azula said, shrugging. "My dragon taught me how to use my inner fire to resonate with the fire of other benders nearby. I used that to track down the assassin's trail, I've been doing as much for two afternoons now. Father, it's killed countless people by now, around thirty of them, all with some… some rotting, disgusting fire of a sort I'd never seen before. There's no connection between the victims, nothing I can track down yet, so, as far as I can tell, this mad killer is just executing our people at random and…"

"Azula, slow down," Ozai interrupted her, frowning heavily. "What happened when you encountered this assassin? Did you fight him? Did he flee?"

"It… yes, I fought him, and yes, he fled," Azula said, gritting her teeth. "I've sent soldiers to track him down, but…"

"But it sounds like you're dealing with a power beyond anything we've faced so far," Ozai said. Azula scowled. "Go to your room, Azula. I will handle this from here."

"Will you, then?" she said, looking at him with uncertainty. "I… I'm sorry, Father, but… you must be the first royal to respond with such pragmatism to the news that an assassin with otherworldly powers infiltrated your home."

"I was already in bed, you can't expect me to respond to things as I would if I were in better shape," Ozai huffed. "Meanwhile, you are too shaken up to deal with this. You have enough to concern yourself with as it is, I will deal with it on my own time."

"I can barely think of anything aside from this, Father, you can't expect…"

"I expect you to obey my commands, Azula," Ozai growled, glaring at her fiercely. She frowned heavily. "As you always have. This matter is no longer yours to deal with. Step aside, and I will make sure to put an end to it promptly."

Azula's chest heaved as she looked at her father in outrage, but she turned around and walked away, trying to stop her entire body from trembling as it had earlier. Still, against all sense, against all she had learned over the years she had spent living in this Palace, she turned again and looked at her father one more time. Ozai appeared moments away from lashing out over this newest onset of defiance from his daughter, but her words floored him before he could scold her for her insolence:

"Were they White Lotus?"

She couldn't hold back her violent trembling anymore, not as she held her father's disbelieving gaze with her unforgiving one.

"What are you…?"

"The victims," she cut him off, knowing better than to play into his evasive pretense. "Were they White Lotus?"

It seemed she had succeeded, if just for a moment. The source of Ozai's surprise wasn't that his daughter had been in mortal peril, or that such a dangerous killer was set loose in his city: what surprised him was that Azula had tracked down and even fought him, that she had unraveled the true intent of the assassin's mission. Even if Azula didn't want to believe it, the slow scowl on Ozai's face spoke for itself to vouch for these truths… and her chest burned in sheer fury because of it.

Finally, Ozai opened his mouth to speak. For one fleeting moment, Azula thought she'd receive an answer…

"Go to bed. Now," he spoke, his voice threateningly low, his golden eyes blazing menacingly. There was no telling what he would do if she took one more step out of line.

Azula gritted her teeth and stormed off without another word. Go to bed, then. It was to bed for now, no doubt, but eventually he'd relegate her to living in a far-off family property, surely, and if she kept rebelling, he might just find whatever excuse he could to give her Zuko's exact same treatment.

Strangely, Azula found she didn't care about whatever her father might threaten to do to her anymore. His accursed assassin scared her more than he did: what was the wretched man capable of? And who was fouler: the one with the dead fire, or the one who had hired him to execute allegedly dangerous people with it?

She clenched her fists as she strode towards her room indeed, shaking her head in disbelief. All along, it had been her father. When she had felt that accursed sensation during the ceremony, all the times she felt it later on, near her father, it had meant the damn assassin was probably close by, perhaps even protecting Ozai. And she was too stupid to accept it until today…

She barged inside the room and slammed the door behind her, but instead of jumping in the mattress, as her father surely wanted her to, Azula picked up a few empty bags and moved to her closet. She pushed whatever clothing items she expected to make use of over a couple of days, all before changing out of her sleeping robe and into her armor. By then, she noticed Hawky perched on the windowsill still: she rushed to scribble a warning to Sokka, to alert him that she was on her way, before sending Hawky back home.

