Chapter Text
The rain crashed down with deafening force as the Mongoose dragons' feet dug into and flung the thickening mud away. Azula strained to focus on these sounds as they raced toward the nearest village, trying desperately to block out her companions' groans and concentrate on leading them forward.
A string of unfortunate events just had to get in the way, didn't it? For not the first time during her journey, the fire princess cursed under her breath. Not only did the avatar have to enter deep Earth Kingdom territory, but he also had the misfortune of a storm beginning mid-chase. They had him and his little entourage of misfits by the leash. Desperate, tired, hungry, and no longer thinking clearly, it would have been so easy to capture them at last if the storm hadn't picked up.
Heavy rain and clouds obstructed them, forcing the three of them to hide and camp without the usual fire nation aid they had at hand. It was inconvenient, but they were more than trained enough to manage themselves. Ty Lee was helpful at least while Mai had been moping about how wet they had gotten; of course, she had to remark about how unfair it was that she was able to dry herself while they had to stay soaked.
She was about to offer help back then, she did account for them possibly getting stuck in enemy territory and so did outfit all of their rides with a bag with a change of clothes that would help them blend in, add that with her masterful control of her flame, drying them and getting ready to continue the chase once the storm ends was supposed to be easy. Of course, Ty Lee had to open up her babbling mouth with her too-high-pitched voice and say:
“Hey! Why don't we just cuddle together and let Azula dry us with her heat!”
Of course, Azula was so offended (Yes, offended, not abashed by how enticing the idea was) by the notion of being a simple heater for her two friends companions that she flat out refused to help them, except to throw the change of clothes at them. That…that turned out to be one of the worst decisions she made in recent memory. Why? Because, of course, the two of them had to get sick.
It started with Mai getting a low fever, which made it worse. As much as Azula appreciated the mostly silent girl being well silent, that turned out to be a major downside when she decided not to say anything as they tried to advance through the storm while being stricken with a mild fever running through her system. Well, it made everything that much worse later on.
By the time that Ty Lee and her had caught on, Mai was feverish enough to warrant them to immediately stop to set up camp. While Azula had gone on to gather supplies, since she was the only one who could mitigate the effects of the rain drenching her with her bending, Ty Lee had ignored her orders to keep her distance from the gloomy girl and was just as sick, if not even worse, by now.
Not being close to any friendly territory settlement was not ideal either. Azula made sure to scold both of them for acting so stupidly as she set up to cook the supplies that she had gotten. Unfortunately, that was when both of them decided to get worse, which in turn made Azula fear for their health enough to dump them on her mongoose dragon, as she no longer trusted them to be capable of steering the creatures well enough in the weather.
The fire nation princess continued to curse using Agni's name as she led the creature, clearly not used to such combined weight, towards the bits of light that she could see through the foliage. She knew it was unlikely that they would be given help in normal circumstance, for even if they said that they are from the colonies, thur ride was not exactly of the cheap kind so she had to prepare for whatever questions she will have to face, and another groan reminded her that she’ll have to handle the citation alone, which wasn’t ideal.
She took a deep breath and took her flame insignia crown as the trees became less sparse, letting her hair fall and be quickly tied into a messy ponytail. The less she looked like she belonged to the fire nation, the better.
Soon enough, she spotted the buildings from which the light she had seen came. She took a look behind her to see her two companions, holding onto each other for warmth under the makeshift blanket she had made from their bags. Leather wasn't going to be comfortable for them, but it’ll hopefully protect them enough till they get a shelter for her to use her bending to warm them up.
She sighed as she descended from the beast, holding it by the reins to lead it towards the nearest house in the village. Now that she was close, she could see that it was a small and relatively remote village. She had to fight the scowl that had itched to make itself visible on her features: a small village meant that it was unlikely for them to find a good enough healer to trust them with Mai and Ty Lee, but it’s not like she had better options at the moment.
With a final deep breath to warm herself and settle the character she had in her head, she forced her body to appear more worried and desperate…not that she wasn't exactly, but she had better control than to let everyone around her see and pity her, unless it was beneficial like now.
She went ahead and knocked on the door quickly, making sure the knocks came off as alarming and audible as they could be; you can never be sure of being heard in this current weather.
“Please, anybody there! I need help, my friends are sick and need a healer, and we have no shelter available! Is anyone inside?”
She knew that there were people inside. She could feel the fire lit inside, for warmth, light, and for cooking too. She could hear the movement inside, and she stopped heating her body before the door opened. It wouldn't do her well to be almost dry in the middle of a storm. Disguises and all.
