Chapter Text
1 year past the end of the 100-year-war
Azula was dead.
Azula stared at the cold water flowing over her fingers. She was kneeling next to a small stream, snow wetting the fabric of her pants and hands aching painfully as the element she hated the most siphoned warmth from her hands. Her body was shivering in the cold December night and she could still vaguely make up the ragged breathing coming from behind her.
But all of these sensations were muted, as if coming from behind a thick pane of glass. Her blissfully numb brain barely perceived them.
She was drunk. She was high. And she was dead.
She didn’t even know why she was kneeling next to the stream, her hands submerged in cold water. What foolishness could have pushed her to end up in such a position? Father will surely be mad...
Oh right, father was imprisoned in Capital City Prison, stripped off his bending and rotting away while Zuko sat the throne.
And she was on the run in the northern edge of the Earth Kingdom.
Right.
That still didn’t explain the water and the fuzzy state her brain was in.
A quiet sob tore her out of her thoughts. She looked over her shoulder and saw a woman with thick winter clothing, disheveled as if someone tried to tear it off in a hurry. Her face was sporting a bruise on its left side and wetness was clearly visible on her pale skin as tears made their way down her face. Her eyes were red and frantic, seemingly unable to focus on anything in particular but they kept darting over to Azula.
“T-thank you” said the woman before she succumbed to her sobs once more.
That was a first. Azula wasn’t sure if she had ever heard that phrase directed at her before. What could have prompted it?
Only once the thought passed through her drug and alcohol addled brain did she see a bloody figure laying on the snow behind the woman.
It was - probably - a man. Probably, because his face was in such a state it reminded Azula of minced meat. No distinguishing features were visible, his eyes so swollen neither was visible, his nose crooked at odd angles and a gaping black hole in place of mouth with only sparse glinting indicating that teeth had once been there at all.
Azula looked back at her stinging hands, still submerged in the stream, and began putting the puzzle together. She didn’t like the picture it painted.
Azula was no stranger to violence. She couldn’t be as Ozai’s daughter. His training methods were cruel and painful, but necessary. They forged her into the weapon she was today.
But she struggled to recall a time when she had beaten a man to death with her bare hands before. She had killed certainly, directly with her fire and her lighting, indirectly by providing her father with intel that ended up in convictions and executions. But she had never beaten someone to death before.
Well, there is a first time for everything - thought Azula bitterly.
“W-we need to go back inside. Or you will freeze” said the trembling woman as she took a tentative step closer to Azula. The girl looked down at herself in surprise. The woman was right - the princess was wearing only a thin tank top and loose pants she used as sleepwear ever since she became a fugitive. Her feet were bare and red and only now, upon looking at them, did Azula begin to feel the effects of the cold she was surrounded by. What on earth possessed her to go outside in clothing so ill-fitted to the weather?
The woman seemed to finally gather the courage to approach Azula and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. The princess flinched instinctively, unused to kind touch. She lifted herself from her knees and stumbled forward.
The whole world seemed to be spinning on its axis, weird shapes flickering in the corner of her vision and to her surprise - and horror - she felt a hysterical bought of laughter bubbling up to the surface. Has she truly gone mad?
The other woman seemed to notice her state just now and grabbed Azula by the bicep, gently tugging her away from the tree line and onto a rural road. It was impossible to tell whether it was paved with cobblestone like those near larger settlements because it was entirely covered in snow.
Snow, such a curious thing. Beautiful to look at and painful to the touch. Like fire, in a way. Azula imagined she could relate, if she was still beautiful. It was hard to tell without a mirror, but she imagined she looked a mess right now. She had been a mess ever since Sozin’s comet.
Before she consciously realised what was going on she was standing in front of a door to some sort of tavern or inn. The woman leading her pushed the door open and sat Azula on one of the benches lining the tables in the interior of the murky establishment.
The next thing Azula consciously registered was a tall bearded man speaking to the woman and then turning to face her. Before she could voice her protests, he swapped her up bridal style and carried her away while the woman was speaking with a group of people Azula had not noticed approach them before.
So much for your espionage skills and constant vigilance father’s voice cut through her mind.
“shut up” whimpered Azula and she could practically feel the strange look the man must have been giving her as he carried her away, deeper into the inn.
===
Azula woke up to the worst hangover of her life - and ever since Sozin’s comet she has had plenty.
She used to not drink before, she believed - just like her father - it dulled the senses and made one sloppy which was unacceptable in an accomplished warrior such as herself.
But father was a failure and, by association, so was she now. She could get drunk to her heart’s content these days.
She groaned as she rolled over in a bed she didn’t remember laying down in and tried to prevent herself from retching.
What the fuck happened? Where was she?
She sat up with great difficulty and looked around. Okay, it wasn’t so bad - turns out she recognised the room.
It was the room she had rented the day before for her 3-day-long stay in a small village in the northern Earth Kingdom. It was cheap and secluded from the little settlement so it provided her with a perfect place to rest. Her wanted posters displayed all over the Fire Nation and larger towns in the Earth Kingdom surely hadn’t reached this place which meant she was relatively safe from bounty hunters and military forces alike.
Okay, so she knew where she was and that she was more or less safe for now. But she still didn’t remember getting into bed last night.
She combed through her exhausted mind in search of answers. She remembered leaving her stuff in the room, where it still rested next to the bed. She remembered changing into the clothes she lounged in indoors of whatever establishment she was staying in. Then she went into the common area of the inn that served as a bar-tavern and started doing what she did most days - drinking until she forgot her own name.
Her coin purse was still heavy from the last gig she did, a little bit south of the place she was currently in - these days she introduced herself as a ‘problem solver’ who did any dangerous task no one else had the courage (or stupidity) to do. This time a mine collapsed while some miners were still inside and they were buried in a mineshaft with no means of getting out. The desperation of the families left on the surface was enough for them to offer her a very generous fee and in return Azula descended into the collapsed mine and got to work. She asked for complete privacy so that she may rescue them in peace (that was the version of the story the villagers got anyway, the real reason was that so no one would notice the colour of her flames) as well as the complete plan of the mines the village had.
It was truly pitiful (and outrageous, a pedantic part of Azula screamed) that the village only had the most rudimentary parts of the mine mapped with new branches being added to the scrolls rarely, if at all, but it had to be enough.
Azula used the intensity of her blue flame to melt through the rocks and free the trapped workers. She was showered with gratitude and a feast was thrown in the mysterious’ saviours name but she refused to partake and left immediately after obtaining her reward.
Now she had a full coin purse she intended to drown herself in.
And that was exactly what she was doing when a woman approached her table.
“Aren’t you a little young to be out here, all alone and drunk?” asked the woman with a tone that was clearly mocking and not at all concerned.
Azula only grumbled and continued to down her whiskey in silence.
“You know, if you wished for something stronger I could provide you with it. For a price, of course” smirked the other woman as she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“What is on offer?” asked Azula, already tipsy but her curiosity was immediately piqued with a promise of a new means to reach oblivion.
The woman retrieved a small pouch from one of her pockets and showed Azula a mixture of white powder that was inside it.
“Smuggled all the way from the Fire Nation. Dragon Dust” smirked the woman, seeing that she was likely to find a customer in Azula.
The princess hesitated upon hearing the name. Dragon Dust was not a new invention and it was known to be dangerous and highly potent. It could cause hallucinations (the last thing she needed, honestly), but also made one go completely numb and lifeless for a prolonged period of time with occasional bursts of euphoria. She could do numb and lifeless. And she could most definitely use some euphoria. And she was hallucinating anyways, so really, what was the harm?