Azula made sure to collect everything she'd need before making her way to the center of her room, rolling back the carpet and opening the trapdoor. She yanked at the carpet and ensured it'd roll back into place after climbing into the tunnel, and she started on her way to her gladiator's house. Not only did she need to talk to him immediately to share what had happened, but she direly needed to make sure that the accursed killer hadn't taken off towards Sokka's house. If that thing had been around for a while, how much did it know? Was it aware of Azula's relationship with Sokka? Would it seek to hurt her indirectly, to avenge himself after she'd nearly caught him tonight?

Well, that was certainly an exaggeration: she had been nowhere near catching him. Those vague abilities that she still couldn't wrap her head around had kept her at bay easily. What would have happened if her opponent had taken the offensive instead? The thought sent bad shivers down her spine as she made her way through the tunnels, constantly using her resonance in case the killer was nearby. In case she found any other victims below ground, too…

She sped up her pace, barely acknowledging the heavy bags she was carrying. Not feeling the damned assassin's presence was just as bad as sensing it, if not worse. He was still out there… but until she knew those she loved were safe, she would have to run as fast as she could, boosting her progress with firebending as she sped up towards the right tunnel exit…

Sokka had dozed off on his dresser when Hawky returned. He had assumed Azula had fallen asleep and credited her lack of answer to that. But the flapping of the hawk's wings woke him, and he rubbed his eyes as he approached the bird.

"Heh… that's strange," he muttered, still somewhat groggy as he opened the note.

All his drowsiness vanished when he read the newest message.

The assassin was in the Palace. I fought him, he got away. I'm heading to your place now.

The curt sentences and cut-and-dry tone of her message were accompanied by shaky, violent handwriting. His stomach twisted into knots as he read the message twice, and then thrice, and four times before setting it down and rushing downstairs. He ran a hand through his hair, his heart racing and not for good reasons. She had to be okay, even if she seemed upset – who could blame her for that? Sokka certainly wouldn't –, but there was simply no way she'd be caught by that thing while she was on her way here…

Where should he expect her? The backyard? Would she bring Xin Long with her? That would reassure Sokka, if anything… assassins didn't fly, did they? It didn't seem like they should, so it shouldn't be able to follow her into the air…

He sat anxiously at the couch for what felt like hours, even if it couldn't have been longer than twenty minutes, when he heard sounds by the front door. She'd come on foot, then? No wonder she'd taken so long, but that surely had been too reckless…

The situation seemed reversed from what had happened the previous day: now it was Sokka who reached for the door and opened it with a quick yank before Azula could knock on it.

He had seen Azula in bad shape enough times before, but he hadn't expected to see her as angry, as frustrated and as scared as she looked right now. Her armor was perfectly in place, but her nighttime ponytail was nearly undone, her eyes wide as she looked up at him.

"You're okay," they both said in unison, but while they'd usually find amusement in coincidences of the sort, they couldn't do that this time.

Sokka reached out to clasp her arm, pulling her in for a tight hug. Azula wrapped her arms powerfully around his hips as well, after she dropped her bags on the threshold of his house. She couldn't control her body, though it wasn't like she ever did when she was with Sokka, but this time she didn't cave in to carnal instincts and deep desires.

No, this time she cried, sobbing furiously into his chest as her nails clawed at his light shirt. She came undone by her outrage slowly, her disappointment in her father all-consuming. She couldn't help but be honest with herself, now that she was back in the only place that felt like a home anymore, when she was with the only person who could still make her feel safe, despite the image of the rotting fire destroying that spear remained ingrained deep inside her mind.

And so she wept, without explaining everything Sokka was desperate to understand. He had no choice but to continue holding her, as though scared that she might fall apart further if his arms weren't around her. But he knew that wouldn't be the case: it was Azula, after all. She would compose herself with time, and once she did, she would put an end to this chaotic ordeal for once and for all.

The Princess had seen, first-hand, the kind of foe she was up against… and because she had, Sokka was certain that the rotting fire's reign of terror wouldn't last much longer.