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Azula shifted on the balls of her feet, the motion calculated for all of its presentation of otherwise. She side-eyed Zuko, watching as he flinched under their father's glare, and held in her sigh, her face impassive. She stepped forward at her father's sharp gesture, her innate prowess at firebending surging through her as she moved before him. She bit back her sigh again at the expression on Zuko's face when she resumed her kneeling position at the end, her father's gaze heavy and prickling on her skin.
As he dismissed them, she slid into the curtains, this time certain that Zuko had not seen her. She stood, her eyes closed, her breathing steady as her father plotted to take over the world, his voice a cruel croon that spoke of nothing but desolation. She focused on the thrum of her blood in her veins, the crackle of flames centering her, mindful to not let the flames out on her exhale.
She hated it here, she had come to realize. She hated what she had become, twisting desperately on the hook as her father reeled her in, her façade threatening to crumble in the worst ways. She worried, tucked away in the dark recesses of her mind, that one day, she would wake up and the burden she was taking on would be too much.
She knew, as well, that Uncle Iroh had seen flashes she had let slip, had seen the rage at her father, when it should've been rage for her father. She flattened her mouth, breathing in through her nose as her father spoke of killing innocents, killing children younger than her for a war that was as unnecessary as it was stupid. She wasn't worried about Iroh. She was worried about Zuko.
He, heir to their father's throne, cursed child of their family, would falter in the face of the casual destruction that their father would need, would want. She knew. She had known for years. She also knew, that it was not her place, as his younger sister to do anything about it.
So she wouldn't. She wouldn't say a single thing. She'd, simply, excel. And that should be enough.
***
She could've killed him herself, when she heard of the disaster of the meeting. She was sick with worry, incandescent with rage, thrumming with frustration, at herself and at the position she was sucked into playing, at the choices she had made earlier in life.
She wanted to murder their father. She- words did not describe the emotion she felt, as she heard of the fight, of the burn.
And yet.
She tucked it away, made herself into the perfect child, watched as Zuko set off on an impossible task, Iroh solemn at his side, his eyes almost heavier when he looked at her. She blinked once at him, a slow drag of her eyelids, her only way of - she didn't even know what she was trying to accomplish.
When they set off, she forced herself not to do anything. Made herself into a big show of being irritated with the servants, letting her handmaidens hide in her room under the guise of her supervising them cleaning the room spotlessly, their faces grateful as her father's anger at Zuko continued to burn hot in the throne room, the flames searing anyone who came too close.
***
She couldn't contain her glee, when her father sent her off to find Zuko, though she twisted it into a mocking sort of disdain, her sneer heavy on her face. She demanded a whole retinue, handpicking those who would come with her, taking guards loyal to her, taking her handmaidens, and making them trained in defense.
Behind her, her father preened at her cruel words, her shocking dismissals of those who she couldn't take, her verbal lashes the harshest against the few women she couldn't bring, banishing them to her room to keep the suites kept up, snarling when any of them dared show any emotion but joy at being able to serve her.
She returned to her rooms after the show, bile rising in her throat, barely making it to the toilet before vomiting. She coughed, suspended over the porcelain bowl for a long moment before a cool towel was pressed to the back of her neck, the head of her handmaidens, Kurna, giving her a deep look of sorrow, but saying nothing, the two of them both very aware of just how many ears were in the walls.
***
She bemoaned the idiocy of her brother and uncle, disbelief in their obvious trail coloring her every move, as she tracked them down, the two of them sitting idly in a village resort.
How, she wanted to scream at Iroh. Why. She coaxed the two of them back to the ship with pretty words, watching as Zuko fell for her trap, and as Iroh sought for a reason to flee without laying a hand on her.
She signaled to Captain Jurik desperate for him to give cause, and nearly broke into tears with he called the two of them prisoners as they began to board. She made herself look furious, giving Iroh a significant look, and dropping her eyes to the water, nodding minutely as he shoved her off, an apology clear on his face.
She sighed, treading water as she watched them run off, glancing up to see her men frantically attempting to get her back on the boat, her fire keeping her warm in the cool water. They tugged her up, draping towels around her shoulders as she stood on the deck, before letting fire pool into her palm.
She pulled the towels off, drying herself with ease, and snapped her fingers, pointing the topside crew into the meeting room, waiting for the door to shut before she relaxed, nodding at all of them. She had never been so grateful to the men sworn to her before.