Azula spent a considerable amount of her freshly earned coin in buying the entire pouch from the woman, to her great delight. The woman smiled kindly at her and left with the words
“Just don’t snort it all at once kid, you will OD”
Azula didn’t take the warning to heart and immediately made two lines on the table. The shady nature of the establishment she stopped in allowed her to do so undisturbed, as all the other patrons partook in other forms of debauchery or were simply too apathetic to approach a teenager doing drugs.
The next memory Azula managed to recover from her shredded brain was waking up at the same table, probably much later since the tavern hall was abandoned. Even the barkeep/receptionist was nowhere in sight, but thankfully her mind was a little clearer now.
Clear enough to hear the sounds of a struggle coming from the outside.
Azula didn’t remember making a conscious decision but the next thing she knew she was outside in the freezing cold. She followed the imprints on the snow into the tree line and saw the woman from before.
This time however, she didn’t exude confidence and swagger of a ‘businesswoman’ in her element. This time she was pinned to the ground underneath a much larger man, seemingly a mercenary or some other violence-dealer as he struggled to tear the woman’s heavy clothes away.
The woman’s frantic eyes met Azula’s golden irises and to her great shame, it took her drug-addled brain some time to process exactly what she was seeing.
“What the fuck is wrong with you kid? Like to watch? Get lost this is not your business!” shouted the man as he turned his head to look at her.
Azula had no idea what exactly happened next, but the next thing she remembered was the woman grabbing her raised fist begging her to stop.
“Stop! It’s enough, h-he’s had enough! You will kill him!” she screamed through her tears as she tugged at the teenager’s bloodied hand.
Azula looked down. She was straddling the man’s chest, and the man didn’t look much like a man anymore.
She didn’t remember anything else from the night before but she imagined that she probably stumbled to the stream to wash off the blood before heading back inside the inn.
Right, the walk back to the inn, the man - the barkeep/receptionist/owner - carrying her back to the room and depositing her on her bed.
And now she awoke with a killer headache.
Great.
As she tried to get up the room spun around her and she fell to her knees. The noise she made must have alerted someone waiting outside because the door to her room opened and the woman from yesterday rushed in.
“Kid! Are you alright?! Spirits I worried you had overdosed! I told you to be careful with that!” she shouted as she kneeled next to Azula and put the girl’s hand around her shoulders to help her up.
Azula at first only groaned in response and let herself be straightened up, only to push the woman away from her once she was off the floor.
“I am not a kid.” she growled “And I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, so feel free to fuck off”
The woman stood awkwardly in front of her, her arms folding and unfolding and folding again as she evidently searched for words to say. Azula made her decision right then - she drew too much attention to herself here. She needed to leave - immediately.
She moved to the bed on shaky legs and began stuffing all of the things she had used during her short stay in the inn in her travel bag. There wasn’t much - a comb, a toothbrush, a coin purse, a tobacco purse and her newly acquired Dragon Dust pouch. All of her other belongings were already in the small satchel so within seconds she was ready to leave and notify the innkeeper about her departure, hopefully getting some of her coin back.
“Wait, kid- I mean, what’s your name?” asked the woman as she tried to block Azula’s pathway to the door. The woman clearly didn’t consider that Azula was not above jumping out of the window to avoid an interrogation.
For now however, this would be a mistake. An overreaction that could potentially draw even more attention - a female Fire Nation citizen in the middle of nowhere, Earth Kingdom, running for the hills at first questions about her identity? Azula didn’t expect any sort of news reached a place as remote as this one but she wasn’t going to risk casting suspicions on herself.
When she was finally deep enough into the Earth Kingdom to assume that random passersby would not be able to recognise her at first glance, Azula left the wilderness that served her as cover for the last weeks. She waited until nightfall to break into the homes of unsuspecting villagers and steal whatever she needed - Earth Kingdom clothes, coins, food, and other sorts of supplies. Since she was a firebender keeping herself warm wasn’t a problem and her flame also allowed her to hunt easily. Water was a bit more challenging since she actually had to look for it and stick close to moving bodies of water but she was a soldier as much as she was a princess - she could survive both days-long conferences with the firelord’s advisors and life in the wilderness.
Throughout that time Azula made sure to be in constant movement, using as little fire bending as possible - and when it was necessary she toned down the intensity of her flame to an unremarkable orange. The constant vigilance her new life required as well as physical exhaustion after constant pursuit, first by the Fire Nation soldiers and Kyoshi Warriors, then by Earth Kingdom forces and finally just stray bounty hunters, thankfully left her very little time to think. The hallucinations from the day of Sozin’s comet did not return. That didn’t mean she couldn’t almost feel the disappointed look of her mother every time she resorted to violence. That didn’t mean she couldn’t almost feel the disgusted look of her father every time she humbled herself, working like a peasant mercenary, sleeping under the stars and leaving her nation behind more and more with each day.
Azula had time to dwell on those things only recently - when she reached the northern edge of the Earth Kingdom. She had to slow down her mad race from her tropical country as she realised that very soon she would have nowhere left to run. Unless she planned to visit the Northern Water Tribe, of course. What a hilarious idea.
And so Azula realised another thing - she would probably need to find a place to settle down in. She couldn’t run forever after all. The problem was that she never felt safe anywhere, even if the villages were too remote to even recognise the name ‘Azula’ she felt like she could be exposed at any second.
So she helped herself to the mirror in one of the inns she was staying at and started meticulously cutting her hair. She wasn’t any good at it since she had never done it before, and she had to cut much more than she originally planned to make the hair even but eventually she managed to make herself look presentable. Her hair was now in a short bob, ending slightly below her chin and her bangs, while shorter than she’d like, were even at last.
She wasn’t foolish enough to think that someone who had seen her during the war wouldn’t recognise her now - but the key to her strategy was to go where no one ever even heard her name. Villages so remote and so small that they never felt the strife of war because no one bothered to collect taxes from maybe half a dozen families making up the entire community. Villages so remote that she doubted any of the villagers inhabiting them would be able to name anyone from the Fire Nation dynasty, much less recognise their visage. Honestly, she doubted these people were even literate or able to recognise their own king Kuei, the incompetent idiot.
So Azula, with her hair now short, dressed in peasant Earth Kingdom clothing and the struggle of a year on the run etched into her face has decided to start tentatively looking around for a place to settle down. She wouldn’t call it home, no - she never had one, never needed one and it was most definitely not what she needed now. But, what she needed now, was some semblance of security and stability that would maybe allow her to think about her next moves.
Would she lick her wounds in this foreign land and come back to the Fire Nation in search of Ozai’s loyalists to take the throne from Zuko? She was certain the she would win an Agni Kai against him - hell, she technically did win the last one since Zuko cheated by allowing that pesky waterbending peasant to intervene. She could also imagine that the Fire Nation didn’t change its mindset overnight just because it had a new Firelord. Surely the nobility and the military still salivated at the mouth at the prospect of new conquest. And Azula could give it to them. If she were Firelord she would raze the watertribes and collapse the walls around Ba Sing Se, for good this time. She would kill the Avatar and end the airbenders once and for all, just like her great grandfather Sozin wanted.
Yes that sounded like a great plan. But first things first - she needed a place to lay low for a couple of months, she couldn’t regain her strength and strategise while constantly looking over her shoulder. She needed a base of operations.
So some weeks ago Azula came up with a fake identity - Aki. Aki was a girl born in the Fire Nation colonies who lost her family during the war and was now a travelling mercenary-for-hire trying to find a new place to settle in. Not too far from the truth that she would have trouble remembering it or coming up with new details, but not connected to Fire Nation nobility in any way.
