WARNING: This is a bit more violent than what has happened so far so if you have an aversion to violence and cursing then I suggest you not read.
Beyond the walls of Ba Sing Se, the nighttime sky glows red with the approach of the Fire Nation army. Suki nestles against Sokka as they stand at the window.
"Do you think it will work?" She asks quietly.
Kuei's plan to stand strong against the Fire Nation seems far from the right course of action but ultimately in the end it is his city and his people.
"I don't know." Sokka answers absently as he rubs slow circles against her back.
Hakoda, Iroh, and he have gone over the options again and again. Even if they try to evacuate the civilians, there is no clear way around the Fire Nation army that is slowly surrounding the city. The drill had nearly breached the walls but Aang had managed to stop it.
"I don't know what to do." He admits as he buries his face against Suki's hair, taking strength from the feel of her against him.
Suki tightens her arms around Sokka's waist as she stares out the window and not for the first time she finds herself missing home.
oooo
Zuko stares at the same red glow, resisting the urge to pace. Behind him Iroh sips tea and watches with a peaceful expression.
"I don't see a way out of this." Zuko's words are weighed heavy with despair and exhaustion.
They are nearly surrounded and the majority of the populace has no idea of just what is yet to come.
Iroh pauses before he speaks. "A solution will present itself."
Zuko growls in frustration. "You always say that."
He has missed Iroh but not necessarily Iroh's riddles.
Iroh shrugs "It always does. It just may not be a solution we want."
That's the problem, Zuko thinks. Life always has a solution but it isn't always a desirable one. He leans his head against the window and stares at the familiar, somehow oddly comforting, red.
"He won't stop." Zuko says dejectedly.
The same determination that drove Zuko to overcome the odds and master Fire Bending is the same determination that Ozai has to squash his enemies.
Iroh pours another cup of tea. "It will take more than determination to conquer Ba Sing Se. Ozai will need a special sort of cunning to win."
Strategy was never Ozai's strong suit, Zuko's either. The Fire Lord relies on the genius of others to find a solution. Only one member of the Royal family had the sort of brilliance at strategy that is needed now. Some bitter part of him burns with anger that Azula has seemingly abandoned them when they need her the most. If she were really on their side, if she were really working for peace, then she should be here now facing Ozai down with them. Azula could find a way around this no-win situation, but Azula isn't here. Zuko closes his eyes as he leans against the window and softly curses his own blood.
Oooo
Katara occupies herself with repacking their bags. It is nothing more than busy work and does little than exhaust her already exhausted body. It's her mind she can't shut off. So much has happened in a short amount of time but that fits in with the pace of her life since her fateful run in with an iceberg.
Everyone is on edge. The decision to stand and fight is wearing on them. The odds are impossible but Kuei is adamant that they will not abandon the city. Where was this backbone when he let his ministers run the kingdom for him? Katara shakes the thoughts away. It doesn't do well to dwell on these things.
She held hope that when Aang returned that he would have mastered the Avatar State and been able to draw the war to a close but something haunts the Air Bender though he refuses to speak about it. Katara can tell from the look in his eyes that the trip to the Eastern Air Temple did not go as planned. There is an edgy nervousness in him like he is just waiting for something bad to happen.
Briefly she considers seeking out Zuko but she just as easily dismisses that thought. No doubt the Prince is catching up with his uncle whom he has missed far more than he would admit. It should unsettle her that she feels so at ease in the Fire Bender's presence whereas once she could only feel scorn and hate for him. The kindness and consideration he has shown her though has colored the perception she held about the banished Prince. There is more to him that meets the eye.
The old adage holds truth for others in her life as she looks to the balcony. The unmoving outline of the Avatar deep in mediation stands out against the red of the sky beyond and Katara finds herself drawn to him.
Carefully she steps out onto the balcony mindful to not make a sound but she is greeted by open gray eyes staring out at the cityscape below.
"Oh, I thought you were meditating." She says quietly.
Gray stays focused on the city below but he says nothing.
Perhaps it is because she feels so on edge or that she is tired of being shut out but instead of retreating when faced with his stony wall of silence she instead moves to stand right in front of him blocking his view. Confusion mars his features as he blinks focusing on her.