"Double wages for all," she said, grinning slightly at their exchanged looks. "Put in a money requisition for a better engine, and then split it among the whole crew." She shook her head at their protests. "I know what you go against every day," she said. "I would have you be in comfort, knowing how this may end."
"Princess," Captain Jurik said, his eyes heavy on hers. "You give us too much."
Azula shook her head, silencing the rest of his words. "I fear I don't give you quite enough."
***
She shoved down her flickers of pain and panic as she lit the fire under Ty Lee, her face set in a sneering mask, the both of them resigned to the characters they had to play in public, the two of them, their relationship twisted into a mockery of what it was, as Azula sat alone in the stands, her face eerie in the flickering lights and Ty Lee strained and sweated for her enjoyment.
She locked eyes with the acrobat, as she spun and flipped, Ty Lee's eyes set on hers, the two of them as connected as they could be with the weight of the Fire Lord balancing on Azula's shoulders. She clenched her hands around the armrests on her gilded throne, leaning forward under the guise of mockery, her eyes forever latched onto Ty Lee's, eternally grateful to her understanding of the roles they had to play in public.
When she dismounted from the highline, Azula stood, clapping, her face disdainful as she summoned her to her quarters after the show. She watched with an arched brow as Ty Lee bobbed her head in acquiescence, and turned, heading for her rooms on the ship.
***
"And so, here I am."
Ty Lee blinked at her, her gray eyes filling with water as she took in the wearied expression her oldest friend wore on her face. "But, what are you going to do?"
Azula shrugged, taking a sip of tea and nodding for Kurna to go, offering the older woman a soft smile at her hesitation. "I'm fine," she assured, picking at the pastry on the china in front of her. "I'll sleep soon."
"See that you do, my Lady," Kurna said, her voice heavy with worry, before dipping her head at Ty Lee. "Ty Lee."
"Kurna," Ty Lee said, nodding back. "I'll watch over her, don't worry." She ignored Azula's grumbles and watched the older woman leave the room, before turning back to her. "Of course you have my support," she said, shaking her head at the look of surprise on Azula's face. "I told you once I'd never leave your side, didn't I?"
"Yes," Azula said, after a beat, taking another sip of her tea and avoiding Ty Lee's gaze by staring out her room's tiny window. "But that didn't involve going against- well," she said, her eyes flicking to the door before returning back to meet Ty Lee's. "You know."
"I do know," Ty Lee said slowly, clearly measuring the pros and cons. "And I still want to do this."
Azula watched her for a long moment before sighing. "Okay," she said, her voice quiet. "Okay."
***
When the two of them rejoined with Mai, Azula could barely stop herself from screaming, as the three of them clicked back into being, connected once more.
Later, Azula could barely stop from screaming as she realized that the Avatar was in Omashu, and close enough that she had to mount an offense, Ty Lee and her only just able to explain the bare bones of the situation to Mai before everything began to happen in earnest.
***
Mai arched a dark eyebrow at her. "I thought so," she said. "Some of the things you said when we were kids- it didn't make sense."
"I had no idea what I was doing," Azula confided, laying down against the plush red carpet. "I still don't." She shrugged, ignoring the dual weight of her friend's eyes on her. "I-"
"Don't," Mai said, cutting her off, as Ty Lee turned to look at her, a stricken expression on her face, Azula tensing minutely on the floor as she waited for her friend's dismissive words to fall. "You don't need to explain," Mai said, softening her cupid's bow into a more open expression, as they both relaxed. "I get it."
Azula tilted her head on the floor, eyeing Mai contemplatively. "You do kind of get it," she said, her voice low and wondering. "Don't you?"
Ty Lee cleared her throat, reaching out to press her fingertips into the softness of Azula's wrist. "We all get it to some extent," she said. "Expectations are expectations in all families." Azula nodded, a sharp jerk of her head, and said nothing else, instead, gently unfurling her hand to let Ty Lee link them together as Mai laid down next to her, curling so that her hair brushed the tips of her other hand's fingertips. "All together then," Ty Lee murmured, her voice strong even as her fingers trembled the slightest amount. "Sounds good to me."
***
She followed after them, her brother and her uncle, doing her best to never catch up while also appearing to be trying her best for all intents and purposes. She had no doubts that her father had eyes on her, his paranoia only growing as his countdown to the comet began.
She commanded her ship to follow them, even as she trekked across the unending hills of the Earth Kingdom, Ty Lee and Mai her constant companions. Just knowing she had a safe place to retreat to - a safe place that was all hers - did wonders for her mind, even on her worst days when she was forced to hurt those who she was trying desperately, so desperately, to protect.