So upon being cornered by the Earth Kingdom woman this was the name she had given her
“Aki” she replied as she tried to look for a way around the woman that didn’t involve shoving her out of the way
“Aki, great. I am Lian.” responded the woman, Lian, as she flashed Azula a shy smile. A tense silence filled the room.
“So? Did this introduction lead to something or were you just being nosy?” snapped Azula.
“Look kid, Aki, I can tell you need help, okay?” sighed the woman “And I want to help you. Truly. After what you did for me it’s the least I could do”
“Don’t mention it, you don’t owe me anything” mumbled Azula. She wasn’t about to take thanks for not being such an absolute monster that would leave another woman at a predator’s mercy.
“Maybe so, I still want to help” the woman’s smile was wider now as she looked at her with greatful, hopeful eyes “Look, children don’t usually buy drugs and drink until they can’t stand okay? Whatever it is you are dealing with, or running from, I want to help you. Please let me, just as you helped me”
Azula looked at the woman confused. Her first instinct was to snap back at her again that she was most definitely not a child. She was at the front lines since she was nine. No child would ever survive that!
But of course she couldn’t say that so she focused not on the outrageous words of the woman but the shocking ones.
“Why would you want to help me? You don’t know me”
The woman looked at her in a weird way Azula didn’t like. If she didn’t know any better she’d think it was pity.
“Because you look like you need a kind hand for once.” that simple statement left Azula completely speechless. Later in the night while she laid on Lian’s couch she would make up excuses that she was simply stunned by the naiveté villagers of the Earth Kingdom displayed. That someone could be so stupid and reckless as to invite a stranger into their own home and try to help them just because they felt it was the right thing to do. Ridiculous, but upon further thought, not so surprising considering the village had maybe fifty inhabitants in total. They must be more like a big family than a village. A breeding ground for weakness.
===
The village proper was located some three hundred meters away from the inn Azula had met Lian in. It was so small it had no name and it had housed the equivalent of less than ten families in it. To Azula’s initial great surprise very few people were actually related to each other. That was until she learned the true origins of the small settlement.
The slave trade was something she was vaguely aware of ever since she was introduced to politics by Ozai. She knew that officially none of the four nations partook in it but as she grew up and immersed herself more and more in the treacherous world of politics she became disillusioned to the reality she witnessed.
Working the mines was dangerous to say the least and it was much cheaper to ‘hire’ ‘workers’ from far away lands to work for a bowl of rice and a place to sleep. Those ‘workers’ also didn’t require a rescue - since they weren’t citizens of the nation they were smuggled into they had no formal protections, and so it was usually easier to buy more of them rather than mount a rescue operation. So the nobility of the Earth Kingdom frequently partook in purchasing slaves, especially captured from the Northern Water Tribe (since Sozin obliterated the air nation and the Southern Water Tribe was too small to provide any meaningful supply of hands). Fire nation citizens were sometimes also smuggled into the Earth Kingdom but it was rarer due to the strength of their military which successfully safeguarded their maritime borders. The exception to that were prisoners of war of course. Azula was horrified to learn that since Zuko took over the throne and the Fire Nation largely demilitarised, more and more of her people were stolen from their homes and forced into slavery in the Earth Kingdom.
Fire Nation also wasn’t blameless - Lian told her that many of the coastal villages of the Earth Kingdom were left deserted after slave traders forced their inhabitants out of their homes and into the factories of the Fire Nation. Azula’s first instinct was to refute such an accusation but her prior education made her admit that it wasn’t an unsurprising revelation but more of a confirmation of what she had already suspected.
As it happened the unnamed village Azula had been staying in for the last couple of days was situated around three kilometers from the coast, far enough to not be visible to slavers but close enough to allow its inhabitants to reach the coast reasonably quickly if there was a slavers’ ship to be intercepted. And there were plenty - Azula learned that the coast near the village was one of the busiest slave routes in the world.
The princess wondered how was it possible that Zuko and his band of misfits hadn’t shot down the entire operation by now. After all, it was more than a year since the war ended and Zuko should have been well used to his role by now. If even Azula could recognise the injustice and horror of slavery then surely, surely her goody-two-shoes brother and the useful idiots he surrounded himself with would prioritise ending the trade as soon as possible.
A worrying thought struck Azula then - perhaps her brother was simply completely unaware of what was going on. Azula had always suspected her country partook in slavery since she wasn’t big on the ‘benefit of the doubt’ Ozai graced the nobility with when it came to factory workers and their rights or status. But Zuko perhaps was completely ignorant of the problem. That would explain his inaction.
Agni help her nation if her brother never thought to question how every new factory could be fully staffed within days and bring such high levels of profit with so little required in return.
The inhabitants of the village Azula begrudgingly began settling in were mostly former slaves themselves. Some of them used to be enslaved in the Fire Nation factories during the war but managed to escape years before its end. After making their escape they decided to band together to help free more unfortunates like themselves. Freeing them directly from factories or mines would be difficult however, as they would need to stay constantly on the move to avoid detection and re-enslavement. Therefore they had decided to make camp near the most frequented slave route and intercept slavers’ ships before they reached their destinations. The community they formed was resembling a close-knit family and after what the princess had done for Lian she was welcomed with open arms.
Azula was surprised how friendly everyone was being, wishing her well and promising assistance with whatever problems she may have. The first impression of these people she had gotten in the inn was that of a rather apathetic bunch unconcerned with outsiders. When she asked the woman hosting her about it she hurried to explain that the inn was built further away from the settlement on purpose to allow travellers and passersby to rest without endangering the villagers. Thus, by default, everyone in the inn was considered a potential threat and the people kept their distance. That’s why the few inhabitants that were dining in the inn the night Azula saved Lian didn’t stop her from doing drugs or drinking herself half to death. The risk she could be just another lowlife like the mercenary who tried to hurt the woman was too great for the others to risk it.
Azula was also surprised to learn the man she had beaten survived the encounter - the villagers however took it upon themselves to finish the job.
The princess didn’t initially plan to stay here for long but she had to admit - it could be exactly the place she was looking for.
===
It was the beginning of her third week of stay at the unnamed village. Azula had finally made her decision - she was going to remain. Which meant she would need to make a place of her own. All of the infrastructure here was raised ‘as needed’ which means she would need to relay her decision to Renshu, the leader of the group inhabiting the place and start construction wherever he decided to place her.
Azula tried not to cringe at the prospect of being ‘allowed’ to do something. Her pride raged inside her that she was the crown princess, or more accurately the rightful Firelord, and she didn’t need anyone’s permission to do anything. Her own indignation surprised her, she had debased herself plenty during her travels through the Earth Kingdom but she never dwelled on it much - she simply did what was necessary to keep herself alive and free. The fact that she had the comfort to contemplate how far she had fallen was a testament to the peace she had found in the village.
And so Azula prepared herself for the day and left Lian’s house. Since the village was so small - seven households housing forty four people in total - she made her way to the one Renshu, his wife and child lived in. To Azula’s initial great surprise the callous leader of the pack of ex-slaves didn’t use his status to erect a separate house for himself and instead lived like everyone else - in a group of more or less 6 people per household. Azula couldn’t comprehend it at first, until one night during her first week she had a conversation with him in the clearing that served as the community’s dining area.
“You have been looking at me as if I had two heads every since you came here Aki” mumbled the scarred man as he sat next to her on one of the fallen logs the villagers used to rest at meal time “If you have something to say, say it”
The man’s voice was deep and rumbling, as if the flames that scarred his chest and hands penetrated all the way to his lungs as well. Azula felt a twinge of fear upon first meeting him as he reminded her a bit of Ozai - a tall muscular firebender clearly well-versed in violence. The comparison and the fear that followed it momentarily stunned Azula into silence before she managed to compose and introduce herself. Since when was she afraid of her own father? Maybe since she had realised she was as much a disappointment as Zuko now.