"Katara?"
Impulse is to lay into him about whatever is clearly bothering him but hot on the heels of impulse is the knowledge that he won't respond to being pushed. With a sigh she sinks to the ground in front of him.
"What happened?" She asks softly.
For a beat, he holds her gaze and she thinks he is about to open up and let her in but just as quickly he folds into himself and looks away.
"I don't want to talk about it."
It's the same refrain she has heard when it comes to deeper matters.
"Why are you shutting me out? I'm your friend. Talk to me." Katara won't be dissuaded, especially when everything hangs on the brink.
The quiet of the night fills the space between them. She gazes levelly at him refusing to be ignored any longer. The reward is when he finally meets her eyes.
"I left before I mastered the Avatar State." He confesses quietly. Carefully, Katara nods but avoids comment. "I had a vision of someone in danger and I rushed back before I should have." Aang eyes her warily for her reaction. Seeing none is coming, he continues. "I was impulsive and reckless and I may have just blocked any chance I had at controlling it."
Katara is quiet as she considers this. "Who was in danger?"
Aang makes a frustrated sound as he shakes his head looking away from her. "The point is that it hadn't happened yet. It was a vision and visions don't always come true."
Classic Air Bender avoidance. Katara's lips thin into a line as she weighs if it is worth busting him out on it.
"Surely, you can find a way to master it still." It is unfathomable to her that the Avatar wouldn't be able to master the Avatar state of all things. "You've done it before in past lives."
Aang hangs his head in thought. Her words are true. He's mastered the elements and the Avatar spirit itself in thousands of different lifetimes. He'll do it again.
"I have to let go of what attaches me to this world." As Aang speaks the words he ponders their meaning. Can he really let go of his feelings for Azula? Can he see her for who she really is, instead of what he wishes her to be?
"What attaches you to this world?" Katara asks with uncertainty.
Azula's name is on the tip of his tongue. It's more than that though. If Azula really is with child, with his child, then the possibilities are endless. Knowing Azula like he does, it would be logical for her to use it as leverage against him.
"The future of the Air Benders." Aang hedges the question by answering it. Katara doesn't need to know the specifics of his concern to help him with it.
Katara's gives a thoughtful nod. It would make sense that as the last Air Bender faced with daunting odds that Aang would be focused on the complete annihilation of his people. If the Avatar falls in battle, then not only does the world lose their hope for peace but the Air Nation is doomed.
"There isn't much you can do about it now though." She says reasonably. It is something she has considered in respect to her own life. Katara is the last Water Bender in the South Pole so it would reason that the line of Water Benders could die out with her. "Focus on one thing at a time. If the Fire Lord wins, then the Air Nation along with the other nations is doomed. You can't stop the Fire Lord if you don't master the Avatar State and you can't master the Avatar State if you don't let go of this."
It is a vicious cycle that feeds into itself. There is a fleeting thought to tell Katara just who the future of the Air Benders could lie with though he doubts she would appreciate the irony that the very man that seeks to annihilate them all could be the grandfather of the Air Nation. As Aang ponders her words, he feels the tension subsiding. There is no certainty that Azula is pregnant. Visions are sometimes just possibilities of what could be or could have been. Worry is pointless and it is only hampering their efforts.
Katara smiles when she sees him visibly relax and she knows that somehow she has gotten through to him. Gently she caresses his cheek. "See it's not that hard."
Aang laughs. "Sometimes I forget how intuitive you can be." Catching her hand in his, he places a brief kiss on the warm skin. "Thank you, Katara."
His voice is warm and deep and she feels her pulse beat faster. "You're welcome, Aang."
Leaning forward she kisses the arrow tattoo of his forehead before she stands and enters the darkened room.
Once she is gone Aang draws a deep breath, closes his eyes, and pushes thoughts of Azula out of his mind.
oooo
Even when traveling, the upper class has the comforts of home. The bath house is large, luxurious, and at the moment, all Azula's. The steam hangs heavy in the air and she breaths in the mix of soap and jasmine. The attendants dressed in all white bow to her. Behind her Ty Lee shifts her weight from the heel to the ball of the foot, making the acrobat fairly vibrate with energy. Mai stands in stark contrast with the same bored sullen look she always bears.
