As it turned out, we didn't need to kiss again. Our mistake was breaking the physical contact. We only realized this once we were near the exit. Anyone who knew Princess Azula well would clutch their heart at the sight of her walking beside someone, holding hands. If that didn't do it, the Princess's enraged face surely would have caused a cardiac arrest.
Azula was furious. She was being given conditions by some spirits. She was not in a good mood. And this was clearly readable on her face: eyebrows furrowed, eyes slightly squinted, nostrils flared, lips tightly compressed. Even the Princess's gait signaled her anger. Instead of a smooth, barely audible step, her movements were sharp and quick, echoing throughout the cave. I kept waiting for her to ignite. Perhaps literally.
Finally exiting the cave, Azula instantly snatched her hand out of my grasp. She took a few more steps and stopped. The tension in her face smoothed out. I managed to think that the Princess had calmed down remarkably fast, when she swiftly turned back toward the entrance of the Cave of Two Lovers and sent a bolt of lightning at the stone inscription bearing the name. A vicious smile appeared on her face. She was clearly satisfied to have demolished a part of the cave that had so recently become hateful to her. It was clear that the Princess was genuinely calm now.
Unexpectedly, a trio of Azula's escorts appeared near the exit. Two were wounded, and they were forced to drag the third, whose legs were broken. A look of relief washed over the soldiers' faces when they finally saw the way out. They scrambled toward it faster. I wanted to rush back into the cave to help them, but I was momentarily stopped by Princess Azula's question:
"And who did they have to kiss to find the exit?"
It was in that very moment that the sound of cracking stones erupted. I shifted my gaze back to the exit, and in the same instant, the cave collapsed, burying the soldiers beneath...
I looked at the Princess with disapproval. The soldiers had almost made it out.
"What? Do you think I don't regret it?" Azula asked, shifting her surprised expression from the place where the cave entrance had been to me. "I didn't expect anyone else to have survived.
I just waved my hand dismissively and headed toward the forest. The soldiers were already dead, and a new reminder that it's best not to anger the spirits would lead to nothing good. Besides, the Princess, having experienced the effect herself, should have understood that already. At the very least, this time I saw a flicker of remorse on her face regarding the lightning strike she'd made moments before.
My relationship with life is... special. I'm used to it mocking me sometimes. For Princess Azula, however, this kind of experience was new. We hadn't eaten anything all day. Our supplies had perished with the soldiers. The nearest settlement was quite far. Therefore, we attempted to forage for food ourselves. Ideally, we should have started setting up camp, as it was beginning to get dark, rather than looking for a meal.
Of course, Azula was no help to me in procuring dinner. She simply watched from the side as I set snares. But she took the failure to catch our sustenance as a personal slight. This failure was, however, relative. Again, it felt like the mockery of some higher power aimed at the Princess. First, a badger got caught in the snares, and then a mole... both species unsuitable for human consumption.
Ultimately, in almost total darkness, we reached a river flowing from the very mountain beneath which the Cave of Two Lovers was located. Firebending helped me spot river oysters in the water. Very soon, I began filling my empty flask. The charm of worlds untouched by the scientific and technological revolution was that nature was quite clean. In some modern world, where industrialization had long taken place, I wouldn't dare drink water from a river. Here, though, it was quite pure. The oysters were an additional guarantee of the water's cleanliness. They not only filter the river but also simply cannot survive in heavily polluted areas. Just in case, I still boiled the water. Thanks to Firebending, this was a matter of seconds, and it took about the same time to cool the liquid in the flask. I currently considered temperature control to be one of the most useful skills of fire manipulation. The combat effectiveness of this ability was extremely low, but I could kill a person with my bare hands; quickly heating and cooling water, however, is quite difficult, especially in wilderness conditions.
Having quenched the thirst that had plagued us for some time, I asked the Princess to strike the river with lightning. The hope was that we would be lucky and any passing fish, if there were any, would float to the surface belly-up. Then we could simply pull it out of the water and roast it. I wouldn't eat the mollusks that were readily available. After all, they clean the water, and it's unknown how many parasites they might contain. We were lucky. After two lightning strikes, there was enough fish for breakfast, too.
I quickly gutted the fish, cleaned it, rinsed it, and, skewering it on a stick, handed it to Princess Azula. Azula was considerably surprised when I announced that she was holding her late dinner. Then I showed her an example of how to properly roast the fish using Firebending. Honestly, I had to take matters into my own hands. While I was cooking my fish, the Princess managed to turn two full fish into charcoal. I handed her my portion and started making a new one for myself...
"Bland, but edible," the Princess pronounced, taking a small, tentative bite.