Thankfully, his threatening appearance was where the similarities ended. Renshu had a wife called Meilin, whom he loved more than anything, and a son Aiko, at whom he never as much as raised his voice. Meilin was a nonbender and an Earth Kingdom peasant who was liberated by Renshu and his - then much smaller - band of ex-slaves-turned-mercenaries during their first slave ship raid. They fell in love and the result of this love was Aiko, also a nonbender. Azula didn’t even dare imagine what Ozai would do to her or Zuko if either of them turned out a nonbender like their mother.
“I meant no offence sir” politely replied Azula. Speaking in such a tone used to be unthinkable but ever since she has been on the road she has had to use it more and more when addressing authority figures. It was almost natural to her now.
“Drop the ‘sir’ girl, do I look like a sir to you?” he looked at her then and she met his only remaining hazel eye.
“No, I suppose not” conceded the princess
“Then? What is it?” insisted the man.
“I am just ... not used to your way of leading si-, ekhm, Renshu.”
“What sort of leading are you used to?”
“My father sent me to the military at nine years old, I had been ... trained ... as a soldier ever since then. I only know following orders and giving them. Orders that I may not have willingly followed or given if provided with an alternative option. That is all” replied Azula, as flashbacks from the war started plaguing her brain. Her absolute obedience to her father - and his order to stay in the capital while he fought the Avatar. Maybe if she went with him the war would have ended differently. The first time she went against his orders - specifically the order of her father to have both Mai and Ty Lee executed after their betrayal. That was the first and last time Azula had went behind her father’s back to change her ex-friends’ sentence to a lifetime imprisonment at Boiling Rock instead. Rage and sadness still ravaged her insides every time she remembered Mai’s words in that blasted place.
“I am sorry”
“... what?” asked Azula, confused. She was pretty sure it was the first time she had heard the sentiment expressed towards her - a second time in only so many days. It confused her just as the first time someone expressed a kindness to her, Lian being the first person to. And while she understood she may have looked pitiful in that inn, hangover and barely able to stand, she didn’t understand what prompted it this time. Why would anyone be sorry about the thorough training she was lucky to receive at such a young age? It was a privilege not afforded to many.
“I am sorry your father put you through that. You never should have went through something like this, much less as a child” clarified the man with a knowing glint in his eye as he looked at her.
Azula was stunned. She didn’t know what to say when her training was placed in such light, as something negative rather than something to take pride in. She looked away towards the other side of the clearing and took in the other villagers. They were laughing with their meals in hand, chatting over the fire and drinks. Her eyes drifted to the only three children in the entire settlement, one of whom was Aiko. His eyes were green and the fireplace he was next to made them seem even lighter than usual. His innocent pudgy face lighted up with his giggles as he played with the other children Azula didn’t know the name of. How old was he? Six, she remembered. She tried to imagine herself at that age but was unable to, she couldn’t visualise herself with such innocence in her features. She realised she was only three years older than him when her father decided it was time to train her in the art of killing. She didn’t know how to feel about that.
After that conversation Azula began comprehending the difference between a leader and a commander. A leader was someone like Renshu, a commander was someone like Ozai. A leader lead their people on equal footing, not elevating himself over the ones he was responsible for. A commander issued orders to his daughter left on the frontlines while he himself hid in a bunker.
To Azula’s great shame this whole ‘fugitive’ life she was living made her see her father in a completely different light. She ate and lived with people who were kind and caring and whose lives were ruined by her family’s war, loved ones forever taken away. She learned new ways to live and lead, ways that seemed so much better than the ones instilled in her by her father, that she couldn’t help but start detesting him. The shame she felt before came from being a princess in exile, unable to return to her kingdom and rightful place on the throne. The shame she felt now had a dual source - one stemming from being said princess, from a bloodline directly responsible for so much destruction, the other one from having such traitorous thoughts in the first place. Was being shown some gentleness, some acceptance and understanding really enough to turn her back on her own family?
Azula’s thoughts were interrupted when she came up to the household Renshu was in. It was still early, Agni was only beginning to caress the horizon and painting the sky in a myriad of warm colours, but she knew that her fellow firebender would also rise with the sun.
At first Azula was surprised that there were any benders at all in the group of ex-slaves. There were three to be exact, not counting herself - Renshu the firebender deserter who couldn’t stomach the horrors of war, Daichi the firebender boy her age who was kidnapped from his own home together with his twin sister, a nonbender called Nami before they could be conscripted, and Wei an earthbender and younger brother to nonbending Lian. When Azula first heard their stories she kept her face carefully composed as to not grimace at Renshu being a deserter, a word which immediately filled her mouth with venom ready to spill out. She managed to compose herself however, as to not give up her own cover. With time the disgust faded away and now she could finally look at the man with no ill will. She hoped Renshu didn’t notice her initial distaste but even if he did, he made no comments on it.
Azula knocked on the door of the house that held six people in it, including the leader and his family. Soon the door opened and she was met with an alert hazel eye.
“Aki, what brings you to my door?” the man wasted no time, clearly people only found him at the crack of dawn whenever there was an issue that needed solving.
“I would wish to stay with you.” quickly blurted out Azula, uncharacteristically nervous at the prospect of refusal and subsequent banishment. She hadn’t done anything wrong ever since setting foot here but even still she was scared she wouldn’t be welcome “And with your permission I would like to start construction of a new housing unit. I know all the ones currently standing are full and since I’d like my residence here to be permanent...”
“Slow down child, no need to speak like one of the ministers” interrupted her the man, a small smirk gracing his face. Azula cursed internally - in her nervousness she had forgotten she was playing the part of a low-born mercenary who had no business speaking in such formal tone “Yes, of course you can stay. You have been a great help ever since you’d arrived. I will show you where we will start building your housing unit. Follow me”
“What, now?” asked the princess surprised
“Yes, now. What is there to wait for? If everyone helps out we can be done by nightfall” he shrugged and started leading the girl towards Lian’s house and then a bit further into the forest behind the building. Azula was sure the forest was beautiful in spring, summer or even autumn but now in the depths of winter it had an eerie aura. Snow crunched under their boots and their breaths condensed in the air but soon Renshu stopped and pointed around.
“I think I would like us to stay a bit more hidden, what with the aircraft advancements coming in hot in the Earth and Fire Kingdom militaries and whatnot. You never know if one of the nobles we are inconveniencing doesn’t start looking for us.”
“How do you know about that? I was under the impression news is slow to reach here, I had not heard about anything happening out there in the big world ever since I came here.” Azula immediately tensed up as she imagined the possible ways in which the man could be receiving information from the Fire Nation. If he did and recognised her...
But Renshu simply smirked and said
“About a week before your arrival we had sunk a slavers’ ship and we managed to take two of them as prisoners. Made them sing all they knew before getting rid of the bastards”
Azula released a quiet breath of relief. No informants in the royal palace then.
“Anyways, since we will be aiming for more hidden housing we will build a smaller housing unit here. For now you are the only unhoused one so you will be living alone until we get some more newcomers. I hope that’s alright?”
Azula knew many of the inhabitants liked communal living because of the strong bonds that formed between them during their capture. They helped each other process their traumas, deal with nightmares, consoled one another. Azula would rather die than be a part of something like that. She hated being seen as weak.
“That’s more than alright, thank you. Shall we begin?”