"Leave us," Azula dismisses the servants who give her brief surprised looks before departing.
Mai and Ty Lee give her questioning looks but she ignores them as she steps up to the giant tub. "Why didn't you tell me Ozai was here?"
"We didn't know." Mai replies in a tone befitting her appearance. "We told you that we weren't traveling with the army."
They did but Azula should have known better. Ozai's thirst for blood can't be quenched with the blood of supposed traitors. The Fire Lord's hunger for more is becoming a consuming task to placate. He will be sure to suck the life out of everything that was ever good in Azula's life.
"Where does your allegiance lie?" Azula turns to look at them over her shoulder. "To the Fire Nation or to me?"
Ty Lee tilts her head and scrunches her nose. "What do you mean, Azula?"
The Royal family is seen as divine, the descendents of Agni himself and their fate is deeply intertwined to that of the Fire Nation. There is little distinction to be made between the blood of Azula and the blood of their nation.
Mai sees the distinction. Countless conversations with Zuko and a meddling mother intent on a Royal match have made it all to clear to her the difference between the Dragon Throne and those that would sit upon it.
"To you, of course." Mai answers with a glare at Ty Lee.
The acrobat wisely picks up on the look and flashes a smile as she nods. "You, Azula."
Azula turns her attention back to the water in front of her, leaning over slightly until she can see the golden eyes of a woman long gone staring back at her. The apparition wisely doesn't speak.
"I trust you, and I am not one to trust easy. Betray me, and it will be the last move you make. I promise you that."
The cold words wash over Ty Lee and she shivers. Mai is impervious to such threats.
"What is it?" Mai asks impatiently.
The pomp and circumstance may work on simple-minded people like Ty Lee but Mai is well past the point of caring.
Without another word, Azula stretches her arms to the side. Ty Lee and Mai move to her side and unwrap the belt and the thick Earth Kingdom dress. Once the heavy fabric falls away, Ty Lee lets out a gasp but Mai only stares blankly.
"Azula," Ty Lee's eyes are bright and wide. "Your stomach!"
"Quiet." Azula snaps as she protectively places her hand on the slight bulge "Do you think I want everyone to know?"
As she sinks into the water slipping deeper until only her head can be seen the two women ready the various soaps and brushes set for a Royal Bath.
Ty Lee begins work on Azula's hair while Mai works on Azula's hands.
After a time of working in silence to rid the Fire Nation Royal of the layer of Earth Kingdom dirt, Mai finally asks, "Are you going to bother telling us or what?"
Azula is still as Ty Lee works more soap into her hair. "Do you want me to tell you where babies come from? Surely my brother already did that."
Ty Lee stifles a giggle and Mai glares at the smirk on Azula's lips before replying. "And just who told you, Azula?"
The smirk grows into a smile as her yellow eyes flutter close when Ty Lee rinses her hair. "Didn't anyone tell you, Mai? I am a prodigy."
"Prodigy, smodigy," Mai bites. "If you're going to endanger all our lives, then we should at least get to know some details."
Her words have a sobering effect on Azula. Ozai will not be kind to find out what she has been up to. Mai and Ty Lee just by virtue of association will suffer perhaps worse than Azula herself would. There are punishments the Fire Lord would sentence the daughters of nobles to that he would not dare do to his own flesh. Agni has a special place for those that dare to break his commandments, even if the sinner is of the blood of Agni himself.
"Is it Zhao's" Ty Lee asks softly.
It is a reasonable question. Zhao was her betrothed up until his fateful run in with a very territorial Avatar but Azula never had any intention of letting it get that far, no matter how persuasive Zhao tried to be.
"As if she would let him near her." Mai answers sarcastically. "He looked like a monkey and had all the charm of one as well."
Every word is true and Azula bites back a laugh.
"They are your friends, Azula. They deserve to know the truth." Ursa's ghost-like voice whispers to her from the water's edge.
Azula leans her head back and sinks deeper into the tub.
"I haven't been entirely honest with you." She announces as if it were a surprise.