She tried her best to avoid hurting the people she didn't know, tried to avoid hitting anyone with her flames, but knew, as she locked eyes with Iroh, that she couldn't get out of it, the lot of them locked into a standstill. She stared at him, paying little mind to the words the others were saying, refusing to look at Zuko, and watched as Iroh, much like she had, all those days ago, blinked, solemn and slow.
She sucked in a deep breath, drawing back and centering herself, reaching up to split the sky and draw down the power of the gods, shooting lightning at him and darting from sight as soon as she was able to.
***
She vomited when she received the letter of praise her father had heaped upon her for hurting Iroh.
It was only when she curled up with Mai and Ty Lee, on the small bed in her room on the ship, that she was able to feel any semblance of okay.
***
She cobbled together the worst plans she could come up with, threatening Ba Sing Se with a drill, and holding in her smirks when Team Avatar helped her fail.
She accidentally caught the Kyoshi Warriors, wincing as she realized the mixed company she was in. If she had been alone or with her crew, she would've figured something out, but since she had begun trying to gain access to Ba Sing Se, her father had sent his own personal guards to help. She had thanked him with a heavy tongue, well aware that if her treachery was discovered at any moment, she would be dead.
In her worst moments, the only thing keeping her going was the thought of at least it's not Zuko.
She put together the most convoluted plan she could think of, blatantly bluffing half the time, and watching with a heavy heart as things fell together exactly as she had planned.
She watched Ba Sing Se fall, her eyes wide, as people simply folded under her power, as they simply followed what she wanted with little to no issue.
Why do you believe me? She wanted to scream. Why are lies so much easier to swallow than the truth?
She swallowed hard at the fear displayed by the men brought before her, at the laughter of her father's guards. She played her part, letting arrogance and pride coat her words and actions, letting her burning desire to be her father's daughter rise inside her, until she would return to her rooms at night and be unable to recognize the girl staring back at her in the mirror.
***
"It's not fair," she muttered once to Mai, the other girl's quiet and steady presence a balm to her wrecked nerves as she tried her best to fail and succeed in equal and convincing measure. "You shouldn't feel forced to be here."
"I hate it here," she whispered to Ty Lee, one morning as Kurna served them tea, Ty Lee's cheerfulness easing her burden slightly as they sat together and watched the world wake up. "I wish we could leave."
"Don't make me," she whimpered in her sleep, her nightmares full of pain and agony, her father featuring in all of them. 'Please," she whimpered, her eyes darting as she slept. "Please don't."
***
She ran into Zuko in the Upper Ring, and hid her fear with a cocked brow and quick words. She kept one eye on him, feeding him honeyed lies half-heartedly, as she looked for Iroh in the crowd, wishing for him to come and sweep her foolish older brother away.
She nearly groaned when Zuko agreed to return, agreed to journey back to the treacherous and evil home that they had grown up in. She wanted to scream when he gave himself up, and she had to signal to her guards and her fathers to apprehend him.
She didn't understand how Zuko could want to come back to such a heartless home, how he could believe her when she got their mother killed. She didn't understand how he could leave himself open to betrayal, time and time again.
And yet, she could only hope, that when her ordeal was finally over, when she was finally free from the chains of her father, he could bear to be vulnerable with her just once more, just to let her explain herself to him.
***
She did not understand how she kept ending up in these situations, how the perfect opportunities for her to be the vile person she was, kept falling into her lap. She didn't want them.
She blinked at the Avatar, narrowing her eyes at his exposed back, and sucked in a deep breath, rocking back on her heels and doing her best to avoid what she could, pointing her fingers at his back, and sending up a prayer to Agni, that she would fail in her endeavor, as her brother fought with the waterbender girl around her.
She watched with bated breath, knowing that her father's spies would report her dutiful actions, and sighed with relief as the girl snatched the Avatar and escaped, flashing Iroh another blink of gratitude as he helped the girl escape. Iroh didn't blink back, but softened his blows enough towards her that she figured she was relatively forgiven.
She knew she had made a hard choice, knew that she had potentially crippled the opposing side, but she had had no other choice - she hadn't wanted Zuko to join her, hadn't wanted to fight, hadn't even wanted to be born into the horrible tragedy that was the current Fire Nation, and yet, here she was, doing her best to simply survive and internally take down her own father, which, on most days felt like a nigh-impossible task.