===
Many more people than Azula thought turned out to help her, not least Lian and her younger brothers - Wei and Tao. Wei was an earthbender boy two years her senior who was kidnapped together with his sister and brother and imprisoned on a slavers’ ship heading to the Fire Nation. They were all freed during a raid that occurred four years ago, when he was thirteen. Tao was a nonbender like Lian and the youngest of the siblings. He was only thirteen, two years younger than Azula and had a vast amount of knowledge regarding botanics. Azula had once inquired if he was tutoured by anyone only for Lian to respond that their family was a low-born one and they couldn’t afford an education. Everything Tao knew he either learned himself or from other people from their village. He was also the only one of his siblings who was literate.
Lian was a kind woman, two years older than Wei, who was the village’s cook and seamstress. She also took it upon herself to sell any valuable items obtained during slavers’ ship raids in the tavern (such as the bag of drugs Azula had bought). Right now she was pouring Azula a bowl of warm broth after a full day’s work constructing the new housing unit. It was now complete thanks to the tireless work of most of the inhabitants, only the three children, an elderly couple whose names’ Azula couldn’t remember and people who already had other designated tasks for the day, didn’t show up to help. Azula had never seen so many people work towards a common goal simply because they were asked to, and not because they were ordered to.
“Thank you” responded Azula as she moved to make way for the next person in the queue for the pot.
They were on a small clearing that was made by felling trees for the house. Azula’s hands were raw and bloody, her muscles aching as she had never chopped a tree before, much less one hardened by the cold. But she was satisfied - the housing unit was small, fit for only four people plus a guest on a couch but it was the first thing in her life she had helped create. Azula had never created things before - she was a weapon, a waging inferno, she was destroying, devouring, conquering. Never building. Never creating. Never making. That changed today, and for some reason it felt good.
She moved to the tree line and sat down on the ground, looking up. The stars were just barely peeking through the clouds but despite that Azula liked looking up, she liked to imagine she was a hawk and could take flight at any moment, leaving all her troubles and pursuers behind, seeing distant lands and living the life of an embodiment of freedom. She supposed she was those things now, in a way. She was surprised to realise that yes, indeed, despite all the hardships she had faced ever since leaving her royal life behind she was more free than ever now. No expectations to disappoint, no orders or royal etiquette to follow, no destiny she had to strive to achieve. She was free to choose her own path.
At least as long as she wasn’t captured and brought back to the Fire Nation to be trialed for her crimes. The last thought must have brought an unhappy expression onto her face because a boy was sitting next to her with his full bowl of soup and speaking
“What’s with the sour face firecracker?” spoke Daichi, the male firebender twin.
“Oh leave her be bro” interrupted his sister Nami “Look at the poor thing. It’s clear it’s something serious”
Daichi and Nami were not identical twins since they were of the opposite gender, but they were damn near impossible to distinguish. Especially since Nami kept her hair cut to a boyish length and wore oversized clothing that made her figure impossible to determine. They both had wide onyx eyes, straight noses and the same shit-eating grin full of perfectly white teeth. Their favourite past-time consisted mostly of annoying the other villagers, but they took particular pleasure in annoying Azula. Or at least trying to, because as they quickly found out Azula was also great at annoying people and could keep a perfect poker face when needed The princess even began to consider the possibility that the twins saw her as a sort of ally or partner-in-crime since they were hanging around her more and more unprompted.
“Ah yes, unrequited love aches so” mused dramatically the male twin as he put one of his lanky hands over his heart, the other resting on his forehead in a dramatic display. His sister giggled gracelessly.
“Unrequited love?” asked Azula confused. She barely had the presence of mind to reflect about herself in any capacity, romance didn’t even cross her mind once since she left the Fire Nation. Not for lack of interest of course. Despite her unkept state she was still beautiful and plenty of boys and girls tried to ask her out during her travels. She had never accepted the invitation though, she had more important things to worry about. Besides attachments were a weakness.
Now though ... she supposed she was already laying roots here. She could probably form an attachment here. It’s not like she was nobility now, in any meaningful way at least. She wouldn’t have to accept any highborn heir her father chosen for her to marry. She could choose for herself.
Against her will her eyes darted to the soup queue where Wei and his brother were waiting for their share of the meal. Just because she didn’t consider romance seriously didn’t mean that she was blind. The elder of the brothers was tall and athletic, not overtly so but just enough to broadcast his strength and make for a nice set of lean muscle. He hadn’t developed facial hair yet and his brown hair was a charming mid-length mess on the top of his head Azula frequently saw him run his hands through, possibly in an attempt to tame it (albeit unsuccessfully). And Agni, his eyes. They were a deep stormy blue, almost grey, like a sea during storm. Wait, when did she start noticing these things about him?
And then there was also Akemi - another girl her age, a rescued slave from the Fire Nation, a daughter of some low-tier noble and second youngest among her five sisters. The whole family, with the exception of Akemi and her youngest sister Hana, were murdered during a slave raid almost six years ago now. The two sisters were taken aboard the slave vessel and were to be brought to the Earth Kingdom but Renshu and his crew sunk the vessel and rescued the victims. As usual most chose to return to their homes, the sisters however had no home to return to and were basically adopted by the village people.
Akemi was stunning, with flowy brown hair and warm onyx eyes that blended in nicely with her tan skin. It wasn’t dark enough to be considered savage like that of the water tribe people but just tan enough to highlight her warm glow and youthfulness. Azula would need to be blind not to notice her beauty. Solely as an objective observation of course.
“Ooooo” cooed the twins at once, flashing Azula their signature mean smiles “Looks like we were right~”
“Love is in the air sister, I told you~”
“What? No, I told you they had a thing goi-”
“There is nothing going on between me and Wei!” protested Azula indignantly. She could feel an unbecoming blush travel all the way up her face.
“We didn’t say anthing about Wei~” teased Daichi
“You on the other hand just now~” laughed Nami
“You are impossible” growled Azula and moved to stand. Sure, until now she was living with him under one roof but so did Lian and Tao. She was technically Lian’s guest after all. Sure maybe Wei sought her out more often than the other teenagers she had met here but that didn’t have to mean anything. He was probably just making sure she wasn’t a slaver spy aiming to bring their operation down. Sure, maybe they gravitated towards each other on every community gathering and talked late into the night away from the others but so what? It didn’t mean he was interested in her. He definitely wouldn’t be if he knew what kind of monster she really was.
But maybe, just maybe she could be someone else here. Maybe she could really become Aki, not just pretend to be her. Maybe she could be a part of a whole here, just a small ant working for the good of the colony preoccupied only with the most basic things. Food. Shelter. Love.
===
It was two weeks later that Azula was woken up in the middle of the night by her front door slamming open. She sat up immediately alert and summoned a small ball of blue flame. Only a second later did she remember to tone down the intensity of her fire into a warm orange. She did so just in time as she heard hurried steps running through her house and towards the door of her bedroom, which banged open as well.
In her door stood Wei, eyes unfocused and glinting with excitement. He was still in his sleepwear - barefoot, shirtless and clad only in a loose pair of pants.
“Aki! One of the scouts spotted a slavers’ ship! Get dressed and hurry, there is little time!” he shouted barely able to contain his excitement and was gone as quickly as he appeared.
Azula wasted no time, she jumped out of bed, pulled on her pants, shirt and boots. The shirt she chose was one Lian made for her, it had both a hood and a face-covering sawn into it to ensure her anonymity. It was the same shirt all the warriors had for raids.
It was the first ship Azula was going to help sink but far from the last. Looking back though, it was most definitely the most important out of all the rescues she would ever aid in.