Mai snorts and Ty Lee giggles.
"When are you ever honest?" Mai rolls her eyes but doesn't look at Azula while doing it. It is a rare occasion if Azula tells the truth about things. It is something that Mai has accepted as a price of being friends with the Princess.
"When it suits me." Azula replies easily. She hasn't the energy to pretend to be offended by the rather bold accusation Mai is leveling at her. It may be true but what gain is there to admitting it.
"So who is it, Azula?" Ty Lee prompts her with that soft kitten voice she has.
She feels the piercing stare of Mai and the hopeful glances of Ty Lee. These two risk everything, including their families, for her. Ozai's retribution will be swift and painful. She has seen it before though at the time she was unwilling to admit just what her father was capable of. When Zuko fell at the Agni Kai, it was not only the Prince that suffered but friends of the Prince as well. Mai was spared by virtue of her association with Azula. Ozai knew, he always knows. He will find out.
The realization causes Azula to bolt upright, the sudden motion rocking the water and surprising the two women who pull back in time to avoid being splashed.
"You both need to leave the camp. Tonight." Azula orders. "You must not waste time with it. I am to meet with Father later and by then you must be gone."
They stare at her in open mouthed shock.
"Why?" Ty Lee squeaks.
Azula shakes her head as she wrings the water out of her hair and stands. Mai is quick with a large towel as Azula steps out of the tub.
"I can't escape him but you can." Azula explains in a rush as she dries the water from her skin.
"Why do you need to escape him, Azula? What have you done?" Mai's voice cuts through the anxious chatter of Ty Lee's. "Whose baby is it?"
Azula fixes Ty Lee and Mai with an intense stare and breathes the name of a man for whom she has upturned her entire world.
Ooo
Ozai quietly observes his dinnertime companion. Azula is unsettled, he can tell it. No matter how big a front she puts up or how well she plays her part, Ozai can always see through her. Perhaps if things had been different then he could feel a sense of pride for her. She certainly has outshone her brother in both loyalty and in ability. She looks too much like her mother though for Ozai to feel any real spark of concern or caring towards her.
Her manners are dainty as is expected of a princess dining with her sovereign father but he can see the bare restraint in her movements, the hunger in her eyes. If left to her own devices, Azula would devour the table whole. Ozai sips his wine as he contemplates the daughter that has flowered into a woman in the last several months. He doesn't miss the way men look at her when they think the Fire Lord doesn't see. She is desired and Ozai could match her with any house nearly on that basis alone, never mind the royal blood in her veins. Azula would make an excellent trophy for any man's mantle.
"I see your time in the Earth Kingdom was humbling."
Azula slows at Ozai's words as if suddenly mindful of her actions. She chews the food slower and swallows the morsel like a true lady would.
"The food lacked fight, Father." She answers simply, before taking a measured drink of her glass.
"I find the same remains true for everything else Earth Kingdom." Ozai prefers Fire Nation through and through, though he is not above sampling local cuisine.
Azula gives a small smile at the joke but her eyes dart to the large empty bed which only hours before imprisoned a frightened Earth Kingdom girl.
"The men were in need of entertainment." Ozai explains the girl's absence and he can see the chill that settles in Azula's eyes.
Ozai rarely goes back for seconds but is not so selfish that he doesn't share with the men who loyally fight for him. She won't be the first Earth Kingdom girl to be devoured by the Fire Lord and his army and she won't be the last.
The hunger is still there in the princess' eyes but the spark is gone. It is uncharacteristic for her to think about anyone other than herself and Ozai's curiosity is piqued. He leans forward on the table, amber eyes intent on the only child he will acknowledge.
"The drill was stopped today." Ozai says in a conversational tone as he watches her closely. "It would seem the Avatar is well on his way to mastering Earth Bending."
Azula stills in her movements. "That only leaves fire."
The Avatar is mastering the elements at an astounding pace.
"Hmm, so it does. No doubt the traitor seeks to remedy that." Ozai says swirling the wine in his glass. The thought that his own son has turned against him infuriates the Fire Lord, the son that he chose over his own father, the son for whom he sacrificed his own wife. It leaves Ozai feeling bitter and raw.