She watched with a hard gaze as Iroh was chained and escorted back to her ship, Zuko following behind her with a numb expression on his face. She wanted to shake him, wanted to ask him where his morals were, why he would trust anyone who was as conniving and cruel as her.
She swallowed down all her thoughts and exchanged a look with Mai and Ty Lee, the two of them immediately sticking close to her and Zuko. As she walked through the disaster that had become Ba Sing Se's streets, she could hear Ty Lee doing her best to cheer Zuko up, her voice light and airy, all of her easy calculation tucked away.
The four of them left the city behind them, Azula taking even more care than usual to behave in her worst ways with Zuko and her father's guards on her ship, hoping to change anything about the situation. She threatened her servants, snapped at all her guards, irritated Zuko constantly by poking at his failures.
When they returned, she told her father he had struck down the Avatar, hoping that the blatant lie and obvious trap would do something to Zuko. Instead, he shifted on his feet and took the praise lauded to him. She asked Mai to watch over him, unable to stand being around him most days as his decisions threatened all she had worked for, all the strife she had sought to create for his betterment.
***
She would go down to the dungeons and taunt Iroh, slinging their power and their abilities in the face of his stoic silence. She mentioned what Zuko was doing, how he was a dutiful son, how he was falling into their father's place, letting him know as much as he could under the guise of hatred.
If there was one thing she, as Azula, the Fire Lord's daughter, and as Azula, herself, could admire from the two of them - it was that neither actually spoke of what was bothering them.
***
Fire Island was - Azula couldn't explain how the island let down her guard enough to vocalize a single moment of dissatisfaction. She could only pray to Agni that Zuko was too wrapped up in his own conflicting emotions to note that she was more than the casually cruel princess she was.
She listened with a heavy heart as Ty Lee spoke about her feelings of discontent, as Mai whispered about her picture-perfect life. She wanted to reach out, wanted to curl up with them as they had on the boat so many moons ago. Instead, she mocked, meeting Ty Lee's gaze with an apology in hers and understanding in the other girls. Mai avoided her gaze, as Zuko stared at her, waiting for him to turn before quirking a half-smirk in Azula's direction.
She sighed, frustrated once again with how her life was turning out, frustrated with all of her half-lies that she had stuck with as a child and had built into her life.
Oh, how badly she wanted to be free.
***
They returned home, Azula's palms itching with worry, as she realized how soon the comet was. Her father spoke to her of his grand plan, commanding her to bring up the comet so that she could appear to be his obvious heir in the sight of her brother's more obvious problems.
She agreed, as one did not go against her father, suggesting the comet at the next meeting they had, full of dread at the glee that her father's generals agreed with her plan.
She turned the problem of Zuko over in her mind as well, trying to figure out how to get him out of the Palace and back with those who would help him. She made herself the worst she could be in public by him, dialing her awful cruelness up to an eleven as she harassed servants and threatened to burn cooks.
She would find her rooms after and refuse to cry, laying in her bed, her face flat against the sheets, an apology in her eyes whenever she looked at the women and girls assigned to her rooms. She would press her fingers against the heads as they knelt by her, trying to do their duty, her attempt at a gentle assurance that she did not mean the horrid things she said.
She debated with whether to go to her father with the invasion information, only to have that choice taken from her as one of her father's guards told him, reporting on the intelligence he had overheard. She was summoned to his rooms and sharply disciplined about her hesitation, his hands full of fire as he burnt her back for the nth time.
She returned to her rooms, hobbling through the hallway as she felt the burn settle against the others mottling her skin. She swallowed back her ire at the sight of Zuko, irritated and grateful all at once that the only scar he had to deal with was the one on his face.
She loved him, had set herself on this path as her feeble attempt to protect him against the rage of their father, against the worst of him, and yet, she hated him at moments like this one, hated him for his ignorance, for his safety as a male and as the oldest-born.
She knew he did not know, she knew, and she hated herself most of all, when she could not stop her tendrils of ire from wrapping around him, when she let her self-hatred tinge her view of her kind, strong, naïve, older brother.
***
She set up a defense half-heartedly, aware that she was playing a dangerous game with her father only a little bit away. She was- she was sick of it, sick of the fire and pain, sick of how her hands only could do damage.
She turned her calculating gaze on Mai and Ty Lee, determined to give them an out, determined to find a way to set them free from the burden she had settled on them with. She did her best to fight as softly and as harmlessly as she could, a fact aided by her lack of bending ability but hindered by her sheer fighting prowess.
As the eclipse came to an end and she rose from the wreckage that was her life, from the destruction that reigned around her, she was summoned to see her father.