She wasted no time and grabbed the scabbard hosting her sword - another gift, this time from Wei who helped their resident blacksmith forge it - and threw it over her shoulder so that it rested comfortably against her back. She ran to her kitchen, took a few deep gulps of the alcohol she stocked there and then proceeded to run out of her house and towards the centre of their village.
A group of ten people were assembling there, the last stragglers such as herself were just arriving. They were impossible to recognise to an outsider but Azula was not one anymore - she saw Wei, Akemi, Daichi and Nami amongst the other villagers. Renshu was the only one whose face was still uncovered as he was relaying intel from the scouts to them.
“This will not be an easy one. The vessel is huge, no telling how many people could be trapped inside. It’s also flanked by two military vessels from the Earth Kingdom. I don’t think we will realistically be able to avoid fighting also with the soldiers, so if anyone wishes to stay back I understand. Just let me know now so that I can strategise accordingly.”
To no one’s surprise everyone stayed. After a couple of seconds of tense silence Renshu continued
“Alright, I am thinking we will try with the good ol’ diversion first. We will split into three groups, one drawing their attention towards the treasury so they think this is a robbery rather than a rescue. The second group will quietly release the prisoners and take out anyone who could raise the alarm. If we are lucky they will concentrate on fighting the enemy they see and not even consider to check the aft section of the hull. Third group will be rowing back and forth to bring prisoners to shore and tell them to lay low and wait for the heat to die down. I know the plan isn’t perfect but at such short notice this is the best we have got. Objections?”
Silence answered him once more
“Alright then. Daichi, Nami, Wei, Akemi - you will play the diversion, Aki you will come with me to free the prisoners, the rest of you get to the boats. Get to it!”
Everyone started moving like a well-oiled machine, ready to carry out their leader’s orders. Everyone except Azula who looked at the man in charge confused. Why was she singled out to play the rescuer? So that he could keep an eye on her?
Either way - she could recognise an order when she heard one. And she knew that this was possibly the worst time to question it even if she was going to (she was not). So she jogged up to the scarred man and moved alongside him in silence.
They reached the coast only fifteen minutes later and everyone started getting into positions. Azula’s ... well she wouldn’t call them friends, not after what her last pair of friends did to her but ... acquaintances started pulling a row boat out of the dead bushes and dragging it to the water to prepare themselves for a frontal attack. The rest of the team dragged two other boats as well and left them on the sand while they scouted the terrain for the best place to instruct the prisoners to hide in until their return. Azula and Renshu would be joining them to sneak onto the vessel unnoticed.
“I don’t know what we will encounter inside but just know it is not gonna be pretty” said the leader once the princess’ eyes settled on his scarred face.
“I can imagine” nodded the girl
“No, you cannot”
Azula didn’t know what to respond to such a declaration so she settled on waiting in silence.
Once the slavers’ vessel became visible on the horizon the first team immediately charged towards it. Azula was stunned - she saw Fire Nation battleships before and she knew they were formidable both in size and military power but this was something else. The vessel itself looked like a standard sailboat, just ten times larger, pulled by multiple huge sails. There were two Earth Kingdom steamships accompanying it. All vessels were sailing in complete darkness, seemingly trying to remain as unnoticed as possible despite their huge size.
Once Azula’s acquaintances departed the princess and the leader joined the other villagers on the first boat aimed to bring in the prisoners and began rowing towards the ships. Azula’s hands still lacked the callouses her companions sported since she had only rowed occasionally before when she was tasked with fishing for the day. The bite of hard wood into her palms and the considerable journey they would have to make in both directions left her certain she could expect significant keratinisation in the near future. Her hands would stop looking like the delicate hands of a princess - the last reminder of her old life gone. A part of her mourned it, a part of her thought good riddance.
When they reached the first steamboat everyone held their breaths in tense expectation of alarm being raised. There was none - the ship continued on its course in undisturbed silence as the villagers raised the paddles and silently placed them on the bottom of the boat. Now it was time to await their distraction.
And what a distraction it was - though Azula supposed she should have expected nothing less if Daichi and Nami were involved. She was surprised to find a small half-smile stretching her face at the thought.
The front of the central vessel exploded in flames as a cheerful ‘this is a robbery motherfuckers!’ from Nami was heard all the way to where Azula was sitting.
Her boat then resumed its movement, double the speed now as urgency set in. Once they were close enough Renshu threw a long line ending with a hook which caught on the stanchion of the ship. The quiet clang of the action was drowned out by dozens of feet rushing towards the bow.
The man then climbed up with surprising speed, Azula following closely behind. On top of the ship they crouched and moved stealthily towards the lowest level, where Renshu knew prisoners were most often held. There were two guards waiting for them in front of an iron door which Renshu dispatched with two throwing knifes before Azula could even react. The action reminded her of Mai.
Taking the keys from their pockets they opened the door and a horrible smell hit Azula. It was a mixture of sweat, human excrement and fear. She looked around stunned - dozens of people in different stages of malnutrition were chained to the wall in a way that kept them standing and barred any rest. There were men, women, and - the greatest horror - children of different ethnicities and ages. What united them all was the terror on their faces with which they gazed at their rescuers.
In that moment the princess felt so stunned and empty she feared her mother was right all those years ago - if upon gazing at such a scene all she felt was a void she surely must be a monster deserving only of being put down. She would dwell on it later though, after these people were free and safe.
She began unchaining the prisoners with the key one of the guards was in possession of. She was mentally cataloguing all the people she quietly directed to the rope she and Renshu used to climb aboard.
Two little girls with dark skin and bright blue eyes that reminded her of that blasted waterbending peasant. An elderly woman in rags which could have been from the Fire Nation once. Eight men and six women whose clothes were so dirty and faces so sullen it was impossible to even attempt determining their origin.
When she moved on to the next chained unfortunate she felt a floorboard under her left foot creak and strain not to give out. She jumped back hoping to avoid falling into whatever was kept below the prisoners.
“Everything alright?” whispered Renshu from the other side of the room, still focused on his task.
“There is something below”
“Impossible, all the vessels slavers use are the same. There is nothing they could be keeping under the cargo.” what the man was saying made sense but when Azula’s brain was finally hit with the reality that the ‘cargo’ these people were transporting was referring to the scared people they were freeing, she felt a rage like she hadn’t remembered feeling since Sozins’ comet. It terrified her for a second, that she was capable of such hatred still.
Azula freed the woman she was going to unchain before the floorboard distracted her, and kneeled down. She thought it will be a struggle to lift it up with her short nails but to her surprise the panel gave up easily, sliding on well-oiled hinges. Renshu was wrong - there was a hidden compartment.
He eyed what she was doing from the corner of his eye, still focused on the prisoners
“Check it out, i have got this”
Grateful, Azula leaped down into the bowels of the ship.
With no light coming from other parts of the ship like in the prisoners’ room the place she was in was pitch black. Azula summoned a small ball of orange fire to look around. What she found was wilder than her wildest dreams.
The dragon was relatively small. It was pitch black with only the spines on its back and wings shining with deep navy blue that was also the colour of its eyes. It stared at Azula with intense hatred alas it was unable to attack - bound and muzzled, unable to flap its wings, take a step or even growl. She couldn’t imagine how the beast even survived the trip.
“Is there anything down there?” she heard Renshu call out from above
“Yes... You might want to take a look at this.”
The man had presumably finished freeing all the prisoners and jumped down next to Azula, summoning a matching ball of orange flame to light up the room. It was the first time since meeting the man that the princess saw so many emotions written plainly on his face.
“That ... that is a dragon.”