Azula sips from her own glass. "He barely has a grasp on Fire Bending himself. He will only hold back the Avatar's progress." Her answer is dutiful and obedient.
"Indeed." Ozai refills his glass. "And what of you, daughter?"
Her eyes meet his and he sees a spark of fear. Azula is not one to show fear. "Father?" Her voice doesn't tremble but Ozai imagines he can hear one.
"What of your duty to the Fire Nation?" He sees the near panic flicker the candle closest to the princess. "You are due to marry to secure the future of our line." He reminds her in an amused tone.
Azula is frozen in place at his words. "Of course, Father."
"Do not worry, daughter. I would not match you with just any man." Ozai says with a smile as he leans back in his chair. "Only the best for my little girl."
Azula's fear is a tangible taste in the air as she nods mechanically. "Yes, Father."
Ozai sets his glass down."Come here, Azula." The order is soft but an order nonetheless. It's the hesitation that confirms Ozai's suspicion, the hesitation that secures Azula's fate. "I will not ask again."
Slowly she rises from her chair and makes her way towards him. Carefully she kneels in front of him and averts her eyes as is required.
Turning to face her, Ozai leans forward and tenderly cups her face in his hands, lifting it until her golden eyes meet his. So much like her mother. So much like the woman that betrayed the Fire Nation.
"You look just like your mother when she was first presented at court." His voice is wistful with memory. "I thought her to be the most beautiful woman I had ever seen."
Beneath his fingers he feels the strong steady heartbeat. Azula has demonstrated an amazing ability of self-control. Gently he tilts her head to the side as the candlelight flickers over the high cheekbones and glowing skin.
"I was wrong, of course." He says with a smile as he turns her back to face him. "She was even more beautiful when she was ripe with child, with my child." The spark of fear in Azula's eyes is a full-fledged fire. Ozai leans closer pulling her face to his. "Do you not think I can see when a bitch is breeding?"
Azula's eyes flare wide and the candles respond as the flames surge higher. She tries to pull back but Ozai was expecting her retreat. The back of his hand knocks her to the ground and his other hand is soon around her throat. The delicate fingers of the princess dig into his wrists trying to dislodge him as she kicks and sputters around the tightening hold on her neck.
"Did you think you could hide this from me?" Ozai snarls, flames curling from his lips as he pins her legs down with his own.
Azula fights against him until another sharp smack explodes her field of vision into a blistering white. The blazing heat of her skin sizzles against the cool air as her dress is torn to reveal the gentle mound there.
"Whom do I have to thank for this, Daughter?" Ozai sneers as his heated hand presses against her stomach. "Certainly not Zhao."
Azula coughs as she tries to draw breath against a bruised and already swelling throat. Ozai may very well kill her tonight. She is certain that if he doesn't then she will only wish he had. "Not Zhao." She whispers in a scratchy voice.
She smells smoke as her father's hand digs into her scalp at the back of her neck fisting in her hair. He jerks her upright. She blinks and tries to focus on the hateful face of the Fire Lord.
"I want a name." He orders as he holds his other hand aloft bathed in flames. "Or I will burn it out of you. Just whom have you been spreading your legs for, whore?"
Azula resolves to not divulge her secret. She can't let the Fire Lord know what sort of hold he could have over their last best hope for peace. It would be better to die than to let Ozai gain another weapon in his arsenal. Her golden eyes shine with defiance.
With the first strike, her body recoils and she feels her resolve weakening. Azula counters but it is one beat too late and it gives Ozai all the reason he needs to unleash the full fury of the Fire Lord.
The screams that pierce the air that night are different and, at first, the guards look at one another in confusion. It isn't easy ignoring what goes on in the Fire Lord's tent as the man's tastes tend towards the sadistic but any soldier who wishes to keep his head finds a way to deal with what they hear.
Eventually, the smoke rises from the vent hole in the top of the Fire Lord's tent and the screams become agonized cries and pleas for mercy. It could be a call for help. Maybe a plea for forgiveness but the whispered name that leaves her lips is all the Fire Lord needs to know and silence reigns over the Fire Nation camp again.