She rose, giving Ty Lee and Mai significant looks and spun on her heel, following after the guards, taking care to shove her emotional upheaval to the back of her mind.
Upon her arrival to the Throne Room, she clocked the streak of singe against the ceiling, well aware it had not been there before. She stood at attention, listening to her father curse Zuko's name and muttered the affirmations he wanted to hear, as in the back of her mind, her fear and worry for Zuko lifted. He had made his choice, she knew it.
He was finally free.
***
She knew why the water tribes has struck under the eclipse. She understood what they were fighting for. She just wished that the eclipse had ended later or they had succeeded, rather than her being forced into dragging the prisoners to the Boiling Rock.
She had known that sending the Water Tribe leader to the same place as the Kiyoshi Warrior leader was an opportunity that her brother, and she assumed, Team Avatar would be unable to pass up. She could only hope none of them were stupid enough to get caught.
***
She cursed the day that Zuko was born upon hearing that he had been apprehended. The only saving grace was that her father was far too embroiled in his comet preparations to go to see him, leaving her the joy of bringing Zuko back to the capital.
She boarded her ship, setting sail for the island with Mai and Ty Lee beside her, as her mind turned over the possibilities of what she could do, how she could help, the methods she could attempt. She called a meeting with Kurna and Jurik, the five of them plotting how she could best see all her goals accomplished in the least awful way.
They decided on their betrayal, Azula worried and wearied at the thought of turning her flames on them. She had never known her capacity for hatred, had never known how full of the sour emotion she could get, until she had been forced into these impossible situations.
She let the emotion fill her, until it was all she could feel and rose, setting out for the deck, her mind fixed on the Boiling Rock.
***
"I'll hit you before you can hit us," Ty Lee said, her eyes fixed on the horizon as the island crept into view. "I won't let you force your hand," Azula said nothing, watching with shuttered eyes, as they began to slow. "We won't let you get hurt either." She let her hand press against Azula's before she turned to look at Mai, the stoic girl studying the two of them intently. "We promise right?"
Mai nodded a sharp dip of her head, as Azula straightened, wrenching her hand from Ty Lee's. "Places," the Princess of the Fire Nation said, heading to the airship docked on the hull of her warship, all exhaustion hidden. "We cannot falter," she muttered out of the side of her mouth at Mai. "Hurt me if you need to."
***
As Ty Lee slammed her hands against her arm, as she felt her strength falter and her legs collapsed, she turned her head for the briefest moment, watching as the silhouettes of the escapees were outlined in the sun, their dim shadows smudges before they left her view.
She held in her sigh of relief, and focused back on the situation in front of her, turning her expected betrayed eyes on Mai and Ty Lee, her demands for them to be jailed unfaltering at the sight of the resolution on both of their faces. She sneered and glared and cursed them, before she demanded the two of them be taken with her, to be jailed at the palace under her eyes.
Her father's guards on the Boiling Rock shifted under her words, two of them exchanging a look before she snarled at them.
What good was her power, she knew, if she didn’t even attempt to do anything, if she was simply a puppet of her father's? What good was the plan they had established if she didn't even try to take her conspirers with her?
She snapped her fingers at the guards, demanding that the two be bound and gagged before she returned to her ship. She watched with narrowed eyes as they complied with stuttering motions, before she turned and stepped onto the gondola, gesturing for her two betrayers to be set inside with her. She summoned her guards, with a quick gesture, all of the ones loyal to her joining her in the small space.
She nodded to the other's, her face set in a mask of anger as they took off up the ropes, the gondola rattling around them. She signaled silently to the guards to prop Mai and Ty Lee up, but kept them bound and gagged in case her father still somehow had eyes on her.
She bit back her smile at the sight of her airship gone, and shot off two quick flares of fire to summon her warship, her eyes fixed on the ship as it came closer to the group of them, ignoring the heavy gazes of her two prisoners. At least something had gone right.
***
"This wasn't the plan," Mai spit out, glaring at Azula. "You were supposed to leave us!" She rubbed a hand over her wrist, accepting the knives Azula handed her with poor grace. "Why would you change the plan?"
Azula stared at her for a beat, taking in Ty Lee's concerned look over her shoulder, and bowed her head. "I couldn't do it," she said, her voice quiet. "I couldn't leave you two there."
"So you're going to tell me I can hurt you," Mai said, ignoring the spluttered noise Ty Lee made. "But you aren't going to let us sit in a prison that we should be freed from relatively soon."