“Well spotted”
A silence descended upon them then as they gazed at the dragon and the dragon gazed at them. Azula made her decision then - she was not going to leave the marvellous creature at the mercy of slavers. Agni knew what they were planning to do with it.
The princess moved to the chains holding down the creatures’ wings first. She didn’t have the key for them and she didn’t want to waste time looking so she dialled up the intensity of her flame to a deep blue.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Renshu as he watched her work. When the first chain snapped off and the creature’s left wing was free Azula instinctively prepared to leap back when it inevitably tried to attack. It didn’t though - the dragon only curled the wing on its back with a content sigh. The princess looked into its eyes. Where Azula initially only saw the gaze of a crazed predator trapped in a cage now shone intelligence, confusion and copious amounts of fear underlined with quiet gratitude. Something within Azula swelled at the sight and she continued her work.
“We can’t just leave her here, can we? We are supposed to free all prisoners.” grumbled Azula as she turned towards the beast’s tail to unchain it from the floor.
“Well yes but you are failing to consider that it could very well eat us immediately after you take off its muzzle” Renshu’s voice wasn’t accusing or angry - it was its usual low bass but now tinged with mild curiosity. Azula looked back at the man and saw the he was indeed not fidgeting in fear of the dragon nor preparing to attack. He just stood there with his remaining calm eye looking deep into hers, as if analysing.
“What are you talking about? Look at her, she’s clearly not going to hurt us!” she nodded towards the beast’s head as she stepped over the freed tail and went to work on the other wing.
“It looks the same to me as when we came in. Also, she?”
“Yes of course, it’s clearly a female. Young by the size too.”
“How do you know so much about dragons?” asked Renshu as he took a step forward and started examining the creature more closely. Clearly it was coming with them.
“I... I don’t. It’s just a feeling, I suppose...” Azula paused and thought about the man’s words. He was right - ever since Sozin started the hunts that exterminated all dragons (almost all dragons it seemed) little was passed down about them. Definitely no ways to tell their age or any characteristic sexual dimorphisms that would allow the princess to make such specific estimations. Then why did she feel like she was right?
When all that was left were the chains holding down the beast’s legs and neck it - she - began to struggle. Renshu sent the animal an uncertain look and took a hesitant step back but Azula, driven by certainty that she was safe from the dragon (that had its source Agni knew where - maybe she finally went completely mad?) continued her work.
Soon all that was left was the metal muzzle. Azula didn’t want to melt it like she did the other chains, fearful that a dragon’s snout might be more sensitive to heat than its fireproof body. She stepped back a little and took a look at the creature. She was indeed smaller than a dragon could be expected to be. Now that she was standing up on all four paws her head was at the level of Azula’s chest. She had skinny legs and a sleek, long black body with massive wings. Azula was certain that fully spread they wouldn’t fit in the cabin the dragon was transported in.
The dragon also had neither fur nor barbels but instead a bunch of short, spiky horns running down her spine, at the joints of her wings and at the top of her sleek head. The protrusions were the only splash of colour on the otherwise pitch black dragon - a rich navy blue the colour of her eyes.
Now Azula looked into those eyes for guidance on what to do next. Guidance from a dragon, what an odd thought.
The eyes were calm, grateful and kind as the dragon gazed at the princess, and so Azula knew it was alright for her to melt the metal there too. She did so and when the muzzle fell to the ground with a clank! the firebender could finally see the beast in her full glory.
Her snout seemed akin to a lizard’s just longer and more dignified somehow.
“Now that the flying lizard is free let’s get out of here” said Renshu, tearing Azula out of her musings over the beauty of the dragon. She looked over at him and nodded and then her entire world turned upside down. Literally.
The beast hooked the tip of her snout between Azula’s legs and with one quick upward movement sent the princess tumbling down her short neck and onto her back, between her wings. Azula stared at the ceiling, unable to comprehend what just happened.
“She likes you, clearly” lowly chuckled the man. Azula didn’t think she has ever heard him make such a noise before. It was kind of disturbing.
The princess shifted into a sitting position on the dragon’s back. She lowered her legs above the creature’s wings, effectively sitting on her shoulders. She felt exhilarated, like she was exactly were she was supposed to be. Not a slayer of the fearsome beast she now mounted, as her great grandfather Sozin would have no doubt wished her to be. It’s rider.
“Let’s go we have already lingered too long” insisted the man. Azula agreed and before she could even think about how exactly she could communicate to the dragon what she wanted her to do - she jumped out of the hidden compartment and into the, now empty, prisoners’ cell.
They continued up the levels of the ship and emerged onto the deck. The fighting at the bow of the ship was coming to a close as the other warriors were being repelled back into the boat they snuck up in and the Earth Kingdom steamships were already trying to surround them by cutting off their escape route.
“Go with the others, we will catch you later” said Azula and she felt her mount respond once again before any concrete order could make its way past her lips.
Then she was flying, wind tugging at her hood and face covering and they rounded the vessel to attack it frontally. Slavers and Earth Kingdom soldiers pointed up at the night sky and the barely visible outline of the dragon, as they scattered in terror. Azula barely registering the last of her friends - Wei it seemed by the wide shouldered silhouette - before her dragon breathed a stream of blue flame straight at her previous captors.
The fight - if it could even be called that - ended quickly afterwards with the three hostile ships sinking to the depths of the ocean.
Azula and her dragon then headed for the shore where the princess saw her companions waiting, waving their hands excitedly in the air. She landed next to them and slid off of the back of her mount to run towards them.
“What the fuck firecracker! You got yourself a flying lizard!”
“Holy shit that was amazing!”
“Where did you get that beast!? It looks so cool!”
Azula was too excited to even properly register who was saying what, she was still shaking with the aftershocks of adrenaline coursing through her after her first flight. She was only aware of the fact Daichi, Nami, Wei, and Akemi ran towards her to meet her halfway across the beach and were now cheering happily, patting her back and giving awkward half-hugs. She probably wouldn’t tolerate it usually but she was too happy to care right now.
“Alright everyone, this is all very exciting but we are not safe here. Let’s head back to the village” ordered Renshu and everyone was quick to follow. Azula turned back towards where she left her dragon and ... and she was gone. In the commotion nobody saw the black beast silently fly away.
===
When they reached the village the newly rescued in the worst state were delegated into the housing units, taking up couches or tearily accepting the beds the villagers freed up for them. Those whose wounds could not wait to be treated, warrior or prisoner were tended to in Mina’s hut - the resident healer. She was an elderly Earth Kingdom woman who never spoke and communicated sorely through gestures and stares. No one knew why she couldn’t - or wouldn’t - speak since the woman had her tongue but no one dared question her either.
Azula was exhausted and disappointed - yes the raid was a great success and the warriors suffered minimal wounds but she felt as if she lost something substantial. The dragon she had just tamed simply abandoned her. Just like Mai and Ty Lee. Just like her brother. Just like her mother and uncle Iroh. Once again, everyone ran the other way whenever presented with an opportunity.
No one seemed to notice her sour mood as families of the warriors were gratefully accepting their loved ones back - Lian and Tao hugging Wei close on the porch of their home, Akemi hugging Hana by the central fireplace where the little girl ran out to greet her sister. Diachi and Nami were chatting happily with the other warriors heading towards the inn by the side of the road, no doubt to drink till sunrise. Even grumpy Ranshu was hugging his wife and son close. And then there was Azula, making her way to her house. Alone again.
She should be used to it by now, she really should but it never failed to sting. She was truly the unlovable monster her mother thought her as. She was no one’s first choice ever - even Ozai kept Zuko as an heir to the throne after all his failures. Iroh and her mother decided it was Zuko who was worth saving from their father, not her. Mai and Ty Lee chose Zuko over her, even though they were supposed to be her friends, not his. And Azula, as always, was left alone in the dust pretending it didn’t hurt to never be chosen.