"You're hungry. Any food tastes better on an empty stomach."
I wondered if Azula had ever been acquainted with hunger before? Or was this the first time the Princess had been forced to experience it? Beneath the glow of the starry sky, which appeared as the clouds parted, we ate river fish and thought our own thoughts. I pondered various minor things. It was difficult to say what occupied the Princess's mind at that moment. Azula looked thoughtful. She would focus her gaze on me, and then after a while, she would seem distant. As if looking straight through me. This repeated itself multiple times.
In the morning, it was fish again. Judging by Azula's face, it had tasted much better yesterday.
"Princess, what shall we do now?"
Azula stretched languidly, letting out a small, humming sound. Such behavior was a departure from the image I had formed of her in my mind. Then she remembered she wasn't alone and composed herself. Her gaze shot to me, as if to tell me that I hadn't seen a thing. Did she make a mistake inadvertently, accidentally? Perhaps, in her subconscious, the Princess considers me a more or less trustworthy person after the small joint adventure we experienced. Therefore, in this "safe environment," she had slightly relaxed, deviating from the ingrained image of a Princess, showing a more ordinary girl. This is good. The more Azula trusts me, the more I can gain from her.
A second later, the Princess was sitting perfectly straight, her head slightly raised, looking down at me as if from a great height.
"We will continue the journey alone."
"Is it wise to travel through enemy territory with a single soldier, Princess?"
"Yes." Azula smirked. "I'll just have to play the part of an impoverished aristocrat now, rather than a wealthy one. That should attract even less attention than the old plan."
"Are you sure you don't want to return to the ship and retrieve the remaining fighters?"
"A waste of time," the Princess adjusted a strand of hair. "And the only person on that ship who could be called a 'fighter' was you. Now, enough of this useless chatter," she handed me her cosmetic bag, which she had managed to preserve despite everything. "Braid my hair and fix my makeup. After that, we'll head to the nearest city and buy a new sleeping bag or tent." Azula wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I don't want to sleep on a sleeping bag that someone else has used."
And yet last night she hadn't minded my sleeping bag at all. I, on the other hand, had to sleep right on the ground.
"Ow!" Azula cried out when I "accidentally" tore out a few tangled hairs while brushing. She turned to face me and pointed an accusing finger at my chest. "You did that on purpose!"
"How could you think that, Princess? It was a complete accident," I lied unconvincingly.
Azula growled at me irritably and turned back around. The Princess couldn't do anything to me right now. She understood that herself. I was Azula's only close associate in a circle of enemies. She could probably reach Zhao alone, but with me, the journey would be much easier. I had already shown her my loyalty by simply not abandoning her in the cave, although the opportunity was there. And I was also useful to her.
"Long, when I complete the Fire Lord's task, you had better not cross my path."
"Hmm, and I thought I might be able to become your servant," I lied.
"You'd be better off transferring far away from the capital. That way you'll live a little longer."
"Once you complete the Fire Lord's task, Princess, I will submit my resignation."
Azula flinched, wanting to look at me, but managed to stop herself.
I could resign at any moment now, except when on special assignments. My mandatory service time, which amounted to three years, was long since complete. And now I could submit my resignation papers.
Far ahead on the road, the silhouette of a rider appeared. Even though we weren't taking the most popular route, at first this didn't bother me. Anyone could stumble upon the Cave of Two Lovers. But the rider gradually drew closer to us, and in the end, I recognized them.
"Princess, bow your head. Look at the ground. A notorious mercenary, known in certain circles, is riding ahead. She is quite capable of recognizing you."
I usually walked slightly to the side and behind Azula, but now, to cover her figure, I pulled ahead.
"Should we eliminate her?" Azula asked, bowing her head as if she were an embarrassed, unsure girl.
"An attempt could fail. Shirshu—the mount of this mercenary—has a special tongue that can shoot out like an arrow. But it's not its speed or length you need to fear. The Shirshu can paralyze its victim with a barely noticeable touch of the tongue. We simply might not be lucky, so it would be best to ignore the mercenary and her beast."
The mercenary rode past us, giving only a fleeting glance.
"P-p-please, let me go!" shrieked a man, whose neck was encircled by a whip, kneeling before a young woman.
"There's a bounty on your head," the woman smiled, recalling how much she could get for the skinny, bald man before her.
"I can pay you off!" The mercenary raised a skeptical eyebrow. Her target was in ragged, extremely dirty clothes. The man had nothing else besides these clothes. "I have information! Last night in the forest, I saw a young couple! They both used Firebending, and the man addressed the..."
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