Azula shook her head, bringing her head up, her amber eyes full of rage. "I can't do much to keep anyone safe," she said, her voice brittle. "So the small steps I can take - even when they're inconvenient to me - I will take."
Mai watched her for another moment before sighing and sliding a hand up her arm to rest on her shoulder, Azula tilting her head to gently touch her cheek to Mai's knuckles. "You take on too much responsibility," she said quietly, her face somber. "This isn't your fault."
"Be that as that may," Azula said softly, reaching out to gently take Ty Lee's hand in an attempt to gain and give a modicum of comfort. "It's still my duty to correct it."
The three of them were quiet for a moment, before Ty Lee tugged them over to Azula's bed, all of them thumping down gently on the covers. "What will you do now?" She asked, tightening her grip on Azula's hand.
"Go after Zuko," she muttered, curling into a tight ball. "Try to continue my balance of good and evil."
"For what it's worth," Mai said, her voice the calmest she had heard. "I don't think you're good at being evil."
Azula snorted, accidentally catching her pillow on fire as a flame jumped out of her mouth. She patted it out quickly, surprise obvious on her face, as the other two began to laugh, the knot of tension between her shoulders subsiding in the face of her friend's quiet joy.
***
She flipped across the hull of the airship, her hair sliding free as she watched her brother launch himself from their fight, her pride at his prowess growing as she realized it was coming to an end, due to his growing power. She watched him lean back and cock his arm, his fist on fire, mirroring his actions as well, refusing to give up her smirk as their punches collided and sent the two of them flying through the air.
She waited until she was certain he had been saved, shooting fire from her feet and clinging to the wall as she came to a shuddering stop, unable to stop her smirk at the thought of how close he had come to beating her.
She longed to go home and gloat about it, longed to throw it in her father's face that all those years ago, he had chosen her and he had been wrong.
But she shoved those desires down, and let her father's guards see her anger and her pleasure at the final confrontation that was sure to be had.
***
She could barely stop herself from grinning as her father crowned her Fire Lord, as he left the nation in her hands. She kept her head bowed, kept the flickers of fear from showing on her face as he lit up the symbol of the phoenix in front of her.
She could do this. She had trained her whole life - it was all for this. She could finally, finally, see the end in sight.
***
"Evacuate the city," she instructed the guards, sending the few her father had left behind to do the hardier work of convincing the people to leave, at least for a short while. She knew that Zuko was coming, knew that he was steeling himself to fight her, and she didn't want any innocents to be caught in the crossfire.
She, of course, wasn't going to fight him, not that her father's loyalists knew that, but still, she figured, it couldn't hurt to be prepared.
***
"It's your choice," she said, at a secret meeting with her handmaidens in her quarters. "If you go, know that if Zuko deems me able to live here, I will take you back without a moment's pause." She shook her head, meeting each of their eyes. "The end is near," she said, her eyes serious. "I will spend the rest of my days apologizing to you for the hurt and the pain you suffered at my hands, at my- at my father's hands. It was not fair or right, and I will not begrudge you the chance to leave, and I do mean you can leave for good if you so wish."
For a long moment, there was silence, before Kurna cleared her throat and looked at Azula. "Begging your pardon, my Lady, but I do believe all of us, and I do mean all of us, are well aware of the hellscape you could've been had you been alike your father in any way." She shrugged, looking back at Azula with steady eyes. "I won't be abandoning you in your final hour of need."
The rest of the girls nodded around her, Azula swallowing heavily at the sight. "I thank you for your loyalty," she said, gazing at each of them. "Know that if there ever comes a time where you need me, I will be there."
"We know," Kurna said, as the others murmured affirmatively. "We know, my Lady."
***
"Well then, Zuzu," Azula said, her voice mocking and carrying, cutting through the quiet of the throne room, as she stood up from the throne, Mai and Ty Lee flanking her. "Took you long enough."
She took in her brother's gaping mouth as he realized who stood with her, watched with sorrow as he narrowed his eyes, ready to fight her for his final time. She snapped her fingers, standing still as Mai and Ty Lee dropped their prisoner act and took out the scant few guards her father had left, smirking at the look the girl, Katara, she had finally learned, shot her in confusion. She whistled sharply, and her handmaidens melted out from the shadows, tossing ropes to Mai and Ty Lee as they began to tie up the guards.
"Seriously," Azula said, stepping down from the throne, her eyes locked onto Zuko's as he struggled to comprehend what was happening. "It took you long enough."