“Aki!” she heard her new name being called by the leader of the group. She turned to look towards the man. He was walking towards her at a leisurable pace but the princess’ instincts screamed in alarm. Meilin was standing on the porch of their house, smiling warmly at Azula and holding Aiko close.
“Can we talk? There is something that needs discussing” said the man in his usual calm tone. Nothing in his posture or face betrayed any sort of tension but Azula just knew something was wrong. Nevertheless, she had no reason to refuse so she nodded and followed the man into his house.
Meilin lit a mach to light up a few candles in the living room and went to put Aiko in bed. Renshu sat on the couch and gestured for Azula to take the armchair opposite. She did so and waited for the man to speak.
“I had my suspicions ever since I first saw you. I couldn’t quite place it because you looked so ... unlike the woman I had imagined when I heard your name.” he started, his single hazel eye trained on Azula’s. The princess immediately tensed up and sat up straighter on the chair, despite her posture already being impeccable.
“When I first saw you I saw a scared child, turning to drugs, alcohol and violence to outrun something in her past. I know that it is not something you’d wish to hear but yes, I pitied you. Only later did I put all the pieces together, princess Azula”
It seemed the air had evaporated out of the room as her name was spoken into it. Meilin had already returned into the living room and sat down next to her husband. For some reason the smile she was giving Azula was just as kind as always, if a bit apologetic.
The princess moved to stand but instinctively sat herself back down the moment she saw Renshu’s hand raise up in a calming gesture.
“Except for me and my wife only Mina knows who you really are. No, I didn’t tell her, don’t ask how she knows. I have no idea. We intend to keep it this way for now, however I believe that with time you should begin telling your friends of your true identity. Relationships built on lies cannot last.”
Azula was confused, scared and stunned. With time you should ... did that mean she wasn’t being exiled? Kyoshi Warriors were not notified? What was going on?
“I see this is a lot to take in, and believe me I had thought about it extensively as well. The news of Fire Nation’s conduct and its horrible war has reached us even here. But the facts remain as follows: you had been introduced to us after saving one of our own expecting nothing in return. Ever since you had arrived you have been a valued member of the community. You had helped us sink a slavers’ vessel, the biggest we have seen so far. And on top of all of that, you are still just a child. I think that’s the most important part” said Renshu as his wife put her hand over his knee. He squeezed it with his own scarred one in a gesture of love so alien to Azula.
“Now, I understand your excitement seeing that dragon - I was shocked too. But using blue fire in front of me without a moment’s hesitation was reckless. If I were anyone else we couldn’t keep this under wraps.” of course. Azula could slap herself if it wasn’t completely undignified. Any suspicions he might have had previously were just baseless accusations but her intense flame was a damning piece of evidence.
“Fortunately,” he continued “it was me and not anyone else so there is no problem. I just ask that you be more careful in the future. That is all”
When he finished an awkward silence descended upon them as Azula tried to process what she had just heard. She wasn’t being exiled, her location wasn’t betrayed to anyone. She could stay. And most shocking of all, she was accepted by the two people who were still all but strangers to her.
“You can say something now darling” prompted her Meilina with the same kind, sad smile.
“I am dangerous, you shouldn’t forgive me so easily” that is not what she had been meaning to say. She had meant to throw herself at their feet and thank them for their mercy. She had meant to make promise after promise assuring her good behaviour and how she was grateful for not being shunned and exiled. But it seems even now she couldn’t help but sabotage herself.
“I know” responded Renshu, still calm “And so am I, and many people in this village. Just because we are capable of evil doesn’t mean we will wreck it. That being said - I have informants, liberated slaves, scattered across the kingdoms and even the water tribes. I know about your past and I know exactly what kind of harm you are capable of. I also know that you were an abused, manipulated child soldier completely under your father’s thumb. And despite my initial reservations, my ever smart wife reminded me that punishing a child for trying to make her father proud is unjust and not the kind of thing a man I strive to be would do. Especially considering my own past”
At this point Azula didn’t know if she found the words themselves or the length of the (clearly rehearsed) speech stranger. She could swear this was the most she had ever heard the man speak. So she decided to focus on the points she could easily refute.
“I am not a child”
“You are fifteen no? In the Earth Kingdom that means being a minor.”
“No, you don’t understand.” insisted the princess. She needed them to understand her, needed them to see her point before deciding to place their trust in her. She couldn’t live with herself if she let such a kindness be offered to her based on wrong assumptions “I was never a child. I have been in the military since I was nine, I had been learning politics since I was six. I had never been a child”
Instead of understanding and dawning realisation followed by anger and disgust, all she could see on Renshu and his wife’s faces was sadness.
“Honey, no matter how fast you were made to step into these grown-up roles you are still a child. You have been a child when you were at war and in the courtroom. None of this is your fault” said Meilina kindly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
To Azula’s great surprise she felt the same wetness sliding down her cheeks. She quickly lifted her hand to wipe it off. What a surprising development, she had never cried about her own fate before. But now that it started it was like a dam burst - before she knew it she bent forward in the armchair, her forehead touching her knees as she covered her face with her hands and began to sob.
She sobbed for the fact she didn’t remember a single kind word from her mother.
She sobbed for the disappointed looks uncle Iroh sent her for as long as she could remmember, with no explanation or correction of her behaviour accompanying them.
She sobbed for the cruelty Ozai inflicted on her. Every burn, scar, bruise, hurtful word.
She sobbed for being turned into the same monster Ozai was.
She sobbed for the glee she used to feel at being her father’s favourite.
She sobbed for Zuko’s banishment and how it left her alone with their monster of a father, to be further molded in his image.
She sobbed for all the times she had hurt her brother, purposefully or not.
She sobbed for Mai and Ty Lee’s betrayal and how deserved it had been.
She sobbed for the loss of her family, her life and her exile in the Earth Kingdom.
She sobbed thinking about how different people were than what she was taught, how kind and caring the villagers had been to a young stranger travelling alone through their lands.
She sobbed that all she was good for now was violence.
She sobbed for the life she could have had if she was born to anyone but Ozai and Ursa.
She sobbed at the hope she was feeling for the first time in her life, hope that tomorrow could be better than yesterday, that this place has given her.
Azula felt herself being embraced by Meilina and Renshu’s calloused hand resting on her shoulder.
===
When Azula calmed down she tried to hide her embarrassment at her outburst and excused herself back to her house. The couple sent her understanding looks and expressed a clear wish to see her at breakfast the next day. The message was clear
Don’t leave. Don’t run from this too. You don’t have to anymore.
After a year on the run Azula was glad to heed that message.
When she stepped out of the house and made her way to her secluded place, she felt lighter than she had ever remembered feeling. She didn’t recall ever crying before - with the exception of her lost Agni Kai when her tears were born of anger, desperation and a sense of failure. The tears she had shed this night were different. Still shameful, as all tears were, but different. They made her feel lighter, as if she was reborn in their release.
When she reached her house there was a big splotch of black waiting on her roof. Azula stopped and tried to discern what exactly she was looking at when the darkness moved and slithered towards her.
It was the dragon - it had come back!
Azula giggled - yes, giggled - in glee as she put her hand up and against the snout of the beast. It still had the same gentle blue eyes as it gazed up at her.
And for the first time in her life Azula was overcame with a certainty that everything was going to be okay.
She was going to be okay, in this small village on the edge of the world, filled with strange broken people.
Because she was also strange and broken - and that was alright here.
She was going to be alright.