Still, she had to knock and call two more times before the door was finally opened, now soaked to a point beyond what she had wanted to allow.
The man who opened the door was old, with grey hair and a thick beard that filled his face, wrinkles and dark freckles filling in for the rest of his features, if you don't count the barely visible brown eyes, almost hidden by a bushy unibrow. Azula almost wanted to laugh, because standing in front of her may have been the living image of the stereotype most fire nationals thought the people of the earth kingdom looked like, almost. She was a princess, and she had good control of herself.
Behind him, she can see a faint hint of movement, either one clumsy idiot or two people. She couldn't see more than their shadows thanks to the oaf in front of her. Speaking of, the man had seemingly taken one look at her and chose to pose as a statue example of the emotion of contempt. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say that she was surprised despite how inconvenient that was for her; she really didn’t have a lot of time for this oaf to waste!
“What are you doing here, girl! Disturbing people in the middle of the night, don’t you have somewhere better to be?!”
She had to flinch back as he spoke, not out of fear or whatever insipid notion that ran through his mind as he spoke; she merely wanted to avoid some flying spit that flew somewhere along his rant. She had to bite back her words and keep the persona she had made for now.
“Please, sir! My friends are sick, and they’ve been running a fever for hours now. I have nowhere to go, I don't want to be a burden, but are there any healers nearby? Or anyplace for us to find shelter so I can nurse them through the night?”
She watched as a couple of expressions ran through the old man's face, paying rapt attention as his almost hidden eyes turned to gaze at Mai and Ty Lee behind her. Whatever compassion he had faded as he saw the mount they were resting and groaning on. She did not miss the look he gave the torn leather either.
“None for people of your kind, what does a girl like you do here anyway? Huh? Running from da-”
The man got cut off as a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, causing him to stop and jerk towards the person the hand belonged to. Interestingly enough, there stood a young man looking at what she could assume to be his father with pleading eyes, not daring to speak a word in front of her. The man grunted as he rushed inside, closing the door behind him with a slam. Azula had to suffer the indignity and wait for whatever hushed conversation they had to end till they reached a decision to help her or not. She was desperate enough to wait and used the time that she had to go and check on the reason she was here in the first place.
“By Agni, did you two really have to get sick now, out of all times? Why didn’t you say something, you idiot?”
She cursed further under her breath as she pressed the back of her hand against Mai’s forehead; her temperature had risen since she last checked, and the usually stoic girl had a pained expression stuck to her pale face. Damnit, what was taking those idiots so long? She doesn’t have the time to waste, can’t they see that?
It was after another infuriating minute or so that she couldn’t really afford to waste that the door opened. It wasn’t the old man from earlier, but someone she assumed to be his son. He looked at her with what appeared to be an apologetic expression as he approached her friends followers.
“I’m sorry about my uncle; he’s distrustful of visitors.” As he should, if those weren’t her current circumstances, her reasons for knocking on the door would have been much less innocent. “I can see that you’re looking for a healer, while we don’t have one in our village, there is a herbalist that we sometimes visit to the east. His home is not that far off, about an hour's walk away.”
That was all Azula needed and wanted to hear; she didn’t care to thank him or even say a word back to him as she moved with the intent to ride the mongoose lizard and leave. However, the man had reached out and grabbed her by the arm before she could. (A fluke, she was simply tired; he should never have been able to reach out and touch her when her guard was up). However, he managed to speak before she had the sense to scorch him for such brazen disrespect.
“Wait! I don’t know how things are back in the colonies, but I know you wouldn’t be here in normal circumstances. Just be careful, alright? The herbalist is helpful, but we don’t know a whole lot about him…just, try to be careful there.”
Azula did not have enough patience in her to hold back her scoff as she wrenched her hand away and got on the Mongoose Dragon. If she did not want to avoid being followed or extra trouble, she might have shown this idiot just why his words were so laughable.
Still, she didn’t have to waste, and so she immediately snapped the reins to get the animals to ride on. She was given a general direction and will stick to it while she can. Wasting time was not something she could do at the moment.
Thankfully, what distance that would take a human an hour walking, a Mongoose Dragon can travel in less than half the time. It didn’t take her long to spot the outline of what had to be the herbalist's home. It was in the middle of a small clearing, clearly man-made and maintained.
The building itself was nothing to write home about, painfully mundane if you asked her, but that wouldn’t matter as long as it served its purpose.
She shortly arrived and dismounted near the front, knocked and called with the same words she used before. The only difference here was how quickly the door opened, and how she was met with a striking pair of golden orbs, staring right back at her.